“Right, Pete?”
“Right.” Pete, the driver, laughed. “Warm and fuzzies.
You’re too funny.”
“How long until we get there?”
“A bout ten minutes. I wish we were still in Colorado.
It’s too hot here. I don’t know why the doctor had us move 927. We should have just brought her there instead.”
“He wanted to move here. Don’t ask me why. Maybe he gets his jollies knowing how close they are and how oblivious they are to him being so near them.” Mike shrugged. “Maybe he wants to be closer to spy on them while he works and doesn’t want to fly back and forth. It may be because he’s afraid her scent would change if we had to take her that far. We sure can’t load her on a plane. We’d have to drive there. I am just going to hate it next month when we have to transfer ten more of them down here.”
“Fuck. Don’t remind me. Transporting 927 was bad enough. That son of a bitch fought the drugs the entire drive. He bent one of the corners of the cage before you were able to shoot him again. I about shit my pants when I heard him moving. I hit him with enough dope to knock him out for a full day but he woke in less than five hours. I thought we were going to run out of drugs.”
Tammy turned her head and examined the cage she’d been tethered to. Sure enough she saw one of the top corners of the cage had been bent a little. The cage could have easily house a large bear. The vehicle was a full-sized commercial van. She knew that because she drove one for work. The cage took up half the back of the van. She guessed the cage was at least six feet long by five feet high and wide. The bars were fist thick and she guessed 927 was a New Species who’d been strong enough to damage them.
Confusion clouded her mind, the drug still in her system didn’t help, but the picture forming made her horrified and scared. New Species had been given names when they were freed. Only one still imprisoned would have a number. That would mean— Oh my God!
“927 was never freed, was he? He’s still property of Mercile? You work for them, don’t you?”
The thug grinned at her but said nothing.
She had a sick feeling her suspicions were correct. A testing facility had been missed. She had read the papers not too far back about how more New Species had been discovered. The doctor they worked for had to be a Mercile employee and that meant these men worked for that
horrible
company
too.
They’d
mercilessly
experimented on human beings for decades, had done horrible things to them, and now they’d kidnapped her.
“You won’t get away with this.” Her voice shook.
“Hear that, Pete?” Mike grinned coldly. “Bitch, we’ve never been caught because we’re the best.”
Pete turned his head to glance back. “Instead of making threats, you should be saying your prayers. You better hope 927 likes you. He’s killed two other women we gave him to fuck.”
They planned to toss her to the mercy of the New Species who’d bent those bars. The doctor believed she wouldn’t be killed because she carried Valiant’s scent. The horrific clues just kept coming together inside her mind.
The doctor thought that since Valiant was attracted to her that another New Species would be too. She didn’t buy into that theory one bit. Valiant had only been drawn to her at first because she’d been ovulating. It wasn’t until after he’d spent time with her that he’d said he wanted to keep her. They’d fallen in love but, then again, he’d been freed from Mercile, had learned that not all humans were vicious jerks who thought New Species were nothing but animals to use and hurt. The one they were taking her to had probably never known kindness from a human being. It made her close her eyes to fight tears.
She needed to remember facts if she was to survive.
They’d said they wanted to transport ten more New Species and they’d come from Colorado, where the hidden testing facility had to be. She calmed slightly, forcing her mind to concentrate on that information.
Valiant would try to find her, he wouldn’t give up, and they’d have to figure out that jerk of an attorney had taken her. She hadn’t seen him so maybe he’d try to flee the state. Maybe the police would catch him and make him tell where she’d been taken. She clung to that bit of hope.
“Don’t fall asleep,” Mike ordered her. “We’re almost there.”
She opened her eyes and glared at him. “I hope you roast in hell.”
He sat forward and made a fist. “You want to know what a little hell feels like?”
“Don’t,” Pete ordered from front. “You heard what the doctor told us before he left. We aren’t to hurt or touch her unless we absolutely have to. I bet she’s scared shitless and is baiting you to kill her. Can you blame her?” He laughed. “I’d want someone to kill me.”
Mike dropped his fist and leaned back. “Yeah. I’d want to die before one of them got their hands on me too. Fucking beasts. Want to bet on if he kills her or not?
Twenty bucks says she’s toast.”
The driver hesitated. “Sure. I’ll take that bet. The doctor is pretty smart and he’s sure the beast will want to fuck her once he gets a load of how she smells. We’re here.”
“Great.” Mike smirked at Tammy. “We’re under instructions to take you right to 927. The doctor is already here, waiting.”
The van stopped a few minutes later. Pete climbed out and opened the side door. Mike crawled over to a side cabinet and opened it. He pulled out a pair of shackles with a length of chain that was about six feet long. He glared at Tammy as he unlocked the cage and jerked the door open.
“Stick your hands out now.”
“Go to hell.” She hugged her waist, refusing to give him her wrists.
Mike glared at her. “Do it or I swear, you’re going to suffer.”
She hesitated, knew he’d get in trouble if he hit her, but held out her wrists in the end. She could fight but she’d lose. Either way, they were going to take her wherever they wanted so she could go on her own steam or be bleeding when she arrived.
Mike shackled her wrists and tossed the chain toward Pete, who grabbed it and wrapped it around his fist. Mike didn’t touch Tammy, careful not to, as he unlocked the chain securing her collar to the cage.
“Move,” Pete ordered her.
She had to scoot on her butt to the opening of the door. She breathed in fresh air and climbed outside. The collar was heavy around her throat. She glanced around but only saw a white industrial-looking, two-story building. The parking lot was small and overhead lights glared down from above as though it were daylight. A ll she could spot were trees, assuring her the unfamiliar building was remote.
“Let’s go, you stupid bitch.” Pete pulled on her chain.
The metal double doors were locked with a key pad.
Pete punched in five numbers, blocking her view with his body to make certain she couldn’t see. The door beeped and both men led her inside the well-lit, large room that appeared to be an old reception room of some sort.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the building had been abandoned when she spotted broken windows at the back of the room high on the walls or the layers of cobwebs and dust covering a few outdated desks that had been left behind. She tried to spot any clues to tell her what company used to own the place but no logos or names were painted on the walls. They led her down a dark hallway with a lot of pitch-black openings and the smell of mold assaulted her nose. They kept her between them, holding the chains that assured she couldn’t run.
A scary snarl, though faint, came from somewhere ahead. She jerked to a halt and wanted to spin around to flee. The men holding the chains pulled them taut between them, trapping her in place.