Fractured Innocence (#2 IFICS) (2 page)

“You’re blind if you don’t see that.” Quess walked over to lean against the couch. “But I know you only have eyes for Lucas.” 

“That’s true.” Kaitlyn smiled.

Lucas came down the stairs. He was dressed in jeans and a dark sweater. His hair was disheveled as usual. “Did I hear my name? What are you girls talking about?” He looked at Quess and back at Kaitlyn. 

“Erik’s hotness.” Quess grinned. 

Lucas frowned. “Quess, you’re like what, fourteen? I think he’s a bit old for you.” 

“Fifteen now, I didn’t say I wanted to date him. I just said he was hot. Cause he totally is.” 

Kaitlyn liked having Quess around, but today she was eager to get to work. “We need to get going.”

“Geesh, just kick me out why don’t you,” Quess said. 

“You were supposed to be here earlier.” Kaitlyn reminded her. 

“I know. I slept in. It’s hard to get out of bed in this cold weather.” 

She wasn’t sure what getting out of bed had to do with the weather, but she seldom knew what Quess was talking about. The girl was like an enigmatic puzzle that Kaitlyn was always trying to solve.  

Quess crossed the room and threw her arms around Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn froze, and then patted the girl on the back as Quess squeezed her tightly. This was not normal. Kaitlyn pulled back and looked down and was surprised to see tears in Quess’s eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” Kaitlyn asked, alarmed. 

Quess wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “Nothing. Don’t mind me. I’m just going to miss you. That’s all. I know you’ll be fine.” 

“I will be fine. You and Lucas are worrying over nothing.” Quess’s tears were making her uncomfortable. 

Kaitlyn pulled back and looked at Lucas as he shrugged into his jacket. 

“If we leave now we’ll still be a few minutes early as long as we walk at a 5.5 mph pace. It’s only twelve point thirty-three seconds from the cottage.”

Quess snorted, and Kaitlyn turned to see if she was all right. 

Waving them away, Quess said, “Hurry up and get out of here. I’ll lock up and feed Domino while you’re gone.” 

“I should be home in time.” Lucas wrapped a scarf around his neck. 

Quess shrugged. “If you say so.” 

“Are you ready?” Kaitlyn asked, meeting Lucas’s eyes. 

“Let’s get it over with. The sooner you go, the quicker you’ll get back to me.” He grabbed a hat and pulled it over his ears before opening the door for Kaitlyn. She brushed past him, and he inhaled her clean scent. 

She stopped and turned. “Bye, Quess.” 

The girl lifted her hand in farewell, then picked up Domino in her arms before dropping into a chair.

 
Thirty-seven degrees outside
. Kaitlyn’s processor kicked in and regulated her body temperature. With haste, they made their way across the sprawling compound. A light sheen of frost coated the grass. The trees were mostly bare and the sky dreary and overcast. Lucas shivered beside her. 

“I hate the cold.” He mumbled, rubbing his hands together. 

Kaitlyn grabbed his hand and interlaced her fingers through his. Her body heat radiated from her to him. He squeezed her hand. 

“I think I envy that gift the most.” 

Kaitlyn tilted her head. “Gift?”

“Upgrade, gift, ability, whatever you want to call it. I’d love to never have to worry about being too hot or too cold.” 

It was hard for Kaitlyn not to think of herself as a freak. So when Lucas said things like ‘gift’ it threw her off.  “It’s normal to me so I don’t know any different. I can’t even remember what it felt like to be hot or cold.” Kaitlyn saw the main building up ahead. She couldn’t wait to get started. Finally, she would be able to use her
gifts. 

They stepped into the large reception area with charcoal-colored carpeting, light gray walls and black leather chairs placed around the room. The secretary sat behind a large onyx desk, appearing aloof, in her navy pantsuit, under the soft lighting. 

Kaitlyn strode past the woman without so much as a wave. Lucas hurried behind her mumbling sorry to the woman. What he had to be sorry about, she had no idea. Maybe he knocked something over. No, she would have heard it. 

“Kate, you should have stopped at the reception desk.” 

“We have an appointment. It’s an unnecessary waste of time.” 

Lucas sighed. “The secretary should buzz Harrington and let him know we are here.”

She looked at him blankly. “He knows what time we’ll be here. This is not a surprise visit.” 

