Infected (26 page)

How many times had Carina wished for a miracle? Even though she’d seen her shot, Carina had kept a tiny, secret hope alive that her mother had survived. Everyone involved in Project Venice was either in jail or dead. Major Wynnside was overseeing a massive investigation of every project undertaken by the lab in the last three years. The token generator had survived being stashed in Tanner’s sock, and now Walter’s research was in good hands, protected with every resource at the government’s disposal.

In time, Project Venice would fade from Carina’s thoughts, but she would probably spend the rest of her life wondering, every time she saw a woman who resembled her mother, if it really was her. She doubted she’d ever stop missing her.

Being an orphan was something that took a long time to get used to. There were days she was furious with her mother and Walter, days when she wished they could have been accountants or teachers or janitors—any job at all, as long as it was safe.

But the Monroe legacy did not prepare a person for safe choices. There was something in the bloodline that was attracted to risk and danger and the unknown. Project Venice had been irresistible to her mother and uncle, and
now Carina was following in their footsteps. She was taking classes to fulfill her general education requirements this fall at Alta Vista, and with a little luck, in two years she would enter UC Berkeley as a mathematics major focusing on cryptography, studying under many of the most prominent data security experts in the country. Once she graduated, she would find herself in some agency dedicated to keeping the country safe, and that kind of commitment didn’t come without real risk.

The red-haired figure disappeared from view. But there, in the middle of the bleachers, a bright flash of sun caught Carina’s eye, and a small hand waved frantically at her. It was Caleb, Tanner’s youngest brother, wearing the mirrored sunglasses Carina had bought him on a family outing to an amusement park.

And there, wedged between his little brothers, was Tanner. He was too far away for her to see his expression. But she didn’t need special powers to know that his smile was the one he reserved for her alone, that his eyes held the love she had come to depend on.

For a day and a half, Carina and Tanner had been among the most powerful humans the world had ever known, capable of astonishing feats of strength and speed. The antidote had made them ordinary again in nearly every way.

Except for one. The bond between them had been strengthened by their ordeal, and nothing would change that. Long after anyone remembered that Tanner and Carina had once been superhuman, their love would live on.

Sophie Littlefield grew up in rural Missouri, the middle child of a professor and an artist. She has been writing stories since childhood. After taking a hiatus to raise her two children, she sold her first book in 2008 and has since written more than a dozen novels in several genres. Sophie makes her home in Northern California.