Zolkos’s eyes never left mine. Even pinned, even restrained, he did not struggle.
“Compliance,” he said coolly, “is a fragile illusion when attachment is involved.”
I stilled. "What is that supposed to mean exactly?"
“You refuse to admit what really happened between Patient Zero,” he continued, voice level, precise. “And Dr. Russell. The lovebirds. I brought my concerns to Command, but they dismissed me. They wanted it swept under the rug, but I always suspected Dr. Russell started the fire as a diversion. When the whistleblower files were leaked to the public, it only confirmed my suspicions. He played a role.”
My grip tightened instinctively.
"If he did play a role, it didn't work out very well for him in the end. He's dead. Patient Zero's dead. Even the pup. All charred to dust," I said, releasing my grip on his neck.
"Maybe… or maybe not."
Zolkos reached down slowly and lifted a thin stack of paper-clipped documents from the overturned classified box. He held them between two fingers, almost delicately, before turning them so I could see.
The first page held a photograph.
It was Omega Mills’s father’s file, Aiden Mills.
I briefly remembered having studied the photograph before. An older man with graying hair and round spectacles, unremarkable at a glance.
“What about it?” I asked.
Zolkos picked up another folder and handed it to me.
Dr. Alexander Russell.
I stared at the two photographs, holding them side by side, studying them more carefully this time. The similarities surfaced slowly.
I would not have seen it if I had not been holding them together.
The same bone structure. The same eyes. The same mouth.
They were the same man.
The realization hit hard, knocking the breath from my lungs.
Dr. Russell had not died in the fire. He had become someone else.
“I never believed he was dead,” Zolkos continued, unbothered. “Nor that the pup was.”
“Dr. Russell escaped the fire," I whispered in disbelief, putting the pieces together.
"He must have been the one to smuggle out the Whistleblower Files. Which also means… Omega Mills is the pup,” I said slowly. “And somehow my sons figured that out. They figured out what we had planned for her and assumed that we would eventually come for her when we discovered this information. That's why they deserted!”
“It seems likely,” Zolkos replied evenly.
I turned sharply to the alpha soldier standing at his side. “Captain. Assemble a team. Multiple units. I want the best we have. We are going after them.”
The captain hesitated. “We,sir?”
“Yes. I will accompany your unit in the field.”
His spine snapped straight. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”
Zolkos spoke again, already thinking ahead. “In the meantime, I will continue working on the shifter serum using the limited heat phase slick samples we have. When will Command authorize human trials?”
“Now that we know Omega Mills is Patient Zero’s pup,” I said, “they will approve anything we request. Are you ready for that, Doctor? Human trials?”
