Sarai served wine and fruits by the poolside. Since An Ning was not allowed to drink anything stronger than water, Richard poured her a gla.s.s of her favorite iced tea and gave her some peeled fruits which she nibbled on while walking leisurely with him around the pool.

When they neared An Ma, he pulled An Ning's arm and motioned towards Gara, who was by himself looking somewhat confusedly at a bottle of beer Sarai had given him. An Ning mouthed the word 'intern' to her father, who frowned and glanced again in Gara's direction. Just then, Matt, who was nervous to be talking to him but trying to act cool about it, asked him a question. An Ma was forced to bring his attention back to him.

Ceres appeared in the doorway and motioned to An Ning, who motioned to Gara. An Ning said a few words to Richard and followed her mother and Gara inside.

The three of them headed to one of the rooms which An Ning had recently cleaned up and converted to a war room. There were tables inside, some chairs and the most sophisticated computer hardware anyone could find anywhere, including the Pentagon.

The three of them sat at a round table, watching each other, waiting.

"Did you tell my mother what happened?" An Ning said, finally breaking the silence.

Gara shook his head. An Ning turned to Ceres and related what had happened, the attack in Moira's store, the discovery that the attacker was a drone, the attempt to hack into An Ning's computer system, Gara becoming human after he tasted An Ning's blood.

Ceres listened and did not interrupt. When An Ning finished, she turned to Gara who looked calmly back at her.

"The women came and attacked your village? Where?" Ceres asked.

"I don't remember where my village is exactly. I don't know the exact location. All I remember is that my grandfather and father were fishermen. My mother stayed home and looked after us kids."

"How old were you at that time?"

"Twelve."

"And they only took the men?"

"The younger men. The rest were killed."

"What happened after that?"

"We were transported somewhere. I don't know where because we were kept in something dark for several weeks. And then we were taken to this compound and we were forced to train."

"Train? Train in what?"

"Combat. And they experimented on us..." Gara took a deep breath. "They said it was to toughen us. And then the experiments became more brutal because they started fitting us with machine parts that basically transformed our bodies."

"How? Chemicals? Drugs?"

"I don't know. Somehow they found a way to fuse together skin and metal. Some of us died while others survived."

"Alchemy?" An Ning asked Ceres.

"Might be. Yu Yan took my mother's and father's books away when she left. Both were very interested in the dark arts, you know, but your grandmother was mostly interested in making or creating things like weapons or a time machine. She studied them because she found them fascinating, so did Father. But when I was born, Mother's interest became more focused on building a machine that she could use to travel through time and s.p.a.ce. Her books on alchemy she kept in the house. The rest were kept in the cave, mostly the blueprint for the machine."

"And you said Yu Yan owns a tech company, right? What type are we talking about?"

"Military and defense contracts."

"f.u.c.k!" An Ning swore.

Ceres smiled grimly.

"Is she building an army?" An Ning wondered. "Are there more of you in that compound?" she asked, turning to Gara.

"There are twenty of us as far as I know. They call us the hi-tech soldiers. There were about fifty of us when we arrived but the others didn't survive. We saw them die but we couldn't....we didn't know how to help them." Gara's voice cracked and steadied.

"Were you aware of what you were doing when they controlled you as a drone?" An Ning hated to ask but she had to know.

"Before they fit us with the parts, someone would force us to take something. It's not a pill or anything but a tonic. We would swallow it then our minds would sort of blanked out. The other night when I attacked you, I didn't even know what I was doing. I woke up when you were putting me back together. Then I tasted your blood and it was as if my mind immediately cleared and I became a human being again," Gara said, looking with an almost wors.h.i.+pful eyes at An Ning.

"That thing there, what he said, just what is that, Mom? I'm some kind of cure now for people who are part machines?"

"You have to remember that what we are dealing here is an enchantment, daughter. Call it alchemy, magic or whatever. That means it has a counterbalance that cancels its effect. Like water to fire, air to ice. I didn't know it could affect the blood though. It was essence with your grandmother. But the effect was the same. She could give life and take life. It seems you have inherited one of her elemental powers."

"Just a drop of blood could do that?" An Ning was shocked.

"She merely takes a bath in the waterfalls and the entire vegetation surrounding the house blooms as if by magic," Ceres says smiling. "You are, in fact, her true heir. You also inherited her strength."

