Page 7 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Chapter Seven

Jesse

“W-what’s going on?” demanded Jesse, entering the lab more.

Samuel maintained his position, squaring his shoulders. “Fight the conditioning, Culbertson. See the truth.”

Jesse’s chest tightened at the man’s words, as if they carried more meaning than they should. Flashes of laughing with him at a dinner table struck Jesse once more with such intensity that he nearly staggered.

Samuel’s gaze remained on him, looking almost desperate for a moment.

“What are you talking about?” asked Jesse, thoroughly confused as to what was happening. What were they doing down here? And were children involved? “What conditioning?”

“He’s never going to wake up. Never going to break through the mental barrier. It’s pretty evident he doesn’t want it bad enough,” said Benat from somewhere deeper in the room. “And we’re burning time.”

Wake up from what? What barrier?

Samuel stared at Jesse, something off in his gaze. There was no animosity there. Just something else. Something Jesse couldn’t place. Was it grief? If so, what was he mourning?

“Samuel, I know you want him back…we don’t have time. Not if we want to help these kids,” said Benat.

The three men shared a look, clearly keeping Jesse out of the loop on whatever it was they were trying to get across.

Nick released the scientist, who proceeded to slip in his own urine and fall to the floor. Nick pointed down at him. “Think of moving or alerting others, and I’ll fucking end you.”

The scientist put his hands up in surrender, his gaze narrowing ever so slightly. “I won’t.”

Jesse darted by Samuel to get a better look at what was happening. He regretted the decision the second he saw the massive laboratory and what it housed—children. Lots of them. None looked to be any older than three, possibly four. Some didn’t look like they were much older than one.

All of them were emaciated, with sunken eyes and skin far too pale to mean anything good.

They were in a mix of white scrubs and hospital gowns.

All of them were barefoot. The thin material covering them didn’t look as if it would do much to protect them from the elements.

Some of them were shivering. Their gazes tracked the men’s movements, and Jesse noticed them glancing quickly toward the exits too.

He wondered if any would dart away, unsure if Jesse, Samuel, Nick and Benat were friend or foe.

There appeared to be an even mix of boys and girls. And none had been spared when it came to the condition they were in. Most of the children had bruising or scars of some sort. A few had both. Several of the boys had casts on their arms.

Benat was holding a little boy around the age of two, who had a long gash on his cheek that looked to be only a day or so old. The little boy was clutching his left arm to his chest. Benat sighed and set him on the counter nearest him. “Can I see your arm?”

The child kept it held tightly to him.

A little girl eased closer to Benat’s leg and tugged on his pants.

Benat stared down at her, compassion showing on his face. “Yes, sweetie?”

She glanced at the boy on the counter and reached up, going on her tiptoes to touch the other child’s leg.

When she made contact, white light radiated from the palm of her hand.

The little boy on the counter reached out quickly with his injured arm—that didn’t seem so injured anymore.

The girl swayed and Benat reacted quickly, grabbing her and lifting her before she’d have fallen. Her head lolled back.

For a split second, Jesse feared the worst. That she was dead.

His shifter side caught the sound of her heartbeat and shallow breaths.

She was alive, but not in great shape. The boy she’d touched with the white light seemed totally and completely fine now.

Surprise dawned on Jesse. “She healed him.”

Samuel gave a tight-lipped smile. “She did. She’s special.”

“They all are,” said Benat as he held the little girl and lifted his head slowly, his gaze colliding with Jesse’s.

“They’re supernaturals?” Jesse's voice barely rose above a whisper, caught between disbelief and horror as he took in the sight of a laboratory that had clearly been designed to house children, for God only knew what horrors. “What are they doing down here?”

“You know the answer to that,” said Samuel.

Jesse shook his head. “No. I don’t.”

Samuel stared at him, his expression a mix of sorrow and regret. “It’s in there—buried deep. When you finally access it, so much will change. It will blow your mind and open your world.”

