The question Rachel had asked plagued Davyn for the next weeks.

His suspicions were confirmed on another late night when he heard talk of weapons of mass destruction and the price they could ask for in order to deliver a weapon such as the world had never seen before.

During a rare moment in which Davyn could meet with Phillip, Rachel and Simon, the four of them came to an obvious conclusion. They couldn't just up and leave. It would only instigate a manhunt, and they would be found sooner or later. It was hard to disappear, especially for Simon and Rachel who might want to start a family soon.

"We could go," Phillip mumbled. "Just vanish. Take the burnt of it. After all..." He nodded towards Davyn. "You can be the cause for the failure of the jewel project and I can take everything about the serum project with me. That way, the two of you can stay on in blissful ignorance."

"You know we can't do that," Simon said. "We won't let you do it either. We can all stay aboard and try to regulate it from within."

"How are we supposed to regulate it?" Davyn snapped. "How long do you think we can dwindle until they'll ask for results?"

Simon huffed. "It took them almost fifty years--"

"They're not going to wait fifty years, Simon. Not anymore. Not when they know I made some headway."

"I think they're right, though," Phillip interjected. "There's no point leaving and being in danger if we can continue to stick around and pretend we're working. The money's good and we're safe."

Yes they were, but what the hell were they doing? The question didn't leave Davyn's mind as he continued his research. He dropped looking into laser theory because he got the general idea and he knew he didn't want to know more just in case the Counters decided to pull information out of him the hard way.

Instead, he continued his investigation regarding the possibility of another jewel being just south of the border. He figured if he wanted to fail, he couldn't be right by accident. Searching through Lindenbrock's papers as well as many other academic sources, he did find clues regarding a supposed temple of the sun somewhere in the Yucatan peninsula. But the temple itself was the stuff of legends, so the jewel inside it even more so. There were a lot of mentions of blood and fire in everything he found, so he wondered if the jewel wasn't actually a ruby and everyone was being overdramatic.

One late night, as he made his way towards his office, a cup of coffee in hand, he started to considered whether it wasn't better to go have a look around. But he wasn't sure the Counters gave time off or if he could slip under the radar long enough to check it out. And as much as he hated to admit it, he needed his team to get through the jungle and find the temple. It was something he couldn't do alone.

When he reached his door, he jumped so violently, he poured half of the cup down his front. He didn't even feel the heat of the liquid as he stared a grinning Benjamin in the face.

"Pulling a late-nighter?"

Davyn did his best to school his expression into an indiferent one, even if he knew it was a bit late for that. "You scared me," he said, hoping the phrase would alleviate any suspicion. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be here so late."

"As much as we appreciate you, you're not the only one who works hard, you know." Benjamin winked.

Davyn navigated around him and had a seat at his desk. It took him a fraction of a second to realize that his research papers were now facing the wrong way and a fraction more to not have any reaction.

"Well, it's not like I have something better to do." He toasted the cup of coffee and took a sip.

"It's very interesting what you've got going here." Benjamin gathered his papers and arranged them into a neat stack.

"I'm glad you think so."

"I've noticed you've given other places a thought."

He had and goddamn it, he'd had everything spread out there. "Of course. After all, there seem to be more than two."

"We are very impressed, Davyn. Very impressed."

He just gave a court nod. He could see the game they were playing, how they were trying to keep him in check with money and compliments. Make him feel appreciated, like he had a purpose. What they didn't know was that he did have a purpose, only it had changed. Experimenting on children and wanting to destroy the peace the world had tried so hard to salvage had that effect.

"If you don't mind, we'd rather you focus on this Mayan jewel you found. The rest can wait until we secure this one."

"It might take some time," he pointed out. "The bulk of what I found is in there, but it's not enough. I still need to fine tune and it's now a lot mire difficult to find anything new."

Benjamin let out a low chuckle. "We know how things work, Davyn." He stood, moving the papers under his arms. "If you don't mind, I'll hang on to these. I'll send out some copies, in case you don't already have some."

Davyn just gave him a self satisfied smirk. "Much appreciated. I haven't exactly been making copies."

