Death.
He’d smelled it before. He was sure of it.
Rurik neared, and then paused, sniffing the air. “What is that smell? It’s sweet but it smells a bit like tar.”
Auberi handed a small blond-haired child off to Rurik. “Take him to Blaise in the back. He’ll be fine. He needs fluids. Have Blaise start an IV on him.”
Rurik did as he was asked but looked uncomfortable holding the child. The kid appeared as uneasy about it all as the Russian.
Auberi set about assessing another child.
“Why are they so quiet?” asked Gram. “They’re wee ones. Wee ones fuss. These children make nearly no noise. What’s wrong with them?”
Gram was right. The children were very quiet. With as many as there were and the state of neglect they’d been left in, there should have been noise coming from them. There wasn’t.
Garth’s insides twisted at the thought the children had no doubt run out of tears at some point. They’d probably learned at their young age that crying got them nowhere in their situation.
The need to smash in the face of every person involved in the barbaric treatment of the children was nearly overpowering. His attention returned to the little girl Landros was still holding.
She looked even paler than she had only moments before.
Gram shook his head and wiped the back of his hand past his nose. “What in the bloody hell is that smell?”
It was Hans who answered. “It’s a toxic mix of a variety of lethal ingredients. My guess would be phenol possibly combined with something else—not that it needs to be. It has this smell. It’s what the Nazis used in the T4 Euthanasia Program.”
Garth fought to keep from being sick. The T4 Program had been a policy that basically sanctioned murder. It gave the green light to doctors to kill their own patients if they thought the patient had a life that, in their opinion, was not worth living. Garth had been right when he’d thought of the facility he’d raided during the war.
Hans ran a hand out and over the steel of one of the empty cribs. “Whatever the children have been given smells much like that did. It’s a scent that is seared into my brain. I will go to my grave always remembering it. Those outside of the T4 Program weren’t spared exposure to this drug and toxic compounds. The scientists took something that was created to help others and twisted it, using it to harm, to control, to kill.”
Auberi met Garth’s gaze and nodded, backing up what Hans was saying. “Given in extremely high doses, phenol is lethal.”
Hans continued to touch the crib. “They worked hard to perfect just the right ratio of it mixed with other things to be able to control supernaturals. To keep us unable to fight back but alert and aware enough to function on some level. If the people who orchestrated this are anything like the ones from my past, they intended to hide the evidence of what they’d done here the minute we showed up.”
Gram recoiled in horror. “Och, yer nae tellin’ me they were tryin’ to kill the wee ones when we arrived, are you?”
“That is exactly what I am telling you,” returned Hans, his words clipped. He didn’t take his gaze from the crib. It was as if it was the only thing grounding him to the here and now and not letting him slip fully into remembered pain of the past. “They will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried and their work private. The children are not children to them. They are not seen as human or lives that are special. They see them as lab rats. Nothing more. Something to advance their cause.”
The wolf in Garth wanted to be free. It would show every one of the people attached to whatever the hell this was exactly what he thought of their lab rat approach. He spun and punched an empty crib, sending it flying into the wall with such a force that it bent partially in on itself. Still, the act didn’t help to lessen the fury Garth felt. The burning need to kill someone with his bare hands and make them pay for all of this.
“Captain,” Hans said, seeming eerily calm. “Throwing things around won’t fix anything. It will just scare the children more.”
Scare the children?
With a gasp, Garth twisted to find the little girl with Landros watching him with wide eyes and a frightened look on her face. Garth sighed. “I’m sorry, beauty. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The tension eased from her face.
Gram brushed by Garth on his way to a crib with another child in it. “The wee ones are all precious. Look at them. They’d nae hurt a fly. How could someone do this to another person? How could they look at these lil’ ones and nae see the gift they are?”
Auberi’s jaw set. “As Hans said, those who did this don’t see the children as anything more than test subjects.”
