by Jasmine Walt
“I see.” And the thing was, I did. Enforcers saw their fair share of death too, both amongst our own ranks and the citizens we protected. But it wasn’t the same thing as going into battle, and we certainly weren’t fighting all the time. Part of me wanted to ask Rylan more about his experiences in the Resistance, but this wasn’t the time. And besides, I feared that conversation would open up a can of worms I wasn’t ready to deal with.
Rylan came to a stop outside the gate. The sun had fully set now, only wisps of color lighting the sky, and darkness was settling over the compound. He turned toward the booth just as the guard within rolled down his window.
“Evening, Captain,” the guard said. He was a short, sallow-faced man wearing the same uniform as Rylan, but with less decorative embroidery.
“Good evening, Private,” Rylan said. “Anything to report?”
“No, sir. No suspicious activity up here at the front gate that I’ve been able to see. The day guard captain might know differently, but I haven’t heard anything on the radio, so I doubt it.”
“Thank you, soldier. Do you know where I can find the captain now?”
“I believe he’s down below, meeting with the director. Do you need me to radio him?”
“No, thanks. I’ll talk to him myself.”
Nodding, the guard turned away to pull on a lever. The gate began to slide open smoothly, and I let out a sigh of relief as Rylan passed through.
“So how are you getting inside, exactly?” I asked as he drove the vehicle up the long dirt road and headed toward a garage. Elnos and I had observed a surprising number of people coming and going from this seemingly unimportant structure, so we had already suspected that it held the entrance to the bunker. But with no way to breach the wards, our theory had been impossible to confirm.
“Watch and learn.”
“Good evening, Captain,” a guard said as he approached the running vehicle. I half expected him to salute, but he didn’t, likely because they were keeping up appearances around here.
“Good evening,” Rylan replied, and the two launched into a brief conversation. The guard pulled a small remote and pressed a button, and the garage door rolled up on well-oiled hinges, exposing around a dozen vehicles—mostly industrial—that sat within. Rylan guided the car inside, and parked it in one of the spots set alongside the left wall. I looked around as best as I could through his eyes as he got out of the car, but didn’t see anything suspicious—it looked like a regular company garage.
Rylan pulled out the captain’s key ring as he headed to the back wall of the garage. He stopped in front of an unmarked grey door, then tried several of the keys on the ring. The third one worked, and the door revealed a dimly lit stairwell that shot steeply beneath the ground.
“So that’s where they’ve hidden the entrance,” I mused as Rylan descended, closing the door firmly behind him.
“I always hated this part,” Rylan admitted as descended the stairs. “It feels like I’m on my way to hell.”
“Maybe you are, for what you’ve done.”
“Ha-ha.” He didn’t sound amused. “At least I’m by myself. It’s worse when you’ve got people behind you. If someone stumbles and bumps into you, or pushes you intentionally, you’ll go bouncing down this thing and break every bone in your body along the way.”
“Ouch,” I said, rubbing my left arm as I imagined crashing down this set of endless stairs. Yes, shifters could heal, but that amount of damage could be debilitating. Because we healed so quickly, our bones had to be set fast if we didn’t have the energy to shift. Otherwise, they healed incorrectly, and could leave us crippled unless they were broken and reset again. I’d witnessed such things myself, and it was not pretty.
It took some ten minutes for Rylan to reach the bottom of the stairwell. Toward the end, the tunnel grew brighter, light from the landing filtering upward. Four Resistance soldiers waited there, dressed in full Resistance uniform, their red armbands proudly displayed. Down here, there was no need to hide their true colors. They also carried pistols in addition to the swords strapped at their belts.
“Wish I had one of those,” Rylan remarked. “Seems odd that the captain wasn’t carrying one, but he probably doesn’t want to scare the populace. Maybe he keeps it in his office.”
I wrinkled my nose at that, but said nothing as Rylan conversed with the guards. I didn’t want to distract him—any lapse in protocol could get him killed. But he said the required things, and, within moments, he was through those double doors and walking down a long, brightly lit, white-tiled hall.
The next hour was pretty uneventful. Rylan went to his office, retrieved the captain’s gun, and checked in with the day shift captain, who went off duty. After that, he made his rounds, touching base with the guards stationed in different areas around the facility and doing the job of the man he was impersonating.
I used the time to get the lay of the land, taking mental notes and verbally relaying information about the compound to Iannis. As far as I could see, it was split into four sections. The first held the administrative offices, which was where we started. This was only a small portion of the compound, two parallel hallways lined with square rooms. All the windows were shielded with thick blinds, and there were heavy locks on the doors. The plates on those doors told us to whom the offices belonged, and I eagerly scanned each one, hoping to find Noria’s name. But though several head scientists did hold offices—and Rylan even spoke to one who was behind his desk as we passed by—there was no trace of Noria.
She’s not important enough to have her own office, I told myself, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach. After all, she was only recently recruited, and looks like she should still be in school.
