Chapter Eight
Lucan and Nikon had been reading for hours. It sickened Lucan to have to go through pile after pile of papers describing all the vile things that had been done to their brothers.
It almost would have been better if they’d been filled with emotional observations. Instead, the notes carefully detailed horrific experiments and murders with the cold detachment of a bored psychopath.
Subjects subjected to performance parameter evaluations.
Failed stock requiring more efficient disposal.
Gestational failures in high percentage of experimental subjects.
The files provided not even a hint of humanity from the Horatius Group. It almost made Lucan want to laugh.
Humans complained about hybrids being the abominations, but the hybrids had done nothing as evil as the humans of the Group.
No matter how much he tried not to think about those days, they existed and lingered inside him. He might be free of the Group, but his heart would never truly be free. It was like some sort of infection he’d never be able to get past.
Lucan slammed down the latest report. His stomach churned as he mulled over what he’d just read.
Loss of mature stock has been minimal during the evaluations. Despite worries of elevated risk of permanent neuromuscular trauma from the experimental protocol, we have found that the nervous-stimulation protocol outlined in section A1 can produce the requisite pain response without any permanent trauma. Additional testing will be necessary to determine if the subjects will respond to localized tissue insult in conjunction with pain response in the same manner.
Recommend minimal reuse of stock during the experimental sequence to minimize intrinsic sample bias.
He didn’t understand all the jargon, but he understood enough. They were testing their pain tolerance over and over. Seeing if the super-soldiers they were making could one day be stabbed, shot, or hit without even noticing.
“Sick fucking bastards,” Lucan mumbled.
His fists clenched as he tried to keep down the contents of his stomach. If he could catch these bastards, he’d rip them limb from limb.
He didn’t care what sort of monster that made him. It was still nothing in comparison to these people. They needed to suffer for what they’d inflicted on the hybrids.
Nikon slapped a file in front of Lucan and pointed to it. “That’s it!”
“Huh?”
Lucan picked up the file and skimmed over the text. It wasn’t that different than the kinds of things he’d been reading about.
In this case, it was mostly horrible experiments having to do with endurance. The Group was, as always, thorough in testing everything from fighting to running to even sex. They would make the hybrids go for hours, sometimes days, breaking their will as they did so and forcing them do unspeakable things once their will was broken.
At the end of the paper, he found a signature from the lead researcher.
A.J. Kinkaid.
Lucan looked up to Nikon, stunned.
“This is the bastard we’re looking for?” Lucan growled.
Nikon leaned back. “Hard to believe he’s still hanging around, doing the same types of things. That’s one sick motherfucker.”
Lucan stared down at the scrawled signature in the paper. He was going to get the fuck if it was the last thing he did. A.J. Kinkaid was going to pay for all the hybrids he tortured.
His phone rang, pulling him back to the here and now.
Lucan pulled it out. “Yeah.”
“I need you to do something,” Cato said, his words rushed. “Jamie and Leah were chased by some woman. She seemed to have spotted you two together.”
He took a deep breath, his heart pounding over the idea Jamie had been threatened.
“Another fanatic?”
Nikon frowned at his words.
“Jamie said the woman was like the mind-controlled people we’ve seen before,” Cato said. “That she had the same vacant look. It might be nothing, but I think you should check it out. They are at a Mexican restaurant. I’ll send the address.”
Lucan nodded. “Got it.”
He hung up the phone and headed to the door. When Nikon followed him, he stopped.
“I suppose you heard,” Lucan said.
There was no reason to suspect the other hybrid couldn’t have easily heard both sides of the conversation with his enhanced hearing.
Nikon lifted his chin. “I’m coming.”
He grunted. There wasn’t much to be done. Leah was his brother’s intended Vestal.
Normally, a Vestal was destined for one hybrid, but being twins provided an exception. The connection Nikon shared with the woman was likely just as strong as his brother’s. Complicated wasn’t even the half of it.
“You take the car,” Lucan said. “I’m on my bike.”
Once outside, he quickly made his way over to his motorcycle.
He climbed on the bike and pulled up the map on his phone. The area was full of shoppers that time of day.