“Bastards,” whispered Gram, standing before a crib that held a child who couldn’t have been more than six or seven months old. Garth wasn’t sure if the child was male or female. The giant of a man reached in and lifted the baby in the gentlest of ways. For a split second, Garth could almost picture his best friend as a father. Gram, while wild and rowdy, would one day make an amazing parent. He’d be fierce, yet compassionate. “The wee bairn is soaked through and hungry. I do nae think she’s been given too much of the drugs. I smell them on her, but they’re faint. Still, she’s been neglected. Where are the men who were here? I wish to have words with them.”
“Me too,” added Rurik, his face ashen as he reappeared from the back.
“Jannick and two others took them into the back lab, away from the children,” said Hans, his jaw jutting out. “If I know my brother, the men suffered greatly before death was granted. They may still be suffering if he’s delayed their deaths.”
“Guid,” added Gram as he held the baby close to him as if he moonlighted as a nanny.
“I can smell the chemical on some of the children more than others,” said Landros, still holding the little girl. She reached up and patted the man’s stubble-covered jawline. He stared down at her, his face a wash of emotions.
Hans shuddered. “My guess is they’ve been given varying doses of it over the course of their time here. The scientists did something similar to us long ago. They made sure we had a constant level of it to keep us compliant and easier to control. If we acted out, they would increase the level. If we didn’t learn that lesson, they administered enough to kill. Trust me when I say it does not take one long to learn to obey. Being unable to fight back or function as you normally would because your body is too drugged to do anything is something you never forget.”
Auberi twisted and nodded, his gaze holding concern. “Additional medics are en route. As soon as we secured the labs, I had Landros request all PSI and Para-Regs with medical training in the area. They’re on their way. For now, we’ll use the resources provided here. The lab is fairly well stocked. Blaise is starting a number of IVs for those I feel need it.”
Rurik stepped forward, making his presence known. “Is Blaise qualified to give small children intravenous fluids?”
Landros responded. “There is much about Blaise that he keeps to himself. You can trust that he’s more than qualified to assist. He may act and look like he doesn’t care about anything in the world, but that’s not the truth of it.”
Garth looked around the lab. “I need to reach out to the other teams that are doing raids today. They need to be sure to look for any hidden labs. I’d like to think this is a one-and-done thing, but since PSI is doing a massive sting on linked crime organizations today, it’s best we make sure.”
Landros cleared his throat. “When I phoned for backup medical personal, I was told the other teams have already discovered the same thing at their locations. The operative I spoke with said PSI was in the process of dispatching medics to Team Eight’s location. From my understanding, Corbin Jones and his men uncovered a similar lab as this one at their bust location, too. It sounds as if there are a number of expectant mothers there as well as children. Their condition is as dire as here. Maybe even more so.”
“Other labs?” asked Hans, his voice catch
ing.
Landros nodded. “Details are scarce. This is all unfolding as we speak, and my guess is that all of the other teams are doing the same as us, trying to make sense of it all and trying to save lives.”
Auberi walked over to Landros and bent slightly to look at the little girl the man was holding. Auberi smiled and did his best to appear non-threatening.
Normally, all Garth wanted to do was hit Auberi. Now, he wanted the vampire to ensure the little girl was well and would live.
She put her arms out to Auberi and he took her gently. She instantly wrapped her frail arms around his neck and held tight for dear life. Auberi turned with her, closed his eyes, and patted her back with great care. It was easy to see he was as emotionally affected as the rest of the operatives over the state of the children. The vampire then began to sing softly in French to the little girl. Garth recognized the song as an old French nursery rhyme.
The little girl closed her eyes as she continued to cling to Auberi. He rocked her in place, singing, his tone low. Strangely, in that moment, Garth could imagine the vampire as a parent as well. As if that was even possible. Vampires couldn’t have children, could they?
