“Yes, sir,” replied the soft voice on the other end. “Right away.” Melvin looked up and then gestured to a chair in front of the desk. “Are you just going to stand there? Sit.”
Marcus lowered onto the chair, even though he would have rather remained standing. His butt hurt from sitting for so long, and his nerves were shot to hell.
Minutes later a blonde woman walked into the room carrying a tray. She set it down on the desk and scampered back out the door without a word.
Marcus kept from rolling his eyes. Of course his grandfather only had a demure, quiet woman at his beck and call.
“Eat. You must be starving. We haven’t stopped since lunch.” Melvin picked up a sandwich. “Then I’ll show you around a little. We’ll get you settled in what will be your quarters and get started first thing tomorrow.”
Marcus reached for the second sandwich, wondering how he was going to swallow a single bite. He was beyond nervous by now.
At least no one has tried to inject you with anything yet. That’s a plus.
Being drugged against his will was his biggest concern in this mission. If anyone slipped anything in his food or stabbed him with a needle, he could become helpless to defend himself or be of any assistance to the group of reserves he knew had the place surrounded by now.
He’d seen a man on the roof as they’d entered and assumed there were guards on the other side of the building. Melvin was cunning. He wouldn’t leave himself unprotected, even out in the middle of nowhere.
What are you up to, old man?
It took herculean effort for Marcus to swallow his sandwich while maintaining an appearance of nonchalance. He started slowly, concerned about being drugged. But as minutes passed with no obvious signs of impairment, he picked up the pace. As much as he loathed the idea of eating anything in this facility, he would need the energy. He couldn’t very well tell his grandfather he wasn’t hungry. It wouldn’t be believable.
When they finished, he waited for his grandfather to type at his computer for several minutes before the man stood. “Let’s get to that tour, shall we?”
“What exactly do you do here?” Marcus asked. To do otherwise would have seemed peculiar. Even though Melvin had given him vague answers at his parents’ home that morning, Marcus had nothing substantial to go on from his grandfather’s explanation.
“Experiments, son.” His grandfather turned to give him a look indicating he was a moron. “It’s a research facility. What else would you expect?”
At the condescending tone, Marcus decided to keep his mouth shut lest he be inclined to punch the man and ruin the hard work of NAR on the outside preparing to attack.
Melvin sped down various halls with amazing agility for a man as frail as he appeared. He pointed out mundane rooms as they went. “Restrooms. Lab. Break room.” He continued down another hall and then gestured the length. “Most of the staff sleeps in the quarters on this hall.”
He kept walking until he came to the third door on the left. “This one will be yours for now.” He slid a key card in the slot next to the handle and pushed through to the room.
For now? What happens later?
The inside was no more than a motel room. Double bed. Bathroom. Small desk and lamp. Marcus noted his suitcase sat at the end of the bed. That meant someone had retrieved it from the car.
“Get a good night’s sleep. We’ll be working early tomorrow. Someone will come to collect you at six o’clock. Use the alarm.” Melvin left as soon as he spoke those words, leaving Marcus both relieved and concerned at the same time.
The first thing he did was check the door he’d just come through. As he expected, it was locked. He inhaled slowly, trying to control his emotions. Of course the man wouldn’t want him wandering around the facility before he’d had an opportunity to introduce him to his new fate.
“This one will be yours for now.”
Those words ran over and over in his head. How long was now? He sure the fuck hoped it was longer than whatever time NAR needed to collect intelligence and bust down the front door.
Marcus had agreed to twenty-four hours inside before anyone moved. It would take the reserves that long to assess the manpower needed for the job and assemble the troops. It would also give Marcus the chance to gather as much information as possible. If NAR busted in too soon, they stood the chance of learning nothing of what was happening on the inside.
Marcus plopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He hadn’t been without his mate for this long since he’d met her, and he wasn’t pleased with her absence now. Hold it together. By this time tomorrow, hopefully it will all be over, and you’ll be free to enjoy Heather for the rest of your life.
How the hell was he going to sleep? And he needed to so he would be in top shape when the door opened in the morning. He would be useless to NAR if he was a zombie in the morning.
Pulling himself up, Marcus set the alarm. What a joke. And then he made his way to the bathroom to shower away the ugliness of the day and brush his teeth.
When he lay back down on the bed with nothing more to do but wait, he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Heather, baby, I hope you’re resting better than I am tonight. He doubted she was. But he could hope.
Chapter Twelve
Marcus was ready when the door opened in the morning. He was surprised to find his grandfather on the other side. The man motioned for him to follow.
“Is everyone locked in their rooms at night?” Being slightly antagonistic was a necessary part of the deed. If he were too willing to be led around like a trained monkey, Melvin would be suspicious. He had to keep reminding himself to question things.
“Yes. Keeps everyone safe.”
“From what?” The question popped out of his mouth unbidden.
“You never know.” His grandfather shrugged. “Come on. I’m going to show you some things that will blow your mind this morning.”
Marcus was sure.