The laboratory section was by far the largest. These rooms were walled off completely, protected by steel-reinforced doors and keypads. The guards posted in this section didn’t have access—they simply patrolled the halls. There were no windows to see within, but every so often, a white-coated individual would emerge, usually with a clipboard in hand, and either head into another laboratory, the washrooms, or the offices.
It all looked very normal and civilized, if you ignored the faint sobs coming from the rooms. A chill rippled down my spine at the sound of a child wailing inconsolably, and anger ignited in my chest.
“Rylan,” I hissed. “There are live test subjects in here, aren’t there?”
“I’m afraid so,” Rylan said grimly, nodding at another guard as we rounded the corner. “I scent shifters and various small animals. When I was here before, the place was nearly empty.” There was a hint of defensiveness in his voice.
“We’ve got to rescue them,” I insisted. “We can’t just leave them here.”
“Ordinarily, I’d agree with you,” Rylan said, “but we have no idea what condition these victims are in. If they’ve been injected with deadly diseases, do we really want them getting out?”
“Dammit.” I dug my fingers into my hair, trying to think. It was true that we didn’t want people leaving the compound only to start some deadly epidemic in the Federation. But how could I leave what sounded like a child behind in good conscience, knowing that they were being tortured?
“Sunaya?” Iannis’s hand settled onto my shoulder, a comforting weight. “What is it?”
I sighed, turning my head toward his voice. His arm wrapped around me, drawing me against his chest, and I took comfort in the embrace even though I couldn’t see him.
“There are people—possibly children—down there, being experimented on,” I muttered into his chest. “I want to get them out, but Rylan says they might be infected with diseases.”
Iannis was silent for a long moment. “If we can take over the compound, I will see to them personally, and heal them if possible. I can only hope that we manage to do so before Lord Logar arrives. He will be here soon, and when he arrives—”
“We’re going to destroy the compound,” I snapped. “Yes, yes, I know.”
> “When you locate Noria, you can have Rylan ask her about the test subjects,” Elnos suggested. “You might be able to free some of them.”
“What do you think?” I asked Rylan after I relayed that information. “Do you think it’s possible?”
“The subjects will definitely be separated according to what they’re being used for,” Rylan said. “Judging by the different symbols stitched onto the breasts of the lab coats of these scientists, there are a variety of experiments going on. They won’t want to jeopardize their results by mixing up their different test groups. It’s possible we might be able to save some.”
“Can we get a move on and find Noria, then?” I demanded. “What if Annia is one of the prisoners being experimented on? She could be dying right now!”
“I don’t know that they would use her,” Rylan said, though he sounded troubled. “She’s human, so likely would not fit the criteria for whatever their experiments are. It’s more likely they’re just questioning her.”
“You mean torturing her,” I said flatly.
“I was trying to be optimistic.”
I sighed, saying nothing more as Rylan finished his rounds with unhurried steps. Annia could already be dead for all I knew. But I couldn’t operate as if she were. I had to have faith that, at the very least, Noria would have done something to ensure Annia wasn’t executed. They might not have been on the best of terms when they last parted, but they were still sisters. Family. Blood.
Like Rylan is your blood.
“Okay, I think if Noria is going to be anywhere, it’s over here,” Rylan said as he turned down another corridor, past the mess hall. This section of the compound was a little less clinical, with a length of blue carpeting running the length of the floor, and softer lights set into the ceiling as compared to the harsh white lights in the other sections that left no room for shadowed corners. “This is where the staff sleeps.”
“So how the hell do we find her then?” I asked. “Do we just start knocking on doors?”
“Well, we can bypass this section completely, because these are the male dormitories,” Rylan said as we passed through one hall. “And this one too. But this one….” He stopped and sniffed, then let out a deep sigh. “This one is all women.”
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or roll my eyes at that. I wished the scry-eye allowed me to smell the scents Rylan was picking up on, because then I could just track Noria to her room. But it wasn’t built for shifters, and such a feature would be useless to humans.
Rylan walked up to the first door on the left and knocked. A woman with short blonde hair dressed in a white nightgown answered, her eyes heavy with sleep.
“Oh. Hello, Captain Witley,” she said, clutching at the doorframe as she regarded Rylan. “What is it?”
“Sorry to bother you,” Rylan said, sounding apologetic and a little embarrassed. “I was looking for Miss Melcott, regarding a security issue I need to discuss with her. Do you know which room she’s in?”
“Oh, that little redhead?” The blonde wrinkled her nose, then pointed down the hall. “She’s three doors down, on the left-hand side.”
“Thank you. Have a good night.”
“Anybody who’s awake is going to be listening now,” I told Rylan as he headed for the door in question.
“I know, but it’s not like you had a better idea.”
Rylan knocked on the door, then waited. My stomach sank a little when nobody answered—if Noria wasn’t here, then what were we going to do? Was she working late in one of the labs? If so, which one, and was there any way to get in? Tonight was our only chance—Rylan wouldn’t be able to stay here past morning.
“I’ll try again,” Rylan said just as I was about to ask him to. He knocked on the door. This time, we heard a muffled groan.
“Miss Melcott, it’s Captain Witley,” Rylan called through the door, keeping his voice as low as he could while remaining audible through the doorway. “I need to speak with you.”
