Beginnings

by Sandra R Neeley

  “Report,” General Ferriday ordered without looking toward him.

  “To date, sir, we have freed more than One hundred eighty males, and forty females. Of those freed, we’ve encountered eleven casualties due to their owners attempting to end their lives before we were able to get to them.”

  “Have any of these men been there willingly?” another gentleman asked.

  “Not a single one,” Acker answered.

  “Females? They tested on women, too?” The most highly decorated General there asked.

  “Not that we know of, sir. They snatched women off the street and threw them into the cells with the males as rewards for good behavior. From what I’ve been made to understand, the guards who helped keep these people in captivity were also given access to the women in any way they wanted as a fringe benefit,” Acker said, anger coloring his voice.

  “This is fucking outrageous! How could this happen to our men in uniform? Who the hell thinks they have the power to perform such atrocities? Who thinks they have the right to kidnap women off the streets?” the visiting General said again.

  “General Howard, you have no idea just how tragic this is. These males, for the most part, have no idea who they were before this testing was done. It seems the first objective was to destroy their long term memory. Their first thoughts are memories from the training facility, or testing facility. They do not know who they are.”

  General Howard sat back in his chair and shook his head in disbelief. “I have no words,” he finally said.

  “Some of these males have volunteered blood samples and were willing to provide as much information as they could. Others have become hermits of a sort — just wanting to be left alone to live in peace. The blood samples indicate their DNA has been manipulated. The results from the testing we’ve been able to complete so far indicate that these males now have altered DNA. Pieces of their DNA are still there, but now it’s mixed with Lion, Tiger, Gorilla, Panther, Bear, Wolf, Boa, Crocodile and on and on and on. They are bigger than the average man, and when they become agitated, some of them become even larger and display certain features, including elongation of their canines, eye color change, and fingernails becoming extended like claws. Until you become accustomed to them, these changes can be somewhat unsettling. They also show trace amounts of what we believe are synthetic hormones and some yet to be identified chemicals. We believe we’ve pinpointed the first facility, and because of the similarities in their DNA changes, we think whatever chemical cocktail was administered to them, was manufactured in that facility and distributed to the others. These monsters were building the perfect soldier. One who reacted with animalistic instinct and was practically invincible on the battle field.”

  “How many facilities do you believe there are?” General Howard asked, his face showing alarm.

  “In the United States, five so far. In Europe we’ve found six, two in Russia, and still others in Asia and Africa.”

  General Howard allowed his eyes to wander back to the white board they’d been watching slides on. The last slide was a photo of Lieutenant Maddox Larsen the day he received his appointment to Lieutenant and stood facing the camera smiling proudly with his country’s flag behind him, and two more photos right beside it. One of the day he was rescued, and another of him since that day as he began to put his life back together.

  “And these women?” he finally asked.

  “They did not have their memories erased. They are fully aware of who they are and their pasts,” General Ferriday answered.

  “How have their families not made this front page news?” another asked.

  “Because they’ve not left here yet. I’ve donated my land to create a community for the males to live and work in. The females are still there as well. I’ve explained that they could not go home until we were sure it was safe to announce they had been rescued,” General Ferriday explained.

  “Why would you hesitate to announce their rescue?” a man in a dark business suit asked.

  “Because there may be others out there that could be killed if those who held them feared being caught,” General Howard snapped.

  “Exactly, plus, we don’t know how high up this goes. We do not want this swept under the rug. These males deserve compensation, they deserve justice. And in some circumstances, they deserve vengeance,” General Ferriday said emphatically.

  “You’ve all been invited here today so that we can advise you of what we’ve found. We’ve just about done all we can. One of our SOT’s found a flash drive, and they’ve managed to break its encryption. We’ve got some names and places now. We intend to go after them. We need back up, though, not for the operation itself, but for the fallout afterward.”

  “What is an SOT?” one of the men in dress blues asked.

