NAC & The Holly Group - Box set: Alpha Team Page 3

  “Did I ever tell you how I came to find you that day, Ryleigh?” Her Dad was speaking so quietly that he had stopped his pacing and was standing right in front of her. Even with him that close Ryleigh had to struggle to hear him.

  “Yes, you said that you were on a mission and got word that a child was in danger. You tried to go through the proper channels, but all you met with was red tape.”

  That knowledge hurt. From what she could remember plus what she had discovered when she was older, no one had been willing to risk the Abernathy’s wealth and power to rescue Ryleigh. They had connections in the government, along with associations to other unsavory groups. Their influence and power made people, it also bought people. You would think that rumors of a caged child would bring outrage, but in Ryleigh’s case, that wasn’t what had happened.

  “Yes, that is true, but there is more,” Declan responded. “As you’ve already guessed, I’m not exactly human. I am a Shifter. A man who turns into an animal. It was how I was born, Ryleigh. I’m still the man that wiped your nose and bandaged your scraped knees. Human, but more.” Declan expected the shock he was seeing on his daughter’s face. She had noticed things, but she didn’t have the whole truth. Her eyes were open so wide that he could see the whites. Her gasp stopped her breathing and her mouth formed a perfect “O”. Yeah, she might be asking for answers, but she had no idea what he would say.

  Shit, she hadn’t expected that. Shifter? What the heck was a Shifter? She had anticipated that he was genetically engineered like her, but not full-on sci-fi, like he was saying he was a werewolf or something. There were rumors of the military doing tests and procedures for years to try to enhance soldier’s abilities. That is what she had thought this was all about. Not that he was born this way, and if what he said earlier was true about his people, then there were more of them. She hadn’t expected this, she didn’t even know how to rationalize this.

  Too dumbfounded to speak, but too frazzled not to, Ryleigh asked, “But how? I mean, I thought you were like me, created in a lab or something. That the military did something to you, experimented on you. I was ready to expose them, bring them down if I had to, but this? No, this isn’t anything close to what I was expecting. You were born this way? How many other Shifters are there, have I met any? Would I even know? Wow, I have to admit, it’s pretty amazing though and explains so much.” “I mean…” she said excitedly, “you can turn into an animal,” telling him like he hadn’t just explained it to her. “I have so many questions.”

  Declan chuckled, damn, so typical of his little girl. She was always so curious and rarely ever scared.

  “You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat. You need to remember that, honey. It’s more important now more than ever,” Declan explained. “You need to make sure that this information stays in this room. You need to let me vet your people and ensure that this never, and I mean never, gets out. Or the things that you thought happened with the government would happen to us, or worse. Then there are my people, honey, we have strict laws against outsiders having this information. With you and I being blood-related, I think I can spare you, but not the others,” he said, taking her hands into his, hoping that he got his point across, but also wanting some type of normalcy to return to them.

  “So, you’re not even freaked out that I can change into an animal,” Declan questioned. “You want to know what kind I am. Oh, my brave girl, you will never change. The unusual doesn’t scare you, but the unknown and unjust have always had a foothold. I don’t think that will ever change. To answer your question, like I said before, yes, I was born this way and, yes, there are many others. My entire company consists of only Shifters.”

  “Do you turn into a big cat like a lion or a tiger?” Ryleigh said, captivated by the information being revealed. “You mentioned cats. You’re fast, strong, and, well, you have blond hair. You also move with a grace I always thought came from your SEAL training. Oh, that would be awesome, will you show me?” she squealed with excitement.

  “Damn, honey, you always surprise me, never saying what I expect, but sorry to burst your bubble, I’m not a cat. I think if you thought about it long and hard enough, you’ll be able to figure it out or at least get in the right realm. But you have to understand, you were never supposed to know. My community is small, we keep to ourselves, help where we can. Many of us join the military because of our need to serve and protect, but also to alleviate our more animalistic natures. Battle provides an outlet for our animals while still keeping us human. Taking down the enemy helps control the animals within us, giving them an outlet. The structure also provides solid lines. But, honey, I can’t say this enough, this knowledge isn’t to be spread. Do you understand?”

  Gulping Ryleigh managed a, “Yes.” She was still in shock. Her Dad turned into an animal. He could change his body and form, change his species. Was that, even right? No, he was an entirely different species. It didn’t make sense, but it intrigued her all the same. Her brain was telling her it wasn’t possible, but that was because of what she had been taught. Her assumptions were blown wide open. Then there was what he said; battle provided their animals with an outlet. Was the man she loved a killer? Was he not what she always thought, a good and decent man? She couldn’t believe that.

  Lifting off his perch on the desk, he approached her slowly, cautiously like he was apprehensive of her reactions. She couldn’t really blame him because when his hands made contact with her arms, she almost flinched. He wasn’t what she always thought he was, but was he still a good man?

  “I see the battle in your eyes, honey, and, yes, I am the man you have always thought I was,” Declan assured her. “I am the man whose only wish is to keep you safe and cherished. I would never hurt you or cause you harm in any way, please believe that. I’ve never hurt anyone in shifted or human form who didn’t deserve it, and only then while serving my country. All the stuff you told me doesn’t change how I feel about you or how I will always feel about you, and I hope you feel the same. It actually cements it more.”

