Gaby gazed at the beautiful creature. Two years ago, she coaxed a pack of wolves from a cattle ranch back into Yellowstone. But she’d never worked with wolves for military operations. “You want me to train him for a mission?”
“First, know that his presence is above top secret.”
“I know the drill. Will he be used for assassination or germ warfare?”
“Nothing yet. He’s been in a coma for three weeks.”
“A wolf in a coma? Was he hit by a car
?”
“No. He alone survived a helicopter explosion that killed three undercover CIA agents and the terrorist who planned to use nerve gas to attack a major city. A recovery team found the wolf floating in the Atlantic. The CIA thought he might have belonged to the terrorist as some sort of pet. I picked up the intel and thought if the wolf survived he’d be of some use to Project Sabertooth.”
She moved closer to the massive wolf. “Why would they use a wolf and not a dog?”
“Because he is not a wolf.”
Familiar with the many subspecies of wolf, this one didn’t fit in any one group. Too large. “Umm, pretty sure he’s a wolf. I bet someone shot him with experimental growth hormones.”
“You are looking at a werewolf.”
“Yeah, right.”
He turned on a screen. “What do you see?”
“A man lying on a gurney.” Good heavens. A drop dead gorgeous man with wide muscular shoulders. A stylized wolf tattoo adorned his rock-hard bicep. Tall. Late twenties. Light brown hair. His beard gave him a ruggedly handsome appearance, reminding her of a lumberjack. Yet, she sensed something feral about him. A wolf presence. Odd. A sheet covered the rest of his body, saving her the embarrassment of her drooling with lust.
“Yes, a man who finally woke from a coma. Disoriented, he claimed no memory of his identity. He tried to get up, but collapsed and turned into a wolf. We sedated him and ran more tests.”
What mind games was Giles up to this time? She glanced at the wolf, then back to the man on the screen. “That’s crazy.”
“Dr. Tomlin saw him shift three days after we brought him here. Shifting every two to three days seems to be a pattern for the last three weeks since he arrived.” The doctor was their veterinarian specializing in canines and second in command of Project Sabertooth. Not a man easy to fool. He never even had more than one beer, let alone mind-altering drugs.
“And no ID of any sort?” Their canine team had a chip to identify them.
“Nothing. No tag. No chip. Just that wolf tattoo in his human form.” Giles rubbed his chin. “Then again, if he was one of ours, he’d be in our top secret files. He’s not.”
Gaby scrunched her face. “You are joking, right?”
“I don’t joke.”
True. He didn’t have one drop of humor in his cold blood. “I’m sure the CIA can identify him.”
“We kept his transformation a secret. I informed U.S. intelligence the wolf died of his injuries. As far as they are concerned, the wolf was an anomaly. The report states everyone onboard died in the explosion. No mention of a wolf.”
According to the CIA and other government agencies, Project Sabertooth didn’t exist. Nor did she, at least not since she came here. “I can’t believe it.”
Giles fast-forwarded the video. “Watch.”
The man, still unconscious, shimmered into a half-man-half-wolf hybrid and then into wolf form.
“That’s fake.” Hollywood special effects; well done, but no way real.
“I witnessed the transformation myself. Three nights ago, he morphed to human form. Again, he demanded to know who he was and why he was here. I told him the sedative would let him rest and possibly return his memory. Early this morning, he returned to wolf form and while still sedated, we ran the second MRI. No clue why he claims amnesia.”
“I guess there was no point calling me last night since I can’t influence a sleeping animal.” Had a terrorist nation manipulated DNA to create such a creature? Were the rumors about animal-human hybridization experiments at the Dulce lab true? “He looks American.” One with a creepy wolf aura.
“The intel on the ISIS terrorist group states they never worked with canines or any other animal. We hope when he wakes this time, he’ll remember who he worked for.”