by Kit Tunstall
He shook his head. “I don’t have my laptop or my program for that. This is just a storage chamber anyway. It’s where they put the super soldiers and the shifters who have been fully converted until they are ready to activate them for some sort of duty.”
She winced. “Then the people in there are already a lost cause.” It was a statement rather than a question.
Looking regretful, he nodded. “From what I can tell, and from what the scientists in charge of this Frankenstein experiment have discovered, there’s no going back. Once they’ve wiped the brains and taken control with artificial intelligence, it’s all over. We can’t get back the people we knew before they became subjected to this.”
His words were deeply personal, and she looked at him from the corner of her eye for a moment before allowing him to lead her from that room and farther down the corridor. “You sound like you’ve been personally affected by this.”
He paused before another door, putting his hand on the panel. The door parted to let them in a moment later. It appeared to be identical to the room they had not gained access to, but she had seen the other night. “Is this another storage room?”
He nodded as he led her inside, going straight to one of the soldiers in a long row of them. There were two rows of people lying on tables that looked like they would be uncomfortable if they had any sensory awareness remaining. She quickly counted them, discovering the room held thirty-six of the super soldiers.
Some were in various states of transformation, though none were more than halfway through. The one he took her to was completely human, at least at first glance. A deep inhalation revealed the presence of shifter pheromones, along with the artificial intelligence that smelled so wrong to her nose. Her eyes widened when she caught a familiar scent, and she turned to look at him with her mouth open.
He nodded. “This is my sister, Airman Jennifer Walsh. We lost contact with her seven months ago, and the Air Force wouldn’t tell us anything. They didn’t list her as MIA or KIA, and they gave no updates. When we asked about her, we were stonewalled and got no response. Even people we know knew her claimed to have no knowledge of Jenny’s existence. It was as though she had simply vanished one day between the time she’d moved out of our house and after she joined the military.”
He took a deep breath, seeming to be on the verge of losing control of his emotions for a moment. His voice shook the next time he spoke, though he must have regained control. “We knew that was crap, so I started digging. Using my computer skills, I traced her here, and then I altered their databanks and created myself a new identity as a civilian contractor. I had planned to infiltrate the base and rescue her, but it’s clear there’s nothing left to rescue.”
Without thought, Lex reached for his hand, squeezing gently. “I’m sorry. I saw what it did to my teammate, Loris. I’m sorry about your sister.”
He nodded just once. “I’m sorry too. She’s the reason the shifters are also now targeted.”
She frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Jenny had…has a metabolic issue that makes it difficult for her to fully break down amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, so the protein chains she produces are slightly different from a typical human being’s. It was her protein chain and synthesis process that the scientists modeled protein A10 on—that’s the protein that fools the shifters into accepting the A.I.”
She put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing carefully as she tried to strike a balance between comforting and reassuring. “That’s horrible for her, and for us.”
His voice cracked when he said, “In their files, I mean in their personal notes, the sadistic bastards call it the Jenny Protein. The official name is Protein A10, because it took that many variations of the experiment to find the right formula, but it’s informally the Jenny Protein. She would’ve hated having something like that be her legacy.”
She took his hand again, easing him away from the row of soldiers lying on the tables and back toward the exit. “I’m sure she would have. What do you plan to do about her?”
He just shrugged as he pulled her through the doorway, closing the door behind them quickly, as though he couldn’t wait to escape that room. She felt the same way.
He led her to another room farther down the hallway, and she gasped when she stepped inside. Here, there were tubes of people floating in some kind of light purple solution. They were hooked to respirators, and though they were clearly unconscious, a surprising number of them floated with their eyes open. It was disconcerting to have that watched feeling, though there was no sign of intelligence in any of their gazes.
“From what I’ve gleaned, there are four steps to the process of turning a human into a super soldier. The first involves genetic modification to insert a shifter gene. The scientists haven’t yet determined if there’s an optimal shifter type for each person’s genetic code, so they’re just choosing at random from a list of the apex predators and the fiercest animals. They have what you’d expect to find, like wolves, tigers, and bears, but they’re also using some other interesting mixes, including crocodile and honey badgers.”
The farther they moved into the room, the more obvious it became that the people were going through stages of transformation. Here, they were farther into a transition state, seeming to be stuck in that halfway place between human and whatever animal with which they had been mixed. They were also larger than she would have expected and bulging with muscles.
“This is Stage II, where they enhance their normal properties. It involves steroids and some other experimental stuff I can’t quite comprehend. I’m a computer engineer, not a scientist. I don’t understand a lot of the medical jargon that I’ve read, but this is the step where they beef up the soldiers to make them super by enhancing both human and animal traits.”
They turned a corner, finding another row of tubes, though these were more compact and stacked together, and the people inside weren’t floating in that solution. Instead, they were all connected to a system of wires that seemed to jam right into their brains.
“I guess this is the A.I. section?” she asked.
