Mikal (Second Wave Book 3) (7 page)

“I may be able to hack some old construction plans,” he said as he began typing on the keypad.

Dante followed Siggy and joined him at the control center.

“I’ll look for anything in the local papers around the time it would have been built,” Dante added.

They spent the next two hours studying the maps and building plans they’d hacked from government databases when Amun walked in with a dry and well-groomed Dr. Mussberger in tow.

Everyone grew silent as they stared at the younger, more energetic looking doctor standing nervously beside Amun.

“Damn, Amun, he said to save him not give him the fountain of fucking youth,” Haruki muttered in irritation, voicing what the other siblings were thinking.

Amun chuckled.

“I healed the heart, but it was the shower, shave, and some food that did the rest,” he admitted as he gently pushed the human doctor further into the room.  

“Bastard hasn’t pissed himself, so you must be keeping him on the calming agent,” Luca spat.

Amun sighed, pulled the human doctor to the conference room table, and gently pushed him into a chair before turning to Grai’s children.

“Since I was able to speak to him throughout his treatment, I assumed you would want to hear what he was telling me,” Amun said as he sat next to the human doctor and waited for Grai’s kids to do the same.

That revelation had everyone taking seats around the room so they could listen to what the doctor had to say. Mikal took Chance’s hand, led her to a chair across from the doctor, and helped her sit before taking the seat next to her.

Chance looked up at Mikal with a smile. No one had ever treated her with such care before, and it made her stomach flip flop. She didn’t know why, but she enjoyed having him beside her, helping her. When he took her hand in his own and gave her a gentle squeeze, she clutched his in return, grateful that he was there.

Dr. Mussberger drew in a shaky breath and looked over at Amun. At Amun’s nod, the doctor cleared his throat.

“We were given two different types of DNA and told to try and see what it would create. It created Alph—” Dr. Mussberger stopped at the dark look Mikal gave him when he started to call her Alpha Two.

“Her name is Chance,” Mikal said between gritted teeth.

Dr. Mussberger nodded his head quickly and rushed on.

“It created the first one. The male called Alpha One. Of the two types of DNA we were given, there was only one kind of one, but multiple different ones of the other. Because of this, we were able to create different . . . people who weren’t all from the same genes.” Dr. Mussberger said nervously.

“Go on,” Mikal said calmly.

“We discovered that their bodies are saturated with copper, iron, and other trace elements more than 10 times that of humans. We found that it’s the levels in their bodies that allow them to utilize energy. The drug we created to subdue them indcues a super chelation,” Dr. Mussberger explained.

“It destroys all of the elements in the bloodstream, which completely disrupts their energy balance and neutralizes their abilities—but only for a short time. Even with multiple doses, it only lasts for about an hour before their bodies rapidly reproduce the elements they need.”

Mikal wasn’t as surprised as his siblings about the heavy levels of elements in his body. Dr. Rostovic discovered the same a long time ago and had come to the same conclusion. What had surprised him was that there was a drug that could disrupt his ability to use energy.

“How did you discover the drug?” Amun asked curiously.

Dr. Mussberger turned to the alien doctor. He’d already begun to consider Amun as more of a colleague because they could speak on the same level.

“It was an accident, really. The Canadians created a new drug for chelating patients with heavy metal toxicity. It didn’t have the side effects or dangers of the traditionally-used medicines. I was reading about it in a medical journal when I began to wonder if it would work on them,” he admitted to Amun with a thread of excitement.

Using his hands, Dr. Mussberger began to talk animatedly to Amun, as if looking for him to approve of his thought process and accomplishments.

“It only took a few attempts to vary the dose enough to make it work, but no matter how high the dose, the body doesn’t seem to recognize it. Once the drug destroys the metals in the bloodstream, the drug is rendered ineffective, and their metabolisms rapidly excrete it through the pores. Then their bodies replicate the missing elements from the bloodstream so quickly that within an hour they are back at full power,” Dr. Mussberger said with excitement.

“What DNA did you use to create them?” Mikal asked, angry at the doctor’s enthusiasm.

Dr. Mussberger turned to Mikal.

“We were told that one was from core samples taken in the Antarctic. Somehow, they hit upon a body with DNA like we’d never seen before. The other DNA was multiple samples from another hybrid species that another government division found after World War II,” he admitted, swallowing hard when he heard muttered curses from around him.

The siblings knew those hybrids were Fiorn’s people who had been held captive and tortured by the Nazi scientists before being transferred to labs controlled by the US government. So Chance was definitely one of their hybrids, like Mikal himself. It was the other DNA that they weren’t sure of.

“Did they know anything about the DNA retrieved from the core sample?” Mikal asked in frustration.

They’d only kept the idiot alive because he was supposed to help them, and so far he wasn’t doing anything but telling Mikal what he already knew.

Dr. Mussberger nodded his head.

