Olento Research Series Boxed Set: A Paranormal Science Fiction Thriller

by Sarah Noffke

  “Yes, sir,” Drake said, sounding less than enthusiastic.

  “And do it right away. I need him to take out that woman protesting werewolves. She’s creating too much trouble for us,” Mika said, stepping back away from the door. Then he launched it shut just as Kris slipped through the space, her lean frame making it easy for her to slide between Mika and the door. He was always bolting doors open and slamming them shut. Real anger management problems in that crazy mastermind.

  “And do it right away,” Drake said, mocking Mika, his head toggling back and forth and his face creased with annoyance. The things Drake said about Mika when he thought he was alone were hilarious. More importantly, Kris was convinced that the old man was close to breaking because the muttering under his breath about his boss had increased lately. When Drake had entered one of the other lab rooms, Kris sped to the door at the far side of the hallway. She didn’t know how much time she had or if she could even get away with this.

  Checking her back, she confirmed the hallway was empty when she pulled back the door to the Canis Lupus lab room. Neither one of the prisoners noticed the door being opened by an invisible figure. Rio lay across his cot, making the bed look tiny in comparison to his large frame.

  “Hey,” Kris said in a whisper through his bars.

  He jerked up his head, his black curls falling to the side as he did. “Who said that?” he said, sitting up at once.

  “Remember the invisible girl you escorted out of the Institute?” Kris said, pulling the key from her pocket.

  “What do want?” Rio said, rolling his eyes and lying back against the wall.

  “I want you to get me back into the Institute,” she said, peering over her shoulder as Malcolm rose to a standing position. He had heard them and was under Mika’s control. That werewolf just might call out for guards at any moment.

  “If you hadn’t noticed, sweetie, I’m a prisoner of Olento Research yet again,” Rio said.

  “And I’m an invisible woman who is a master at stealing things,” she said, holding up the key, but then remembering he couldn’t see it since she was touching the object.

  Rio popped into a standing position. “You’re going to let me out,” he said, too loudly. Kris checked the entrance again, knowing at any minute one of the scientists could enter or worse, Mika could have found the key missing.

  “I’ll let you out on one condition,” she said and paused.

  “You want me to get you back into the Institute. Yeah, yeah, for sure,” Rio said, nodding his head, looking impatient.

  “That was easy,” Kris said, sliding the key into the lock and turning it until she felt the click. Rio burst through the opening, slamming the door back with a loud clang as he did and nearly toppling Kris over.

  “Watch it,” she said, moving to the side.

  “I can’t see you, if you remember,” Rio said.

  “Right,” she said, and then doom crashed down on her. She’d been too reactive, just wanting to get revenge on Mika. Well, and more than anything, she wanted back into the Institute. She wanted to use her powers for good. However, Kris hadn’t thought this through and now she didn’t know how she was going to get this giant out of Olento Research. This lab room was at the back of the building and they’d encounter loads of guards and employees on just the way to the side entrance, which was the closest.

  “Open this cage,” Rio said, stomping over to the cell where Malcolm stood, appraising Rio like he was the monkey in the cage.

  “I can’t. I don’t have the key and I also don’t think he’ll go willingly. He’s been brainwashed to work for Mika,” she said, bitterness coating her words. That used to be her.

  “Sorry, man,” Rio said through the bars to the other werewolf, who increasingly looked about to erupt with calls. “I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

  “Rio, we have to get you out of here before someone comes,” Kris said.

  “How do we do that? Can I plow through these walls, like I did before?” he said, indicating the white plaster walls.

  “Probably, but let’s try something else,” Kris said and reached out and wrapped her hand around Rio’s giant hand.

  He startled from the sudden touch of her cold fingers. Kris’s hands were always freezing. “Hey there, little lady. We need to escape, not get frisky,” he said.

  “Shut it, brute,” she said. “I’m not sure, but I think—” And she didn’t have to finish her sentence because the proof stood before her. Rio’s form flickered and then he disappeared. “As long as you are touching me, you’ll stay invisible.”

  “What? No way,” he said, astonishment in his voice.

  “Well, an invisible woman has the power to make anything she touches disappear. Mika made me into the ultimate thief, he just never suspected I’d steal from him,” she said, tugging Rio toward the exit. “Now be quiet and try not to knock into anyone we pass. Let’s get out of this hellhole.”

  Epilogue

  This can’t be happening, Adelaide thought, head down and fingers gripping the roots of her hair. She kissed a werewolf. Actually, he kissed her. And now she was in a shitload of trouble. If anyone found out, she’d be guilty of mixing business and pleasure. Trey Underwood wouldn’t care. Trent, her boss, wouldn’t care. But she cared. It made her look sloppy. More than anything, it made her look like a hypocrite. It was final. She had to kill Rox. That was the only way to avoid the blonde bimbo finding out and rubbing the hypocrisy in her face. Or better yet, maybe she should murder Connor. He was the real problem here anyway. How dare he use his intellect and wit to make her tolerate him? Adelaide didn’t like people. She prided herself on that fact. But Connor was obnoxiously different and it was driving Adelaide insane.

