Chapter 46
Aiden closed his eyes and took several calming breaths. In and out. In and out. In and out. Whew! Jamie needed to do this for himself. He needed to be a good mate and understand that. His mate survived two years of being held captive. Being experimented on. Being left near dead on the streets all alone. Aiden knew he could survive this.
“Be supportive. Mate is strong,” his phoenix silently scolded.
“You’re right,” Aiden answered his beast.
His phoenix gloated. “An epiphany! Now, if you only realize, I’m always—”
He coughed to clear his throat and opened his eyes. “Jamie, you’re right. Let’s do this.”
Jamie grinned. He turned to face Terris. “You consent to letting me scan your mind? I really don’t like doing this against someone’s will. At least, not unless I have no other choice.”
Terris rubbed at his thick but well-groomed beard. “Yes. Mac explained that it might be necessary. I consent.”
“Mac, before we start, I’d like to ask if you had any word from Heath yet?” Jamie asked.
Mac shook her head. She pulled her cellphone from her back pocket and stared at the screen. “They should have arrived at the location Leo gave them about a half an hour ago.” She turned to look at Deacon. “Have you heard anything?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. If you guys are situated, I’ll head upstairs and give Heath a call.”
“We’ll be fine,” Mac said.
Deacon nodded and stood up. “Good luck.” He headed back upstairs, leaving the four of them to themselves.
“OK, then. Should we get started?” Jamie asked.
Terris nodded. “Where do you want me?”
They were sitting on opposing couches facing each other. Aiden was on Jamie’s left and Mac was on Terris’s right side. “Right where you are is fine,” Jamie said. “I don’t need to make physical contact with you.”
Terris rubbed his hands on his legs nervously.
“You don’t have to be nervous. It doesn’t hurt,” Jamie said.
“Too bad for that,” Aiden said under his breath.
“Aiden,” Jamie warned.
“Sorry, sorry,” Aiden muttered.
“It’s OK, I understand. I’m trying to make whatever amends I can,” Terris said.
“ We understand,” Jamie said, giving Aiden a look. Suitably abashed, Aiden nodded his head once.
“What should I do?” Terris asked. He fiddled with his glasses.
“Just relax and think calming thoughts. I’ll see if I can get inside,” Jamie said. “If I have trouble, I may need Mac to boost my powers.”
“Alright,” Terris said. He leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.
Aiden leaned closer and whispered to Jamie. “You can talk to us, right? I mean while you’re in there?”
Jamie nodded and placed his hands on his thighs. “Yes. Once I take a look around, I’ll tell you and Mac what I’m seeing.”
“If you seem to be in pain, you know I’m going to stop this,” Aiden said.
Jamie smiled. “I know.” He kissed Aiden on the cheek and then closed his eyes.
Several minutes passed in silence.
Aiden nearly jumped from his seat when Terris let out a guttural groan. Aiden’s gaze swung to a placid-looking Jamie.
“I’m in,” Jamie said. “It was a little hard to get in. I think he was subconsciously trying to block me.”
“Or maybe Williamson set up a trap to block you like he did with that poor hyena shifter. Be careful,” Mac said.
“I will. Everything seems OK in here.”
Aiden sat up straighter and studied Jamie’s face. He searched for any signs of stress, but seeing none, he spared a glance at Terris. The man was pale and tense, but otherwise seemed fine.
Just when Aiden started to relax, Jamie gasped.
“What?” Aiden asked.
“What’s wrong?” Mac asked.
“It’s just that… he’s telling the truth. I can see his memories of the lab, and they’re like the flashes from my dreams. Just very vivid.”
“OK, so we know he’s telling the truth. That’s all we need, right?” Aiden asked. “You can get out of there now.”
“No, wait. I’m only finding pictures of the lab. There are no memories or pictures of people”—he grunted—“or the experiments. I just want to see if I can find any images of me or any of the other victims or your dad. Just give me a few,” Jamie said. “How’s Terris, Mac?”
“Let me take some vitals,” she said. A couple of minutes later, she said, “Pulse, blood pressure, and respirations are slightly elevated.”
“OK,” Jamie said. “Oh, what is this?” He groaned. “No!”
“What?” Aiden asked.
“There’s a room I tried to go into. He’s blocking me. Mac, I may need a boost,” Jamie said.
“I need to keep an eye on Terris, at least for a few,” Mac said. “He’s sweating, and he’s started breathing faster. We may need to stop.”
Jamie grunted. “I just want to take a look. I have a feeling….” His voice trailed off.
“Can I boost your powers so Mac can keep an eye on Terris?” Aiden asked.
“I’m not sure. We can try,” Jamie said. “If it’s OK with Mac.”
“I can stabilize him with my powers, but hurry up,” she said.
“OK, what should I do?” Aiden asked.
“Just place your right hand on my left hand and let your mind go blank.”
“OK, OK.” He gently laid his hand on Jamie’s and—
Whoosh! Aiden felt as if he were sucked along a tunnel at high velocity. He came to a sudden stop in a dark room. They were in a dimly lit, old-fashioned file room. Jamie was standing to his right, holding his hand. He blinked. “Where are we?”
He chuckled. “We’re still in the basement of the Jensens’ house. This”—he waved his free hand through the air—“is just a representation of what I’m seeing,” Jamie said.
Aiden took in their surroundings. There were four vintage, dark green metal file cabinets against the far wall surrounding a large, dark cherry desk. There were manilla file folders spread out over the desk.
“What’s with all the folders?” Aiden asked.
Jamie nodded. “They’re all file folders with mostly pictures inside. There are some letters and reports sometimes, but mostly photos. It’s like visual representations of his memories.” He tugged his hand. “C’mon, let’s take a look.”