“The archeologists knew a lot . . . but I don’t remember too much about it. I was more interested in the medical aspects. Archeology was a little beyond me. I remember something about Hyperboreans and the possibility that they’ve been on the planet for a very long time, but called by other names,” he explained, hoping that Mikal would be satisfied with his answers.

Chris sighed and slammed his hands down on the table startling Dr. Mussberger.

“Your usefulness is rapidly declining. You’re not telling us anything we didn’t already know,” Chris accused the doctor.

Mikal looked at his brother in surprise.

“How did you know all that?” Mikal asked.

Several of his siblings snorted.

“Like we wouldn’t find out what we could from Sergei,” Vladimir said.

“We had to know how to help you if you were ever injured,” Liam said softly.

“Hell, one of us was always there with you when you and the doc were doing all those tests and stuff when you were little. You’re our brother; we paid attention,” Chris admitted as his other siblings nodded their head.

“Damn right we did,” Declan said.

“We have special vials for you in the field med kits. They have extra elements in them to help you heal and replace anything you may lose through injury,” Trevor added.

Angel walked over to Mikal and hugged him tight.

“You’re our brother. We’d never let anything happen to you,” she said before she gave him a loud smacking kiss on his cheek and went back to her chair.

Mikal was a little overcome with emotion for a moment. He knew that they loved and cared for him, but he didn’t realize just how much until now. When he regained control, he nodded his head.

“Chris is right, we’re getting nowhere on this. Let’s talk about the lab so we can get the females out of there,” Mikal said.

Dr. Mussberger, seeing it as a sign that his death was imminent, began to hyperventilate.

“Oh for the love of . . . Argh!” Declan muttered in frustration.

Amun immediately programmed the mediband on Dr. Mussberger’s wrist to inject another dose of the calming agent, and the doctor started to calm down.

Mikal leaned forward and glared at the doctor, his patience nearing an end, but he knew that they needed the man for a while longer.

“We have no intention of killing you. Yet. There is much that you know that you may not realize. When the other doctors arrive, you can speak with them in your medical lingo and explain everything you know to them. Now, when do the guards go on their shift change?” Mikal asked evenly.

Dr. Mussberger nodded his head slowly, much calmer.

“They change at midnight. Each one of them is armed with darts of the drug. All it takes is for the drug to pierce the skin even slightly, and it’s enough to render you powerless,” the doctor admitted to Mikal, hoping if he cooperated they wouldn’t kill him.

Everyone looked at the clock on the wall in the room.

“See, you were just useful. You may live yet,” Chris told the doctor before turning to his other siblings.

“We have 18 hours before shift change. I want six people out there now watching to make sure they don’t try to move those girls,” Chris said.

Declan, Liam, Dree, Trick, Haruki, and Vladimir all stood and headed towards the door.

“You better get full gear, including food and water, and I want updates every 30!” Chris called after them.

“Yes, Mom!” Haruki said, waving his hand behind him as he left and followed the others to get their gear.

When they left, the others moved closer to the conference room table.

Chris leaned on the table and looked at his siblings.

“The rest of us are going to hit them when they have shift change while Mikal and Chance go in through the air system. Hopefully, with us keeping them occupied in the front, they’ll never notice them going in the back. Did you get building plans?” Chris asked Siggy and Dante.

“Yeah, we did. We have three different options of plans for similar buildings made at the time. We were hoping that Chance or the doctor could show us which is the one for that facility,” Siggy said as he used his comm to project the first plan on the wall behind the table.

Chapter Seven

Mikal watched from a distance as the rest of his siblings dropped into the forest around the secured bunker where Chance’s sisters were being held. They’d spent hours going over the plan to get inside and free them, and he was feeling pretty confident that they would succeed.

Haruki and Liam had made sure they had been updated every 30 minutes, and they hadn’t noted anyone arriving or leaving the facility until the new guards had begun to show up for the shift change.

His siblings had already subdued the guards in the parking lot and thrown the bodies in the trunks of their cars to await the remaining guard who hadn’t arrived for his shift yet.

They learned from Dr. Mussberger that the security personnel would park in the camouflaged underground parking area not far from the entrance, and the six siblings who came earlier had gained access to the inside of the parking area and secured it for them.

They were waiting for one final guard before his siblings breached the facility, and he and Chance would head in through the air ducts. A dual approach because they wouldn’t be expecting his talented family-only Chance.

“Last guy is coming. Keep your heads up and wait for the signal,” Chris told them through the Shengari’.

Mikal turned to a nervous Chance and squeezed her hand.

“We’re going in a minute. We’ll get them out,” he said reassuringly.

Chance nodded her head, grateful beyond words that Mikal was with her and his family was helping them.

“Do you remember the plan?” Mikal asked, feeling the nervousness and fear in her energy.

Chance nodded her head and grinned up at Mikal.

