“Seth,” Chris said, “are you okay with my proceeding, or would you like me to wait?”
“Go ahead,” he answered, his eyes closed.
Chris looked to Aidan. “How are you feeling?”
“Scared out of my mind,” Aidan admitted. “That fucker Gershom has Dana.”
A dark figure abruptly appeared at the far end of the room beside the sofa.
Aidan glanced over at him and found a mirror image of Seth.
An alarm began to blare, wonk wonk wonking as Aidan and the other immortals all leapt to their feet.
Adira jerked awake and began to wail.
Aidan reached for his weapons, only to realize he no longer had any. His brethren did, however, and swiftly drew them.
The man threw up his hands as his form shifted into that of Jared. “Easy,” he said. “I’m friend, not foe. Seth can confirm it.”
“He’s a friend,” Seth said, opening his eyes.
Ami nodded as she patted Adira’s back. “He’s not Gershom.”
Adira’s cries quieted to whimpers.
Chris murmured something into a walkie-talkie.
The alarm ceased. But Aidan’s ears continued to ring.
“Were you able to track him?” Seth asked Jared.
“No,” he answered, the picture of regret. “Too much time had passed before you summoned me. The trail was too faint. I tried to follow it anyway but couldn’t locate him.”
Roland scowled at him. “Why did you look like Seth just now?”
Jared lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “The Others don’t know I’ve joined your fight. They think I’m still treading their path. I assumed Seth’s appearance while I tried to follow Gershom so they wouldn’t learn the truth.”
The immortals present all looked to Seth, then slowly retook their seats.
Skillet’s “Monster” disrupted the quiet.
Seth didn’t open his eyes. “Zach.”
A cell phone leapt from Seth’s pocket and flew into Zach’s hand. “Seth’s phone,” he answered. “Zach speaking.”
“It’s General Lane,” a man announced in an urgent whisper. “I’m in a bind and could use your help.”
Heather gasped.
Zach vanished.
Heather swung on Chris. “What did you do?” she demanded. “Why is my father in danger?”
“It wasn’t Chris,” Seth murmured. “It was me.”
Uncertainty filled her features.
Chris nodded. “Seth thought Dana was right about being a likely target of Gershom. So he took measures to ensure we would be able to find her if Gershom got his hands on her.”
Aidan retook his seat, hope rising. “What kind of measures?”
Chris nodded at Melanie. “He mind-controlled Melanie and had her plant a tracker under Dana’s skin when she took blood and tissue samples for her research.”
Melanie’s eyebrows shot up. “He did? I did?”
David spoke. “We both believed you would agree to help us if we asked, but had we done so, we would’ve had to erase the memory of our conversation afterward.”
She nodded. “Of course I would’ve agreed to it.”
Bastien frowned. “Did the mind control harm Melanie?”
David shook his head. “Because Roland transformed her, Melanie’s regenerative capabilities are as strong as an elder’s. So the damage done was minor enough for the virus to heal. We wouldn’t have proceeded otherwise.”
Aidan looked at Chris. “Were you able to track Dana after she was taken?”
“Yes.” Chris opened his laptop, then motioned to a large-screen television or monitor that hung on one wall.
The screen lit up with a satellite image that depicted a fairly large building surrounded by forest.
“Dana is being held in a building located in West Texas,” Chris told them.
“Texas?” a few repeated.
Aidan shared their surprise. Almost all of their troubles in recent years had originated in North Carolina. “What is it? It doesn’t look like a mercenary compound.” Aidan saw nothing in the satellite image to indicate that this building was part of a private military company. No training fields. No barracks. No helicopter landing pad. No runways for transport planes. No hangars housing tanks or other combat vehicles.
The building looked civilian in nature.
“As far as we can tell, there is just the one building.” Chris tapped some keys on the laptop. The image on the monitor shifted from color to shades of gray and became a little less distinct. “My contacts were able to get me keyhole satellite images. The one you’re seeing now is infrared. White indicates heat.”
And there were a lot of glowing white bodies in that building.
The video abruptly zoomed in on one wing of the building. “We think Dana is here.” He highlighted a room with four figures. “And that these other rooms”—he zoomed out and pointed to many more groups of four—“contain the other missing gifted ones.”
Roland frowned. “That doesn’t look like a hundred gifted ones to me.”
“No,” Chris acknowledged. “We’re hoping the building has an underground floor the satellite image doesn’t show that houses the rest, like the network.”
Heather motioned to the image. “You think it’s military?”
Aidan glanced at her. “Why would you say that?” It looked like a regular building to him.
“Because my dad just called Zach. And he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t think his life was in danger.” She glared at Chris.
Chris showed no remorse. “It’s hard to see because there are so many damned trees, but some of the images my contacts sent indicate that the building’s perimeter is being guarded by men wearing military uniforms.”
“Couldn’t they be mercenaries?” Aidan asked.
Chris shook his head. “In the hours since I traced Dana to this location, my team has been unable to unearth any information on it. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, it doesn’t exist. No construction permits were ever issued. No record of land ownership exists. The power and sewer companies have no record of it. It doesn’t even show up on Google fucking Maps. Private military companies aren’t shy. They don’t hide their shit. They brag about it. Because they know the more badass they appear, the more clients will hire them and pay top billing.” He motioned to the map. “But this place? Nothing.”
“Shit,” Sheldon muttered. “This isn’t a fucking Area 51 kind of place, is it?”
Chris shook his head. “I don’t know what the hell it is. That’s why I called General Lane.”
Zach reappeared, General Nathan Lane at his side.
“Dad!” Heather leapt up and ran over to embrace her father.
The tight expression on General Lane’s face morphed into one of relief. “Heather.” He hugged her tight. When she stepped back, he gave her a quick visual scan. “You’re okay? Reordon said you’d been—”
“I’m okay,” she assured him.
The shoulders of his decorated uniform dipped a bit as he let out a long breath. “And Ethan? He’s good, too?”
Biting her lip, she shook her head. New tears welled in her eyes. “Seth is still trying to heal him.”
General Lane wrapped his arms around her once more and searched the room for Seth.
Seth’s eyes remained closed as he concentrated on his task.