The Renegade Shifters

by Cheryl Rush Cowperthwait

  Tears ran down Bailey’s face unchecked. Her arm reached back and Rye grasped it, holding it tight. She was trembling, whether from anger or terror, Rye couldn’t tell.

  Dave’s gut tied itself in knots. This was the file of their experiments, documenting all the steps used in creating the new ‘improved’ versions of the captives. One clip showed right up until Rye’s escape and Bailey’s first transformation. Then the camera fuzzed out. The room went morbidly silent, a silence one could imagine in a funeral parlor.

  Rye fell to one knee and collected Bailey’s shaking form into his arms, smoothing her hair as she buried her face into his chest. A long wail came from deep inside her, the desolate sound of someone who lost everything they had believed. Her shoulders shook as her cries welled up from some hidden place deep inside. There was no mistaking what she had seen. It captured every horrid moment of their experiments, more than she remembered and more than she would ever be able to forget.

  She wiped her face with one sleeve and turned her reddened eyes to Dave. “How did you get all this? You escaped there, too.”

  “I accumulated the files, once I knew what they were doing. I hacked into the system and copied them. It was I that messed with the camera documenting in the room where they housed the two of you for your transformations. When the cameras hit the glitch, the posted military fled from the room behind yours to find out what happened. The main mechanical room is housed on a different floor. I knew this would give you the needed time for escape. It all had to look like an accident, a mishap, or everything I was working for would have died right there. Fortunately, it worked and you both were able to escape. It took me some time before I could perfect the next planned escapes and then finally, my own.”

  They looked at him with new eyes. He had risked his life to get them out of there. She knew there were so many questions to ask. But for that moment, she could only weep and feel grateful that he’d made a stand to help them.

  Chapter 14

  I’m—I’m sorry, Dave, that I doubted you. It’s just that all of this is so hard to swallow. Even in my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have expected anything like this happening. Were you able to free all the captives?” Bailey eyes searched Dave’s, her lips quivering.

  He ran his hand through his sparse hair and shook his head. “No. After the first several escapes, they started guarding the experimental chambers. When I got sick and was able to return here for treatments, they were in the process of questioning and harassing several of the lab technicians expected to have had something to do with the rash of escapes. I knew if I didn’t leave right away, there’d be no chance of working on a cure for those who needed it.”

  Rye added, “The only thing Dave has created so far that has proven to work is a pill that removes the block on our brains that prevented thoughts of right or wrong. It’s necessary for Shifters to realize they’ve been manipulated and are reacting based upon internal suggestions implanted into their psyche.”

  “How do you know it works?” Bailey asked.

  “Because I’ve taken it—and I’m sorry Bailey, but you have too.”

  She stared at him, puzzled.

  “Dave developed it to have the taste of sugar. It’s easily added to a drink, such as coffee. I—I added it to your coffee, to help you understand what happened to you.”

  He saw her eyes flare with anger, but before that tide washed to shore, it smoothed. “While I do understand why you did it, it still isn’t right to give a person the medication without them knowing what they’re taking and what it’ll do. Even though the outcome is meant to help, it’s still operating the same way as the DGE. I can’t be a part of an organization that takes away free choice.”

  “How would you do it, then?” Rye’s eyes narrowed.

  “First off, you have to have the conversation with them, like you finally had with me. Then let them see the files. It’s their choice from there. Otherwise, you’re no better than the assbites who changed our lives, no matter how good your intentions.” Her body language only intensified her words. Jaws clenched and arms clasped firmly in front of her chest left no doubt.

  Rye slowly nodded his agreement. While they’d been so focused on repairing the damage, they had overlooked one key element—consent. “Karmin, I only wanted to…”

  The dam holding her anger, broke. “It’s Bailey! Karmin doesn’t even exist anymore! How can she? Everyone, including you, Rye, think they can mess with me anytime they want to for their own agenda.” She pushed away from the table sending the chair clattering on the concrete floor.

  Dave plastered himself against the wall, eyes wide in fear. Bailey glared at him as she stomped through the room. She abruptly stopped midway through the room, her shoulders sagging. Rye ran a hand down his face and walked closer.

  “Bailey?” He asked, waiting for a response but there was none. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I screwed up. I don’t want to be like those who took us against our will. I promise you, if you give me a chance, I’ll never do that to you again.”

  She whirled to face him, locks of hair plastered on her tear-stained face. “That’s not good enough! You have to stop injecting your will against the others, too. You can’t just decide for everyone else what’s better for them. I know they didn’t choose the path they’re on, but damn it, it’s not your choice to change it either.” She dropped her head, but Rye saw her clenched jaw in her profile.

  “I get that, Bailey, I do. We’ll do it your way. Please try to understand, for a moment—my intent came from the same place your rage comes from. I was pissed when I found out what happened to us. All I wanted to do was reverse the damages, to become who I was before all this shit happened. I understand Dave and I went about it all wrong, but we felt we had to do something to shuffle the cards we were dealt.”

  Bailey hadn’t looked at him. She just stared at the concrete floor, watching her tears splash in small concentric circles around her feet. Her sniffles remained the only sound in the room for several rapid heartbeats. Then she raised her head.

