by Sophie Stern
“They understand they can’t return to their old lives. The Lucky team has a long reach. The shifters wouldn’t make it a day before they were picked up and hurt.”
“And where have they been living since they came back?” She moves on, jotting down notes as we speak.
“We set up a space for them.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“Apart from the community?”
Again, there’s no judgment, but she wants to know what’s been done to help these shifters. Apparently, isolating them on their own was a poor choice.
“A few of them lived in a space together,” I tell her. “It’s a house that’s been converted into apartments. The rest have either mated or live with other community members.”
“And the man you want me to see today?”
“Patient Zero, from what we can tell.”
“He was the first one sick?”
“And the one in captivity the longest.”
She writes this down and looks up again.
“What else can you tell me about him, Donny? Has he had problems before now? Obviously, he’s in a bad place. If he wasn’t, you wouldn’t have called me here. Did he hurt someone? Threaten someone? What kind of situation am I walking into?”
“There’s a human who came here a few months ago. She was part of Lucky.”
Sabrina sucks in her breath. I know this news surprises her. Of course it would. It’s interesting and unusual information. Why would we knowingly bring in a former employee of this hate group? Of this group that carefully, painstakingly hunts shifters?
“She’d only been with them a short time. About a week, officially.”
“And unofficially?”
“She’d done some contract work and some consulting appointments with them.”
“What happened, Donny?”
“There was a situation a few months back. I’ll give you the file. Basically, she was tricked into thinking Lucky was doing something to save the dragons.”
“Not unusual,” Sabrina taps her pencil on her chin as she considers this possibility. “It’s common for groups like this to focus on how they’re “helping” others, when in reality, the truth is very different.”
“She was shocked to find out what her organization was up to, to say the least.”
“Why is she living here?”
“She needed a safe place, and we weren’t about to let her go. We’re still trying to catch these guys, Sabrina. We’re still trying to take them down.”
“Take down a world-renowned evil organization? Ambitious of you.”
“You don’t seem to think we can do it.”
“On the contrary,” she says, setting her notes aside for a moment and looking at me carefully. “I think that your clan has some of the most beautiful, most enormous creatures in the world, Donny. If you wanted to, you could storm in and light them on fire. You could burn them to the ground.”
“So why shouldn’t we do that?” I ask her. “If it’s just that easy.”
“Well, it’s never that easy, is it? You could do that, but they might have traps. They might have government officials standing by who were ready to grab you. They could go nuclear on you and destroy the forest. If you went out and openly destroyed a pharmaceutical company without proving they are, in fact, corrupt, you could damage shifter-human relations on a global scale. The damage could be unmanageable. Unfixable.”
“You aren’t wrong,” I’ve spent so many nights talking with Wilson, with Cameron, with Lee. Lawrence and I have painstakingly gone over plans again and again, trying to find a way to make sense of everything that’s happened, to try to find a way to breach their security.
We need to find a way to let the world know that these people don’t want to save the dragons.
They want to annihilate us.
“Nicole – that’s the woman’s name – was in the bakery this morning. Reece snapped. I don’t know what the trigger was. He marched down and tried to attack her.”
“Tried?”
“Another dragon stopped him.”
“And then what happened?”
“Wilson brought him here for an evaluation. I cleared him to go home with Wilson.”
“Why would you do that? Why not sedate him?”
“Because he’s still a man. He deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, Sabrina. I didn’t think locking him up was the answer.”
“What is it you want from me, Donny?” She cocks her head, blinking her bright eyes at me. “Again, I’m not judging you. I’m not picking on you. I’m asking you honestly so I know how I should approach this. Are you hoping for reintegration with his old life? Are you hoping to find out what caused him to snap? Or do you want me to fix this guy so he can become a valuable and cherished member of your clan?”
“He can’t go back to his old life, but all of the other options? Yeah. That’s what I want for this guy. I want to find out why he went after Nicole. Why today? What did he think this was going to solve? And I want to know that it’s not going to happen again.”
“You want to be able to trust him,” Sabrina says thoughtfully.
“I want to be able to trust him,” I repeat.
A knock sounds at the door and Jodi pops her head in.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she says. “But your next patient is waiting, doctor.”
“That’s fine,” Sabrina stands and smiles at Jodi. “We’re done here. He’ll be right out.”
“Thank you,” Jodi nods and leaves.
I look at Sabrina and realize something, seemingly for the first time. She’s not this quiet, demure woman I suppose I had pegged her for. Is she a little bit...dominant? She’s always been take charge, but I wonder if there’s more to it than meets the eye. Sabrina notices me looking at her and simply raises an eyebrow, as if waiting for me to speak.
“Where can I find Reece, Donny?”
I write down directions to Wilson’s place, and then I leave the room to go meet with an elderly dragon shifter who has been having stomach pains.
Calling Sabrina was the right move. I know that.
I just hope I didn’t wait too long to do it.
I hope it’s not too late for Reece.
