Valor, Variant - 2: A Dark Genetic Manipulation Romance, page 22
When they reached the second floor, there were six Special Ops team members waiting for them in the stairwell. They handed off the two unfriendlies, thanked them for their assistance and continued on.
“SOT 1 and 2 vacating the building with four in tow,” Lethal said, as Steel and Revenge opened the door that would lead them all out of the building and into the night air.
“One more,” one of the Variant said.
“What?” Lethal said, looking over his shoulder at the male.
“There’s one more. He’s in the hole. If he’s still alive.”
“Fuck me,” Lethal mumbled.
“I got this,” Grudge said. “You go.”
“Where is he?” Lethal asked.
“Look for a water well. Just throw us down it while we’re unconscious. We wake up there. Sometimes they come back for us, sometimes they don’t.”
Lethal waited while Grudge took his place supporting the injured male, then he and Scorn followed the directions the male gave him.
As Lethal and Scorn went to find what was hopefully one more live male, Grudge started explaining who they were and where they were going. “We’re headed to Alliance. You’ll like it, it’s a nice place. We all live there because we choose to. We are all like you. We call ourselves Variant. We were freed, and now we search for others like us and free them, too.”
“They gonna feed us?” One of them asked.
“Oh, yeah. You’ll eat anytime you like. You’ll do pretty much whatever you want to do after you’ve had a chance to relax and figure out what that is,” Grudge said. “Welcome to the rest of your lives, gentlemen.”
As they approached the chopper, Steel slowed them. “Hold on. The females are there already, let me move them to the back of the chopper.”
Steel with the help of Revenge and Valor, got the women up and settled in the seats that were nearest the back of the helicopter. They left room for their team, then helped the Variant males get aboard. Frenzy grabbed some bungee cord and tied up the doctor, dumping her on the floor between the seats. Grudge made sure his team was settled, then turned to keep watch for Lethal and Scorn.
Chapter 20
Lethal and Scorn followed the directions the male had given them. They searched around the back of the facility and found nothing. Finally Lethal stalked around the side of the building and there it was.
“Got it,” he said.
Scorn hurried to join him and together they lifted the aluminum cover off what was actually once a working water well.
“Hey! We’re here to save you! You alive down there?” Scorn shouted.
There was no sound, but then a pair of orange eyes peered up at them.
“He’s alive,” Scorn said.
“What’s happening?” one of the Special Ops guys asked, walking over.
“Found another one,” Lethal answered.
“Hold on, I’ll run for a rope ladder,” the Special Ops guy said. Moments later he was back carrying the rope ladder slung over his shoulder. “I got it!”
As he and Scorn secured the ladder on the outside of the well, as well as holding it steady with their own strength, Lethal peered over the side into the darkness. He could make out bones, and he could see those eerie orange eyes staring back at him.
“I’m sending the ladder down. We are not here to hurt you. We’ve taken control of this facility and have freed everyone being held here. We’ve taken the doctor and her employees into custody. You are free, but if you attack, I will kill you,” Lethal said, not sure what condition this male would be in after being left in the fucking well long enough for the other Variant to question if he was still alive.
“We’ve got food and water for you as soon as you get to the chopper,” Lethal said, as they felt the first of the male’s weight on the ladder.
“I still have my pack,” Scorn said. “I’ll give him my protein bars and water as soon as he gets to the top.
It was a tense two or three minutes as they could feel the weight of the male as he climbed up the rope they’d lowered for him. Finally though, his head cleared the top of the well. His face was gaunt, his skin pulled tight over his cheekbones. He was filthy, covered in dirt and grime. When he reached the top, he simply hung there for a moment, breathing in the fresh air. He took a deep breath and then began to climb over the edge.
“I’ll help you,” Lethal said, holding out his hand.
The male looked at Lethal’s hand, then his face. He reached out his hand and placed it in Lethal’s, then Lethal grabbed his torn clothes with his other hand, and damn near lifted the male off the ladder and put him on the grass.
The male lay down on the grass and simply closed his eyes as his fists clenched and unclenched the cool, damp grass beneath him.
“Here,” Scorn said, holding out a protein bar that he’d already opened for the male.
The male opened his eyes and saw the food offered to him. He reached out snatching the bar and shoved the whole thing into his mouth as he chewed.
“Look, we have to go. We’ve got a chopper full of rescued males and females. I’ll help you get there, but we have to go,” Lethal said. Lethal knew instinctively if he ordered this male to get moving, even in his weakened state, he’d push back. This male was too near his bestial side to respond well to it.
When the male didn’t answer, Lethal decided point blank honestly was best. “Do you want to be free?” Lethal demanded.
The male looked at him. “Females,” he said, his voice rough and garbled.
“Yes. All of them. They’re on the chopper waiting for us,” Lethal assured the male.
He gave a nod and closed his eyes, taking a moment to try to ground himself.
“Get up and let us help you. The rest are waiting on us. The building is secured, we are not in danger, but we have others that are depending on us as well,” Lethal said.