A rustling sound ensued, followed by footsteps, and then Noria yanked the door open. “What do you want?” she growled at Rylan. She stood there, arms crossed over her chest, looking far too thin in the cotton nightgown she wore. Her red hair was a disaster, the mass of curls flying every which way, and her skin was too pale, making the bags beneath her eyes and the freckles smattered across her cheeks stand out like beacons.
“Noria!” I cried aloud, wanting to reach out and squeeze her tight against my chest. But then I remembered I wasn’t there, that I was sitting on a log out in the woods.
“You’ve found her?” Elnos exclaimed, hope in his voice.
Rylan darted into the room, pushing Noria back, and clamped a hand around her mouth before she could scream. She struggled mightily against him, flailing her arms and legs out as he closed and locked the door behind him.
“Stop it,” Rylan hissed as he dragged her away from the door. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m trying to get you out!” He shoved her away from him, and she stumbled backward onto the twin bed in what looked to be a very sparse bedroom. There was a single nightstand, and a small dresser for clothing, but other than that, there was nothing to occupy the windowless chamber. “If you shout, somebody’s going to come looking!”
“Why the hell would the captain of the night watch come to help me escape?” Noria sniped. Her voice wobbled ever so slightly, but her dark eyes blazed with defiance, and she gripped the bedspread beneath her hard enough that her knuckles whitened.
“Because I’m not the captain of the night watch,” Rylan said, keeping his voice low. “My name is Rylan Baine. My cousin Sunaya asked me to get you out.”
Hope flashed in Noria’s eyes for a split second before she narrowed them. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” she asked. “You could be making this all up. It’s no secret that I was friends with Sunaya.”
Rylan popped the top button of his uniform open and pulled out the necklace from beneath his collar. “Recognize this?” he asked, swinging the pendant back and forth.
Noria’s dark eyes widened. “That’s my scry-eye!” Scrambling off the bed, she snatched up the pendant and held it up to the light. “This is the very same prototype Elnos and I were working on,” she murmured, examining it critically.
“Yeah, he’s here too, along with Sunaya, Lord Iannis, and a wolf shifter named Fenris,” Rylan said. “We came to get you and Annia out before this place is leveled.”
“Before the place is leveled?” Noria echoed, the last bit of color draining from her face. “What the hell are you talking about?”
17
“This is all happening so fast,” Noria said as she paced back and forth alongside her bed. “One moment, I’m thinking I’m never going to be able to get out of here, and the next, I’m being told I need to leave now before the place explodes.” Brown eyes, heavy with worry, lifted to Rylan’s face. “Are you sure this place has to be destroyed? There is a lot of valuable scientific information here, even if so many of the experiments being done are horrible.”
“You know the Mages Guild doesn’t care about any of that,” Rylan said. “The safety of the Federation comes before scientific inquiry.”
“You mean the safety of the mages,” Noria said, a tinge of bitterness seeping into her tone. But she seemed more resigned than anything else.
“Can you get a summary from her about the project she’s working on?” I asked Rylan. “We need to know if there are any factors we’re not aware of.”
“Noria, what exactly have you been doing here?” Rylan asked. “When they sent you to this place, were you aware that this lab is developing a weapon to spread targeted diseases?”
Noria shook her head. “I’d heard vague rumors about secret weapons, but I thought it was just a lie spread by our enemies,” she explained. “When I first arrived here, the director told me I was to invent a small flying mechanism that could spray sleeping gas on people, so they could be more easily captured while avoiding Resistance casualties.
It sounded reasonable enough to me, and an interesting challenge, so I got to work.”
“I’m guessing you changed your mind at some point,” Rylan said, “judging by how unhappy you seem to be here.”
“Well, a couple of days after I arrived, I found out the truth.” Noria pressed her lips together as she momentarily came to a halt, her dark eyes growing bleak. “A chemist was flirting with me in the cafeteria, trying to impress me with his scientific achievements.” She let out a humorless laugh. “He was balding and fat, and a good fifteen years older, so I don’t know why he thought he stood a chance. Anyway, he got so caught up in his bragging, he let slip that my invention was going to be used for spreading deadly poisons and viruses across the nation.” Noria’s face twisted in disgust. “Mass murder, in other words, and not just of our enemies. Women, children, and even animals would be killed off too.”
“Shit,” Rylan hissed, echoing my sentiments exactly.
“I immediately went to the director’s office and demanded to know if what I had learned was true. I made it clear I couldn’t keep working on this project if even half of what that chemist said to me was fact. He told me to mind my own business, and continue to work on my assigned project, if I valued my life.”
“Damn,” Rylan cursed. “So they threatened you. I’m guessing you did continue on the project, then?”
“I tried my damnedest not to,” Noria insisted. She twisted the fabric of her nightgown nervously, and the guilt in her voice was clear. “In addition to what the chemist told me, I also found out they’ve been keeping shifter children in the labs to use for experiments. They used to have mage children too, but I think those were too difficult to kidnap.”
“That explains why we haven’t seen any shifter guards around,” I said to Rylan.
