The Chimera Project (Chimera Protocol Book 1)

by Jolie Mason

  "There are unintended consequences. In the form of a feral type of rage I can’t control."

  She watched his fists ball tightly, as she gripped the side of the cot to remain steady in a world suddenly precarious. "Yes, there would be. That’s far too much alteration of the code, and that’s why it isn’t possible."

  He suddenly occupied her space, very far into the personal bubble. She leaned away from him as he sniffed her hair and skin, in a very animal fashion. Something about the way he held his body suggested he was a force of nature tightly leashed. Intense desire for something made his eyes glint wildly. At that moment, he was a predator.

  "Do you know how you smell, Doctor?"

  She swallowed hard, causing him to grin wickedly. "Like food?"

  "It's hard to know, Doctor. Like prey, certainly. I can smell the sickness on you, but, beneath it, I scent weakness. And, I want it. Part of me wants to tear you apart. I need you to fix me, and soon. Some of us may not have much time."

  CHAPTER THREE

  Samuel didn't want any of this, kidnapping and hurting this woman, but it was getting worse for all of them. They would only be able to hide their real intentions from Central so long. He looked at the doctor, sitting on the narrow bunk with her hair falling out of her graceful up do, and almost sighed again.

  "Can you fix us?"

  She hit him with brilliant, shining eyes radiating resentment."What kind of resources do you have? Obviously, I can’t go back to Heinrein and demand anything. Assuming I believed you, I'll need several things. The first and foremost would be to go in and steal my own research files.

  They are uploaded to a private server each night when I finish. Then, I'd need to do exams of the men and women you claim are part of Chimera."

  "I claim? Remember Thompson?"

  She stood, anger vibrating through her only slightly shorter frame. "Yes, Samuel. More veiled threats. That's precisely the way to deal with me. Do you have a lab?"

  He nodded. "Fully equipped and in a secure location."

  "All right. Well then, I'll need one of your people to go to my home. I have a portable link that allows me to reach my own secure server where I keep my side research and my personal notes. I'll need that. I'd like them to pack me a bag, as well."

  "We can provide you with clothes."

  She turned sharp eyes his way. "If I do this, I'm not doing it as your victim. Is that understood?"

  Samuel turned his commanding glare on her in frustration. "And just why would you be willing to do that, Doctor?"

  "Because, I didn't design this hybrid project with this in mind. It was supposed to extend and save lives, not destroy them. Guarantees were made to me, Chief. I intend to see they are honored. One way or another. If I find my work was breached, you will have all my willing help."

  Samuel took in the up tilt of her exotic, angry eyes and the stubborn angle of her jaw. This woman had fire in her, that much was certain. "Let's say I believe you …."

  "I don't care if you believe me or not," she interjected.

  "Say I believe you. How will we get your research? I assume you have an idea."

  "I intend to walk in and take it. That's all. I assume I'll have to have you hanging on as I do it?"

  "Someone is going with you. I would prefer it be me."

  Her lips tightened into a thin line. "It works to our advantage. What's your clearance level?"

  He met her eyes. "Top 2, why?"

  "That's high enough. You'll be allowed in with me as a visiting guest."

  "I'll need a cover, a reason to be there." She smiled grimly at his observation.

  "You already did that, remember? Maxwell thinks we're sleeping together. So, we're planning a little getaway. It fits his narrative, and has the added benefit of allowing me to watch him lose his mind at the thought of another child taking his toy."

  Samuel whistled loudly and crossed his arms. "Don't hold back there, Doctor. Tell me how you really feel. And, did you just call me a child?"

  "I've spent a great deal of the last few years of my life under Max's thumb, Chief. Only a small part of that was spent as his lover. There may be residual bitterness, and yes, I did."

  "To put it mildly," he murmured. "So, I'm just there because…?"

  "We're stopping by on the way to the transport station. That's all."

  "So, I'm there strictly as your plaything. I'm not sure if I should be insulted or titillated."

