Page 25 of Sergi (Of Blood & Dreams #7)

Chapter Twenty-Four

When the alarms sounded, I followed S-272 and Carlos as we broke into a run for the stairs. Several steps from reaching the door that S-272 held open, I stopped. Sergi needed evidence, and once the guards arrived, we’d be cut off from this level. I wasn’t sure why they weren’t already running down the corridors with rifles.

“Alex,” S-272 urged. “We need to go. Once the shifters are released, we’ll have the numbers to take over level two.” His eyes darted to Carlos, who nodded. Had they agreed on some plan? When did they have time to talk? “We’ll either hold the perimeter until help arrives, or we’ll die like shifters.”

Ah. That was one thing about shifters. When humans spoke about the fight or flight response, it always amused us. We didn’t have a flight response.

I sensed his urgency, but I held my ground.

“I can’t.” What the hell was I doing? Evidence. It wasn’t just Sergi that needed it. Once the vampires regained control, they’d continue their experiments. If they were forced to move, they’d rebuild a lab someplace else and start over. I couldn’t let that happen. “We need evidence. Somebody has to be told what’s happening here, but no one will believe us without proof.”

Based on his expression, S-272 was about to argue, but Carlos stepped toward me. “She’s right. We should be able to hold out until Devon arrives, but those running this place won’t risk the discovery. They’ll destroy all the evidence, and we can’t let them do that. We need that proof. I’ll go with her.”

“No.” I shook my head, my anxiety rising. “There’s no time, and you don’t know your way around the labs. I know exactly where to go to find what we need. Just let whoever’s guarding the stairway know to let me through in case I can’t shift before coming down.”

Carlos stood back and waited for S-272 to make a decision.

“Be quick. Get yourself a lab coat so you look like one of them. And don’t get caught.” He looked at me, assessing, and though he might not like the choice I made, my backbone strengthened at the approval in his gaze. My wolf pranced at the unspoken praise.

Then, without a word, he turned and raced down the stairs.

Carlos’s last glance was quite different, and I wasn’t sure what I saw—regret, concern, support? It was hard to tell. I handed him the keycards I’d grabbed from the assistants, and he squeezed my arm before chasing after S-272, closing the door behind him.

I ran for the director’s office but only made it past two doors before footsteps echoed down the hall. It sounded like they were running. I glanced around, searching for someplace to hide. The first door I tried was locked. Damn. I rushed to the second one, a storage closet, and stepped inside, closing the door to the barest inch. The vampires might be too far away to hear the lock engage, but I wasn’t willing to take the chance.

My heart pounded in my ears, and I forced deeper breaths until my pulse slowed. I had to pull myself together. This was a mission. It might have been delayed a year, but the task I’d been assigned was happening. I had to act like the warrior I’d been trained to be. I could do this.

The words sounded good, but I couldn’t stop the anxiety creeping over me when the footsteps drew near. Whoever it was never slowed, and once they were past the storage closet, I eased the door open and sighed with relief. Two lab techs were running to a safe location, which should be back to their rooms. It was something I’d overheard at the women’s baths when I’d first arrived. One of the staff workers was new to the facility, and another female was answering questions about a possible raid, though one had never happened in the hundred years the lab had been in service.

If I remembered the conversation correctly, standard protocol for when the alarms sounded was to return to their room and lock the door. If they couldn’t get to their room, there were several rooms on each level considered secure panic rooms—if they could make it to one.

Before leaving the storage closet, I listened for anyone else who might be out there. Another lab tech appeared but turned down a different hallway. I had to find clothing. A nude woman walking around the lab would certainly draw suspicions from anyone monitoring a security camera.

I continued down the hall toward the director’s office and slipped into one of the smaller labs similar to the ones I’d cleaned before. This one was no different and was thankfully empty of staff.

I searched through the cabinets, feeling time ticking away. There had to be something to wear. I’d seen spare clothes in other labs in case of a mishap, and the second to the last cabinet finally rewarded my efforts. I slipped on a pair of scrub pants, a loose-fitting shirt, and a fresh lab coat. I’d kept a keycard and clipped it to the lapel.