He followed Jamie to the desk. Jamie released his hand and started opening the folders.
Aiden touched a folder and gasped. This was all in Jamie’s head, but it truly felt as if he were alone with Jamie in this room, touching a physical folder. “This is so weird. It feels so real, but it’s not.”
“I know. That’s shifter magic for you. Let’s see what’s here.” Jamie began flipping through the closest folder. Aiden did the same.
Aiden waded through old-fashioned Polaroid snapshots of a laboratory benchtop, centrifuges, and test tubes. There were no people or animals at all. “This one is just some laboratory equipment. No people or animals,” he said.
“I have some pictures of lecture halls and college students here. Nothing sinister.” He reached for the next folder with Aiden doing the same.
After a few minutes, Jamie stopped and said, “Mac, how’s Terris?”
“His vitals have stabilized.” Aiden jumped at hearing her voice loud and clear in the darkened file room.
“OK, thanks,” Jamie said. He turned to Aiden. “So, we keep going.”
Aiden flipped through several more folders of laboratory equipment, but then he hit paydirt. Pictures of cages. There were a variety of animals—beagles, hamsters, and mice in metal cages in a white, sterile room. So far, no signs of any wolves or humans in the remainder of that file.
“Ahhh!”
Aiden turned to see Jamie holding a folder. His hand was trembling.
“What?” Aiden stepped closer and peeked over his shoulder. He sucked in a breath. No, no, no. Jamie had the folder open to a snapshot of himself lying unconscious on a medical gurney. His chest was bare, and a white blanket covered his lower half.
“Let me see, please,” he choked out. When Jamie didn’t move, Aiden gently took the folder from him. He flipped to the next image. Jamie was in a cage in his wolf form. He appeared healthy and relatively unharmed. As he continued through the folder, there were more images of him in his cage, looking thinner and more disheveled. There were pictures of him in his wolf form in an operating room. Shit! There were scalpels and sutures on a silver tray next to his unmoving body. Aiden was furious. So mad. How dare they do this! How could they do this? I want him dead. All of them! He felt molten heat flowing through his veins. They needed to pay!
“Guys? What’s going on? Aiden’s heating the room up again,” Mac called out.
“Aiden,” Jamie said quietly. He placed his hand on Aiden’s wrist and gently tugged.
He turned to Jamie slowly and saw the concern in his eyes.
“We need to stop if you can’t…”
Aiden shook his head. “Sorry, sorry.” He needed to stay calm. They had to find something linking his father to this. There had to be some evidence here. He turned to Jamie and grabbed him up in a hug, tucking his head against his chest. He ran his hands through Jamie’s hair and just breathed him in. “I just lost it for a second. I’m OK.” He pulled back and stared into his eyes. “What’s more important is how are you ?”
Jamie gave him a watery grin. “Not great, but we need to keep going.”
They continued through the remaining folders on the desk. There were no more pictures of Jamie, but there were pictures of other human and shifter subjects, some in cages, some in various stages of surgery. So far, there were no signs of his father in any of the folders.
“Mac, is everything OK out there still?” Aiden asked.
“Yes, we’re good.”
“Let’s each take one of the file cabinets,” Jamie said.
Aiden stepped over to one and tried to open the top drawer. He tugged on the handle, but it seemed stuck or locked. He tried the second drawer—the same. The third and lowest drawer similarly wouldn’t budge. He turned to his left and saw that Jamie was also struggling with the first cabinet.
“I can’t get into this one. I’ll try the other,” Jamie said. He tugged on the top drawer of his second cabinet. It slid open easily. “Yeah, more folders.” He started rifling through the folders.
Aiden yanked on the top drawer of his second cabinet, and it also slid open easily. “Same here.” He began leafing through the folders. After about twenty minutes of furious scanning, he realized these were all scientific notes and snapshots of updates on individual patients coded by number. He’d never know who these referred to. There were no images of the subjects and no names associated with any of the entries. There was no mention of Jamie or his father in any of the folders in the cabinet. He slapped the bottom drawer shut and stood up.
“Nothing useful?” Jamie asked.
Aiden shook his head. “I want to get into the other cabinet.” He walked back over and gave each drawer a hard yank. Nothing. He glanced around the room. Maybe there was something in the desk drawer he could use to open the drawers. He peered through each drawer within the desk. Damn it! Nothing! He rested both hands on the top of the desk and hung his head. He needed to open those cabinets. He had a feeling they were locked for a reason.
“Let me help,” his beast hissed.
He didn’t know how a phoenix could pick a lock, but what the hell. “Sure,” Aiden silently answered.
Aiden felt a zing as his face morphed into that of his phoenix. What a weird feeling. He stared out of his beast’s yellow eyes while the rest of his body, from the neck down, was still human. He felt his phoenix’s consciousness take over.
“Whoa!” Jamie exclaimed. “What’re you doing?”
“My human wanted to get this cabinet open,” the phoenix telepathically replied to Jamie. “Maybe I’ll bite a hole into it.”
“Guys,” Mac called. “What’s going on?”
“Aiden’s beast is giving us a hand. Is Terris OK?” Jamie asked.
“He just started twitching and grimacing. Hurry up, please.”
His beast bent down and tore the top of the cabinet right off like a can opener with his beak. He walked back over to Jamie’s locked cabinet and repeated the process. The phoenix then relaxed and allowed Aiden to fully take back over.
“You alright?” Jamie asked.
Aiden shook his head to clear it. “Yeah,” he mumbled. He looked down at the wrecked cabinet. He reached his hand through the hole and pulled out several folders. “We better look through these fast. I feel like we’re running out of time.”
Jamie nodded.