  Ryleigh desperately wanted to believe him, but there were so many questions. He must have sensed she needed a break because he released her arms and walked over to the bar in the corner of his office; the bar she had bought for him when she turned eighteen, the first time she was able to access her trust. It was in the shape of a globe, but done in all silver and gold. Now looking at it, Ryleigh realized how gaudy it looked in his office. He was a simple man and his preferences reflected that, dark woods, leather, and neutral colors. What had surprised her was when he gave the flashy thing a prime position in his office like he cherished it and always would. Fixing himself a scotch on the rocks, he lifted the glass towards her, offering to make her a drink. She shook her head, “Water, please.” She needed something to get the cotton out of her mouth.

  When he handed her the bottle of water, he walked over to the brown leather couch in the corner of the room. The thing had seen better days, but she knew he loved it. Ryleigh had offered to get him a new one many times, and he would always say, “Just because something is old and a little scarred, doesn’t mean that you get rid of it. It means that it’s well used and soft in all the right places.” She often thought that he was talking about himself, but could never figure out why. He was in his prime, it never made sense. Now, when she needed it most, the ratty old couch offered her the comfort and familiarity she needed. Patting the cushion next to him, Ryleigh complied and took her place. It reminded her of the old times, talking for hours, just like this.

  Chapter 4

  “I need to finish telling you about how I found you,” he said, offering her his hand, palm up. Ryleigh gladly accepted, placing hers in his and squeezing it. They were the same hands she had held often, strong and callused, but also warm and comforting. She had a feeling she would need his strength for what was to come.

  “You are right about some things, honey, but not all,” he continued. “I received information while on a mission that som
eone was trying to create designer babies, babies who could turn into animals. I couldn’t tell my superiors or anyone else about this information, but I could tell them about you, an abused child. I also couldn’t tell them how I got the information because that would raise the question, and someone would want those answers. That’s why I was unable to get the backing I needed to get you out. Rumors of an abused child weren’t exactly on the Navy’s list of priorities, and until I had more, I could only bring in my most trusted men, Shifters.”

  Ryleigh flinched. She didn’t like it, but it was true. The Navy had bigger and worse targets.

  “I gathered all the information I could, but everything was rumor or supposition. The more I dug, the more I found out. I couldn’t risk this information getting out, and I couldn’t let you stay there,” Declan explained. “If humans had the ability to create children with animal DNA, and yours showed even an ounce of Shifter DNA, that information needed to be buried. I had to find out and put a stop to it. The only good thing was the people who paid to create you liked to showboat. They told anyone and everyone in their circle about what they were doing. Even better was that not many believed them. The rumors trickled back to me, and I formed a plan to get you out.”

  “When I found you, I was only able to take a small team that consisted solely of Shifters. Everybody had to swear to secrecy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a paper trail and the computers at the facility you were held had a kill switch,” he said. “Someone tripped it. For years, I’ve been trying to piece together information, but since you never showed any signs of shifting or of an animal nature, I had to assume that those people were talking out of their asses, that you might have a small part of my race, but it would never touch your life.”

  “You assumed. Dad, I know you better than that. You never assume anything,” Ryleigh gaffed. Ryleigh got up from the couch, the soft overused cushions tried to keep her where she was, but Ryleigh was determined. “You're still keeping things from me. This is my life. If you want to keep the Shifter thing to yourself, fine, but you need to tell me the things that affect me.”

  “It’s not that simple. I’m a Shifter, more specifically a Dragon shifter. I am the only one left of my kind. I never had you tested because I couldn’t trust anyone outside of the NAC teams, and we didn’t have the resources to do that sort of testing. I also needed to keep you safe. You have to understand, there hasn’t been a female shifter in over a hundred years. I couldn’t exactly come clean if I wanted to keep you safe.”

  “Oh, my God. A dragon. Are you serious? No way!” Ryleigh was starting to get worked up again. Dragons weren’t real. They didn’t exist. Never existed. Why was he doing this to her?

  “Male shifters can conceive shifter babies, Ryleigh, with humans,” Declan explained. “But only males can produce them, and even that is a random occurrence. It’s not a given. Female Shifters, when they existed, always created Shifter children. Do you understand where I am coming from?”

  “Our race’s numbers have been declining over the years. Shifter births are becoming less and less probable.” He continued. “If there was a way to change that, those females would be aggressively sought after. Not only that, but if humans knew of Shifters existence, then they would want to exploit, analyze, and contain. That is human nature at its best,” Declan said sarcastically.

  “It’s not as simple as saying, ‘hey, honey, I’m a Shifter, but it’s okay because it doesn’t really matter’,” he quipped. “Or, ‘Hey, honey, you might have some Shifter DNA which would make you a target, but, hey, I promise to keep you safe.’ You have to understand I’ve been trying to find answers for years, but it’s like trying to find a needle in a fucking haystack,” Declan said exasperatedly.