  "That's really up to you, Chief."

  "If we're pretending to be lovers, you should get in the habit of calling me Samuel."

  "I'll remember when it's needed, Chief. You just focus on keeping your instincts under control so we don't have you flashing your alien eyes all over the place."

  He set his eyes solidly on the floor. "Tiger," he said quietly.

  "What?"

  "My eyes. It comes from tiger DNA."

  "There are no tigers. They're long extinct."

  "Don't ask me how, but I am a tiger hybrid."

  "No," she shook her head. "At most, I'd call you an augment. The changes must be limited. Very limited."

  He looked up at her again with eyes shining gold. "It doesn't feel limited."

  There was that bubbling rage churning inside him again. He felt something inside him shift when his eyes changed, like instinct took over. He just wasn't sure what to do with it. The most disturbing thing to him was the fact that he liked it. He liked the power he felt contained in his body. He liked the feeling of being stronger, and, at the moment, he liked the scent of this woman beside him.

  Before he knew his own mind, he'd leaned around and caged her against the small dresser, each of his hands white knuckled on either side of her body. He ran his nose along her hair and down to her long neck, taking in more of that sweet, vanilla scent as he went.

  "Samuel," she said quietly. Her body was still and tense. Her voice uncertain, and he felt that. Yet, he couldn't step back, couldn't stop. "Samuel, what is it?"

  "You," he growled in her ear. "You smell amazing."

  "Do you often have these impulses toward females, Samuel?"

  It was a clinical question asked in a very emotional voice. He shook his head. Only with her, he thought distantly. Only her.

  She drew in a deep breath, making him very aware of the rise of her soft breasts against his chest. "What impulses are you having, Samuel?" Again came the calm, clinical question. "It's important that you be honest."

  "Protect. Defend. Mate," he told her. The territorial need to secure her for himself appalled him a little. He ran his lips over her brow in a broken kiss. So lost in the emotions, he truly wasn't sure what he would do next. "Mine," he finally whispered.

  He pressed closer. She put a small hand on his chest to maintain a small distance. "Samuel, you're still a man. You can't just take what you want."

  The words penetrated the fog of her scent in his nose and the feel of her touch. "Take what I want," he repeated the words like they were in a foreign language he didn’t understand. "That's not what I'm doing."

  She patted him soothingly. "Good," she said softly. "Good."

  He realized then she wasn't exactly scared, but she was worried about his intentions. He jerked himself away, walking backwards to press himself against the solid surface of the opposite wall. "That's not what I'm doing." This time he spoke as much to reassure himself as her.

  "Your eyes are normal again, Samuel. It's passed. You're okay." Her soft words worked slowly into the fog around his brain.

  "What was that?"

  She never looked away, approaching him slowly, like he was a wild animal to be tamed. "You don't know?"

  He shook his head. "That's never happened before."

  Terror tore through him. Never in all the time he'd been augmented had he felt this out of control, this inhuman. It must have shown on his face. What would he have done?

  "Look at me, Samuel! Look at me. We'll manage it. Okay?" She looked fierce as she declared. "We will figure this out."


  CHAPTER FOUR

  She forced a carefree facade at each security checkpoint. The latent ability to act must be in her genes, because she amazed herself. She and Samuel, a virtual stranger, had strolled into the facility without a care, his arm clasping her waist, as they pretended to be new lovers.

  Even now, she stood waiting on the guard to go through her bag while the huge man beside her toyed with a spot on the underside of her ear with his clever fingers. She supposed it couldn't really be called acting when she curled into the touch like a kitten.

  Her murmured against her jaw. "I can't wait to get you on the beach."

  The friendly guard named Sal, according to his ID, grinned broadly. "Big plans, I see."

  Samuel grinned against her temple and jerked her close, her side to his front. "Absolutely," he said. The guard laughed and handed her the bag.