Rurik went to the bedside of another little one. He tipped his head and then ripped off the top of the crib’s cage-like dome. He lifted the child from the crib tenderly. “Auberi, this one has a rasp to her as she breathes. It’s faint but there.” With their sensitive supernatural hearing, they could pick up on things most couldn’t. “I think she labors for air, and she smells of the chemicals.”
Reluctantly, Auberi handed the little girl back to Landros—but not before stunning the hell out of Garth by planting a kiss upon the child’s forehead. Auberi actually seemed reluctant to let her go. As if he too was drawn to her.
Landros took her once more and she settled against his shoulder. Her little hand darted out and caught Auberi’s before he could pull away fully. She held Auberi’s finger and stared up at him, her gaze as blue as the vampire’s.
The Frenchman leaned close, still permitting her to hold his finger. He kissed the top of her head and whispered in his native tongue, telling her that he would not go far and that he needed to see to her friends before returning to her.
Oddly, the child nodded as if she understood everything Auberi had said. Maybe she did. All Garth knew was there was something about her that had three alpha males worrying over her and hovering.
“Mon petit chouchou,” Auberi said softly to the little girl. “Uncle Landros will watch over you while I help the others.”
That was strange.
“Uncle?” questioned Garth. “And did you just call her a food product in French?”
Auberi ignored him as he stepped away from the little girl.
Landros gave Garth a hard look.
Tossing his hands in the air, Garth shook his head. “Fine. Uncle. Food product. Got it. Someone tell me if she’s okay or not. I feel a bit like I’m standing in quick-dry cement right now. I need to know she’s going to be fine before I can do anything else. I can’t explain why. It just is.”
He wasn’t lying. He did feel stuck.
Rurik returned and looked Garth up and down. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m not too sure,” said Garth, rubbing the center of his chest with his thumb as pain began there. “Do shifters have heart attacks?”
“I wish,” said Auberi from the sidelines.
Garth nearly gave the vampire a piece of his mind. Little ears were present, so he refrained.
Auberi’s attention was now on the other child. He checked the tiny one over thoroughly and rattled off a list of instructions to Rurik. All Garth caught was “airway” and “fluids.”
The bear-shifter followed the instructions to the letter.
Gram glanced around as he continued to hold a baby. “I’ve seen a lot in my years. This is…it’s…horrendous.”
The rest of the men nodded.
Garth cleared his throat. “I’ve seen something just like this before.”
The men in the room looked at him.
“Germany. Nazi time. I was present when one of the breeding facilities was discovered.”
They all flinched at his words.
Hans gripped the crib nearest him. It was then Garth noticed the man had not touched any of the children. He too seemed stuck in place.
Auberi looked up. “When the Nazis held me, it was not pleasant, but it was not like this. There were no children in the facility I was in. Just adults. All supernatural.” He continued to doctor child after child efficiently as if he were on the battlefield dealing with wounded soldiers in need of fast care. “I don’t know what all was done to these children. What I do know is, they aren’t human.”
Taking another deep breath, Garth caught it then. The underlying scent of varying supernatural types on the children. When he realized the mix of supernaturals was coming from each of them, not just as a whole, he faced Auberi. “They are blends of more than one type of supernatural?”
“My head says no. The rest of my senses say yes,” returned the vampire. “I can run additional tests on them at a later date. And before anyone asks, the tests will not harm them in any way. I’m not a monster. Each time I took the Hippocratic Oath, I meant it.”
The little girl in Landros’s arms stared at Auberi. Garth noticed the vampire watching her from the corner of his eyes as well.
A little girl with matted brown hair came running out of the back with Daniel Townsend, the vampire who headed the team Auberi was part of, running behind her, looking exasperated. The British vampire was usually even-keeled and rarely looked riled. Right now, it looked as if he’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight champion. Garth strongly suspected the champion in this scenario was the little girl. There was a certain light in her huge green eyes that said she was mischievous. The fact that she was giggling and checking behind her really drove home that Garth was onto something.
