Initus (Walking Shadows Book 5)

by Talis Jones

  “He said he was impressed with our work,” I shrug, trying and failing to hide how pleased I’m feeling.

  Fitz looks thrilled by the news but Jez just narrows his eyes. “You’re not thinking about skipping lunch to ride this high into locking yourself away for hours working, are you?”

  “I’m not hungry and we can’t start slipping now. Not now that Dr. Xi has taken notice, daresay an interest, in us,” I insist.

  Fitz snorts. “Predictable.”

  “That is the start to a dangerous slope of becoming a workaholic and I won’t have it,” Jez snaps teasingly. “Hand Fitz your coat. He’ll drop it off in the laundry chute and get things prepped while I march you to the cafeteria.”

  “Jez,” I growl.

  “Morgan,” he growls right back.

  “Better listen to him,” Fitz sighs. “Besides, you’ll be no good to the team starved. I promise I won’t ruin anything in your absence.”

  “I know,” I assure him. “You’re one of the best.” I shrug out of my white, grass-stained coat, and hand it to him. Surprise has his mouth agape but he takes my coat and recomposes himself quickly.

  “But I’m better, right?” Jez cuts in. “Tell me I’m not lower on the totem pole than Fitz.”

  “Shut up, Jez,” I laugh. “You’re number one at snack thievery. Does that make you happy?”

  “Mildly,” he grumbles as we head toward the cafeteria.

  I want desperately to sprint for our lab and dive back into the work but I know he and Fitz are right and I should eat. Neglecting my body would only damage my brain and sooner or later I’d be dying a premature death with too many unfulfilled dreams on my desk and uneaten snacks in my pantry.

  Food first. I could do that. I wonder if there are brownies today?

  Two

  If there’s one thing underlings do no matter within which profession they work, it’s talk. As I swiped my badge to enter the lab I thought the glances and whispers would be left behind in the hall but nope. Grabbing my white coat from my work station I shrug it on while taking in the odd energy of the other interns. Something is going on. I despise gossip and yet like anyone else, I crave knowing what it was that’s turning heads.

  “Jez,” I call, gesturing for him to come join me.

  “Gooooood morning,” he greets jovially. “Fitz has two minutes to arrive before I get to declare him tardy and dance on his grave.”

  “Okay first of all, there will be no dancing on any graves no matter what,” I chastise. “Secondly, he’s already here. I passed him in the hall speaking with Dr. Ramsey.”

  “What?? Dammit.”

  “Jez, what’s going on?” I ask returning to my original curiosity.

  His mouth curls up into mischief, relishing whatever gossip is hot in the air. “Some big shot law firm is investigating ZoiTech for a breach in ethics with Dr. Xi at the top of their hit list.”

  My mouth flaps open and shut several times at a loss for speech. “What?”

  “Yep,” Jez nods just as surprised though not nearly as upset by the possibility. “They sent someone to meet with Dr. Xi and he’s been making some rounds to talk to us mere underlings.”

  “Have they talked to you?”

  “Nope.” Jez’s attention is caught by someone entering the lab and he cups his hands around his mouth. “FITZ.”

  Predictably Fitz jumps then scowls. “You’re a full-grown man, not a child, act like it,” he snaps.

  “Fitz, have you heard–”

  “About the lawyer?” he interrupts. “Yeah and I suggest if you want to keep your job you keep your mouth shut if they try to talk to you.”

  “I don’t need to do any such thing,” I reply indignantly. “All I have to say is the truth and the truth is that there is nothing underhanded going on here.”

  Fitz looks at me like I’m a naïve fool. Maybe I am compared to his upbringing, surrounded by politicians who could and would use anything and everything as a weapon. “Just don’t mess things up for me.”

  “Chill out, Fitz,” Jez whines. “We’ve got work to do.”

