“He wanted to use his partner’s child as a prototype,” I said.

“Yes,” Caroline said.

“And Raymond was too weak to stop him.”

“Raymond wanted to plead with the board, to appeal to their ethics.”

She let out a short, dry laugh that had no humor in it.

“Ethics do not exist at that level of national security, Natalie.”

“I knew what Voss would do to you.”

“I knew the physical toll the early serums took on the subjects.”

“Most of them did not survive past their twelfth year.”

She reached out, her fingers twitching slightly as if she wanted to touch my shoulder.

I stepped back, my heel hitting the metal frame of the main terminal.

“So you broke my mind instead,” I said.

“I built a shield,” Caroline corrected.

“I used Raymond’s own research to install the cognitive blocks.”

“We engineered the behavioral triggers to mimic a learning disability.”

“We made you look average.”

“We made you look useless to Voss.”

My back was pressed against the cold metal casing of the computer.

I reached my hand behind me, my fingers searching the dark edge of the terminal frame.