What in the hell was the man talking about? And why did The Corporation have a lab full of supernatural children—ones who looked as if they’d been neglected and abused?

Samuel stepped up next to Jesse. He put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder, and Jesse’s first reaction was to knock it off. He resisted. “We’re taking them out of here. Are you going to try to stop us?”

Jesse glanced over to see Nick lifting a little girl with long, dark red hair that was heavily matted. She didn’t look like she was going to make it much longer. She put her head on his shoulder, and he placed a hand on her back gently.

The smells Jesse had caught while in the locker room made sense now as he stared around at the faces of the children. “What happened to them?”

“This place,” said Samuel with a huff, moving his hand from Jesse’s shoulder. He glanced around.

A sickening smell emanated from the children. It made Jesse fight to keep from vomiting. It was sweet, yet with a hint of tar mixed into it all, making it nauseating. “W-what’s that smell?”

Samuel and Benat shared another look before Benat focused on the child he was holding. Samuel sighed. “You know the injections they’ve been giving you?”

Jesse nodded. “The ones they’ve been making us all take weekly?”

“No. Not all of us,” corrected Samuel. “Some of us. You’re getting the real stuff. Others are getting placebos. We tried to get yours switched, but they caught on and doubled your dose.”

Nick nodded. “It’s why you’ve been struggling so much with it lately. They not only tweaked the formula, they’re giving you a much stronger dose.”

Jesse filed that away in his mental Rolodex to be pissed about later.

Right now, whatever was happening with the kids took precedence.

“What does that have to do with the kids and the smell? I’ve never picked up on that scent in the serum before.

What is it? And why do I feel like I’ve smelled it before? ”

“Because you have,” said Samuel, sounding tired. “During World War II. When we raided Nazi labs.”

Confusion knit Jesse’s brow. “Why are you talking about it like you were there?”

“Because I was and so were you,” said Samuel flippantly.

Jesse shook his head. “No. We weren’t.”

Benat offered Samuel a somber look. “I know you want him right in the head again, but the shit they’ve done to him—it’s not something most can come back from.”

“What do you mean?” demanded Jesse, worked up over the state of the children and over the cryptic talk of the men around him.

“Explanations will have to wait,” said Samuel. “We’re running against the clock down here.”

Jesse lifted a hand. “Someone needs to tell me what the fu—” he noticed a small boy watching him and cleared his throat, “— fudge is going on and what you’re all doing down here.”

Benat set the child he’d been holding down in one of the metal cribs.

“Samuel, I don’t know if they can wait for medical attention.

And are we sure our inside source is right on how much of the mixture these kids have been getting?

From the smell of it, some of them have a crap ton in their systems.” He touched the little girl in the crib on the head gently, brushing back some of her hair.

“They weren’t supposed to be in this bad of shape. ”

Samuel’s gaze shifted to Nick. “He’s right.

I’m starting to second-guess the intel you brought us.

You swore your contact person was reliable.

That you’d worked them for months and gained their confidence.

” Samuel’s chin jutted out in frustration.

“From what you relayed to me, they’d arranged for there to be no guards here right now.

They are supposed to have medical help lined up for the kids when we get out of here, but the medical information that they provided about the kids didn’t list them as being this sick.

When we got down here, there were guards, and what I smell on the kids isn’t adding up with what she told you about their current state of health. ”

Something flickered across Nick's face. His gaze swept over the lab equipment, the children's charts, and the carefully labeled samples. He held the little girl in his arms tighter, rubbing her back more, as if he, too, was coming to the same conclusion Samuel and Benat clearly already had.

They’d been played.

Samuel couldn’t possibly be talking about Nick’s new love interest, could he? There was no way Nick would be stupid enough to get romantically involved with someone he was supposed to be gathering vital intel from.

