Brandi (10 page)

Her confident statement brought both Crane’s and Gareth’s full attention to her. Brandi realized then that Matt hadn’t told Gareth how close Ariel had come to dying.

“What do you mean, Agent Jenkins?”

Brandi lifted her chin at Sheldon Crane’s question, hoping she could explain it half as well as Ariel had.

“The nano technology your brother used to help us endure the pain of our unnatural, but full transmutation has a recorded tendency over time to run amok doing its tasks. At some point I will either die during the transmutation process, or I’ll change into a wolf and not be able to change back. The other great future I might have is the nanotechnology might turn my insides to gray goo and destroy me like a cancer. There is no future scenario where I get to live out a happy, carefree organic werewolf life. I am an experiment pure and simple, Sheldon. I will always be one.”

“Were these conclusions arrived at scientifically?”

Brandi nodded. “Yes. And from what my scientist told me, only nature can make real werewolves. Randall failed as badly with me as he did with them.”

She pointed to the room where the children huddled and whispered as they closely studied their personal zoo keeper.

“By the way, you might want to warn your guard she’s about to be attacked and unmanned by those three. They’re already in wolf attack formation and circling her.”

She heard Sheldon snort over her observation, but his eyes grew wide when the children started moving toward the guard, slowly and carefully keeping her in their sights.

“Damn it,” he said sharply, opening the door and stepping inside.

Brandi turned and stared at Gareth. “I should have just let it happen, but I didn’t want her accidentally shooting one of them. I’m sure the safety on her weapon is off. Mine would be too. This is a hell of a place to have to work.”

Gareth nodded at her statement and smiled without humor. Fallon and Lars were exchanging long extended looks. Brandi suspected they were talking to each other without words, but she wasn’t going to ask.

She turned back and looked inside the room where the children had gathered around the white-coated scientist, obviously excited to see him. Shitty Sheldon was like their grandfather or something… which was creepy. The scene was so surreal, it had her shaking her head as if she could somehow deny it.

“Any other big secrets you’re hiding from me, Gareth?” Brandi asked, reluctantly turning back to face the man she had directed her question to.

Gareth sighed as he shook his head. “No. And Matt has no idea about what goes on here. When I first came, the lab was only a third this large. The rest of this has developed since then. The children are new to me. I’d say Randall Crane made them just before he moved to Alaska.”

“Was your DNA used to make these children?” Brandi asked, nodding her chin at the room.

Gareth frowned, but paled at the thought. That was something he hadn’t considered. He stepped closer and looked into the room. Surely that couldn’t be the case. Wouldn’t he have some sense of it if the children were his? Sheldon might have some old frozen blood samples somewhere, but didn’t he say Randall was the one who had stolen the kids?

“Unless Sheldon helped his brother, they’re probably not mine. Plus, I think I would know.”

“I don’t get it, Gareth. Why would you agree to help this nut case? Shitty Sheldon’s almost as bad as his crazy brother. His motives might be slightly better, but his enjoyment of his work is pretty damn evident. Was it because of your mate—that woman they mentioned? Did you let Sheldon Crane blackmail you because of Lily?”

“There’s nothing we need to discuss about her,” Gareth said tightly.

Brandi snorted and then shrugged. “Fine. Don’t tell me. It wouldn’t absolve you of this crap anyway. I was just trying to understand what hold Crane had on you.”

“Sheldon has nothing. Life is not as black and white as you seem to want to think it is,” Gareth declared.

“You might be right,” Brandi agreed, “but this place is about as dark gray as it gets before rolling into the black. I don’t see any white here at all. Those kids shouldn’t be kept in a room with an armed guard all day long. Even at their age, they’re going to eventually see it as a prison. And they’re going to continue to try to escape until they finally do… just as you and I would. Inside, they’re more wolf than Shitty Sheldon is willing to see. I can sense what they are. I’m betting you can too.”

Gareth looked away and then so did she. Was she the only person who thought this place was evil times ten? Brandi dropped her gaze to her shoes, wondering what Sheldon Crane was going to bribe her with to get her to do his bidding.

And more importantly, what would she be
willing
to do to protect Ariel and Heidi? What would she do to protect Reed?

And how in the hell was she going to leave this place running now that she knew about it?

The answer, of course, was she was going to do anything she had to do. Ariel, Heidi, and Reed were her family now. They were hers to protect.

She looked back into the room. Hell… maybe the children were hers to protect too. Someone needed to be looking out for them. Brandi snorted when she saw them dancing excitedly around Crane.

The biggest epiphany of her life chose that moment to hit her. And it was that her agent status no longer meant anything to her purpose in life. It had just been a job after the military anyway… and not even a good job. She saw that now too.

And Sheldon Crane had confirmed her damn job was the reason she’d been set up for the destiny she was now forcefully living. She shook her head at the irony of her life. Yet at the same time there wasn’t a damn thing she would do to change her connection to Ariel, Heidi, or Reed.

Her sigh of resignation echoed off the wall as she accepted her destiny was changing every second.

“Are you okay?” Gareth asked.

Brandi snorted. “Sure. I’m quietly planning how to blow this place up. Ask me how I plan to do it later.”

“
Brandi
.”

“
Gareth
,” she replied, mocking his warning tone.

The idea of taking out this lab appealed highly to her sense of justice, but she knew the government would just build it back. She also suspected another Sheldon Crane was out in the world right now waiting for the opportunity to become the number one nut case scientist for Uncle Sam.

Experience had taught her trading out bad guys never worked. Hadn’t she seen that throughout her career in every criminal field? Her department had tried it with drug lords and dealers. It had failed miserably each and every time.