I ran my fingers through my hair. It had been a couple of days since my last bathing privilege, one of the perks of working on level one. The staff didn’t like the stink of unwashed shifters. Once again, I slowly opened the door in time to see two staff rushing toward me.

I would have panicked, but they looked terrified, their eyes huge behind their glasses.

“Get to your room,” the male yelled as he rushed by.

The female behind him said nothing, but her quick glance my way said it all. It was everyone for themselves. I grinned. The odds were still against us, but not having to fight the staff worked in our favor.

I was passing the second main lab where some of the experiments had been held and stopped. The director’s office would have the evidence Sergi needed, but what about all the vials? What if he was still trapped on level three? It wouldn’t take long to grab a few samples.

I used the keycard to open the doors but only made it a few steps when the familiar click of nails on hard surface made me turn around. Three wolves stood at the doorway, their eyes alert. When they saw me, their hackles rose, and I lifted my hands.

“I’m shifter S-473. I’m searching for evidence. You need to be on level two. That’s where we’re making our stand.”

Their raised fur lowered, but they were cautious as they drew closer, noses lifted in the air, trying to catch my scent. I’d have to let them get a lot closer. The smell of disinfectant in the labs made it difficult for shifters to get a good scent.

Once they were within a couple of feet of me, their tails wagged as one licked my hand.

When I tried to shoo them away, they stood their ground.

“Fine. But once I find what I need in here, you need to get below. We need your help holding the lower levels and can’t afford to lose you to the guards.”

Before I could return to my task, two guards slid to a stop at the doorway. Unbelievable. They lifted their rifles, but there wasn’t enough distance between them and us, and the wolves didn’t hesitate. They raced to meet the guards, and I caught the fear in the guards’ eyes.

They managed to each get a shot off. One went wide as I ducked behind the closest counter. One of the wolves yelped and fell on their side, but then it was up. A small trickle of blood marred its coat, but it was probably nothing more than a flesh wound.

The guards never got another shot.

I blocked out their screams and focused on my mission. If the staff changed the codes, this would all be for naught, but I typed in the numbers I’d memorized. I grinned when the light turned green, and the door popped open.

I pulled out several trays from the shelves and placed them on the counter. The first tray of vials held human blood. I set it and another aside and checked other trays until I found vials marked with an S, which I believed to be an earlier version of the shifter serum.

The next step was to check the locked cabinet near the fridge. Bingo.

A tray of vials marked with MP—Magic Poppy—sat front and center. They probably kept it handy for Gheata in case he wanted to give Sergi another dose. I pulled it out and looked for the last item Sergi would need. My gut wrenched when the other vials had labels that didn’t follow the same naming convention, and I didn’t have time to speculate what they might be. On the top shelf, pushed toward the back, was a single tray of Blood Poppy. And not just any Blood Poppy, but the ones marked BP-X. I didn’t know why they kept it stored in the back, but considering how addictive Sergi said it was, perhaps the lab techs thought, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

I brought the trays over to where I’d put the other trays aside, then grabbed towels from the storage cabinet. I decided to take three vials each of the Magic Poppy, the Blood Poppy, and the shifter serum. Not knowing how much blood Sergi might need, I decided to take a dozen vials of the human blood. I wouldn’t be able to carry more than that.

I tightly wrapped the vials so they wouldn’t jostle and break, then wrapped them again, creating two bundles. They barely fit into the pockets of my lab coat.

I was on my way out when I heard a whimper. I spun around. The sound was coming from behind the island. I peered over the top and found a man huddled in the corner of two cabinets. He wore a lab coat, and that was all I needed to know as I raced around the island.

When he lifted his head, I grinned. I recognized that face, though his expression was filled with terror rather than his normal arrogance.

“Well, hello, Leonard.”

He screamed, “I was only doing my job.”

A hundred different responses raced through my head. None of them mattered. I’d seen the excited anticipation each time a shifter was led into the room. His glee as he walked around them, caged like an animal, as he decided the most painful spot to inject their poison.

I’d spent many nights thinking of ways to kill him. I turned toward the doorway as I heard the tell-tale sound of nails and low growls. Their muzzles were stained with blood from the guards.