“Okay.” He held up his hands in mock surrender. “You’re probably right.” 

Kaitlyn pushed through the door to his office. Harrington looked up from behind a large mahogany desk. His dark hair was as perfectly styled as his handmade suit. His sharp blue-grey eyes, ruggedly handsome face and broad shoulders gave him a further imposing look. Harrington raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. As usual, he commanded the room by his appearance alone. 

Sometimes Kaitlyn wondered what was the driving force behind Harrington’s focused intensity. She had grown to know and care about him over the past several months, but she still didn’t understand him.

“We’re a few minutes early,” Lucas explained. 

“I see that. Well since you’re here, have a seat and we’ll wait for Erik.”

Kaitlyn sat down and stared straight ahead. She filtered through the noises: steady tick of the clock, the whirl of the electronics, the rustle of papers as Harrington continued to read the file in front of him, and Lucas’s steady breathing. 

A few minutes later, she heard Erik talk to the secretary outside, before he came through the door. He took a seat on the other side of Kaitlyn. She didn’t look up or acknowledge him. 

Harrington stood up and hit a button on his keyboard. Seemingly out of nowhere, a large computer screen appeared behind him. “Now that we have everyone, I want you to look over these photos. This is what you are going to find. You got a glimpse in the target folder.” 

Chapter 2

Slowly, Harrington slid his fingertips across the screen, flipping through the images. He paused at the most heartbreaking ones—the close-ups. Rows and rows of cages filled with naked, filthy girls, and a few young men. Some of them were very young, maybe only eight or nine, but the majority appeared to be teenagers. They were without a doubt terrified. Harrington pinched and expanded one of the faces of a pretty, dark-skinned girl with frightened brown eyes. He left it there and sat back in his seat to face them.

“Bastard,” Erik mumbled under his breath, his eyes locked on the screen.

Lucas’s jaw tightened as he looked at the images. “That sonofabitch!”

“This is outrageous,” Kaitlyn said, unable to believe what she was looking at. She knew the facts over two point four million people across the world were victims of human trafficking, eighty percent  of them were exploited as sexual slaves. Somehow seeing the images blown up made the statistics more real.

“Remember, you’re not on a rescue mission. You are there to detain or remove Vance and get the hell out of there. Human traffickers like him are cunning, dangerous and hard to catch. We’ll send in a rescue team afterwards.”

Kaitlyn nodded once. In and out—as discreetly and expeditiously as possible. The mission should be quick and easy. She tore her eyes away from the images.
Caged like animals.
 

Erik leaned forward, his gaze upon Harrington. “These things never go as planned, and there’s only the two of us. We’ll have no backup?”

Harrington sat back with his fingers forming a teepee, tapping his lips. “Second thoughts, Erik?”

“No. Of course not,” Kaitlyn said hurriedly, not waiting for Erik’s reply. There was no way they were backing out now. 

Erik glanced at Kaitlyn and then relaxed in his chair. “No, sir. I just wanted to make sure I was clear on the particulars.” 

“As you know, you will be in constant contact with Lucas and myself. If you get in a bind and need to be extracted, there will be a team on stand by.”

“Who sent you the photos?” Lucas asked. 

“We have an inside man. And before you ask, no he will not be of help to you once you board the ship. His identity is to remain a secret. It took a very long time to get a man embedded in Dasvoik’s operation. He may come in handy later.” 

“When are we leaving?” Kaitlyn asked. She was anxious to get started. With a quick glance back at the monitor, she thought about what Harrington said, about it not being a rescue mission. If there was any way possible she knew she would help them escape, regardless of Harrington’s orders. 

“We’ll be flying on our private jet to the isolation facility. From there we will get more information.” 

“And where exactly is that?” Erik asked with a slight tilt of his head. 

“Undisclosed location,” Harrington said, firmly closing the conversation. 

“Will Lucas be going?” Kaitlyn asked. This was the first she’d heard of an isolation facility. She had wrongly assumed they were going straight to Croatia. 

“Yes. Myself, Lucas and Professor Adams will all be joining you.” 

Kaitlyn kept her face neutral, but she was relieved to know he would be joining them. She wondered if Quess already knew and that’s why she offered to feed the cat. 

