Chris caught the general’s attention. “What did you find out?”
Sheldon rose and grabbed one of the extra chairs that had been pushed aside, then rolled it up to the table next to Heather’s. Heather thanked him as she and her father seated themselves beside Aidan.
“You were right. It’s military,” General Lane confirmed. “But it’s off-the-books classified. And I mean it’s so far off the books that I don’t have the clearance needed to check it out. I called in some favors—”
“Dad!” Heather blurted in dismay.
He rested a hand on her arm. “I was damned careful when I did my digging but still ended up acquiring several shadows in under an hour.”
Heather covered his hand with hers. “What happened?”
He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amusement. “Zach happened. It was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a hell of a lot since you stumbled into the Immortal Guardians’ world.”
All eyes went to Zach as he took a seat at David’s elbow.
Zach shrugged. “The military is doing what we’ve always assumed they would do if they ever found out about gifted ones. They’re all aflutter over how the men and women Gershom hand delivered to them could be used as weapons against the enemy.”
“What enemy?” Aidan asked, perplexed.
“Any enemy,” Zach replied. “They’re holding the gifted ones there.” He motioned to the screen.
“All of them?” Chris asked.
“I didn’t see a specific number, but that’s what it looked like in their minds. Right now, they’re doing everything they can to determine the full extent of each gifted one’s talent and researching ways they can utilize it.”
Heather shook her head. “Against their will? How can they do that? They can’t make the captives use their gifts.”
Zach sent her a dark smile. “Oh, but they can. They’re already coming up with creative ways to force cooperation, including using the deaths of the gifted ones who attempted to escape and a few more whose gifts they deemed useless as examples to motivate any who would rather not live out the rest of their lives as lab rats and trained monkeys.”
Heather swore. “You were right, Dad. That’s exactly what you said they’d do if they ever found out I’m telepathic.”
“There’s more,” her father said.
Zach nodded. “Gershom dropped the word alien into a few sentences while conferring with one of the higher-ups.”
General Lane huffed a laugh. “Can you believe it? A couple of them actually think the gifted ones may be extraterrestrials who are members of some sort of sleeper cell that is quietly infiltrating our society.”
A few Immortal Guardians slid surreptitious glances Ami’s way.
General Lane, as well as most of the Seconds present, wasn’t aware that there was an extraterrestrial in their midst right now. The only one on the planet, in fact. Ami had been ruthlessly tortured by scientists contracted by the military for six months before Seth and David had found and rescued her.
Her face darkened.
Marcus wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to his side.
Sheldon looked back and forth between Zach and General Lane. “So this place really is like Area 51?” When the general nodded, Sheldon’s face seemed to lose a bit of color.
Aidan studied the young Second. “What is Area 51?”
Sheldon shifted uncomfortably. “It’s supposedly a military base that investigated UFO crashes and shit. Namely the Roswell crash in 1947.”
Aidan didn’t like the way Sheldon avoided his gaze. “Investigated them how? What did they do there?”
Tracy cleared her throat. “It’s all just speculation really. Rumors circulated on the internet by UFO enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists, and—”
“What did they do there?” Aidan pressed. “What did they do that you don’t want me to know about?”
Darnell responded when no one else would. “Among other things, according to rumor they performed alien autopsies.”
Aidan clenched his hands into fists. Autopsies? “Are you saying that while we’re all sitting here with our thumbs up our arses, those bloody bastards could be killing Dana and cutting her up?”
Chris caught Aidan’s attention. “I don’t believe so. There was no evidence that the gifted ones we found dead had been opened up or dissected. The only marks we found on the bodies aside from the bullet wounds were needle marks on their arms where blood had been drawn.”
Aidan tried to find reassurance in his words but couldn’t.
Zach broke the hush that engulfed them. “I read the minds of the men who followed General Lane and erased all memories of his snooping. Their orders were to kill him and to stage his death so it would appear to have been an accident.”
Epithets filled the room.
“Did you kill them?” Heather ground out.
Zach’s lips turned up in a faint smile. “No. I didn’t want to do anything that might draw both the military’s and Gershom’s attention. I also erased the memories of the men who objected to your father’s inquiries, the men who sent the assassins after him, as well as everyone your father spoke with today so Gershom won’t know we’re on to him.”
Aidan looked from Zach to General Lane to Chris. “So Gershom is working with the military now?”
“Apparently,” Chris confirmed.
Lisette shifted. “Do they know what he is?”
Zach draped an arm across her shoulders. “I don’t think so. Only two of the men I encountered had actually seen Gershom in person. And Gershom was wearing a uniform in their memories.”
General Lane nodded. “Zach showed me. They think Gershom is a four-star general like me.”
Aidan looked at the figures in the building on the wall monitor. “He’s mind-controlling them all?” That was a hell of a feat. There were a lot of bodies in that building.
Chris grunted. “He only has to mind-control the higher-ups at the facility, those who give the orders.”
General Lane nodded. “If the highest-ranking officers say Gershom is a general and treat him as such, the lower ranks will believe it and behave accordingly.”
Chris typed something on his laptop. “I had my contacts do a thermal scan of the building as well.”
The image on the large wall monitor changed, the shades of gray filling with vibrant color.
The humans and gifted ones who had previously been white turned bright red.
“If you’ll notice,” Chris said, “there are no greenish-yellow figures in the building.”
“So no vampires,” Aidan murmured. Vampires’ body temperatures tended to run a bit cooler than that of mortals.
“No vampires,” Chris confirmed. “So I think it’s safe to assume they haven’t gotten their hands on the virus yet.”
Zach’s head dipped in a slow nod. “That’s good news. At least Dana won’t have to contend with vampires.”
“No,” Aidan retorted. “She’ll just have dozens of military men who are armed out the arse.”