Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Fifty-nine

And on another unnamed island in the South Pacific…

“That does it.” Gwendolyn Swan sat back from the computer and scrutinized her online handiwork. “The last traces of our communications with Cutler Steen are gone. There’s no way the Foundation can connect his operation to us. We’re good.”

“I told you it was a mistake to use Steen,” Eloisa said.

“No, you did not.” Gwendolyn got to her feet and stretched. She had spent hours scouring the dark web to make sure every hint of Aurora Islands Pharmaceutical Laboratory had been erased. Fortunately, the extremely expensive vanishing program appeared to have worked as promised. “I distinctly remember you complaining because Steen’s drug trials were progressing too slowly.”

“He was paid to test the latest version of the formula—not to create psychic assassins.” Eloisa grimaced. “At least we got some answers.”

“Face it, all we really learned was that some people can tolerate the new version without a dose of paranormal radiation to activate it.”

“No, we learned much more than that,” Eloisa said. “We discovered that the formula can release previously latent or semilatent core talents. That’s a huge step forward.”

“And in the process we managed to do what we most definitely did not want to do,” Gwendolyn said. “We not only attracted the attention of the Foundation, we caught the eye of the Sweetwaters.”

“Don’t worry, we’re safe.” Eloisa surveyed her small laboratory with an air of satisfaction. The room gleamed and sparkled with state-of-the-art equipment. “And we now know that Aurora Winston was on the right track all those years ago when she speculated that the right dose, given to individuals with the right paranormal profile, can greatly increase the sensitivity of the paranormal senses.”

“True.” Gwendolyn opened the door of the lab and walked out onto the veranda. The balmy island atmosphere settled over her. She savored the view of the diamond-bright ocean, the sandy beach, and the lush tropical foliage. “I don’t know about you, but I need a drink. The past few days have been exhausting.”

“Good idea,” Eloisa said. She switched off the lab lights and followed her sister outside.

Gwendolyn stopped when a thought struck her. “It occurs to me that in one sense our experiments are still running.”

Eloisa raised her brows. “What do you mean?”

“It will be interesting to see if the offspring of the test subjects inherit their parents’ paranormal senses.”

“They will get some version,” Eloisa said. “No doubt about it. The formula works at the DNA level.”