Chapter Eight
Lee
“What are you talking about?” My voice is a whisper. Why would she bring this up now? Is she playing me? Or is she trying to tell me there’s still something between us, some sort of unfinished business?
“I just...”
“Boss,” Marta is at the door again. This time, she’s not going to take ‘no’ for an answer. “I’m not trying to pester you, but damn. Let’s go.”
“We’ll talk about this later,” I say to Nicole, who just nods. She looks like I just kicked her, or hurt her, but I can’t focus on that. I head into the office where Marta and Jeremy are gathered around one of the computers. They’ve got something set up on the overhead screen, and when I get closer, I see that it’s a chart detailing both Lucky and Providential.
“What is this?” Nicole whispers, walking inside. She looks around the room. It’s dark, dimly lit, and, as promised, full of computers.
“This is where the magic happens,” Marta tells her proudly.
“And this,” Jeremy points to the screen. “Is undeniable proof that Providential and Lucky are the same company.”
“The same company?” Nicole steps up. “But...”
“It’s true. They’ve not only performed scientific experiments on dragons and other shifters, but they’ve manufactured illnesses, along with the ‘cures’ for those diseases. One company infects people. The other sells them the cure. It’s genius.”
“But why?”
“Why does anyone do anything?” Marta shrugs. “Someone doesn’t like shifters. That’s for damn sure.”
“We still don’t know a lot about the infrastructure of either organization,” Jeremy points out. “Despite our research, the reality is that these organizations are very tight-lipped. Th
ey’re closed off to the public eye, and for good reason.”
“Well, yeah,” Nicole says. “If people knew what they were up to, it would be a lot harder to make money, wouldn’t it?” She shakes her head.
“Stop,” I tell her.
“What?” She looks up at me, blinking her eyes innocently. Marta and Jeremy just look at us, questioningly.
“Don’t act like this is your fault somehow.”
“But I-“
“Couldn’t have stopped any of this from happening. No offense, Nicole, but you’re just one person.”
“Yeah, well sometimes all it takes is one person, Lee.”
Marta’s mouth forms a little “o” and Jeremy’s eyes are wide now. They both act like they’ve never seen me put in my place before. They should probably meet my mother. They wouldn’t know what the hell to do. What Nicole is doing? This is nothing. She and I have fought well and we’ve fought hard. This is just a little hiccup. We’ll get it figured out.
“You’re right,” I tell her. “But in this case, we’re talking about a group of people who are essentially poachers. One person can usually make a huge difference. Absolutely. But not today, and not you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She bristles.
“Dude, just chill,” Jeremy jumps in, but he closes his mouth when Nicole’s eyes seem to shoot invisible daggers at him.
“I think what Lee is trying to say,” Marta offers carefully. “Is that there’s a lot we don’t know about these people. I mean, we planned for months how we’d eventually take down their little buildings in the woods, but then we found out that their organization is even larger than this.”
“Have you already told Clan Thunderstorm?” I ask Jeremy. “About what we’ve found?” Thunderstorm is another dragon-shifter clan in the forest. While Fablestone dragons are strong and quick, Thunderstorm dragons are the tech giants of the shifter world. They’re known for having a device for anything, and we often help each other out.
“Not yet,” Jeremy turns back to his computer. “Wanted to talk with you more about what you want to do in order to infiltrate one or both of these offices. Dragon-X is pending widespread use, boss. Check this out.” He pushes a button and a commercial comes on the screen.
“What the hell is this?” Nicole steps forward, but her voice is barely a whisper as we watch. It’s no secret that dragons exist. Humans have known about shifters for a good long time, but this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen something directly marketed to shifters the way this is being pushed, and part of me thinks – knows – there is some sort of hidden agenda.
You don’t infect people and then offer a cure.
Normal people just don’t do that, and the virus they were spreading around is something that doesn’t usually present itself in shifter clans. Is Lucky planning to infect large numbers of shifters and then offer this cure? And what’s the downside? Are there side effects to this?
We watch quietly as a spokesperson for the company comes on at the end of the commercial to talk about how this product is going to change the world for dragons. As soon as she opens her mouth, my blood runs cold.
“It’s her,” I whisper. “I know her.”
“How?” Nicole turns. “How do you know that woman?”
“She’s the woman from the business card. The one Peggy brought with her when she came to us.” I would reach for the card itself, but it’s at my cabin off in the forest. We all need our secret hideaways, and that place is mine. Besides, I was worried about someone trying to trace my call. There was no way I was going to even attempt to reach anyone at Lucky from Fablestone. Not that I could if I wanted to. The cell service here is shit.
“I know her,” Nicole says. “She’s the woman who hired me.”
We watch as the woman speaks about the product.
“Dragon-X is more than just a cure for this virus,” she says calmly. “It also offers the vitamins, supplements, and minerals that shifters need to say strong.”
“That’s not true,” Nicole whispers. “Shifters don’t need additional vitamins.”
