Back in the ambulance, Adam is laying on a stretcher, his blanket wrapped tightly around him, while Jason kneels beside him, saying nothing, unsure of what he can say to the boy, who, for this first time in years, is outside the hospital.  He notices Adam watching the back windows intently, almost in awe at the passing sights.

“You okay?”  Jason asks, unsure of what else to say.  Adam jumps a bit, startled out of his trance.

“Huh?  Oh, I’m sorry.”  He says, barely audible.  “I don’t get to see the outside much.”  Jason forces a smile, holding back the urge to grab Adam and hug him, wanting to do anything he can to comfort him.

“Well, you’re out now.”  Jason responds.  “And you can see all the sights you want.”

“ill I have to go back?”  Adam asks fearfully.  “I mean, I never thought I would ever leave that place, and I don’t really know what’s outside of it.  I mean, I know what state and country we’re in, but I don’t know like what stores are where and what streets are which and all that sort of stuff.  Where are we going anyway?”  Adam’s thoughts and words race, as he seems unable to process everything that’s happening.  Jason puts a hand on his shoulder and tries to calm him.

“Hey, it’s fine.  We’re just going to a general hospital, to make sure none of your injuries are serious.  If they are, you’ll be treated, and we’ll also try to figure out what he was trying to do to you.”  Jason explained, hoping to reassure Adam.  “We’ll also try to find out who you are.”

“Who I am?”  Adam asked, confused.  “Even I don’t know that.”

“Well, you exist, and we can run your prints, DNA, all sorts of things.  You have to exist in some database.  I think you were probably abducted, and held in that place illegally.”  Jason explained.

“How could that happen?”  Adam asked.

“Well, there was no record of you in there, which tells us you never entered that institution by legitimate means.  There are probably people out there wondering where you are.  I bet your parents are wondering where you’ve been all this time.  Wouldn’t you like to find them?”

“I’ve thought about that a lot before.”  Adam said.  “But what if they’re the ones who put me there?  Or what if they’re dead?  Or if they’re bad people!  I don’t want to find them if they’re bad, but I do if they’re good, but I won’t know until I find them, and by then it’ll be too late so maybe I’m better off not knowing.”  Adam let loose with another series of rapid fire statements, and was working himself in to a mild frenzy.  Jason held the boys shoulders and tried to steady him,

“Hey, calm down.”  Jason said plainly.  “I doubt they’re bad people, and they probably miss you a lot.  Maybe seeing them will help you regain your memories, and you’ll remember how you got there.”

“Who are your parents?”  Adam asked out of nowhere, taking Jason by surprise.

“Oh, no one that important.”  Jason lied.  “Besides, you’re the one we need to worry about right now.  Making sure you’re safe, and healthy.”

“How long will I be at this new hospital?”  Adam inquired.

“Until they can make sure nothing is physically wrong with you.”

“What about after that?”  Adam asked, once again presenting a question Jason had an answer to.

“Well, once you’re physically safe, I’m having you transferred to another psych hospital, where you’ll be safe and cared for.  A close friend of mine is in charge of it, and I know she’ll treat you well.  You’ll be there until she can help you through any emotional and mental issues you have.”  Jason explained, knowing that if anyone could help Adam, it was Frankie.

“And then?”  Jason had no answer for this, and he had not really given it any thought.  From what he could tell, Adam was more than treatable, and could probably make a full recovery with the right therapy and meds, but where he would go after leaving Pine Hills was something Jason had no idea of.  He didn’t want Adam to wind up on the street, but he wasn’t sure where exactly he would go.  First they had to locate his parents, and if they were above board and trustworthy, he could be released in to their care.  But if they couldn’t locate them, or if Adam’s fears about them being bad people were true, Jason was at a loss.

“I’ll think of something.”  Jason said, smiling confidently.

4.

Tuesday, the 24th.

