“You do know that you can come inside the house, right?”Moore asked, looking from Franklin to Reed.
“This was a private conversation,” Franklin said.
Moore arched a brow.“Private?You’re talking on my porch, where everyone in the neighborhood can see and probably hear you.Jolyn said not to say anything, but come on, guys.You can talk inside.”
Reed and Franklin looked at each other.He wasn’t surprised when Franklin shook his head.“We’re done talking for now.”
Moore watched them for a second before nodding.“All right.Come in, then.We’ll go over the plan one last time.”
Reed took a deep breath.This part was almost over.It would probably be over by the end of the day.He just had to breathe and tell himself that everything would be all right.
He wished he could believe it.
* * * *
GETTING INTO THE FACILITYwas easy.Franklin had known it would be since they were expecting him, but there was still a hint of nervousness in him as he drove into the parking lot.It was weird to feel like he recognized this place, even though he’d never been here.Reed had shown him plenty of blueprints and pictures, and Franklin had to be careful not to behave as if he knew where he was going since he wasn’t supposed to.For now, it was easy enough since he only had to park his car and get out.
He did just that, grabbing his backpack from the passenger seat.He took a deep breath as he looked up at the facility.He could do this.For Garrett, he’d do anything, even sacrificing himself, but hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.He just had to get in, convince these people that he was on their side long enough that he’d be left alone, find the back door Reed had pointed out as being the best to get the mutants in, and open it.
Piece of cake.
He made his way to the closest door.When he pushed inside, he found a desk with a man sitting behind it.He looked up when he heard Franklin, narrowing his eyes.Franklin gave him an easy smile and nodded.“Hey.I’m starting work today.”
The man nodded and looked down.“Franklin, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“We’ve been expecting you.”
“Good.Where do I go?”
The man gave him directions and opened the door that would lead Franklin into the facility proper.Franklin tried not to look nervous as he walked through.Thankfully, he didn’t have time to be nervous because someone was already coming down the hallway toward him.
The woman nodded.“I’m Carla.If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to the locker room so you can change.You have experience in this kind of work?”
“I actually worked at one of the Glass Research Company’s facilities in Colorado,” Franklin informed her.“That should be in my resume.”
She nodded but didn’t pay him more attention than that.Reed had mentioned that this facility was a bit of a mess.It didn’t take long for Franklin to realize that Reed had been right.He noticed several breaches of the security protocol just by following Carla.He didn’t say anything.Hopefully, it would play to his advantage.
“I’ll wait for you outside,” she said.“There’s an open locker with your name on it.You can wear the uniform you’ll find in there.”
Franklin gave her his most charming smile.“Thank you.I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
As much as he wanted to linger in the locker room to breathe, he couldn’t afford to do so.He changed quickly, checked that his earbud was still secure and invisible, then went back out, ready to follow Carla wherever she decided to take him.He didn’t know if he was going to see someone else today.He’d expected the head of security to want to meet him, but from what Reed had said, the man was lazy.He was also hard and cruel, though, so eventually, he’d take interest in Franklin.
Hopefully, Franklin would be far away from the lab when that happened.
“You’ll meet the head of security tomorrow.He had an appointment this evening, so he’s not in the building right now,” Carla explained.“I’ll show you around and give you your first assignment.Since you have experience in one of our facilities, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“I’m good at my job,” Franklin told her.
She looked him up and down.“We’ll see about that.”
Franklin wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything.He followed Carla, listening as she pointed out the breakroom, more locker rooms dedicated to the scientists and technicians, and the labs themselves.People were busy behind the wide windows, and Franklin watched them for a moment, wondering if he was about to see his brother behind one of the glass panes.Was Garrett close by?
They walked back to the breakroom without Carla having shown Franklin the prisoners, which was fine.He didn’t know if it was because she didn’t trust him or because she wasn’t sure he knew about them.He decided to say something, just in case.“What about the test subjects?”he asked.“I was assigned to deal with them a lot in my previous job.”
Carla turned, her eyes narrowed.“You worked with the test subjects?”