  She brushed the hair out of her face and scrubbed the tears away, sighing deeply. “I guess I can understand your thoughts, too. The whole time I was held against my will, all I wanted was to go ‘home’ again and return to my normal life—but that changed, Rye, because they changed me. I was given power, a power I never had. Even though I didn’t choose this, it’s made me feel—free, like no one could hurt me again.” Old ghosts shifted across her eyes. Memories of all the things done to her against her will flooded her mind, of all the reasons she ran away from the foster care system so many years ago.

  Rye opened an arm to her and she slowly went into his waiting embrace. No words were spoken. He simply held her and let her tears push past the pain.

  “I’m not going to explode on you, but I want to know—did you give the medicine to the rest of the group at our hideout.” Bailey’s eyes probed Rye’s.

  He let out a deep breath. “I put several tablets in the coffee machine. It’s unsure how much any drinker would get, that’s why I added a tablet into your coffee cup.”

  She held his gaze for a moment before she nodded.

  “We’ll need to talk to them, to convince them of the truth. Right now, however, I think they’ll feel too blindsided by us leaving to listen to anything we say.” Rye guided Bailey over to the platform where Dave was waiting. “I guess we’ll have some time yet, for making a plan.”

  The lift jerked as they ascended the narrow shaft leading back into the barn. Dave wiped the fog from his glasses, deep in thought. His face still carried the flush of anxiety from the previous encounter. Luckily, Bailey hadn’t seen him shake his head while he was in thought. Dealing with the shapeshifters was going to prove more difficult than he originally thought. One thing he knew for certain. They had to keep Bailey on their side or everything he’d worked for would be for nothing. The experiments would continue until the DGE could be brought down. He needed the Shifters to support his attempt to disc
lose the hidden project and do away with it.

  They made their way back to the park where they had previously left. Dave explained. “Since we left through the tunnel escape, you’ll have to take it to get back inside the house. I noticed you had set the Insta-bars in the house, so there’s only one way back in. I think you should stay there for a few days. I’ll call you later with any news I hear.” Dave parked the car and waited for them to climb out before he called Rye towards him. “Here’s my key to the padlock. You can give it to me next time we meet.”

  Bailey overheard them talking. She knew he gave them the key rather than walking with them back to the storm tunnel and opening the padlock mainly to assure them of their privacy. She bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from smiling because she also felt he did that so he wouldn’t have to see her anger flair in a sudden shift to her dragon state. She rather liked that.

  Once inside the darkened tunnel, Bailey questioned Rye. “I wish we had a place like Geoff has. One that allows for stretching our wings out of the sight of neighbors.”

  “Do you feel the need to shift?” He paused walking to turn to look at her.

  “The need? No, I wouldn’t call it a need as much as a desire to shift. Haven’t you noticed that when you shift, it burns up all the adrenaline that is left careening in your body after a hard day? It’s not the surge of power to cause harm, it’s to expend all the pent-up energy. Do you think Dave could find us a place like that, similar to the one Geoff has?”

  Rye listened and reached out to hold her hand. “I’ve no doubt that he can. For now, though, we’ll have to be cautious. It’s not only that we’re hiding from those we just left, but we can’t have others see that other side of us.”

  She nodded sadly as they made their way back towards the house. Once inside, Baily turned to him. “This has been a hectic few days. I’m going to go to bed. I feel like I could sleep for days.”

  “Well, if you haven’t awakened after a day, don’t bite my head off if I try to wake you.” He smirked a half-smile. She giggled as she left him standing in the living room.

  Plopping down on the couch, he threw his feet up on the long wooden table and ran his hand through his long hair, thinking, it has been a long few days. He couldn’t help but wonder about Bailey, about who had hurt her so deeply that she felt more comfortable in dragon scale than in her own skin. He hadn’t contemplated that Bailey would want to stay a Shifter, if given the choice.

  All he could think about was that someone else took control of his body and mixed another species DNA with his own and it disgusted him—not that flying and having extraordinary vision and hearing bothered him, he even benefited from it while still in his normal form. He crawled out of the couch and went to poor himself a nightcap thinking maybe Bailey was right. All he wanted was to get back to normal, to help her get back to normal and maybe they could shape a life together. Now, he wondered if there was ever going to be a way to become normal again.

  Bailey lay in her bed, watching the waving moonlight peek through the plantation shutters. A feeling of being trapped knocked against her chest. She longed to be outside, gliding high over the city and taking a mountain perch watching the blur of lights moving so far below her wings. Her sharpened senses pulled the scent of scurrying animals in tree branches and underground. A familiar sensation flowed through her blood, the sensation of being wild and free, of being able to roam the darkness and see the connection to life in all of its minuscule forms. Surely Rye could feel the same pulse flow through him, the need to soar and glide through the sky.

  She tossed and turned, unable to relax enough to find the sleep she desperately needed. Flashes of what she’d seen earlier on the computer screen pierced her mind. She kicked the tangle of bed covers away from her legs. Everything seemed to be closing in on her, shoving her deeper into a cage where she couldn’t breathe. She sprung up from the bed, slipped on her shoes and swung the door open and stumbled backwards. The last thing she thought she’d see was Rye standing in the opening.

