Mitch reeled from the blow to the face and stumbled back in the jail cell.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Chloe shouted.
"I was thinking, 'Oh, maybe we can save the world'," Mitch said, rubbing his jaw.
"What have you done to him?"
"Nothing he didn't ask me to do! It was his idea and he volunteered for the first trial!"
Amelia Sage strode into the jail block, a look of thunder on her face.
"Mr. Morgan, if you had approached us with this project we could have helped you. Now we have a potential disaster on our hands, running around in the wild, completely unmonitored."
"Oh, please." Mitch was dismissive. "Jackson came to me specifically because he knew you'd turn him down!"
"If he dies because of what you have done," Chloe hissed, jabbing him in the chest, "I will kill you!"
Mitch had plenty of time to reflect on what he'd done. After Jackson had gone nuts and escaped, the soldiers had thrown him straight in a cell.
He'd had his doubts, when Jackson first approached him. But the more he'd thought about it, the more he knew he'd done the right thing.
He stopped pacing when they let Jamie in to see him.
"I thought you weren't gonna come –"
She slapped him.
"You bastard. I thought we weren't going to have any more secrets between us, and then you go and do this?"
"I told you." Wow, his face was really getting a workout today. "It wasn't my secret to tell."
"Don't give me that crap! Jackson asked you to do something. That makes it your damned secret!"
Then, to his surprise, she burst into tears.
Mitch tried to put his arms around her, but she slapped them away. He tried again and again until she finally let him hold her. She buried her face against his chest and sobbed.
"I didn't want you to get caught up in all this," he murmured into her hair. "Plausible deniability, right? Otherwise they'd lock you up, too."
Jamie sniffled and pulled away. "They're looking for him. He got away and they're looking for him."
"I don't know if I hope they find him or not."
"What did you think would happen after you injected him?"
"Honestly? Not this. He's stronger, faster… Jamie, the changes affected him immediately. If he can jump and climb like a monkey after a few seconds, what can he do after a few hours? A few days?"
"We'll get him back before then," she said. "We have to. We'll… we'll find out what's wrong with him, and then we'll fix him."
"There's nothing wrong with him. He's evolved."
Jamie stepped back from him, a sad look on her face.
"Right. Evan Lee Hartley was evolved, and he ran me off the road. What's Jackson gonna do?"
Two armed soldiers brought Mitch – in handcuffs – to a conference room. Abe, Jamie and Chloe were already waiting for him, as was Amelia Sage.
"Are the cuffs really necessary?" Mitch said. "Come on, I'm not about to go all Tarzan on you."
"I find your attempt at humour distasteful," Chloe said, glaring at him.
"Would have got a laugh out of Jackson."
"I am thirty seconds away from punching you!"
"Again? I'm touched."
Chloe exploded from her seat. Abe's arms closed around her, clamping like a vice. He'd moved so swiftly he must have anticipated her reaction.
"The reason you're here," Sage said, severe, "is because, frankly, we have no idea where Jackson Oz has gone. Conditions beyond the base are dangerous to say the least. We've lost contact with other bases. CCTV around the state – around the county – is inaccessible."
"So we're blind," Mitch said.
"In effect, yes. Jackson is still a valuable resource to us, but I have limited manpower to go after him. I need to know that I'm looking in the right place."
"And you think I can give you that insight?"
"I think all of you can give me that insight. You are the people who know him best, save for his mother, and we can't contact her right now. So I ask you – where would he go?"
"Depends what he's thinking," Mitch ruminated. "When Even Lee Hartley escaped prison, the only thought on his mind was getting hold of the mother cell and making a cure."
"Robert Oz's research suggest that, like Jackson, Hartley asked to be injected with… what are we calling it?" Chloe asked. She appeared to have her anger under control, though her eyes still snapped with energy.
They all looked at Mitch. He held his hands up. They clinked.
"It's… a treatment, I guess."
