Tethered Souls | Books 1, 2, and 3

{Book Two} 104 | Simulation

∞ The Tethered Ones ∞

Chapter 34

━━─── • ───━━━

• Luna •

Samuel Davidson.

The name bounced around in Luna's head, first in disbelief, then in shock, and finally, in anger. Her nerves trembled, and her legs crumbled beneath her.

She stared down at the broken shards of glass from the bottle Amir had thrown. The amber liquid began seeping over papers littering the floor. Some looked like junk mail from when Belle Chasse was a bustling town. A brightly colored advertisement for a new shoe store opening across from the high school. Large and small envelopes with the words special offer stamped on them. A pack of white coupons never opened. All were confirmation of the private life everyone lived.

Had others come by and check out this area? Were any of them implants for BARDA?

She wasn't sure why she was thinking about those things. General Davenport's home was none of her concern, but it was like her brain had shorted out after hearing his name.

Sam.

There was a funeral for him. His friends and family were there. And Luna had, along with them, sobbed after his passing. She never fully recovered from that moment, and she had envisioned his spirit so many times afterward. Was any of that real?

It had to be real.

Sam's ghost was as real as the sky. It was as real as the time she watched his death happen on camera. That scene could not have been fake or orchestrated by the organization for him to die in front of her tethered partner seven years prior. He couldn't have been the man the general was implying him to be. He couldn't have been a decoy.

The Biological Research and Development Agency.

A private organization that existed in remote regions across the world, one that secretly experimented on Tethered Souls long before the public was exposed to them. Their unique biological attributes were studied because they were resistant to human illnesses, and the company sought to use that knowledge to strive for a better tomorrow. But all of that wasn't working in their favor. They were slowly losing their battle for control.

She had no idea how to come to terms with any of that, and she didn't think she'd ever be able to. But the fact that she and Amir were planning to bring them down had comforted her.

Just a little.

Her mind had shifted back to the part Davenport explained that she was something different. A Trojan, an assassin that couldn't exactly be classified as an Origin, or even a human.

But now, that little factoid was sitting idly in the back of her mind with the latest are you freaking kidding me news.

A man she thought was dead was responsible for Amir's memory loss.

A dull ache pierced the middle of her chest, and she shook her head. She hoped that she didn't misinterpret the general's revelation about her daughter's father, but her brain was on overdrive with all that she had learned. And holy crap, it was a lot of information for her to digest. 

Sam was alive, and that wasn't even the most messed-up part. He was a man who had missed out on seven years of watching his child grow up. He was supposed to be six feet into the ground, but he was now a man working with the enemy. Her brain couldn't cope with that.