"She's that strong?"

"Daughter, Hippolyta is the queen of the amazons. Do you know what that means? Her very breath is connected to each of those women. She dies, they die. When the next heir dies, they die. When I, as Hippolyta's next heir, tumbled, they tumbled with me. Do you see now? There is a symbiotic relations.h.i.+p that holds these women together. It's more than their love for war. It's generations of strength and independence. These women walk with wolves dressed as wolves, do you understand?"

Gara, who was listening back and forth as the women talked, suddenly piped in.

"You said something about Yu Yan just now?"

"You know her?" An Ning turned to him, surprised.

"One of the women mentioned her name when they gave me the tonic before the attack that night. I remember because she said Yu Yan wanted to increase the dosage because she wanted someone to die of fright. I don't remember anything after that other than waking in that room."

"So, she wasn't the one who controlled you. All the people who did this to you and the other people who were there were women?" Ceres said.

Gara nodded.

"I know that her tech company is fronted by a woman. Merius, Enxuo's wife. She is very effective and loyal. Enxuo tried once to take her back but she fought him. She said she didn't know who he was and asked him to leave her alone," Ceres said, with a sad shake of her head. "Enxou was devastated as you can imagine."

"Mind control, is that it?" An Ning asked.

"Or some kind of a drug that lets people lose their memories."

An Ning leaned back in her chair.

"How the h.e.l.l are we going to deal with this thing?"

"Will you help me rescue the men?" Gara asked.

"That goes without saying," An Ning said. "This Yu Yan is a really nasty piece of work. Tech soldiers? And why use a camouflage?"

"It was not for your benefit but her buyers," Ceres said. "Gara is a template. He completes a mission and governments will line up bidding for a copy. It's big business. The art of killing."

"I was a template?" Gara was angry. "You mean, this Yu Yan will make more of these human-controlled drones and sell it to kill more people?"

"Yes."

"Unless we do something to stop her though," An Ning said. "What do you plan to do now Gara? I mean, you've escaped their clutches but I don't think it's as simple as that. I think it would be better if you stay here for a while. You can plan what to do with your life after we've taken out Yu Yan."

"You plan to take her out?" Gara narrowed his eyes. "Then I will help you. What are you planning to do next?"

"I'll let you know after I've found what I'm looking for."

The next few weeks, An Ning was very busy. She managed the company from the war room and barely went out. Sam was ran ragged from nerves because of the upcoming compet.i.tion. Gara made himself useful by helping in the kitchen while Richard went back to work, alarmed by Du Lu's lackadaisical att.i.tude about new talents.

On a Friday morning, the office was broken in. Matt called An Ning who came to work in her pajamas. Nothing was taken except the pair of mechanical wings that An Ning had hid in a drawer. An Ning looked around the room with narrowed eyes; at the twenty or so people working in their cubicles. She immediately shut down the office by asking everyone to leave. She didn't give any explanation just waited until everyone left and walked towards a big plant standing in one corner.

An Ning parted several branches until she saw what she was looking for. Whoever made it had a weird sense of humor for the bug really looked like a bug. It was shaped in the form and color of a lady beetle and was about the size of a nail. An Ning carefully smoothed back the leaves, locked the door behind her and went back to the penthouse. Her phone rang. It was Matt. She disconnected the call and went to the bathroom and took a shower. Twenty minutes later, she left the penthouse and hailed a cab.

The taxi stopped in a quiet neighborhood. An Ning got out and entered a gym on the ground floor of a brick building. The tall man wearing a white towel slung around his neck and drinking water from a bottle looked up when she entered. His eyes narrowed into slits as his face broke into a warm smile.

"Haven't seen you in a while," he greeted. "Where have you been?"

"You know me?" An Ning asked.

"Of course I know you. You're Sims. Did you hit your head or something? Is that for real or are you wearing a foam underneath?" the man asked, indicating the bulge in her stomach.

"Foam. I found your name in my contact numbers. I need your help."

"Shoot."

"No questions asked, right?"

"Right. What's the job?"

"Kidnapping." An Ning answered.

The man didn't even blink an eye.

"Kidnapping with termination?"

"Just kidnapping."

"How much?"

"Fifty million. Half now. The other half later."

"Who's the object?"

"Me."