The first place they went was a dining hall. Dozens of shifters scurried around the buffet and ate like little robots. No one paid much attention to the newcomer. Marcus wondered if they were under the influence of some substance to keep them docile. He remembered being in a similar state at times during his teens. Was this how his grandfather ran his facility? With robotic shifters who knew nothing else?
Marcus moved down the buffet line in the dining hall, carefully selecting only the things his grandfather chose, still concerned about being drugged. He hardly tasted anything and couldn’t describe it afterward if he needed to. He then followed his grandfather down several halls, trying to remember where he was and where he’d come from.
Finally they passed through two double doors and entered what looked like an emergency room. There weren’t any patients waiting to be seen, but the front desk looked busy anyway. Chairs lined the walls as though they were expecting a rush of incoming patients at any moment.
Marcus hoped he wasn’t the first victim of the day.
He said nothing as his grandfather led him past the staff and behind the scenes. Marcus looked both ways as they walked. Every room had someone in it on a gurney. No one appeared to be awake. Everyone had IVs attached to them, but Marcus didn’t notice anything else out of the ordinary.
“Are all these people sick?” he asked. Seemed like a reasonable question.
“No. On the contrary, they’re all in the best health of their lives.” Melvin kept walking. “Thanks to my medical experts.” As if that explains everything.
Marcus swallowed, fear climbing up his spine as they progressed farther into the facility. His grandfather was crazier than he’d expected. The man didn’t flinch as he pushed through another set of doors.
Marcus came up short as he stopped face to face with an enormous window. At first he didn’t see anything behind the window, and then he realized the room on the other side of the glass was recessed about twenty feet. He inched closer and peered below. What he saw took his breath away.
His gr
andfather snickered behind him. “It’s a sight to behold, isn’t it? I love seeing people’s reactions the first time they come in here.”
Marcus stood still, unable to move, which was a good thing because apparently he was giving his grandfather the appropriate reaction. He’d been briefed on what to expect if he encountered these giant superwolves, but nothing anyone described came close to what he saw below him now. He wasn’t even sure he was safe at this distance.
Two dozen wolves covered the floor below. The room was huge, but it paled against the size of those genetically altered beasts. Marcus wondered if their minds were altered as extremely as their bodies, or if they maintained some semblance of themselves under the ridiculous exterior transformation.
The wolves were two and three times larger than normal shifters. Other than their size, they appeared proportionally normal. Marcus had been told they were average-sized when shifted to human form, but he had trouble imagining that currently. “What happened to them?”
“They received gene therapy. My people have located the specific DNA that controls size and added a chromosome.”
“How many are there? Can you do that to anyone?” He knew the answer to the last question was no. Or at least it had been. The real question was whether or not his research was advanced enough to alter those shifters who didn’t carry that particular gene. Their latest intel alluded to that possibility.
“Over a hundred now. And not quite yet. But soon.” His grandfather slapped him on the back, shocking Marcus with his unexpected gesture. “You want to be the first to give it a try?” He chuckled as though he were kidding.
Marcus didn’t believe for a minute the man was kidding. In fact, he’d bet his last day on Earth he’d been brought here for exactly that purpose. “No. Thanks. I think I like myself the way I am.” He tried to smile as though he believed his grandfather to be joking. “It doesn’t look like that many shifters down there.” Marcus peered closer over the edge, pretending to be curious about the numbers.
“They aren’t all here on site. Many are at a training facility. The only thing we do here is create them. Once they’re declared healthy and released, they go to our other location for training.”
“Where is that?” Please keep the information flowing, Granddad.
“Virginia, outside Washington D.C.”
Marcus twisted his head to see his grandfather. The man stood there with a grin on his face. He was awfully proud of himself.
“Why D.C.?” He knew he wasn’t going to like the answer already.
“It’s a long story. That’s where my benefactor is located. I’ll explain more later. Too much information for one day. You look like you’re on overload, boy.” Melvin patted him on the back. “I’m proud of you for stepping up to the plate and joining the family business.”
Marcus turned back to the window. He needed to process everything he’d learned. Benefactor? That couldn’t be good. Did it mean someone in the government was in on this scene? Not just a human, but a government official?
Marcus resumed his focus on the supershifters. “What can they do?”
“Fight, of course. And win.”
“Fight whom?” The rest of us shifters? The government? He fought to keep from shaking.
“Anyone standing in the way of progress.”
Marcus wanted to ask what that progress was, but he decided to leave that one alone. “What are they doing down there?”
“Sparring. Practicing. Honing their skills.”
“Do they shift into human form?”
“Yes. Same as always. They just have extra speed and agility when in their natural form. It’s fantastic.” The look on the man’s face in Marcus’s peripheral vision gave Marcus a chill. The man was certifiable. If he’d ever had any doubts, those were laid to rest right that second.
“I see.” He didn’t, but it seemed like the right response.
