Silence that Sizzles (15 page)

Kyle began to sniff the floor in front of him. He knew that it was somewhere around here that Cal had lost Kelly because he heard Cal whisper that to Sophie. He paid special attention to the booths around him. He looked up into the eyes of one of the booth owners. He had seen the man around the Urban Dwellers club before. His bear couldn’t remember the name, and he filed the picture of the man away in his mind just in case he needed to come back and question him. The man looked shaken as Kyle began to sniff his wares.

Kyle caught the faint whiff of Kelly’s perfume again. She had definitely been here standing in front of this booth. He began to move around the booth off to the side. It was only behind it that his bear began to see visions of red. On the floor in front of him were several fat drops of red. The scent in his nostrils changed. It was no longer just the smell of Kelly’s perfume. Now it included the heavy, rusty smell of her blood.

This confirmed his worst fears. Not only had his mate been taken, but she had been injured. There were no other signs of her, and the trail disappeared behind the booth. Kyle phased back into his human form. He felt the pressure of soft fabric hit him in the back a moment later.

“For Christ’s sake, put your clothes on. We’re going to be in enough trouble the way it is,” he heard Sophie hiss.

Kyle quickly got dressed. Then he told Cal to bring the owner of the booth to him. Cal dragged the small man around to stand in front of Kyle. The man looked small and weak. He had a look about him that Kyle immediately didn’t like. Kyle wished that he was still in his bear form so he would be able to smell the man. But even in his human form, Kyle was able to feel the waves of fear wafting off of him.

“There was a woman. A pretty woman with long brown hair. She would’ve been wearing black pants and a silver top. Where did she go?” Kyle decided to keep things simple. He had a feeling that this man knew more than he might be willing to tell.

“I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man said.

Kyle grabbed the front of the man’s shirt. “Do you know who I am?” he asked the question with an intensity that he knew would drive a spike of terror into the man’s bones.

“Yes, yes, of course,” the man stammered. “You’re one of the Urban Dwellers.”

“That’s right, and if you don’t tell me the truth right now, I will feed you to my bear.” The threat was real enough to hit its mark. He knew by being this close and smelling him that the man was a rabbit shifter. He could force him to shift into his rabbit and then let his bear loose to chase him and eat him.

The man’s face drained of color. “They gave me money. All they said I had to do was to convince her to come back here behind my booth.”

“Who gave you money? Who asked you to do that?”

“I don’t know who they were. I’ve never seen them around here before. It was $500. That’s more than I make here in a night. Please, I don’t want any trouble.”

Kyle wanted to strangle the man, but he caught Sophie’s warning glance. The man didn’t know anything else. Inside, logically, he knew this. But the man had been involved in pulling the wool over Kelly’s eyes and tricking her into a trap where she had been injured and taken.

“What did they look like?”

“There were two of them. They were big, and they had military type haircuts. I think by the bulge behind their jackets, they were carrying guns. It was another reason I didn’t want to mess with them.”

“Well, my friend, you ended up fucking with me instead, and don’t think that I’m going to forget that.” Kyle didn’t care if it was just a small thing that the man had done that had ended up putting him in the situation. Kyle had a long memory, and if something happened to Kelly as a result of this man’s ability to be bribed, he would deal with him later.

“Cal, I want every surveillance camera in this place up on a screen in the next ten minutes. No, make it five. Get us a picture and an ID of these two bastards. We need to find Kelly ASAP.”

Cal already had his phone out. He was no doubt talking to the property manager. The property manager was an employee of the Urban Dwellers, so getting the surveillance camera would not be that difficult. But Kyle knew that every second that they delayed was another minute that Kelly was going to be that much further out of his grasp. He just hoped that he would be able to find her before it was too late.

Kelly had been so stupid. After the fight with Kyle, she plunged out of the Urban Dwellers club and looked for somewhere to go. It wasn’t until she was standing on the sidewalk outside that she realized she didn’t have any of her things. All of her clothes and everything she had brought with her to Copper City was still at Kyle’s. She figured she could find a way to get them; perhaps tomorrow after he went to work. If he could believe she’d be capable of something so horrible, she had no desire to ever see him again. She looked around her in confusion. That’s when she spotted the neon sign a couple of blocks away. It announced the Market. Kelly had heard of the place. It was where merchandisers who dealt exclusively in shifter wares did their business. She was cold and hungry and decided the Market was as good a place to go as any, although there was a part of her that wanted to get rid of all things related to shifters in her life. At least, she’d be inside and with people until she figured out what she was going to do.

Kelly made her way along the sidewalk and replayed the argument with Kyle. She didn’t know why things felt so hard. She knew that part of it was still that she was angry at him because he had marked her after the gala. The mark of a mate thing was driving her crazy. She had no idea if there was something in the bite that then affected the way that she perceived the world around her. She had to admit that since then, all she could think about, all she wanted to do, was be around Kyle. It made her wonder what other effects it might have on her. That was the part that distressed her the most. She wanted to be sure if she was with someone for the rest of her life, that the thoughts and desires underlying it were pure. She didn’t want to be with someone just because there was some kind of toxin or drug in the bite that caused her to want to be with him.

