A Girl Called Seven: The Sentinel Series, #3

By Valery Keith

Like her sisters Nina and Emily, Sara is enjoying her life as a normal young woman, especially her new role as big sister to the younger children.

So when a dog-fighting ring threatens the peaceful community they have come to love, she and her sisters spring into action once more to shut it down. But once they do, they discover that some of the criminals have friends in very high places. 

Now, their family under threat, all the children will band together to protect their home, no matter what that means.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Valery Keith
• Release date: Jan 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781944535254

Book preview

Chapter 1

Senator Jack Alton glanced down at his watch as the testimony dragged on.

While he loved the power, attention and money, he found this part of elected office tiresome. Any time an issue arose in public awareness, they had to put on this show. So they would gather, squabbling and posturing for the cameras, getting their names out there so some citizens might remember it next election.

After all, without term limits, this was a long game. They became rich and powerful by following the same strategies embraced since feudal times, since they worked so very well. Like benevolent lords of old, they used the entire geographic region and the people living there as their fodder for a better life. Like medieval serfs, the public worked to feed the coffers of their betters, of which he was most certainly one.

He hadn’t started out like that, of course. He’d been scraping by as an attorney when he had first been elected. But because insider trading was not a crime for elected officials, he’d rectified that soon enough. It had been easy. He’d waited until the latest extension of the interstate had been finalized, but not yet released to the public. Then he’d bought up as much land as he could along the route, financing himself to the hilt through his very agreeable bank, which also understood how things worked in reality.

Eighteen months later, he was a multimillionaire.

Seeing that, he was determined to be reelected. So he did favors when asked, which were reciprocated when election time came, keeping him in place to do more favors. It was a very efficient cycle, which had kept him in place for four terms now. He’d made millions each year through stock trades and real estate sales, leveraging all the privileged information his office provided to him for his own personal gain.

That was how the game was played, after all. No one could be so naive as to think a power broker, someone capable of operating at this level, would take on this chore for any other reason. His colleagues bore that out. They all enriched themselves when they could. There was no law against it, after all, and it was foolish to leave money on the table when the world was so very uncertain.

The irony that he and his colleagues consistently voted against term limits, restrictions on their personal financial enrichment and anything else that would spoil their fun was not lost on him. He just didn’t care. Unlike some, he’d not started out an idealist, then been crushed into retreat or corrupt compliance under the weight of modern politics.

He’d begun benignly corrupt to some degree, because the power and money had been what interested him the most. After all, to gain that legitimately would mean a soul-crushing amount of work compared to getting elected to a public office. Getting elected was a few years of brutal struggle, but not decades like it might be were he forced to distinguish himself any other way, assuming he even could. He was handsome, intelligent and well-spoken, but other than lying well and making people like him, he had no particular talents or skills. Outside of politics, his road would have been much harder.

But with politics, he was as wealthy as any titan of industry, despite producing nothing. He didn’t even feel it was a bad bargain for his constituents. He did look after them and address their concerns, though they fell far below his special-interest patrons on the ladder of importance. If those two interests conflicted, then he would spin it so the public fell into line soon enough. Once they were fed the narrative enough times, they always did.

It had gotten more difficult to balance everything lately, though. His son, Alan, had always been a high-spirited boy, which had meant his daddy had to occasionally bail him out over the years. Alan’s antics had not always put his father in the best light, of course. But since boys will be boys, there wasn’t much to be done about it. Prior to now, it had meant some payoffs to offended young ladies and a few stints in rehab.

Most recently, it had been another drunk driving incident. That had been both expensive and sticky, as Alan had taken offense to the arresting officer’s attitude and had assaulted him. That had left his father with no choice but to pay off the officer to get him to drop the charges. That was bad enough. What had been worse had been the criminal records of the three young men in the car with Alan, miscreants whom he foolishly considered friends.

It had turned out that Alan had made some very unsavory friends, connections he would never have been allowed had his father known about them up front. His son didn’t need to consort with criminals, after all. He was a United States Senator, which meant there were so many legal ways to profit from his insider knowledge that neither he nor his son needed to break the law. So had he known the specifics, he never would have willingly allowed Alan to make friends like that.

But he had been busy with his re-election campaign, which meant he hadn’t had time to deal with Alan. Now he was hearing very ugly rumors about his son, suggesting he too was involved in some very unsavory activities. Since his new friends made their money in very questionable ways, like illegal gambling, Jack was understandably concerned. He’d worked very hard to stay within the letter of the law his entire career, because there was so much leeway that he could get everything he wanted that way, and in record time, too. So this did not please him at all.

Alan was not the problem, of course. He was just a young man finding his way in the world, easily misled along the way. Yes, he’d had some issues in his past, but those had been more about him associating with the wrong people than behaving badly. After all, he knew his son, so he knew those claims about him were lies. But even still, Alan’s recent behavior was troubling and dangerous to his father’s eventual re-election. That meant he was probably going to have to do something about his impetuous son before the situation worsened.

Tuning out the speaker, the Senator pondered his options.

Chapter 2

Rand was standing with his wife, watching the blur out the window as the girls sped by.

It still amazed him how fast they were, so that the greyhound with them was running flat out. He didn’t think they were running at their top speed yet though, which was hard to believe. But Rand had stopped doubting anything where these adopted children of his were concerned.

