by Raven Steele
Claire couldn't help it. She had to look at the window again. The deputy, Doug, was pressing a thin plastic sheet over the print. "And what about those?"
Smith shook his head. "We'll know in a couple of hours. My guess is it will match the other crime scenes."
"So, what are you thinking? Gage tortured Gary and then came back here. Why?"
Smith looked at her, his jaw moving as if it didn’t fit right. "I'm worried about you, Claire. I don't want you going anywhere by yourself. In fact, I don't want you going anywhere unless it’s absolutely necessary, and I'm posting a permanent officer outside."
Despite the fact that her stomach was churning, she put her hands up. "Not going to happen. Our band is going to Skystead soon. We have to practice."
"I think your life is the priority here."
Claire shook her head. "Since when have you ever known me to lay down quietly?" He opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him. "I'm going to continue doing what I always do, but I promise I'll be careful. And I'll try to make sure I'm never alone."
He tried to speak again.
"And," she said, "I'll check in with you regularly. That's the best I can do."
She wouldn’t let any man assert his control over her ever again. Not that Smith was trying to do that. He was trying to protect her, and she realized this. But Gage was trying to control her. Through fear.
Smith looked to the forest beyond. "Clearly I can't make you do something you don't want to, no matter how foolish. I'll talk to your mom about it later and see if she can talk some sense into you."
Claire shrugged. Agree to disagree.
Although she didn’t say it, his concern for her meant a lot. She imagined it was how a father would react. A normal father, that is.
Chapter 21
Claire walked inside the house and closed the door, her back pressed against it. Smith had left moments ago, but he’d posted an officer outside to keep an eye on things. Would it make a difference? Her gut told her no. There was something supernatural about Gage. Normal methods to capture him simply weren’t going to work.
It was then that she realized she couldn’t do this on her own anymore; she needed to turn to the people she loved most, like she had with Smith. The more people that know, the better, but it needed to be done carefully and in private. Just in case Bodian had someone else watching her now.
She removed her phone and called Logan. "I need to talk to you and Ethan. Can you meet this morning?"
“What about?” Logan asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Something happened. I need your help.”
There was a long pause. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Meet at Eddy’s in thirty minutes?”
“I’ll be there. Hey, Claire?”
“Yes?”
“I’m worried about you. What happened last night at the festival was messed up.”
“That’s just the beginning,” she said, her voice quiet.
“I thought so. There has to be more to the story than you told us. Have you already talked to Ethan this morning?”
“Not yet.”
“Can I ask why you called me first?”
It was her turn to pause. “I don’t know.”
“Think about that. I’ll see you soon.” Logan hung up the phone.
Claire stared into her phone. Why had she called Logan first?
She didn’t dwell on the answer for very long. There were more pressing matters.
Claire texted Ethan instead of calling, something she should’ve done with Logan. Then that whole awkward phone conversation could’ve been avoided. She also texted Kate. A female's opinion could come in handy.
Ethan and Logan beat Claire to Eddy’s. They were sitting across from each other in a booth speaking quietly, but quickly shut up when they saw her. Ethan slid over to make room for her on the bench.
She scooted in, eyeing the restaurant carefully. There wasn’t a big morning crowd, probably because everyone was still trying to recuperate from last night’s festivities. Little did they know that while they were partying, a monster was roaming their city. Outside the restaurant’s window, the officer who had been parked in front of Claire’s house was talking to a waitress on a cigarette break.
“Are you looking for someone?” Ethan asked.
Claire gave the room one more sweep. No one seemed to be paying attention to them.
“Kate should be here soon,” she said.
Just as she said it, Kate walked in, pushing sunglasses up to the top of her head, smoothing back unruly hair.
“This better be good,” she said and dropped into the seat next to Logan. He slid a cup of coffee over to her.
“What are we doing here, Claire?” Logan asked.
Claire twisted a small red straw around her finger. “Something happened in the middle of the night.”
“Are you okay?" Ethan asked. His eyes flickered to her upper arms, which she had thankfully remembered to cover with a long sleeve shirt.
"Before I tell you,” Claire said. “I need to go back several weeks. To when I had to get that college form signed from Bodian Dynamics, remember?"
Kate lowered the coffee cup from her lips. “Vaguely.”
Before Claire continued, she glanced around the dining room again to make sure they weren’t being listened to somehow.
“Talk to us, Claire,” Ethan said.
She nodded and took a deep breath. "That day I went to Bodian, Gary was there, and he was acting really strange, saying weird things and, well, just being himself." Ethan took hold of her hand. "Anyway, I convinced him to let me go down the hall to the vending machines."
"Well? What happened?" Kate asked.
"Before I tell you, I have to swear you all to secrecy. You can't tell anyone unless we all agree. Understand?"
"Just tell us,” Logan said.
"Promise?"
Eventually, they nodded.
Claire proceeded slowly, telling them exactly what she’d told Smith. As the words escaped her lips, she grew stronger and less afraid.