            The phone rang, and rang, and rang.  Jean threw pillows, clothing, candles, and a pistol at it, but it wouldn’t stop ringing.  Her girlfriend wasn’t here to stop the ringing for her, which meant Jean had to drag herself out of bed and stop it herself, which was not a task she looked forward too.  It was cold and early, which meant Jean wanted to remain in bed, with the covers pulled tightly around her, and no noise interrupting her blissful sleep.  But the wicked phone would have none of that, and continued to ring, and ring, and ring.  Finally, throwing the covers off herself in anger, Jean leapt out of bed, and padded over to the computer desk where the phone sat.  She picked it up, thinking to herself that the call better be about something extremely important, or she was going to start shouting.

“What?”  She said, half asleep, in to the receiver.

“Jean.”  A friendly voice on the other end addressed her.  “It’s Mr. West.”

Jean woke up a bit more, assuming that if Mr. West was calling, it was indeed a matter of some importance.

“Hey.  Sorry, I was asleep.”  She said, sitting down in the office chair next to her desk.

“Asleep?  It’s three in the afternoon.”  He said.  “Nevermind.  Have you spoken to your mother, or Jason, or anyone since yesterday?”  He asked, clearly not aware that Jean had spent most of yesterday playing video games in her underwear.

“Nope.”  She replied,, leaving out the details as to why. “Is something happening?”

“Yes.”  He responded.  “I’d like you to meet Agent Ellis at Pine Hills.  He’s been there all night, along with his wife.  They had to receive about 42 new patients.”  He explained calmly.  Jean found the sleep fading from her mind as she heard this information.

“42?”  She asked, in disbelief.  “Like, at one time?  What the hell for?”

“I’d rather you hear it from Agent Ellis himself.  Jason will join you there this evening, but he’s currently working on a case related to all this.”  Mr. West explained.  “Now, hurry over there.  Please don’t go back to sleep.”  He said, dashing Jean’s hopes of sleeping a bit more and then blaming the traffic for her tardiness.

“No problem.”  She said.  “Talk to ya later.”

--

            A gunshot rang out, as Samantha Carter strode confidently through the gently falling snow, confronting those before her.

“Now listen up.”  She said, in as stern a voice as she could muster.  “You people can protest all you want, but if one more shot is fired at our building, I will not hesitate to gun down each and every one of you! Is that clear?” She said, staring at the large group, a mix of religious right wingers and deep ecologist luddites.  They all stood before a research lab, in which biotech applications were being tested for the production of medication on a very small scale.  Many people were enthusiastic about the possible uses of this knowledge, but others were not, and a group of protesters has been gathered in front of this building for the past two weeks, claiming that the lab was made up of evil scientists playing god and refusing to live within nature’s bounds.  Things had been fine until a few of these maniacs began taking potshots at the building.  No one was hurt, but a few windows were broken, and the building had bullet holes in it as a result of this.  Samantha was on loan here, essentially, offering her expertise to the team.  She was fed up with the constant harassment, and was more than willing to make good on her threat should anyone open fire again.  As she turned to head back inside, her cell phone rang.  Answering it, she heard the voice of Calvin Sagan.

“Hey Sam,” he spoke. “What’s the good word?”

“Hey.  I’m still at the lab.  We’re having some problems with a few protestors, but I just told the, off.”  She said, smiling.

“Always ready for a fight.”  He joked.  “Listen, I’m sure you’re having fun with that, but we need you elsewhere, in your capacity as an M.D.”  He said, as Samantha entered the building.

“No prob.  When and where?”

“Now, and at Pine Hills.  Agent Ellis will fill you in on the details when you arrive.”

--

            Snow falls gently to the ground beyond the cold windowpane, as Marueen Dawkins stares out the window of the room her and her husband occupy in the St. Moritz Winter Resort.  A cup of Chai sits beside her on a small table between her chair, and the second, empty chair in the room.  Her husband is currently sitting at a nearby table, in front of a laptop, seemingly lost in thought about something or other.  The day has long since come to a close, and both Steven and Maureen were too worn out for further skiing or hiking, hence their retirement to their room.  Neither were ready to go to sleep, but they had no clear idea of what they wanted to do, hence their sitting here in silence.