  “Strategic Offensive Team. Most of those who helped us rescue the majority of these people have gone back to their lives. Only a small number remain. Those who are performing these rescues and offensive missions in search of those who committed these atrocities are the very males we rescued.”

  “You’re using their own gene engineering and training against them,” General Howard said with a grin on his face.

  “Absolutely. They created these males, no reason they shouldn’t see first hand exactly how well they perform. But make no mistake, these males are basically just like you and me. They want their lives back, not who they were before, but the right to live from now forward as they are now. Without persecution or curious eyes. Once they’ve brought all their brothers home, they just want to be left alone. But they for the most part want to be left alone here — on Alliance Ranch,” General Ferriday said.

  “Are you sure they’re safe to move about society after all they’ve been through?” the man in the dark suit asked.

  “Decide for yourselves,” General Ferriday said, rising from his spot beside the slide projector and going to the front door of his home. He opened the door and stepped back, allowing a group of very large, very intimidating males to enter his home. “Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the governing board of the Variant people.”

  Each male walked into the room and stood at ease with their hands clasped behind their back loosely as they made eye contact with every man in the room.

  “These males had their names stripped away from them, and were instead assigned numbers. They were trained in teams of five with each male being given a number, one through five. Since arriving at Alliance, they’ve chosen new names. The names they’ve chosen have a special meaning for each of them. Each of these males was elected by their peers. Law is the Leader of the Variant people, and sits at the head of the board.”

  Law inclined his head so they’d know which he was.

  “Sitting on that board are Stone, Roar, Worth, Ice, Rise, and Crave.”

  Each male indicated who he was when his name was called by inclining his head.

  Most of those gathered there were flabbergasted by all they’d learned, and now by the visit of some of the males themselves. General Howard rose from his seat and approached the males. He stuck his hand out to Crave first as he was on the end. “At ease, soldier,” General Howard said when Crave continued to stare straight ahead. Crave relaxed a bit then looked down at the General’s hand still extended, waiting for him to take it. Crave looked General Howard in the eye while he slowly extended his own hand to shake the General’s.

  General Howard went down the line shaking each male’s hand until he finally got to Law. “Law, please accept my deepest apologies for all you’ve endured. I give you my word, I will work with General Ferriday in any way I can to bring those responsible to justice.”

  “Pardon me, sir. But we don’t want you to give us justice. We prefer to claim it for ourselves,” Stone said.

  General Ferriday allowed the corner of his mouth to turn up in a smile.

  General Howard didn’t even try to hide it. He grinned and went back to shake Stone’s hand again. “I’m sure you do, son. And I’ll help y
ou achieve all I can, and then some.”

  “Some of it may have to be achieved behind closed doors, but I see no reason why you can’t be involved when the punishment is carried out away from prying eyes,” the man in the dress blues said.

  “Gentlemen, this is Colonel Bates. He’s oversight for the various Special Ops teams that are assigned around the world,” General Ferriday explained.

  “This is not going to happen overnight. You realize there have to be more involved than just those you’ve found if there are military courts sending these men into the hands of those that have carried out these crimes,” General Howard said.

  “Yes. What we need now is endorsement, so that when we go on our missions and begin to take those into custody that can hopefully provide more information, we aren’t slapped with kidnapping charges. We need immunity as a military operation so that we cannot be held accountable,” Law said clearly and concisely.

  “It’s not likely that every mission will come to your or anyone else’s attention,” Roar said.

  “I’m sure we’d have heard of the missions at some point,” the man in the dark suit answered.

  “Have you heard of any yet?” Ice snapped.

  Colonel Bates chuckled. “No, we have not.”

  “As I was saying, you may not hear of all of them, but those we bring back hostiles on, I’m sure at some point will come to your attention,” Roar explained.

  “I have a certain amount of leeway with clandestine operations and keeping them unexplained,” Colonel Bates said thoughtfully.

  “I can back you up on that,” General Howard said.

