Inside the Darkness (The Human-Hybrid Project Book 2)
Page 9
“Most of our hybrids have.” They had walked some distance to the area near where they had visited Hector Mascari. Jantzen stopped at an unlabeled door. “That surprises you, doesn’t it? I hadn’t considered that.”
“Even the rejects.”
“The hybrid failures, yes. They are the ones that live around here. They know the risks when they join the program.” Jantzen had out his passkey, but he hadn’t inserted it.
“Like Christian.”
Jantzen’s eyebrows went up. “What do you know about Christian?”
Garik pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. Stupid Garik. Saying things without thinking. It was his ears, hearing things people hadn’t meant for him to know.
“Spill the beans. Has someone been talking to you about Christian?”
“Will I be sent to Level 5, too?”
“What?” Jantzen’s passkey disappeared, and he grasped both of Garik’s shoulders. He looked him hard in the face. “What’s this about?”
“They said—”
“They?” Jantzen’s purple-flecked eyes bored holes into Garik, searching as though he could reveal the answer he wished to hear by intent alone.
Garik couldn’t tell, not if it would get Leigh and Laura in trouble. He remembered Devon and his reprimand, so he repeated his previous word, spitting it hard to ensure the man accepted it as all he would get. “They said he was combined with a dog. A wolf is like a dog, and I think he’s in the cages down there.”
“Okay, I don’t need to know their names. It must have been someone in Joanie’s group. I didn’t expect them to be so careless.”
“They weren’t.” Garik wanted to kick himself. “I overheard it, and they didn’t know I could.”
Jantzen sighed. “Accepted. I forget that you can do that. What else did they say? Anything I need to hear?”
“Did Christian have precog?”
Jantzen released Garik’s shoulders and closed his eyes for a moment. “Not had, still has. He’s alive and well, just up for reassignment. You’re going to meet him tonight.” His passkey reappeared, and he pushed open the door, revealing blaring music and flashing lights on the other side. Marco Lopez was hanging from the ceiling holding a bouquet of flowers and chewing on a yellow carnation.
Garik burst out, “What?”
“I thought you would say that.” Jantzen grinned. “This is Christian’s apartment. Hurry before we draw attention.” He pulled Garik in and closed the door behind him.
“CHRISTIAN MAGUIRE.” A tall man with black eyes inside deep blue, and those surrounded by lighter blue, like those of a husky, peered down at Garik with his hand held out to shake. He was shaggy and tousled, with coarse hair that didn’t look as though it would accept a comb. His outsized arms and legs gave him a playful, boyish appearance. His rough-knit sweater was littered with wisps of hair that matched that on his head.
“Hello, Christian.” Garik felt overwhelmed, even more so than when discovering Justin’s crazy arms or Alyna’s retractable claws. The man seemed friendly enough, but his size was daunting. When he shook, Garik’s hand was swallowed in the man’s big paw.
Paw. The thick hand did resemble a paw. He wondered how long it had taken the man’s hand to change from normal to that, and if his own would someday look the same.
The apartment was small, one room, about the size of Garik’s, and everyone he knew from the project was crammed inside, the hybrids he’d befriended, anyway. The non-hybrids—Van, T’Wana, Devon—were off doing whatever they did, which was likely something very non-hybrid. The room did have a small kitchen, which Garik didn’t have, but no bed. Instead, cushions filled one corner. Hector had returned to the floor to pilfer more flowers, before leaping to the top of the doorframe. He was now perched on a handhold Garik couldn’t even see.
“I thought you were, um—” Garik wasn’t entirely sure why they were here. He hadn’t expected to meet Christian, and for everyone else to be here?
“Reassigned? Not yet. Jantzen is working on a solution.”
“I don’t understand why everyone’s here. They are, like, having a good time. How, I mean, I guess I’m asking, shouldn’t everyone be sad?”
“Give Jantzen time. He will explain.” The oversized man had bypassed the couch for the floor and sprawled like a large pet. He rested an arm and his head on a cushion and nodded his head at the people eating, drinking, and laughing at each other’s antics. “They’re here for support.”
“Okay.” A farewell party? No one seemed especially concerned that the man would soon be assigned to one of the cages on Basement Level 5. “Are parties like this allowed?”
“Not forbidden, but yes, we would be in serious trouble if they knew why we’re here.” Christian seemed amused. “We won’t be, though.”
“How do you know?” After today, Garik didn’t need more trouble. What would happen, another twelve laps in the pool, this time with bricks in his pack?
“I can see it, twelve hours out.”
“Your precog ability.” Garik closed his eyes. He had done it again. He wasn’t supposed to know.
“They hope for better in you.”
The tests that morning with the cards suddenly made sense . . . the electric shocks on his arm . . . all motivation for him to make the right connections.
“Unlucky them. I’m not anything.”
“I know. Not yet, anyway.” Christian nodded as if it was obvious.
“How—” Garik stopped. Christian looked at him with an are you kidding roll of the eyes. “Precog, right. I didn’t know you could tell things like that about other people. I thought precog was about what happened to you.”
“And here you are telling me this.” Christian pointed. “There’s our friend. I’m glad we got to talk.”
Garik felt Jantzen at his side. The bearded man clapped him on the shoulder, nodded at Christian, and leaned in and said quietly to the big man, “Give me time, my friend,” and motioned to Garik to follow him.
