by Jools Louise
Cody shook his head slowly, keeping his flashlight pointed at the floor, his demeanor non-hostile as he could make it. “Leonard is dead,” he replied. “We’re from the town of Sage, above you. We can get you out of here,” he said, seeing the man flinch, then begin to tremble like a leaf.
“We have to get Ethan,” he said slowly in his broken voice. “Ethan’s in that room. There are others, too. We were guards, but then we were put in here as well and left to die.”
Cody nodded. “Is Ethan a shifter, too?” he asked, moving slowly toward the door indicated.
“No, he’s human. He’s never shifted once,” the man said, then collapsed to the floor. Immediately the other three surrounded him, baring their teeth, protecting their friend.
“We’re not here to hurt anyone,” Cody said, gently and calmly, not moving farther. “We can help you all, get you all out of here. We have food and water, once we get topside. You look like you haven’t eaten in a while.”
The snarling stopped, but the three furry creatures, now revealed in the light, held their ground. Cody recognized their species, they were wolverines, small and powerful and fiercely loyal, protective as hell of their territory. It said a lot for their physical state that they hadn’t begun tearing into him and John.
“I’m going to check on Ethan,” John said calmly, stepping slowly around Cody and pushing at the door. He received a snarl in warning, but no one attacked. With a sharp kick, John splintered the door, not bothering to ask about a key, and entered the room beyond cautiously. Cody heard him gasp in shock and rushed to help.
“I hope Leonard is rotting in hell,” John said, his voice lethal in its quietness.
Cody couldn’t agree more, seeing a similar setup to when they’d found three other shifters, Jace, Rob, and Kyle, in the first set of tunnels, along with John’s mate Cameron and Cameron’s sister, Emily. The young men had been used as lab rats and had been undernourished, but certainly not to the extent he saw in this room.
Nine people lay in cots, all as emaciated as the wolverine in the tunnel outside. All were male and looked as though they’d simply been forgotten about. They were living skeletons, all breathing, but so close to death Cody felt tears prick his eyelids as he blinked, his heart a physical ache at seeing these poor men, abandoned in such a way.
“We were supposed to guard them,” one of the wolverines said hoarsely, having shifted and followed them into the chamber. “As soon as we were dropped here, via another tunnel, they sealed us in and then left us.” Cody turned, seeing this shifter was in a similar state to the other. “We’ve existed on the rations they left us and rain water. And when we were strong enough, we dug upward, trying to get to the surface. We failed.” The man collapsed to his knees, his entire body shaking with the effort it must have taken to shift.
Cody grabbed him, lifting him in his arms. “I’m getting help, John,” he told his friend, who nodded grimly. “I’ll get a generator and lights down here, and Lex needs to get here ASAP. We need to get them all on an IV immediately. Are you okay staying down here for a while longer?”
John nodded again, standing beside one of the men who was trying to speak, his lips too dry. “Throw some water down here, they need hydrating,” John said, and Cody jerked his chin and then ran out of the chamber, heading for the stairs.
* * * *
“What the fuck happened down here?” Lex asked, sounding sick with disgust, hooking up the final intravenous drip to his patient. “How do you just seal someone down a tunnel, then not remember you put them there?”
Cody shook his head, feeling sick himself. He had no clue what had gone on here, the wolverines in as much distress as their charges. They had all been too weak for further explanations and had been taken to the surface for emergency treatment, since they were a little stronger than the nine prisoners they’d been looking after…and Cody knew they had been taking care of their charges. There was evidence of that, with utensils and cups here and also plates. One of the wolverines had told them they’d eaten worms and grubs from their dugout tunnel, which they had used to feed their charges. The rainwater had trickled down from above, gathered in pots and pans and eked out among all thirteen inmates. Then the poor shifter had fainted from lack of nutrition, and that had been the last thing they knew for certain.
