A soldier, the young, Hispanic man Thorne had pointed out to her, turned to face her through the door. “Hey, quit that will you?”
“Not until you get Vivian Winters in here to talk to me.”
The soldier—his name was Romero, she thought—just shook his head and turned away. She continued the banging, a rhythmic motion worse than a dripping tap. If they wanted to drive her crazy, then she’d do her best to get to them first. Her arm was aching, her upper body tired, but still she continued.
Romero turned back to her. His open palm slammed against the glass on his side of the door. “Stop that, you crazy bitch!”
She kept banging, yelling back at him as she did so. “Not until you get Vivian Winters.”
He glared at her, and then turned on his tail and marched down the hall.
Five more minutes passed, and Vivian’s stern face appeared on the other side of the glass door. She pressed a buzzer and used her fingerprint to get inside. Autumn stopped the banging, lowering her aching arm. Her fingernails were split on one hand.
“I hear you’ve been causing some ruckus, Doctor Anderson,” she said. “And that you’ve been asking to see me.”
“I’m going to go crazy if you keep me in here. I’m a scientist, not a lab rat. I need to work.”
She shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”
“You can keep me guarded. Where am I going to go?”
“It’s not about you escaping. I can’t let you near our experiments. What if you sabotage them?”
“Why would I do that? I’ve already told you that I’m not your enemy. I was taken by Blake from the Chicago facility without me even knowing what was happening. No one explained anything to me. Have you thought about this from my perspective at all? I was working for you guys—I was always on your side—and the next minute I’m being kidnapped and then discover that the men who had taken me can turn into God-damned wolves. They proved to me pretty quickly that they were prepared to kill. I was scared, and overwhelmed, and they told me all this stuff about how the government would want me dead—that possibly my mother’s death had something to do with you guys.” She studied the other woman’s expression for a reaction to these words, but her face was like stone. “I didn’t know which way to turn.”
Vivian pursed her lips, twisting them as she considered what Autumn had said.
“I’ve always been on the side of my country, Ms. Winters. Perhaps I made some bad decisions along the way, but that has never changed. What I can’t change is who or what I am. Everyone wants a piece of me, and I’ve accepted that. The shifters want to use me, the same as you and Thorne do. At least if it’s you, and I’m working here, I feel like I’m involved, and helping my country, not just being used.”
“Okay,” she said eventually. “If you really are on our side, you need to give me something.”
Autumn’s stomach twisted with nerves, but she tried not to let her feeling show on her face. “Name it.”
She sidled up to her, to stand close, invading Autumn’s personal space. “Give me something on the shifters, something you learned during your time with them that we won’t know.”
“And then you’ll let me out of this room? Show me the projects?”
“I’ll keep two guards on you the whole time, and if you so much as breathe in the wrong direction you’ll find yourself drugged and straight back in here.”
Autumn nodded, wracking her brain for something she’d learned that Vivian might not be aware of. Something occurred to her, but she kept her mouth shut for the moment. If she told them that, how would they use it? Was her freedom from this room, and a possible chance at escape worth divulging information about the shifters? But if she didn’t get out of here, or somehow find a way to stop this project, Vivian and her team could find a way to create their own army of shifters and use them against the others. For all she knew, they could be planning on wiping out all the natural shifters so they were the only ones in control.
This would have to do. She had no other options.
Autumn took a deep breath and jumped in with both feet. “The shifters run at a higher temperature compared to regular humans. Even when they’re in human form, they still feel hotter.”
Vivian’s blue eyes lit up. “Really? How interesting.”
“So do I get out of here now?”
Vivian smiled, smug and superior. Autumn held her hands at her sides to prevent herself from punching the other woman. “Yes, I suppose you do. But like I said, one wrong move and you’ll be back here before you can blink.”
“I understand.”
Vivian clapped her hands together. “Right, well let’s give you the grand tour.”
Stunned, Autumn followed Vivian as she opened the door, allowing them both out into the corridor beyond. As soon as Autumn stepped through the doors and into the corridor, two large men in uniform fell in behind her. One of them was Romero, the same man who’d called her a crazy bitch for banging on the glass.
“These will be your guards,” Vivian said, speaking over her shoulder as she walked with long strides, her heels clacking against the floor. “They will be at your side every moment you spend out of that room.”
“Great,” she muttered. At least she was out of that God-forsaken prison.
She hurried after Vivian, trying to listen to what she was saying, while taking in everything around her. She walked past other glass doors, exactly the same as her own, and was shocked to discover people sitting behind them, some with their heads in their hands, others pacing furiously—men and women alike.
“Who are they?” she asked.
“Just people who are of interest to us,” the other woman said. “They are none of your concern.”
Autumn couldn’t help but be concerned. “Are they shifters?”
“One or two, but others are here because they are suspected of having other paranormal abilities that we might be able to harness—telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, astral projection ...”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“I assure you, Doctor Anderson, I most definitely am not. I would have thought after everything else you’ve learned recently, that the existence of such things wouldn’t come as much of a surprise.”