The male rolled over and started pushing himself up to his feet, but he fell flat on his face.
“Sonofabitch!” Lethal snarled. He rushed forward, lifted the male and threw the male’s arm over his own shoulder while holding him around the waist. The male snarled.
“If you bite me, I will beat your fucking ass, after I bite you back!” Lethal growled back at him.
Scorn supported the male from the other side and together they carried the snarling, belligerent, emaciated male to the waiting chopper.
When Grudge saw them coming, he jumped out and ran to help. They managed to get him seated, and the doors closed. They were at more than full capacity. They should have had no more than eighteen aboard, yet they carried twenty one. Lethal was banking on the females aboard not weighing as much as full grown males and hoping that made the difference in the weight distribution even a little less than the recommended maximum.
Lethal looked around the helicopter, taking a quick stock of the situation.
Suddenly the male they’d pulled from the well was snarling and growling, struggling to get free of the seatbelt they’d secured him with.
“I'm coming,” one of the crying females assured as she released her own seatbelt.
“The fuck is happening now?” Scorn asked.
“Sit down!” Lethal bellowed at the female.
The male bellowed back still fighting against his seat belt.
“He’ll calm once he can reach me,” the female said. She made her way to the male, holding onto the seats on either side of her as she moved steadily toward him. As soon as she got within a couple of feet of the male, he leaned forward straining against the partially shredded seatbelt and pulled her into his arms.
He buried his nose against her throat and practically petted her, completely ignoring everything else around them.
“We’re going to be okay, now,” she assured him, holding onto him and seeming to not even notice the stench that permeated everything within two feet of him.
Lethal looked around the chopper again and his eyes fell on the male that had told them about the one in the well.
“He was down there because he went nuts when anyone attempted to touch him or her. He was punished because they bonded.”
“Are there any more anywhere on the property?” Lethal asked.
The male shook his head. “Not alive.”
“Relax, we’ve got hours until we finally arrive home, but this shit is over,” Lethal said.
The male clenched his jaw, but nodded. It was clear he was warring with several different emotions.
“Ya’ll hungry?” Scorn asked, emptying his pack and handing out the few protein bars and water pouches he had. The rest of the SOT teams followed his lead, and soon everyone was munching on food and thirstily drinking water.
“Excellent work,” Lethal said. “Everybody’s good?” he asked, as he listened to Smitty coordinating with the pilots of the other choppers on site.
“Just peachy,” Scorn said, quoting Two’s standard response.
“Take us home as soon as you’re cleared, Smitty,” Lethal said.
The chopper began to lift off the ground, and turn away from the facility.
Valor closed his laptop and smiled at Lethal.
“Good job,” Lethal said.
“It’s freaking awesome,” Valor replied. “David’s invaluable when it comes to hacking into their security systems. I was able to keep an eye on the whole place through their own security system. We were completely safe the whole time. Except for the third floor. Wherever we go on mission, if they have security cameras, we’re more safe than we’ve ever been now that we’ve got this little bit of magic in our pockets,” he said, patting his laptop the new software was loaded on.
“Anybody else have access to those cameras while we’re in there?” Lethal asked.
Valor looked over at Lethal. “I blocked all access to the security cameras except mine. If they could usually observe through them, while we were in nobody saw anything but me.”
Lethal gave a nod of affirmation. “Almost wish you hadn’t,” Lethal remarked. “Wish that fucker would confront us.”
“He wouldn’t have,” Feral said. “He doesn’t have the balls.”
“True. He wouldn’t want to be associated with an illegally run medical testing facility that uses humans as guinea pigs,” Scorn said.
“Wish he’d have been able to watch us take down one of his facilities,” Steel said.
“Well, I did record the mission. I could upload the feed back into the security system. If he ever tries to access the feed to find out what happened, he’ll see us front and center,” Valor said.
Lethal smiled.
“Think there’d be blow back on us?” Revenge asked.
“No, he’s not going to admit being complicit and he’s tied to this facility,” Grudge said.
“Upload it,” Lethal said. And include a note from me. “Lethal says hi.”
Valor laughed. “I could do it.”
“As much as I’d love to, it’s probably best we don’t. No reason for anyone to get any ideas of how we operate,” Lethal said. He took his phone out of the zipped pocket of his BDUs and placed a call. “Colonel Bates,” he said. “The facility has been vacated. I’m sure you’re up to date from your own team, but wanted to confirm. Hostiles were taken into custody as well as rescues. We have the Variant males with us, the rescued females, and the doctor.”
Lethal listened while Colonel Bates spoke.
“No, sir. The rest were left with your team.”
Lethal paused again, then replied. “Thank you, sir,” Lethal said, “Please keep us apprised of the situation as they’re taken into custody. I’ll let you know what we find on the electronics and files we took with us.”
Lethal was quiet while he listened to Colonel Bates speaking.
“Sounds good. There is plenty more we didn't take. It’s all in your hands now,” Lethal said, pausing to listen to the Colonel.