Their eyes glowed with the bright crimson of rage and blood lust.

This wasn’t my kill.

I grabbed the collar of Leonard’s lab coat and dragged him out of the corner to the center of the lab. I snatched his keycard and tossed it on the ground by the wolves.

I faced them, and their eyes locked with mine.

“He’s all yours.”

I turned and walked away, ignoring Leonard’s pleas for mercy. I never looked back as his cries turned to whimpers, more shouts of pleas, and then screams of agony as he was ripped apart.

I smiled with satisfaction as I broke into a run.

When the alarms rang, Sergi encouraged the two freed shifters to follow his orders to free the other shifters and secure the third level before the guards came. His instinct was to race directly to level one, but someone had to get all the shifters out of their cells. He would have to trust that Alex could protect herself.

Five minutes later, he continued to work his way down the hall on level two, stopping at each door to open it. Many of the cells were empty, but there were too many that weren’t. When he found a shifter inside, he went through his practiced speech.

“I’m Sergi. Cadre for House Trelane and your liberator. Come out and join your pack. We’re taking this facility.”

He waited long enough to ensure the shifter heard, but he didn’t wait while they made their choice whether to join or remain in their cell. He simply moved to the next one and ignored his internal clock that said he was losing his opportunity to find evidence. When he reached the end of the hall, he turned back to find six wolves who’d left their cells. They lifted their snouts to catch his scent.

“We need to flush out any guards who might be down here.” He pointed down a hallway to their left. “The guards’ quarters should be that way. I’ll open some more cells, but it wouldn’t hurt to find more keycards.”

A thin brown wolf with matted fur yipped, and the four raced away in the direction Sergi had pointed.

He opened a few more cells, his mind elsewhere. If Alex had made it down to the second level, he hadn’t seen her. If she’d been in wolf form, she would have made herself known. He might have missed her, but he worried she was still on the upper level.

Where he needed to be.

He reached the end of the hallway and decided he’d released enough shifters to get the rest out on their own. He tossed his keycard to one of the shifters who hadn’t morphed into his wolf. He grabbed it, nodded, and ran for the next hallway.

Sergi, free to accomplish his own goal, jogged in the opposite direction, circling back to the stairs. He wasn’t expecting the two naked males striding toward him. He didn’t know the one on the right, but he recognized the other one.

“Carlos. It’s good to see you. I thought you were on level three.” Sergi shook his hand.

“And shouldn’t you be on your way to contact Devon?” Carlos noticed Sergi eyeing the other shifter and said, “Sergi, this is S-272. He’s an Alpha who’s been here a long time.”

“So, this is Sergi who I’ve heard so much about. You can call me Cadfael. Though in here, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, they call us by numbers.” He shook Sergi’s hand. “But Carlos is right. Did you not find the door?”

Sergi studied the old shifter, and though the face didn’t register, his name did. “Are you the same Cadfael from the Buckholt uprising?”

The shifter smiled. “You heard the stories?”

Sergi scratched his chin and matched the shifter’s grin. “I might have been in Monmouth about the same time.”

Cadfael assessed Sergi as if altering his original perception of the vampire. “Alex was right about you. I can sense it even without knowing about your mission. But you can’t stay. This all depends on you getting word out.”

Sergi nodded. “Agreed. But I can’t leave without evidence. The House running this operation won’t risk information getting out. They’ll make every attempt to destroy it.”

Cadfael wasn’t pleased but couldn’t argue. “I can send a couple wolves with you.”

Sergi shook his head. “It won’t be necessary.” He tapped his shoulder harness. “I do better with daggers.”

“Of that, I have no doubt. We’ll continue to consolidate a defense once we have everyone out.”

The old shifter took a step before Sergi stepped into his path.

“Where’s Alex?”

Cadfael studied him for another minute as if he’d missed something with his last perusal. His expression gave nothing away, but Sergi caught a bit of mischief in the shifter’s steady gaze. “She’s still on the first floor. She’s looking for evidence, too.”

“I need to get up there. They’re probably sending guards in small groups to clear rooms.”

Cadfael gave him that odd look for another moment, then nodded. “If you insist on delaying your departure, I have a small request before you search for Alex.”