She came to a grinding halt and Daniel nearly fell over her. He somehow managed to avoid colliding with her, instead stumbling past her and into an exam table. He stood, did his best to straighten his black shirt, and then cast Garth a look that said he was close to pulling out a white flag of surrender.
Garth nearly laughed.
“She has a lot of energy,” said Daniel, nodding his head in the direction of the little girl with green eyes.
“So I see,” returned Garth.
The little girl blinked up at Landros and the other child. For a moment, she merely stood there, staring at Landros. Her tiny expression hardened for a fraction of a second before a large smile broke over her face. She then pivoted, bolting back in the direction she’d come from.
“Bloody hell,” whispered Daniel as he ran off behind her.
“Townsend will need a nap after this. That one is full of piss and vinegar,” said Gram with a huff. “That’s guid. Means she’s managed to stay strong during this all. That one is a warrior. Mark my words.”
Landros stared off in the direction the child had gone. “She was worried about this one. While none of the children are easy to read mentally, that little one all but threw her thoughts at me. She wanted me to know she and the one with me now are close. And that if I permitted harm to come to her friend, she would hold me responsible.”
Garth snorted—and then stopped when he realized Landros wasn’t kidding. “You’re serious?”
Landros nodded. “Quite.”
“You were just mentally threatened by someone who is like knee high,” added Garth, finding the act amusing.
“I believe the threat was not empty. Can you sense it in the air? Fae magik?” asked Landros.
The operatives each paused in what they were doing.
Gram scrunched his face before a smile burst over him. “Aye, it’s there. Faint but still.”
The girl in Landros’s arms coughed and closed her eyes. Was she sick? Had she been given too much of whatever poison they’d been pushing?
Auberi fin
ished up with another child, but this time the man had the audacity to lift the thing out to Garth. “Take this little one to Blaise. He’s underfed and needs to be cleaned, but he’ll be fine.”
Garth stared at the boy who was around the age of three. Unless the child came with a manual, he wasn’t sure how to proceed. How did one pick up a child without hurting them? They were so small. “I don’t know what to do with a kid.”
Children were not something Garth was used to dealing with. In all his time, he’d never had any of his own—for that, he’d need to be mated—nor had he been around many. He made a point to avoid them.
“Yer embarrassing yerself, Captain,” said Gram. “Just take him and give him to Blaise. It’s nae hard.”
Garth took the child and held him out at arm’s length.
“Christ, Viking,” snapped Gram. “He’s a wee babe. He’ll nae bite.”
As the words left Gram, the little boy Garth was holding snapped his mouth, his tiny teeth lengthening quickly. He growled, and his blue eyes swirled to amber. The smell of wolf along with hints of Fae found its way to Garth.
In a split second the boy had his small jaws clamped down onto Garth’s forearm, where he proceeded to bite hard.
Garth grunted but did nothing to make the child stop. He was afraid he’d hurt the boy without meaning to. It was better to just let the kid continue to bite him.
Gram snorted. “I lied. That wee one obviously bites. Is that magik I smell on him?”
Nodding, Garth tried to hand the boy, who was still clamped onto his arm, to Gram.
The Scotsman shook his head. “I’ve already got one. Take him to Blaise. Warn him about the magik part. There is no tellin’ how strong the wee one’s magik may be. His spirit is fierce, just look at the way he’s holding on to yer arm with his mouth. Another warrior.”
“Great, an army of small children,” said Garth snidely as he carried the little boy awkwardly, in search of Blaise Regnier, a fellow member of the Fang Gang.
A few paces down the hall, Garth found the vampire, who was dressed more like he was about to go clubbing than on a raid. Blaise was tall but looked even more so in his three-inch-soled leather boots with giant silver buckles. The T-shirt he wore had a skull image and the word Misfits across the top. He had a number of piercings and currently had his dark hair back in one long braid.
Act of Brotherhood_Paranormal Security and Intelligence_PSI-Ops an Immortal Ops World Novel Page 4