“Ever wonder if the true nature of the universe is that it’s really just enclosed in a single subatomic particle, and is part of another universe, and it’s an infinite regress both ways?” Maureen asked, absent mindedly, not really taking her own assertion seriously.  Steve’s eyes darted towards his wife, and he sat in silence for a moment before answering.

“Not since that time I got stoned with David and West in DeNang.”  He said, largely joking, although there was truth to the comment.  Maureen smiled.  “Any particular reason you ask?”  He inquired, for no specific reason other than to make conversation.

“Nah.  Just throwing random thoughts out in to the aether.”  She said.  Steve’s cell phone rang, and he promptly answered it.  He had given no specific instructions forbidding calls during this trip, but he wondered if it was something important all the same.

“Dawkins.”  He said.  Maureen looked towards him, wondering who was calling and why.

“Yeah?”  He said.  “That’s pretty fucked up.”  Maureen was unable to piece together much of the conversation based on this.

“Who is it?”  She asked.

“Will” He replied.  “Seems there’s some trouble stateside.”

--

            “Tell me why you dragged me out of bed to come up here, Grant?”  Jean asked, still tired and irritable.  Grant simply smiled in response, hoping to annoy her by not letting it get to him.

“Morning!”  He said, grinning.  Jean scowled in response, but said nothing.  “As you can see, we have quite a situation here.”  He began walking towards a meeting room down the hall.  “Let’s go in here and discuss the matter, away from prying ears.”

Jean followed Grant in to a small room with a conference table, primarily used for staff meetings; it was currently empty, which suited their purpose well.  Grant took a seat at the table, as did Jean.  After a lengthy explanation, Jean could see this leading to all sorts of trouble.

“Well,” she said “so much for not doing anything important today.”  Jean fiddled with a button on her coat.  “So, I assume you want me ready to catch Jason if he falls?”  She asked, concerned for the well being of her brother, feeling that he was setting himself up for another crash.  Grant nodded.

“Yes.”  He said.  “And to kill anyone if need be.  I want you around here today for covert security.  You’re one of our most efficient operatives in this area.”

“Sure thing.”  Jean said.  “Is there anything in particular I’m looking for?”

“Not yet.  Just look out for anything strange, especially unidentified people snooping around.  Any one of the patients could be the key to unraveling this mystery, and we can’t rule out the Org making a desperate attack to take them out.”

“Wouldn’t attacking Pine hills be a bit brazen just to hide something?” Jean asked, as the hospital had a reputation of one of the MJ-12 facilities not to mess with.

“We don’t know what they’re hiding.”  Grant explained.  “If it’s important enough, they might feel backed in to a corner.”

Jean knew he was right, although she had not brought her firearms with her..

“I’m unarmed.”  She said.  “There are guns around here, right?”  She asked.

“Yes.”  Grant said.  “There’s a secret security complex in the basement.  Frankie can take you there and get you set up when she gets a break.”

A sudden loud rapping against the door interrupted the conversation.

“Who is it?” Grant called out, suspecting that some of the other members had arrived.

“It’s me.”  Samantha called, followed by her slowly opening the door and entering.

“Hey mom!”  Jean said, bounding up and giving her mother a hug.

“Hey Jeannie.”  She responded.  “Haven’t seen you in a few days.  Hi Grant.”

Jean returned to her seat, and Samantha took one next to her daughter.

“So, I see we need to clear our schedule for the rest of the week.”  She said.  “Frankie filled me in on a few of the details, including the current situation of our prince.”  Samantha said, setting her purse on the table.  “I guess I’m going to be doing a few exams, right?”

“I would imagine so.”  Grant said.  “This Adam kid, who is one of our clones, seems to be one of the primary elements of this whole business, so I want you to give him a look once he gets here.  I’m sure Georgetown General is competent, but obviously we can spot things they can’t.”  Technically, Samantha outranked Grant in MJ-12, so he couldn’t order her to do anything, but among the council and their outlying operatives, rank was rather fluid, as things were done in a more democratic fashion; besides, Grant was in charge of orchestrating this operation, so it was his call unless anyone had any serous objection.

“Other than that, I guess Frankie would like your assistance with anything that comes up.”  Grant said.