"A treatment, then. Who's to say Jackson won't try to reverse the process?"
"No." Mitch shook his head. "He'd need more mother cell to do that, and we're the closest supplier. He'd need to come back here. Abe, you know him best – where would he go?"
"We have been studying the Beast Rebellion for many months now," Abe said, thinking aloud. "During that time none of us have had a place we can call home. Moving from hotel to hotel, and then staying at Wilson Air Force Base and Fort McNair." The others nodded, following his train of thought. "I think he will be looking for his home. His childhood home."
"You're sure about that?" Sage asked.
"As sure as anyone can be."
"Right. I have a team standing by. Abe, you're on it, if you want to be."
"And me," Chloe added. Sage nodded.
"Ah, hell," Jamie said. "If it was one of us, he'd come get us."
"And what about you, Mr. Morgan?" Sage asked. "What would you do?"
"He will stay as far away from this as possible!" Chloe spat.
"Whether or not he's in tune with nature now, we need to monitor him," Mitch said. "We need to study him, I guess."
Sage nodded to one of the soldiers. The man stepped forward and unlocked his cuffs. He rubbed his wrists.
"Gear up," Sage said. "You leave in ten minutes."
'Gearing up' meant dressing in army combats and bullet-proof vests. Chloe and Abe were issued with firearms. Jamie – after her encounter with Ben Schaffer – didn't want one.
"Don't I get a gun?" Mitch asked. "I feel I should have a gun. Pointy end faces out, right?"
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't pound your face into the ground," Chloe snarled.
"Oh, get off your high horse," Mitch snapped. "Jackson wanted to do this. And besides, if you'd gotten over yourself long enough to say 'yes' when he asked you to marry him, he might not have come up with the idea in the first place!"
"You go too far!" she growled. "You talk of things you have no understanding of! And you should shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"
"Hey, back off, Chloe." Jamie stepped in between them. "We all have to do what we think is right. Just like you let your sister be tortured because you didn't want to give up our location."
Chloe looked as if she'd been slapped. All her defiant energy seeped away, and when she looked up, she seemed tired and faded.
"I am… I apologise, Mitch. Jamie is right."
Mitch just shrugged. "You're in love with the guy. I understand." He glanced at Jamie. Her small smile told him he wasn't entirely forgiven.
"You might want to save your soap opera for the drive," Abe said, walking past them to climb into the Jeep.
They hit a main road out of D.C then switched to the back roads.
"I think Jackson will be on foot," Abe said. "He will be travelling out of sight, through the forests."
"Well," Jamie said, studying a map as their driver pulled into a rutted, gravelled car park, "if you're right, he'll be travelling through this forest."
They got out of the Jeep. Other vehicles pulled up behind them, spilling more soldiers.
A wolf's howl rose into the cold afternoon air.
"Twenty bucks says Jackson made a friend," Mitch said.
Chloe walked past him, tucking a tranquiliser handgun into the back of her belt. "That is not a bet I am willing to make."
"Hey." Mitch grabbed her arm, pressed something into her palm. "I'd lay another twenty that says you get to him first. You might want to use this in case… well, you'll know."
Chloe stared at the tiny thing in her hand, then slipped it into her pocket.
"Let's move out!"
"OK, so I hate nature," Jamie said a few hours later. She was with Mitch and four soldiers. "I am not an outdoors girl!"
"Oh, I don't know." Mitch trekked along behind her. All he had to remember his broken leg was a scar and a slight limp. "Remember Africa? You took the tranq gun with you when you went to pee? Sounds like you got nature all under control."
In front of them, they heard what sounded like several soldiers trying not to snigger.
"I remember you volunteered to hold the gun. While I peed." Jamie was unabashed, and the sniggers grew a little louder. "But that was right before Ray Endicott got attacked and killed by leopards."
The sniggers stopped.
"What are we doing out here, Mitch?" Jamie demanded, slapping a wet branch out of her face. "Jackson could be anywhere. We're not outdoors folk!"