“Yeah. This is what they trained me for. It’s nice knowing I will be able to use it to help instead of kill,” she said a little nervously.

Chance had been running the plan through her head nonstop since they’d left the old airport that Mikal and his family called a base. Her nervousness wasn’t caused by any fear of him or his family. If anything, having him and his siblings here gave her hope that they would succeed and save her sisters.

What made her nervous was the very attractive male beside her. Something about him caused her energy to vibrate at a higher level than she’d ever experienced before. She could feel her cells dancing in her body at his nearness, and she found herself gravitating towards him. She wanted and needed his touch, to know he was near. She’d never even felt that way about Alpha One, and it confused her and excited her at the same time.

They heard Chris’s call that they had taken out the last guard and breached the interior, and Mikal nodded at Chance before he dissolved into the air and headed into the fresh air duct system.

Shaking off her thoughts, Chance quickly followed him into the maze of ductwork. She followed him through the twists and turns until she came out into the lab and reformed her body next to Mikal.

Mikal had come through first, and the moment he reformed he threw his throwing knives at the sole guard in the room, the dual weapons embedding deeply in his neck, dropping him to the floor just as Chance formed next to him and faced the doctor and technician left in the room.

“Oh my God . . . oh my God!” the doctor screamed as he scrambled backwards in the room, franticly searching for a place to hide.

The technician stared at Mikal with wide, fear-filled eyes before passing out, smacking his head on a table, and hitting the floor with a loud thump.

Mikal watched the man fall, and when he saw the blood pooling around his head, he kneeled down to check the man’s pulse. The idiot had actually managed to kill himself.

Mikal stood and smirked at the cowering doctor that remained.

“Well, I don’t have to dirty my hands with that bastard at least,” Mikal said as he flexed his fists at his sides.

“What do you want? What?” the doctor said, beginning to cry.

“Open the cells,” Chance demanded.

Mikal saw the doctor look over towards a computer system behind him and spoke to Chance through their private energy path.

“Do you know where they usually open the doors at? Which computer? Or button?” he asked, wondering if the computer the doctor was looking at was a warning system or the way to open the cells.   

Chance looked at the same system the doctor was, but when Mikal turned to look at it, the doctor grabbed a dart gun hidden in the desk he was hiding behind.

Mikal turned too late and dissolved into air just as the dart flew through the sparkling particles he left behind in the air. He reformed instantly, weapons drawn, but he only stared at the knife embedded in the doctor’s forehead. Right between his eyes.

He looked at Chance with a huge grin.

“Good hit,” he said.

Chance shook her head sadly.

“No, it’s not. Only a doctor or guard has the code to open the cells,” Chance said, wondering if they’d just entombed her sisters.

Chris snorted as he came into the room.

“It’s a good thing we got a doctor on standby then. Amun’s bringing Dr. Mussberger. Apparently, after we left to head here, the doc decided to let Amun know that the facility is put on remote lockdown if there is not a regular check in completed when the guard change shifts,” Chris said as their siblings joined them in the main lab.

“Where are your sisters kept?” Reign asked, looking around the lab area.

Chance gestured to a heavy metal door on the other side of the room.

“That’s the hallway that leads to the cells. They’re in there,” she said, hoping that they didn’t get this far for nothing.

She’d tried to communicate with her sisters along the energy path she’d used before, but there was nothing but silence, and she was getting more and more concerned that something had happened to them.

Siggy and Dante sat down at two of the computers in the lab and began trying to hack into the systems. Their hope was that they wouldn’t have to rely on Dr. Mussberger to get to the sisters. The less they had to depend on him, the better they would all feel.

Amun had warned them through the Shengari’ that he had convinced Dr. Mussberger that they were going to allow him to switch sides and work for them. The ability to keep doing his research on the unusual DNA found in the core samples is what convinced Dr. Mussberger to eagerly accept the offer. None of them thought it was a good idea, but they didn’t have a choice.  

Several minutes later, Amun came in with Dr. Mussberger who immediately moved over to an empty computer terminal and began entering a 16-digit code while the screen flashed red. Within seconds, the lights stopped and the screen settled into the familiar blue-hued desktop.

Dr. Mussberger wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to Amun.

“We cut it really close. I’ll get the doors open to the cells, and you guys can get the specimens while I copy as much of our research as I can,” Dr. Mussberger said, oblivious to the low growls of the Dranovians when they called the females specimens.

Chris noticed his brothers on the verge of ripping up the doctor and whistled to get everyone’s attention.

“As soon as he gets the door open, everyone hang back and let Chance and Mikal go in there and explain to them that they are safe now. We don’t want a bunch of terrified females on our hands when we need to get out of here,” he ordered, accomplishing his goal of refocusing their attention on the mission and not that bastard doctor.

