Hybrid Zone Revelation, page 23
“Keep digging,” I told her and handed the paper back. “One more thing.” I went to the desk and retrieved DTP’s operation list for Cedars.
“What’s this?” he asked as I handed it to him.
“This is a list of current operations from a group called the Department of the President. The group’s mission is to maintain the purity of the human race and thus to eliminate hybrids everywhere. Acting Director, Gene Mallet.”
He unfolded the pages and skimmed through them, stopping short when he found the Colony. “They were at the Colony? How did you discover this?”
I didn’t miss the suspicion creeping into his voice. “I’m a researcher, remember?” I said, meeting his eyes squarely. “Before I ever encountered any member of the Organization, I had a little run in where I collected a shell casing. Stamped on the outside were the initials GM and DTP. At the meeting with the president, I met General Gene Mallet, GM. And a little research last night tied him into the Department of the President.”
“DTP,” Cedars said thoughtfully.
“Too bad he likes to stamp his initials on his bullets,” Miranda said.
“Yeah, you can never find a madman who just wants to remain anonymous anymore.”
Cedars handed the list to Juarez, who briefly looked it over. “I didn’t realize there were this many colonies. The government’s been holding out on us,” Juarez said.
“I don’t think it’s the government,” I countered. “I think it’s Mallet. I think he’s been in on this from the beginning. I think hiding the hybrid program may have been his doing.”
“He does seem to have his hand in a lot of pots,” Miranda said, jiggling her page for emphasis.
“That would imply that he has access to every hybrid ever created,” Cedars said.
“Including here?” Miranda asked in sudden alarm.
My breath caught at her question. I hadn’t considered that possibility. “He did know where the safe house was. And Granny’s. Assuming that was him.”
All eyes turned to Juarez. But he was deep in thought, almost like he was somewhere else.
“Juarez?” Cedars prodded.
Juarez held his hand up, signaling him to wait. After a moment, he said, “The security at this location has not been breached.” The glaze left his eyes as he lowered his hand and focused on Cedars. “I’m sort of hardwired to this place now,” he said sheepishly.
“What do you mean hardwired?” Cedars demanded. “Through your nanobots?” His voice was incredulous at Juarez’s claim.
“Not quite sure how. It started as just a feeling, something niggling at me.” He shook his head and shrugged. “I began to recognize that it would start every time something security related was going down. Little by little—mostly by trial and error—I’ve been learning to identify what the feelings mean.”
“Your nanobots have hooked into the security measures for the complex?” I asked, shocked by the mere idea of that happening.
“That’s where it started,” he nodded. “Now, it’s more like every security protocol we have.”
“What happens if someone fries the system?” Cedars asked. “Will it fry you too?”
Juarez shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know.”
Well this was just crazy. Juarez was a living breathing wifi cyber device. “Why didn’t you ever tell Adam?”
“It just started,” he shrugged. “I’m still working out the kinks.”
Miranda looked at me and widened her eyes, mouthing the word “wow” as she did. “Does it hurt?” she asked Juarez.
“Nah,” he said. “Like scrolling through a schematic on the computer.”
“Juarez, did you ask them to do this?”
“Who? The nanobots?” He shook his head in bewilderment. “I don’t talk to them. I just want stuff and it happens.”
That’s what I thought. Filing that bit of info away for another time, I tried to focus on the reason for the meeting. But man, where did you go from this?
“Any who,” I drawled. “Since we are not under the threat of imminent attack, we need to put a stop to DTP’s operations. Cedars, can you handle that?”
“We don’t have a choice, do we?” Miranda asked, looking back and forth between me and Cedars.
Cedars shook his head. “We don’t,” he agreed. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with all the influx. It’s not like we can turn them loose on the public. Not yet anyway.”
Miranda leaned into Cedars. “We’ll manage,” she said. “Just think how happy Olivia will be with all the new students in her steely grasp.”
Next to her, Juarez chuckled.
The mention of Olivia made me wonder why she wasn’t here, but Juarez seemed happy enough. There was probably nothing to worry about.
“Okay, next item on the agenda,” I said. “Where are we with the original situation involving Millsap? Mutated bacteria set to hybridize humankind, anyone remember that?”
“How could we forget,” Miranda muttered.
Juarez reached forward and picked up his tablet. “We did the original kill,” he said. “But we are still having random occurrences outside of the initial range. Before you say anything, I’m already working on boosting the signal for the kill code.”
“And Langston?”
Cedars and Juarez exchanged a look.
“What?” I asked both of them.
“Langston is dead,” Cedars answered.
“It’s my fault,” Juarez sighed. “She had a microchip embedded in her central cortex that was, from what I can tell, being used to control her. My efforts to remove it ended with her death. There was code within code and then some. I shouldn’t have rushed.”
“We’re all rushing, Juarez, not just you. You weren’t trying to kill her.” I waited with upraised eyebrows for his reaction.
“No,” he slowly acknowledged.