He nodded. “This is where they remove the last of their humanity, though there isn’t much left by this point. They’re all being reprogrammed now. They’ve had cameras installed in their eye sockets and databanks into their brain that they can upload and download from in an instant. They also have their navigation system in place, which is what their handler uses to control the soldier.”
As they reached the end of the row, she paused and turned to him. “What’s the fourth stage?”
“Training, and then storage until they’re needed. You’ve seen the results of the first three stages.”
“Is it the same for the shifters?”
“Almost the same. Obviously, they don’t have to go through the insertion of a shifter gene into their DNA, but the rest is basically the same.”
“I need to see where they keep the shifters.” She couldn’t exactly explain why, other than the compulsion to see if she knew anyone. It wasn’t like she knew every shifter on Earth, though she could recognize them by their pheromones, but she was looking for a specific number of people. Three people—shifters who had been her comrades, and who were now missing. She had to know if they were in the room, being subjected to these experiments too.
They moved quietly out of that room, and she held her breath as they walked down the hallway, almost stumbling to a stop when a pair of soldiers marched by them. They appeared to be fully human, at least according to their pheromone signature, and they were obviously busy. They didn’t even look at Aidan and Lex, let alone try to make eye contact or say anything.
It was a relief to slip inside the next room he took her too, though she braced herself for finding the worst. He didn’t speak to her as he walked down the row with her, but his hand reached for hers in a show of silent support, as she had offered him by Jenny’s bedside.
At first, she di
dn’t recognize any of the faces, but then they started to become familiar. They were men and women she had served with, though none had been in her squad. Midway down the first row, she stumbled to a halt and clapped a hand to her lips to keep from crying out.
Edward, call sign Blaze, and one of her missing teammates, was hooked into the A.I. system, currently having every bit of himself obliterated to make him nothing more than a shell for their super soldier program. Her hands trembled, and she reached for the tube, running her hands down the side as she searched for a way to open it.
Aidan grabbed her hands, pulling her back against him. The coyote surged to the forefront, and as she turned to growl at him, she could feel her control loosening.
To his credit, he didn’t back down, and he didn’t let go. “What are you doing? You can’t transform, and you can’t open the tube. It’s all controlled by the computer.”
She took a deep breath, struggling to push back the coyote, and didn’t speak until she had the shifter side under control. “Then open it.” The words came out kind of growly, so maybe she wasn’t as in control as she’d like to be. “I have to get him out of here. If he’s here, the others are here too.”
“I understand.” He turned her body fully to face him, making her look away from her friend. His hands were on her shoulders, and he was staring down at her intently. “You know I understand. I showed you Jenny. But we can’t help him. If we open the tube, the alarms will sound, and they’ll know you were in here. We’ll both be punished, and I’ll probably end up in one of those tubes too. We both know what Caswell will do to you if he finds out. I know you want to help your friend, but there’s nothing we can do for him now. He’s already gone.”
His words were hard to hear, and even harder to accept. She bent her head forward as she drew in deep breaths, trying to process reality. Her friend was at their mercy, and she could do nothing to help Blaze. At least she knew his fate, and she had to know if her other friends were there too.
Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath as she lifted her head and stepped back from Aidan’s arms. “I need to find out if John and Mary are here. I can at least tell my teammates that much.” If she found a way out herself and could reconnect with her team.
Aidan put an arm around her waist, and she was grateful for his support as he moved farther down the line. There were no more familiar faces on the first row, but only a few tubes down on the second row, she halted before Mary’s tube, staring up at her smooth dark skin and beautiful brown eyes that were wide open, completely devoid of intelligence. Whoever had done this to her head had shaved her head, and she knew Mary would have hated that. Her friend had cultivated her Afro for several years, only reluctantly jamming it under hats or stocking caps as the occasion called for it when they were on a mission.
“We called her Diamond, because she had such a sharp tongue. She was funny as hell though. Mary was one of my best friends.” Her voice broke, and tears flooded her eyes. Quickly, she moved away from the tube, because the longer she stared into Mary’s blank expression, the harder it was to just leave her there and walk away, even though Lex knew there was nothing she could do for her friend.
She found John last, just a few a few tubes from Mary. He had been quiet and on the shy side, but she’d always considered him a gentle soul despite his fierce warrior side. Now his formerly expressive hazel eyes were as dull and lifeless as the rest, and a spasm of grief shot through her. “We called him Poet, because he used to carry a book of Emily Dickinson’s poems around with him. He said he kept it because his mom gave it to him, but it was so worn and flipped through that you could tell he’d read it many times.”
“I’m sorry—” He broke off abruptly when they heard the door hiss. “Shit,” he whispered softly. Taking her hand, he tugged her deeper down the row, which would loop back around to the front row and near the exit.
Halfway down, he knelt down and pulled her with him under a large black table. It didn’t provide much shelter or coverage, but unless someone had a reason to bend down below the table, they were unlikely to notice Lex and Aidan were there. She leaned against him, her hand held tightly in his as they held their breath, waiting to see if the footsteps approaching would stop before them.