  “After finding you, my leads were all dead ends. You have to understand that,” he said looking to Ryleigh, hoping that she understood his decisions. “I had to keep much of the information I found under wraps. I was still active duty, only retiring when I found you. Even with pulling in all the favors I had, the military doesn’t move fast. You have to remember that the first six months we were together we stayed on base. I could only look so far without raising red flags.”

  “The Abernathy’s locked everything down tight until you were about sixteen. Shit, honey, I really didn’t think that I would ever have to tell anyone all that I had learned,” Declan admitted. “By that time, you only thought they were after you for the money. You could make them countless dollars with your skills, but that wasn’t all. The group that they contracted to create you had very specific rules and the Abernathy’s didn’t follow them. That company destroyed them, taking all their money and influence and flushed it down the toilet. I was glad for it, but they wanted it back.”

  Ryleigh didn’t want to remember that time either. Her incubators had paid to have her Dad killed under some misguided notion they would get her back. Little did they know, Declan had made other arrangements, just in case. Ultimately, the vile people were caught and detained. Ryleigh would never come in contact with those people again. They died while incarcerated, and she didn’t feel the least bit of remorse about it.

  “So, you know now that I’m a Shifter, and that there are others. You also know that you carry animal DNA. What else do you know, Rye?” Declan asked. “You need to tell me where all this information came from. It’s bigger than both of us now, and I need to be able to protect you and try to protect your team.”

  Ryleigh sighed. Damn it, she believed him. He wasn’t trying to keep her in the dark for some nefarious reason. He wanted to protect her. She could relate to that, but he was right, this was bigger than just the two of them. Ryleigh decided that it was her turn to reveal what her operatives found.

  “We were on a mission to find a teenager who had been kidnapped on a school trip. When we finally tracked her down, it was to a facility owned by a company called The Pandora Group. Beside the knowledge that a company would commit such a crime, nothing stood out. My team went in and got the girl,” she explained.

  With a squeeze to her dad’s hand, Ryleigh got up from the couch. It was now her turn to pace, like father, like daughter. “What they found when they got there was disturbing. The girl was being kept in some kind of medical facility, strapped to a table and sedated. The facility was well guarded and staffed. Nothing added up. We were prepared for a kidnap and ransom, this was anything but. My team created a diversion and was able to get in relatively undetected. One of my operatives didn’t like what she saw, so she decided to deviate from a simple search and rescue to an intel gathering. She planted a virus in their server and downloaded as much information as she could.”

  “When we started combing through the data, there were videos included…” Ryleigh paused, “and those brought back memories. I remember the doctors and scientists calling me an animal when I was younger. I also remember them desperately trying to free my so-called animal. I thought they were nuts at the time, but for some reason, I forgot all that. Hearing them do the same to the girl brought it all back.”

  “The data provided some information,” Ryleigh explained. “Pandora released a contagion that would only affect people with a particular DNA structure, at least that was what they thought at the time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case. Shifters, as you called yourself, became sick and would seek out medical attention. Since the contagion was only released in certain areas, Pandora paid medical personnel to contact them if and when someone came in with symptoms. They would then be instructed to take specimens, specifically, blood, tissue, and semen from those affected people.”

  “Further investigation proved that the medical personnel had been paid vast sums of money to keep quiet. We aren’t sure how many people or Shifters were affected or tested. The records that we obtained weren’t that specific. We know the time frame, location, and payouts. Since those payouts were random, some getting more, some getting less, never the same amount, we can’t determine an actual number.

  “These were all rural clin
ics or doctors’ offices. Most only kept paper records and some none at all. The only thing we know for certain is there is a Doctor who was connected to it all. Once they obtained the specimens, they were forwarded to him. Dr. Albright Franklin was his name,” Ryleigh revealed, pacing faster.

  She wanted to see some type of recognition of Franklin's name in her Dad’s eyes, but there was nothing. He was waiting for her to finish.

  “After finding that out, we found more information regarding the experiments. Apparently, myself and five other women were in the first batch of this breeding program. There are details, but no names, dates, or locations. We were only able to conclude that one of the children was, in fact, me by the mention of my incubators.” Ryleigh never used the term parents when referring to the people that helped in her creation. They were not mom and dad to her, ever.

  “He used the semen collected to impregnate unwilling or unknowing women,” Ryleigh disclosed. “We know that the semen was from Shifters. What we don’t know is how he enhanced the embryos. The information we have, plus my own test results, show that we carry more than one Shifter’s DNA, but we were also enhanced.”

  “Dr. Franklin funded his experiments by offering a designer baby to the highest bidder. However, the Pandora group deemed my group, the first batch of experiments, failures. We held the DNA, but not the ability to Shift. They dismantled the project, but Dr. Franklin continued.”

  “Fuck, none of this is good,” Declan exclaimed. “What about males? Did these experiments produce any male children?”

  “No, only females,” Ryleigh replied. “We were specifically engineered to be female. Males were to come later. They were supposed to become super soldiers, trained from birth. Females were first, to get money to fund the male project.”

  “My God, this couldn’t get any worse,” said Declan.

  “Anyway,” Ryleigh continued, “the project was closed down. Pandora stopped the program because the initial six were considered failures and the funding was stopped. Franklin went into private practice and all was supposed to be back to normal. Except it wasn’t, he never stopped.”