Sloane Read Online Free PDF

was a different kind of
smile. It was full of satisfaction, and it made her face twist in a
way that disturbed me.
    I blinked.
    And her face was back to normal. Soft and welcoming.
“Don’t worry, Sloane, I don’t want you to hurt anyone. This is a
different kind of mission.”
    “Different kind?” But killing people was what Op
Wraith did. We were assassins for hire. Op Wraith had created us
for pure profit.
    She nodded. “Yes, this is more of a… fact-finding
mission.”
    I didn’t understand.
    “You got good grades in science in high school.” She
was stating this as truth. She had access to all my old school
records. “You won a chemistry award.”
    I nodded slowly. What did this have to do with my
mission?
    “You’ll be posing as an intern at Costello Labs.
They’re a leading manufacturer of medicine. That’s not what I want
information about, though. They have experimental products in place
as well. Products that might rival some of the things that
Dewhurst-McFarland has manufactured.”
    Dewhurst-McFarland was an arms corporation, but
they’d worked on prototypes of various biotech weapons. For
instance, they’d designed the serum that had made all of us
indestructible supersoldiers.
    “You can do that, can’t you, Sloane?” said French.
“Get information about their secret labs? You’re such an unassuming
little thing. Practically invisible. Once you’re inside, you’ll be
able to find out exactly what they’re up to.”
    * * *
    “Wait, I do remember this,” said Silas. “You were out
of Op Wraith for like six weeks at that place. It made me crazy,
because I couldn’t do anything about it. I was terrified that
French was going to force you to do the same kind of work I was
doing. She pretty much told me not to interfere, or she’d start
sending you off to sleep with guys for money.”
    I felt cold all over. I was glad that Silas had
protected me from that. I didn’t know what it would have done to
me. But I hated the fact that Silas had been through so much to
protect me. Sometimes, it felt like everything that Silas had gone
through had created a debt that I could never repay. More than
once, he’d done things—horrible things—to keep me alive, to keep me
safe. And with all of that piled up in our life, everything always
felt unequal between us.
    I wanted to do something for him. Something big. I
wanted to take the big fall. I wanted to balance things out a
little bit.
    “Well, what did you find out?” said Griffin. “What
were they doing in this lab?”
    “I don’t know exactly,” I said. “I stole some
formulas and got them to French. I think that they formed the basis
of some of the other formulas she created. The injections that
erased memory and other things like that. I torched the lab after I
did it, and they thought it was an accident. All their research was
down the drain, but French had it. Basically, she used me to knock
them off at the knees and make Op Wraith even more powerful.”
    Griffin made a face. “That sounds like French, all
right.”
    “Well, it’s been years since that happened,” said
Silas. “You think that they’ve gotten back to where they were? That
they’re making injections like that again?”
    “Maybe,” I said. “They had human test subjects. I saw
them. It was awful.”
    “So, they were just like Op Wraith then. Another
ethically bankrupt group of people messing with people to make
money,” said Griffin.
    “Isn’t that what all corporations are?” I said.
    We were quiet.
    Griffin started to pace again. “Okay, okay. But it
still doesn’t make sense. Why would they call Leigh?”
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    “You think they’re the ones who snatched her?” said
Silas. “The ones who snatched Knox?”
    “We can’t know that. Leigh and Knox have no
connection to this lab.” I chewed on my lip. “Unless… unless you
count French.”
    “No.” Griffin turned on his heel and glared at me.
“Jolene French is dead. She