Creed said nothing, letting the shock and realization sink in.
“No.” Meg’s dark eyes glistened with pain, tears pooling and spilling down her olive skin. She swallowed what felt like a lump of pumice in her throat trying to get her words out. “He’s going to combine my eggs and your—sample?”
Creed’s jaw locked tight. He looked afraid to speak. One clipped nod was all he could manage, anguish and rage barely restrained.
Oh, dear God, we were both violated. Please help us stop him before it’s too late. Meg prayed.
Neither Creed nor Meg had noticed the room had grown silent during their exchange. Everyone was feeling the shock and horror as the two metahumans sat side by side in their dread.
“He’s going to create conception in a Petri dish and then what?” She coughed around the words.
“He would have to impregnate a surrogate, unless he’s created an artificial womb.” Evan interjected, shaking his head miserably. He had walked to Creed and Meg and sat on his haunches between them. “I suppose I shouldn’t put it past him to have done that.”
Maze, who had awakened finally from his sedative a few hours ago, yawned and stretched as he crawled out from under the coffee table and ambled to Meg’s side. The coyote leaned his shoulder against her leg, nuzzling his head under her arm, asking for attention.
Absently, Meg rubbed his ears.
“We need to hear more details of what Williams said,” Alik nodded to Creed. “What did he say he’d do if you brought us in?”
“He said he mostly wanted Evan because he was given the most advanced version of the serum. That he just wanted you ‘home.’ His word.”
“Then what would he do with the eggs and sperm?” Theo asked.
“He said if he had you three he would be too busy figuring out the original serum from your blood to worry about creating a ‘new generation of thoroughbred metahuman embryos.’ Again, his words.”
“That’s some messed up logic,” Slider blurted, then looked around the room apologetically. “Sorry, I just—wow—it’s nasty enough that the Facility keeps getting new recruits every month. These are just kids who fell into the wrong part of the system, like we did. But I didn’t know he tested on babies, unborn babies?” Slider was shaking his head, eye wide.
“How do we know he hasn’t already done what he was threatening to do?” Evan asked the room.
“What do you mean?” Alik asked.
“I mean, he’s obviously not a guy with integrity. How do we know he hasn’t already caused the conception? For all we know, there are two-month-old embryos in an artificial womb somewhere in the Facility.” Evan’s quick scientific mind raced with the possibilities.
Meg doubled over feeling as if she was going to throw up for sure.
“Let’s not think that just yet. We have a lot of work to do, and the only way we can do it is one step at a time.” Theo had walked up to put a comforting arm around Margo, who was quieter now, though still shaking with silent tears. “I’m going to make a phone call to Greg Burns,” Theo said, worry lines deeply etched in his brow.
“Who’s Greg Burns?” Gavil asked.
“He’s a friend. We go way back. He also happens to be a former cop, now working for US Homeland Security. He knows some of the story, but I’ll need to get him up to speed. Maybe he can help.” Theo nodded to the room, excusing himself, as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, this new information just eliminated the option to run and hide. The longer we give him, the more likely he’ll act on his threats.” Alik pulled out the maps they’d drawn and opened the plans they’d sketched so far.
“Creed what can you tell us about the regular deliveries to the Facility? We were thinking we could gain access that way.”
Still holding one of Meg’s hands, Creed turned to Alik and blinked hard, trying to clear his cluttered thoughts to focus. “From the window of the room I was assigned at the Research Hospital, I could see the commissary. I was monitored like clockwork, so I started to notice a pattern of delivery trucks coming to unload at 8:15 every Monday and Thursday night. Local time, of course. The truck would make a beeping sound as it moved in reverse. I remember I was usually reading at my desk and would get distracted by the sound. I’d look out my window and watch it ease into position. I could nearly set my watch by it. They usually stayed for an hour, and I’d hear the engine crank on again at about 9:15 as they’d pull away from the loading dock and drive off.”
“Now that’s something we can use,” Alik grinned, ever the optimist.