However, I couldn’t confirm that suspicion like I usually would, due to Liz’s shield.
Alternatively, Mrs. Dolan was sitting closer to me on my left, a plain woman with gray hair and dark brown eyes, who was also wearing a black suit.
“Sam Archer,” I said as a simple greeting to them all.
None of them responded verbally.
Damn, was this part of the negotiation process? Giving me the cold shoulder?
I supposed it was pointless for them to build rapport with the person who they were going to try arguing with about the demands I wanted met.
“We’ll get started once everyone arrives,” Jackie commented, before giving her attention to the papers in front of her again.
The silence didn’t last long though, before a couple of men entered the room, both of them extremely muscular. The guy in front was wearing a military uniform like what I’d expect of a general and was immediately greeted as General Burnham, while the second guy wearing business casual clothing was ignored altogether.
Burnham then proceeded to sit down on my left next to Mrs. Dolan, pulling out his phone, while the other guy, having graying hair and heavily wrinkled red skin, grabbed a chair to sit against the wall, his focus on a tablet in his lap just after sitting down.
A woman in a long white lab coat stepped into the room immediately after, moving to sit down on my right next to Ms. Connolly.
Surprisingly, Jackie didn’t acknowledge her, but Connolly did without hesitation.
“Ah, Mrs. Fairbanks, glad you could make it,” she said in greeting.
Instantly, my heart began racing, the sides of my vision going dark, as a rush of conflicting emotions hit me like a ton of bricks.
Fairbanks.
Fairbanks.
Logically, I knew that was a common last name. Logically, I knew this person was most likely not, in any way, associated with the scientist who both saved Rose and tried to molest her all in the same stroke.
But suddenly I was pissed, enraged, and terrified, all at once.
Because what if this woman was associated?
What if the cloning facility was actually government funded?
What if these people were in on it? What if they were my enemy?
And then the fear, sparked by movement in the corner of my eye, as the mind reader standing right next to me pulled something out of her pocket. She then proceeded to nudge Liz as she turned around, away from everyone else, and began pulling her black hair up into a ponytail.
Instantly, the room went completely silent, even as the people on my right continued to speak, their mouths moving soundlessly.
“Sam,” Winter hissed quietly, her tone rushed. “Calm down. Remember what my aunt said about grudges. I can’t do this again, so keep it together. Deep breath.”
Immediately, the sounds all rushed back, the hum of the lights, the tapping of Jackie’s pen, the shuffling of General Burnham as he readjusted in his seat, the words spoken by the two women socializing in the room. I quickly folded my hands on the table and took a deep breath as Winter instructed, noticing her turn back around in the corner of my vision, after tugging on her high ponytail to tighten it.
Grudge.
‘One of the most important rules of being immortal is not to get on the bad side of another immortal. Holding a grudge has different implications for those who can’t die…’
Of course.
What Liz said previously made sense, and had implications beyond just me offending her by sharing her personal business. Likewise, they wouldn’t want to offend me. But then, why was Winter really here? She mentioned she had the job of assessing my integrity, but was that for the benefit of the CDS, or for their own benefit? As in, the benefit of the Supreme Guardian and those she truly represented…
Or both?
Either way, it felt like Winter was essentially telling me I could trust her not to share everything on my mind. Especially not stuff that could put anyone I cared about in danger.
Refocusing my thoughts, I looked up as three more people filed into the room, causing Jackie to look up again. The man in front had dark skin, graying curly hair, and dark brown eyes, being finely dressed in a navy-blue suit that was a shade lighter than Jackie’s blouse.
“Oh, Mr. Moulton. Glad you could–”
Moulton abruptly halted in his tracks, his expression pissed as he focused to my left. “What in the hell is Fowler doing here?” he snapped.
Jackie looked shocked. “Oh, I wasn’t aware that you had a problem with–”
Winter abruptly cut her off in a cold tone, her pale green eyes narrow. “Oh, don’t mind him, Ms. Hendricks. He just never got over me turning him down for a date twenty years ago.”
“Why you little–”
“That’s enough,” Burnham snapped, setting down his phone. “I’ve got to be back on the bird within the hour, so let’s get this moving.”
Moulton gritted his teeth, before leading the other two men to the General’s side of the table, sitting down so that he had two heads blocking his view of Winter. He then mumbled something rude about her shaving her neck to look like a normal person. I glanced at her from the corner of my vision, seeing that her expression was completely neutral again, as if there wasn’t a thing in the world that could bother her.
Or, as if everything was just beneath her, if we were going with the goth chick vibe she was giving off.
Jackie cleared her throat as she sat back down.
“Now that everyone’s here, let’s begin.” She gestured toward me. “As you all know, this here is Mr. Sampson Archer. All of you should be up to date with his, err, exploits, so no need to rehash any of that.” She
