Owen’s father and Jax joined them in the basement. They made small talk for a little while, waiting for Selena, the last of the team to join them. Greer had called her, but no answer. Perhaps she was suffering from her migraines again, which made Owen edgy; she’d first gotten sick with them when Bastion had been near over the holidays.

Perhaps their infiltrator knew Jax and Nick were with them again and was coming back around. He looked at his watch. If Selena didn’t make an appearance in the next few minutes, he’d have Kit send Ace up to check on her. He didn’t have a lot of time to waste; his and Addy’s wedding was tomorrow afternoon. He couldn’t stay in work mode very long. He wanted Jax and Nick to update the team while they were here. Better to get started.

“I asked my dad and Jax to join us today to share the information they have about Bastion,” Owen said to the group. “As I understand it, what’s known about him came to the Ratcliffs from peers who visited the researchers running the study Bastion was involved in. Both their friends and the study’s organizers have been killed, so this is all we have at the moment, and it’s all we may ever have. The Ratcliffs are using their network of friendlies within the Omni World Order to quietly appeal for more information. No clue if or when more detailed info will be found.” He looked at his watch. “We have a call with them shortly, but I thought Nick and Jax could get us started.”

“We know that Bastion was recruited for a human modification study,” Nick said. “He and all the men in the study had military backgrounds. They were between thirty and forty-five, all from different educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Different races, religions, and nationalities. All very different on paper, but they weren’t selected in a haphazard way.”

“They underwent intense psychological and physical examination,” Jax said. “It’s unclear exactly what experiments were conducted during this study. What we do know is that the newly changed men were sent to serve with a private military contractor in various shit holes where extra security was needed.”

“This unit was made up of thirty men,” Nick said. “Ten died only months in to the experiment, presumably due to complications from the modifications. Another five died in violent encounters with others in their group. The group became polarized with two factions vying for supremacy and eventually turned on itself. Seems it was of no consequence to the study’s organizers what happened to the participants within the group. Life was no holds barred in their world, like a group of gladiators fighting each other and their environment for survival.”

“We don’t know Bastion’s civilian identity,” Jax said. “A man who was given the name Liege seemed to get squared away early in the trials. He was one of the first to access the new skills their modifications gave them. He led his corps in their discovery of their specific skills. They made him a leader of their group. He kept them alive and fostered their skill growth.”

“When did all this happen?” Kit asked Nick.

“Started a decade ago,” Owen said.

“So how old is this Bastion?” Greer asked.

Nick shrugged. “Age isn’t the qualifier it once was. It’s not a determinant of appearance, mental acuity, or physical skill—the modifications they received made sure of that.”

“The Ratcliffs said it’s believed that these men are among those whose modifications were used to regen their bodies and rewire their brains,” Jax said.

“Meaning?” Owen prompted.

“Meaning they have extraordinary mental capabilities,” Nick answered. “We’ll be talking to the Ratcliffs shortly, so save your questions for them. We wanted to give a high-level introduction to what we’re dealing with.”

“It’s true these mods were early in the game,” Jax said, “but they were the top of the line. Their creators designed these nano agents to get inside their hosts, do their function, and exit, leaving their patients improved without a continuing need for refreshing the nanos.”

“And now they’ve sought us out. Why?” Blade asked.

“My guess? They’re after the Ratcliffs,” Nick said.

“It’s time,” Greer said. He dialed the Ratcliffs. The phone speakers were on conference mode, so the whole room heard the phone ringing.

Selena joined them while the phone was ringing. She looked unwell. Shadows were heavy under her red-rimmed eyes. Her skin was paler than usual. She didn’t look at anyone when she grabbed a seat at the table. Owen wondered if she was fighting a bug, but she wasn’t coughing or sniffling.

Before he could ask if she was feeling well, Nathan Ratcliff picked up the call.

“Nathan—Owen Tremaine here. You’re on speaker. I’ve got my team here, along with Jax and Nick. Thanks for giving us a few minutes.”

“Not a problem,” Nathan said. “You know we owe you for keeping our girl safe. I’ve got her mom here with me.”

“Morning, Team Tremaine,” Joyce Ratcliff said.

“There are two things I wanted to cover today,” Owen said. “The first is about Bastion. I know Jax and Nick have talked to you about him.”

The phone was silent a long moment. “Be very careful with him,” Joyce said. “We try to document as much as we can about every changed human we discover. But we lost track of him and his study peers.”

“Do you know what was done to them?” Owen asked.

“Not entirely. Jax asked us to find and secure the research surrounding their trials,” Joyce said. “We haven’t yet been successful. We are familiar with the team that was running it, however.”

“And?”

“It wasn’t just superior warriors they were trying to craft. They wanted a psychological Red Team, a force they could use to infiltrate anything—other armies, corporations, research labs, you name it.”

“How would they do something like that?” Owen asked.

“They thought they could use their specially encoded nanotechnology to rewire the brain’s neural circuits, allowing it perform with extreme efficiency,” Joyce said. “It sounds supernatural, but it’s not. We’ve all heard of people who have prescient knowledge of one form or another—someone who knows who’s on the other end of a call before ever looking at their phone. Someone who appears to be able to read someone else’s mind. Someone who summons a friend just through their thoughts. Someone who knows when someone else is thinking about them. Mediums who can see through others’ eyes, who connect with someone, alive or dead, just from touching something that belonged to them. The list of psychic skills is endless. Those come from neural networks that are or aren’t active in any of us. These are natural skills that lie dormant in most of us. The researchers working on Liege’s group isolated certain neural networks and developed nanos to activate them.”