“It’s one of the best things about not being human,” Marta agrees. “No offense,” she adds.
“None taken. I know humans have many disadvantages when it comes to our bodies. This is just blatant lying, though. What kind of vitamins is she talking about?”
We finish watching the broadcast. Then we watch it again. And again. And again. Then I pull it up from another website and read the accompanying articles about the commercial itself.
“When was this released?” I ask Marta.
“A few hours ago,” she says. “People are excited.”
“Are they?”
“The blog-o-sphere says ‘yes,’” Jeremy offers from his computer. Everyone knows there have been some weird shifter illnesses lately. That’s all probably thanks to Lucky.”
“Starting rumors,” Nicole comments. “It’s not a bad move.”
“It’s a good political strategy, at least if you can control them to an extent.”
“Who is the woman in the commercial?” I ask Nicole. “Do you know her?”
“Yeah, I’ve met her,” she nods. “She’s the one who hired me. We’ve worked together a few times. Her name is Erin.”
“And what does Erin do?”
“She’s in charge of a lot of things. Marketing. Hiring. Management. She kind of does it all, from what I can tell. She’s not very easy to access, though. I kind of got the impression she was more powerful than people were letting on because anytime I tried to arrange a meeting with her, it was shot down.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah,” she says.
“Found her,” Marta says, and motions for us to come to her computer. “I pulled this up on an old news article. It’s not on the official site or anything. Erin Allison,” she reads. “Director of Marketing, Operational Management, and Providential Research Director.”
“Sounds like she’s got quite a few titles to her name.”
“She’s been with the organization from the start,” Marta continues reading from the computer. She scrolls through the biographical information she pulled up and then starts typing a few things, trying to bring up more data. I’m quiet as Marta works, allowing her to find exactly what we need to start moving forward. “Looks like she graduated from law school, top of her class, got in on the ground floor of the organization.”
“Relationships?”
“A husband. Married ten years.”
Marta displays a picture on the overhead screen and the stiffness in Nicole’s body tells me everything Marta doesn’t. Nicole said her ex-boyfriend’s wife worked at Lucky, but she didn’t know who it was. Well, I’m guessing that she did know who it was. She just didn’t realize the relationship the two of them had until now.
“What’s wrong with her?” Jeremy notices that Nicole has gone completely white. Even Marta turns to look at her.
“Lee, I think she needs to sit down. Honey, do you need to sit?”
“Nicole?”
She just shakes her head, and tears are streaming down her face suddenly.
“Nicole, what is it?”
“It’s him. It’s Micah.”
“Okay, who’s Micah?” Marta looks confused.
“Her ex-boyfriend,” I explain. “She didn’t know the guy was married.”
“Ah,” murmurs of understanding come from my team and I’m glad they’re such a non-judgmental bunch. I’m a little surprised when Marta comes over and gives Nicole an awkward hug. Marta isn’t exactly the hugging type. She ignores my questioning look and focuses on Nicole.
“You don’t have to tell us what you went through,” she says slowly. “But you have a unique chance to help us.”
“I do?”
“We’ve been trying to break the hierarchy of this place for ages. Until now, we didn’t have a name. We didn’t have faces. All of the information I just dug up? It’s because you knew this woman’s name.”
> “I’m surprised you don’t have like, facial recognition software,” Nicole whispers.
“We do,” Jeremy says. “But today was the first day this woman has shown her face. There aren’t pictures on any of the official company websites. The picture we found is just one that happened to have her full name linked to it. That was all luck. Besides, that software can take days or even weeks to get a hit. You gave us one in seconds.”
“Thanks to you,” Marta says, “Now we have something we can work with. And also thanks to you, we may be able to move up our intended date of breach.”
“Date of breach?”
“Wilson came to use earlier. He’s got some ideas.”
“I thought Wilson was with Reece. When the hell did he have time to come here?”
“Wilson is a busy man, but he’s not dumb. He knows that we’ve waited patiently for a long time. He wants to go in for the kill.”
“So, what, we’re going to just destroy the corporate headquarters?”
“And risk villainizing ourselves and other shifters? No,” Jeremy shakes his head. “Wilson wants us to dig up as much dirt as we can on these guys and start leaking it. Shifters already know they’re bad news. The humans will be on our side if they can see where we’re coming from.”
“That’s where you come in,” Marta tells Nicole. “You know these people better than anyone. You can help us figure out what public mistakes – and what private mistakes – they’ve made that speak about them as a company.”
“Like what? Like the affair?”
“No,” Marta and I say at the same time. “The affair is no one’s business but yours,” Marta says. “No, we need to bring to light the illegal actions this company has done. The whole stealing-dragons thing isn’t going to fly once we’re able to drum up some proof, but we’re going to need your help.”
“I don’t know what I can do,” Nicole says, and she looks both scared and helpless. “I couldn’t even tell the guy I was dating was married. I didn’t even know his wife worked directly with me. I mean she’s the one who hired me.”