* * * * *
Carly squelched the last twinge of pity stubbornly compressing her heart and pushed the needle into the IV tubing. Before her conscience could resurface, she squeezed the syringe and watched the light blue liquid flow toward the patient. The new test subjects were all so damn young. She’d chosen the oldest of the three, the one who appeared least traumatized by their capture, and still the girl was little more than a child.
“What will this do to me?” The young woman stared up at her with wide green eyes. She was surprisingly composed given the circumstances. She’d been darted like an animal and brought to a paramilitary complex. Now she was strapped to a treatment table while an unknown chemical flowed into her vein. Through it all there had been no hysterics, no pleas for mercy or terrified tears. This one had been protective, frequently using herself as a shield when the guards or technicians ventured too close to the other two.
According to project procedures, Carly wasn’t supposed to answer questions. She was supposed to give directives and remain emotionally detached. “You’ll be fine.” The lie tasted bitter on Carly’s tongue, but Life as you knew it is over. You’re now the property of the backers sounded so pessimistic.
“Will I be released when you’re finished with me or do these tests end with an autopsy?” Her lips trembled and tears gathered behind her thick lashes. Somehow she managed not to cry.
Carly rotated her body so her back was to the camera then whispered, “If you die, I’ll be punished. We need you alive.” It was the only reassurance she could offer and she wasn’t even sure it was a mercy. Before the girl could speak again, Carly snatched her tablet computer off the foot of the bed and hurried from the room.
Damn it. She could not let herself be affected by their plight. Their suffering was for the greater good. If their mutative powers could be understood, and ultimately reproduced in humans, the possibilities were endless. At least that’s what the backers were fond of saying. Scientific advancement never came without sacrifice. She could not lose sight of the long-range goals.
She rounded a corner and collided with Osric. Her computer slipped from her hands and she gasped. He caught the tablet half a second before it crashed onto the floor.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” He loitered in the intersection, teasing her with the small computer.
“My office.” She straightened and smoothed her skirt then stuck out her hand with obvious expectation. Milliner had promised to change the security code to her office and her apartment so Oscric couldn’t barge in on her. She was anxious to find out if the general had kept his word. “I just injected the refined formula into one of the new test subjects.”
“That’s right. Milliner dropped off three new test subjects, didn’t he?” The announcement about Carissa’s definition had likely distracted him. “Are they male or female? Have you been able to identify their clan?”
“They’re tigers.” Just like you, asshole. “Maybe you know them,” she added with a casual shrug.
“I better not know them.” He seemed anything but amused by the possibility. “The backers assured me that no one from my bloodline will ever be touched unless I approve the acquisition.”
“All I know is they’re from one of the tiger clans and all three are female.” He stared off into the distance, clearly lost in thought, so she quickly snatched her computer from his grasp. “I need to transfer the girl’s information and then type up my observations, and I left my external keyboard in my office. Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I still can’t type worth crap on the touch screen.”
“So upload the readings off your tablet and use the desktop in the observation booth to document your observations.” It wasn’t a suggestion. She heaved a sigh and fell in step beside him. “Have you been avoiding me?”
“I’ve been busy.” She hadn’t intentionally set out to avoid Osric. Preparations for the next phase of testing had made her less accessible than usual. But the change in her schedule worked perfectly with her new strategy. Operation Hard to Get had officially begun.
“Your workload hasn’t kept you from me before. Perhaps I should reassign some of your responsibilities.”
He sounded petulant, and it was all Carly could do not to laugh. Every child wanted most whatever they were forbidden. “I thought we settled this before. I’d prefer to keep things professional between us.”
They stepped into the observation booth and the door closed behind them before he responded to her statement. “And I’d prefer you naked and on your knees.”