Chapter 17 Rowan #2
We moved down another corridor, but this one stank of char and old smoke, thick and lingering even decades later.
The walls along the hall looked blackened, blistered, and streaked with soot, as if a fire had burned so hot, paint melted straight off the concrete.
At the far end of the charred hall hung a pair of warped metal doors, and above them, a sign so smoke-stained it was barely legible.
“Wait—look!” I said, pointing. “What wing is that?”
Cade stepped forward, brushing ash from the sign with his glove until faint letters appeared.
“Medical wing,” he called back. His voice echoed eerily through the scorched hall. “This is where the fire took place.”
“What fire?” I asked, following him despite the instinct screaming at me not to.
Cade’s jaw worked as he spoke. “Before the Whistleblower Files leaked, this wing went up in flames. News outlets reported multiple casualties. It was part of the reason Arca decommissioned this base. My father was supposed to be on base that day, but something came up and he ended up just missing the accident. Shame.”
A chill crawled down my spine.
“How did the fire start?” I whispered, staring at the doors warped from heat.
Cade put a hand on my shoulder and guided me away from them. “It was before my time, so no way of knowing for sure. News outlets said there was a gas leak.”
“But…?” I pressed.
He gave a humorless huff. “There’s what the news says, and then there’s the truth. They rarely match where Arca is involved.” His eyes flickered back toward the scorched doors. “And something tells me that whatever happened in that wing wasn’t an accident.”
As we neared the vehicle hangar that housed the northern exit, a thin beam of light spilled through an open doorway into the hall. The base had no windows, which meant only one thing.
The exit to the outside was open.
To the other side of the wall. To the chaos and depravity of the Northern Borderlands.
“Fuck,” Cade muttered as he stepped into the hangar.
The reinforced metal garage doors stood wide open. Beyond them stretched an overgrown access road, cracked and neglected, winding straight into dense evergreen forest. The base was completely unsecured.
“Well,” Ryker said dryly, “now we know why Zolkos needed five armed alphas to retrieve his precious files.”
“Yeah,” I said, unease creeping up my spine, “but why would they open this entrance? Anything could get in. Or already be in here.”
Talon moved closer to the doors, eyes scanning the hinges, while Ryker shifted position, gun trained on the treeline, ready for movement.
“I don’t think Zolkos opened them,” Talon said. “Look at the hinges. They’re nearly rusted through.” He frowned. “These doors have been open for a long time.”
“I thought Arca sealed the base completely,” I said.
“Guard dogs,” Killian muttered.
Cade’s expression hardened. “They sealed the entrance facing New Arca so nothing inside could ever get out,” he said. “But they left the rear open on purpose. Anything from the north that wandered in became part of the security system. Killian's right. Living guard dogs.”
He glanced at the open doors, eyes narrowing. “If someone ever forced their way inside to get Arca’s secrets, the creatures would make sure they never made it back out.”
The weight of that settled over us as Ryker tightened his grip on his weapon and Talon continued to scan the hangar. The base wasn’t empty. It was baited.
“And we just walked into it,” Killian muttered.
"We need to take Rowan back to base. Now," Cade ordered.
“No!” I protested immediately. “We're already here! We need to find out what Zolkos was after. The science department is right around the corner. We'll be quick. Please, Cade. I need to know!”
Cade’s head snapped toward me. “That sounded like you were just arguing with me, Rowan.”
I swallowed.
“You said you were going to listen to every command explicitly. No arguments.” His voice dropped, dangerous. “That just earned you a punishment.”
“Worth it,” I shot back without hesitation. “You can spank me as many times as you want later. I don't care. The answers are too important!”
Ryker snorted behind me. Killian looked like he was trying not to smile. Talon muttered something that sounded like, “Unbelievable.”
Cade exhaled sharply, pulling his watch up to his face. He tapped the screen and set a timer.
“Ten minutes,” he said, leveling his gaze at me. “Not a second longer. Then we move out.”
I nodded, heart pounding.
Cade pointed down the hall. “Let’s go.”
We moved as a unit. I stayed between the alphas, and they flanked me on all sides, weapons raised and eyes constantly scanning for threats.
