“Money we don’t see. They control everything, Mike. We’re as fucked as those animals are but we aren’t locked in cages. For all we know, they could put a bullet in our brains when we’re not useful anymore or just take off without us.”
“They wouldn’t dare. We know too much to leave behind and Randy isn’t going to kill one of his men unless he thinks he can’t trust someone. I worked with him far longer than you have. He might be a prick but he’s a stand-up guy for his crew. He’s all about loyalty. You fuck that up and you will be dead.”
“Shit.” The dark-haired guy shoved his fingers through his close-cropped curls. “Okay. I’m just sick of this shit. I just want to get to Russia and start my life over.”
“Me too and we’re so damn close. We just need to capture a primate. You heard Doc Elsa. They want a complete set, they’ll pay enough for them and we’ll finally get out of this shithole.”
“Right.” The guy nodded. “I used to clean floors, damn it. How the hell did this happen?”
“We worked for the wrong damn place,” Mike muttered. “Let’s worry about getting this bastard to the other room without him killing us and take it one day at a time. We’ll get to Russia and hell, we’ll buy us a few of those hot brides we see on the internet all the time.”
“Yeah.” Greg reached behind him and pulled out a Taser gun from his waist. “Let’s get him.”
Brawn didn’t speak as he watched the two humans approach the cage. He’d heard enough to know they were too afraid to be lured by the promise of money. They wanted to capture a primate Species and he worried about the officers mixed with that DNA who traveled between Homeland and Reservation. He watched with rage as they shot the drugged male, hit him with enough volts between the two guns to make him lose consciousness and entered 919’s cell. They lifted the limp male and carried him away.
They said they weren’t taking the male to mount Becca. They could have lied but he doubted it. Humans were cruel, enjoyed inflicting emotional pain and they would have taunted him with the knowledge if it were true. A growl tore from his throat as he began to pace the confines of the cage. Where is she? What are they doing to her? Why hasn’t the task force located us?
* * * * *
“Why isn’t she on something if she’s his girlfriend?” Dean looked confused.
“Because they can’t get a female pregnant yet, moron.” Doctor Elsa glanced at Becca and shook her head. “See what kind of idiots I deal with? Get her up, Dean.”
He wasn’t gentle as he helped Becca sit and pulled her off the exam table. She shivered, inched away from the guy and watched the doctor walk back to her desk to stare at the monitor.
“Do you know why he chose you? Did he ever say why he was attracted to you specifically?”
“No.” Becca hugged her chest.
The bitch turned and smiled coldly. “Do you care about him?”
“Yes.” That wasn’t a lie. She didn’t want anything to happen to Brawn.
“Good. Follow me.”
The doctor strode out of the room and Becca followed, the goons right on her heels. They turned in the opposite direction from which she’d come and walked farther down the hallway to a closed door. The doctor paused and glanced at one of her men.
“Is he ready, Ray?”
“Yeah. They stunned the shit out of him, got him all tied up good and he’s shaking off the stun-gun effects.” He tapped his ear. “He’s secure. Mike said it’s all good.”
Becca didn’t like the sound of that or the way the doctor smirked, seeming amused at the news. The door swung open and Randy stood there. He looked surprised at finding anyone on the other side of the door and two more men stepped next to him.
“Move out of the way. I’m going to show our guest what we do here.”
All three men backed up to allow the doctor admittance and Becca hesitated long enough to get a hand shoved against her back to propel her forward. She turned her head long enough to see it had been Ray who had done it.
She turned back and halted again, her mouth fell open and a soft, horrified gasp passed her lips. The pacer, the New Species from the cage, had been moved. He’d also been totally stripped naked, was chained upright, spread-eagle, near the back wall and he snarled loudly at the sight of them.
The overhead light fixtures where what they’d attached restraints to. His ankles were locked to what appeared to be large concrete blocks with metal pins inside them. He was very muscular, didn’t have a lot of body hair and his cock was erect. Becca jerked her gaze to his face, refused to glance lower to see that sight again and wanted to set him free. Doctor Elsa turned, stepped to block Becca’s view and smiled coldly.
“It’s primitive but effective. We tried to move the equipment to their cages. It would have been easier to string them up from the bars but there aren’t any electrical outlets close enough. We’d have needed hundreds of feet of extension cords. It compromises the equipment if there’s a short and we can’t risk it.”
“Why are you hurting them?” Becca whispered. “What are you doing to him?”
A hand lifted and the doctor jerked her thumb at her prisoner. “Blame the people who interfered with my research and his kind. I wasn’t left with a choice once they were discovered. We were lucky to get out with three of them and that’s only because we got a little notice first. Your boyfriend is spliced with large cat DNA. I wasn’t able to get one of those. Oh hell no. I got stuck with only dogs.”
“Doc…” Randy stepped closer. “Why are you telling her anything at all?”
“Shut up.” She shot him a glare before her hand lowered and she peered at Becca. “I need your help.”
“No way.”
“You don’t even know what I want from you.”
“I don’t care. The answer is no.” Becca took a step back and bumped into Ray. Her body inched forward to avoid touching him any longer. “I won’t help you.”
“I’m wanted by the police and the FBI. I’ve lost everything.” Anger deepened the other woman’s voice. “They seized my home, my car, my bank accounts and even arrested my husband, thinking he knew what was going on. He wasn’t a big loss but it hurt that they hauled my parents in for questioning. I am not spending the rest of my life in prison for trying to make the world a better place.”
“Is that what you call working for Mercile?” Becca’s temper flared. “You tortured and abused New Species. You held them captive in prisons all their lives. How dare yo—”
“Oh shut up,” the doctor snapped. “Our research helped. That is the important factor in this. People benefited from the research we did before it ended. The test subjects aren’t really people, weren’t created to ever live outside the testing facilities and are no different from rats or mice used in experiments.”
“You’re nuts.” Rage poured through Becca. “And pathetic.”
“That might be but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re going to help me.”
“Never,” Becca swore vehemently. “You won’t get away with this.”
“Who is going to stop me? This warehouse was abandoned three years ago and nothing will link me to it. Randy’s cousin used to work here until it went out of business. I found buyers in Europe who are sure they can find a way to artificially inseminate women with the sperm from them.” Her thumb jerked over her shoulder at the restrained Species. “Their scientists believe they are so damn smart and can figure out what we couldn’t for years.”
Dean snorted. “They are never going to breed those things.”
Doctor Elsa rewarded him with a smile. “They are smart enough to know that the sperm dies quickly after leaving the canine-spliced subjects. It’s some kind of weird side effect with their mutated genetics. It isn’t viable for long after it’s released from them.” She pointed to a corner. “Do you know what those are?”