Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 58

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

CHANCE

Shae found me in the library. She stalked in, a smirk plastered over her face, and approached me as I studied my disk.

“I’m surprised you’re not talking Tate’s ear off.”

“Oh, I started to. I mean I had to fill her in on my new viewpoint of metamorphosis as I feel it really applies here, not to mention you and Holland—and this outpost—but uh…we got interrupted.”

She shouldn’t be talking about Holland and I. We weren’t even a thing .

“Interrupted?” I prodded, not taking my eyes from the screen.

“Yup. Anax Mardi wanted a moment with her.”

“Alone?” My eyes snapped to hers. So much for self-control.

“I guess, I mean it was just the two of them. But what do you care, I mean you and Tate haven’t been a thing in a while , Chance. I thought you’d both moved on.” Shae nodded toward Holland who was approaching the table I’d commandeered as my desk. Her face looked tired, worn even. It had been a long week.

“I may have found something,” Holland started, clearly missing the energy at the moment. Thank blood for that.

“What?” I rubbed my hands across my face. I’d been reviewing the decrypted files for the past ten hours, in thirty-minute increments, and hadn’t found much of anything beyond confirming my suspicion that the outpost research lab was indeed studying dark magic. Beyond a few ominous remarks, the reports were glaringly bare.

“This, it’s one of the last reports Shae just sent from the communication from the unknown location to this outpost’s Research Lab, not command.” She projected the screen for us to see as Shae simultaneously enacted a shield around us.

“Here. Look for yourself.” Holland pointed out a specific bit of text that was highlighted for Shae and I to study.

“DMC Round Eight: success. More movement and intelligence rendered. Moving on to round nine. Awaiting candidates,” I read aloud.

“DMC?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what that was either. But I noticed several transmissions coming from a blocked location directly to the lab, dodging command which is against code and regulation.”

“Which would be why it wasn’t flagged higher up in my algorithm,” Shea mumbled, shaking her head.

“Right. After reading several coded transmissions, one references ‘magic’ and another ‘creation’, so I think DMC could stand for ‘Dark Magic Creation’. Either way, it’s concerning. And even if it doesn’t have to do with those things,” Holland paused and looked pointedly at me, “it could concern the data and motivation for the recent attack on this Outpost.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this with the algorithm. I should have had these at the top of the decryption list.” Shae studied the screen like it was holy.

Holland shrugged and leaned across me, her lavender scent filling my nostrils, as she closed the file and opened another. “See this?” She pointed to the locations. “Shae, could you locate the transmission’s location if you follow the response sent from the research lab to the location?”

“That’s brilliant.” Shae looked at Holland with newfound respect. I knew the feeling well.

“Well, you’re not the only one who went to Coders Cottage as a kid.” Holland winked at Shae, red creeping in her cheeks in the adorable way it did when she was embarrassed. She was cute and good in bed, a great soldier, but still…we weren’t a thing. Not yet at least.

“This is good. I can work with this. Give me an hour or two.” Without another word, Shae closed the shield, grabbed her bag, and left.

Holland and I stood there in silence for minutes.

“So, uh did you find anything out?” Holland asked, playing with a stray hair peeking out from her ponytail.

“Not really, vague mentions of dark magic and then of course our reports of the incidents. I did find three other reports sent to leadership here concerning the creatures, but the oldest one dates back two months ago. Then there’s a gap until three weeks ago, then the week of the attack on the SO and EO, and, of course, our reports.” Saying it aloud helped, but still, I felt like I was looking at the picture upside down. I had several facts but couldn’t place them together.

“Dale, if the first attack happened before the attack on this outpost, then…” Holland left it unsaid.

“And we’re back again.” I let out a frustrated sigh. “Holland, I don’t want to have this argument.” Why did she always circle back to blaming my father and our nation? This, this right here is why we weren’t a good idea, not as an item. Working with her could be so infuriating.

“Dale, you’re being stupid and stubborn. Willfully ignorant.” She took a step back, disgust coloring her face.

“I’ll admit that, perhaps, I was wrong about leadership’s knowledge of dark magic. It’s obvious they’ve been studying it, but to insinuate that we are responsible for those things? Things that attacked our men, our outposts. To believe that my father knowingly sent me into harm’s way, not just once but twice, that’s just—” I couldn’t finish the thought.

I wanted to believe my father had a heart, that his only son would be valued, but who was I kidding? He never really cared for me. As soon as my magic screening showed up low, he basically forgot I existed until I made dux last year.

“Look, I know you want to believe in the goodness of the guara, but I think you’re not viewing this like you would if we were investigating a foreign party.”

“We are investigating a foreign party. Three, in fact, in case you missed that in briefing.”

“Dale. Look at this.” Holland pulled out her disk and then a similar cloaking device. “Here. This is the report I was referencing with Shae, look at the date it was sent.”

I looked where she pointed. “April fifteenth,” I whispered allowed. The whole room felt too warm.

“Exactly,” she paused, “and here, it mentions ‘round eight’ insinuating this has been going on before that. Want to know how long between this transmission and one I located that mentioned round ten?”

No, I really didn’t.

“Six weeks.” She grabbed my chin to direct my gaze to her eyes. “Six weeks, Dale. That means that it takes at least three weeks per round, if it’s consistent, and if round eight happened in mid-April, then?—”

“Then our government has been conducting dark magic experiments since last year,” I finished for her.

Closing my eyes, I tried to separate myself from the facts. Holland had a point. Clearly, the Glenn knew more about dark magic than they admitted during the meeting. They were conducting experiments at an off-the-grid facility since last year. The first documentation of these creatures was a month before our borders were breached. How could a foreign enemy infiltrate us without notice for a month and then be caught breaching our borders? The attack on this outpost wasn’t that sophisticated, just minor hacking and doctored security footage.

“Only one way to find out, Holland. You up for a field trip?”

“Look who found his backbone.” She smirked.

I prayed to blood that we wouldn’t find those creatures there.