Chapter Four #3
“I studied the blueprints you gave me. I know the layout, I know the names of the supervisors, I know the protocols. I can answer their questions.” Franklin had spent hours memorizing everything Reed had provided about the Colorado facility since he’d been watching it, as well at whatever info Moore had.
It had been tedious work, but necessary.
Reed pulled out a folder and slid it across the table. “These are the guards currently working at the facility where Garrett is being held. You need to know their faces, their names, their personalities, everything. Some of them are more dangerous than others.”
Franklin opened the folder and started going through the photos. Reed had notes on each person—who to avoid, who might be sympathetic, who would sell out their own mother for a promotion. He’d spent enough time with these people to know what he was talking about, but Franklin was impressed.
“This one,” Reed said, tapping a photo of a man with a severe face and cold eyes. “Marcus Webb. He’s the head of security. He doesn’t trust anyone, and he’s good at his job. If anyone’s going to see through your cover, it’ll be him.”
“How do I handle him?”
“You don’t. You stay out of his way as much as possible. Be competent. Do your job, follow orders, don’t ask questions.” Reed’s voice was tight. “He’s the kind of man who enjoys hurting people. If he thinks you’re weak or too sympathetic to the prisoners, he’ll test you.”
Franklin’s jaw clenched. “Test me how?”
“He’ll order you to do something cruel and watch how you react. If you hesitate, you’re done.”
The thought made Franklin’s skin crawl, but he nodded. He’d do whatever he had to do to maintain his cover. For Garrett.
“What about the scientists?” Franklin asked. “Will I have much interaction with them?”
“Hopefully not. Guards usually stay separated from the research staff. But you’ll see them around, and some of them like to give orders to the guards.
” Reed’s expression darkened. “If Dr. Chen approaches you, be very careful. She’s the one in charge of Garrett’s case.
She’s brilliant and absolutely ruthless. ”
Franklin made a mental note of the name. Dr. Chen. The woman who’d been torturing his brother.
“How long do you think it’ll take before I can access Garrett’s wing?” Franklin asked.
“It depends on where they assign you. New guards usually start in the lower-security areas. It might take a week or two before you can get anywhere near the high-value prisoners, unless of course you manage to let the mutants in sooner. Hopefully, you won’t have to stay there more than a few hours. ”
Franklin wasn’t sure he could stand being that close to Garrett without being able to help him for longer than a day, but he might not have a choice.
“Once I’m in,” Franklin said slowly, “what’s the plan? How do we actually get him out?”
Reed was quiet for a moment. “We’re still working on that part. Moore wants to coordinate with the council enforcers for the extraction. It’ll need to be fast and precise, and it depends on when you can get them in.”
“That’s not much of a plan.”
“I know.” Reed looked frustrated. “But we can’t plan the details until we know more about the current security situation.
That’s why we need you inside. You’ll be our eyes and ears.
You’ll report back on anything that might help and what you see.
If you’re lucky, security will be a little lax, and you’ll be able to reach an outside door. ”
Franklin nodded. He’d be gathering intelligence, but no one wanted to leave him in there longer than necessary. “What else do I need to know?” Franklin asked.
Reed pulled out another set of papers. “These are the facility’s emergency protocols.
If something goes wrong, you need to know what will happen.
Where the lockdown points are, how the alert system works, and what the evacuation procedures are.
If anyone sees you sneaking around, you know what the reaction will be. ”
They spent the next hour going over every detail Reed could think of.
By the time they were done, Franklin’s head was spinning with information.
He felt more prepared, which was what he’d needed, but there was something else nagging at him.
“Can I ask you something?” Franklin said, surprising himself. “About your ability.”
Reed tensed. “What about it?”
“You said you made Garrett shift. What does that mean exactly?”
Reed was quiet for a long moment. “It’s complicated.”
Franklin frowned. Reed didn’t want to tell him. “You were forced to use it. You didn’t have a choice.”
“I had a choice. I could’ve refused and let them kill me.”
“And then someone else would’ve done it instead, and Garrett would still be suffering.” Franklin shook his head. “You survived. You escaped. And now you’re trying to make it right. That counts for something.”
