The Baby Shift- Wisconsin Read online

  Lara and the baby were taken to an empty room where she waited for the officer to return, while still holding on to the child. There she waited alone for what seemed like over an hour until the door finally opened and two men walked in. One was the bald policeman dressed in uniform, and the other was a man wearing a black suit and tie.

  “Miss Donatello,” the officer said. “Your story checks out. This here is Agent Stein, and he will be representing the FBI.”

  The man in the suit stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You have no idea what you just did - saving this little boy’s life. Saving his parents from grief.”

  Lara raised her head. "You know his parents?"

  "Yes, ma'am. He's the son of a United States senator. That's all I can tell you for now. You will learn the rest when we get to our destination."

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “We have informed the parents of the recovery of their son. They would like to thank you in person.”

  “Wow! I’m not sure...”

  “They are very influential people.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”

  They were ten minutes into the journey when Agent Stein asked her a question for the first time. He said, “this man who let you take the baby. You do know he’s a member of a terrorist sect, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said, remembering the overly polite man who let her convince him and who she may never see again. “I know, but he believes he is doing the right thing. Somehow, he does.”

  The car, occupied by Stein and Lara who still held the baby at the backseat with a male driver and a woman sitting at the front seat, moved unsteadily through a poorly maintained road with bushes and trees scattered all around. It was nothing like the bubbling urban parts of the city.

  Stein said to Lara. “All terrorists believe they are doing the right thing, Miss Donatello. So please, if you have any information at all about his whereabouts, you can tell me.”

  “All I know is he dropped me at the precinct and drove off.”

  “What car did he drive you in?”

  She glared at him. For some reasons, she did not want to give the FBI any information that could help them find the man. "Did you bring me out here to interrogate me?"

  The man frowned. "Of course not. I'll let you be. You've been more than enough help to us." She was not certain, but she thought she saw him exchange glances with the driver through the rearview mirror.

  They drove through the deserted streets for a few more minutes before the car slowly parked by the side of the road. Lara looked out the window. "I don't see any mansion here. Why are we stopping?" she asked.

  “Drop the baby and get out of the car,” Stein barked.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, confused. The man and woman sitting in front were staring at the windshield in silence. It was almost like she didn’t exist.

  A silver pistol suddenly appeared in Stein’s hand. He pointed it at her chest. “I’ll repeat myself one last time. Drop the baby and get out of the car.”

  She did as he commanded, carefully placing the sleeping baby on the car seat, opening the door and stepping out onto the dark street. He followed her out of the car and pressed the gun against her back.

  “Keep going,” he said.

  “Where?” she asked.

  “Into the bushes.”

  “You’re going to kill me, ain’t you?

  “Shut the fuck up and keep going!” he yelled, causing her to wince.

  She soon walked into the thick bushes on the side of the road, and he followed her in. The street was no longer visible. “A little further,” he said.

  She continued to walk forward. She contemplated making a run for it in hopes that she would make for a hard target in the thick bushes. However, if this man were truly a government agent, shooting her down would be a piece of cake. She had to think of a better idea, but her mind was too jumbled and terrified.

  “Stop,” he suddenly said.

  She still could not bring herself to turn around and look at him. “Please don’t do this,” she pleaded. Without looking back, she could almost sense the barrel of the pistol aimed at the back of her head.

  She heard Stein say, "I wish I didn't have to, but you've seen too much, and the FBI can't have that. We can't risk anyone knowing about the child. He's ours now. Goodbye."

  Lara's heart stopped. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the gunshot she probably would not hear since by then, her brain would have been splattered on the fallen leaves all around the ground. She heard a loud sound, however, but it was definitely not a gunshot.

  There was a thud and then a loud cry of agony from Stein. Lara turned around to see an image that would hunt her for the rest of her life. On top of the agent was a grizzly bear almost twice his size. It had its teeth firmly sunk into Stein's throat, and blood was gushing freely out of the deep cut. When it raised its head and took a step towards her, she lost her self-control. Lara screamed.

  She would have spun around and run for her dear life, but the animal's body began to cave in on itself. She watched in horror and disgust as it slowly transformed himself into a full-grown man. He was big, blonde, and butt-naked.

  “It’s you,” she said, shocked.

  “Yes,” he said, crouching on the ground and covering his front with his arms and legs.

  “Wow! You really are a... shifter bear,” she stuttered, trying to ignore the sight of blood smeared across his mouth.

  “Werebear,” he corrected. “We are all shifters, but I’m a werebear.”

  “I’m confused,” she said.

  “I’ll explain later.”

  A thought struck her. “The baby. I left him with...”

  “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “I... took care of them when they stepped out of the car to look out for witnesses.

  “Oh,” she said, realizing that the blood on his mouth may not only be Agent Stein’s. She noticed him staring at her awkwardly. “What?” she asked.

  "I need a bit of privacy if you don't mind. Need to put on his clothes," he said gesturing at the dead Agent behind him.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll go wait in the car.” She walked away as quickly as she could, her cheeks burning crimson red.

  Chapter 3

  “Are you certain he can help us?” Lara asked as she held the baby and followed him towards the front door of the small bungalow.

