Dr. Ife put a comforting hand on Hunter's shoulder. He had been quivering and on the brink of tears since learning he had a microscopic radio transmitter lodged in his neck muscle for the better part of two years, and now he was being prepped in her office for its removal.

"Do you know what a biopsy is, dear?" Dr. Ife began to put on some surgical gloves.

"Y-yeah," said Hunter.

"Well, in some cases, the way it's done is the doctor will use a special punch-cutter, like this," and she held up a small, cylindrical steel device between her fingers, "to cut a small piece of skin from your body. We'll be doing much the same thing, but this one will be excising some of your muscle as well so we can retrieve the foreign body."

Hunter quaked. "Oh, ye gods," he shuddered.

"I understand," said Dr. Ife sympathetically. "It won't take very long though, and I'll be giving you a deep, local anesthetic. You shouldn't feel a thing.”

Kai knocked on the office door and the doctor waved him in. He was holding a small vial with red liquid.

"A needle in my neck - again," bemoaned Hunter. "And a chunk of my body removed as well."

Kai brushed an errant lock of hair from Hunter's face as he smiled kindly at him. "Hey, it won't be that bad. You're not going to feel it. And it won't even leave a scar." He held up the vial so Hunter could see. "I haven't had a chance to tell you about this, but now seems a good a time as ever."

Hunter peered at it, rather than the instrument table Dr. Ife was setting up. "Looks like blood."

"It is - sort of," Kai said, grinning like a proud father. "This is probably the best thing our lab guys have ever developed. They call it 'Evermore.' It's a kind of synthetic vampire blood."

Dr. Ife tapped on her table with her folded eyeglasses. "Not that I'm after chasing accolades, but do let's remember who developed it before your 'lab guys' got to it, hm?"

Kai chuckled and winked at her. "Of course. I asked the good doctor here if she could create this masterpiece of biotechnology. See, Hun, vampire blood can do amazing things. It can help heal wounds incredibly fast - both ours and humans. In worst-case scenarios, we can even feed on it."

"Evermore is what I call a 'universal agent,'" the doctor added. "If needed, we can add vitamins, minerals, other medicines, to speed healing and recovery. Today, after I take the specimen from your neck, we will fill the wound with Evermore, and within five minutes, your neck will look like it does now."

Hunter looked genuinely impressed. "Wow," he said. Then he remembered he still had a date with a needle and a medical hole-puncher. "Well... let's just get this over with."

While Hunter sat on Kai's sofa in his office, looking over his completely-healed neck with a hand mirror, the doctor and Agent Myers, a red-headed lab technician with red-rimmed glasses, stood at Kai's desk going over the results of Hunter's procedure.

"It is indeed a radio transmitter," Myers said. "The good news is, it does not have any geo-positioning capabilities, so it isn't being used to track Hunter's location."

"That's a relief," Kai sighed. "That could have severely jeopardized us all."

"There was no sign of growing infection," Dr. Ife chimed in. "As far as I can tell, the device was created and kept in sterile conditions, then added into the solution they injected into Hunter. I have to assume it was the same for each patient.

"That's just it, though - they weren't patients. They were employees," Kai said. "They thought they were getting vaccinated - not becoming test cases."

The phone on Kai's desk began to ring. Myers and the doctor excused themselves. As they exited, Dr. Ife whispered to Hunter, "Hey there: You do him real wonders. He's not acted this lively in a long time. Keep it up!" She smiled and swept out of the office.

Hunter smiled to himself at her words. But the smile was short-lived.

"What?!" Kai yelled down the phone. "This is completely unacceptable! Where was the lookout?"

Hunter leapt to his feet and raced to Kai's side.

"Extend the perimeter and call in another crew to look with you all. I'm getting Calhoun." He slammed the receiver down and jumped from his chair. "Alex is gone."

"Gone!" Hunter followed behind Kai as he threw his office door open and marched toward Calhoun's office. "How could he be gone; I thought he was at a secured safe house!"

"Not secure enough, evidently," Kai growled. Hunter had not seen him this angry before. But as Kai spoke, Hunter could see a pair of fangs growing from two upper teeth.

"They think he escaped," Kai continued, "and if he has escaped in his mental state there's no telling what could happen."

After briefing Calhoun, the three of them piled into his car and drove out towards the safe house, just outside the city limits.

"Hunter, I want you to examine the house," Kai instructed. "You know the most about him; I want you to go over any of his possessions that might still be there. It could help us figure out where he went."

"Taylor, you and I are going to question the agents to see how this could have possibly happened," Calhoun said. His hands gripped the steering wheel. "This kind of laxity is incomprehensible."

They made their way to the safe house around 1 a.m. It was in a desolate area, about a mile from any neighboring structure. There was a wooded area to the left of the property, a small lake to the right. The three men popped out of the car and jogged to the home, where a milling throng of agents was gathered.

