Chapter Two
Franklin wanted to go to that meeting, and while Moore and Rikar had agreed he should be there, he knew that one wrong move would be enough to change their minds. He couldn’t deal with that. He had to be there, and he had to find out if this Garrett that Reed was talking about was his brother.
But he had to be careful. One wrong move or word, and he would get kicked out. He wouldn’t get his answers if that happened, and that wasn’t something he could deal with.
At least he had a few answers now. He had no idea who Moore and Rikar knew, but they’d found out that this Reed guy was probably on their side.
That didn’t mean that Franklin wasn’t wary of him.
He’d be wary of anyone involved with the Glass Research Company, which was ironic considering he had been himself.
He understood better why people kept their distance from him now.
He’d always known they didn’t like him because he’d worked for the labs, but this hit particularly close.
But his having worked for the company was one of the reasons he would give Reed the benefit of the doubt.
He knew what it was like to be forced to do something you didn’t want to do for important reasons.
He knew what it was like to choose between helping people who needed him and keeping his mouth shut because if he didn’t, he’d lose any chance he had at finding his siblings.
He didn’t know what Reed’s story was, but he was helping them, and as far as Franklin was concerned, that was all that mattered.
“Can you stop bouncing your knee?” Moore asked politely.
Franklin instantly froze. He stared at Moore with wide eyes, hoping he wasn’t about to get kicked out of the small diner where they were meeting Reed. For some reason, Moore seemed amused. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then gently tapped Franklin’s forearm.
“You can breathe. Hell, you can even move. The knee bouncing is just a bit annoying.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be. I understand why you’re nervous, and I would be, too, in your place. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
“I suspect you can.”
Moore shrugged one shoulder. “In a way, I can, but I was the person in the lab. I never had to worry about something happening to the people I love.”
“You love the mutants. They’re like your family.
” Some of them, anyway. The new ones weren’t as close, but the ones who’d been at the village for longer obviously considered each other family.
Franklin had seen them tease each other, have deep conversations, and just be there for one another.
It had made him envious in a way he hadn’t expected.
It felt like the kind of relationship he had with his siblings, and he yearned to have that again with them.
If he ever had anything with them again.
The thought that Leah might be dead, that Franklin might never find her, was terrifying.
Having Garrett within reach felt like having something solid at the tip of his fingers, but Leah?
Franklin had no idea where she was. He had no idea about anything.
As far as he knew, she was still alive, but he didn’t know for sure.
She might have been killed years ago, and he probably would never find out.
That wasn’t something he wanted to think about. He couldn’t afford to think about it.
“I can’t promise that everything will be okay,” Moore said in a soothing voice. “But you know we’re doing everything we can to help Garrett. We’ll do the same for your sister as soon as we find out where she is. We will get them out of whatever lab they’re in.”
“This might not be my brother,” Franklin pointed out.
“But it also might be. And if it is, you and Garrett will be reunited. You’ll have found one of your siblings.”
“But not Leah.”
“Not yet, but we’ll find her.”
“You just said that you can’t promise anything,” Franklin said with a smile. He appreciated what Moore was doing.
“I’m not making promises. I’m just giving you hope because I know that in these circumstances, it’s hard to keep it up.”
Franklin thought that the only harder thing he’d had to live through was losing his mother. He’d been alone, dealing with the twins’ disappearance and their mother’s death, and everything that came with that. He’d continued being alone since then.
He eyed Moore. He wasn’t alone anymore, was he? He didn’t know if he could call these people his friends, but they were helping him, and that was all he cared about. It was all he could afford to care about.
The bell above the diner door chimed as the door opened, catching Franklin’s attention. He turned to look at Rikar, who was coming in, followed by another man.
For some reason, Franklin had expected Reed to be older.
Instead, he looked to be in his late twenties, which made the strand of white hair on his head all the more shocking.
It didn’t fit, but at the same time, it suited him.
It made him look mysterious, and Franklin wanted to know more about him.
In fact, if they weren’t here for Garrett, Franklin might have tried talking to him about something other than rescuing people from labs.
Franklin leaned back in his seat and watched Rikar and Reed come closer.
He didn’t know what to make of this man yet, but he had to remember who Reed was.
He wasn’t only the man helping them get Garrett back.
He was somehow involved with the labs. He wouldn’t know anything about Garrett if he wasn’t.
The question was, how involved? Had he been a scientist?
A guard like Franklin? A janitor who’d overheard conversations?
Or was he a test subject who’d somehow gotten free like the village mutants had?
The white streak was odd enough to suggest a mutant and raised new questions, but Franklin couldn’t be sure, and he didn’t want to assume.
“Moore, Franklin, this is Reed,” Rikar said as they reached the table. “Reed, this is Moore and Franklin. Moore is the person you emailed.”
Reed nodded. He sat, following Rikar’s example, but he kept as much distance from them at the booth as he could. It was almost offensive, but Franklin realized he was staying as close as he could to the door, which made sense. He wanted to be ready to run if he had to.
Franklin couldn’t blame him. If their positions were reversed, he’d be doing the same thing.
Hell, he probably would’ve insisted on meeting somewhere with multiple exits, or outdoors where there’d be room to maneuver.
The fact that Reed had agreed to meet them at all showed either bravery or desperation.
Probably both.
Franklin studied Reed more closely. Up close, he could see the tension in the man’s shoulders, the way his gaze darted to the exits and then back to their faces constantly.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes, while clean, looked like they’d been slept in.
This was a man who hadn’t had a good night’s rest in weeks, maybe months.
This was a man running from something or someone, or maybe hiding.
“Thank you for meeting with us,” Moore said, his voice calm and collected. “I know this can’t be easy for you.”
Reed’s jaw tightened, but he nodded. “No, it’s not. But it’s necessary.” His voice was quieter than Franklin had expected, like he hadn’t used it much lately.
Franklin had a lot of questions. He knew better than to ask them right away, though.
They didn’t know anything about Reed, and they had to be sure that he could actually do what he’d said he could do.
He might be in this just to get close to them, so they had to be careful.
It could be a trap. He could’ve been sent by the company to infiltrate them.
For as much as Franklin was desperate to know more, he had to allow Moore and Rikar to take the lead in this.
They’d know what to ask. They’d know how to read Reed, how to tell if he was lying or if his fear was genuine.
Franklin had to trust them, even though every fiber of his being wanted to lean forward and demand answers right now.
Was Garrett alive? Was he okay? Was he being hurt right now, while Franklin sat here in a warm diner?
The questions burned in his throat, but he swallowed them down and waited.
* * * *
REED NEEDED TO GET these people to agree to work with him.
He doubted he could ever get them to trust him, but he didn’t need them to.
He just needed them to work with the information he had so they could get Garrett and, hopefully, all of the other people trapped in the cages in the lab. He just needed them to listen to him.
He thought they would. They seemed eager to find information on Garrett, and while they hadn’t said anything about it, considering how much the man on the other side of the table looked like Garrett, Reed was ready to bet that they were related.
He remembered that Garrett had mentioned a brother and a sister once.
Reed remembered Garrett’s sister very well—how could he not when she’d been subjected to the same experiments as her brother, including the ones in which Reed had been forced to participate?
The scientists had wanted to see how twins reacted to what Reed could do and what they did to them, and they’d gotten answers.
But Reed had never met this brother—Franklin, apparently.
Garrett hadn’t said much about him, which was just as good.
If anyone else had heard him mention a brother, they might’ve gone after him.
Things had gone so well with Garrett and Leah that they might have wanted to experiment with Franklin, too.