Some Gave All Read Online Free PDF Page A

the old man?
    “But did she return to combat duty?” the man persisted. “Did you see her die the way they said she did?”
    Cat could practically observe Vincent’s mind working as he considered his next words. “I visited her several times in the infirmary,” he said, surprising her further. “I never saw her in the field again. But the infirmary was destroyed in the firefight you were told about.”
    Cat shielded her confusion from Mr. Riley by placing the letter in an evidence bag. Vincent had told her that when he and the other supersoldiers had gone on a rampage, the infirmary had been destroyed. Had Lafferty been inside? Did Vincent carry the guilt of that death as well as that of all the others that she knew about?
    Cat’s own mother had been at that camp, and put her life on the line to protect the “beasts” the government project known as Muirfield had created. She was the doctor who had given Lafferty the shot to stop her seizure, and J.T. had replicated that formula when Vincent had exhibited similar symptoms. Back in Afghanistan, Vanessa Chandler had requested time to work with the beast-soldiers, to reverse the medical damage that had been done to them. But all the government had wanted was to “shut them down.”
    To kill them. To do that, they were willing to kill her, too.
    “So, if there was a mortar attack, an assault, she may have died in the infirmary when it was destroyed,” the man said slowly, reluctantly. And suddenly Cat realized that he was hoping that his stepdaughter was alive. A monster, maybe, even a serial killer, but still here. The idea stunned her. Still, she herself had absorbed the shock that Vincent had killed people, and still loved him. Yet to hope that it was your child who was tearing innocent civilians limb from limb…
    “That might have happened,” Vincent said vaguely, “but I can confirm that she never returned to the field of engagement.”
    Cat’s phone buzzed. It was a text from Tess.
NEED YOU PRECINCT ASAP
. She showed the message to Vincent and said to Mr. Riley, “We need to go, Mr. Riley. Before we leave, we’re going to look around your property.”
    “Thank you. I have a garage out back. Here are the keys.” As he fished in his pocket, he looked so relieved that she wanted to give him a hug. Instead she began to clear his house, walking slowly through the rooms, checking for signs of unusual activity, and for electronic surveillance equipment. Vincent was right behind her; away from the man’s view, he beasted out slightly. She was depending on his tracking senses to augment her search.
    When they were finished with the house, Vincent reported, “Nothing in here.”
    They left through the kitchen door into the backyard. About ten yards away, a detached garage sat in drifts piled up to the windows. If the old gentleman owned a car, he hadn’t used it in a while.
    She peered into the window and spotted a sedan, and beside it, a motorcycle. The forlorn motorcycle was coated with dust. Stepping back, she indicated that Vincent should look in, too. With a shake of his head to indicate that no one was hiding inside, he opened the garage door. Cat went in, and tried the car door. Locked. The car was so old that it didn’t have an electronic lock. She found the correct key and opened up the car. It smelled old and abandoned, a thing of the past. A life shutting down.
    They went back inside. Mr. Riley anxiously rose as if he’d been awaiting a verdict.
    “How do you get to your medical appointments, Mr. Riley?” Cat asked.
    “Usually? Subway.” He raised his chin as if daring her to state the obvious: that a terminally ill man of a certain age shouldn’t be taking the subway for any reason, much less for his cancer treatments.
    Her phone buzzed again. Tess was impatient.
    “I’d like you to get locks on your garage door,” Cat said. She pulled out her card. “The city can help with that. And with transportation as well.”
    “I’m fine,” he