Shire Bottom Chronicles

Chapter Twenty-Two

The sun had already dipped below the horizon when Bane gathered his associates into the conference room at Crimson Inc. Lucifer, D'Arcy, Ben, and Mordecai sat in rigid silence as Bane flipped through paperwork stacked on the table in front of him. Every piece of information they had on Evan Jaleski, Frank Lewis, and Edwin Harker. His blood boiled just reading through the phone conversations between the three men. He looked up when the door opened, and James walked in.

"You wanted to talk to me before Matt gets here?" James asked. He hastily straightened his shirt collar. He had tied his shoulder-length red hair back into a ponytail. Bane didn't tolerate sloppiness and made a rule that everyone had to look presentable for meetings.

"Yeah, we need to get your camera set up." Bane withdrew a pair of contact lenses from a small box. Designed by Crimson Inc. last year, they had a tiny microchip and sensors built in. "The organization will most likely confiscate your phone once they have you in custody. These lenses will record everything you see and hear. You can take photos by blinking."

"Cool!" James took the lenses from Bane and gingerly inserted them into both eyes. "Komazzi never said we would be using hidden cameras."

"That's because Komazzi doesn't know yet," Bane said and motioned for James to sit down. "You are to recover information at any cost, and whatever you do, Matt cannot know about the plan. I can't risk Komazzi getting involved and ruining it."

"I won't say a word," James said. He grinned, noticing how the contacts also gave him the ability to zoom in whenever he thought about it. "These are awesome!"

Bane shot him an icy glare. "Stay focused. While you're in there, you need to do whatever you can to gain their trust. They'll be more willing to talk if you let them do what they want with Matt. He should keep them distracted long enough for you to gather any evidence you can find."

"Matt's not going to like this," James protested.

"He already knows what they want with him," Bane said. "Frank and Evan were vague in their email conversations, so we don't know what all the organization is going to do. But I'll tell you right now, it won't be pleasant."

James fidgeted in his seat. His mouth felt as dry as sandpaper, but he hadn't brought anything to drink. He remembered the deer in the headlights look on Matt's face when Bane first told them about the mission. Matt had a lot in common with Komazzi. They were very stoic when it came to their feelings. But for a mere second, James had seen absolute terror in Matt's eyes. Then he understood. Bane wanted to use Matt as bait. How twisted could Bane's mind be for him to allow these people to use Matt as a lab rat?

"Matt's going to be okay, he's more prepared for this than you know." Mordecai tried to reassure him.

James glanced up at the blonde-haired doctor. Mordecai knew Matt better than anyone else in the room. He had taken care of him for the last eleven years, and if he felt confident Matt would survive the mission, then who was James to question Bane's authority? The stakes were a lot higher than James originally thought, and he had no choice but to push his fear aside and get this done.

"When it's time for you to leave, you need to take all of the records they collect on Matt," Mordecai said. "He doesn't know the full extent of his abilities, and neither do we at this point. We can't risk Michael finding out."

James nodded. "You got it, Doc."

"If you leave a single paper behind, I will rip out your fingernails one by one. Are we clear?" Mordecai's blue eyes cut through James like a knife.

"Mordecai, stop, now," Bane snapped, silencing the man with a look. "Matt is not our priority. I'll take care of masking the powers. They aren't going to find shit. James, your mission is recovery. Try to avoid casualties, but I need you out alive."