  Grateful for the distraction, I go to the cooler to retrieve our team’s assigned tray of samples while Jez preps the computer, minimizing the puzzle game with irritating music and pulling up the data from yesterday. Fitz and I are happily checking labels when an intern walks out and a dark figure slides in. It’s his stark contrast to the room that catches my attention. Everything in here is metallic, white, glass, sterile, while the man who stepped inside is fire wrapped in dark skin and a fine-tailored black suit. Amongst the busy hive of scientists in white lab coats, his rich clothes and authoritative aura make my nerves buzz. The lawyer. It has to be.

  Catching my gaze, the man strides over with a nimble grace, dodging single-minded interns dashing this way and that. As he stands before our trio, I see honor in his eyes and despite my fears over what his job entails exactly, I feel an unexpected instinct to trust him. In a room full of data, he exudes the intangible: trust, honesty, goodness. But also, arrogance, power, and intent. He’s a shark hooked on a blood trail, no doubt about it.

  “Excuse me,” he says politely while we gape at him warily. “My name is Connors O’Malley, I’m a lawyer with Ferguson, Smith, & Harris. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”

  “Not even one of the partners? Mustn’t be serious to send you then,” Jez notes rudely.

  “Don’t talk to him, Jez,” Fitz warns.

  Mr. O’Malley smiles. “I assure you, we are indeed taking this investigation seriously and if things go right then I will finally be getting a partnership with the firm.”

  “Why send you?” Jez presses.

  The man shrugs. “Because I’m the best.”

  Fitz looks him over as if sifting through a mental database trying to pull up his file. “You took down Horizon Pharmaceuticals.”

  “That was me,” O’Malley grins with a slight, pretentious bow.

  My jaw drops. “You destroyed them,” I gasp.

  “You don’t think they deserved it?” he asks with an arrogant huff of amusement.

  I shake my head. “It wasn’t all corrupt, there was enough that could have been salvaged. Instead you destroyed years of work, of aid to those in need, of overall pharmaceutical relations!”

  “They were doctoring their trial reports and compromising the quality and integrity of their products. I don’t care if it sometimes worked, I don’t care if their methods made their medications affordable, I don’t care if a gentler approach might have left something spared. I was hired to win a case and I won it. I won because I was right, I won because they were wrong, and I won because I’m the best.”

  He leans in and I can’t stop myself from shrinking.

  “ZoiTech is up to something rotten and I plan to expose it and, yes, destroy it, Miss…”

  “Travers. Morgan Travers,” I snap angrily. “I think I would know if I worked for a monster. We save lives, we don’t end them.”

  “Remove your blinders, Ms. Tavers,” he advises. “Pay attention to more than the blood in those vials, the numbers in your data charts. Look beyond your limited list of tasks. Call me when you start to smell something foul.”

  He holds out his business card and I cross my arms, refusing to take it. “What delusions do you think I will find, hmm? We are a humane, regulations-abiding medical research facility. We have nothing to hide. I don’t know if you’ve ever lost a case before but I assure you, you will lose this one.”

  Connors O’Malley tosses his card onto the table with a frustrated sigh. “There’s no smoke without fire, Ms. Travers. My client wouldn’t be paying the firm’s substantial fees including flying me all the way from Carolina if they weren’t absolutely sure.”

  “Maybe they just have a grudge against Dr. Xi and want to tarnish his name,” I counter.

  “Of that I am certain,” he agrees. “The question you should ask yourself is why.” He glances at Jez and Fitz with a knowing look. It would be a
waste of time to bother trying to ask any questions and yet… “Answer me one question?”

  “No,” Fitz refuses at the same time that Jez releases a disbelieving snort.

  O’Malley’s gaze meets mine but I press my lips firmly closed.

  “Your boss will be looking for me soon, I gave my guide the slip, but before I leave you alone I just want to ask one question. ZoiTech works in researching genetic modification… Where do your samples come from?”

  I frown. That was his big important question? “Mice mostly though when we move forwards to the next phase of testing we’ll begin using human samples from volunteers.”

  “Morgan,” Fitz snaps, warning me to be quiet.

  “That’s a lot of blood for a mouse.”

  “I… I’m not in charge of sample retrieval. I just analyze them.”

  “The news reports boast that your Dr. Xi is on the brink of a breakthrough. He’s supposedly on the cusp of bringing genetic modification to the accessible level of plastic surgery. How can you be so close and yet still be researching with mice?”