They watched in silence for a long time. Marcus decided it was prudent to learn everything he could from these wolves. Their abilities might come in handy at some point. He hoped he could get word out to the reserves in the area what they were up against before they busted into the building, but the option hadn’t presented itself.
“Come on. I’ll show you more of the facility.”
Marcus followed, keeping his gaze on the wolves below as they passed the long window. If they weren’t so fucking enormous and crazed, they would look like any other wolves practicing for potential scrimmages in the reserves.
After witnessing that scene, Marcus found very little else in the building to be much of a shock. A tour of the lab showed a dozen shifters working around petri dishes and microscopes. His grandfather explained they were analyzing slices of DNA for potential splicing.
When they came to the end of a row of chairs, Melvin pointed at one and gestured for a man in a lab coat to come over. “Sit,” he said to Marcus. “Geoffrey is going to take a vial of your blood.”
Marcus stiffened. “What for?” He didn’t like the sound of that. At least he seemed to be taking it out, rather than putting something in. That would be much worse.
Melvin patted his arm, placating him. “Just to see if you’re a candidate. Always useful to know, right?”
No. Never. If I went my entire life without knowing that, I’d be fine. But he sat, eyeing the man with the vial suspiciously. Please God, take blood out. Do not put anything in. Marcus’s main objective for the next eight hours was to keep from being drugged. If he could just make it to the end of the day…
The man named Geoffrey didn’t make eye contact or speak a word to Marcus as he efficiently stabbed him in the arm and filled the vial with blood.
“Take it to the lab and test it,” his grandfather commanded.
Geoffrey nodded and strode away.
Marcus glanced to his left as he held a cotton ball on the blood welling up under his skin. He hadn’t noticed the refrigerator to his side when he’d sat, but now he stared at it, pretending to be preoccupied with his arm. The front door was glass, providing him the opportunity to see its contents. Hundreds of vials of what looked like plasma filled the small refrigerator. Half the vials had Alu47 inscribed on the sides. The other half had Alu79 on them.
Marcus suddenly wished he’d paid closer attention in biology.
“Ready?” his grandfather asked. “Let’s get lunch.” The man turned to walk away, and Marcus followed, soaking in every detail everywhere they went.
As they sat to eat, his grandfather spoke. “I must say, I’m impressed with your willingness to learn the details of my adventure and join the family.”
When he said family, Marcus didn’t know if he meant himself or the collective group of shifters in the compound.
“You were ornery as a teenager. Argumentative, I’d say.” He took a bite and then continued. “I expected you to be more contentious.”
Marcus smiled and shrugged. “Guess meeting my mate changed things. I can’t very well support her without a job. What better time than the present to join the family?” He repeated his grandfather’s word, leaving it hanging there with no more meaning than it had when Melvin said it. At least in Marcus’s mind.
“Well, I’m glad you’ve come around. You’ll be happy with your choice. Trust me.”
Marcus thought he should have felt at least the minutest amount of guilt over the fact he was about to throw his grandfather to the wolves, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel remorse toward the man who’d made several years of his life a living hell and planned to do God knew what to Marcus now.
He had until six o’clock to gather all the info he could, and then he needed to find a way to get out of this building. The afternoon couldn’t pass quick enough.
•●•
Heather’s knees hurt from crouching near the ground all day. She’d slept fitfully in the car during the night. The men had taken turns guarding the cars, watching the compound, and sleeping. Heather hadn’t been permitted to leave the vehicle for any reason
in the dark.
Now she wished she’d gotten better sleep. She was exhausted from watching nothing occur at the camouflaged green building she could see through her binoculars. The only signs of life were the four guards roaming the top of the complex. They held semi-automatic rifles and paced the perimeter, trading spots every half hour. Alex explained the building was basically a concrete bunker. Undoubtedly there was someone looking through surveillance cameras at the surrounding area, and unfortunately, gaining entry was probably going to be difficult without taking out the guards on the roof and blowing a hole in one of the entrance doors.
Heather prayed Marcus found a way to get out at six o’clock and he came out the same door he’d entered yesterday. The reserves were watching every possible entrance around the building, but they were best prepared to enter through the east door.
Marcus had fifteen minutes left, and then NAR was moving in with or without him. Please, God, let him open that door. She willed him to be okay and able to get out.
They’d chosen six, assuming the inhabitants would be at dinner at that time and Marcus might be able to break free as though heading for the restroom and make a run for it.
It was far-fetched at best, but the only option they’d managed to come up with without communication directly with Marcus since he’d left with his grandfather yesterday.
The chatter between everyone picked up as they readied themselves to move in. They had to go at precisely six because it was what Marcus was expecting either way. If he was trapped inside the compound, he knew at that hour to do his best to find a safe location.
Come on. Come on, Heather chanted inside her head. Alex was staying back with her. The rest were poised to advance. Their numbers increased over the last twenty-four hours from fourteen to a hundred. They had to hope the shock value would play into their plans. With no idea how many shifters were inside the compound, their only guess came from the size of the building.
Betrayed (Wolf Gatherings Book 6) Page 15