  “I think between all of us, we can manage to offer you a blanket to keep things hidden under. But we want to do more. What can we do?” asked a man that was dressed in brown and tan BDUs and a tucked in tee shirt and matching BDU jacket. So far he’d not commented, but now he rose from his chair and moved toward the males before him. “I will be honored to help out in any way I can.”

  “Gentlemen, meet Lieutenant General Kent. He’s got more dirt on the heads of state than most men I know,” General Ferriday said.

  “For now… you can help with reconnaissance. We need to find every single one of those like us that is still out there. We need to bring them home,” Worth said passionately. “The offensives, we’ve got those.”

  “We earned those!” Rise said.

  “Yes, indeed,” Worth agreed. “But we’re running low on Intel of where more of us may be. The teams were sold to private citizens around the world. They’re used for anything from running drugs to private protection, to guerrilla warfare. We need to find them if there are any more out there.”

  “I can do that. Let me send out a few handpicked men that routinely moved in the underworld. If there are any more out there, we’ll find them, and we’ll call you in on the rescue,” Lieutenant General Kent promised.

  “Give us a little time to get things in motion, so we can provide a blanket of protection for you and your people to work under. We’ll be in touch soon,” General Howard said.

  “Thank you, General,” General Ferriday answered.

  “Thank you, General!” General Howard replied.

  After an afternoon of questions and answers most of the board took their leave, with only Law and Roar staying behind. As the military dignitaries prepared to take their leave, the man in the dark suit who’d been viewing the whole thing from a distance decided to speak again.

  “So, I’m guessing this is what Roscoe threw his career away over,” he said incredulously.

  “Threw his career away?” General Ferriday asked. “No, Crockett. He didn’t throw away his career. He found something of greater importance than a career that needed to be addressed.”

  Crockett realized he’d tipped his hand. “Oh, I’m not saying it’s not important. Just that I was surprised he walked away from such a lucrative position.”

  “He’s got another position here, and chose not to attend today because other responsibilities called to him this morning,” General Ferriday answered. “Thank you for attending today, though. We appreciate your time.”

  “Oh, of course, of course. I’ll be happy to help any way I can. Just keep me updated on the progress you’re making and I’ll step in where needed,” Crockett said as he took General Ferriday’s dismissal happily to get out of the house and on his way.

  No sooner than the door was closed behind him and the sound of the engine turning over on Crockett’s vehicle could be heard, than Law and Roar spoke in unison. “He’s not to be trusted.”

  “He’s not surprised at all to find out about us,” Roar said, glancing toward the door.

  “I’ve got it,” Acker said. He’d been standing sentry near the front door, but on hearing Law and Roar agree with his very own thoughts on the matter, he slipped out of the door to follow Crockett.

  “I agree. I’ll help your man handle the possible leak in the room,” Lieutenant General Kent answered. He faced Law and Roar then spoke from the heart. “I am horribly disappointed to meet you under these circumstances, but ecstatic that you’ve been found,” he said to Law and Roar. He turned and pointed toward the slide of Maddox still being shown on the white board, though with the lights on his image was harder to see. “That man, Lieutenant Larsen, was trained under my command. Make sure he thrives. He’s the best operative I ever had.”

  “He’s leading our most productive rescue team, and has just switched over to SOT. He’s got no prior memory, but is doing the best he can. He’s respected by many of us,” Law said.

  “Glad to hear that. Well, I have a Special Agent to intercept. I will see you all again soon,” Kent said, taking his leave and hurrying to catch up with Acker and Crockett.

  They heard Lieutenant General Kent’s voice as he raced outside yelling for Acker. “Hold that car for me, Acker! I need Crockett to give me a ride back to the airport!”

  “Love to be a fly on the dash in that car,” Roar said.

  “Yeah, but we probably really don’t want to know,” General Ferriday said. He winked at Roar, “Plausible deniability.”

  “There is that,” Law said, nodding in agreement.

