“Boy, the kind you don’t write home to tell momma. This was a war between alien entities and the military that had sought to use them. Oh hell, their technology was leagues ahead of our own. They started out learning from the aliens by reverse engineering, but that was decades before this incident. An offshoot of the military, a black op known as the DGE had been working with the aliens to do tests with mind control alongside of some unsuspecting civilians. They succeeded on all accounts, or that is what they were led to believe until an uprising started in level six of the facility. Level six is where you don’t want to go—it’s the level of genetic experiments. Anyway, getting back to the point, the aliens rebelled and made their way to where the space ships were held below Level Seven. They thought they were going to escape, but their ship had been taken apart in the reverse engineering process. They stood their ground as fifty or sixty of America’s finest proceeded to blast them to bits, but these aliens had weaponry of their own. Some of their tactics were creating high frequency sound waves that shattered their opponents’ brains all over the deep tunnels. With the military following them through the network of long tunnels, they cornered them miles and miles down the tunnels. One savvy soldier pushed a beacon on his walkie-talkie giving a position to blast. That is when the nuclear bomb was detonated. It was a cover-up for what was actually going on below the surface—what is still going on.”
“So, do you know how to get us in there?” Bailey asked, still pouring over all the photographs and descriptions.
Wesley raised his brow to Dave, then turned his attention back to Bailey. “Affirmative. This involves lots of timing and a well-orchestrated attack. “Phase One: Aerial Infiltration. I know both of you can Shift into flyers. I think it would be best to send you, Rye, to be topside. You see, there are security measures all the hell over the place. For what we need done, he would work best.”
Rye held his gaze. “What would I be doing?”
A grim look met his. “You will be dropping our bag canisters down into the air system. These canisters contain a chemical that eats away the canisters once the temperature reaches seventy-two degrees. We’ve done extensive testing. You will have thirty-seven to forty minutes to make your drop before the canisters are decomposed releasing the knock-out gas. Rye, there will be many casualties. Make sure you aren’t one. You see, once the gas interacts with the air, there is a short window of time before it turns into a killing gas. It was something we found when developing chemical warfare. Of course, we’ll send you with a gas mask but—well, they aren’t always effective. You need to get to the target, drop, and go. That’s all there is to it, capiche?”
Both Rye and Bailey nodded, not knowing what else to do.
“Okay, on to the next photographs I want you to learn. This is what the base looks like if you cut it open from top to bottom. Outside you see farm land and the plateau. Inside, well boys and girls, it’s a different ballgame. There are seven levels plus the storage facility for the aircraft and parking garage that runs the shuttle out of there.”
“A shuttle?” questioned Rye.
“Yes. There is a gawd-damned shuttle down there that shoots all the way to Los Alamos. I see that shocks the shit right out of you. Yeah, well, there’s more of that where it comes from. Why the hell do you think I left a top-level job to crush this place? Oh, you don’t know what that is, right?” He chuckled. “It’s not important. The only thing that is important is bringing this base down.”
“Aren’t there innocent people in there that will be hurt?” Bailey frowned looking at the pictures.
Wesley leaned back in his chair, loud creaks pinged in the air as his hands braced against the table edge. He turned to raise a brow to Dave and noted his shake of his head. “I see. From what I just deduced from Dave, it appears you don’t have the full story.”
Bailey whipped her head towards Dave. A flush crept up his pale neck to his face, steaming his glasses.
Her eyes shot daggers into him. “That is correct. We haven’t been told.”
“This is what we poetically call a suicide mission. “Now, having said that, we have in place a plan for retrieval of the Aliens, Shifters and general personnel. However, you might as well know unless everything goes off without a hitch—well…”
Bailey flung her chair back and abruptly stood. “This isn’t what I thought we were getting into. I wanted to go inside the place holding the Shifters and flame anyone in my way getting them out.”
“And that is what you will do, if you go on this mission.” Wesley’s brown eyes narrowed as he tapped the table with one finger.
“And, if I don’t accept?” Bailey glared.
Wesley looked at Dave then waved his hands over the table, palms up. “That choice is up to you.”
“Don’t feed me your bullshit. We’ve seen too much. You’re not going to let us go no matter what!”
Rye looked at Dave. “Is that true?”
When Dave opened his mouth to speak, Wesley held a hand in front of him, staying his unspoken words. He leaned in and placed his elbows against the table, forming a pyramid with his hands as he watched Bailey. “You will be allowed to go, either way. You’re not seeing the full picture. When we finish this mission, there will be nothing left of the base. There will be a full investigation of what happened there. Believe me, I’m not worried of you leaving and telling everyone what you saw in these files. Even if we failed to bring the full base down, people should know… but not until we can get rid of the ones who created this nightmare. Most of them will be assembled there late tonight and in the early morning.”
Rye reached out to take Bailey’s hand. She slowly lowered into her chair.
“Tell us the rest,” pressed Rye.