Benjamin nodded and let himself out. Davyn waited for a few moments before the smile dropped off his face. He stood and walked to the still open door slowly. Then, he peaked outside to make sure the corridor was clear. Once it was confirmed that he was alone, he shut his door and punched the wall next to it.

"Fuck!" he said between his teeth. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

How could he make a rookie mistake like that? Keeping his research in plain site and leaving his office with the door open? He deserved this! All his work! What if they didn't give him copies.

Oh, but they will. They need me to figure the rest out.

It was the only comfort he had. Curses still flying out of his mouth, he headed for the drawers of his desk and opened the one in the middle. The vials of serum and stabilizer were still there. If Benjamin would've taken those, they would've been fucked beyond belief. He'd not only fucked up his own role, but needlessly endangered Rachel's life.

He was such an imbecile. Thankfully, he'd dodged a bullet.

That very night, he moved the vials into his apartment where he hid them under a loose floorboard under the bed. Next, he moved the copies of his research there. He knew that the apartment wasn't safe either, but it was much better than his office.

When he shared the news of what had happened with the others, they all agreed that they had to be more careful. It became so hard to continue as if nothing had happened, as if they couldn't hear the whispers and figure out what was going on.

"So you're saying there's zero chance to get Harrison and Alan on our side?" Davyn asked one late night in his office with Simon. Rachel and Phillip had once again been dispatched at the labs.

"I don't think it's even safe to ask. They could think we're out of our minds and turn us in before we even have the chance to finish explaining. After all, it all sounds like a giant conspiracy theory."

Davyn hated it, but Simon was right. It was getting increasingly harder to act as if nothing was wrong. Simon was great help, but he found himself wishing Rachel and Phillip were also there. The burden seemed easier when there were four of them rather than two.

Even so, Davyn did his best to continue with his research and provide updates to his higherups while doing his own thing on the side. After a few weeks, he believed Simon could be right and they could pull this off. After all, it was business and there was no need to put himself or anyone else in senseless  danger. Furthermore, it was better to stay on the inside and find out what the Counters were planning rather than run off and be out of the loop.

His resolve lasted even when Benjamin came calling mor often, enquiring about his theories and when they might be able to head out and find another jewel.

"I don't know," Davyn would say. "I have a lot of things, but what I don't have is a starting point. I need to look further into it."

Benjamin continued to smile, but it was becoming strained. It built a sense of foreboding within the compound as Davyn realized his lies wouldn't cut it much longer. He needed something more, so he started searching his computer and the Counters' servers. Seeing how quickly they'd found out last time, he didn't dare break into the physical archive again. He'd escaped unpunished, but he was sure it wouldn't happen a second time.

Of course, he was trash at computers, so he enlisted Simon for this particular task.

"I don't like this," he mumbled, running some sort of program meant to paralyze their defenses. "If they find out we broke into their servers, it could end badly."

"I think it's safer than us breaking into the archives again."

"Yeah, that's true." Simon frowned at the screen and clicked the mouse a few times. "There's a very slim chance they'll find out what we're doing because their protection system is trash."

"That's good to hear."

"Here you go." Simon rolled his chair back and let Davyn take over. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"I don't know." Davyn opened up folders at random, hoping he would find one labeled evil plan or something. "I guess I want to make sure they don't already know more or that we're lying." His attention was drawn by a folder labeled personnel. "Huh. I guess if they think we're untrustworthy, this is where they'd mention it."

"Good point."

He found the folder labeled Grant quickly, but when he opened it, he froze. There were two additional subfolders in there, one labeled Sirius Grant, and the other Davyn Grant.

"Sirius? Is that you dad?"

Davyn couldn't answer. His chest had tightened with a very familiar physical pain. Even if he knew he had no reason to do this right now, he opened his father's file. The first image was his chart with a picture of him. Davyn couldn't focus on him. His entire vision was filled with the red letters across the page.

Eliminated.

"Eliminated?" Simon asked.

His voice was a distant echo as his eyes quickly scanned the document. He continued to scroll, random words jumping at him and becoming ingrained into his very being.

Suspicious. In disagreement with the policy. Attempting sabotage. Must eliminate. 

Drugs. Car crash. Death. The police knocking on the door at 3 a.m.