  “Gentlemen, I just have to say, this will never be okay, and there is nothing that will ever make up for what you’ve been through,” General Howard said, finally taking his seat again. “But perhaps we can make your futures better than anyone expected. I will personally see to it, that we make any concessions we can. And for the women, too. They must be horribly traumatized.”

  “They are, but some are stronger than others. We are all just taking it day by day,” Law said.

  Chapter 39

  Two finished his breakfast and took the bowl to the sink to wash and dry it before returning it to the cabinet. When he was done, he turned around and walked into the living room to pick up his keys and his cell phone. The silence of the house hit him again, and he looked around the room he stood in. There was evidence of almost all the members of his team, or what used to be his team scattered about the room. Valor’s computer, game controllers that belonged to Scorn and Steel, and a pair of boots that were placed neatly against the wall in the home’s entryway that belonged to Feral. The only member of the team without any personal belongings readily seen was Lethal. And that was because Lethal still had issues with accumulating anything at all. He had a couple of changes of uniforms, one pair of boots, and that was it. Other than that he even treated the bed he slept in at night as a temporary lodging.

  Two missed his friends. They’d been gone almost two weeks now. They’d been on four different missions so far. Three of them were in their SOT capacity — Strategic Offensive Team — as they conducted search and grabs of witnesses and those who were complicit in the atrocities that created them. One of them was a rescue mission.

  Two had only seen Lethal once. He’d been driving back from the General’s house with a side-by-side full of packages when he’d seen one of the Black Hawks coming in for a landing. This one wasn�
��t marked so he was pretty sure it was Lethal and his team. He’d gone about his business knowing that people were waiting on him, and loved that they were always happy to see him when he knocked on their door with whatever they ordered in hand for them.

  Plus, he had to deliver breakfast to Hermit, and he didn’t want Hermit to have to wait. Hermit had ordered a tent two days after he’d arrived, and the moment it came in he’d wandered as far away from Alliance as he could get and still be able to see it, and pitched his tent. He didn’t want to put up with anyone for any reason. Even when he came into the community to pick up his meals, he barely acknowledged anyone at all. He’d snarled at Two when Two wandered out to his tent to let him know that if he wanted to not have to come into the community anymore, Two could deliver his meals for him, and whatever else he needed. Hermit had stopped snarling, actually approached Two and very, very awkwardly hugged him without allowing any of his body to touch Two except for his arms, then gone back into his tent. Ever since then, he brought Hermit meals, and if Hermit needed anything else, he told Two when he arrived with food.

  When he’d come back from taking Hermit his meal that day, he’d stopped by the security building to drop off a package for Brutal. When he’d come out, Lethal was sitting on his side-by-side, still in full uniform. He’d smiled at Two and gone to him for a hug and to ask how he’d been. They’d done the man thing slapping each other’s backs happily and only visited for about ten minutes before Lethal’s cell phone beeped, and he was off, jogging toward the helipads for the next mission. He’d not seen any of them since. He walked out of the door and took the time to lock it behind him, then he walked over to admin where the side-by-sides were kept when not in use. He wrote himself in on his time card, then turned to walk back out and get in his side-by-side to go get the packages from the drop off point outside the General’s house. But instead, he came to a sudden stop, practically freezing in his tracks.

  A female had just smiled at him before she walked into Nina’s office. And now she was standing just inside it, and Roscoe was speaking to her. And this female… she was everything Two thought was perfect in a female. She wasn’t particularly small so he wouldn’t have to worry about breaking her. Her hair was just the perfect combination of soft brown and natural sun streaked highlights. Her eyes were a soft brown just like her hair and she wasn’t skinny. She wasn’t fat either, but she was curvy. She was soft like a woman should be, and she looked healthy. But mostly, she looked kind. Two just stood where he was, admiring her and the soft sound of her voice as it filtered through the glass walls of the office she was in, until Roscoe realized he was there and looked up to meet his gaze.