Page 7 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 2

“A kid named Egan Bridger.”

“I don’t recognize it.”

“Me either,” Grant said.

“Maybe not, but you might recognize his mother, Helen Bridger.”

“Refresh our memory, please,” Taylor said.

Painter cleared his throat and Silas nodded to him.

“Helen Bridger was the former admin for Martin Kenston. She was in deep with the Raglan before it disbanded.”

“But we shut down the Raglan,” Grant said.

“We did,” Painter confirmed.

“Did we?” I asked. “Because what Chelle described as the holding cell before she was brought to auction sounded eerily like the old Raglan labs.”

“What are you talking about?” Silas demanded.

“He’s right. She shared a bit about what she remembered with us.”

“And none of you thought to report it?”

“Honestly I didn’t think much of it,” Grant said. “But they’re right. It wasn’t a typical holding facility like we’ve seen before.”

“She said they gave her a serum to force her to shift out of her animal form. Sound familiar?” T asked.

“Well, shit. We were racking our heads to find a link between the Verndari and the Collectors fearing another breach, and you’re telling me that we may be dealing with Raglan leftovers instead?”

“Let’s not jump ahead and sound the alarm on that. We don’t know anything for sure,” Grant reminded them. “A lot of the Verndari are quite wealthy. Even though they are supposed to protect our kind it wouldn’t be a far stretch to find the offspring of one as a Collector.”

“But they know about our kind,” Painter pointed out.

“And clearly they’ve told whoever’s running these auctions,” Taylor pointed out. “Why else would they be verifying shifters using Raglan technology.”

“Raglan technology that Westin Force perfected. Unless it’s the old serum that leaves them stuck and unable to shift,” Grant pointed out.

“Did anyone verify that with the King girl?” Silas asked.

We all looked at each and shook our heads.

“I’ll talk to her,” I volunteered.

Before they could stop me, I got up and went to Chelle’s room. Tapping on the door, I waited for her to answer.

“I heard,” she said through the door.

“So?”

“I can shift.”

“That’s not going to be good enough in this case. We need to see it.”

She opened the door in a robe.

“I figured as much.”

---