“How long have they been here?”
Vivian shrugged. “Depends. Some of them, only a few months. Others have been here since they were children.”
“What?” she said, aghast. “You kept children here?”
“It was important for us to study their abilities. They might not be aware of what they could do and harm themselves or others. Or another country might become aware of their talents and take them for themselves. We were only doing what was necessary.” She paused, then said, “Besides, the ones who were children when they came here no longer have any memories of their previous lives. This is all they’ve known. This is home.”
How can you possibly know that? She thought, but didn’t say. How could they get away with taking children, and nobody asking questions? But then she remembered Mia’s job, how children went missing all the time, and realized it was more common than she’d ever given thought to.
“Anyway, they’re none of your business,” said Vivian, her tone curt, indicating the matter was closed. “I’m going to show you the next couple of floors.”
Autumn noted there were no windows anywhere, nothing that indicated the outside world even existed. Of course, she reminded herself, Vivian had already told her they were in a bunker deep underground. Why would there be windows? All of the doors she’d passed led to other rooms, and she hadn’t even seen a sign for a fire exit—a potential escape route. If the whole building was like this, it was no wonder Vivian had let her out in exchange for information. It wasn’t as though she could go anywhere.
They reached an elevator, and Vivian used her thumb print to call the car. “There are five floors,” she said while they waited. “I’m going to take you to the hub of the operation, and then I’ll show you
the labs.”
“What are on the other two floors?”
“One floor is made up of living quarters.”
“You live here?”
“Most of us have our own studio apartments here, though of course my quarters are larger. We couldn’t have a team of people entering and leaving the building every day. It would soon cause attention, something we try to steer clear of.”
“Until now,” remarked Autumn. “Rounding up shifters is going to get the public’s attention. Especially when you start picking off their mothers, or sisters, or children.”
She shrugged. “Anyone who causes us trouble will be swiftly dealt with.”
Autumn thought she knew what that meant. In her current position, she didn’t need to hear the details.
“And what about the final floor?”
“That floor ...” she hesitated. “That floor is for storage.”
Autumn didn’t believe her.
The elevator doors slid open with the whisper of well-oiled mechanics. They stepped inside, the guards following, and Vivian once again used her thumb print to select which floor she wanted. The doors closed in front of them, and within seconds opened onto another floor. They stepped out, Autumn’s shadows staying close.
Autumn looked around in wonder. Where the upper floor had seemed almost deserted, if she didn’t include the poor souls, who, like her had been kept captive for the Paranormal Defense Department’s experiments, this floor was teaming with people. They rushed around, passing sheaves of paper to one another, sitting at huge control panels covered in numerous buttons, lights, knobs, and levers. On the walls, surrounding the government officials and workers, were huge screens, ten feet high and fourteen feet across. The space was massive, big enough to fit at least twenty of the screens, so they circled the people below. Autumn stared. They appeared to be showing parts of the city. On one screen, a small crowd of people were running, though Autumn couldn’t see what from. On another, men in helmets and army gear pushed and shoved a young couple into the back of a van. On the next, a huge black cat—a panther from what she could see—snapped and snarled as people surrounding it poked at it with what looked to be garden forks and other implements.
Her eyes travelled around the room, taking in each of the scenes. They were too much. It looked like chaos out there! Was all of this really happening, or were they watching recordings?
She asked Vivian.
“This is all happening right now,” the woman replied, matter-of-factly. She didn’t seem in the slightest bit fazed about the violence and chaos on screen. “When one incident is dealt with, we can move onto the next—and there is always a next. The army calls the incidents in and we give the commands to do what we need them to do.”
Autumn opened her mouth to speak, but a figure marching up to them made her close it again. The man finished the call he was on, slipping his cell phone into his back pocket.
“What the hell is she doing out?”
Calvin Thorne stood before them, the fearsome scars marring his already angry face, making him appear even more formidable. Instinctively, Autumn stepped back, but Vivian Winters did the opposite.
Stepping toward him, she reached out, her long, slender hand cracking against the man’s scarred cheek. He grunted, though probably more in shock than pain, and lifted his hand to touch the spot her palm had met. His upper lip lifted in a snarl, and he glared at her with red hot fury in his eyes.
But Vivian didn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated. “If you ever question my decisions again, being fired will be the least of your concerns.”
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He seemed to be struggling with what he was about to say, forcing himself to physically bite his tongue to prevent the retort Autumn felt sure would be trying to burst from his lips.
She risked glancing around. Everyone suddenly appeared to be even busier than they had been moments before, deliberately looking everywhere and anywhere other than the scene playing out beside them.
Finally, Thorne spoke. “Yes, Ma’am. I apologize.”
She brushed him off. “Apology accepted.”