I knew his admission wouldn’t lesson the guilt he felt, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. “Do you have a way to test the rest of us for it?” I asked him.
“The control chip?” He thought a moment. “Yeah, that should be easy enough.”
“We need to do a sweep pronto,” Cedars added.
The sound of the door chime interrupted Cedars’ next comment. I walked over and opened it, my face falling when it was Olivia who stood before me.
“Good morning to you too,” she smirked, sidestepping me into the suite.
“Sorry. I was hoping you were breakfast.”
Following her back to the couch, I watched her plop down next to Juarez. “What’d I miss?” she asked.
“All the adoptions about to occur,” Miranda answered. “Oh, and Juarez is a Borg.”
“You told them about the security link?” she laughed.
“Yep,” Juarez said, handing her the DTP operations list. “Check out all your potential students.”
She viewed the list, her eyes widening as she turned the page. “Is this what I think it is?”
“It is if you mean previously unidentified hybrids,” Miranda said.
“And we’re going to bring them here?” She paused and looked to Cedars for confirmation. “We have no way of knowing the intelligence of these hybrids,” she said as she resumed scanning the list. “I’ll have to make adjustments in the curriculum. Not to mention incorporating the fact that they are already hybrids. I assume this DTP—”
“Department of the President,” I supplied.
“Department of the President has something to do with Adam?” She finished the list and looked up at me.
“Maybe,” I shrugged.
She nodded and handed the paper back to Cedars. “While you were away, I’ve been going through Julia’s office.” She opened the file she brought in with her. “I don’t know how to be diplomatic about saying this, so I’ll just say it.” She paused, shifting her focus from Miranda to me. “You two are sisters.”
I looked over at Miranda. She gave me what we called the big eye wink.
“I take it that’s what you found,” I giggled.
“Yep,” she nodded.
“You two knew about this already?” Olivia asked, disappointed her revelation didn’t pack more of a punch.
“I didn’t know who it was,” I shrugged. “I, actually, Flash and Charlie found an additional report about mindbenders that included the division of two separate eggs.”
“Right,” Olivia nodded. “There should be two more, but so far, I haven’t found any indication of who that is. I found a genetic profile in Julia’s lab that matched the one we have of Miranda. That’s how I knew she was one of the eggs. I’m still looking for the other two.”
“Wait—” Miranda objected. “You have my genetic profile on hand?”
“We have everyone’s genetic profile on hand. In case of emergencies…” she said exaggeratedly slow.
“I’m sure that’s the only reason,” Miranda said tightly.
“So, you know the details about the makeup of Miranda’s DNA?” I quickly redirected.
“It’s in here,” Olivia said, tapping the file with her finger. “According to the report, she’s got genes from half the scientists that you do, and the rest is a combination of famous inventors, artists, etc.”
That explained the wildly creative side she so often displayed.
“However, there is one major distinction between you and the other eggs,” she continued. “They were not subjected to the repeated nanobot injections that you were. The result being, they didn’t experience the hibernation periods that you did. They were birthed later.”
“So, I’m the oldest?”
“You would go there,” Miranda muttered under her breath.
“Technically, I suppose you are, but not really,” Olivia added. “The eggs are the same age, but you they birthed immediately, and the others they froze and started much later.”
Did she know how many cases were won on technicalities? It was good enough for me.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to them since I got back, but you might want to talk to Flash and Charlie. They identified a signature of some sort related to the nanobots given to me during my development. It might help you find the others.”
“Will do,” she said and wrote something on her tablet.
“Getting back to Adam,” I said, prompting Juarez for a response.
“Tests first and then we can finalize the plan to rescue Adam,” he answered.
He wasn’t actually saying it, but his insistence on these tests gave me the impression that the rescue mission might be riding on my success. I guess that made it a darn good thing that I usually aced my tests.
Chapter 13
“Hey guys,” I said to my team as I trailed Miranda into the room set up for monitoring the testing. That’s what I considered the Colony hybrids plus the few cadets that had stuck with me. Mine. “Come to watch the big show?”
“And eat,” Wrangle added.
“So this is where breakfast went.” I walked over and picked up some bacon, stuffed it in a biscuit and began to eat. I managed to eat three of them and a handful of grapes before Juarez set his coffee mug down.
“So what we’ve got here is an Indiana Jones style obstacle course laid out for you,” he said as he flipped on the lights to an adjoining gym.
“Did you have this on hand already?” I asked, pressing my nose against the glass of the windows lining the walls. The contraption they’d rigged for me was kind of amazing. Depending on the ages of all the hybrids we had penciled in to rescue, it might come in handy as a play fort.
“Not in this particular configuration, but yeah. See the flag?” He pointed to the far end of the gym. “The objective is to get the flag first.”
“First?” I looked around the gym. “Who am I racing against?”
Olivia suddenly appeared at my side, wearing gym clothes and an impish smile.
“We thought a little competition might help you learn faster,” Juarez shrugged.
That’s great. Pit me against the one that could already do it.
