Had the serpents come to paradise?
A pleasant breeze cut through the warmth, and Maximus inhaled deeply. Maui smelled a lot better than most places on the mainland. Alpha Squad’s missions took them far and wide, and not always to the most pleasant places. It was a nice change of pace despite the uncertainty.
Maximus took in the smell again, smiling. It was the scent of life in paradise. The island scent reminded him how Titus had invited them to another island, a place they could be safe when this was all over if only Maximus would accept the offer.
Isla Luna had its charms, but it was no Maui. Maximus had already discussed the matter with the other eleven affected hybrids, and they had all agreed with him that it would be best to keep their distance. Titus, Rachel, and the Luna hybrids had been nothing but generous, but the last thing the Alpha Squad hybrids wanted to do was put them at risk. Until they had a better understanding of what was going on, they couldn’t be certain they weren’t a ticking bomb that could threaten all the hybrids or some sort of special target that would bring trouble.
Alpha Squad’s trip to Hawaii was all about managing some of that risk by helping end one of the last known threats to the hybrids. Everyone knew a lot more about the powers backing the now destroyed Horatius Group than they did the Phoenix Corps. That meant it had been a lot harder finishing them off, even with the government’s recent successes. All it took was one scumbag surviving and finding new sources of money. But Alpha Squad was close as they’d ever been.
If they didn’t act quickly, the whole painful ordeal could begin again, with another deep-pocketed group targeting hybrids. Making more would take too long, which meant anyone like that would come looking for existing stock.
A faint growl sounded. Maximus stopped himself once he realized he was the one making the noise. Fortunately, no one was nearby to question the odd behavior. He couldn’t let the unpredictable future upset him. They would take control by making sure that future never came to pass. That all would start right then and there on Maui.
The hybrids would take out the Phoenix Corps, and then they would figure out some way to reverse what had been done to them. As long as they kept their freedom, hope remained, regardless of their current inability to scent out their Vestals.
A different thought pushed out the aggression as he remembered why he was there. He was waiting for the hot little hazel-eyed redhead who had been complaining inside. It was hard to believe she just happened to be interested in the same area he was, given what he’d seen on her dropped map.
Was it a trap? It came off as an almost comical bit of clumsiness, but it might have been purposeful bait laid out in front of the hybrid.
It wasn’t impossible the Phoenix Corps would use a sexy athletic woman to do their dirty work. Many of the people involved in manipulating hybrids understood that subtlety and soft power could be as much a tool as something more horrifying.
Maximus sucked in a breath. Those same people also knew that it was pointless to throw women at hybrids other than their Vestals. Attraction wasn’t enough, not for a hybrid. Her obvious interest in him had to be a coincidence, and he was letting his own problems color his understanding of the situation.
He blinked and shook his head. He was having trouble concentrating on his mission rather than letting his mind wander to alternative interrogation techniques that involved a bed at the motel. There wasn’t time to worry about how hot the woman was and what her body might look like unencumbered by clothes. Not that her jeans didn’t fit her tight ass nicely enough to give him an idea.
Maximus hardened at the thought and sucked in a breath through his clenched teeth. What the hell was happening to him? This wasn’t like him at all. Not only that, it was dangerous. Thinking with his dick was nothing more than desperation about not being able to scent Vestals. That had to be it. He’d gone a long time without this kind of thing being a problem. What other explanation could there be?
Ignoring his attraction, he had no way of verifying if she was involved without risking his cover. He couldn’t throw her against the wall and demand she tell him everything she knew about the Phoenix Corps. She might be an innocent victim, too. It was time to gather more intelligence, and that would require something he was less comfortable with, being suave. If he’d brought Tiberius along, he would have made the other hybrid do it, but Maximus was by himself, and he didn’t have time to call for backup.
The door opened, and a strawberry scent drifted out with the arrival of the woman, a nice shampoo. She muttered under her breath, but Maximus’s enhanced hearing let him pick the words out thanks to the quiet of the area.
“They’re probably just yanking me around because I’m not local,” the woman muttered under her breath. “Was I supposed to offer a bribe or something? Is that how it works? This is ridiculous. Aloha my ass! Everyone who works in there is probably a transplant from New York or L.A.”
The woman’s breath caught when she noticed Maximus sitting on the bench. She put a hand to her chest and took a couple deep breaths, staring at him. He tried not to frown, confused by her reaction. He wasn’t ready to believe her rant wasn’t faked to throw him off-guard.
This wasn’t a promising start to his plan, whether she was a Corps spy or
