Page 4 of Between Imminent Fates
“Watch and learn, gentlemen.”
Jax held himself at attention while he did as he was commanded. Light flickered on above the darkened cage, illuminating a group of people huddled together in one corner. Rayn didn’t bat an eye as he grabbed the bearded man closest the door, yanking him up to stand on his bare feet.
Dread made Jax’s heart twist as the bearded man was dragged toward the werewolf. It took only moments to realize what they intended. Immediate, unrelenting horror made his muscles lock in place and his breath stall in his lungs. Barlowe and Rayn were creating werewolves—and doing so with what appeared to be unwilling victims.
The people sitting in the cage remained silent, their eyes fixed on Rayn and his prisoner. Fear seemed to permeate the space around them, and the bearded man’s hoarse pleading only confirmed Jax’s suspicion.
Jax stepped forward. “Sir—what are we doing here?”
The bearded man’s arm was thrust through the small gap in the silver link, and immediately, the wolf latched onto the flesh with savage intent. A scream of terror and pain sliced through the air.
“Wearen’t doing anything, Captain,” Barlowe replied nonchalantly, completely immune to the savagery before him. “You will be an admin, setting up additional sites while Rayn and I do the actual work. You will exist on a need-to-know basis, and what happens afterward is none of your concern. I will not ask you to participate in the fieldwork, nor will you attempt to turn any yourself.”
Jaw working, Jax turned to look at the people who’d been caged. The very idea nauseated him. Horrified, he watched as Barlowe struck the wolf with a cattle prod. Shocked, the animal released his hold on the bearded man, who then collapsed beside the cage. Rayn dragged him to his feet and then tossed the victim into a nearby cell.
It took everything inside Jax to remain still instead of going to the man’s aid.
“Our success depends on building the largest pack of werewolves we can,” Barlowe continued, “and then replicating it. That’s your purpose here, Captains. Your mission will be to locate suitable spots across the United States to build new facilities, get boots on the ground, and do the paperwork so that I don’t have to.”
Somehow, Jax managed to keep his disgust off his face.
The colonel pointed to a door beside the classroom. “Through that door, you’ll find a set of laptops and a missive. Get to work.”
With a salute, Jax and Sobell spun and entered a small office with two desks. A tall partition separated them. Seating himself on the chair, he grabbed the document detailing his work. Though the direction was clear, his head was not.
Sobell didn’t seem bothered by any of this.
The sound of another shriek had Jax glancing at the closed door, and the urge to sprint out there and stop this madness was nearly overpowering.
There were three of them, and only one of him. Even if he used the device to incapacitate Rayn, Barlowe and Sobell had the benefit of being as well trained as he was. Swallowing against the sudden weight on his chest, he realized the futility of his situation. He could do nothing to stop this.
Not here—not now.
Jax couldn’t buy into what his commander was trying to sell. Civilians on home soil didn’t deserve the inhumanity of being attacked by rabid wolves—no one did. Without a trial and due process, he wouldn’t condemn an entire group to death.
He couldn’t fathom the thought process behind this mission. It was a statistical improbability that every member of any society was inherently evil. Supporting genocide against them would be tantamount to war.
What was happening just outside the door was no better. To forcibly turn someone into a werewolf was an atrocity, and if he made it out of here alive, there had to be a way to stop it.
He slowly realized the untenable position he was in. Confidentiality and top-secret clearance meant few people in his former reporting structure would know what was happening here, and if he blew the whistle in the wrong ear, he was certain he’d be the one in those cages.
There had to be a way to stop this madness. He simply didn’t know how.
Chapter Two
Key
Tomorrow was the beginningof the end.
Key had foreseen the future for centuries. Today, tomorrow, a year from now: every possible outcome of her actions and those around her played through her mind. The visions could be brief flashes or lengthy narratives, but each of them was a possibility.
In most futures, their kind was destroyed. Immortals became extinct.
Since she’d begun seeing the bloody future twelve centuries ago, Key had strategically moved pieces around the chessboard to ensure the species’ survival.
The one thing she knew for certain was that Jax Hunter was important. He was a human serving in the United States Armed Forces, a Captain by rank when she’d last checked. When his parents had both passed in a car accident, Jax had thrown himself into his career. As a result, he had been given an assignment that’d shape the offensive capabilities of the terrorist organization plotting the downfall of the immortal nations.
The Citizens of the Light.