Eliminated. Eliminated. Eliminated.

"Davyn?"

He scrolled to the bottom where there were some final notes. It listed his entire family, but out of it, only his name was circled with the mention 'to be recruited'. The connotation was obvious. As punishment. He was to be indoctrinated and forced to finish the work his father had refused to do.

And with this realization, he understood something else. If he were to walk out, the Counters wouldn't stop. They'd go after someone he held dear.

But who would it be? Ron? He was too volatile and his brother. He had been ruled out when they'd decided to use him to punish Sirius. Freider? Freider's kid? Would they even go after him when he loathed his older brother with every fiber of his being?

Did it matter?

Did anything matter anymore?

"Fuck this," he said between his teeth.

With a sure hand, he exited the folders all the way to the root of the server, selected everything and pressed delete.

"What are you doing?" Simon sounded terrified.

"It was me. If anyone asks, I deleted the server. You had nothing to do with it."

"But we agreed--"

"I can't stay here another moment. Not when these assholes had my father killed for disagreeing with them. He knew they were up to something nasty, just like we do, and he paid the price for it. You, Rachel and Phillip can continue with the plan, but I can't be here, in this building, for another minute." He stood and grabbed his papers.

"Where will you go?" Simon stood, too.

"I don't know. And I think it's better that you don't know either."

Without another word, he walked out the door not looking back.

The world didn't make sense anymore.

He'd officially lost everything.

♣

The last months of Maxi's pregnancy were horrid. After being concerned with Freider finding out that she had lied, that soon became the last of his worries. She was constantly nauseous and sleepy and even getting out of bed felt like a burden.

Freider reduced his working hours to stay by her side. This, in turn, resulted in frequent fights between him and Ron, but she was to exhausted to play the mediator. All she wanted was for it to be over. She was so sick that she even missed her last appointment with the doctor, and she kept wondering if this was not divine retribution for her lies.

The sense of being constantly unwell burned into her so badly, she didn't even care what Freider would think, about her plans and her lies. The baby was beginning to be a burden she could no longer bear and every second was torutre.

One early morning at the end of August, her water finally broke. Fortunately, Freider was home and could drive her to the hospital right away. The way there seemed to last forever as horrid pain shot from her very core to her sides. By the time they arrived, she was screaming with it, convinced that this was it, she would tear apart and be done with it.

She couldn't remember much of what happened next. One moment she was dying, the feeling that she was tearing apart overwhelming, the next she was surrounded by agitated voices. Doctor Kyle Reynolds came into focus, his eyes fierce.

"What did you do?" he asked, the anger clear in his voice.

Still out of it, sweat dripping down her brow, she lolled her head from one side to another.

"What...?"

"Your child!"

Panic overtook her, and some of the haziness left her brain. "What happened to my baby?" she shrieked.

The image of nurses trying to resuscitate a tiny baby filled her vision for a second before she blacked out completely.

When she came around again, doctor Reynolds was there. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, and for a moment she couldn't comprehend why he was there, where she was. Then the sense of emptiness overwhelmed her and she choked.

"My baby!"

"He's in the NICU, but the chances don't look good." Doctor Reynolds frowned at her. "It was a difficult birth and he's underweight and under evolved. He can't breathe on his own."

Maxi whimpered, tears pooling in her eyes. This couldn't be happening. He'd always assured her that her baby was healthy.

"I need to know," he said, his words rare and firm, "if you did anything to delay the birth."

"What? No! I didn't do anything!"

"Did you drink alcohol or taken any pills?"

She shook her head. "I only took prenatal vitamins."

Doctor Reynolds frowned. "Then I have no idea how this could have happened, but we'll do our best to save your baby."

Save him. He was dying. She hadn't even gotten to see him, hold him, and he was dying.

Her world shattered and fell apart.

♣♣♣

And Davyn is out and done with this shit. He finally left the Counters and is now drifting like a ghost with nowhere to go. The sadness of it all.

Also, welcome baby Kyle! Not in the best way because holy hell, things got out of hand! We need the next chapter to see what happens! We needs it now, precious!

Thanks for your support and a very Happy New Year!!