Indicating the red tape stretched across the floor, he said, “Starting line’s over there.”
“See you inside,” Olivia said sweetly and stepped into the gym.
Miranda gripped me by the shoulders and massaged them like she was a boxing coach. “Don’t let her get to you,” she groused.
Oy. Now I was really dreading this. My potential failure had witnesses. I hadn’t been nervous until now.
“Here we go,” I breathed and stepped out to follow Olivia.
“Get’em, Doc,” Kenny yelled, then followed with a loud whistle.
That primed the whole group for hooting and hollering. Seriously, it was like they were at a sporting event. I was more embarrassed than ever when I reached Olivia’s side.
“You’ve got some fans,” she said sarcastically.
I had something alright. “Any pointers?”
“You just have to focus on what you want. See it.”
“Like regular shifting?”
“I don’t know. This is the only shifting I do.”
“The rules,” Juarez said, “are as follows. Olivia, no time bubbles for you. Two minutes on the clock.” He pointed to the large digital clock on the wall just above the flag. “Stay on the course. No shortcuts. And time starts on my mark. Any questions?”
Olivia was suddenly standing at the opposite end of the gym, one hand holding the flag. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said innocently. “I thought you said go.”
Rolling my eyes, I waited for her to reappear. Quicker than the next heartbeat, she was standing next to me again, a single eyebrow lifted in challenge.
“Olivia,” Cedars called in warning. “Follow the rules.”
“I’ll do it too,” Scout offered. Stepping from behind Juarez, he trotted out to the gym floor where he inserted himself between me and Olivia. “It’s not that hard,” he said reassuringly. “Just focus only on where you want to be. Otherwise, you’ll end up somewhere you don’t want to be.”
Wasn’t that always true?
“Everyone ready?” Juarez asked.
I plastered a fake smile on my face and gave the yeehaw double thumbs up for good measure. The cheering section went wild.
“Go,” Juarez said, through stuttered laughter.
The gym went dark, except for the red numbers counting down on the clock. Figuring I would need every advantage, I shifted. The other two were already moving when I cautiously ventured forward. I didn’t think Juarez believed a simple ropes course would be enough to spur the catalyst. Alert for any hidden surprises, my skin was crawling with nerves as I stepped onto the first bridge. I paused when Olivia cried out. Eh, eh, surprise number one. A few seconds later, Scout cursed and appeared right in front of me.
“Ah, sorry, Doc,” he breathed, falling heavily against the ropes and causing the bridge to swing wildly.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I hung on.
He exhaled a laugh. “Seems Juarez has a few surprises.”
“Scout, you’re disqualified,” Cedars announced.
“Yeah, yeah. It was a defense mechanism,” he complained. “Good luck,” he said and swung off the bridge.
I didn’t like this. Not the dark, not trying to anticipate Juarez’s surprises. Wasn’t there a less stressful way to get the time juices flowing?
When the bridge had stopped swinging enough to safely move, I continued along the ropes until I reached the first intersection. Not having studied the course previously, I didn’t know what each direction held. Looking at them now, they both seemed to follow a long convoluted route to the flag. Directly in front of me was an open space about ten feet across. I could easily jump it to the platform on the other side and forgo the longer routes. I would still be on the course. Time in the air didn’t count as off the course, did it?
Bending my knees, I launched myself forward. I had almost reached the platform when something barreled into me from my right. I hit the ground hard and skidded into the underbelly of the course.
“I guess that did count as a shortcut,” I grumbled, gently massaging the hip that had connected with the floor. “Can’t say he didn’t warn me.” Rolling to my knees, I got a good look at what had plowed into me, which, contrary to the way it felt, was not a swinging log on a rope. It was a hybrid, but it looked more like the werewolf of legend than any hybrid I had ever seen. In other words, scary as hell. “Okay, that he did not warn me about.”
Catching my scent, the thing howled and whirled in my direction. “Shoot!” I hollered and ducked behind the nearest wooden support when it lunged at me. The entire course shook when the wolf hit the pillar sidelong. Disoriented by the collision, the creature stumbled over itself trying to stand. I used the opening to skirt around behind it and dart underneath the other side of the course where the beams were shorter and my chances of survival seemed greater.
By the time I turned around, the werewolf was back on its feet. It rose on its hind legs and lifted its nose into the air. Stretched to its full height, it towered over me. Just one of its claws looked as big as my hand. It didn’t take a single genius gene to know I was seriously outmatched.
With its nose still in the air, it turned slowly, an effective distraction from the swiftness of its attack. I narrowly missed the jaws as they snapped shut. But I got a full whiff of its breath. It reeked like something had crawled in there and died.
“Uugh, I think you missed some of your last victim,” I groaned in disgust.
The creature turned and lunged again, forcing me further underneath the course. I knew with its size that it would have a hard time following me into the congested foundation. So as fast as I could, I wound my way deeper into the maze. The only drawback was the restriction in my own freedom of movement. I glanced over my shoulder at the wolf. And the fact that the wolf was still following despite its size.