Kelly’s feet took her quickly to the Market. She wandered around it for the better part of what seemed like forever. That was when she happened on a small stand where a small, older man smiled at her as if he knew her and waved her over to his booth. He pointed at a row of charms that were laid out on a piece of black felt in front of him. “See any that you like?”

Kelly wasn’t shopping for anything at all. But then she saw the small white polar bear sitting in the middle of the charm row. She picked it up and looked at it. It drew her in just the same way that Kyle did. She felt like she would be able to find him anywhere. It was the strangest feeling.

The man gave her a wide smile. She was sure it was because he sensed a sale. “If you like that one, then I have a really special piece that I just created this afternoon that you might like as well.”

“You’re the craftsman?” Kelly didn’t even know why she was engaging him in conversation. She hadn’t intended on buying anything. Yet there was something about this charm that called out to her, and she wanted it. And if he had something else like it, she wanted it too. Perhaps it would be something that would be appropriate as a gift for Kyle. Already the heat of their argument was starting to fade in her mind. Perhaps they both just needed some time to cool off.

“That I am,” the man said proudly. His chest puffed out just a bit at the words. He swept his arms around all of the different trinkets surrounding them. “Haven’t you heard of me? My jewelry dresses the necks and fingers of the most famous women in the city, human and shifter alike, although I am most popular with shifters, of course.”

“Well, I’m not a shifter,” Kelly said. The word spoken out loud were yet another painful reminder of the crux of her situation. Kyle was a shifter, and she was not. She was refusing to accept his ways in a way that seemed to baffle both him and his friends. She didn’t understand why. She was a different species after all.

No, she took that back. There were far more similarities than differences between shifters and humans. When someone felt betrayed, it ripped them apart and caused them to push away those they cared about. She had experienced it firsthand. Kyle had neatly cut her out of his life with barely an explanation at all. It was as if he had been looking for a reason, and Oak Tree provided it.

“Okay, show me what you got.” Kelly still wasn’t sure that she had any intention of buying anything, but at least it gave her something to do for a couple more minutes until she figured out where she was going to go next. She couldn’t just wander around the Market for the rest of the night. She needed a new game plan.

The man motioned for her to follow him around the back. She scooted around the side of the booth, aware that it formed a small hallway with the wall next to it. The man started digging in boxes lined up next to the curtain that formed the back of the booth. “Where is it, where is it?”

Kelly really wasn’t paying attention to the man as he continued to dig into more boxes moving them further towards the back of the booth. It wasn’t until she was out of the sight line of the walkway that she realized that the man had maneuvered her all of the way to the back of the booth. There was another hallway there formed by the backs of the booths and the wall behind it. Here, she came face-to-face with a large man with a sneer on his face. His hand came up, and she didn’t even have a chance to scream before her world went black.

Kelly woke up some time later to a blazing headache. She moaned despite the fact that the vibration only made the pain worse. Everything was quiet around her, and she was afraid to open her eyes just yet. She reached up and felt a massive bump on the front of her head. She could also feel the edges of a split in her scalp. The wet stickiness down the side of her face surely meant that she was bleeding.

“Wake up, sunshine.” The voice was familiar.

Kelly cracked her eyes open, and it took a moment before they focused. She sat up with a wince and saw she was in a small, dark room lying on a cot. She felt woozy and knew that it probably had something to do with the head wound. She hoped she didn’t have a concussion. As her eyes focused on the face peering down at her, she realized with a start that the voice had belonged to the face. It was General Frost.

It all came back to her now; a detail that blossomed in her mind. The man who had confronted her behind the booth of the Market had been wearing camouflage military fatigues.

“Where am I?”

“Somewhere safe, at least for now.” The General said this with a chuckle as if there was some kind of inside joke that she didn’t understand.

“What am I doing here?” It came out as more of a demand. Kelly knew better than to show any sign of fear in front of this man.

“There’s a favor I need of you, Doctor. I wanted some time for us to have a private chat.”

“There is a better way of going about that than banging me over the head and kidnapping me against my will,” Kelly said.

“Well, it turns out, I’m not the only one that’s looking to have a conversation with you. It seems your previous employer has been having equal difficulty trying to gain an audience with you. It seems my son has been creating a bit of a nuisance on that point.”

Kelly felt a flutter of fear again. This was all going sideways in a way that she never expected. “I’d like to see Kyle.”

The General took a step back. She stared up at him. He cut an imposing figure, no doubt about it. “My son doesn’t know you’re here, and he won’t. This conversation is between you and me.”

“What do you want?” It seemed that Kelly was full of questions. She sensed that that irritated the General as well.