Right now Cody was helping Lex, helping with the IVs and organizing people who had come down here to rig lighting and equipment to get these men out of here. They’d been down there for two hours now and were about ready to head up to the surface. They’d arranged vehicles to transport their patients to the new clinic in town, which wasn’t quite open for business, but was fully functional. It was only a few blocks away, but too much for these half-dead men. Speed was needed to get them into the warmth. Lex was worried the men wouldn’t survive the journey to the ranch’s medical center. Blacked-out windows had been arranged at the clinic and special goggles were placed over the patients’ eyes, since they appeared to have been down here for a long time. Far too long.
Cody felt terrible, because he and Rafe had been the ones mapping out the tunnels, not realizing for a second that there was one right under their feet. The site above had been where the old town hall had been, somewhere they’d investigated twice over, but found nothing. Cody figured the hatch they’d just revealed had been concreted over. He could cry, just thinking about the callousness of that act, entombing thirteen people down here, then leaving them to starve slowly to death. The only reason this place had not turned into a permanent sarcophagus was because they were rebuilding the town. Otherwise thirteen men would have died down here, never seeing the light of day ever again—forgotten.
“Okay, Cody and John, let’s get this evacuation under way,” Lex said, wheeling the first gurney out of the room.
A hoarse, barely audible whisper came to their ears. “Free?”
They all looked at the man on the bed, whose eyes were shielded by the goggles, his mouth the only thing moving.
“Yes, you’re free,” Cody said, keeping his voice low and soothing. “We’re getting you out of here, buddy.” He felt that ache in his heart at the glimmer of a smile on the man’s face, the murmur of a sigh.
“Thank…you.” Then the man faded out, and Cody panicked, wondering if they were too late. He checked the pulse and closed his eyes in relief at the feel of soft breath on his face as he leaned close. The man had fainted, exhausted just by saying those three words.
“I want to kill whoever did this,” John said grimly, holding the IV up as he helped wheel the gurney along the corridor. They reached the long stairwell and placed the man into the arms of Mick and Leo who were there to take survivors up the long vertical tunnel to freedom. The two shifters who had first discovered the grim secret tunnel were waiting as well and had already transported the four wolverines topside.
“Once the guards are well enough, we’ll get some answers,” Cody said, his voice hard. He knew they had done their best, but they had also agreed to their task, albeit without knowing they were also to become entombed as well.
Mick and Leo began the slow task of getting their patient topside, wrapping the man in a cocoon of blankets, surrounded by a survival suit to keep him warm. The rest waited patiently while Cody, Lex, and John went to collect the next victim.
* * * *
Sheriff Pace sat beside Cody at the brand-new clinic in Sage, taking over one of the offices as a temporary crime unit. They had computers hooked up and were reading through documents retrieved from the town hall’s electronic files before the town had become a bomb crater.
“They destroyed all evidence,” Pace said, his voice hard. “I can only find one reference to “transferring merchandise” to a “secondary location” but no details apart from that.”
Cody was helping the sheriff, since he and Rafe had helped retrieve these files and had spent hours looking over them, trying to identify any more locations the cult may have left behind after their Idaho base had been shut down.
“
This here is a list of names,” Cody murmured, almost to himself. “Ethan…? That’s the name that one of the wolverine guards said, when we found the tunnel. He said they needed to get to Ethan.” He stared at the list, nine names with the first one someone named Ethan Horton. He stared harder, frowning. It must be a coincidence that the last name was the same as his own.
Pace leaned over his shoulder, looking down the names. “Ricky Henderson, Bart Monsoon, Sammy Duvall, Hal Mason, Jimmy Page, Bill Simpson, Zion Ashworth, Shelby Newson, Ethan Horton. We should ask Sky or Jace or Aiden, see if they’ve heard these names before.” He paused, then pointed to lower down the page. “These are the people who ‘donated’ these people—twenty-three years ago.”
One name stood out to Cody—Marissa Horton—one of those who’d “donated”.
Cody wheeled away, shoving himself off his chair and vomiting into the small sink in one corner of the office. He closed his eyes, hands trembling, trying to process the implications of his ex-wife’s name being on that list, along with the name Ethan Horton.