  “Addy,” a familiar voice said. She pulled her head up, realizing that her strands of hair had fallen into her salad, which she had no intention of eating.

  “What?” she said to Aiden as he approached. The main hall was mostly empty and the residents of the Institute usually left Adelaide alone at her back table. However, Aiden didn’t really get cues and so was always trying to be friendly to the girl.

  “I’ve got incredibly, brilliant news for you,” he said, sliding into the seat next to her.

  “You’re going to take a course on boundaries and learn that people have personal space and not to invade it?” she said, sliding a napkin over her red strands, sopping up the olive oil from the salad dressing.

  “Your father and I used to play this game,” he said, with an obnoxious smile. “You have no idea how many times he told me to off myself.”

  “You should have listened to him,” she said.

  “Well, good thing I didn’t, because I made a breakthrough on the werewolf reversal conversion project,” Aiden said.

  Adelaide leaned forward, her eyes suddenly full of interest. “Go on,” she said.

  “First off, you’re a genius and a true asset to—”

  “Get to the fucking point,” she said, slamming her palm on the surface of the table.

  Not at all deterred by her insolence, Aiden’s smile widened. “I tested your idea and I think it’s entirely possible to create a drug that allows the men to change at will. It’s actually a fantastic solution, because taking the werewolf out of them is too risky no matter what I try,” the scientist said.

  Adelaide leaned back in her seat, relief flooding her being. “Well, and I don’t think Zephyr was going to allow any more testing on his pack members anyway. Will the drug be safe?” she asked.

  “I think so,” Aiden said and almost hopped as he pivoted to face Adelaide more directly. “Here’s my idea. In essence the drug will pull down the wall between the man and the wolf. I’ve been studying Hunter’s samples and that’s exactly what it appears happened for him. He embraced the wolf, but I don’t know how to replicate that from a behavior standpoint. But chemically, I’ve got a concrete set of data.”

  “So you’re saying that you think it’s possible to give the men this drug an
d they won’t change into werewolves every seven days?” Adelaide said, eagerness leaking out of her voice, although she was straining to hide it.

  “Yes, they would only change at will,” Aiden said. “They could control the wolf.”

  “Which means…” Adelaide trailed away. It signified the best-case scenario for the pack. It signified that they’d be safe. More importantly, it meant those around them would be safe. It meant they could have a life. And it meant that they could have a life with others.

  Adelaide closed her eyes, finally feeling hope. They were so close to taking down Mika and Olento Research. And now they had a solution for the werewolves. She felt hope for herself too, but that she wouldn’t be admitting freely.

  The End

  One-Twenty-Six Press.

  Bad Wolf

  Sarah Noffke

  Copyright © 2017 by Sarah Noffke

  All rights reserved

  Copyeditor: Christine LePorte

  Cover Design: Andrei Bat

  All rights reserved. This was self-published by Sarah Noffke under One-Twenty-Six Press. No parts of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. If you are seeking permission send inquiry at http: www.sarahnoffke.com

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Summary: One man will kill to get back what belongs to him, even if he destroys himself in the process.

  Published in the United States by One-Twenty-Six Press

  ASIN: B072NNVDJB

  For Tommi Ann,

  for being such a loyal supporter and a lovely friend.

  BAD WOLF

  Prologue

  A tortured scream filled the lab room. Mika slammed his fist into the arm of the chair where he sat.

  “How much longer?” he said through exasperated breaths.

  Drake eyed the IV bag hanging on the rack next to Mika, no urgency in his eyes. “I’d say at least another minute,” he said with an indifferent shrug. “Maybe two or three.”

  “Ahhhh,” Mika said from the back of his throat, clenching his eyes tightly shut. If he pressed them hard enough maybe that pain would distract him from the fire pouring through his veins. This time was worse than the last, which made no sense. A few years ago Mika underwent the process for increasing his speed, making him as fast as the werewolves were now. However, the drugs, according to Drake, had worn off. That’s why the speed Mika had enjoyed when moving around Olento Research had gradually dissipated until he returned to his normal pace.

  “This is the same formula as before, correct?” he said with his eyes still pressed shut.

  “Yes, you said you didn’t want to take a risk by increasing the dosage,” Drake said, sounding irritated by having to answer the same question a second time. If Mika could get into the scientist’s head then he’d find out if he was in fact hiding anything. Something wasn’t right, but Drake was all he had at the moment. Finding someone to replace him would be impossible, so he’d just have to trust that the German was only more grumpy lately and therefore unable to control his attitude. Mika would punish him for his tone later, but now the burning in his blood owned his attention.

  The drug sank deep into his tissues, spreading along his blood, carrying its fire with it as it did. Mika held his breath when it arrived to his lungs, bathing them in flames that he was certain had the capacity to split open his chest. He’d never felt this kind of agony when undergoing a procedure. Was it because he’d done so many things to his body? Was his body rejecting the drugs?