“I’d like to know more about your research at Oak Tree. I think our interests are aligned, Doctor. In fact, what I’m offering you is tantamount to a job offer. And if you do this for us, we will be happy to take care of your other little problem.”

“What are you talking about? What about my work, what job offer? I thought you were working with Oak Tree.”

The General looked frustrated. “Ever since your little stunt two weeks ago, it has come to light that Oak Tree has been conducting their own research on the side that they haven’t shared with me, but I’m sure you know that already. Luckily for us, we also did not completely trust the situation. We’ve been doing some work of our own that Oak Tree didn’t know about, and I think that’s where you’re going to be able to step in and help us a great deal.”

Kelly’s head was still fuzzy. She felt of ripple of pain behind her temple, and she knew she was not at the top of her game to be able to handle this kind of delicate negotiation. She needed to find Kyle. Somehow she knew that that was terribly important. No matter what the General said, she knew that she was not safe with him.

“I’d be happy to talk with you more about what you’re asking, but I’d like to call Kyle just to let him know that I’m okay. Please.” She figured she’d try the nice tack first. She also didn’t let on that she and Kyle hadn’t parted on the best of terms.

The General shook his head. Then he hauled her up by her arm, and she gasped at the throbbing of pain that shot through her temple. He dragged her forward and pushed her through a door into a room that lit up by bright florescent lights overhead. Kelly would know a lab anywhere. Everywhere she looked was sterile, white surfaces. Then, in the corner, she saw bars that formed a cell in the room. Inside, a young boy sat watching her. He had a fearful expression on his face.

“That’s one of your employer’s test subjects. Even if you said you didn’t know anything about the research, it was happening in your division and your lab. I’ve got all of the notes right here.” The General slammed the file down on the countertop next to her. Kelly jumped. “They think that they have cured this boy of being a shifter. I want you to either confirm or deny that hypothesis.”

“I’m not going to help you,” Kelly said quietly.

The General pulled a gun from his side holster and pointed it at the boy. “You will help me, or else he is of no use to me alive. I have other resources who study the dead as well. Then we can start again, but next time, I’ll kill someone you truly care about. Is that what you want?”

The General let the threat hang in the air. Kelly was an only child. Both of her parents had died within the last couple of years. There was only one person left that she cared about in the world. “Are you threatening to harm your own son?”

The General turned on his heel. “You have two hours, Doctor. I want an answer by then.” Then he left the room.

Kelly realized that the situation was far more precarious than she ever considered. She turned and went to the medicine cabinets. She opened it and found what she was looking for. She shook a couple of Percocet into her palm. Normally she wouldn’t attempt to do her work under the influence of that kind of medication. But she needed a clear head, and she needed it fast. Catching a glance in the mirror inside the door, she realized she looked like hell. She took a few minutes to clean her head wound and wipe the blood off her face. She was relieved to see that it didn’t look like she’d need stitches.

Then Kelly walked over to the small cell. She knelt down and looked at the boy sitting inside on the small cot. Two beautiful blue eyes stared back up at her. She realized he wasn’t as young as she originally thought. He was a teenager. A boy on the cusp of manhood.

“Are you going to hurt me too?” His question ripped at Kelly’s soul.

“I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Kelly. What’s your name?” Now the doctor façade was firmly in place. She had work to do, and she would do it, if nothing else but to see if her company had actually done what it said it had set out to do so she could stop them.

“Peter,” the boy said. He pushed back to move further away from her, and Kelly understood why. He had no reason to trust her. To him, she was going to be exactly like whoever else he had been exposed to during his captivity.

“Do you know how you got here, Peter?”

The boy shook his head. His face closed in a way that Kelly knew meant that he was going to be difficult now. She wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. She decided to go check his file. She stood up carefully and gave him a small smile with a wave. “I’m going to get you out of here as quickly as possible, Peter. I hope you’ll think about working with me. The sooner we get this done, the better for both of us.”

Kelly walked over to the file that the General had left sitting on the counter. She opened it and quickly studied the notes. Peter was fifteen years old. His address and parents’ information had been redacted from the document. He had shown up a week ago in his primary physician’s office complaining of headaches, muscle pain, intense dreams and night sweats.

None of this was a surprise to Kelly given his age. They were all normal signs of a shifter’s transition as they started to come up on their first phase. She saw that there was a history of shifterism in Peter’s medical history. Both of his parents were panther shifters. That meant that Peter would have the dominant gene for becoming a shifter as well. There was no question that he would ultimately phase.

She saw that there had been several shots administered over the course of the last week by his doctor. The last one was yesterday. They were all labeled as an innocuous anonymous vaccine. Kelly realized that Peter had become part of some kind of experimental live trial. She made a mental note to check the doctor’s name that she saw listed there. He was no doubt in bed with Oak Tree.

She saw that there were tubes sitting in a small tray next to a microscope. It was as if everything had been set up for her. Kelly moved over to the microscope. She saw that there was a slide already in place on it.