Brandi (21 page)

“You did the right thing getting away, Jon. And you did find help,” Brandi assured him.

“When they came looking for me I hid in the cellar of one of the old houses here. I pulled out some hair and put some on the trees near the water. I wanted them to think I tried to swim out. I knew that wasn’t possible because they flew us in here by helicopter. I hear them still coming and going all the time. I pray to God it isn’t with more people.”

Brandi nodded and looked back the building. “They were probably just dropping off shipping supplies. It takes a lot to keep a place like this going. Tell me what it’s like inside.”

“The lab part is like you’d imagine it would be. They have a lot of tables where they work on us and a lot of equipment. The part where they keep us locked up is just a bunch of cages in rows. There are no bath or toilet facilities in any of them. We were treated like animals long before we became ones. They called it immersion into our new life.”

“Has anyone else become a full bear?”

“Others were in the changing process when I left, but I never saw anyone get as far as Susan. Two have died mid-shift. Susan suffered a long time before her shift was completed. I could only watch from my cage, unable to help. I can understand her not wanting to do the process I saw in reverse.”

“Changing doesn’t feel good, but it does get easier,” Brandi said firmly, trying to encourage him to be positive about his wife’s abilities. If they didn’t have nanos to help, she imagined it would be horrendous. “Is Diane Crane in the facility?”

“Yes,” Jon answered coldly. “She keeps close tabs on everything being done. I’m not a violent man, but I will kill her if I ever get the chance, Agent Jenkins. For what she has done, she deserves to die.”

“Her brother who sent us here wants to talk with her first. Apparently, this shit runs in their family. Her brother Randall Crane was the one who changed me. I was in Alaska investigating the abduction and scientific abuse of the gray wolves in that area. Someone killed Randall before I could, but he won’t be doing any more experimenting. My goal is to make sure Diane’s work ends here as well.”

“Susan and I were part of an environmental group trying to figure out a better way to live on this planet. One of our members owned three hundred acres of land in a remote area forty miles outside Boulder, Colorado. We’d set up an Eco village and basically went off all power and water grids. People called us a hippie commune. Maybe we were to some extent. We jointly raised our children. We farmed and sold what we didn’t use for money, which bought supplies to help us handle the Colorado winters. Susan made jewelry from the rocks and stones where we lived and sold it for extra cash. It was a good life. We needed very little from regular civilization.”

“How did Diane Crane get hold of you?” Brandi asked.

“One day a bunch of masked gunmen all in black came and just rounded us up. They had machine guns and we didn’t have any weapons to fight back. Thank God none of our children were home at the time. The teacher in our group had taken the kids on a field trip. That was months ago now—or at least I think it’s been that long.”

“Let me guess the rest. You woke up in cages or strapped to gurneys. Scientists poked and prodded and hooked you up to IVs without telling you what they were doing.”

“Yes. And they starved us to get us to eat. All the food was drugged with something. We lost our sense of time being sedated so often. I don’t know what day it is or where this place exists. Where exactly are we, Agent Jenkins?”

“Sugar Island. It’s a tiny water locked land mass just off the Maine coast. And from my records, it looks like you’ve been here about seven months.”

“Maine. That’s a long damn way from Colorado. After seven months, I hope Linda still has the kids. There were nine of them. She would have her hands full taking care of them all.”

Brandi’s jaw hardened at the sincerity of Jonathan Clarke’s concern. He rubbed his forehead, obviously shocked at finding he was most of a country away from where he’d been living. And the loss of time… that was even worse.

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring any rations with me to feed you. Frankly, I wasn’t planning to be here long. This place is getting shut down today—one way or the other.”

“That’s all I care about. I’ve grown accustomed to being hungry and dirty. I have no dignity left. I just want my wife back… no matter what the circumstances.”

Brandi nodded. “What did you used to do for a living—before you went off-grid to do the Henry David Thoreau thing?”

“I was a realtor. Susan was a library technician. We both loved camping. It was our favorite vacation and we were planet conscious about it. The Eco village was the perfect extension of all we loved… until this happened.”

She saw Fallon come running up and held up her hand to indicate there was no issue. “He’s an escaped experiment subject. His name is Jon. They still have his wife.”

Fallon nodded. “I found no other entrances or people. Where is Gareth?”

“He should be back shortly,” Brandi said. She looked at the facility. “Did you happen to see an air vent on the top of the building?”

“I saw several all around. Some were on top of the building. Some were along the back side. I would say they need many vents if they now have a bunch of trapped animals in cages,” Fallon declared.

Brandi nodded. “I’m thinking we might pump some rapid freeze gas into them. It would put all the test subjects to sleep with the cold, but maybe it would do the same to some scientists too.”

“I like the idea of everyone sleeping when we go in. Much less bloodshed,” Fallon declared.

Brandi nodded again, turned her head, and looked to the woods. “That’s Gareth coming now. He’s headed back at full gallop.” She turned back to be confronted by Fallon’s lifted eyebrow. “What? Don’t you hear him coming with those super sensitive ears of yours?”

“I hear some creature running full out. This far away, I can only guess it’s Gareth. How do you know for sure it is him?”

Brandi ran a hand through her hair. “We’ve been together for a few months. That’s the only explanation I have for how I know, but trust me, that’s Gareth returning.”

Fallon snorted. “Do you avoid the truth because the obvious explanation would be too complicated for you? Or because you don’t want the reality of your relationship with Gareth to be true?”

“Quit dancing and spit out your opinion, Fallon. I can see you’re dying to enlighten me about something.”