There were eight of them now, including Cole, who had started off as his ranch-hand before becoming an honorary son. Then had come Nina after her escape, her sisters Sara and Emily hot on her heels and just as interested in living a normal life, which would never be possible with their intended use as assassins. Created and genetically modified to be used as military assets, the girls had joined forces to stay free long enough to pass along the proof of their existence to Charlotte Anderson, an investigative journalist who had broken open the story, bringing Sentinel Biotech, the company responsible, to their knees.

Along the way, they had renamed themselves, altering the numbers they were assigned as names into actual human names, so that Nine became Nina, Eight became Emily and Seven became Sara. Once named like normal girls, they had done their best to behave just like that, helping out at the ranch and taking college classes. Aside from some rather rambunctious roughhousing on a daily basis where they beat on each other while giggling the entire time, they were model daughters to him and Stacey and beloved sisters to Cole.

But even in freedom, they were still connected to their parent company, unfortunately. They had learned that when they had been activated to help their siblings, four younger children created with the same basic genetic material purchased from Sentinel. But those children had been at risk of much worse than being sold to the military. Instead, they had been slated to be killed, destroying all evidence of the illegal program which had created them under the auspices of a government grant.

So the girls had rescued them with some help, collecting all kinds of incriminating evidence along the way. That too had been passed along to prosecutors via Charlotte Anderson, since they could trust her to always do the right thing. So she had, even ensuring these children could stay here with their biological sisters for the years that their case would take to wind its way through the courts.

Considering how they all had taken to these kids, he was more grateful for that than he could say. He’d never been a father until all these kids had just shown up needing the help of a sympathetic adult, but once they had, he wouldn’t change a thing. He and Cole were still building the new addition on the house, which they hoped to finish in another month or two. But until then, they were doing fine, even if the kids were sharing rooms. He glanced over at Stacey with a smile, seeing how big her eyes were as she continued looking in the direction the girls had gone.

Sure takes some getting used to, doesn’t it? he murmured. The good news is that when we get old and feeble, the kids can just carry us around all day. Should save us a lot of money on wheelchairs, ramps and walkers. He shot her a look as he quoted her. So there is that, at least.

Stacey burst into laughter, shaking her coffee mug so hard it nearly spilled.

Chapter 3

Sara was currently running with her sisters and their greyhound, Zephyr.

Genetically altered as they were, they weren’t yet running at top-speed, but the dog was. He loved their daily runs, when he could run as fast as he wanted, for as long as he wanted. They generally did a few fast miles each morning with him, circling the ranch so that no one outside their family would see. Haven and Ashley, their herding dogs, came too, but they had since learned to double back along the route if they fell too far behind. So they would appear and disappear during their runs, excited barking fading in and out based on how close they currently were.

Now, as they approached the house for the last time, based on how Zephyr had naturally started to slow, Sara slowed with him, careful not to let the leash pull on his neck. Unlike Haven and Ashley, who were bred to work on a farm and so had no urge to roam, greyhounds had to be kept leashed. If they were free in an open area, the risk was too great that they might simply start running and end up far enough away to be lost by the time they finally stopped. Worse, they could be killed by a car while trying to cross the road.

As fast as she and her sisters were, they could catch Zephyr before that ever happened. But Rand had asked that the girls simply never take that chance, reminding them that keeping the dog leashed in open areas was a requirement they agreed to when they adopted the dog. Should Zephyr be unleashed outside a fenced area, not only would they be putting the dog at risk, they would be breaking their agreement.

Even worse, Rand had reminded the girls that they might hurt or scare the dog while chasing and catching it, which was a cruel thing to do to any creature. Being that keeping Zephyr leashed was the sole condition he demanded before agreeing to adopt the dog for them, they had cheerfully agreed.

Now, as they reached the house, they were walking, Haven and Ashley tearing across the lawn to intercept them. As Nina and Emily fussed over them, Sara led Zephyr into the house before unsnapping the leash. He went right into the kitchen and the water bowls, while she followed to pour kibble into the three dog bowls, just as the other two dogs burst into the kitchen. After long, noisy drinks, all three dogs were crunching away, just as Stacey came into the kitchen, a coffee mug in her hand and a smile on her face.

Good morning, girls, she said. How was your run?

Good, Sara replied as she pulled out a few bowls and the oatmeal from the cabinet. I fed the dogs.

I can see that, Stacey replied, as she glanced at the dogs finishing up their breakfasts, then smiled at Sara. Thank you, honey. That was very helpful. I’m going to scramble up a big batch of eggs and get some bacon going, since everyone should be up soon. She glanced at Nina, who was watching the dogs with a smile. Nina, sweetie, you want to start the toast? Then her gaze shifted to Emily. Honey, can you take out the fruit salad I made last night? I’m trying to make sure the kids get enough fruits and vegetables.

The kids were their younger brothers and sisters who had been living with them now for just a few months. It was odd, to go from being raised in a lab to having such a big family, but Sara actually liked it. The house was always filled with noise and activity now and she never felt alone.

The girls, Cassie and Ellie, were only seven, while Otter was ten and Leo was twelve. Like she and her sisters, they were genetically engineered for military use. But unlike them, their younger brothers and sisters weren’t meant to be the perfect assassins.

Instead, they were created to be an infiltration and espionage team, with each of them having specific talents. Cassie was a remote viewer, skilled enough to give them real time information on enemy movements, while Ellie could hack any network or