Neve snapped her gaze to Wynn. “But what?”
Darwin stepped forward, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes wary. “As suspected, your captain sustained a thoracolumbar fracture.”
Neve frowned. “A broken vertebrae? But he was walking right up until he got into the truck.”
“It’s surprising what adrenaline can do. And it’s not uncommon for these kinds of injuries to manifest hours later, once the swelling intrudes on the spinal cord. I’m sure bouncing along forest roads for several hours didn’t help the situation any, not that it was avoidable.”
Guilt reared its ugly head. How she should have realized he was hurt worse than he was letting on. The pale skin, the hushed curses every time they hit a bump.
Neve stilled the slight tremor in her hand. “Will he be okay?”
Darwin raked his fingers through his hair, looking back at Gus before sighing. “It’s going to be a long road, but I’m optimistic I can help him. Which ties into to why you’re here. Why those men targeted your team.”
Neve perked up, her hand still lingering close to her weapon. “We’re listening.”
Gus moved in beside Darwin. “It might be best if we take this into the war room. That way, you can all sit before you pass out.”
Neve mouthed the words, “War room,” to her teammates, then followed the general down another hallway and into a large room. A long, polished table took up most of the space, a few monitors attached to the wall. She sat with a clear view of the exits, the rest of her team filling the seats around her.
Gus took it all in without saying a word as he stood at the front. He clicked a remote and one of the monitors winked on. “I’ll let Darwin do most of the talking, just know this. What you’re about to hear is above top secret and doesn’t leave this room.”
Neve nodded, focusing on Darwin. He looked haggard, as if he’d been running on coffee and faith for too long, his hair pushed back in a disheveled mess. He placed his folded hands on the table, staring at them as if they might bolt from the room the moment he started talking.
Darwin took a breath, stood, pacing to the far end of the room and back before facing them, arms crossed, head held high. “I’d say it’s nice to officially meet you, but…” He set his shoulders. “What I’m about to tell you sounds crazy but bear with me.”
Neve shifted in the chair. “I shot a man dead center in his vest, then again in the shoulder, just like Kane’s injury, and the bastard acted as if he didn’t even feel it. Another lifted me off my feet by my neck and threw me across the room.” She leaned forward. “With one hand. At this point, crazy’s a pretty low bar, doctor.”
“Remember that once I’m done talking.” Darwin sighed, braced his weight against the wall. “Have any of you heard about a medical protocol called Valkyr, or VKR-1 for short?”
Wynn inhaled, glanced at Neve, then back to Darwin. “It’s an experimental battlefield drug. Blocks pain, increases oxygen absorption, and spikes performance. It’s supposed to give wounded soldiers a boost to help get them out of the kill zone when there’s no other choice.”
She scrubbed a hand down her face, looking a thousand times more exhausted. “Last I heard, it’s on limited capacity to only a handful of teams.” She gestured to Neve. “Like Coulter’s team. The one Neve was on. But as I understand it, the damn stuff’s toxic unless it’s flushed with its counterpart, Katharsis, inside a specific window.”
A hint of a grin tugged at Darwin’s mouth as he leaned against the wall, eyed Wynn. “Someone’s been reading.”
Wynn crossed her arms. “Our unit was on the short list to receive it next. I like to know what I’m potentially giving my teammates before I inject some sketchy miracle drug into their system.”
“I wouldn’t call it sketchy. Of course, there’re risks. But when used correctly, the benefits outweigh them.” He blew out an exasperated breath. “When abused, however…”
Neve frowned. “Are you trying to tell us these men were hopped out on this Valkyr drug?”
“Not exactly.” He sighed, reclaimed his seat. “Several years ago, I developed a drug therapy called AXIS. It’s designed to stimulate nerve function among other benefits, and I’ve been using it in controlled clinical studies to treat spinal and other nerve injuries. But during the synthesis phase, I realized the more potent version had other uses. Ones that could drastically change battlefield medicine.”
Neve eased back in her chair. “Which is your way of telling us that you created Valkyr and Katharsis.”
“I did. But what you saw tonight wasn’t my work. It’s a weaponized version of a variant that combines the two drugs. One that’s still in its infancy and has lethal side effects I haven’t been able to overcome, yet. Limitations Oliver Finch, CEO of Hyperion and my former partner, doesn’t share.”
“You’re saying Finch stole your work?”
“Stole it. Weaponized it, then subjected your team to a live test-fire.”
Neve tilted her head to the side, staring at Darwin as he palmed the table, looked as if he wanted to pound his fist on the top. “Okay, let’s say these men were jacked up on this other combo drug?—”
“TITAN. That’s what I called it, but I have no idea what Finch did.”
“On TITAN, then. How does all of this tie into the general sending us a Hail Mary and you coming here?”
Darwin breathed for a moment, the silence settling like dust. “Tonight, I walked into a secure operations room I wasn’t cleared to enter. One Finch had set up as a monitoring station. And on the main display… I saw your team in the Bralorne backcountry. Under fire. Heavily outgunned. Being hunted by men who displayed traits that were eerily familiar. Along the side of the monitors were portrait tiles — faces and codenames I didn’t recognize, with vitals running in real time. Heart rate. Blood oxygen. Temperature. Stress markers.” He swallowed. “That’s when I realized what Finch had done. That he’d orchestrated the altercation to test his enhanced men against a team he deemed worthy of the challenge.”