“Of course.”  Samantha said, expecting that Frankie would want to work in tandem with her.  “I should probably get out there and see if there’s any need for me right now.”  She said, standing up.  “What are you going to do?”  The question was directed at Jean.

“I’m just keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.”  She said.  “I’m good at killing people and stuff.”  Her lips twisted in to a sly grin.  Samantha rolled her eyes, tussled her daughter’s hair, and then left the room.

--

            The sun was sinking behind the trees and the wind was picking up, casting a chill over the exterior of Serenity, where now only law enforcement agents remained.  Inside, Agent Carpenter and Agent Lynch stood at the front desk of the facility, drinking coffee, and making small talk.  They had been working nearly nonstop, on very little sleep, as the constant barrage of discoveries left little time to sleep, and the chilling nature of many of them left little desire to close their eyes.  Now, after a hard day, they felt weary, and hungry, and their minds turned to food.

“Thai?”  Lynch suggested.

“That sounds good.”  Agent Carpenter replied.  “Any place you have in mind?”

Before a response could be formulated, another agent came running up to the dup, his face pale.

“Sirs, we found something hidden in the basement.”  He said, out of breath, and seemingly on the verge of a panic attack.

“Woah, calm down agent.”  Lynch said.  “Now, what did you find?”

“You’d better see it for yourself.”  He said, the color still draining from his already pasty complexion.  They followed him through the halls of the building, and to the entrance of the basement.  Upon entering, they noticed that many of the agents and officers looked shaken up; they also noticed a hidden doorway that had been concealed by means of a storage shelf.

“We noticed the scuff marks on the floor where it was moved.”  The agent said.  “What we found, well, it’s right through there.”  He motioned to the doorway, which led in to another room.  “You guys can have a look, but I’m not going back in there.”  He said, very defiantly.  Lynch and Carpenter looked at each other nervously, both wondering what on Earth could be in that room that would spook a trained agent so much.  Without saying a word, they slowly marched, side by side, to the doorway, and entered.  Inside was something they had not expected;  it was a large room, with a number of storage bins to their right, worktables and various tools to the left, along with what looked like bloody butcher knives.  At the far wall was a large metal door, to what appeared to be a walk in freezer.  But it was what was in the center of the room that caught their attention.  A large device, like a giant meatgrinder, was bolted to the floor, and attached to a hydraulic system.  The device had “corpse grinder” scrawled on one side in white paint.  The end of the device, there the ‘meat; would come out, was outfitted with a large mesh basket like apparatus, like a basket on the end of a guillotine or chopping block.  Below this was a drain in the floor, and the area around it was stained with old, dried blood.  The agents stood in silence for a moment, before Agent Lynch finally spoke.

“This can’t be what it looks like.”  He said, slowly approaching the device.  Agent Carpenter followed suit.

“Although it’s difficult to tell from a cursory exam, the blood does look human.”  He said.  “I’ll examine those storage bins, Agent Lynch.  Perhaps you should take the tables.

This suggestion was followed, and Agent Lynch found himself regretting it right away.  The tables were covered with bloody knives, drills, hammers, and strange pointed and edged things he could not even begin to name.  Serrated edges, hooked ends, barbs, and thin wires were some of the many things that made up these instruments, most of which looked to have been thrown together down here.  The tables had large cutting blocks, above which hung meat cleavers.  Agent Lynch summoned up all his resolve not to burst out in rage, disgust, and despair at seeing this.

“Agent Lynch!”  He heard agent Carpenter call out behind him, so engrossed in this twisted display that he had zoned out.

“What is it, Dave?”  He asked, wondering if what was in the storage bins was even worse.

“Bones!”  He said.  “Come look at this.”

It was, indeed, worse.  The small plastic bins were filled with skulls, femurs, ribs, and many other bones, all human.

“My god.”  He said, staring in horror.  “How many?”

“I don’t know.”  Agent Carpenter replied.  “I can’t tell with them packed in here like this.  We need to get these in an open area so I can begin reconstruction, preferably at Quantico or another facility outfitted for this purpose.”

