Yet she had already made up her mind. Last night, he thought they had solidified a promise to see it through together. As she lay in his arms in the late hours of darkness, she’d said a breathless good night. But what she’d really said was good-bye.

The gold medal was covered with dull scratches and beads of mist. It reminded him so much of Harper. At one time full of shine, now tarnished and changed forever. Yet like the gold, she still glowed under it all.

And like the cherished medal, she would endure. Even if she didn’t know it yet.

He had to stop her. Had to let her know she had a life worth fighting for. And a love worth giving a chance.

Shoving himself up, Rome raced into the cabin and got the things they had planned to take. Five minutes later, he was in the Bug speeding to stop her from making a horrible mistake.

He couldn’t blame Harper for doing what she thought she needed to do. But he was downright furious with her for thinking she could leave him behind so easily.

Damn it all. He just hoped he could get to the compound in time to let her know she was going to have a lifetime to make it up to him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

It took longer than she thought for the guards to notice her as she walked inside the walls. She was near the courtyard grass, almost to the walkways before they turned their heads in her direction. Idiots.

They stared for a few seconds, then snapped out of their surprised trance and marched toward her, pulling their weapons around. She maintained her leisurely pace, steeling her body for the fight of her life.

Harper stopped halfway down the wet cement walkway just as the two guards slid to a halt, mere feet away from her, the barrels of their rifles pointed directly at her chest.

“Hello, boys.” Her voiced dripped with a menace that coursed through her entire being, welcome and rousing.

She raised her right hand and called upon her psi power. The rush of ice through her blood was instantly replaced by a swell of heat. Then a surge of energy shot from her mind to her hand and toward the two men, the near-invisible force propelling them off their feet to land far on the other side of the courtyard grass.

Two other men materialized from the building on the left, charging toward her at full speed. She brought her left hand up and flared another wave of energy at them with the same satisfying result.

She reveled in the addictive energy that pumped through her body and mind, just waiting, thirsting to unleash it again. A rustling of motion from above drew her attention to the roof of the building on the right. Guards on the roof. The load cracks of their rifles sounded. So much for her theory of their keeping her alive.

Harper whipped around and brought up both hands, palms out, creating an ethereal shield, freezing the bullets in midair as they shot toward her.

She pushed another wave of energy against the barely perceptible buffer, sending the bullets back at the shooters high above. Short screams reached her ears as her targets were hit by their own ammunition.

A group of men poured out of the main building and lumbered toward her, their boots kicking up splashes with every step. They had no weapons, but that didn’t keep them from looking dangerous.

No, they didn’t need guns. They were bio-enhanced. But not like her. She was stronger. Singular. Pure.

She grinned at her confidence. At the unparalleled power of her mind.

Two men shot a surge of energy at her. She could see the air displace as the cloudy wave swelled toward her like an oncoming flood.

She effortlessly met the surge with a clear one of her own. The space between Harper and her targets crackled like lightning as the crushing forces collided.

A handful of other men behind the two at the forefront added their power to the psionic fray. She met their energy as well with more than enough of her own. Her grin widened. Maybe she wasn’t suicidal. This was going to be easier than she thought. And fun.

More footsteps in the soggy grass of the courtyard behind her. She spared a quick glance over her shoulder to see another group of brutes briskly approaching her position in the center of the quad. For crying out loud, did Jeff seriously have an entire army at his disposal?

Narrowing her eyes, she turned sideways and moved one arm behind her, launching powerful waves toward the newcomers to hold them off while she continued with the other arm to battle the men she’d already engaged.

Harper’s blood was on fire, sizzling through every fiber as her psi power raged like a ravenous caged beast inside her mind. Her body became a giant dynamo, radiating improbable power inside and out, searing her muscles and singeing her skin.

Closing her eyes, she saw red sparks flare behind her eyelids. The blazing heat threatened to overtake her, engulf her body in an unearthly inferno. If she could open her eyes right now, she wouldn’t be surprised to see her clothes in flames.

So she did. And her superior psionic power was wearing her adversaries down.

Incredible. Harper couldn’t help the heady sensation of invulnerability. Rather, she greeted the feeling as though it was finally coming home. If the psi power was going to kill her, what a way to go.

Focusing on the men in front of her, she decided to crank it up a notch. When she swam in a race, she had always been able to tap into her strength for a little extra boost when she’d needed it. She decided to use a trace of those reserves now, but also save some for later. If she’d even need it.

Reaching inside her mind with a fiery talon, she sent a shock wave down to her hand and willed her psi power to tear through the onslaught of pounding force the men were bringing from the front.

And it did. Cutting through their resisting murky energy like a razor to silk. Barraging through their bodies in a ghostly surge and dropping them as if they were rag dolls. Dead. For Bobby.

With a pleased smile, she turned to fully face the enemies behind her. Using both hands now, she centered her mind’s focus on their substantial attack. There were more of them than she’d just killed, maybe ten or twelve, but it was hard to discern through the heated fury coloring her sight.

Bringing her hands back toward her chest, she quickly pressed her open palms toward them, again and again, pushing the men back with swells of energy.

With each forceful thrust, she drove them farther and farther away, until she broke through their defense completely and hurled them through the air. Their limp bodies fell cruelly to the damp grass. Unmoving.

More spattering footsteps on the pavement trickled through her concentration. She whirled around to face the entrance of the complex once more. Four men walked toward her, but without the hostile intent of the others. They held guns, but they weren’t aiming them at her.

A greeting party? Finally.

Harper stepped forward to meet them, stopping when they halted about twenty paces away from her. Maybe they were giving up and this was some sort of parley. Somehow the thought disappointed her. She had so been looking forward to tearing through each and every one of them to get to Jeff Donovan and destroy the horror that he’d created.

“Enough,” she snarled. “Where’s Donovan?” She waited, half hoping they’d make the slightest move. Wanting to unleash more fury upon them.

“Ms. Kane.” They parted like a curtain, revealing the source of the strangely familiar voice.

The man from the lab. The man who had murdered her brother. The man who had ordered Rome to hunt her down.

Jeff Donovan.

She knew he’d be here. And she also knew he wouldn’t keep their bargain. That was okay. She hadn’t intended to keep it, either. There was no way she’d ever give this vile piece of filth her brother’s formula.