Higgens stared at her with malevolence.

"You were the one who decided to sabotage the experiment so my father would think it was a failure and the project would be shut down. But he was so much smarter than you anticipated and he became suspicious of the brain bleeds. They didn't make sense when he wasn't using electrical pulses. He'd told Thornton of the danger, hadn't he? So you used it to kill the men."

"I'm lost, Lily," General Ranier admitted.

"I'll make certain you understand fully just how many men he murdered for monetary gain," Lily said. "You're going to spend the rest of your life in prison, Colonel, with your friend McEntire. None of that money you sold out your country for and murdered for is going to do you any good, so I hope that you enjoyed every penny while you had the chance to spend it."

"General McEntire?" Ranier echoed. "He started in the Air Force. As a young man he was assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office. Later he worked in building and operating spy satellites. He was influential in getting Donovans the defense contract."

"He's buddies with Thornton," Lily pointed out.

"They went to school together," General Ranier said sadly. "We all did."

"I'm so sorry, General," Lily said and put her arms around him.

"THE story broke this morning in the papers, the networks, and radio," Arly announced. He leaned over and kissed Rosa squarely on the mouth, grinning unashamedly as she smacked him with a rolled-up newspaper. "McEntire, Higgens, Phillip Thornton, and several others were charged with murder, espionage, and several other crimes."

"It took them long enough to complete the investigation," Jeff complained. He leaned heavily on his cane. "I thought I was going to die of old age before they finished it. What took so darned long?"

"General McEntire and Colonel Higgens were well-respected men with impeccable records," Kaden said. "The rot started years ago, back in school when they decided they were smarter than the rest of the world and thought it would be a great game to be spies. Both of them liked the excitement of it and felt that outwitting everyone around them was half the reward."

Ryland nodded his head. " Thornton talked so much they didn't know how to shut him up. He wanted some kind of a deal. Thornton was in it for the money. He agreed to help Higgens sabotage the psychic experiment because he hated Peter Whitney. Whitney was smarter and had more money and power than Thornton. They'd butted heads a few times, and Thornton always came out looking like an ass. His image was everything to him. Once he started imagining slights, he couldn't wait to get rid of Whitney. He gloated about helping Higgens lure him out to the ocean where they could kill him. He told him he had important information to give him about Higgens and Peter was worried enough to go alone."

Arly winced. "Lily wasn't there to hear that, was she?"

Ryland shook his head. "No, she's been so busy, trying to keep Donovans on its feet and save jobs and the corporation's reputation, she hasn't had time for anything else."

"Oh yes, she has." Jeff nabbed a handful of potato chips. "Ever since General Ranier put her in charge of our operation, she's spent the majority of her time thinking up masochistic exercises to strengthen our brains. When she's not doing that she's into physical fitness. And then there's therapy. The woman is a slave driver."

"You're just mad because she invited your family to come and see you and your mother sided with her over your therapy," Ryland pointed out. "And she better not catch you eating those potato chips either. Aren't you on some kind of nutritional plan?"

Rosa gasped and slapped the chips out of Jeff's hand. "What do you think you're doing? You eat an apple."

Tucker winked at Jeff and floated a bag of chips right off the counter straight to where he was lounging in the doorway. Rosa pretended not to notice, consoling herself with the fact that "the boys," as she called them, were all becoming stronger and practicing the things Lily had told them were important.

"Where is Lily?" Arly asked. "I haven't seen her today. She didn't go to the laboratories this morning, did she?"

"On her wedding day?" Rosa was horrified. "She better not have."

Ryland stood for a moment in the brightness of the kitchen, absorbing the laughter and the camaraderie that Lily had somehow managed to provide for them all. She had generously shared her house with the men. Had given her time and knowledge to the men. They were all stronger for the things she had done and the home she'd provided for them. Even Jeff had progressed remarkably well.

Ryland's entire team was in good standing with their commander and the unit was functioning well on practice missions. General Ranier was taking an active part in their day-to-day operations. Things couldn't be running smoother… for them. Lily was bearing the burden of it all. Making up for her father's mistakes. Frantically trying to save jobs and lives. Working secretly and silently to find the young women whose lives had been tampered with so early in their existence. His Lily.

He knew where she would go on her wedding day. He sent Nicolas a faint smile and sauntered casually out when he was feeling anything but casual. He went unerringly to her father's office, grateful that he had asked Arly to include his prints in the security code to open the heavy door.

The room was empty but he knew she was underground. He felt her, was drawn to her. He always would be. He locked the door after him, always conscious of security, just as Lily was. The room represented her childhood. It also held untold secrets of psychic research. Lily often got up in the middle of the night to go downstairs and read more. A lifetime of successes and failures her father had carefully recorded.

In spite of the horror she felt at what he had done, Lily was fascinated by it. As was Ryland. Now that his unit was functioning successfully without the threat of death, he wanted to know how to grow stronger. He wanted to know just what he was really capable of doing, what his men were capable of doing. The hidden laboratory was a storehouse of knowledge. He couldn't fault Lily for wanting to tap into it.

Ryland made his way down the steep narrow stairs, each step taking him closer and closer to her. He felt her easily now, the deep sadness that always seemed a part of her. His Lily, willing to take on the sins of her father and set the world right again.

Lily was staring at the frozen image of a young girl on the video screen. He could see evidence of tears on her face when she looked up as he approached, her. Her long lashes were spiky and wet, and just looking at her hurt him.

Lily smiled at him. "I knew you'd come to me. I was sitting here trying to decide if my father was a monster. And I knew you'd come."

Ryland took her hand, squeezed her fingers tightly. "He was a man with a sad life until you came into it, Lily. Remember the father you knew, not the man he once was. You changed him, shaped his life. You made him into someone worthwhile and he did his best for humanity after that." He sat down next to her, this thigh wedged next to hers, his body protectively close.

"I loved him so much, Ryland. I admired him and his brilliance. I tried so hard to live up to his expectations of me."

He brought her hand up to his mouth, rubbed her knuckles back and forth in little caresses over his lips. "I know you did, Lily. He was very proud of you, too. There's nothing wrong with a daughter loving her father. He earned that."

"I was trying to think how I would feel if I were one of the others. If I'd been abandoned because I was flawed. Can you imagine, Ryland? I'm almost afraid to contact them, even knowing I can help them should they need it." She touched the face on the screen. "Look at her eyes. She looks so haunted." There was a wealth of compassion in her voice.