John only nodded, unable to fathom what he was seeing.

“The tables over there, it’s more like a butcher shop than a work table. A lot of meat cleavers and dried blood.”

“I think we can assume,” Agent Carpenter began. “That this device was, indeed, used for what that writing indicates.”  Agent Lynch gave no response, finding the suggestion too horrible to contemplate in full just yet.

“This is something.”  Agent Carpenter said, as he bent over and picked up a femur that had fallen to the floor, and was wedged between two of the plastic bins.  He pulled it out, and held it before himself and Agent Lynch.

“It looks like something’s been carved out of here.  Two squares.”  He said, studying the bone.  “Strange.”

“No stranger than the rest of this.”  Agent Lynch replied, his attention now drifting towards the freezer door on the far end of the room.  “What about that?  I guess we have to look inside it.”  He said, very nervous about what would be found in there.

“It looks like the door to a walk in freezer.”  Agent Carpenter began.  “But I see no labels.  Shall we?”

The two agents approached the door, walking slowly, glancing about the room for anything of note as they went.  They soon found themselves in front of the door, neither one of them eager to open it.

“So, after you.”  Agent Carpenter spoke up, putting the task on Agent Lynch.

“Okay.”  He said.  “But I swear, if we find a body on a meathook…”

The door slid open, and it was indeed a large walk in freezer.  While there were no bodies on meathooks, there were rows of shelves, each stocked with strange, hamburger like meat, wrapped in plastic, but not labeled.  Nothing was labeled, leaving them to only guess at what was what, but they had a few good guesses.

“Well.”  Agent Lynch began.  “That looks like….”  He trailed off.

“A minced meat of some sort.”  Agent Carpenter finished.  “In very large quantities.”

“I don’t feel so great.”  Agent Lynch said, his cool demeanor starting to give way.  “Let’s give agent Ellis a call, and then call it a night for ourselves.”  He said.  “And, let’s head to a vegetarian place for dinner.”

--

            Jason sat in a hallway in Georgetown General, fiddling with a deck of playing cards, waiting for the latest round of tests to end, and for him to be informed of the results.  He was told that this was the last thing they were doing to Adam, and after this, he could go to Pine Hills.  Jason would have to make sure they had an ambulance to take them both there, as Grant had the car, and that’s where Grant was.  Adam was being given a CAT scan, to rule out any immediate neurological damage from whatever was going on at Serenity.  Doctor Ware was at a loss as to how to deal with this case; given how much was done to Adam, he was amazed the boy was even alive, to say nothing of how stable he seemed to be.  Jason had no idea why this was, and wasn’t giving it a great deal of thought.  At the moment, his mind was drifting to the past, seeing faces, the light of whose eyes had long been extinguished.  From bright to pale and then to nothingness; the work of the same forces that had bound Adam.  Jason had no idea how far that went, but he knew enough to be angry.  He wished he had apprehended Lee, so he could be forced to stand trial and be held accountable for his crimes, the number of which were now growing by the hour.  Jason took some solace in the fact that most of the staff that was complicit in this would be fair game, and he would see to it that they were prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  He had no idea of the discoveries that were being made at Serenity, or that fact that what these people were involved with was so grotesque that prosecution would be fairly certain.  As Jason held the Ace of Spades in his hand, gazing at it absent-mindedly, his cell phone rang.  He reached in to his pocket and pulled it out, flipping it open, not bothering to look at the called i.d.

“Dawkins.”  He responded, dully.

“Hey tiger.”  He heard his fathers voice on the other end, which perked him up.

“Hey!  What’s up?  I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

“Well, Will called us, told us you were involved in a pretty unusual case.”  He explained, skirting around the reality of Majestic-12.

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”  He said.  “I’m at Georgetown General with someone from Serenity.  Grant is at Pine Hills.  Everything is kind of confused right now.”  He said, realizing how haphazard this was, and how he had not spoken with Grant in hours.  He was far too in the dark for his liking.

“I should et in touch with Grant soon.  I’ll be leaving here and riding with the ambulance to Pine Hills, since Grant has the car and I have no other way to get there.”

