The alarm on her phone went off, but Alyssa could only hear it faintly. Jolting awake, she realized she was still in Dirk Bennett’s apartment. She sat up and realized she was alone in the bed. She stepped out into the living room and retrieved her phone from her purse, swiping the alarm to silence it. “Dirk?”

There was a note on the coffee table:

Couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. I’ll call you.

It was odd, but it wasn’t as though he had escaped in the middle of the night never to return. She let herself delight in the fact that he had at least left a note, and he trusted her enough to leave her alone in his apartment. Refusing to break that trust, she refrained from opening any drawers or cabinets beyond what she needed to make herself breakfast.

She took a cab to work, wondering if anyone would notice that her car had been in the lot the entire night. Brinkmann would have plenty to say about it, but she would just have to deal with that when she got there. Heading through the front door and toward the stairs, she had to stop when Krista chased her down.

“Alyssa?”

“Yes, what is it?” She didn’t have time to fix anyone’s computer or help them figure out what was wrong with their gene sequencing.

“Dr. Brinkmann is in the basement. He said to tell you to go see him right away.” Krista twisted her hands in front of her stomach.

Alyssa sighed. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I have some other things to do.”

“He said it was urgent,” Krista insisted. “Um, I think something happened last night.”

“You mean, with the Talos Project?” They hadn’t scheduled anything major for the night shift, keeping the larger tests and crucial programming sessions for when Alyssa and Dr. Brinkmann could work together.

“I’m not sure. I mean, he’s down there, and I’ve seen lots of other people go down there, but nobody’s really saying anything.”

“Fine.” Alyssa sighed, heading for the lower level, and soon enough, she found Dr. Brinkmann, waiting for her excitedly at the bottom of the stairs.

“You know how you’re always so worried about someone finding out about Talos?” he asked. His teeth were actually showing as he smiled, a sure sign that something was up.

“Yes,” she replied slowly.

“It turns out you were right. Somehow, word got out there.” He rocked back on his heels, blocking her from going through the doorway or seeing what was happening.

“Did the reporter come by or something?”

“Or something.” Brinkmann stood aside now to let her in. “A cunning young man decided to break into the facility last night.”

A wave of horror swept over Alyssa. How much of her work had the burglar ruined? Had he taken anything? Did he know her name? “Oh, God.”

“Now, now. Don’t worry. Our soldiers proved themselves worthy. They not only detected the threat, but they managed to take him down as well.” Dr. Brinkman stepped swiftly across the lab floor. They were heading toward the containment units, but Alyssa couldn’t see inside them; all the soldiers were standing around them in a solid circle. “They did their duty, and they did it in a manner I wouldn’t have thought they would be ready for. It not only proved something about our work, but led us to an entirely new discovery.”

“Such as?” Alyssa wished he would just spit it out. She felt dizzy as she walked across the shiny floor. It was odd, when she stopped to think about it, what a difference there was between the lobby and the offices of the building and the official lab. There were dummy labs upstairs where minor work was done, but everything was shabby and outdated compared to the Talos floor.

Brinkmann waved the soldiers aside. The containment unit was usually reserved for wayward soldiers who reacted poorly to their gene therapy. Some of them had become completely uncontrollable and had to be sedated and quarantined until they could be fixed. But the creature in the containment unit was definitely not a soldier. It was completely covered in silver scales that ran from its snarling lips to the tip of its thick tail. Spreading its wings in a gesture of aggression, it snapped at the bullet-proof glass just to get a reaction out of the soldiers. They were bionic men who had been injured in war and repaired with Dr. Brinkmann’s wildly progressive tactics, but they were still men. They jumped back, laughing at each other and teasing the creature.

“What, exactly, is that?” she asked slowly, unable to take her eyes off the scaly beast. “I know I had a lot to drink last night, but doesn’t that mean I should be seeing pink elephants instead of dragons?”

Brinkmann laughed. “It’s not just a dragon, my dear. It’s a shapeshifter. This thing is human when it wants to be. As far as I can tell, he’s either just that pissed off or he can’t change back. I don’t really know, and I don’t even care. We’ve made the discovery of the century!”

Somehow, Alyssa couldn’t get her own enthusiasm to match his. “But what do we do with him?”

“Anything we want!” The doctor gestured wildly in the air with his hands. “Just think of the possibilities! If we can harness whatever it is that makes this man shift to a dragon and back again, we could create super soldiers in a way that we never even imagined. Think about the implications when it comes to strength, stealth, and camouflage!” He was pounding his fist into his hand now, so enthused about the monster in the cage that his passion couldn’t be contained. “If none of that pans out, then we can make a shit ton of money off him.”

“But you said he’s human, right?” Alyssa peered through the glass, marveling at the sleek silver spectacle. It was absolutely beautiful, whatever it was.

“Don’t start with your ethics and morals now. We’ve been experimenting on humans for years, and the government pays us damn good money to do so. This thing could be our ticket to fame, and I need that brilliant brain of yours. Now, I’ve got to go home and get some sleep. I think I’ll have to take some pills to do it, but I need a fresh mind. In the meantime, I’ve got a whole slew of samples for you to go through. Start preliminary tests and be sure to run his blood through the sequencer. I want to know everything there is to know about him.” He clapped her on the arm and practically skipped across the lab floor to the stairs.

Alyssa didn’t turn to watch him go, instead keeping her eyes on the spectacle inside the containment unit. She had worked on mice, guinea pigs, and even cats before she had finally agreed to experiment directly on humans, and even then it was only because the government had asked her to do so. But this dragon—or whatever it was—was completely different.