Autumn could tell he was desperate to say more. He gave Autumn a narrow-eyed stare that she understood meant he was unhappy with the situation. Did he blame her, or Vivian? A man like him would be far from happy about being slapped in front of all of his colleagues. She couldn’t say she blamed him. Vivian’s behavior was hardly professional. She almost laughed at herself. Considering the situation, this wasn’t exactly the moment to start worrying about how professional people were being. They were off the grid here.
Across the other side of the room, a man stood, his hand raised for attention. “Ms. Winters,” he called out when she noticed him. “We have a situation where a number of youngsters are resisting arrest. Screen fourteen.”
Autumn saw something she hadn’t before, how each of the screens was numbered. She quickly found the screen he was talking about. A group of youngsters—late teens to early twenties—appeared to have barricaded themselves in a ground floor apartment.
Where the hell were all these cameras, she wondered. Were they in the army vehicles and positioned where they were needed? Or were they watched like this all the time by satellite or whatever other technology they employed to keep them under surveillance? She guessed Big Brother really was watching.
Armed men in riot gear lined up outside the apartment. The young people inside began to throw missiles of some kind, stupid things, whatever they’d found at hand. Plant pots, cups, plates, even DVDs came whizzing through the air, smacking harmlessly into the body-sized reinforced plastic shields the men held up.
Vivian walked over to the control panel the man had stood from. An intercom or radio of some kind was on the panel. She pressed a buzzer which Autumn assumed would allow her to be heard.
“Take the lot of them out.”
Autumn couldn’t stop herself. “No!” she cried, stepping forward. “They’re just kids!”
She turned to her sharply. “I thought you were on our side.”
She tried to backtrack. “I am, but ... well ... they are just kids.”
“No, they’re not. They’re either shifters or people who are protecting shifters, and that makes them our enemy.” She pressed the buzzer again. “What are you waiting for? I said open fire.”
“Roger that.”
Autumn watched in helpless horror as the soldiers put down their shields and stood upright, firing shots into the building. Right away, a young man was hit in the head. He wobbled in the open window for a moment and then pitched forward, falling from the window and onto the yard below.
Autumn turned to Thorne, a question and horror in her eyes. Thorne caught her look, but only pressed his lips tight together and gave a slight shake of his head. Whatever else Thorne did, she didn’t think he agreed with Vivian’s slaughter of these people.
Vivian however, didn’t appear in the slightest bit bothered. She clapped her hands, just once, and turned on her heel. “Anyway,” she said, as she strode off, leaving Autumn and Thorne, and the two guards, to hurry after her. “Enough of these distractions. You need to see where the magic is happening. Let’s go down to the labs.”
“Are you intending on letting Doctor Anderson work, Ms. Winters?” Thorne asked, with ice in his voice.
“I’d like her to act as a consultant for the work we are doing. She is one of the best in her field, after all, Thorne. She was brought in initially for a reason. Also, she’s proven to me that she’s not necessarily on the shifter’s side. Isn’t that right, Doctor Anderson?” The stern glare she gave Autumn as she turned to her made Autumn certain she would not dare to answer in any other way.
“Of course.” She forced a smile.
“And how did she do that?” Thorne said, adding, “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“She’s given us some information about the shifters. Apparently, all shifters run at a naturally higher body temperature than the rest of humani
ty.”
Thorne looked to Autumn. “Is that so?”
She hated that she’d told them something useful, her gut twisting with anxiety. But she nodded.
“Well that could come in handy when it comes to distinguishing who is human and who is a shifter. We can simply demand everyone allows their temperature to be taken.”
Damn. “But some people run naturally hotter,” Autumn threw in, somehow hoping she could backtrack and erase some of the damage she might have caused. “People who are fighting off an illness of some kind. Even pregnant women, or women in different parts of their ovulation cycle, will register a higher temperature.”
“Obviously it isn’t fool-proof,” said Vivian, “but it gives us somewhere to start if we’re looking at combing through the entire population of the United States. We can segregate all shifters so the rest of humanity can live without fear of being attacked by some monstrous creature when they’re going about their daily business.”
Autumn’s mouth fell open. “But when has that ever happened? Shifters have been living in peace and in hiding for hundreds of years.”
She lifted a finger to make her point. “Yes, but they’re not in hiding any more, are they? That wolf-shifter, Chogan Pallaton, made sure of that when he decided to broadcast his live shift on television.”
“Yes, you’re right.” She couldn’t argue with that. In a way, Chogan was to blame for this whole mess.
Except the government had been abducting shifters before this, she reminded herself. That’s why Chogan did what he did, so they would have a voice. But this whole thing had backfired on him, and now his voice had been silenced too.
Chapter Fifteen
THE ELEVATOR WAS starting to get crowded.
Autumn was squashed in with Vivian, the two big guards, and now Calvin Thorne joined them. She couldn’t decide if Thorne was coming with them because he didn’t trust her not to do something stupid, or if he didn’t trust Vivian Winters.
The car dropped down another level and the doors opened. As a group, they stepped out. The next level down was a contrast to the floors above. Where the upper levels had all been glass and chrome, down here was more industrial, with cinder block walls and exposed metal girders.
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