  “Breathe,” Mika heard Drake say in front of him and he let out a hot breath that burned his nostrils.

  “Just another minute,” Drake said, his tone still mechanical.

  “You said before that I only had a minute,” Mika said through clenched teeth, losing his breath on the last word.

  “Not much longer,” Drake said, and Mika could hear him flick his fat fingers against the bag of drugs that were intravenously being delivered into his body. A rush of the drug shot into Mika’s arm, and unable to control it he let out a scream that echoed off the empty lab walls. He gripped the arm of the chair with his other hand, feeling close to breaking it off.

  Soon he’d make himself super strong, like Rio. That’s why he was doing all this anyway. He was going after the werewolves himself, if necessary. The night he discovered that Kris helped Rio to escape from Olento Research he’d torn the place apart. That little bitch was going to pay for what she did. Rio and Kris were Mika’s property and he was going to get them back and beat them until they were compliant. The Lucidites thought they could win against Mika, but he’d only just begun to fight. Soon they’d be begging for mercy. But it would never come. He was going to recapture his werewolves, steal everything of use from the Lucidites, and then kill them all. And Mika knew that his victory was imminent. Soon he’d be more powerful than any of the werewolves. He was the true alpha wolf and his pack would bow to his reign.

  Mika growled as Drake withdrew the needle from his arm, bandaging it as he did. The pain receded with each steadying breath. When Mika pulled his eyes open he noticed a strange look on Drake’s face. Was it a smile? With a speed he hadn’t felt in many years, Mika yanked his arm away from the scientist’s reach. He then bolted to a standing position and sped through the lab and across the Olento Research facility, making it to his office in record time. He in fact had enhanced speed, and therefore Drake could live another day.

  Chapter One

  “Dream Travelers are a rare race who can travel to any place and time with their consciousness using their dreams.”

  - Dream Traveler Codex

  He slipped his fingers across the fibers of the white handkerchief. It had a blue stain on one corner, probably from a ballpoint pen. The life of the handkerchief displayed in Connor’s mind through a series of images. Usually they flipped through his mind in a quick, random show, only pausing on one or two long enough for him to make out details. His eyes sprung open so he was staring straight at Zephyr.

  “What did you see this time?” Zephyr said, leaning forward.

  “There’s over two dozen guards on duty at any given time,” Connor said, remembering seeing the employee roster that Haiku reviewed every morning, sometimes while wiping his brow with his handkerchief. He was the person who had owned the object which Connor was using his psychometry to read.

  “Why in the hell would an organization need that many guards?” Rox said, more as an aside. She was sitting next to Zephyr, as she normally did, but backward in the leather seat, her legs straddled around the chair. From the way Adelaide kept eyeing the girl, she didn’t approve of the casual way she was sitting. Connor didn’t think it was because Addy was mad at Rox’s disrespect of the office furniture.

  “There’s video surveillance in all the hallways and lab rooms,” Connor said, closing his eyes and trying to recall the images.

  “Okay, so after an hour of this bloody shit all we know is that Olento Research is heavily guarded. Can you offer anything more helpful so we know more than to be careful?” Adelaide said.

  With his eyes still closed, Connor released a slight smirk. She just couldn’t be nice. He didn’t think that kissing her would change that. At least he hoped it wouldn’t. Others might be turned off by Adelaide’s brazen nature, but Connor found it endearing. He found everything about her attractive, but he was also certain that she’d run if he told her that. Still, she’d allowed him to kiss her and now that was all he could think about, even though she liked to pretend it hadn’t happened.

  “Mika isn’t at Olento Research on Monday mornings. Drake has been clocking in later on those days, but Haiku allows him to change the security records to reflect otherwise,” Connor said, swiveling around and fa
cing Adelaide, who was standing at her usual place at the end of the table.

  “So now we know Mika parties on the weekends and has a human resource issue. Thank you so very fucking much,” Adelaide said, swiveling her eyes away from Connor’s as soon as he looked at her.

  “You’re absolutely welcome,” Connor said, almost enjoying that his gaze obviously made her nervous. She’d come around to him sooner or later. He’d be there when she did.

  “I think this will add up to something we can work with to create a strategy,” Zephyr said, sketching down notes on a pad of paper.

  “You’re bad at math,” Adelaide said.

  “Why don’t you just give me the address and I’ll stop time, walk in there, and release Rio and Malcolm?” Kaleb said. He was sitting on the other side of Connor, propped up on his elbow, like he was considering taking a nap on the conference room table.

  “Damn! Why didn’t I think of that?” Adelaide said with mock shock. “Case closed. Let’s all go home.”

  “Although I appreciate your bravery at stepping up to the challenge, I think what Adelaide is so thoughtfully trying to say is that might not work,” Zephyr said. “You can only stop time for a couple of minutes and from the information Connor has supplied on the layout, that probably won’t give you enough time to get in and out of there.”

  “So I go in there. Time continues. I stop it again and then get the weres out of their cages,” Kaleb said, like it was a done deal.