CHAPTER TWENTY
“Riley, you’re gonna need to explain this to us,” said Eric. “How is it possible that what he’s giving them is changing their genders?”
“We don’t have all the answers right now,” said Riley. “All we know it’s not changing their gender, not really. I mean, it’s screwing with their bodies, making their bodies believe they are a different gender. Hell, I’m not even sure that’s the right answer.”
“We don’t know enough yet,” said Suzette. “What we know, as far as Carter goes, is that Butch kept telling him he was too small to be a top tier male athlete at a Division I school. He told him he was starting the injections early to speed up his process for the tournament the following week.”
“What happened?” asked Luke. “What’s happening to that kids’ body?”
“Luke, we’re still trying to figure it all out. A young man of his age should be racing with testosterone hormone. Instead, he’s full of estrogen. His testicles were literally sucking up into his body.”
“Uh, could you not say that again,” said Cam squirming.
“Get over it, junior!” frowned Riley. “This poor kid is living it. His mother said she only works in the packing part of the manufacturing center. She’s never seen the products themselves but said the factory is an old run-down sugar cane factory.
She said it has rodent feces, rust, the whole place is disgusting but they were paying her a good wage to work twelve hours a day. ”
“Twelve hours a day so that they could torture her son,” frowned Hex. “Do we have anything back on who this guy really is?”
“Not yet, but according to Carter’s mother, Butch’s sister works at the plant as well. She’s basically the plant manager,” said Suzette.
“He has a sister?” frowned Cam. “We have to find her as well. That’s where he’s getting his help.”
“Cam, it could be a number of people helping him,” said Riley.
“We’re talking beyond PhD level understanding of genetics and pharmaceuticals.
Unless they’re at genius IQ levels, even beyond Thomas, Tony, or any of our other resident geniuses.
I just don’t see either of them as having that kind of knowledge. ”
“AJ? Tanner? Do we have anything on their background?” asked Luke turning to the tech team.
“No. Nothing. It’s like they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I only find a former residence in Wisconsin. Nothing before that. No personal records, no school records, birth records, nothing. It’s like they were dropped from the sky,” said Tanner.
“But they weren’t,” said Luke. “We know they weren’t. They have a history, a family, something and we need to know that. If we tried to make a move on them now, I’m going to bet sissy will blow the fucking plant and we’ll have nothing.”
“Luke, calm down,” said Cam. “We’re going to figure this out but we’re not even sure what we’re dealing with yet. We don’t know if these athletes were willing to do this, or not.”
“We know Carter wasn’t willing,” said Suzette. “He made it very clear he never asked for this.”
“So, what do we do? Do we just sit here and wait for more young, unsuspecting athletes to die?” growled Luke.
“Luke!” yelled Suzette. “We’re doing what we can. Give us some time.”
“Aunt Suzette, we don’t have time. Those young men and women don’t have time. If he’s using these drugs, without their permission, he’s playing God. If he’s doing it with their knowledge, we need to be certain they understand the repercussions to their bodies.
“And if, and I emphasize this, if they are doing this successfully think about the global implications not just in sport, but in all aspects of life. This world is nearly evenly split male versus female. But there are pockets of the globe far more heavily female. What if they’re trying to skew that?
What if they’re trying to help build a military for some country? ”
There was silence in the room as they all stared at him, then nodded. Luke was right. This could reach parts of science no one had dared to think about.
“It’s not just the physical,” said Riley. “The mental state of these people is in question. We have no idea what these drugs might do to someone’s mental state, especially if they were not in a good place to begin with and we already know he loves the mental torture of these athletes.
“Individuals who are willingly going through gender reassignment must have significant, lengthy sessions with mental health professionals. Even then, some don’t come out the other side in a good place.
“I fear, we fear, that this could create a group of seriously unstable young men and women who are halfway to what they desire and can’t get to the other side fully.”
“Geez, this is seriously fucked up,” said Eric shaking his head. “I’m all for people to be who they want to be but this doesn’t feel like it’s anywhere close to free will and one’s own choice.”
“Riley? Carter’s coming out of the sedative,” said Kennedy poking her head into the hospital conference room.
They all stood, following Kennedy down the hallway where his mother refused to leave his side. Eric, Cam, Hex, and Luke stepped into the large room along with Riley and Suzette. Kennedy checked his vitals, noting that his IV bag needed to be replaced and left the room.
“Ma’am, my name is Eric Bongard and these are my teammates.”
“Teammates? Do you compete at that gym?” she said with a sneer.
“No, ma’am. I assure you we do not. We’re investigating that gym and Butch Williams.”
“He nearly killed my son. Had you not found him, you and those other-“ she hesitated, unsure of whether they were men or magicians.
“They were our team and all I can tell you is that without them, your son may not have lived. I hope you’ll keep our secret.” She nodded.
“What did he do to my son? What have I done to my son? All this for some stupid scholarship!”
“We think it’s more than that,” said Luke. “Other young men and women have died.”
“I left Carter and just had an awful feeling. I got to the second bus stop and turned around and walked back home. I called the factory and told them I was sick. I didn’t want them to think it was Carter’s fault. It was so stupid! Nothing is more important than my son’s health.”
“Ma’am,” started Hex.
“Ginnie. Ginnie Granger.”
“Ginnie, you can’t blame yourself for wanting more for your son. No one would have suspected that Butch Williams was doing something so heinous.”
“M-mama?” croaked Carter.
“Carter, Carter my baby,” she cried kissing her son’s forehead.
“Mama, where am I?”
“Carter, you were brought here by our friends, Bull and Rory,” said Luke. “My name is Luke.”
“My stomach hurts so bad,” he said staring at them.
“We’re giving you a massive push of fluids right now, Carter,” said Riley. “It’s going to take a while to get it all out of your system but you only had the one shot so you should be okay.”
“What did he give me? He said it was going to help me compete at a different level.”
“He was giving you drugs that we are still trying to identify,” said Riley. “A great deal of what was in there, was female hormone therapy.”
“F-female? He was trying to make me a girl?” he whispered.
“We’re honestly not sure yet,” said Riley. “We’ll want to keep you here for a few days and run some tests. Your mom can stay as well.”
“She has to work,” he said shaking his head. “We can’t pay the rent if she loses her job.”
“You let us worry about that,” said Eric.
“I can’t take money from you,” said Ginnie.
“Well, we’re not offering money,” smirked Eric.
“We bought your rental property. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on that house, so while we’re doing the work, you’re going to stay here in a guest cottage.
When the work is done, you and your son can move back in and we’ll talk about lowering the rent. ”
“Lowering?” she whispered, staring at the group of people. “No one lowers rent. I’m going to ask this again. Who are you people?”
“We run a security and investigation company called LEGACY. It’s an off-shoot off our fathers’ company, Gray Wolf Security,” said Cam. “This is what we do every day, every week, every month. We will find out what Butch and his sister are doing and we will make them pay.”
“I just want my son safe and away from that gym,” she said gripping her son’s hand.
“We’ll make sure that happens,” said Luke. “When he’s well enough, we will be training him with our own training team. They’ll prep him for whatever he wants to do in life. College athletics, military service, no matter what it is.”
“H-how much?” she stammered.
“Free,” said Luke. “We don’t charge to help young men become great grown men. We consider it a service to the community.”
“What do we do now?” asked Ginnie.
“You stay here until we can figure this out. If he finds you, or your son, he may suspect that someone is helping you. He won’t understand until it’s too late that he’s chosen the wrong group of people to piss off.”