“Yes, the rest.” Wesley drew a photo out of the base, including their levels. “Basically there are the seven levels I had mentioned. Level One is the area governed by the Security forces and the Communications Center. To enter at Level One is to die. No one gets past that area. It was designed that way in particular because of those thinking they could simply discover a hatch and enter the facility. That would never be successful. Okay, on to Level Two where the personnel housing is located. These are mostly the innocents you were referring to, Bailey. I’ll get back to them in a moment.” He took a deep drink of his bottled water and slid the platter of water and a bowl of fruit towards Bailey and Rye. They passed on the fruit but grabbed the water bottles, drinking thirstily.
“Then next level is one to be cautious when entering. It’s the one where high-level executives and military personnel have their offices and housing. There are also labs located on this level. Right below that is the level where most of the first experiments were conducted, on both humans and aliens. That is the mind control level. Most of the experiments are done and housed there, to have easier access to them at a moment’s notice. One level below is where the cooperative aliens are housed. They have the freedom to move freely on that level. All their personal desires are met.”
“What does that mean? What are they given to live this life in a prison?” Bailey asked, frowning deeply.
“Well, take for instance, you crave a pizza. You push a button on the menu and it magically appears via a dumbwaiter type of delivery system to their location. Maybe they wanted to watch a movie, they have an endless scope of choices. Anything at all.”
“Except leaving,” Bailey mumbled.
“That is what we will change, for them. We will give them a chance to go home if they choose to leave. I’m like you Bailey, I want to end what has been done here.”
“What about the other levels?” Rye asked.
“Levels six and seven I’ve already mentioned. Level six is where the genetic experiments are housed—the ones that lived but are horrible mistakes.”
“Like us?” Rye said.
Without a word, Wesley reached into his file and tossed some photographs in front of them. Bailey made gagging sounds and Rye pushed himself away from the table. “W—w
hy would they keep—them?” Bailey finally asked in horror.
“Now we get to the reason of this mission. The first time I was given the grand tour of the facility, I was in the company of several generals and the President of these United States. The generals were excited to share with us what they had accomplished. That sound you just made was the sound I made as I blew chunks up and down the hallway. The generals only continued to laugh as they opened up room after room, prodding, and poking their creations. They were in a stupor I could only compare to drunkenness, but this was on power. Some were part human, others part alien, bred with animals and pieces of DNA that were unidentifiable. I watched in horror as one general took his cigar and ground it into the flesh of a partly human and animal mix to hear its screeches as it tried to get away.” He looked down and shook his head. “I’ve never been able to light my cigars since then.”
No one said a word. The quietness hammered loud in every ear. It hammered of the horrors of all the untold stories housed in the facility, of the great injustices against all creatures and the vileness of power in any uncontrolled form.
Wesley looked at his watch. “Dave, show them to their rooms. Time is short. We have six hours until we attack.” He looked directly at both Rye and then Bailey. “You have four hours to rest, reflect and decide. If you choose not to join us, you will be released after the mission is over.” He stood up and walked out of the room leaving Dave to escort them to the elevators.
“What if we wanted to leave right now?” Bailey crossed her arms in front of her.
He shook his head, almost sadly. “Surely you can understand why that won’t be allowed. This mission must go forward.”
She glared. “Surely you can understand, you can’t hold a dragon down.”
Dave took a deep breath. “I didn’t ask you to come. I wasn’t even going to let you know what this mission was because I didn’t want either of you to feel compelled to join. Neither one of you were tricked into coming here. You came for your own reasons, so don’t lay that on anyone else.”
Bailey eased up and let her arms fall to her side. “You still didn’t answer me. What if we used our Shifting power right now to leave? Even with all the people we passed on our way to this room, I could get out.”
Dave looked at his watch. “No. You couldn’t.” He said in a whispered voice. “You see that water you drank in the room? It was laced with a chemical that inhibits your ability to Shift.”
Bailey shoved him against the wall. “I knew I couldn’t trust you! You guys will never stop messing with us!”
“That’s untrue. It is only a precautionary measure. Of course we had to do something to protect us, and the mission. We couldn’t have you fuming mad and Shifting ready to incinerate everything we worked years to achieve. We’ve never been this close to toppling this base or saving countless others from going through what you’ve already experienced. Do you know, this very night they will all come together and propose massive genetic manipulations to raise their next soldiers? We have to act now!”
Bailey stumbled back.
“Yes, Bailey. They are going to push forward before it becomes widely known about those that escaped. They will quickly go from here and inject thousands of innocents, mutating them to become good soldiers. Mindless soldiers to treat as they see fit!”
They arrived at the elevator and Dave stepped in, holding the door open. Bailey stepped in, followed by Rye. The elevator took them down one level to the housing area. Dave guided them to adjoining rooms. “I’ll come by in four hours. Until then, you have a lot to think over.”