“Olivia would like to see you before we depart,” Harrington said, glancing at Kaitlyn, before he picked up the papers spread out on his desk, and neatly placed them back in the folder. 

“Fine.” Kaitlyn wasn’t sure what she thought of Dr. Chambers. She knew the woman wanted to help her, but she was still apprehensive when it came to their sessions. Why did she need to see her right before they left? It would only delay their departure. But Kaitlyn knew better than to argue with Harrington.

She stood up and slipped out the door, effortlessly making her way down the long hallway towards Dr. Chambers’ office. She could hear Lucas and Erik’s footsteps echo behind her on the marble floor. It occurred to her that she hadn’t said goodbye to Harrington. 

Dr. Chambers’ office sat off to the left at the end of the long hallway. Kaitlyn actually enjoyed being in the main office building on the compound. It was full of color, a stark contrast to the laboratory where she spent most of her time, where everything was sterile and stark white. 

It occurred to her that footsteps no longer echoed behind her. Lucas and Erik must have veered off at the main entrance. 

Absently, her hand touched the mocha colored wall, and she paused to take in one of the unusual abstract paintings. The splatters of colors spoke to her for some reason. It was almost as if she could feel the despair of the artist. 

She shook her head and wondered where that thought had come from. Perhaps the artist had been jubilant when he or she put the paint to paper. Kaitlyn couldn’t begin to know what was on someone else’s mind, let alone someone she had never met. She couldn’t evaluate their social cues or speak directly to the artist. 

Why had her mind wandered down this path? 

She dropped her hand and continued down the hallway. The silence enveloped her and sent a wave of calmness through her. Knowing that she was about to embark on a mission that would put an end to an evil man filled her with a sense of peace. A kind of peace she had not known since the day she woke up and noticed the teal plastic on her arms. Kaitlyn cringed, recalling the distressing day she realized she’d been turned into a cyborg. The day her life crashed down around her. 

She didn’t like to think of the countless hours she’d spent in the hospital bed, and later in the lab, constantly hiding the fact that she was terrified, alone and full of despair. Lucas and Quess were the only people who treated her like she had at least once been a human being. Their kindness had meant the world to her, even though she could not acknowledge her feelings.

Of course, when the opportunity presented itself, Kaitlyn escaped the confines of the compound, only to find herself even more alone and frightened. Faced with her past, Kaitlyn realized her old life had ended and decided to embrace the second chance at life that a cruel twist of fate had presented to her. A chance to make a difference.

Harrington had crossed every moral line when taking advantage of Kaitlyn’s passing. No one understood why she still possessed certain feelings and emotions. Quess believed that they made the exchange so quickly after her death that her soul still lingered. A teenage girl was the only one to come up with anything even remotely plausible as an explanation. 

Whatever the reason, Kaitlyn was grateful. Secretly, she relished the idea that her soul might still be intact. 

The large wooden double doors loomed up ahead. 

Hopefully, the session would go quickly. Her processors kicked up and quickly leveled out as the realization hit her that it was finally time. 

Something good had to come out of her transformation. If she could help others, it was well worth the loss of her old life. It thrilled her beyond belief that she was inching closer to putting her skills to good use. All of the hours of training had not been in vain. 

But, first she had to get through this meeting with Dr. Olivia Chambers. 

Kaitlyn walked into the waiting area. A cursory glance told her the secretary was not at her desk, or anywhere in the immediate area, so she proceeded to enter the doctor’s office without knocking and closed the door behind her. She was immediately accosted by the floral sent of the doctor’s perfume, Shalini, nine hundred dollars a bottle. The doctor, like Harrington, had expensive taste.

Dr. Chambers looked up from behind her desk, her fingers pausing over the keyboard. Her dark brown hair was down today, in loose curls around her face. For some reason, the look made her appear less abrasive. Usually, she wore her hair up in a bun and out of her face.  Kaitlyn briefly wondered if changing her hairstyle might make her less robotic. She pushed the thought aside, because she often wore her hair down.

“Good morning, Kaitlyn. It’s wonderful to see you, but what did you forget?”

Steps faltering, Kaitlyn did a quick scan of her mind, trying to comprehend what she’d done wrong this time. She’d only been in the room two point two seconds. There was no secretary. Dr. Chambers had requested to see her. Whatever she had done wrong completely escaped her, which was quite frustrating.