The door suddenly popped open, and Chance stood back for a second, afraid of what she would find inside the cells where she’d spent her whole life. She looked up at Mikal as he took her hand and smiled at her.

“Introduce me to your sisters,” Mikal said softly, encouraging her to face her fears and go inside.

“Two?”

Chance heard Alpha Nine’s voice, and with a choked gasp she ran inside the door, pulling Mikal along with her.

“Nine? It’s me! It’s safe!” Chance said as she ran to the first cell and looked inside to see Alpha Nine shaking in the doorway.

Chance grabbed the 12-year-old child into a hug and allowed the tears to slip silently down her cheeks as she picked her up and carried her out of the cell and into the hallway.

“Who are you?” Alpha Nine asked in awe as she stared up at Mikal with wide, white eyes that looked just like his own.

Chance turned Nine in her arms so that they could both look at Mikal together.

“This is Mikal. He and his family came to help me get you guys out of here,” Chance said with a smile at the wonderful man who helped her get her sisters.

“Did you come from another lab?” Alpha Nine asked, her childlike curiosity allowing her to forget her fear.

Mikal shook his head and smiled at the beautiful little girl in Chance’s arms. Her long white hair spilled down her back to her waist, and her white eyes gleamed with curiosity. With her coloring, she looked like Chance, but the features of her face were completely different.

Where Chance was beautiful with strong features, the small child was delicate, almost frail, with an ethereal quality.  

“No, little one, I was born free and adopted by a wonderful father. My brothers are in the lab. They helped us to come get you,” Mikal said gently, afraid that he would frighten the girl.

“Can I be free one day too?” Nine asked innocently.

Mikal heard his brothers clearing their throats to control their emotions upon hearing the little girl’s innocent request. He fought his own emotions as he nodded his head mutely.

“We came to set us all free,” Chance said as she walked down the hallway to the other cells.

Mikal looked up in surprise as two more girls, who appeared to be in their teens, peeked their heads around the corners of the open cells in front of them.

“Two! You came back!” Alpha Seven said as she ran to Chance and hugged her.

Alpha Six just stared at Mikal, her eyes filled with fear and curiosity as Chance put Alpha Nine on the floor so she could hug Six and Seven.

She continued down the hallway until she saw Alpha Four come out of her cell, her shoulders thrown back and her head held high.

“Are we really free?” Alpha Four asked, trying to keep the tears of hope from falling from her eyes.

Chance nodded her head and ran forward to hug her sister. When they’d all cried and hugged for a few minutes, Chance pulled back and looked at her sisters.

“This is Mikal; he’s like us. He and his family are going to help us,” Chance explained, hoping her sisters wouldn’t be frightened of the unique family.

Alpha Four looked down the hallway at Declan and Liam, who were standing in the doorway to make sure it didn’t shut on them.

“They are different. Like us,” she said, feeling the difference in the energy of the strangers.

Chance nodded her head and smiled at Mikal before looking back at her sister.

“Yes, they are. But in a good way. They’re a real family, and they really want to help us. Mikal is like us, and they love him enough to want him to know his people and where he comes from,” Chance explained, hoping her sisters would accept them.

“Will they beat me if I want to have a real name?” Alpha Nine asked Mikal shyly.

Mikal leaned down so he wouldn’t look so big to the small girl, and it gave him a chance to calm the anger that threatened to make him go kill Dr. Mussberger.

“Chance already picked her name and that’s what we call her,” he said pointing at Chance while Nine’s eyes widened in surprise and excitement.

Mikal smiled at the small girl.

“We’re getting out of here in a few minutes and you’ll get to meet my family. Do you think you can come up with a name before we get to the door so Chance can introduce you?” he asked the excited child.

Alpha Nine nodded her head so hard that Declan and Liam were afraid she’d break her delicate neck. The two brothers had heard the little girl and also struggled not to kill Dr. Mussberger for being a big part of what was done to the females.

Both brothers used the Shengari’ to relay the conversation to their other siblings, each determined to use the female’s chosen names as often as possible to help them begin adjusting to freedom. The thought of calling them by a lab-designated number sickened them all.

The small girl looked up at Chance with tears in her eyes.

“Would you be mad if I wanted to be called Katie? That way, if we say the name all the time . . . we’ll never forget her,” Nine said sadly, thinking of her four-year-old sister who’d been killed because she’d wanted a real name.

Tears fell unchecked down all of the sisters’ faces, and they hugged one another while Chance nodded her head.

“Are you sure?” Chance asked the little girl.

Nine nodded her head.

“I want her to live on with us . . . even if it’s just by a name. It meant so . . .,” Nine took a shuddering breath and Chance hugged her close.

“It meant a lot to her. I think she would be honored that you would want to be called that,” Chance said, wiping the tears from Katie’s face.

Alphas Four, Six and Seven nodded their heads in agreement with Chance before Katie turned to her sisters.