  “If anyone can, it’s him,” he said.

  “Who exactly can we trust right now?” She said. “The freaking FBI just tried to murder me.”

  "Well, we can't call on my organization for help. Thanks to you convincing me to give the baby to the cops, they will kill me on sight," he said.

  She asked. “This... werewolf we are going to see. Isn’t he a member of your organization? The Boon or whatever.”

  “Roy used to be part of the Boon. I, Roy, and a friend of ours used to be a fantastic trio. That was until they both defected and went into hiding. They tried to get me to come with them, but I didn’t believe in their cause. I don’t know where Carl is, but Roy trusted me with where to find him if I ever changed my mind.”

  She said, “I’m guessing the cult wasn’t very pleased. If you already knew where to find him, why didn’t you tell them? I mean, he was right under their noses.”

  He sighed. “We may believe in different causes, but Roy was my best friend. I knew what the Boon would do to him if they ever found him. I never betray my friends.”

  They were in front of a brown door. He pressed a doorbell by the side then knocked on it three times, waited for a few seconds, and then knocked three times again. There was silence for a while, and then the door swung open, revealing a man standing in the doorway. He wore a tight leather jacket and blue jeans. She noticed the streaks of grey in between his long flowing dark hair. He also aged a thick beard on the underside of his face.

  “I never thought I’d see this day. Kean Grayson at my doorste
p,” the man said and opened his arms wide apart. She realized it was the first time she had heard anyone say his name.

  The two men hugged. “You look like shit, Roy,” Kean said when they disentangled.

  “Perks of the job,” Roy said dryly. He stared at her. “Who’s she?”

  “It’s a long story,” Kean said. “But she’s with me.”

  “Ooh!” Roy said, raising his eyebrows as he spotted the baby in her arms.

  “No. No. It’s not like that,” Kean said anxiously. “That’s...that’s not our baby. We’re not even like that with each other. Look, we just met, okay?”

  "Whatever you say, big guy," Roy said with a grin. "Come on in y' all."

  When Kean finished narrating the story, Roy did not seem at all affected by the bizarre nature of the entire scenario. It almost seemed to Lara like he had heard or lived through similar experiences many times in the past.

  “That’s some story,” he said. They were all seated on separate couches around a table in the living room.

  Kean raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you believe us?”

  “I do. In fact, I think I may have a slight idea of what may be going on here. I can’t tell you anything for sure, though, but I know who can.”

  “Who?”

  “Carl,” Roy replied.

  “Carl Stevenson?”

  “Yes.”

  “I heard his crazy dad was killed while chasing him around Kentucky trying to force him back into the Boon,” Kean said.

  “Yes. He got married after the psycho died and lived in Wisconsin for a while. Then he started a resistance against the Boon and had to return to Kentucky. I’m head of the Resistance in Wisconsin, by the way.”

  Lara took a glance around the living room. The only thing he seemed to be resisting was a proper housekeeper. As if reading her thoughts, Roy turned to her and said, “I know it doesn’t seem like I have much to do, but I try to play my part when I can. And I’m going to do that right now.”

  He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small object. It was a cellphone, and he handed it over to Kean, saying, "Here. You can reach Carl on this phone. He should have the answer to all your questions and more."

  Before Kean could say anything else, a sharp cry came from the baby in Lara’s hands. He wailed so loudly that both men had to stop their discussion and turn to look at him.

  “He hasn’t cried all night,” Lara said.

  “Probably hungry,” said Roy. “Have you fed it so far?”

  Lara shot him what she hoped he’d recognize as a mean look. “Him, you mean.”

  He stared at her strangely, as if he knew something she didn't and was reluctant to share it. He said, however, "get in touch with Carl while I go get some baby food. No doubt, this child would need a whole lot." He rose from his seat.

  Lara opened her mouth to ask what he meant by his statement, but there was a sudden eruption as the glass window of the room shattered. Gunshots rang out, and she watched as Roy was riddled with half a dozen bullets. Blood splattered on the floor around him as he fell back into the couch.

  “Roy!” Kean screamed. Bending as low as he could, he ran forward to crouch beside his bleeding friend. Lara fell to the floor, making sure to protect the baby who was wailing out loud now.

  The bullets were still flying in, striking the chairs, smashing into the walls, and breaking more glasses around the house.

  “I got hit pretty bad, huh?” Roy coughed.

  “Looks like it,” Kean said, tears streaming down his eyes.

  Roy managed to raise a hand to point at a door. “They’ll have the house surrounded. Behind that door. Loose floorboard in the middle of the room. Tunnel. Leading to the woods.” He coughed one more time and then his eyes slowly closed shut, never to open again.

  Kean bent his head low and sobbed, not minding the barrage of bullets flying over his head. A few seconds later, he seemed to comport himself and turn to look at her, his face still wet with tears. “We need to leave down the tunnel he told us about,” he yelled over the sound of the gunshots.

  Lara held the baby in one hand and crawled the short distance to reach him. “Give me the baby. From this point to the door, there is nothing to cover us from the bullets coming in through the window. So, we have to make a run for it.”