"We're looking for our friend." His tone implied he was talking to a very simple person. "He is outdoors folk. Therefore…"
A low snarl rumbled from somewhere ahead of them. The soldiers immediately went on guard, training their guns toward the sound.
"Don't shoot them!" Mitch said. "If Jackson's controlling them, we'll never get him to come back!"
"Relax, sir," one of the soldiers called back. "We're using tranqs. We're OK so long as we don't run into any bears."
"And we've got gas for bears," another soldier added.
"That makes me feel so much more relaxed," Mitch muttered.
Three wolves trotted out in front of them. Two more approached on either side.
"However he's doing it, I'd say Jackson's sending us a pretty clear message," Jamie said, looking warily left and right. She'd moved closer to Mitch. "No wolves behind us. 'Turn back… while you still can.'"
"Friends don't let friends drive wolves," Mitch muttered. He took a single step forward.
The wolves – as one – barked.
"Alright! Point taken!"
Abe and Chloe had taken another trail through the forest, but this time Abe was leading, not the soldiers. He felt comfortable being back in a natural environment, even if there were animals out there that wanted to kill him just for being human. He hadn't realise until he'd left Fort McNair just how much the lack of fresh air – the lack of sunlight, the feel of the wind on his face – was messing with his equilibrium.
"It is good to be back outside," Abe said as they marched along. Even though he set a fast pace, he was still keeping a sharp eye for any human-sized tracks. "I do not like to be cooped up indoors."
"I agree. It is nice to be among the trees. And I will continue to think that right up to the point where something tries to kill us."
Abe laughed. "I am pleased to see you have not lost your sense of humour, given everything that has happened between you and Jackson."
She shot him a sideways look. "I thought you weren't interested in the soap opera?"
"Forgive me. I spoke out of turn. I have let things with Kazuko get under my skin."
"I am sorry – I had heard you were no longer together."
"Better that it ended now, before things had become more serious."
"Sounds as if they were plenty serious, Abe."
The big man shrugged. "At least now I know the kind of woman she is. But I am sad. I met her parents, and I liked them."
Chloe hugged him briefly around the shoulders. She had to stand on tip-toe to do it. "Welcome to the wonderful world of dating."
"Hold on." He stopped. "Look at that!"
She came to a halt, her eyes following Abe's pointing finger. Behind them, the soldiers also stopped, checking their surroundings with practiced wariness.
"Tracks," Chloe said. "Human footprints."
"In Jackson's size. And look," he bent to run his fingers over the trampled soil, "wolf prints. I count many animals."
"Do you think Mitch's treatment worked?"
Abe spent another minute studying the tracks. "Oh yes. He is walking in a straight line, not running. His gait is even. And the wolves…"
"Yes?"
"He is walking in the middle of them."
Abe's discovery lent them fresh energy, and they stepped up their pace.
"How old are these tracks?" Chloe asked.
"The first ones I discovered were only hours old." He knelt to study the prints. "These, perhaps minutes. We are so close!"
"We will find him," Chloe said. Her eyes gleamed with a fierce light. "We will find your friend and bring him home."
"He is my friend," Abe acknowledged, "but he is also your beloved, is he not?"
"It is a little more complicated than that –"
"No. It is never complicated. Love is a very simple thing, Chloe, something we may never find in our lives. If you are lucky enough to find it, you should hold on to it."
"But what of the cost?"
"No cost is too high."
They continued in silence for several more minutes. They burst into a clearing – just in time to see Jackson leave it.
"Jackson!" Chloe yelled. She took off like a hare, sprinting across the space between them. Abe and the soldiers followed. Abe's foot caught on a tree root; he went down hard, catching his head against the base of a tree. He was out cold. The soldiers pounded after Chloe, though two remained behind to see to Abe.