From a distance, barely heard over the roaring in his ears, he was aware of Thomas entering the office, strong hands grabbing his shoulders and holding him tightly against a thick, strong chest.
“What’s wrong, baby? What did you find?” Thomas asked.
“Is Dad okay? What happened?” Douglas asked, sounding worried.
Cody felt that churning in his gut again and lost the rest of the contents of his stomach all over the floor. Douglas apparently had a brother, one who was currently hanging on to life by his fingernails, a brother Cody had thought long dead, stillborn. He thought back to the day Marissa had told him their son had died, her tears and grief. He recalled how he had spent so much time comforting her that he hadn’t even said good-bye to his young son. Marissa had been only six months along, according to her, and Cody had believed every single thing the bitch had told him. According to these records, the dates next to her name, she had given birth in the local medical center, after a minor road accident when she had been drinking. She had been two months further along than she’d told him. Ethan had been born healthy and whole—and then given to the sick bastards who operated the cult known as the Will and the Word.
“You have a brother,” Cody heard Pace tell Douglas, hearing the gentleness in Pace’s voice, a rarity for the man, who was tough as old boots normally. “His name is Ethan, and your dad thought he hadn’t survived birth, thought he was stillborn.”
Thomas’s arms tightened and Cody felt soft lips warm his clammy cheek, a damp cloth wiping his damp skin. “Ethan is one of the men you rescued from the tunnel beneath the garage site, isn’t he?” Thomas asked, and Cody nodded wearily.
Cody ran the faucet, washing the vomit from his lips and swilling his mouth of the foul taste. He turned in Thomas’s arms, reaching for Douglas who moved quickly, hugging his father. “Ethan is here in the clinic, but in a really bad way,” Cody said, then choked as long-withheld tears began to rise, the grief from twenty years ago clutching at this throat. “He may die.” Then he felt his legs give way, grieving for the son he’d thought lost to him, grieving for all those lost souls that had been taken from this earth. His first born may still be lost to him, too weak to survive after years cut off from the world above.
“I saw the men you rescued, Dad,” Douglas said softly, stroking a hand down Cody’s back, tears on his own face. “They’re hanging in there. It’s been three days now since they were brought to the clinic. Lex said since they survived this long, they will most likely pull through…their will to live is going to keep the cult from taking any more souls, you’ll see.” He nuzzled Cody’s shoulder, offering comfort.
“Cody?” John asked, entering the office, his green eyes concerned, seeing the tears streaking his ex-sergeant’s face. Cody had never broken down before, certainly not in front of his crew. He’d been their stalwart, offering his strength when they crumbled. Cody had cried more times in the last few days than in over two decades.
Cody’s head lifted, exhausted by his meltdown. He met John’s eyes, seeing the worry mixed with something else, a lighter emotion.
“Ethan’s awake,” John said, then his expression hardened. “So are the wolverines.”
Cody felt his entire body stiffen, felt a hardness enter his soul, and patted Douglas’s back gently before easing from his embrace, moving away from Thomas and his son. It was time to have a little chat with the wolverines.
“Stay here, Douglas, I don’t want you to see this,” he said, patting Douglas’s cheek.
“No,” Douglas said, shaking his head, mouth firm. “You can’t hurt them anymore. They were under orders, and because the cult had their families hidden somewhere, they obeyed.” He placed a hand on Cody’s forearm, squeezing tightly. “They suffered enough. The people who did this are dead. Don’t let them turn you into one of them, an uncaring, hardhearted bastard.”
Cody blinked, seeing his son’s hazel eyes blazing with anger, staring at him, but he knew Douglas was directing it at the hardhearted bastards of the cult who had abused both his sons.
“I won’t hurt them,” Cody said, relaxing slightly, smiling slightly. “But I will be asking some tough questions.” He met Douglas’s eyes, daring him to argue.
He saw John’s quick smile and waited for the inevitable quip from the big Brit.
“Let’s go ask some tough questions,” was all John said, winking at Douglas, who smiled back.
