Just as Dex said the words, it struck Cael. “Thelxinomine.”
Austen nodded. “You guessed it. Peitharchia7 won’t work on its own. It would potentially kill the Therian soldier or fuck his head up badly, rendering him unfit for duty. The Therian needs to be prepped first with a preliminary drug that will—with enough doses—short-circuit the Human side of the brain, leaving the feral half in control and susceptible to Peitharchia7, which will allow them to be controlled.”
“Is the Thelxinomine in here as well?” Cael asked, looking down at the case.
“No. Sparks had me hunt down that shit and swipe it. I just collected the last of it.”
“From where?” Cael peered at Austen. He had an idea of what Austen was about to say.
“Your boyfriends’ desks.”
“This gets better and better,” Dex groaned. “So Sloane and Ash were on the preliminary drug. Was Ward prescribing that shit to Therians as a painkiller?”
“To specific Therians. Therians who made ideal candidates for the program. What better place to find Therian soldiers than the THIRDS? I’m guessing plucking Therian soldiers already enlisted would draw too much attention, and obviously they couldn’t just walk up to their chosen candidates and be like, ‘Hey, you wanna be the first test subject of this new unsanctioned military-grade mind-control drug that could potentially fuck you up?’”
Cael processed everything they’d learned from Austen. He still had so many unanswered questions, and his thoughts kept going to Ash. He prayed Ash was all right. A lump formed in his throat at the thought of him being taken. He looked up at Austen. “That’s why they took Sloane and the others. To use them for this program.”
“Yeah. Defense agents are the easy choice. Your boys are First Gen. Perfectly healthy Therians. Strong Alphas. Ideal soldiers.”
Dex frowned. “Hobbs wasn’t on Thelxinomine. Was he?”
Austen shoved his hands into his pockets, his expression sympathetic. “Your boy Hobbs takes meds for his anxiety. They were switched out three weeks ago when he went for a refill of his prescription. I swiped his a week ago, but that shit had already worked its way into his system, which is why he’s been experiencing severe setbacks.” This time it was Austen who looked puzzled. “To be honest, I would have expected Seb to be on the list. He’s Pre-First Gen and takes a shit ton of Therian medication, but he’s fucking huge and strong as a brick shithouse. There was ample opportunity to switch out one of his meds, but for some reason he wasn’t targeted.”
Cael cocked his head to one side, studying Austen, his stance and mannerisms. You have got to be kidding me. “The male nurse who made off with the drugs I found in Ward’s office? That was you!”
Austen wriggled his eyebrows. “Yes it was. A little hair dye, some contacts, and a dash of makeup to cover up my classification.” He tapped the tattoo on his neck marking him a cheetah Therian. “It’s all part of the magic.”
“And Ward’s body disappearing? Was that all part of the magic too?” Cael asked irritably.
“No. That was my associates.”
“Why did Sparks pull us off the case?”
“She didn’t want to put you in danger.”
Cael threw his arms up, motioning around them.
“Yeah, okay. She didn’t really have a choice. We had to move the drug out before it disappeared. We lost an operative getting it out of the facility. Ten years, man. We’ve been after this shit for ten years. When it was time to move out, Sparks picked the three teams she trusted most.”
“If Sparks is on our side,” Dex said,
“then who’s been working on the control drug?”
Austen arched an eyebrow at him. “I’ll let that percolate in your head for a moment.”
Dex and Cael came to the same conclusion simultaneously. They both looked at each other, with Dex being the first to vocalize their thoughts.
“Shultzon.”
“Somebody give the boy a teddy bear. Yes, Shultzon. He was the one working from the First Gen Research Facility that had supposedly closed down. That day you boys took down Pearce and Sparks showed up, she wasn’t pissed because she’d been kept in the dark about the facility. She was pissed Shultzon managed to clear out the lab of anything that might incriminate him. He took his show on the road. TIN had an agent undercover with Shultzon for ten years, waiting for the guy to finish the drug and present it to his superiors. Shultzon is the puppet. TIN wants the puppet master. You can bet your ass this isn’t the only unsanctioned project going on.”
“That son of a bitch,” Dex ground out angrily as he started to pace. “Now I hate him even more. What he did wasn’t enough? I should have trusted my gut, but I kept thinking it was me being overprotective. That fucker.”
“Hey, calm down.” Cael stood and pulled his brother in close. “It’s okay. We’ll get them back.” He felt Austen’s arms around him. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You’re having a broment. I thought it was a group hug. My bad.”
He pulled away, and Cael released Dex.