Jackson ran through the forest, as fleet and lithe as any of the wolves behind him. Chloe kept him in sight, ducking the wet branches that would have knocked her over, somehow managing to keep her feet as she leapt over roots and dips. She even left the soldiers behind.
"Jackson, please stop!"
"Stop following me, Chloe!"
"I cannot let you do this!"
The wolves – perhaps at some silent command – peeled away and wheeled back around, quickly encircling the following soldiers. Their forward charge was brought to an immediate halt. They didn't shoot – the wolves weren't attacking – but unless they took action, or Jackson called them off, they were trapped.
Chloe plunged on through the thick brush. She came to an abrupt halt when she realised that Jackson had stopped at the edge of deep gulley. Above the sound of her own harsh pants for breath she could hear the trickle of a stream. She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and withdrew the small item Mitch had given her.
"Jackson…"
He faced the edge, hands on his hips. When he turned to look at her she flinched. His eyes held an energy she'd never seen before. The one Mitch had injected was bloodshot, but the other sparked with deep intelligence. The rest of him was dirty and unkempt, his hair and beard a mess, but it was his face she honed in on. She was unable to stop the instant wave of longing that rushed through her.
"Go home, Chloe."
"Only if you come with me." She began walking forward, her pace slow and measured.
"Stop right there."
He looked over his shoulder and eyed the gulley. If he jumped he'd hurt himself. Not badly – maybe nothing more than a sprained ankle – but maybe, just maybe, worse.
"What do you hope to achieve by running?" she asked. She kept coming forward, but her footsteps were smaller this time.
"Time," he replied immediately. "All I need is time. Time to work out what I can do, what I can be."
"What… what have you become?" Her voice was raspy.
"Become is the right word. I have become… myself. What the human race was always meant to be. Connected, Chloe, do you understand that? Everything's connected. When you get right down to it, we're all animals."
"We are humans," she insisted. She'd closed the space between them to five or six feet, and was working on that final gap. "We've risen above our base instincts. We embrace higher thinking, more than just the struggle for survival."
"You've got it all wrong. Life is nothing more than the struggle for survival. You haven't risen above your instincts, you've forgotten how to listen to them." He banged a fist against his chest. "You don't know what they feel like here." He tapped his head. "Or here."
"Help me understand."
Just a few feet now. She held a hand out to him. He stared at it, then at her face.
"I want you as my mate," he said. "I mean my wife. I still do. All you have to do is come with me."
"Alright," she said, nodding. "I will…"
The hand she held out of sight, behind her back, reached for the tranquiliser gun hidden under her jacket.
Jackson's attention snapped to something behind her. A low growl told her that it was another wolf, perhaps one of the ones guarding the soldiers, who'd come to check on the new alpha. She cursed as she realised it would have a clear sight of her fingers closing around the handgun.
His eyes widened as he realised – or was informed! – of her intent.
She grabbed his arm with her outstretched hand, sticking the tiny tracker Mitch had given her onto the fabric of his jacket where he wouldn't see it. As he pulled away she whipped the tranquiliser gun out and trained it at him. Her aim was steady on his chest.
"That was your plan?" he exclaimed. His voice rang with pain. "You were gonna shoot me?" He stepped away from her, closer to the edge of the gulley.
"You are sick, Jackson!"
"And you think you can make me better?"
"Let us try!"
"I'm not sick. I'm evolved. I'll make you all realise that."
He took one more step back. Enough to make him drop over the edge. Chloe raced forward as he fell out of sight.
Jackson had not only landed on his feet in the stream, but had landed without injury and was racing away. Wolves streamed toward him from further back in the forest. She steadied her hands again, sighted, and squeezed off a shot. It missed. Another shot, then another, until all the darts were expelled and Jackson was out of sight.
Chloe collapsed to her knees in the leaf litter, the gun dropped and forgotten. Her empty hands closed on a small, familiar box… the ring Jackson had bought, now abandoned in the grass. She held it close to her chest and sobbed.