They headed across the room to where Joanie was having a spirited conversation with Alyna. Whenever Alyna moved her hands to make a point, the tips of her claws extended, like a cat when flexing its paws, only these were daggers that could slice like razors. Garik noticed a flash of silver in one of Joanie’s hands and realized she was popping mints like candy.
Giselle was at Paolo’s elbow, watching him with adoring eyes, and Laura, by that time, was yelling at Marco to BRING BACK HER DAISY! IT WAS DECORATION FOR HER DRINK!
“Why has he given up?” Garik couldn’t believe they were all having a good time when a friend was about to be sent off to whatever would happen to him on Level 5. He had been there. He had seen the results in the cages. He glanced back at Christian to see several others had gathered around him, and they were making the man laugh.
“He hasn’t. That’s his nature. Kind, generous, quick to warm to strangers. It’s also why the military doesn’t need him.”
“Military?” Stop repeating people, Garik scolded himself.
“You haven’t seen them?” Jantzen gave Garik a mock stare.
“Sure, yes. All the time when my friends and I were at the food court. But what do they have to do with Christian?”
“This I’m surprised you don’t know. That’s where our money comes from, the military.”
“Oh. That’s why I’ve seen so many uniforms going into the Tower.”
“You never put it together?”
“No.” Garik shrugged. “I never had any reason to.”
“Exactly what they intend. Any other questions?”
Garik looked back at Christian. “What will happen to him? The things I saw down there were broken-down leftovers. Christian’s a person. Can’t he live here like Justin and Hector?”
“He’s considered more valuable for genetic material. For research purposes.” Jantzen looked around the room at the group of genetic hybrids interacting with one another as if evaluating their worth against Christian’s. “He’s not the first to
be scavenged for body parts. That’s what the research is about. We’re building better soldiers, an army that can out-think, out-maneuver, out-kill any enemy that comes our way.”
“No!” Anger surged through Garik. It wasn’t fair, not for anyone. To think of a man being sacrificed for that, even if he barely knew him—
“That’s how I hoped you’d feel, why I invited you tonight. You can help if you will. After this morning, you might be Christian’s salvation.”
“I don’t see what you mean.” His disaster of a morning? How could that help?
“Are you willing? That’s all I need to know.”
How could he refuse? Garik jerked his head in a quick nod.
Jantzen grinned. He interrupted Joanie’s animated conversation with Alyna. “Joanie, I think we have a willing helper.”
“For Christian? Rockin!” Joanie pumped her fist. “He deserves all the help he can get.”
“Eh, eh, e-hay, little man! First time to meet. I’m glad to have you on the team!” Alyna reached to take his hand, her claws disappearing just before she grasped his palm to pump it enthusiastically. “It’s gonna be a fun ride!”
“Team? What ride?” Garik looked around, now suspicious that this gathering was less about Christian and more about him. What had he joined? And did he want to be part of it?
Jantzen held up a hand, and he explained, “I told you Weston and I have had some differences.”
“You and Mr. Rodheimer when we were on the mall. I remember.” Garik saw Jantzen’s eyes harden.
“It’s bigger than that. Too many people are being cast aside in his quest for perfection—”
“Yeah, us,” Alyna called, pumping one arm. “Down with the oppressor!”
“Not too loudly,” Jantzen cautioned.
“Who can hear us in here?” She grinned gleefully. “Turn up the music!”
“More seriously, he needs to be pulled off his pedestal and given time to rethink the goals he’s pursuing.”
“Okay, but what about Christian?” Rodheimer’s pedestal wasn’t Garik’s concern. The thought of Christian being cast aside for research was. The man might be a new acquaintance, but they also shared canine DNA. What happened to Christian could as easily happen to him.
“Go ahead.” Jantzen encouraged him to continue.
“Christian can’t be sent down to the cages. He just can’t. You’ve got to rescue him.” He didn’t add, and me.
“We have a plan. And that is why we need you. You’re still with us?”
“What do I have to do?” Garik let his eyes skip from face to face, his heart filling his chest with anticipation and dread. He thought of the bricks if he were caught.
“Play a lie, at least until it becomes the truth.”
“Play a lie—” Garik squeezed his eyes shut. No more repeating people. Still, a plan, and they needed him. He looked across the room to Christian reclining next to Marco the lemur man, about what might happen to the big man if he didn’t help and about the consequences if Garik’s lie were discovered. He nodded. “I can do that.” And swim with bricks if need be.
Jantzen leaned in. “Here’s what we’re asking you to do . . .”
Arriving July 2021
In Book Three, Garik Shayk must find a way to escape The Human-Hybrid Project.
The Mirror Cracks
Book Three
The Human-Hybrid Project
Garik Shayk faces the ultimate challenge. His body is changing, into what final form, he doesn’t know. He sorely misses his girlfriend, Marisa, certain she thinks he has abandoned her. When Garik makes his break for freedom, the Tower sacrifices everything to bring him home. Bay City might not survive, but Garik will fight back at any cost.
Coming July 2021
The Human-Hybrid Project
Addictive!
A 10-book series you won’t be able to forget. Explore each upcoming book, the characters, and more at www.thehumanhybridproject.com.
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