“Can you be more specific about what enhanced skills we’re dealing with from Bastion and Liege’s men?” Blade asked.

Selena coughed and lurched to her feet. Once there, she seemed lost for a moment, her eyes shooting around the room. She went over to a sideboard to pour herself a cup of coffee.

“Friends of ours were able to visit with the study’s organizers during the active years of their research,” Joyce said. “They were allowed to take notes, but weren’t given much detailed information. We have their notes—I am making some assumptions and may be overstating things, but it’s my understanding that Bastion and his group may have developed extreme psychic skills.”

“Such as?” Owen prompted.

“They might be able to access minds that are open to them. They could potentially induce hypnosis—even over long distances—or impose trance states. They could have the ability to manipulate physical things via telekinesis. They could alter energy around them, interrupting electrical currents—in humans and things. The notes from our friends suggest these abilities developed differently in different participants. Beyond purely psychic abilities, they have enhanced physical abilities. Superior strength, endurance, senses, cognition, memory, motor skills.”

“They’re perfect.” Selena’s voice was quiet, but the whole room heard her. “There’s no way we can effectively fight them.” She sipped her coffee.

Owen looked at his dad. “Not yet. But we may, soon.” His dad, and the training he was about to start could be their key.

“Can these enhancements be reversed?” Kit asked.

“That depends on several factors,” Nathan said, “like how long the person has existed in an altered state—or rather, how established their altered state is, how old he or she was when they were altered, their general health, etc. In most cases, reversing these modifications means killing the changed person. If their modifications are dependent on a consistent supply of nanos, then weaning them from those nanos might be possible, but won’t be a quick fix. Going cold turkey on their supply would absolutely kill them—and probably within months, if not weeks. Their bodies have adapted to performing at certain levels, and when that is suddenly no longer possible, their systems rapidly fail. For those whose enhancements have been overtaken by their biology—no, the changes can’t be reversed because they’re being naturally regulated by their bodies.”

“But these beings can be killed,” Greer said.

“Yes. Of course,” Joyce said. “But killing them becomes exponentially more difficult, depending on their skills and their proficiency in using them. And because they heal rapidly, anything less than a catastrophic hit probably won’t end them.”

“I fought some of these enhanced guys at Wynn’s house,” Angel said. “Felt like they were hopped up on steroids, but they weren’t invincible.”

“Those were some of the Omnis’ newly minted fighters. They hadn’t undergone their training yet,” Nathan said.

“I have a question for you, Owen,” Joyce said. “I understand Bastion has been visiting your headquarters.”

“That’s true.” Owen exchanged glances with Selena. She looked tense.

“Has he connected with anyone in particular?”

“He’s affected several of us in different ways. He spoke to my son,” Owen said. Selena looked brittle enough to break. He wished he didn’t have to say what knew he had to. “He also has taken an interest in one of my team members.”

Silence on the other end of the line, then Nathan asked, “Which one?”

“Me,” Selena said, holding her hot mug in both hands. “He’s stalking me.”

“Selena, right?” Joyce asked.

“Yeah.”

Joyce sighed. “Our friends discovered, during their visit, that there was an unintended side effect of these enhancements.”

“And that is?” Owen asked.

“There are hormonal changes that occur because of their altered biology,” Joyce said, “which, when combined with their strengthened intuition and enhanced senses, means intimate relationships with anyone not perfectly compatible with them are less than pleasurable to the changed person. Theories why this is include the possibility that they are able to qualify a potential mate’s capability to successfully reproduce. The biologics of their changed bodies produce significant incompatibilities with most potential sex partners. The ones with mutations are effectively sterile when breeding with unchanged humans.”

“Except for someone who is resonant with them,” Nathan finished for her.

Selena looked shocked. “So you’re saying Bastion finds me ‘resonant’ with him? I have no choice in this?”

“We’re saying he may have come looking for us, but he’s returning because of you,” Joyce said.

“What can I do about it?” Selena set her mug down.

“Without extreme training, nothing,” Nathan said.

“I can leave.”

“He’ll find you again. He knows your energy signature. Like a bloodhound searching hundreds of miles for a lost child, he will find your scent and find you, even if your ‘scent’ is just an electrical current. He’s wired in to you.”

“Bloodhound, huh?” Selena sent a panicked glance around the room. She looked like she was starting to hyperventilate, then stomped out of the bunker.

“What can we do?” Owen asked the Ratcliffs.

“Get her out of there,” Joyce said. “Get her someplace unfamiliar to her. Don’t talk about it in front of her. Consider that he’s with her at all times now.”

Fuck. Owen met Jax’s hard eyes. His friend had offered safe harbor earlier. Maybe he’d send Selena with him. She couldn’t be alone—she wouldn’t be safe.

But then, nor would any of them while she was with them.

Jax read him clearly and nodded.

“What was the other topic you wanted to talk about?” Joyce asked. “You said there were two things…”

“I’m marrying Addy this weekend,” Owen said.

“We know,” Nathan said. “We’re happy for you and sorry we aren’t able to be there with you.”

Owen nodded. He looked at his team. “As you know, the Omnis did some experimenting on her.”

“Right. How’s she feeling?” Joyce asked.

“She’s fine. Stronger every day.” Owen sighed. “This is something of a personal topic, but given the situation these enhancements are causing, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to bring it up here. Addy would like more children, but we don’t know if that’s possible, given her situation. In light of what you revealed here, is it possible that her biological changes are incompatible with me?”

“Yes,” Joyce said. “It is quite likely. There are many factors at play. We would need to examine both of you before being able to give an accurate answer.”

“Then perhaps that’s something we can schedule after the wedding.”

“Anytime. Our schedules are open.”