As instructed, Hunter made a beeline to the front door, opening it and striding inside. He took a long look at the open floorplan. Sofas in one corner, a bed in another, a kitchenette and a water closet-style bathroom and a privacy shower. Be it ever so humble, Hunter thought. He saw that the narrow window above the bed had been removed.

He walked to the kitchenette first, and opened the small fridge. There were several styrofoam takeout containers inside - the food within left untouched. There were empty containers of various beverages left on the counter. He was hydrating, at least, Hunter reckoned.

He walked slowly around the room, looking specifically for Alex's personal belongings. A few of his shirts were strewn about the floor, and a small suitcase lay on the bed, which had been haphazardly rifled through. Hunter stepped onto the mattress and leaned up to look out the window. He could see the pane of glass sitting neatly on the ground next to a patio chair.

Hunter sighed. Something wasn't right about that. He then gazed at the suitcase left on the bed. He sat down and started gingerly picking through some magazines and more clothing left inside.

He stopped when he saw the faintest glint of silver peeking over a pocket inside the suitcase.

Hunter exited the cabin and ran towards Calhoun and Kai, who were both questioning a female agent. She was standing at attention, hands clasped behind her back.

"Why wasn't the back porch being covered?" Calhoun asked.

"There had been a disturbance in the wooded area, sir," the agent said. Hunter tried to get a glimpse of her eyes, but between the darkness and the extended brim of her hat, he wasn't able to see. He did step closer, in part to watch her reactions, and part for the security of being close to Kai.

"What did you find when everyone got back to their stations?" Kai asked.

"We found the subject had vacated the premises," the agent replied. "I examined the back patio to find the window removed. I assume he used the disturbance as an opportunity for escape, sir."

"That's a load of crap," snapped Hunter. While Calhoun and Kai turned to look at him, the female agent remained at attention. Hunter unclenched one of his fists to reveal a silver chain with a rectangular locket attached to it. "This was Alex's mother's necklace," Hunter said. "It has the last photo they ever took together inside it. He always had it with him - even if he wasn't wearing it, he'd keep it in a pocket or somewhere near him. He'd never go anywhere without it."

He took a breath to keep his worry and anger in check. As he did, he saw some of the agent's fingers twitching. He also saw some light beginning to emanate in Kai's eyes. It was red. He was piecing something together, and it was making him angry.

"A-also," Hunter said, "the window. It's too far a drop for Alex to have removed it from the inside without dropping and breaking it. It's still in one piece next to a chair."

In a split second, a snarling Kai reached and grabbed the agent, yanking her by the lapels. Kai's eyes glowed ember red. "Agent, you had better start speaking, and truthfully. What happened to Alex?!”

Hunter watched the tension and rigidity melt away from the agent as Kai's influence took hold. His anger still clearly filled her with fear, as her response came out ragged and hesitant.

"He's right," she said. "I removed the window. I pulled him out during the diversion."

"Diversion," Calhoun grumbled. "Are you saying..."

"I was offered a great deal of money by a man in a van," the agent said, in a trance. "He gave me a pill to put in Alex's drink. Once he was asleep, he said he would cause a disturbance in the woods, to make the other agents investigate. Then I helped him take Alex out of the window. He said to make it look like he just... escaped."

Calhoun, infuriated, put a hand on his head in silence. 

Kai, eyes still blazing, barked, "Where did you meet the man in the van? Where?!"

"In the woods, last night, during rounds," she said. As she continued to speak, Calhoun signaled to two other agents to put handcuffs on her. "But today I watched him carry Alex past the lake."

Hunter flinched. "He carried a fully-grown man on his own? How big of a man was he?"

"At least six-two," the agent said hazily. "Pretty bulky. Seemed to me he could easily break me in two if he wanted, that's why I felt obliged to take his offer."

"I'm done," Kai said. His eyes returned to their normal state and he let go of the agent's lapels. Her expression changed to one of confusion, then fear, then dismay as she discovered the handcuffs. She cried in protest as the other two agents led her away to a nearby vehicle.

Calhoun snapped his fingers, calling another pair of agents to him. "Check the area of the woods you all go through during rounds and look for any tire marks that would fit a large van," he said.

"Hunter and I will try and trace the man's path at the lake," Kai said. He took Hunter by the hand as they walked in that direction.

"Are-are you alright?" Hunter was unnerved by what had just transpired.

"I will be."

"What's going to happen... to her?"

Kai grumbled. "Best not to ask. You only get one chance with us. Betrayal is the one unforgivable sin."

Hunter let the words permeate the air as they continued in silence around the edge of the lake. Kai stopped when he noticed a footpath made through some tall grass. They began to follow the trail.

Hunter pulled out his phone and turned on the map application. "There's a road about a quarter-mile south from where we're at right now," he said.

"Look," Kai pointed. There was a pair of long curves dug through the grass before their feet. It had been freshly made. "Tire tracks. This was where the van peeled out."

"The guy had to be taking Alex back to InnerCore, right?" Hunter asked.

"It's our best guess for now unless we come up with new information," Kai admitted. "Let's go confer with Calhoun and get back to HQ."