He waited until they walked into Bailey’s room, then he clicked the button that locked down the rooms until his return. They didn’t see the tears forming in his eyes as he walked away.
Chapter 19
Rye held back his words until Bailey had a chance to decipher all the information they just learned. Whatever her decision was, he’d accept it. It would be his, too. He wouldn’t commit them to this mission, however much he believed in it. She would have to be onboard, too. There were too many things that could go wrong. Bad wrong.
Bailey appeared to be taking in the spacious room filled with a queen-sized bed, covered in a damask comforter in shades of green and the living room furniture that could have been used in an upscale Colorado home. She ran a fingertip from bed to couch, but Rye saw her eyes were unfocused, and he knew that look, she was still processing.
“Did you know anything about this?” Bailey wanted to know.
“What I knew was that people just like us were taken against their will. I knew Dave and his powerful friends, some of them prominent insiders, wanted to stop it. I had no idea how high this went in the beginning. Most of the information I learned alongside of you. But this attack? No. I had no idea what was planned or against whom.”
A strange quiet settled around her shoulders. If Rye didn’t know better, he’d have expected the next moments to see Bailey shift into her dragon form. But they had taken that from her too.
She exhaled a burden of breath and sat in the brown distressed leather chair, leaning forward, elbow on knees, eyes boring through her shoes. “I can’t think. My brain is fueled with all that’s been done against us and others, as well wanting to strike out against the very ones saying they want to help us. They tricked us yet again by stealing our ability to Shift. They removed our powers so we’d become subservient to them, no matter what reasoning they gave.”
“No one understands what you are saying more than I do. Even so, I understand their point of doing so, just this once.”
Her head popped up to glower at him, but she didn’t comment.
His eyes grew soft as he tried to explain his feelings to her. “We’re all caught up in a bad storm where there seems to be no moral high ground. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning what they did, but I can see it through their point of view. This plan to bring down the black op program is—important.” He ran both hands over his stubbled face, then sighed. “You know what I believe. But I will leave with you, if that’s what you choose.”
Somewhere, on some star blessed night, he would have swept her into his arms and made long, slow love to her. He’d have celebrated and cherished every patch of her supple skin. And then, he’d be the warrior that screamed inside him to right the injustices of the world and walk out the door, guns blazing.
Soft as any rose petal, Bailey closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, Rye found lovely emerald eyes meeting his. They were different from how he’d ever seen them. They were gentle and loving. It was like walking along rich riverbanks, the green luring you to come into its restful space. She reached out with her hand and captured his.
It was the softness in her eyes that confused him. After the recent hours, now he told her what his intent would be if she decided to leave. How could her eyes hold such a reflection of peace? His head tilted back as he lifted her to her feet. In one fluid motion she crawled into his arms and gently swayed as if the universe played music only she could hear. He moved with her, cradling her head under his chin, wrapping one arm tightly against her waist as the other arm embraced her head against him. His heart raced in the embrace. At last holding her against him where her rages were subdued, where the center of her soul lay exposed showing itself as that fragile rose petal.
She pulled away from him. Her soft, full lips parted slowly, then hitched slightly in the corner. A flash of glittering embers flared in her eyes as she guided him to the bed. Never looking back into his eyes, she slowly unbuttoned his shirt. She watched as his pulse quickened, running one hand along his chest. Once his shirt was undone, she stepped back, pulling her shirt over her head, she tossed it to the floor. Rye stared at the beauty before him. Her tan lines pulling his eyes to the pertness of her breasts and traveling up to follow her pulse point in her neck, thrumming with excitement. He stepped into her magic and pressed her against him, longing for the touch of her skin against his with no barriers.
He pulled himself up on elbows and penetrated her eyes with his gaze. His breathy words trailed out, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Her whisper rose as she pulled him down into her embrace. “Never more sure.” He ripped the bed covers open, positioning them upon sheets of silk, sliding into a passion only imagined before in his mind.
“But—our Shifting.” He was still kissing the flesh of her neck, following a trail to her collar bone.
“They stopped our Shifting, remember?” He raised his eyes to meet hers, the blue lightning of his capturing the golden embers flashing in hers. Her smile didn’t mask her desperation. “We haven’t much time before they return. I’ll not waste it in regrets.”
They tumbled into their passions, leaving the chaos of the world for a while.
The whirl of activity increased in the underground war room Dave had put into place. Computer messages popped up on screens. Calls came in from several sources. Personnel awaited the bags from the lab for their drop points. Wesley chewed on the cigar, observing the monitors now bustling with activity. He was in his element.
“It’s happening. The first two pods landed and have been retrieved. They unloaded two Shifters from the DGE van moments ago,” Wesley stated, tapping the monitor trained on the facility. “Sgt. Connolly has them. He gave the signal. They’ll have the breathing apparatus hidden in their holding cells.” He turned to grab a rolling chair and parked in front of a large screen monitor watching the blips on the screen.
The Renegade Shifters Page 11