An open attack using a mind-controlled person was sloppy and obvious. The potential for immune witnesses was pretty high.
He shook his head. Maybe they planned on taking out a large number of people and blaming the hybrids. After the suicide bombings, anything was possible.
* * *
The hybrids made their way two towns over, speeding and weaving through traffic until the two had pulled up outside the little Mexican place.
Lucan stepped off his bike and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary. It looked like a normal-ass street.
The hybrids walked inside. A waiter hurried to the front to greet them.
“We’re meeting some ladies,” Lucan said. “They should be expecting us.”
The man’s eyes widened as he stared at the two men. They kept their glasses on, which only made them look more dangerous. Lucan could see it in the stares of the staff and the other customers.
Jamie’s scent hit his nose. Through the spices and corn, he could smell the soft scent of lavender before the waiter even pointed. But it was Nikon that stepped forward first, moving as if he had his own scent he was following.
Lucan tore his attention away from Jamie’s scent. Even though it didn’t entice him as much, Leah’s underlying scent was there, explaining Nikon’s behavior.
When the women came into view, Lucan breathed a sigh of relief. Something about the call set him on edge, and just knowing Jamie was okay made him feel much better.
Lucan slid into the seat next to Jamie. She moved over a little but not so much that they weren’t touching. There was a part that was glad she wanted his comfort, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
Nikon slid in next to Leah. Her cheeks were pink as she moved over, allowing them plenty of space between. Still, to anyone walking by, both pairs looked like couples.
The waiter stopped by, and they ordered. It would be less conspicuous if they ate something. Besides, Lucan was starving after all the reading they had done earlier.
“Two more mojitos,” Jamie said.
Leah frowned. “I don’t know if I should.”
“Have another,” Nikon said quietly.
Lucan was surprised when the woman nodded, and the waiter stepped away. There was something there.
“Tell us everything that happened,” Lucan said as he turned to Jamie. “Don’t skip anything.”
* * *
Jamie relayed their entire event-filled day, only halting briefly when the waiter stopped to deliver the food and drinks.
When she finished, she could see that Lucan and Nikon had been hanging on every word.
“This isn’t good,” Lucan mumbled.
He shifted in his seat. The heat from his thick, warm thigh penetrating through the chill that had come over her.
Jamie sucked down the last of the tart liquid in her glass, feeling only mildly better now that her head was swimming a bit.
“You think it’s our guy?” Nikon said.
Lucan nodded. “Has to be.”
Jamie frowned. “Your guy? You know who did this?”
Lucan turned to look at her, and she wished more than anything that she could see his eyes instead of the sunglasses.
“We’ve got another lead on the person who did the bombing.”
The gears in her brain cranked slowly. “Do you think they were planning on blowing us up?”
She could see Nikon tense as Leah shivered in her seat over the careless words. Lucan placed a hand on Jamie’s thigh, and she turned back to him.
“No, but I think we need to go back to where this all happened,” Lucan said.
“No,” Leah whispered.
Jamie reached out for her friend. “You don’t have to,” she whispered.
“Nikon will take Leah home while you and I go check out where this happened,” Lucan said.
The two men exchanged looks, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it all. Maybe it was some sort of hybrid bro code or something.
“We have to figure this out, which means we need to investigate,” Lucan said. “We’re two towns over from Luna Lodge. I doubt they are randomly mind-controlling people who just happen to go after people who know hybrids.”
Jamie suppressed a shiver, not liking the idea that the bad guys were maybe watching her.
She nodded and reached for her purse but only then realized that the spandex pants she was wearing only had room for her key and her phone.
To her relief, Lucan place some bills on the table and held out a hand to help her up.
Their hands touched, and she found she didn’t want to let go. She wanted to continue holding him until he told her she couldn’t anymore.
When they’d reached the door, Jamie turned to Leah. She gave her a quick hug.
“Stay with Nikon,” she whispered. “He’ll keep you safe until you get back to your place.”
Leah nodded, but her body shook. Jamie wondered if it was from what had happened or what might come when she went home.
Jamie turned back to Lucan and slipped her hand back into his. He seemed surprised but didn’t let go. A warm jolt shot through her.
“Okay, let’s go find this dick,” Lucan said.