  Lara nodded. She let him take the baby from her. He said, “I’ll go first and open the door, so you don’t have to.” He rose slightly and shielding the child with his big body, he dashed headfirst towards the door. The bullets zipped past him in all directions, but he got to the door safely. Bending low, he turned the lock and opened it, then entered the room, leaving it open.

  Kean beckoned her from the other room. “Don’t forget to keep your head low and run as fast as you can,” he yelled.

  Lara rose just a bit and shot forward as hard as she could. As she moved, Lara felt her feet slip on the smooth floor. She struggled to right herself, knowing that a fall here would mean certain death. Her arms flailed in a bid to maintain balance, and the bullet struck her left upper arm, hard. Lara had never been shot before. She was not expecting the pain and force with which the bullet hit her. However, she managed to stay on her feet and nearly dived into the other room through the open door.

  “Shit!” Kean exclaimed when he saw her bleeding arm. He held her right arm and helped her to her feet. “Stay calm,” he said. “I’ll get you out of here. I’ll keep you safe.”

  Watching her arm bleed out on the floor, Lara was shocked that a large part of her heart believed those words more than she had ever believed anything else in the world.

  Sweat dropped off Kean’s face as they ran through the woods to nowhere in particular. The house was over fifty yards behind them, but neither Kean nor the injured Lara was willing to stop running.

  “I think we are far enough now,” Kean said.

  She stopped running and bent over, clutching her bleeding arm. He said, “we need to do something about that.”

  Lara shook her head. “I’ll be fine. We need to get out of here as soon as we can.”

  "This phone has Carl's number. I'll give him a call now. If anyone can get us out of this mess, it's him."

  “Who were those people back there? The Feds?” she asked.

  "No. The FBI has a more subtle approach. Those shooters were from the Boon."

  He found Carl’s number on the phone and made a call. When the person on the other end picked up the phone, Kean remained silent. He heard his old friend’s voice clearly on the phone.

  “Roy? What’s up? You don’t usually call unless it’s...”

  “Carl, it’s me, Kean Grayson.”

  “Kean? How...why...are you calling as a friend or enemy, Kean?” Carl asked soberly.

  “I have always been your friend, Carl.”

  There was silence for a few seconds, then Carl said, “good to have you with us. Where’s Roy?”

  More silence. “Roy...I did something against the wishes of the Boon. I went to Roy for help, but we were attacked. He...he didn’t make it.”

  Kean could sense the grief from the other end. He asked, “are you okay?”

  “Yes...yes. Where are you?”

  “The woods behind his house. I have an infant and a badly injured woman here with me.”

  Carl said, “You have to get to our safe house, less than a mile away. Once there, I can give you instructions on how to treat this wounded woman.”

  “Tell me where to go,” Kean said.

  He could not help but stare at how beautiful she looked while she was asleep. The baby lay by her side on the bed, also slumbering peacefully. Kean’s eyes fell on her left arm. There was a bandage wrapped around the area where she had been shot. On the floor were bloodstained cotton, bandages, and first aid equipment scattered around the bed. Kean reached out with his hand. He was just about to stroke the hair of the sleeping woman when the phone rang out in his pocket.

  It was Carl calling. “Hello,” Kean said after he walked out of
the room and into a small empty corridor. The house was a small two-bedroom bungalow. He, Lara, and the baby were the only ones in it. It had a kitchen, two bedrooms, two restrooms, a storeroom of food and medical supplies, and a small armory filled with guns and bullets.

  “Is she okay?” Carl asked.

  “Yes. She’s sleeping in one of the rooms.” Kean replied.

  “And the baby?”

  "I made him a meal with some of the food supplies I found in the storeroom."

  “Good.”

  “I can’t thank you enough, Carl. You didn’t have to help us.”

  “All I did was direct you to the safe house and instruct you on how to remove the bullets and dress her wound. You actually did everything to help her. I’m a doctor, and I know that’s the hardest part – the doing.”

  “I did what I had to. She didn’t ask for it. I brought her into this mess against her will.”

  “And you will take her out of it,” said Carl. “But first, there’s something we need to discuss. I just got off the phone with some of our spies.”

  “Did they find out why the Boon and the FBI want this child so bad?”

  “That child,” Carl said, “is not your regular baby. When my father tried to bring me into Boon leadership, I was exposed to things you cannot even dream of. One of those things was the Bio-mod program. It’s been on for over a decade. The Boon has been experimenting on adults and children trying to give them the ability to shift into various animals at will. Elite shifters, they called them. The projects haven’t been fully successful because of the difficulties in getting the human gene to mutate.”

  A door opened up in Kean's mind. A door that had been threatening to burst open ever since he found out the Boon was transporting a child. He stammered. "Are you trying to... Are you saying the child ..."

  “I suspected this when you told me about the secret meeting with Dr. Fitzpatrick. He’s a specialist in genetic science. If indeed he has been pretending to hate shifters all along while he secretly worked with the Boon, then the anti-shifter serum may just be a cover for genetic engineering of shifter babies.”