The Alpha Men's Secret Club 5

1



The trouble with the shifter was that he was tough.

Alyssa Foley studied the feed from the many invisible cameras mounted in Rust O’Brien’s cell. It wasn’t really a cell, of course. It was quite spacious . . . for a prison. Rust had his own bedroom with a queen-sized bed and a nice little sitting area – without TV and a computer connected to the Internet.

He had to be kept in the dark from the world outside the FBI compound, lest he be influenced by what was going on.

And there was plenty going on. The word ‘#shifter’ was the number one trending topic on Twitter for the longest time already.

They had to keep all sharp objects from him too, lest he decide to be a martyr. No metal knives. No chopsticks. No glass bottles in his refrigerator – just in case he smashed one and cut his throat with the jagged edge. He was only allowed plastic utensils, plastic mugs, plastic everything.

She had been studying him for a month.

As the FBI’s best young interrogator, Alyssa Foley had cut her teeth in the CIA. She was young, blonde and an outcast in Pakistan, where she was sent to early in her career. But she soon blended in, planting her paid spies everywhere. She had participated in the interrogation and torture of many terrorists.

She had tried water boarding, sleep deprivation, humiliation and far more sinister practices which were publicly outlawed by her government ever since Abu Ghraib blew out of proportion. Nevertheless, the government agencies still practiced them in secret.

Alyssa had no qualms about torture. It was sometimes necessary – to protect the safety of Uncle Sam. And it was also necessary to elicit information which would be used for the advancement of Uncle Sam. Or humankind, in general.

Everything she did to Rust O’Brien was documented, of course, in a video log.

Alyssa ran through the feed highlights once again. Not because she needed to – she had every scene memorized. But simply because she liked to look at him.

He was a very handsome and beguiling man. He had that swagger that was terribly attractive. That confidence, even though he was not in a position to be confident.

And no, she had to remind herself. He was not a man. He was a mutant. A shapeshifter. An aberration of genetics.

He was a supervillain.

She needed to understand him – every fascinating aspect of him. And he was fascinating. Endlessly so.

To do that, she must first break him.



*



The video feed showed DAY ONE:



Rust O’Brien was brought into Area 47 in a black FBI van. He had come on a private plane from New York into this secret New Mexico facility. His hair was slightly mussed from the flight, but he was still impossibly handsome and arresting.

Footsteps.

Alyssa Foley came into view. Her hair was very blonde and her complexion very pale.



ALYSSA: Welcome. I am Alyssa Foley.

RUST: Is your name supposed to mean something to me?

ALYSSA: Of course not. We have never met.

RUST: (sarcastically) I suppose you are one of those people who don’t exist on paper or cyberspace or anywhere else.

ALYSSA: Let me explain what we would like to achieve together, with your help. We would like to learn everything we can about you and your kind. Your parents are also here – in a different section of the facility. You have all been separated.

RUST: So you can give us the third degree individually?

ALYSSA: We can learn a lot from you. You will be making a big contribution to the world.

RUST: Will it be over my dead body?

ALYSSA: We can make it a win-win situation. It doesn’t have to be unpleasant.

RUST: But it can. That’s what you are saying.

ALYSSA: Think of this as a collaboration between your species and ours.

RUST: I thought I belonged to the human race.

ALYSSA: That remains to be seen.

RUST: So what do you have in store for me? A lobotomy? A removal of all my organs?



*



DAY TWO:



ALYSSA: You are not the only one of your kind, are you?

RUST: As far as I know, I am.

ALYSSA: We have your parents here with us.

RUST: Then go bother them. They’re a lot chattier.

ALYSSA: None of you just appeared out of thin air.

RUST: I didn’t think we did. I’m not religious and I don’t believe in immaculate conception. I’m sure you came from an egg yourself. One that’s fertilized by a sperm.

ALYSSA: You think you’re being funny.

RUST: I am funny.

ALYSSA: We want to see you transform.

RUST: What will you give me if I do?

ALYSSA: If you collaborate with us, we can make you very rich and famous.

RUST: I’m already rich and famous.

ALYSSA: What is it that you want most in the world right now?

RUST: I want you to disappear.

ALYSSA: Haha. That’s not going to happen.

RUST: (leans back) I can wait. I have a lot of time on my hands.

ALYSSA: Why don’t you just transform and spare us the unnecessary wait? I don’t want to have to ask my colleagues to work on your parents.