  "You enjoy this vacation, Dr. Manning,"

  "I will," she purred, taking the bag. " I will."

  Her office was down the longest corridor and to the right through the lab. She led him there with a fake smile plastered on her face. Nerves made her gut tighten, but the man beside her added a whole other element to those nerves.

  She gestured to the locked door behind which her work was secured. "In here."

  Inside, she went straight to her computer and accessed her files. She tied into her secure home net and linked up with her off site server. Then, she set to work uploading the decryption program that would unhinge all her work files and upload them to her private network. Removing the encryption would take a good amount of time. She turned and looked at Samuel who appeared unable to step away from her and couldn't take his eyes off her neck.

  "It's just us. You don't have to keep up the pretense."

  He pushed her hair back and stepped up close behind her. "Who says I'm pretending, Eisley?"

  She kept her eyes glued to the screen indicating thirty percent uploaded. It moved so slow, she thought, closing her eyes. His hands moved over her waist, his mouth approached her neck where he blew softly on the sensitive skin there.

  He ran his mouth over her skin , and she gripped the desk's edge hard. "Samuel," she said weakly. He smiled against her skin.

  His left hand crept up along her hip, possessively. It brushed the side of her breast in the thin fabric of her blouse. "Your eyes," she whispered turning her head toward him.

  "Are fine," he murmured into her skin."Where's the upload?"

  "Halfway," she answered.

  He turned her in his arms and pressed her back over the screen. His mouth edged down her jaw, then back to her ear, which he bit gently making every feminine part of her body take notice.

  "We're being watched," he whispered, then kissed her furiously for a very long time. Eventually, she heard a small indicator from the computer behind her. The sound disappeared in a haze of sliding tongues and soft lips. It had been a while since she'd even been kissed, let alone this passionately. She licked her lips as he pulled slightly away.

  Maxwell Trege's voice preceded him into the room. "I heard you were in the building." Disapproval dripped from each syllable.

  Eisley turned back to the screen, shutting off the finished upload. "Yes, Max, I'm in the building for a moment, then we're off to the ocean."

  Samuel's arms wrapped around her waist loosely. "Good to see you again, Max."

  With his handsome face pinched in disgust, Trege looked at Samuel with his arms around Eisley and remained silent, but for a stiff nod of his head. Eisley continued to erase evidence of her upload or its destination.

  "I'll be out of your way in just a moment, Max. I just needed to finalize the results of the last batch of tests, and mail the outcome upstairs."

  Max hummed a sound, and clasped his hands behind his back. She smiled at the keyboard because that gesture meant he was particularly pissed off. He glared at her as she closed the screen out and stepped back into Samuel's arms.

  It was, perhaps, a little childish, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

  "There we are. Ready for some relaxation." She smiled up at the man who held her, and almost laughed at the quirk of his lips and the glint of mischief in his eye. He knew her game.

  "That's one word for what I have planned." He teased her as much as the other man in the room, because it was hardly the word for digging through reams of test results to determine if her project was being appropriated for some military purpose.

  "Ready?" she asked with a suggestive smile.

  "More than," He hooked her elbow, then grabbed up her bag and handed it to her. "Enjoy your week, Max."

  Max moved around behind them toward her computer, while she and Samuel headed for the door. Nerves bubbled in Eisley's stomach. If they were caught now, it would be the end of her career anyway, since she'd just broken about a dozen laws by uploading those files.

  "Eisley, stop!"

  She found herself freezing at the order Max barked at her. "You cannot have seriously thought to just walk away like this?"

  Fear curled low in her belly as she looked back at the irate man that, by some strange magic, she'd once found attractive. She didn't now. He still looked just the same; perfect smile, perfect suits, perfect hair. However, standing next to a man like Samuel, she couldn't help but notice the tarnish on the scientist. She focused on the steady warrior's presence at her side to stay calm.

  "In fact, I did."