When she got to the part about the missing vials, Kate asked, her eyes wide, “What was in them?"
"I don't know exactly, but they were talking about what the formula did to monkeys and how it changed them."
Logan drew his eyebrows together. "Changed them into what?"
"The woman said they were monsters who stalked and tortured one another. And she was worried that if a human ingested the liquid then they, too, could be transformed into..."
"What?" all three said at the same time.
Claire sighed. "I don't know. That's when I accidentally bumped into the vending machine. They heard me, and the guy scientist chased me out with Gary into the parking lot. I was hiding behind a car when I heard the scientist tell Gary to catch me and find out how much I heard. You should've seen how scared the scientist was. It was like I'd heard them plotting World War Three or something."
"But you got away," Kate said.
"Yeah. I ran, but ever since then Gary’s been following me."
"So that's what last night was about," Ethan said.
“What happened last night?” Kate asked.
Logan leaned back, his fists balled tight in front of him. “Gary attacked Claire.”
“But that’s not all.” Claire glanced away. "Remember Gage?"
Ethan lowered his head into his hands. “This is going from bad to worse.”
"Last night he killed Gary,” Claire said. “Not just killed, but tortured and maimed. Smith said it was the worst crime scene he had ever seen."
"How do they know it was Gage? Did they catch him?" Kate asked.
Claire shook her head.
"They have his prints,” she said, but cringed at the word, remembering what Smith had really said. “And it matched the prints from the other girl’s death at the school’s swimming pool and at the gas station that was robbed."
Kate frowned. "So if they have his prints, why don't they
just go arrest him?"
"It's not that simple," Logan explained. "Gage would already have to have a criminal record. If he's never done anything wrong, they won’t know who to look for."
"But it's not just that," Claire said. "There's something wrong with Gage's prints."
"What do you mean?" Ethan asked.
"Smith said they weren't normal. They were unlike any fingerprints he'd ever come across. It’s almost like they weren’t human."
Kate scrunched her face and snickered. "So Gage is some sort of animal? This is getting too weird."
"I'm just telling you what I know."
Logan seemed to be pondering her words, but Ethan just looked mad.
"Well, what do you guys think?" Claire asked.
Kate folded her arms. "I think the police got the prints wrong. And I think Gage is a psycho on drugs.”
"I think it's pretty obvious," Ethan said. "Gage, or whatever his real name is, stole the formula from Bodian and has been taking it. It's messed up his DNA and turned him into some kind of a monster."
Kate laughed. When none of them joined her, she asked, "You can't be serious?"
Claire looked at her. "I am very serious because I've come face to face with him. There is something abnormal, almost supernatural, about Gage."
"So what," Kate said, "you're going to go to the police and tell them some scientifically created, super-mutant is responsible for the crimes?"
Logan shook his head. "She can't do that. No one would believe her."
"You think?" Kate asked.
“I told Smith what happened,” Claire said. “He might come to the same conclusion we did.”
"Remember three years ago?” Logan asked. “The lab assistant who blew the whistle on some Bodian project that she claimed was illegal?"
When no one answered, he continued, "I remember because my dad had to fill out a report, and he was really stressed out about it. Really stressed out. Like he was afraid he'd lose his job if he said the wrong thing."
"So what happened?" Claire asked.
"Nothing. They fired the lab tech for supposed drug abuse, and then accused her of stealing from them. They pretty much ruined her life."
Kate shrugged. "How do you know she really wasn't a druggie?"
"I overheard my dad telling my mom that they'd set her up. 'Nobody goes against Bodian and survives', he'd said. I've never forgotten it."
Claire sunk into the back of the seat. "What do we do?"
Her voice was small, but not as small as she felt.
"I say we find out the truth. Hard evidence," Ethan said.
Kate narrowed her eyes. "And how do we do that?"
"Easy,” Logan said. “Both our dads work at Bodian. My dad's a lab tech and he's always leaving his security badge around. We could break in."
"They have a crazy security system," Claire said, remembering when she was last there. “But think about this, guys. Do you really think your dad’s could be part of something like this?”
Logan and Ethan were quiet. Logan’s focus was on a coffee cup in front of him, but Ethan was looking at Logan.
Ethan was the first to speak. “Possibly. My dad isn’t going to be on anyone’s hero list, and he gets paid a lot of money to be one of the managers out there. I’d like to say he would be against a drug that would do something so horrible, but I don’t know for sure.”
Logan’s head lifted. “And my dad’s always afraid of loosing his job. He might stay quiet about something like this, but then again there are a lot of labs at Bodian. He might not know anything about it.”
“I heard you were good with computers and stuff,” Ethan said to Logan. “Have you ever paired a cell phone to another?”
Logan smiled slowly. “Maybe.”
“How do you know how to do that?” Kate asked.
Ethan was still looking at Logan like they were the only two in the restaurant. “What if we paired our cell phones to our fathers—”
“And searched their emails, contact list, and files,” Logan finished, his voice excited. “My dad uses his all the time for work.”