So when the second mad scientist she’d met in her life finally stepped out of the children’s room, she followed him when he motioned for her to do so. Brandi trailed behind him back the way they came without complaining. What the hell else could she do down here?

She needed to see the sky again. She needed time to think, but figured that would have to wait no matter how upset her wolf was with her inaction. Being apprehended and stuck in one of their study rooms would only complicate things. She sure couldn’t count on Gareth to get her out if anything like that happened.

Travis might be doing the wrong thing for the right reason, but he was too young and stupid to see through this bureaucratic shit. She could well imagine him smiling at her through the bars of her cage, gleeful to see her confined. And he had a right to be afraid. She at least owed him an ass kicking for the tranq job even if it did look like he was now protecting Reed.

The truth was stark, but there was no sense pretending. She was more apt to be rescued by Fallon and Lars. The cat men at least seemed to genuinely care about her, if only for their personal amusement purposes. She glanced at their tall, blonde profiles. What was Crane holding over their heads? It must be damn good to make them stay.

The five of them entered a conference room near the exit which had excellent sound proofing. The zoo-like noise beyond its doors faded away to silence as they took seats around an oval table. Fallon and Lars took up their sphinx stances by the doors, but Brandi wasn’t sure if they were keeping her inside or others out.

When everyone was still, she turned her full attention to Crane. He was the only one that mattered. “What do you want in exchange for leaving the three of us alone?”

“Ten years of service, starting with the completion of a current job before you return. You’ll have a regular paycheck during the entire time of your contract which will negate you having to do something menial for a living when you’re not working for me. Face it, Agent Jenkins. It would be a shame to waste the training our government spent so much money on.”

“What happens after the ten years are up?” Brandi watched Crane lift a shoulder in reply.

“After ten years, you’ll be technically retired, unless you voluntarily come back like Gareth has. But at any point you become incapable of working due to a breakdown of your biology, I want your dead body for my research. I’ll take it in human or wolf form. Non-negotiable. In exchange, you and those you care about will be left alone, so long as it is in my power to make that happen. I don’t need their dead bodies to get my answers. I just want yours.”

Brandi could tell it was his best offer, but she wasn’t done asking questions yet. “What kind of current job are you talking about me doing?”

“I believe it will be the rescue of some bear hybrids from a research facility hidden in the Maine woods. Sasquatch sightings are on the rise there and I’m pretty sure those are escapees.”

Brandi looked at him and shook her head. “Do you have any idea how crazy that sounds? You just told me someone is making Bigfoot. Who the hell would do that? Why?”

She heard Sheldon sigh as he raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed. It reminded her of her own habits when stressed. Finally, he brought his guilty gaze to meet her disgusted one.

“Because I think it may be my sister Diane doing the work.”

Stunned and at a loss for words, Brandi blinked. There were three known mad scientists and all from the same family. What the holy hell was happening to the world?

“My sister worked for NASA before the space program money was reduced. For years, she studied bear hibernation hoping to develop a way for humans to survive extended space travel. Her conclusion is that a fully human body will never be able to enter the proper state for natural hibernation.”

“So she decided to make bear hybrids.”

“Yes. After she left NASA, I believed Diane made a side deal with some coalition group out of Canada for funding. You have to understand… this is not a year’s worth of effort. She’s been trying to mix bear and human DNA since college. However, I think she’s finally succeeded.”

“Does she send you photos and research notes?” Brandi asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, even though she had to know to do the job.

“No. Unlike Randall, Diane doesn’t feel the need to brag. She’s not in it for the money… or at least not as far as I can tell. I’ve never really understood Diane’s motivations completely, but her goal of making extending space travel possible has never changed. I get the occasional communication about how her research is going which is why I suspect it’s her.”

“Given what I know about you and your brother, I would say your guess is good. Got any other mad scientist siblings I need to know about?”

She wanted to be offended when Sheldon Crane grinned at her demand, but she was beyond being pissed. What she had learned so far was horrible and overwhelming. All she wanted was her ignorance back, even though she knew it was way too late.

“No. There were only the three of us. But I can’t let Diane turn unsuspecting people into Sasquatches. I want you to find the hybrids and bring them in for study while also taking out her lab facility. I would appreciate it though if you might find it in yourself to leave her alive during the process, Agent Jenkins. I still have hopes of talking Diane into using her intelligence more productively.”

“Sure. Got it. Don’t kill your mad scientist sister. Bring in the Bigfoot clones.” Brandi shook her head. “Are you out of your freaking mind, Sheldon?”

“No—though sometimes it does feel that way. Do we have a deal, Agent Jenkins? Or should I send my people to collect Dr. Jones and see if I can persuade her to come work here? Perhaps she might think more of your life than you do of hers.”

“Guilt? Really? You’re trying to guilt me into doing this?” Brandi snorted when she saw him shrug.

“I use whatever works,” Sheldon declared.

Brandi took one moment to look at Gareth and wondered what it would have been like to have not walked into this government freak show so blind. He was as bad as Lane. Why was it all the men in her life kept betraying her? She was the least gullible female she knew.

Well, she would never know now if being prepared would have helped. All she could do was what Sheldon Crane asked until she figured out a way to break her damn contract without risking her pack.

“Okay. You’ve got a deal for now, but I’m going to look at this assignment as my probationary period with your department. If I don’t like this shit show, or you try to backstab me like Lane did, we’re going to have a long dangerous talk when I get back. That discussion might not end so well for you, Dr. Crane.”