  "Eisley, you know the protocols better than anyone. You are just walking away with your security profile open and activated? Anyone could use that profile for any kind of industrial theft. I'm surprised at this level of carelessness."

  "Ah," she said to him as walked just past the other man and put in the few strokes it would take to shut down her profile. Relief flooded her soul at those words. She'd thought herself thoroughly ended. She cut a sly look at Max. "I suppose I"m just in too much of a hurry to hit the beach."

  The way she said the words implied her hurry had nothing to do with the beach. Samuel laughed and held out a hand to her. "We'd better get moving then."

  They repeated the process of leaving the building the same way they'd come in, and nothing happened. Yet, it wasn't till they were safe in Samuel's economy class vehicle that was just about too small for him that she breathed in a deep breath at last.

  "You got what you need? There's no going back."

  "It's all in my personal off site server. I just have to access it. Do you have the specs on your lab?"

  "It's what you need." He pushed an on screen menu with pre-programmed locations and leaned back in the seat as the car easily steered itself into traffic and out to the highway.

  "How can you be so certain of that?"

  "Because it's the relocated remains of the lab my unit was created in."

  She turned to study his profile a moment. "First, you weren't created in that lab. You are yourself, no matter what was done to you. Second, how much data remained of the original files?"

  "All of it that we are aware of."

  "You're certain."

  He nodded and looked away. "The facility was to be decommissioned. They left that task to us. Instead of destroying it, we moved it."

  "Surely, the staff is aware you took the equipment." He glanced at her, troubled more than a bit, by the unspoken question. She read the look slowly, realization dawning. "Oh, they ordered you to kill the staff."

  His jaw clenched. "Yes, and it was no hardship." That sentence bit out with all the bitterness she thought his body could hold. It also said clearly that he was done talking to her for this trip.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Samuel stared at the schematic on the big screen for their latest target. He sat at the briefing table surrounded by their irascible comms officer, his second, Lt. Jeffery Tanner, and Officers Curtis and Siler.

  "This makes the most sense as the primary entry point." He spoke to the room at large as he played scenarios in his head. One scenario he didn't expect was the slamming of the door at the ot
her end of the war room as it swung open revealing a determined Dr. Manning and a flustered Thompson.

  "I need to talk to you," she demanded.

  "We're in the middle of something, Doctor." The doctor's eyes flew over the schematic and the files visible on the game board. That was their name for the display, not the military's.

  "You have another facility target." It wasn't a statement.

  Star made a sound. "Sir, are we really letting her in on classified information here?"

  He looked at Dr. Manning's focused face in profile as she took in the board. "Doctor, I can come see you right after my briefing."

  "You have staff dossiers in that pile, right?" Without looking at him at all, she stuck her hand out for the files without peeling her gaze from the board.

  "I have them, but... ."

  She pinned him with a commanding look and gestured give me with the hand she'd extended. "You want me to look at these files."

  He handed her the dossiers. Samuel wasn't sure why he did it. It was just instinct. She flipped through each one in turn, even as she turned and sat down at the head of the table next to him. She tossed three to the tables surface and handed one back to Samuel.

  "Dr. Natalya Korsky, genetic engineer. She has the practical experience I lack. She's 45, single, lives alone. Married to her work. That was until her last paper was published on the process of fusing various sea species’ genome with human in order to help regrow biological replacement limbs. That process was part of the basis for my research, fusing genomes to boost immune response in sick patients. She's been off the grid for nearly a year."

  Star scoffed from the other side of the large oval. "And you know this how?"

  Manning turned to look at her as if just noticing her. "You're the one who knocked me out. Thanks for that." Sarcasm dripped from her. She continued, "Because I tried to reach her only to be told she was out of the country on sabbatical. I needed help with the practical application of… ." She looked around the room at the blank faces, shook her head, and went on. "Never mind. It's not unusual, but, for Korsky, it was highly irregular. If there is a chance she isn't there willingly, I want her."