  Chapter 15

  What the hell, Rye? You scared the ever loving…”

  “I was about to wake you. Come into the living room. Dave called and sent me a clip he wants us both to listen to.”

  Bailey followed him into the living room, grabbing the plush throw on the back of the couch before sitting next to Rye. He pulled out his phone and pushed start on the voice clip.

  “You have the go ahead, General. We have cleaned the facility of all non-essential personnel. The test subjects have secured rooms ready and waiting.”

  “Fine. Expect delivery of all specimens within the next three days. Pods are being prepared for relocation. Once we have the last pod ready to leave, this sum bitch is going to have an accident.”

  “Sir?”

  “The whole damn station is a bust. We can’t leave a trace. Have you located the target?”

  “No, Sir. Dr. David Sorlem had disappeared. We ran the tracking programs for the inserted chip and it doesn’t register. We think he may have removed it.”

  “I don’t give a damn how you do it, just do it! He’s the only one who could have sabotaged us. Bring me his hide!”

  “Yes Sir!”

  The voice clip ended leaving Rye and Bailey staring at it in shock.

  Bailey finally spoke. “Who were those people?”

  “Dave said the call was to a secret base in New Mexico with vast underground facilities. It was the first place tests were done years ago on human subjects involving mind control. It has grown enormously since then. He has an insider at the base, or he thinks he’s still inside since he was able to get him the communication.” Rye’s fingers combed through his hair before he stared up to the ceiling, searching for answers.

  “Dave was correct. They are trying to track him down.” Bailey stated, still shocked at the news.

  “Yeah. Things are about to hit the proverbial fan. He left a message after the clip telling us to be ready to relocate within two hours. He’s having to run damage control and pick up his computers from various safe houses. He’s moving us to Colorado. You wanted mountains. He has an underground place there full of tunnels and surveillance equipment. I’m trying to convince him to stay there too.”

  “Where does he want to go? He has to stay in hiding or everything he’s helped put into place will be for nothing.” Bailey watched Rye with wide eyes.

  “I’m still pounding that in his head. He wants to be closer to the base they’re taking the rest of the Shifters to.”

  “What does he think he can do? Go up against the whole DGE by himself? That’s insane!”

  “He won’t be by himself, but it is still insane. We need time to lay the perfect plan.”

  “Who else does he have on his side?” Bailey tilted her head as her brows furrowed in puzzlement.

  “I don’t know a whole lot about who he’s working with behind the scenes, he won’t say. All I know is from the few calls I’ve heard. He has a whole sniper team and some heavies that were once military. Also some very prominent people with unlimited money. Most of his funding was created by a hacker who’s latched onto several hidden entities that siphon money away from legitimate organizations. You’d be surprised how many things are hidden from the public. Hell, in America alone there are over one hundred hidden bases for various purposes. All that took butt-loads of money no one ever knew about.”

  “I—I don’t know if I want to be mixed up in all of this deep cover bullshit. All this is like some far-fetched movie.”

  “Bailey, we’re already involved.” He stared into her eyes, sparking the truth she couldn’t hide.

  She plucked at her blanket and mumbled, “So much for just disappearing and leaving this behind us.”

  “Yeah, it’s not going to play out that way. Not now. Dave had hopes of getting all of the Shifters safely away from the DGE and working with them to get them back to normal. You know I wanted that more than anything, too. I wanted to be able to just be myself withou
t all the tweaking they did to me. I wanted to be able to walk away from all this shit and live my life—with you.”

  Bailey looked up at him, her eyes searching his. She knew deep down inside that she was falling for him, yet she held back. She had to depend on herself for so long, it was difficult to let anyone in. That required trust, and she had definite trust issues.

  Rye leaned in close, his mouth caressing the cool skin of her neck. Her heart raced as her eyes fluttered. His tongue traced a line up her neck. She sprung away and groaned hoarsely, “I’ve got to go get my stuff ready to go. You better do the same.” She hurried to her room, leaving Rye staring after her.

  He shook his head with a sigh as he made his way to his room to gather the clothing that fit him, but his mind still lingered on the taste of her skin.

  Two hours later, Rye answered his phone and said they were ready. Opening the side door from the kitchen to the garage door, he raised it and waited. A dark blue van backed up into the garage. Rye slid the garage door down to conceal them loading the back with their belongings. He had the back of the van panel doors opened by the time Bailey came out. He helped her load her stuff in the cargo compartment, then went back to the house to turn off the lights and close the door. He wondered if they would ever be able to stay in a place long enough for it to feel like a home.

  Rye tossed the garage door opener to Dave and got into the back of the van with Bailey. It was windowless in the back and outfitted with captain chairs as well as a long bench seat that could be dropped down for a bed. The exterior of the van had a logo of a food delivery truck, but Rye had seen in the cargo area several other magnetic logos that could be quickly changed if they were spotted. Rye noticed the push button behind the front passenger seat and depressed it. The metal divider slid down where he could see and talk to Dave.