* * * *
“My name is Lash, my brethren are Rage, Slug, and Charm,” the wolverine said, the same one who had first spoken to Cody in the secret tunnel. “We were sealed underground for just over four years. At first, we had light and plenty of food and were able to travel the length of the tunnel, connecting with the other level above.” He had eyes of an unusual amber hue, the color of good brandy. “My brethren are not blood brothers, we are not related, but we were lovers for years before the cult hired us. They knew of our bond and used it as leverage. We were told we must not leave the place or our families would suffer the consequences.” His eyes darkened, shadows of what they’d suffered crossing his thin face. “We were left with a truckload of supplies and told the move was a temporary one. Then they blasted one end of the tunnel, trapping us down there. We dug for months, trying to get out, but only reached bare rock. We found the other vertical entrance and made as much noise as we could to get us out, to get anyone to hear us. Nobody did. Then we realized our food was not enough to last and had to ration it, subsisting on grubs and worms and rainwater when the last of it was eaten up. That was…I don’t know how long ago.” Lash lay back on his pillow wearily, closing his eyes as his energy reserves were used up from talking for so long.
Murphy sat there, a psychotherapist and one of Cody’s crew. Thomas had followed as well, wanting to keep his lover reined in…Cody was bubbling with inner rage and had only a slender hold on his temper—and the vicious predator within him wanted to lash out. “Do you remember where they transferred you from?” Murphy asked gently, glancing at Cody to see the big man focusing with an intense, blank-faced expression on his face. The man was holding on by a thread, and Murphy had no intention of allowing his ex-sergeant to pummel Lash’s face into the nearest wall. Murphy believed the wolverine. The cult were dab hands at tricking people, selling their cause by lying about their intentions—or, as in Lash’s case, using people’s families as leverage.
“We were at some ranch, not far from this town. A guy called Feenan had us stashed there, then at another place where they had hunting parties, and before that, a place in Idaho. We left there a while ago, then they took us down to some tunnels beneath Sage. We were there for a long time before they suddenly sealed us to into the one you found us in.” Lash paused for a moment, as though thinking hard. “I think there was someone called Sky, an African hunting dog shifter, who worked at that other place with his brothers. A guy called Aiden was taken out of the other tunnels when we were, but he was sent someplace
else, we weren’t told where.”
Murphy did the math, not letting on he was extremely well acquainted with Aiden. He wanted to speak to his husband first, find out what Aiden remembered. And Sky, Marvin and Bryce. Maybe their mate, Jace knew something as well. It didn’t matter too much in the larger scheme of things, since Leonard, Feenan, Mayor Jensen, and the other thugs were long dead. It may lead them to the wolverines’ families and the families of the prisoners.
“You were in the second tunnel for a year and a half,” Cody said. “Did you ever meet the parents who gave away their children? They were children, weren’t they?” he asked, a glint in his eyes that had Murphy standing and placing a warning hand on Cody’s shoulder.
Lash looked at the big jaguar shifter, his amber eyes reflecting his sorrow. “We never met the parents, except for one, a woman called Marissa. She visited the ranch,” Lash said, then gulped when Cody’s expression went from curious to vicious predator in an instant. Wolverines were fierce creatures but no match for an angry jaguar in the condition they were in now.
“Ease up, Cody,” Murphy said, pulling Cody back. “Lash and his brethren have suffered enough. Don’t lose your cool now. Wait for the right target.” He turned Cody, gripping the man’s shoulders in strong fingers, preventing Cody from lashing out at the nearest available target, which would no doubt be the prison guards.
“I remember when we first met Sky and he told us his story,” Cody said, staring balefully at Lash, his eyes glittering with golden flecks, his pupils narrowed to pinpricks, laser sharp. “He said when they were first hired by Leonard and Feenan and Mayor Jensen, they didn’t really care too much about what they were doing. That they felt only contempt for most of their charges. I want to know how you boys felt, guarding my son, seeing that bitch Marissa visit him, but not release him.” Cody spat the words through canines that had descended. He looked ready to rip someone’s throat out, his anger palpable in the four-bed ward.