Fortunately, the white shoes stopped several tubes away, and while she couldn’t get a good vantage point to see what the person was doing, she saw enough of a long white lab coat and slacks to infer it was either a researcher or someone tasked with something on the science side of the project. The person turned around and moved away after a moment, expelling gas as he or she turned the corner.
She waited until the door hissed closed before she giggled, meeting Aidan’s eyes and seeing the laughter there too. It wasn’t really the flatulence that was funny so much as it was an easing of tension, and they both enjoyed a laugh as they leaned against each other.
When her mirth had faded, she abruptly realized her forehead was pressed against his, and she moved away slightly. She should have moved back farther, but she couldn’t get her body to obey her brain’s command. Instead, her gaze dropped to his lips before darting up to his eyes again. She saw his naked need for her there, and she licked her lips. For just a moment, they were poised on the edge, close to kissing, but reality quickly intruded.
Realizing where they were, and that they weren’t safe, she cleared her throat and backed away, sliding out on her butt until she could stand up and move away from the table. He was right behind her, and they headed for the door. A moment later, he put his hand on the panel, and the door slid open.
They stepped into the hallway, moving back toward her room by mutual unspoken agreement. It felt like they had pushed their luck, though she knew they would have several hours yet. For a moment, she had the craziest urge to invite him back to her room and lose herself in his body. It wasn’t just desire for him, though she had plenty of that. A need to block what she’d seen from her mind also drove the compulsion. That, and the desire to remind herself she was still alive—at least as long as Caswell decided to grant her that privilege.
Instead of surrendering to that urge, she should invite him in so they could discuss their escape plan—or stop somewhere that he knew wasn’t monitored by cameras and recorders. She started to suggest it, but the words died before they could blossom from her mouth as she heard the heavy footfall of steps rushing toward them. Even before he came into sight, she recognized Caswell’s pheromone signature, and she braced herself as he rounded the corner and faced them.
Chapter Eight
The bitter stench of fear suddenly tainted Aidan’s pheromone signature, but he straightened his shoulders and tried to step in front of her as Caswell approached. She eased out from behind him to stand beside him as the lieutenant colonel reached them. He was clearly enraged, and Lex was certain he would shift into his half form at any moment.
When he stopped, only a few inches separated him from them. His attention was fully on Aidan. “What the hell are you doing?”
“He was taking me for a walk,” said Lex before Aidan could answer. “I was getting stir crazy in my room, and I convinced him.”
He barely glanced at her, his unwavering attention remaining focused on Aidan. “Did you touch her?”
Aidan’s eyes widened, and Lex tried to step in between them when she saw fur bristling on Caswell’s forearms, revealed by his uniform shirt rolled to his elbows. “This is my fault. Aidan had nothing to do with it.”
Caswell turned his head just briefly, long enough to snarl at her before saying, “He took you out of your room and chose to disregard orders.”
“Yes, I did,” said Aidan. “She seems so miserable in there, and I felt sorry for her.”
If anything, his words seemed to anger Caswell further. “You pitied my mate? There’s no reason to pity her. You shouldn’t even be looking at her, let alone talking to her enough to feel sorry for the circumstances she’s placed herself in. She’s not a prisoner, but chooses to act like on
e.”
“She seems like a prisoner to me, sir. She asked for a walk, and it didn’t seem unreasonable.”
Caswell glared at him. “It isn’t your call.” He lunged forward suddenly, hand around Aidan’s throat as he slammed him into the wall of the corridor. Lex tried to get between them, tugging at Caswell’s arm, but it was locked like a vice around Aidan’s throat. He started sniffing, and whatever he detected seemed to make him angrier. “I smell your desire for her. She’s mine.” With those words, Caswell shook Aidan before pulling him forward and slamming him against the wall again.
Aidan was trying to fight, but he wasn’t strong enough to face off with someone who’d been enhanced, like Caswell.
When Caswell started striking Aidan, Lex tried to stop him by holding onto his arm. He shrugged her off, keeping his focus solely trained on Aidan. At least he had released his hold on the other man’s throat, but now he was punching him, and when Aidan slumped to the floor, he kicked him in the ribs.
Lex could feel the coyote surging forward, and it took every ounce of self-control to keep it back. Only knowing he would kill him if Caswell discovered Aidan hadn’t been giving her the suppressors held back the shift.
She tried grabbing his arm, and he shook her off again, more forcefully this time. She reeled back, wincing when her shoulder collided with the opposite wall. She didn’t let it slow her down as she tried to slither between them, guarding Aidan’s body with hers as much as she could. When she had covered him as adequately as possible, she glared up at Caswell. “You’re going to kill him. Stop this. Please.”
For a moment, he looked like he would surrender to his shift and go after Aidan, uncaring if he damaged or killed her in the process. His chest rose and fell rapidly, and rage permeated his pheromone signature. She was honestly surprised when he finally took a step back, and his arms fell to his sides. The fur on his arms receded, and he seemed to regain some control.