The raptor’s sleek, black form was even harder to see now that night had fallen, and she almost lost sight of him as he darted out of the jungle and across the ground. He was briefly very visible indeed as he clambered up the green wall of the base, and then, with a lithe wriggle, he vanished into the duct.
“He seems to be taking everything surprisingly in stride,” Destiny whispered.
“Merlin’s like that,” Ethan whispered back. “I’m appreciating it a whole lot more now than I used to.”
They waited, watching the doors. If Merlin wasn’t able to take out the guards himself, hopefully by stealth and in silence, they’d have to jump in and help him. And whether they did so as tigers leaping out of the jungle or sword-wielding humans charging out, it would be neither stealthy nor silent. And then they’d be dealing with a whole ‘nother ball game.
A door opened, and a blond man dressed as a security guard stepped out. Destiny tensed, waiting to see if the other guards would recognize him, but they didn’t. She heard voices, but not what they were saying. Merlin made an animated gesture and pointed. Both guards turned to look, and he neatly shot them both in the back with his tranquilizer rifle. He caught them as they collapsed and dragged them inside.
Destiny and Ethan ran out of the jungle and into the base. There they found Merlin shoving the unconscious guards into the nearest room, an office already occupied by another unconscious man in nothing but boxer shorts.
“Sorry they’re not your size,” he said to Destiny.
“I’ll make do. I’m used to changing on short notice.” When Merlin gave her a puzzled look, she explained, “You take your clothes with you when you shift. Ethan and I don’t. I think it has to do with whether you turn into an ordinary animal or something… else.”
“But why—” Merlin began.
“Later,” said Ethan.
He and Destiny ducked into the office, wher
e they stripped the guards, put on their uniforms, and took their tranquilizer rifles and IDs.
As they were changing, Destiny chuckled. “‘Later?’ No one has any idea why mythic and extinct shifters can take their clothes with them!”
“You haven’t had to work with him,” Ethan said. “If I’d said ‘nobody knows,’ we’d still be out in the corridor listening to him coming up with a hundred reasons why.”
While Destiny rolled up the bottoms of her pants, Ethan stashed their regular clothes and swords in the backpack. It was an unobtrusive black one, so hopefully it wouldn’t attract any attention.
They stepped out into a white corridor lit by fluorescent lights, which seemed to be the standard design for Apex bases if her previous encounter with one was anything to go by. It probably was; Shane had said they designed them to be as identical as possible, so they could move drugged prisoners from one to another without them realizing they’d switched locations. And in that case, Destiny had a rough idea of where things were.
Before Merlin could say anything, Ethan said, “Good job, Merlin,” then turned to her. “Lead on. And we shouldn’t talk unless we have to.”
Destiny led them in silence toward the area where prisoners had been kept in the base she’d been to before. She was nervous about her uniform, which was several sizes too big, but more nervous about Merlin, who could actually get recognized. But all they could do about either was to walk confidently, as if they belonged there, and trust in people’s tendency to not pay close attention. Her heart sped up when they encountered another pair of guards, but they passed without more than a glance and a nod.
At last they came to a door labeled “Subject Thirty.”
“That’ll be Pete or Ransom,” Merlin said. “My door said Subject Thirty-One.”
Destiny frowned. Justin had been Subject Seven, and Shane Subject Eight; Subjects One through Six had been the airmen who had been captured with them, and hadn’t survived the experiments. Carter Howe, whom Fiona and Justin had rescued from the Apex base in Alaska, had been Subject Nine. Presumably the saber-tooth tiger they’d fought had been another subject. But who were the rest of them? Would the T-Rex and daeodon shifters even be counted that way, since they were Apex agents themselves? Destiny’s stomach roiled at the suspicion that most if not all of the other twenty subjects were dead.
Ethan used his stolen ID to open the door. A quick glance showed them a small cell occupied by a single man dressed in desert camouflage, sitting on a cot. Destiny was chilled to see that he had a collar around his neck with an electronic lock and a disc of silvery metal that emitted a very faint glow.
“Ransom!” Ethan called softly.
The man didn’t move or even look up.
“Come on!” Merlin urged.
Ransom didn’t respond. With a sinking feeling, Destiny beckoned the other men inside. She used her ID to close the door behind them.
“Careful with him,” Destiny said as Merlin started to hurry toward him. “He might be…” She didn’t have time to explain exactly how damaged Shane and Justin had been from their experiences at Apex; Merlin had never met either of them, and Ethan didn’t know Justin and had only met Shane after he’d had a year to somewhat recover.
“Think of it like he’s just been through a really traumatizing combat experience,” she said at last. “Don’t grab him.”
Merlin, who had been starting to do exactly that, pulled his hand back.
Ethan knelt down in front of him. “Hey. Hey, buddy, it’s Ethan. Can you talk to me?”