“She?” asked Jesse, facing Nick fully, wanting an answer as to whether or not the contact was the same woman Nick was romantically linked with. “Your contact isn’t the same woman you mentioned that you’re?—”

"Not now," Nick cut him off, his voice rough.

“If you hadn’t been thinking with your dick, we might not be running against the clock,” snapped Samuel. He lifted his head more, letting alpha radiate from him as he visually scanned the laboratory. “Where is the little girl with brown hair?”

Nick glanced around. “Uh, there are a bunch with brown hair. Be more specific, boss.”

“She’s tiny, with big brown eyes. She can hear animals’ thoughts and sense their emotions.” Samuel said, worry coating his every word.

“She has to be here,” said Benat calmly. “She was here a few minutes ago. She’s fine. I’m sure.”

Nick motioned to the lab full of children. “There are a bunch more. We’ll save as many as we can, but we might not be able to save them all.”

Benat made an odd sound, drawing Nick’s attention. “We have to find her .”

“What’s so special about her?” asked Jesse, bringing Samuel’s focus to him.

“She’s my daughter,” whispered the man.

No one said a word for what felt like forever. It was Jesse who finally broke the tension. “You had a kid and let them do whatever in the hell it is they’re doing down here to it?”

Samuel’s gaze narrowed, and he snarled.

Benat stepped between them. “No. He didn’t let them do anything to her. He only just found out he has a daughter. You know the samples they took from all of us? The blood, the hair, the skin scrapings, and the…?” Benat glanced at his groin.

It clicked, and Jesse reared back. “You’re saying they what…cooked up a kid using his…?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying,” returned Benat. “We’re going to get her and all of these kids out of here.”

Nick cleared his throat. “When you brought this plan to me, you left out having a kid who was part of it. You can trust me.”

“I know I can,” said Samuel, his gaze searching the room still. “I was having issues believing it myself when I first came to you about this all.”

“Why didn’t you include me?” asked Jesse.

“Frankly, I’m shocked you’re not sounding the alarm and trying to put a bullet in my head,” said Samuel, worry covering his face. “I have to find her. I can’t leave her here in this. I can’t leave any of them here.”

“We won’t,” said Benat. “We’ll find her and get them all out.”

Jesse stood frozen in place, trying to wrap his mind around what The Corporation had done. Did the rest of them have children they didn’t know about too? Were they being experimented on too? The thought sickened him. “Your kid, does she have a name?”

All eyes came to him.

“Not yet,” said Samuel as he bent and began opening metal cabinet door fronts as if the child might have crawled into one. “Just a number. I’m planning to name her after our, erm, our…” He stood, his gaze finding Jesse’s. “Someone close to my heart.”

“Charlotte-Jane. Charlotte for… your mother. And Jane for…for your aunt? But everyone will call her Charley,” blurted Jesse with so much force it shocked even him. He wasn’t sure where the name had come from or why he’d said with such certainty.

“ Jess , you remember—?” Samuel asked, taking a step toward him but stopping. He tensed and twisted around, appearing frantic. “Where is the egghead?”

Nick spun and then growled again. “I told him what I’d do to him if he dared move.”

The child he was holding stirred and whimpered softly.

“Shit. I mean crap, not shit,” said Nick fast, before clearing his throat and patting her back more. “You’re okay. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Samuel rushed around the lab, bending and looking under and behind things. “She’s not here! She was here a few minutes ago.”

Benat stiffened. “The scientist. The one that Nick was going to kill. You don’t think he took her when we weren’t looking, do you?”

“He was lying about being scared,” said Jesse quickly, unsure why he felt the need to add that.

“What do you mean?” asked Benat.

“I don’t know. I just know he was putting on an act,” said Jesse. “Like he was buying time.”

Samuel’s face blanched. “There are four offshoot labs from this one. He could be in one of those, and if he has a child with him, there is no telling what he’ll do.”

Nick nodded, laid the child he’d been holding in an empty crib, and ran for the door. “I’ll go check.”