“Gareth is your natural mate,
elskling
. I think you would know him no matter what his form,” Fallon declared softly. He looked at Jon. “I heard you say you want your wife even though she is now a bear. Does her animal form change her woman’s soul?”

Brandi watched Jon’s eyes go soft.

“No. She talks to me in my head. Susan is still the same on the inside. It’s like she’s just trapped in what she has become.”

“Then let’s free her before we cannot,” Fallon declared, clapping his hand on the giant man’s shoulder.

Jon was nodding just as Gareth trotted up behind her. She turned to watch him change smoothly from the wolf to the silver-templed man she couldn’t seem to resist. Even now she wanted to skip to him and get a hug. What the hell was wrong with her? This was no time for hugging.

“Everything okay here?” Gareth asked, looking from Brandi to the stranger.

Brandi put a hand on his arm. “This is Jonathan Clark. Danger Brain Diane has turned his wife into a bear. Things are worse than Sheldon suspected.”

Gareth nodded as he put out a hand. Jon stared at it before reluctantly lifting his own to take it.

“I saw you change easily. There was no struggle. You are not like us,” Jon declared.

“No,” Gareth admitted. “Science didn’t make me. Nature did.”

“Are you saying there are already people in the world who are both human and animal?” Jon asked softly, letting his hand drop.

“Yes. It’s more complicated than I can explain. All that’s important is science shouldn’t be used to force nature’s hand. It’s Sheldon Crane’s primary goal to see that doesn’t happen, though Brandi here might not agree with my view of his work.”

“Correct. I do not agree,” Brandi confirmed, “but I am in favor of dealing with the Crane I know over the one in that facility. Danger Brain Diane is going to be out of the experimenting business today.”

Gareth snorted. “That sounds pretty confident. What scheme did you come up with while I was gone?”

She quickly told Gareth about her plan.

Chapter 16

“We have enough freeze gas for approximately half the facility’s space. If Jon can tell us the location of the captives, maybe we can target the gas more towards the lab end and catch the scientists instead.”

They had gone to the boat where Fallon retrieved a black bag. In it were a variety of things, but unfortunately only a small supply of what they needed most.

“What else you got in there?” Brandi asked.

Fallon looked among the contents. “Two flares, a rope, some standard tear gas, and night fighting gear. We didn’t bring boomers because Dr. Crane said the labs are full of volatile chemicals.”

Brandi nodded and sighed. “True—but I sure wish I had some more of that freeze gas. Well, okay… if we have to do it with half… we do it with half. Talk to Lars lately? How’s he doing?”

“Still tired. But better. Thank you for asking,” Fallon said.

Sighing once more, Brandi paced in front of the trees next to the shoreline. When she stopped, she looked at Gareth who was leaning against a tree and almost looking bored.

“We don’t want the two armed guards at the front entrance to alert the others in case they have security that might auto shut down. The ones on the inside probably have guns too since they’re dealing with both humans and animals. There was one guard on duty at Feldspar, but plenty others on call. Guards without real weapons will probably have tranquilizer guns, which could be worse for us if we get tagged.”

“So you’re the full frontal charge-and-damn-the-consequences type,” Gareth commented. “Now why am I not surprised.”

Brandi snorted. “I guess. What do you guys usually do to bust up one of these places?”

Gareth shrugged. “Same thing. Places like this put their money into their equipment and science people. They rarely think about security because most people respect research facilities. Out here, I bet they’re not too concerned with wandering tourists. I’m sure when one crosses their path they have ways of making them forget about it.”

Their heads turned when they heard someone running towards them. Jon braked hard, but it took a moment to stop his large body from moving forward.

“Two guards came out to smoke. They were talking about an upcoming autopsy. Alarm bells went off inside me as I listened. Hurry. We need to stop them now.”

The four of them dodged the trees in a run back to the facility. When they arrived, Brandi looked at each of them to make sure she had their full attention. “One of us needs to go in as a decoy to give the others time to deploy the gas.”

“I should go,” Jon declared. “They’re looking for me anyway. Maybe they’ll stop their autopsy plans when I show up. The scientist is still mad about my results. I’m sure I will be a distraction.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Brandi asked.

Jon nodded. “Yes. I want Susan to see me. I want to give her a reason to keep fighting.”

“Seeing you should do it then,” Brandi agreed. She looked at Gareth and Fallon. “Put the gas where Jon said to put it. According to Lars, full effectiveness is going to take about twenty minutes. People inside should get tired and just start passing out—if we’re lucky. Jon, we’ll be in to get you in about twenty minutes. Stay alive until then.”

“Deal. I’ll be watching for you, Agent Jenkins,” Jon said as he started forward.

They crouched behind their shelter of tightly grown trees and peeked through openings as Jon stepped from behind them and walked to the facility’s door. The two armed men greeted Jon in surprise. She saw Jon holding onto the door as one of the men grabbed onto him, trying to drag him through it. Hopefully, Jon had been able to disengage any lock in the tussle.

“I guess that’s our cue to get busy.” Brandi turned and bumped into Gareth’s chest. Wearing her boots, she still had to look up at him. Why had she never noticed how tall he was before? “What now?”

Her answer was to be lifted to her toes and kissed thoroughly. When Gareth finally turned loose and set her back down, her legs were trembling. The instant desire she felt was distracting, but it was the clutching in her gut that worried her more. She couldn’t afford to think about what any of it meant until she had more time.

“Be careful today and don’t take any chances you don’t have to,” Gareth ordered gruffly, shifting before his order had faded on the air.

“Take care of yourself too. Don’t make me have to save your ass. I don’t have time,” she replied, unable to let him run off without some word from her.