  “I–”

  “Have you even thought about what such a thing could mean? For humanity? The world?”

  “It’s strictly for medical purposes. If we can prevent disorders while in the womb–”

  “Why are there so many politicians interested in Dr. Xi’s research?”

  “Because it’s research that will help people!”

  “Politicians care about many things, power and money certainly being at the top of the list, but people is not one of them. Humanitarians care about humans. Politicians care about politics. Your Dr. Xi is up to something that makes the back of my neck tingle in warning.”

  “He’s not my Dr. Xi–”

  “Why is the military involved?”

  I blink. “The what? No. No. You are just trying to fluster me hoping that in doing so I’ll let some juicy confession or evidence slip but that won’t happen because there’s nothing to confess! There’s nothing to hide!”

  Silence rings in my ears, we’d caused more than enough of a scene to have drawn everyone’s attention and my face burns in both frustration and embarrassment. “I think you should go. This is harassment and I will call security.”

  He holds up his hands and steps back. “No need. I can see myself out. Just think about what I asked. Human advancements, whether medical, cosmetic, or otherwise, at some point require human test subjects. I’m just wondering where they are? Who they are.”

  “I may just be an intern, but I’m confident it’s all above board, Mr. O’Malley,” I growl. “Now leave us expendable interns alone. We do all of the tedious, unimportant tasks our bosses don’t have to do. We don’t have tea with them snickering and plotting over alleged nefarious, unethical schemes for power and money. I took this job to help people–”

  “You took this job because it’s one of the top internships in the country,” he laughs. “Idolize no one, Ms. Travers. They’re all human and will only serve to disappoint.”

  With that he strides out of the lab leaving me with a strong desire to punch something.

  “Hey, I know that look,” Jez worries. “You’d better go calm down in the break room, Mor.”

  “I’m fine,” I huff sharply.

  “You shouldn’t have engaged him like that,” Fitz shakes his head. “Lawyers are just as bad as politicians when it comes to–”

  “Yes, we all know you’re from a big powerful political family and know so much more than us mere peasants,” I hiss. I barely have a chance to take in his shocked expression before I follow Jez’s advice and stomp to the break room.

  “I’ve never seen her wound up like that,” Fitz mutters. “She actually said something mean to me for once.”

  “She just doesn’t like being wrong. Or losing,” Jez replies. “There’s a reason no one will even play charades with her.”

  I ignore them, my thoughts churning furiously with everything I wish I’d said to that Connors person, but what upsets me more are all of the questions he put into my head. Nonsense accusations of course, but they bother me all the same because without absolute answers to them I struggle to form the perfect argument that would smite the arrogance from that man’s face.

  Three

  “Good morning, interns!” Dr. Ramsey greets us as he strides into our lab. “I will be going through to personally review your projects today. Don’t panic, keep on doing what you’re doing and I’ll make my way around the room.”

  “Don’t panic?” Jez laughs quietly. “It’s like he doesn’t know us at all.”

  Even Fitz snorts at that. Interns are notoriously easy to panic. My own palms have already started to sweat but I surreptitiously wipe them on my coat and try to focus. Truth be told the work isn’t difficult, there is just a ton of it. Interns are given the time-consuming tasks of little importance though Javi, Dr. Ramsey, would argue there are no unimportant tasks. Kind and good natured he balances out my sister well. She’s all about order and rules not unlike myself.

  “So, um…” Fitz begins hesitantly.

  “Um??” Jez repeats teasingly. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use such a common level word.”

  Fitz’s cheeks blush and I swat Jez on the shoulder. “Oh leave him alone, Jez. What is it, Fitz?”

  I smile at him kindly and I can’t tell if he’s grateful or more irritated. Freaking Fitz.

  Shoving his shoulders back he starts over. “My father is coming to visit from Washington this weekend and I wondered if you two would like to come to dinner with us.”

  For a moment all I can do is blink. Fitz has never invited us to anything. Oh sure he’d come along if we invited him and he’d act like he was above it all though I suspect he’s actually happy to hang out with us, but him invite us? And to a dinner with his father no less.