“Yes, sir. We’ll speak then,” he finally said, then ended the call before looking over at his team and Grudge’s.
“They’re finishing up tonight, including taking all the video records from the security cameras. Then waiting for the day crew to arrive. They’re going to take them all into custody and transport them back to holding cells in their own location. Once the interrogation is complete and they have time to look over all evidence they're removing from the building, Colonel Bates will be at Alliance to present a report. We’ll report what we’ve found as well at that time.”
“It’s nice to have people on our side for a change,” Grudge said.
“Yes, it is,” Feral agreed. “Let’s just hope they stay there.”
Lethal looked over at Nina speaking softly with two of the females they’d rescued. The third was with the nearly out of control male they’d found tossed down the well to die, and the fourth female was still quiet, staring out of the chopper while she held a thin blanket around her shoulders. He watched as the blanket slipped and Steel reached out, covering her better and tucking it in around her. “It’s gonna be fine,” Steel said, leaving his hand resting on her arm.
The female didn't reply, but Steel didn’t seem to mind.
“You’re safe now,” Steel said.
~~~
Two days later after flight delays, and inconveniences that had them all grumbling, they finally landed on one of the helo pads at Alliance. Variant males, smiling and welcoming, waited on scene to welcome them and assist in anyway they could. As they got off the chopper, the four rescued Variant males, and the four females — now clean thanks to showers at the hangar they sheltered in when their flight was delayed — looked around wondrously. It was apparent the males were like them, and they were obviously free.
“Welcome home,” Grudge said, smiling tiredly at them as they stood beside the chopper, trying to acclimate themselves. “This is Law. He’s our liaison with the outside world. You need something, he’s your man. The others are our board of trustees — they can introduce themselves. They’re elected by us to represent us and help enforce the rules we all have to live by which are few and far between actually. Basically, don’t fuck with anybody and they won’t fuck with you.”
“Just remember nobody can make you do a damn thing you don’t want to do,” Lethal said, adding his own two cents worth. “But from the looks of you and the scars you all wear, I’d spend a minute at the medical clinic, let them make sure you’re healthy and strong. They’ll take care of anything you need and then you can get started with the rest of your lives.”
Since everyone except Doctor Scarborough was off the chopper, Lethal leaned in from where he stood beside it and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her toward him. He grabbed her like a slab of meat while she screamed the entire time, then tossed her over the front of the closest side-by-side like a deer carcass. “Bitch, shut up! Or I will let Nina kill your ass!” he grouched while she shrieked as he got in the driver’s seat.
“Baby?” he asked, looking toward Nina, wincing at the still shrieking female stretched across the front of the side-by-side.
“I’m coming,” Nina answered. She walked toward the side-by-side and got in the passenger seat. She looked back at the women. One of them was obviously going to be fine. She and the big, scary one hadn’t let go of each other. Two others were questionable, but seemed open to doing whatever was necessary to be returned home. Then there was the girl Steel held in his arms. She’d not said a word since they’d left the facility. She obviously trusted Steel because she’d allowed him to lift her into his arms to carry her off the chopper, but she’d not spoken to, or made eye contact with anyone else at all. “Once you get checked out at medical, you can decide where you want to go from there. Law and the board of trustees will explain all the details of Alliance to you and the rest is up to you,” she said, addressing the females in general.
“Thank you, again,” one of them told her.
Nina offered a strained smile. “You’re welcome. I really hope you’ll be okay. Choose to not let the shit show you just survived define you. And if you do, make sure it’s on your terms.”
“Where you headed?” Valor called out to Lethal.
“Security. Locking this bitch in a cell,” Lethal answered.
“I’ll hitch a ride. Becky’s down at that end,” Valor said, hopping on the back outward facing seat of the side-by-side.
Lethal pressed the accelerator and Valor saluted the group of people still standing there, listening to the standard welcome and explanatory speech Law had developed.
As Law and the board of trustees spoke to the new arrivals, and asked what everyone wanted to do — medical, food, bathe, etc. — Grudge’s team began to dissipate and meander back toward their own lives and a bit of down time.
Since Feral had taken his leave almost immediately on landing, Scorn and Steel were the only two members of Lethal’s team still near the chopper they’d arrived on. Scorn stood near Steel, hesitant to walk away from him. “You staying with her?”
Steel nodded. “She doesn’t know anybody here. I’m not going to leave her alone. She’s afraid enough as it is.”
“I'm gonna head out. You call me if you need me. I’m here for you,” Scorn said.
“Alright. Where you going to be?” Steel asked.
“Around,” Scorn answered evasively.
Grudge and his SOT headed away from where Law with Crave, Stone and Rise still stood answering questions and trying to make the new arrivals feel welcome. With Grudge and his team headed off toward their quarters, Scorn long gone — jogging off behind the admin building while everyone else got everything straight. Steel commandeered one of the smaller golf carts they kept at the helipads so he could drive his female to the medical clinic himself. As he drove away he heard Law speaking to those still standing with him.