Ethan was nodding. “If that didn’t work, we could pair our phones to other employees.”
“That could take a long time. We need to find out who works in the labs and single them out.”
“Good idea. Let’s start with our dad’s.”
“Could anyone catch you pairing their phone?” Claire asked, wanting to make sure they wouldn’t get caught. She didn’t want them risking their lives for this.
“They won’t even know it happened,” Logan said.
“Then let’s do it right away,” Claire said, looking around their small circle. “We have to stop Gage before anyone else gets hurt.”
Chapter 22
The plan was set. That night, Logan was meeting Ethan to put the app on his phone that would make it possible for him to pair his cell to others. Claire didn’t ask where Logan got it from or how he knew how to do it. He had more friends than she would ever have, and she knew some of them were kind of shady.
When Ethan and Logan were finished, they were going to go home and pair their cells to their fathers. Both boys agreed to spend all night if needs be, searching through the phone’s information, looking for any evidence about Gage or the secret testing.
It was almost midnight. Claire’s room was dark and cold. Her old comforter was pulled tight to her chin, but she still couldn’t get warm. She was hoping she would’ve heard something from Ethan or Logan by now, but the only texts she’d received were from Kate who was wondering the same thing.
Finally, at almost one in the morning, Logan texted to the group: I’ve got nothing. Searched his entire phone. Sorry. Ethan?
Ethan responded back a few seconds later. Still looking. There’s a lot of information on here. It may take all night. You guys go to sleep. Let’s meet back at Eddy’s. Come early.
Claire’s heart sank. There was no way she was going to sleep, not knowing that Gage had been at her house only the night before. Her eyes instinctively went to her window. She imagined him placing his bloodied hand upon the glass and shivered. She almost considered running into her mother’s room, but she hadn’t done that since she was four-years-old.
Just then she received a private text from Ethan. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. You’ll be safe soon. I promise.
Claire inhaled deeply. She stared at the words for a long time, mouthed them quietly over and over until she finally fell asleep.
The next morning, Claire thought she would be the first person to Eddy’s, but Logan was already waiting. He stood up when he saw her.
“Hey,” she said, coming to stand next to him.
A waitress looked up at them, but then turned her back to finish stocking napkin holders. Except for her, they were alone.
“Get any sleep?” he asked.
“Eventually. You?”
“Not really.”
“I can tell.” She reached up and smoothed down a section of his hair that was sticking up in the back. She hadn’t realized how close they were until her eyes met his. She inhaled a sharp intake of breath. He lifted his hand as if he was going to touch her cheek, but she stepped back just as the door opened.
Ethan stopped momentarily when he saw them, but then continued toward them. “I thought I’d be the first one here.”
“I think we’re all anxious to know what you found,” Logan said.
Ethan’s shoulders dropped, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t find anything real valuable, and I searched everything. The best I could come up with was a list of all the labs and the employees who work in them.”
Claire dropped sideways onto the cushioned bench, her mouth falling open. This was going to take a lot longer than she hoped.
Ethan squatted in front of her at eye level. “But don’t worry. There’s a basic description of what each lab does so we can focus on the labs we think might be doing questionable testing. In fact, I think I found it.”
Claire’s eyes lifted to his.
Ethan smiled kindly. “There was a lab that only had a one sentence description. It said something like ‘experimental animal testing involving the human genome’.”
“That sounds like a good place to start,” Logan said. “How many employees work in it?”
“Only three were listed, and one was a girl. You said it was a man and woman you overheard, correct?” Ethan asked Claire.
She nodded. Maybe this wasn’t going to take as long as she thought.
“This will be easy then,” Logan said. “Text me their names, and I’ll see if I can’t find out their schedules. We’ll try to cross paths with them in the parking lot when they get off. If they have their phones on them, we can get them paired.”
“We can make this even easier,” Ethan said, straightening back up. “Let’s show up at lunchtime at Bodian. Everyone mostly eats in their cafeteria.”
“And we don’t have to have security clearance to get in there,” Logan added, his voice getting excited. “We’ll say we’re visiting our dads.”
“But what if you really do run into them?” Claire asked.
Logan shrugged. “We’ll think of something.”
Ethan began talking again. It didn’t seem to bother him that he might run into his father.
“Anyone who comes in there will be wearing name badges, so all we have to do is find the names of the employees who work in the lab. We should be able to find at least one of them with their phone on them. Then whoever we miss, we can get after their shift.”
Just then the door opened with a bang, making them all jump.
“Sorry I’m late,” Kate said, bringing with her a cold gust of wind.
“You scared us!” Claire said, her heart racing and her skin cooling.
“What I miss?”
“Ethan and I are going to Bodian during lunch time,” Logan said.
“Since when did you guys hang out?” Kate asked.
Before anyone could answer, Ethan pulled Claire up from the bench seat and wrapped his arms around her waist, surprising her by the intimate action in front of Kate and Logan.
“I have a few things I need to get done before we leave,” he said. “Stay safe, and I’ll meet up with you again just as soon as I can.”