  “What’s the catch?” Jez asks suspiciously.

  “Catch?” Fitz frowns confused.

  I arch my brow. “Do you hate us or your father?”

  Fitz begins to splutter before taking a slow, deep inhale and letting it out in a controlled huff. “I simply thought it would be nice to introduce my father to a few of my friends.”

  “Did you hear that, Morgan?” Jez grins, elbowing me in the side. “We’re his friends! I thought I’d die before he’d say those words.”

  “Co-workers,” Fitz corrects himself icily.

  “Nope, you said friends, Fitz,” I shake my head. “Those are binding words and now that you’re in, you’re in. I’ll make you your official friendship bracelet tonight. What are your favorite colors?”

  “I regret everything,” Fitz moans but his lips twitch upward.

  “And to answer your question, yes we’d love to go,” I agree happily. “Just let us know where and when and we’ll try not to embarrass you. I assume this will be a black-tie affair?”

  Fitz rolls his eyes. “Just don’t wear jeans. I have a reservation for Sunday at seven. The Hamilton,” he nods relieved. “And I’m not worried about you. It’s the neanderthal I’ll be keeping my eye on.”

  Jez grins unrepentant. “So, no chopsticks up the nose?”

  Fitz actually visibly pales at the thought. “There are no chopsticks, it isn’t Asian cuisine,” he breathes as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him.

  “I’ll just have to think of something else then.”

  “No, he won’t,” I warn Jez, drawing out the word to be sure it sticks in his brain. “Don’t worry, Fitz. He’s house-trained, I promise. Thanks for inviting us.”

  “What’s going on over here?” a friendly voice cuts in.

  I whip around so quickly I nearly fall. “Hi, Dr. Ramsey,” I greet brightly.

  “Morgan, you can call me Javi,” he reminds me.

  “But we’re at work,” I frown.

  “But we’re family,” he rebuttals.

  “Hi, Javi!” Jez grins.

  “Dr. Ramsey to you,” he orders coldly.

  Jez’s grin slides off his
face. “What? Why? What did I do?”

  “What didn’t you do?” Fitz rolls his eyes.

  “I think it might have to do with blue dye in my sister’s shampoo?” I remind him trying to stifle a laugh at the memory.

  “That wasn’t my fault, I thought it was Morgan’s!” Jez defends himself earnestly. “And it was just temporary dye!”

  “It would’ve been better for you if it’d been me with blue hair, Jez. You know how much my sister loves her natural color.” And it was true. I’d dabbled with different colors, my hair was perfect for even cheap temporary dyes, but Marissa has not once wanted to hide her natural coloring. Ever.

  “Until Marissa decides to forgive you, I’m afraid I can’t be seen being friendly with the enemy,” Javi shakes his head grimly.

  “She isn’t even here!” Jez whines.

  “Mr. Knight, the first thing you’ll learn about your wife is that she has eyes everywhere,” Javi shares. “Besides, it’s a matter of principle. I’m Team Marissa even if she decided to launch a counter-attack by shaving off your eyebrows.” Humor dances in his eyes though he does his best to hold up the cold façade.

  “I thought that was you!” Jez glares at me.

  I hold up my hands defensively. “Nope, I just, ah, told her where your spare key was hidden.”

  “Morgan,” he growls and tries to punch my shoulder, but I dance out of the way with a laugh.

  Fitz watches us with what I’d swear could have been longing but he hides it the moment he notices me looking. “Dr. Ramsey, our project?” he nudges, trying to get us back on track.

  “Ah yes, thank you Mr. Rochester,” Javi nods. “Dr. Xi has informed me that he’s taken an interest in you three. It seems your efficiency, accuracy, and creativity in your work has impressed him. Not something easily done, I might add. Congratulations, you’ve been promoted to my team. You’re still technically interns, but instead of all this boring stuff, you’ll be working directly on my research for genetic healing. You’re also now bumped up to full-time, but you get a pay raise.”

  None of us speaks for a good minute, stunned into silence.