Reed looked startled, as if he hadn’t expected Franklin to say anything like that. Franklin wasn’t sure why he’d said it either. Maybe because he was starting to understand that his mate wasn’t a monster. He was just a man who’d been put in an impossible situation and had done the best he could.
“Tell me about yourself,” Franklin said impulsively. “Not about the labs or your ability. Just about you.”
Reed blinked. “Why?”
“Because you’re my mate, and I don’t know anything about you besides the worst parts of your life.” Franklin leaned back in his chair. “Where are you from? Do you have family? What did you want to be before all of this happened?”
Reed looked uncomfortable with the questions, but after a moment, he answered.
“I’m from Oregon originally. Small town, nothing special.
My parents died when I was young in a car accident.
I was raised by my grandmother.” His expression softened slightly.
“She was amazing. She’s the one who encouraged me to go to college, to make something of myself. ”
“Is she still alive?”
Reed’s face fell. “She died while I was at the facility. I couldn’t even go to her funeral.
The only reason I know what happened is that the lab technician who helped me escape told me.
She’d tried to contact my grandmother for help.
” His voice cracked. “She probably died thinking I’d abandoned her. ”
Franklin’s heart ached for him. “I’m sorry.”
“I wanted to be a teacher,” Reed continued quietly. “That’s what I was studying for. I took the lab technician job to pay for school. It was supposed to be temporary, even after my promotion.” He laughed bitterly. “I guess it was, just not in the way I thought.”
“You could still teach,” Franklin said. “After all this is over.”
Reed looked at him skeptically. “You think anyone would want me teaching their kids after what I’ve done?”
“You could teach at the village. There are always kids who need help with their studies.”
“The mutants might accept me, but the tribe members? The people who used to be prisoners?”
“Some of them will. Moore brought you in, didn’t he? Rikar welcomed you to the village. And I’m, well...” Franklin hesitated, then pushed forward. “I’m starting to trust you, too.”
Reed’s eyes widened. “Franklin.”
“I’m not saying I’ve forgiven everything,” Franklin interrupted. “Or this is easy. But I’m trying to see you as more than just someone who hurt my brother. You’re my mate, and that has to mean something.”
Reed looked like he didn’t know how to respond to that. “I should probably go,” he finally said. “You need to rest. Moore wants to do a final briefing before you leave for the facility.” He made no move to stand, though, almost as if he didn’t want to go.
Franklin leaned close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating from Reed’s body. His lion was rumbling with approval, even though it wasn’t quite enough.
He should move away, but he didn’t want to.
“Thank you,” Franklin said. “For everything. For the information, for caring about Garrett, for being here.”
Reed’s breath hitched. “I’ll always be here for as long as you want me to be.”
The air between them felt charged. Franklin wondered what would happen if he closed the distance and finally gave in to the pull that had been driving him crazy since the moment he’d caught Reed’s scent.
But not yet. Not until Garrett was safe.
* * * *
REED WAS SURPRISED. He hadn’t expected Franklin to want to get to know him, and maybe that wasn’t why Franklin was doing this.
He probably did want more information about Reed, but not because he wanted to know, more because he knew that he had to be careful.
He’d been saddled with Reed as his mate, and there was nothing either of them could do about it.
It couldn’t be easy for Franklin, and Reed wished he could ask him how he was doing, but he was afraid to know the answer.
Was Franklin looking for a way to get rid of him?
Reed wouldn’t blame him if he was. Knowing what he knew about Reed, he probably wished he didn’t have to work with him.
But he did have to, and he had questions, and Reed was going to answer those questions as well as he could. He owed it to this man. He owed it to Garrett.
Maybe he owed it to himself, too.
He’d never told the entire story. He hadn’t given details.
He’d been vague about what had happened to him, but this time, he couldn’t be.
This was one time he needed to be completely honest, which wasn’t something he was used to.
Being honest while he’d been in the lab would have killed him.
It wouldn’t here, although he didn’t know if it would make things harder or easier. He supposed he was about to find out.
“I already told you there was an accident,” he said.
“You did. I’m just not sure what that accident entailed. How did you go from being a human lab tech to being a mutant? You said that they experimented on you, right?”