Chapter Three
DR. EDWIN LANG stared at the girl in front of him and made more notes. He wasn’t terribly impressed with the progress the Level 4 subjects had made, but at least some of them looked to be viable.
In the two months since their evacuation from the Portland facility, he’d spent the majority of his time adjusting to their new environment, making the lab his own. Duane, his assistant, continued to improve their surroundings. The few mutants they’d managed to take with them needed constant care, as well as hefty security.
Duane and the new Circ security had spent the majority of their time making sure no one else escaped. A few casualties had already resulted, and Edwin needed all his medical staff on hand for more important tasks. Like fixing his prime group of Circs.
He shook his head, wondering if he had a chance of success after all. He still had a difficult time understanding how the A series had managed to escape. The obnoxious Gideon Spencer had been behind most of it, no doubt because Alex Palmer had turned traitor. The bastard.
“You can’t possibly believe what you’re doing is ethical.” The slight woman tugged at the bonds holding her fast to the lab table. He’d positioned her upright so that he could study her vitals and measure the progress he’d made with the EL13 serum to date.
He checked her stats, ignoring her continued complaints. Perhaps he should have gone back to dosing his volunteers without them knowing. It had certainly done wonders for Bailey Duncan, and he hadn’t been forced to listen to a boring diatribe about his affront to humanity.
“Did you hear me?” She narrowed her gaze.You’re a horrible man. What you’re doing it wrong. Let me go, damn it. This hurts.
He refused to rub his temples while mentally shielding his satisfaction, excited about the strength of her telepathic abilities. Definitely stronger than they had been. Yet, her yammering about moral responsibility grew tedious.
Hmm. He remained on the fence about this one. Physically, Kennedy Knight met the requirements he’d been looking for when he’d chosen her to be a part of his new Circ program. Not only did Kennedy fit the part—healthy, beautiful, a lack of family to miss her—but she had a telepathic power that seemed to sate his new species of Circs.
Unlike Dr. Elliot Pearl, the original genius behind EL12, the Circe Serum, Edwin had realized early on that the result of the genetic recombination in their subjects created a beastlike intelligence that was a separate and psychic force. History had shown that Dr. Pearl’s second batch of Circs did much better at surviving the formula than the original seventy-eight servicemen he’d trialed.
Of those seventy-eight, only five had survived and become the supersoldiers the government had expected. Due to such a high number of failures, and the subsequent violent repercussions when their experiments interacted with civilians they considered prey, the government had scrapped the project. But Dr. Pearl had continued on in private, manufacturing Circs who could be sold to the highest bidder.
Unlike his mentor, Edwin knew to keep a low profile. He didn’t use government or military resources. All of his research had been privately funded. And his Circs easily passed for human. Dr. Pearl’s Circs looked monstrous when changed, but Edwin’s men needed only specialized contact lenses to hide their elongated pupils. Even better, he’d chosen Circs gifted with extrasensory perception to benefit from the EL13 formula he’d perfected. Which made their adjustment to that beastlike sentience an easier transition.
Thus far, he’d made millions selling the services of the enhanced mercenaries he’d created. Or rather, his benefactor, the now deceased Amelia Norton, had made money. With her death and the destruction of his laboratory in Portland, he’d been forced to move to his secondary station on the island.
Though the new batches performed well enough, none of them had the power that the A series Circs had. As it was, he felt stalled on his B series, especially dealing with that psychotic Caldane. Edwin had been forced to go back to the drawing board, this time with the Level 4 group.
All had progressed as it should there, but the arrival of the psychics had so agitated his Circs that he’d been forced to move the Level 4s to this satellite facility. He didn’t care much for Texas, but hidden in the middle of suburbia, no one knew to look for them here.
And if danger did hint around the corner, Charlotte would let him know.
He smiled. “You know, if you were more like Charlotte, we’d get along just fine.” He made more notes. Kennedy’s hormone levels tended to fluctuate when he didn’t exercise her enough.
“Charlie’s a prisoner, the same as the rest of us,” she spat. “Someday you’re going to get yours, Lang.”And I hope to be there to see it happen.
Her mental shout sent a spike of pain between his temples.
He glared. “That’s quite enough.” Grabbing a nearby syringe, he stabbed her in the thigh, taking no pains to be gentle. Pleased at her indrawn breath, he shot her full of an enzyme to complete her transformation. Then he called for his assistants.
A half hour later, he watched from a safe spot in his viewing room. Kennedy lay unconscious while two of his recovering B series waited for her to revive.
“No permanent harm, gentlemen,” he reminded them, speaking into the intercom.
Nick Myers and Robert Yates turned to the window and nodded. Both men had volunteered to take EL13 for a small fee nearly a year ago. They’d already been aggressive and good at following orders. So Edwin had had no qualms about using them to further his research. Watching their progress against his A series, Gideon Spencer’s team, had been interesting.
Myers and Yates had two other members of their pack, degenerates with incredible mental strength. Amelia had called them monsters, and Edwin agreed. Sheer and Caldane, the rest of the B series, gave him some concern. Sheer’s pyrokinetic abilities, without control, could be hazardous. Thus far he obeyed commands, but as Duane had noted, Sheer had started to pull at his leash. Caldane… Edwin would cross that bridge when he came to it. Cannibalism, though frowned upon by society, did exist as a natural phenomenon.
Spiders, some insects, toads, and even a few human tribes still practiced it. Caldane claimed eating another gave him power. And Edwin had seen enough to know not to be too hasty in dismissing such claims. Still, Caldane proved worrisome.
Myers had yet to recover from Caldane’s treatment. The brash, arrogant Myers had turned into a harsher, more callous creature who reveled in pain all the time. Yates had been Myers’s equal, but now Yates seemed to be more intelligent and better at making decisions. Myers had regressed to a reactive thing better left to obeying orders.
Ah well. So long as he obeyed Edwin, Edwin would let him continue to devolve, if only to see how low he might go. Caldane had served a purpose, Edwin supposed.
Kennedy stirred, and both Circs focused on her.
With so few female Circs available for mating, the men naturally had sexual intercourse with each other. Now with Caldane no longer around to torment his pack members, Myers and Yates took care of each other. As soon as Edwin finished refining Sheer’s ancillary ability, he’d reintroduce the male to their group.
