“I agree. If anyone knows what happened back then, it would be Barnes.” Micah leaned against the wall of the store room, his casual stance belying his own anger. He’d woken to a world destroyed by the drags only to find out the military he’d loved and served had created the destruction. It was not a comfortable pill to swallow. “I still can’t believe the men I followed and admired did this.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m not. You’ve seen how these Marines operate.”
“It wasn’t like that back then, Rain. The military served the people. Protected them. They didn’t steal from them.”
She snorted.
He heaved a sigh. No point arguing with her. In her world the uniform meant nothing but trouble. “Come on, then. Let’s go find Barnes.”
“And Sutter. I promised.”
He nodded. “And Sutter.” But he feared it was too late.
They slipped out the store room door and into the deserted hall with its creepy lighting, or lack thereof. Unlike the rest of the spit-and-polished base, this section had definitely been left to rot. Strangely, Rain felt more at home in this part of the base than in the other parts she’d “visited.”
Rain tried to lead, but Micah held her back. “Let me.”
She grimaced but let him go first. If they came across any Marines, he certainly had a better chance fighting them off than she did.
He led them through more dim, empty hallways strung with cobwebs and coated in dust. Up and down random flights of stairs they trekked, through creaking doors and empty rooms until at last they came to a door marked “Private.” Slowly Micah pushed the door open.
“It’s the back way into Barnes’s lab,” Rain whispered in surprise. “How on earth did you find it? Looks like no one’s been back this way in ages.”
“They haven’t.”
“Then how did you know about it?”
He frowned.
“What? What is it?”
“Jones.”
“Jones?” She was starting to sound like a broken record.
He frowned harder, trying to pull up the memory. “He used to hide back there to smoke. Until the drags got him.”
“Who is Jones? Was Jones, I mean.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I never met him.”
The look she gave him was one of pure confusion. “Excuse me?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. I sometimes get these little flashes of this guy. Of his life. But I don’t know him. It’s almost like a dream. He’s not the only one, either.”
“Uh, okay. Why didn’t you mention it before?” It was all a little too bizarre for her.
He shrugged. “Didn’t seem important.”
She rolled her eyes. “Let’s find Barnes. We’ll worry about this Jones person later.”
He nodded absently and followed her into the morgue. Rain hurried to the banks of drawers along one of the walls. She pulled open the drawer where Sutter’s body lay. It was empty.
“But he was here. Right here.” She began pulling open other drawers. Most of them were empty. A few held bodies, but none of them were Sutter. “Where is he? What have they done with him?”
Micah pulled her away. “It’s too late, Rain. He’s gone.”
“If Barnes has been experimenting on him ...”
“You said he was pretty badly burned. They probably ended up burying him.” More likely they threw his remains out like trash, but she didn’t need to know that. “Let’s find Barnes. Get some answers so we can get out of here.”
She nodded, but she still looked a bit shell-shocked. She turned and headed into the lab with him hot on her heels.
Barnes glanced up from his microscope. “Ah, so you’ve come back. And brought my boy with you. Excellent.” His hand reached for the radio on the bench next to him, but Micah was too fast. He snatched it away before Barnes could use it to call for backup.
Barnes blinked at Micah, a clear look of astonishment across his face. “Goodness me. This is an interesting development.”
“The conditioning is broken, Barnes. I got my memory back.” Mostly.
“So I see.”
Micah glowered at the scientist. “You lied, Barnes. Remembering didn’t kill me. There’s plenty of room for the memories and the Warrior training.”
“Of course I lied, you imbecile,” Barnes said with no small amount of exasperation. “Without conditioning, how were we supposed to control you? With your memories and emotions intact, however, would we have made you do what we needed you to do?” He explained it as though it was the most logical thing in the world, and they were just being silly.
Micah snarled and gave Barnes a little shake. Rain laid her hand on Micah’s arm, as though willing him to calm down. He knew she was right. They needed answers from Barnes, much as he’d like to strangle the man. Micah finally let go of the scientist and stepped back.
“I want to know what you’ve done with Sutter,” Rain demanded.
Barnes frowned. “Sutter?”
“My friend. He was here last time I was. In one of your drawers.”
Barnes shook his head in genuine bafflement. “I’m sorry I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Drawer thirteen. He was burned ...” Her voice choked. “He was burned pretty bad.”
“Ah.” Barnes peered at her through his glasses. “I am sorry, my dear, but his body wasn’t viable. We, ah, cremated him.”
“Is that a joke?” she snapped.
“No. We finished what the dragons had started. Is that not the way of your people?” Barnes gave them an innocent look. Micah didn’t buy it for one second.
Rain deflated. “Yeah, that’s our way.”
“Well, then.” Barnes started to turn back to his work.
“I’m not finished with you,” Rain snarled.
He heaved an exasperated sigh. “Very well. How else may I help you?”
“Tell us about the dragons.”
Again, the expression of bafflement. “I don’t understand. You probably know as much about the dragons as I do. Maybe more.”
“We know the military created them as a WMD.” Micah finally spoke up. He was through playing Barnes’s game. He was well aware that the longer they waited, the more likely it was they’d be discovered.
