But now she didn’t have a choice.
“They’re in Alberta,” she declared.
To which Nimway exclaimed “Where?” A smart woman, with strength who might be able to help Stefan with his demons.
“There’s no actual address for it, but I can pinpoint the general area on a map.”
“That should be enough,” Nimway mused aloud.
“You can’t be seriously thinking of going,” Gwayne declared. “The pack needs you now more than ever.”
“You’re right. They do. Because if I fail, their lives will be forever changed.”
Her brother argued. “How will you get there? You hate flying.”
Nimway shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“It’s a long drive,” Nanette advised. She’d done it enough times to know. But she’d not had a choice. People might have remarked on the woman flying alone with the strange children. “Days, so pack a bag if you’re thinking of it.”
“I don’t have days,” Nimway grumbled. “God only knows what they’ll do to them if we wait too long.”
Nanette had been trying hard to not let herself think the worst. “It’s a good sign they took them alive.”
“What makes you think they live?” Gwayne said before grunting as his sister punched him in the gut.
Nana couldn’t help but wince. “Because why go through that kind of trouble otherwise?”
“That wasn’t exactly warm and reassuring,” Nimway grumbled.
“I didn’t take you for the type who needed coddling. Wouldn’t you rather know the truth?”
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I like it.”
“Well, too bad, the truth is what you’re getting,” Nana said because, after almost a lifetime of lying, it would be nice to speak frankly for once. “I know a bit how this company works. They only get rid of those they consider defective. Anyone who fits their agenda is kept alive for testing.”
“Is this testing pain-free?” Nimway asked.
Nana snorted. “I think you already know the answer to that.”
“I can’t see Stefan cooperating too well with that.” Nimway’s lips pressed into a line.
“I agree. Which is why if you’re going, it has to be quick.” Her boys were too stubborn to cooperate.
Johan had only ever managed to save those slated for death. Of the others? She’d never heard of any escaping. But then again, would Johan have told her?
She could only hope that her children, older and wiser, would hold on until she could find a way to rescue them.
Even if it meant exposing the truth to the world.
20
Nothing like waking up exposed to the world. Or in this case, those monitoring the cell Stefan found himself imprisoned in, naked as the day he was born. Or had he been poured out of some test tube? His inquiring mind really wanted to know. He might even find out given his current predicament.
He was strapped to a bed with Velcro restraints. The one on the left hadn’t been done up as tight, which meant he wiggled enough he could pull free. In short order he stood up and glared at the bed then the room. By all appearances he’d returned to his first home, but with some upgrades.
Three concrete walls with the fourth one made of glass, thick enough that it didn’t even vibrate when he punched it. Welded into it was a sliding door, which was locked. It didn’t budge when kicked, shoved, and pried at.
They’d improved on the design. He remembered the place being dingier and the machines bulkier during his last imprisonment. Three years old when he’d been their lab rat. Only now did he make the connection that his nightmares were about him reliving his time in this place.
The memories spilled into him, none of them good. It sent him into a worried pacing that did nothing to soothe his churning mind.
Captured like a fucking idiot. Some fucking hero he’d turned out to be. Where was his brother?
Fuck, what about Mom, the kids, Nimway, her pack?
The thing he feared most, his deepest paranoia, had come to pass. Discovery and capture.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He almost pounded his hands against his temples in his agitation. He knew it wasn’t a good thing to do. Hitting oneself didn’t solve anything. Neither did drinking or drugs. He needed all his wits to figure a way out of here. He also needed to make sure he didn’t put anyone else in danger.
“You’re awake sooner than expected.” The voice came from above, and he glanced overhead to see dark glass, the kind behind which people could watch without being seen.
“Where am I? Who are you?”
“We’ve never officially met, although I was in charge of the first few years of your life. You might say I made you, given I hired your creator. Perhaps you’ve heard of him, Johan Philips?” The male’s statement froze him.
“Never heard the name before,” he lied.
“Really? Odd, given your mother was his sister. Then again, we didn’t know him well either. Seems Johan wasn’t the company man he portrayed himself to be. Why, look at the fact you’re still alive instead of some long blown-away pile of ash. I’d begun to wonder if our monitoring of your family was a colossal waste of money.”
The cold in his veins turned to pure ice. “You’ve been watching us? For how long?”
“We started only a few years ago when we realized Johan had left behind a sister with an unusual number of children.”
“You spied on us.”
“It’s called observing an investment. And you should thank me for it. Initially I was going to have you all killed, but a staff member suggested we monitor you in case you had children that showed special abilities.”
His stomach clenched. “You can’t be serious.”
“Do I seem like the entertaining sort?” The hidden voice sounded so smug.
“You sound like a man with a very small penis. The tiniest.” In case it wasn’t clear, he held two fingers very close together.
Dead silence followed by, “I am going to enjoy the tests, but you, ST11, will not.”
A whirring was followed by a cabinet opening in the cement wall. The aroma hit him.
Familiar. Devil weed.
Stefan started to sweat. “No. I won’t help you.”
“As if you have a choice.” More snotty amusement.
“Why are you doing this? Couldn’t you have left us alone?”
“I could have but chose instead to recoup my investment. After all, you and the others in your family are company property.” He kept talking about Stefan’s family, nothing about Nimway and the pack. Perhaps all was not yet lost.
“You ordered us killed. Essentially putting us in the trash, which makes us fair game.”
“I was ridding us of defective equipment, only it turns out you just needed a little tweaking. Odd how catnip is your trigger. It’s usually an inhibitor in the feline pool. Which makes me wonder what your weakness is.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Probably dumb to lie at this point, but why make it easy?
The unseen voice made a chastising sound. “Are you really going to play that game? Did you know we recently got our hands on your psych sessions? It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you. They lost a bunch of their records during some virus that swept their server. But the doctor had the original paper notes.”