The science department came into view at the end of the hall.
Zolko's team had cracked the wall scanner off its mount, exposing the wires and tampering with them, opening the metal doors that now stood slightly ajar.
Cade and Talon slipped inside first, clearing the room with quick, practiced sweeps. I waited in the hall until Talon popped his head out and motioned for us to enter.
“Find something to barricade the door. I don't want anything interrupting us while we're searching for answers,” Cade ordered.
Killian nodded and immediately got to work, pushing two massive steel desks across the floor and bracing them against the doors.
We all fanned out investigating the space, looking for clues.
The science lab was larger than I expected, and colder too, as if the temperature itself had dropped the moment we stepped inside.
Stainless steel tables lay overturned or shoved aside, and shattered glass glittered across the floor.
Paperwork scattered everywhere in chaotic piles, pages curled and yellowed with age.
Thick layers of dust caked every surface, and open cabinets revealed empty shelves where equipment had once stood.
Someone had torn through this place in a hurry.
Along the far right wall stood a massive glass observation window, identical to the one in the lab back at Falcon City.
Deep gouges raked across the walls inside the chamber, long and angry.
The scientists had kept a shifter inside.
I could almost feel the echo of its desperation clinging to the air.
“Looks familiar,” Talon muttered. “Arca has been experimenting on us for a long time.”
“Five minutes,” Cade reminded everyone as he rifled through drawers that Zolkos had already picked clean. I prayed they hadn’t already taken everything of value.
To the left of the room, there was a small metal door with a plaque beside it.
It read, Dr. Melker. Chief of Science.
This was his office.
I went inside. Just like the main lab, it looked as if someone had gutted the office.
Desk drawers were open, their contents shredded or too heavily redacted to reveal any secrets.
Old monitors sat in thick layers of dust. Folders lay emptied and tossed aside.
Even the bookshelves sat bare, leaving behind only faint rectangles where books had once sat.
Nothing of value remained. Or so I thought.
Behind the desk hung framed credentials, degrees from prestigious institutions, and a large group photograph of men in lab coats. Hoping to recognize a face, I lifted the frame from its hook.
Something slipped free from behind it.
A small object hit the floor with a heavy thud.
“Guys!” I yelled, and they all rushed into the office.
“What is it?” Cade asked, bending to pick up the leather-bound notebook lying on the floor.
“A book, hidden behind the picture. When I pulled it off the wall, it fell.”
“Good find.” Cade thumbed through the notebook. “Looks like Melker’s personal notes. We'll go through them later. What about the picture?”
I set the dusty frame on the desk and wiped the glass with my sleeve. The grime was thick, but as it cleared, a pair of familiar sad blue eyes stared back at me.
Patient Zero.
Nearly a dozen men in lab coats stood around her, along with several uniformed alphas.
She lay on a hospital bed at the center of the group, her eyes hollow and unfocused, her wavy, copper hair fanned across the pillow.
Velcro restraints bound her wrists and ankles, and her stomach was round, painfully large beneath a thin hospital gown.
“She was pregnant,” I whispered.
“There.” Killian pointed at one of the uniformed alphas. The man had a square jaw, handsome features, and cropped hair. He looked disturbingly like Cade.
“Is that…”
“Our father,” Cade said with a grimace. “General Green.”
“And look, Zolkos,” Talon added, pointing to a younger version of the scientist standing in the back.
"That solves the mystery of how they know each other. They were both stationed here, working on whatever Project Flame was…" Cade remarked.
“They were both so young,” I whispered.
Then another face caught my eye.
So familiar, it shocked me.
I almost didn't recognize him without his beard, glasses, and graying hair, but his eyes… those gentle eyes…
My breath caught. The room tilted. A wave of nausea rolled through me.
“Rowan, what is it? What's wrong?” Talon asked, voice sharp with concern.
I tried to speak but pointed instead, my throat locked.
“Rowan,” Cade barked, snapping me out of my fog. “Who is that?”
The tall man at the back of the group wore a medical coat, not a uniform. He was a broad-shouldered alpha doctor. And his eyes… the same eyes that had watched over me my entire life.
“My father,” I whispered.