“Well,” Steve began. “I guess it’s a new twist on carpooling.”  Jason smiled.

“Right.  Hey, the doctor just came out.  I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure thing kiddo!”

Jason put his phone away, not currently concerned with rules about cell phones and hospitals; he was an F.B.I. agent, and had to remain in contact, if he was to serve the their representative here.

“So, what’s the word?”  Jason asked Dr. Ware, who looked notably calm.

“Well, we can’t find any brain damage of any sort.”  He said.  “Bloodwork showed a number of unusual compounds, as you suspected, but we can’t identify them.”

“I want you to send that info the F.B.I.”  Jason said.  “Our forensics teams can take s swing at it.”

“Other than that, he’s good to go.”  The doctor said.  “Though I should say, working with him, I can’t identify any signs of abnormal behavior.  I’m no psychiatrist, but he seems to be functioning normally.”

Jason could not tell him what he knew about Adam being held there illegally, or the lack of any legitimate records on why he was there.  The investigation was ongoing, and  he couldn’t reveal the more sensitive details.

“Well,” Jason said. “If that’s all, I need to accompany him to Pine Hills.  My fellow agent took the car over there, and I have no way to get there unless I ride with the ambulance.

5.

            The Unfortunates.  That’s what some of the staff had nicknamed the newcomers from Serenity, based on the abuse they had suffered.  None of them were proving a problem, and getting them in to the wards was going smoothly.  Jean leaned back in a chair in the main reception hall, which looked more like a hotel lobby that the admitting center of a mental hospital.  She had been watching for anything out of the ordinary, but so far, had seen nothing of the sort.  She would have been dozing off had she not slept in so late, but she did, and instead of being tired she was simply bored.  Jean was searching her messenger bag for anything to pass the time with, but found nothing; a free daily paper, a pack of St. Moritz cigarettes that belonged to her girlfriend, whom she was on tenuous grounds with at the moment, and her cell phone.  She wished she had brought her GBA, but it was no use spending too much thought on that oversight right now.  Things had calmed down considerably in this area in the past few hours, as most of the newcomers had been moved to the appropriate wards.  With nothing happening and no one that needed a beating, she decided to simply relax and wait for Jason to arrive, so she could begin her task of overseeing that disaster-in-waiting.

--

            Grant leaned against the wall, his head down, himself lost in thought, as his wife tried to hold herself together while attending to the many tasks that had presented themselves as a result of the influx of new patients.  They had been informed of the profoundly disturbing discovery at Serenity; of the giant meat grinder, the bones, and the human butcher shop, and neither was finding this news easy to take.  While it would make prosecution of the staff that much easier, it certainly threw a confusing wrench in to the gears of the investigation, as it was now put upon them to determine what exactly that facility was being used for, aside from grinding up bodies.  Answers would not be forthcoming, and the two best agents they had, Agent’s Lynch and Carpenter, had called it a night, as they were badly in need of rest and nourishment.  Fortunately, both agents vowed to get an early start and resume their investigation, which is something Grant was grateful for, as the discovery they had made might have sent those with less resolve running as far away from this assignment as possible.  Grant glanced up at his wife, who was looking tired and ragged; both of them had stayed at the hospital overnight, and neither had showered or eaten very much.  The fatigue was clearly getting to her, but things were finally calming down, which meant they could actually go home this evening.  You wouldn’t be able to tell that from the screams coming from the safe room, however.  Frankie looked through the small window in to the padded space beyond, where one of the Serenity patients was extremely agitated.  She never liked using these rooms, and only employed them as an absolute last resort, which is what was so troubling and noteworthy about the current occupant.  Sedatives seemed to have no effect whatsoever, and no one could determine why.  Grant wondered if it was something they had done to him at Serenity, either by accident or design.

            “You can reach me on my cell phone if you need anything.”  Frankie said to a nurse, and then walked away from the door.  She was ready to get some rest, but there was one more task that had to be taken care of.

“Hey,” Grant began “I think they arrived a few minutes ago.”

 

Pages 21-30.