Altered Read Online Free PDF Page B

recognize:
    Sam shows extreme signs of aggression and
defiance to anyone within the program.
    And later:
    Sam slipped seamlessly into the leader role.
The others allowed him in without hesitation.
Must continue to isolate this characteristic
to replicate in future groups.
    I skimmed a few more pages, stopping when something caught my eye.
    Sam has escaped us again. Alerts sent to
all the proper channels. Possible aliases—Samuel
Eastlock. Samuel Cavar. Samuel Bentley.
    Sam had escaped? Why would he have had to? And more than once?
    Apparently his relationship with the Branch stretched further back than I’d thought. Sensing that I was closer to the information Sam wanted, I scanned through the stack of papers, looking for the name of a town, something concrete I could tell him about his life before all this.
    Sam and team found at Port. Wiped. OP ALPHA
will soon commence.
    Port—Sam had said he liked water. But what was OP ALPHA?
    I kept reading, but an hour later, I had made it through two files and really had nothing to show for it except more questions. I’d just gotten up to grab another folder when I heard the couch in the living room creak.
    Dad.
    I scrambled, straightening the files. I went to the cabinet to replace them, but accidentally opened the third drawer down. An empty file caught my eye, an old label still attached to the outside.
    O’BRIEN, it read.
    Dad coughed.
    I stuffed Sam’s file in the correct drawer and made sure it locked as I closed it. Tiptoeing up the stairs, I made it to the second floor without a sound and finally let out the breath I’d been holding.
    Dad never checked on me at night, but still I hurried into my pajamas and climbed into bed. The sheets felt cool to the touch. I lay awake for a while, staring at the ceiling. I couldn’t stop thinking about Sam’s file.
    Why had he needed me to look in the first place? Why hadn’t Dad filled in the blanks for Sam a long time ago?
    Unless the Branch wanted to keep something about Sam’s past from him. And if that was the case, I was violating protocol by sharing the details.
    I didn’t like going against Dad, but Sam deserved to know about his past, didn’t he?

5
    I SET MY ALARM CLOCK FOR SIX THE next morning, thinking I’d sneak into the lab before Dad got up. I must have turned it off without realizing it, though, because I didn’t get up until after eight. By the time I headed downstairs, Dad was already in the lab. I was kind of relieved; I still wasn’t sure how much to tell Sam.
    Stomach grumbling, I threw a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. I popped a few ibuprofen and massaged the healing muscle in my back. My lack of sleep the night before hadn’t done me any favors, and my next combat class was just a couple of days away. I’d been in the course for several years, and the instructor was not the type of guy to go easy on me.
    Not that I was complaining. I always left the studio feelingstrong, agile, and powerful. Sometimes I wished the boys could see me in class—I wanted them to know I was capable of more than just making cookies and filing charts.
    As I waited for my toast to finish, I stood at the sink, watching the tree branches sway in the wind. In the distance, a trail of dust billowed behind a line of black Suburbans traveling down our dirt road.
    I straightened. Connor. I’d forgotten he was coming today.
    I ran back upstairs, threw off my pajamas, and dressed quickly in jeans and a henley. I slipped into a pair of tennis shoes as the trucks pulled into the driveway and parked wherever they could find room. Riley was the first to climb out of his vehicle; behind him came Connor, followed by several agents.
    The men shadowed Connor to the side of the house. He didn’t bother knocking before opening the door into the mudroom, and I met him and Riley at the few steps up to the kitchen.
    “Morning,” Connor said, flashing me a smile of unnaturally white teeth. Tall and gorgeous, he was charismatic on