9781631054747HerstoBearHoffa (17 page)

“Yes.”

“Well.
You’re just full of surprises,” Bern said.

Sebastian
just smiled and then relayed the information that their pack cubs were most
likely in the lab facility to his pack members. Several growls came over the
radios in response to the news. Good. Bern was glad the wolves were as invested
in vengeance as he was.

“Stop
here,” Bern said.

All
the vehicles pulled off the road and the shifters exited en mass. They formed a
circle around Bern. “The compound is in that direction,” Bern said pointing to
the west. “We need to shift into our animal forms and scout the area. Jenna
said they were being held underground. Look for an entrance to an underground
facility. Watch for cameras, booby traps, electronic surveillance. Our biggest
advantage is surprise. They don’t know we’re coming. We can’t tip them off that
we’re here. Make sure that you are not seen. Meet back here in one hour.”

The
men split up, hid the vehicles in the trees, stripped and shifted. Wolves and
bears slipped quietly into the forest and disappeared. Bern and Bastian
travelled together, a golden bear and black wolf. Though Bern was a very large
bear he moved soundlessly through the woods, his light fur blending with the
fall leaves and trees. The black wolf kept to the shadows, a shadow himself,
darkness personified.

Bern
was drawn to the entrance of the mountain, but it was tricky getting there
without being seen by the many cameras posted along the way. They made their
way around and above the cameras, climbing up the steep incline and coming at
the entrance from above.

They
would have to blow the entrance, and once they did the HUNTS crew would know
they were coming. How many men were inside? And would they be able to get to
the hostages before they had a chance to kill them? Would they kill them to
keep them from being rescued?

Jenna, how many people are in
the lab area?

The four men who brought us
down, the doctor and four guards that I can see at each of the exits.

Have you seen any other guards?

No, but I’ve only seen this
room.

What happened to the men who
brought you?

I don’t know. I think they left,
but I’m not sure.

Okay, little one. We are here.
We’re going to be coming in soon. Be ready. Is there any way you can warn the
children?

All the children are sedated.
Jenna’s voice
hiccupped
a sob.
They
are hooked up to IV’s and out cold. Bern, what are they doing to them?

I don’t know, baby? Have they
done anything to you?

No, and they know I’m awake. The
doctor just looks at me and shakes her head.

Okay, don’t do anything to draw
attention to
yourself
. We’ll be there soon.

Okay, I love you.

Love you too.

Bern
nodded to Bastian and they began to make their way back to the rendezvous
point.

*
* * *

Jenna
sat on the cot in her cage and twisted her hands together. Two weeks ago she
was nothing but a kindergarten teacher in a shifter town. Now she
was
a shifter. Well, almost a shifter,
mated, kidnapped and in a freakin’ cage. What the fuck?

The
doctor walked over to Jenna’s cage and Jenna looked at the floor. Oh shit, what
now. “I’m sorry you have been caught up in this, miss…”

Should
she answer? “Jenna, Jenna Raynes.”

“Miss
Raynes. I am Dr. Elizabeth Montrose.”

“Why
are you doing this?” Jenna asked. “These are children. Don’t you understand you
are taking them from their families? What are you doing to them?”

The
doctor flushed. “I am not harming them.
Only testing their
blood.
It is necessary for the greater good. To find a cure for the
diseases
that decimate
the human population; cancer,
AIDS, ALS, MS, and others.”

“You
are harming them. Look at them! They are unconscious.
In
cages.
Scared, alone, away from their families.
How can you justify what you are doing?”

“Their
blood could save millions!”

“There
are other ways. You could have asked for donations.
Asked the
shifters for blood samples.”

“You
don’t think we tried that?” the doctor screamed. “We asked, we cajoled, we
begged. They all refused. They can heal, they never get sick, they live for
hundreds of years and yet they refuse to share the secrets of their health with
the human race.”

“I’m
sorry, but that is still their right. It doesn’t give you the right to take
what isn’t yours.”

Dr.
Montrose turned her back and paced across the floor. She rested her hands on a
metal table and bowed her head for a moment then turned and paced back. She
stopped at the bars of the cage and met Jenna’s gaze, her look was hard and
cold.

“When
it is your life that is in jeopardy see what decision you would make,” she spat
and turned on her heal and marched out of the room.

Jenna
stared at her clasped hands, what the hell did that mean? Dr. Montrose was a
piece of work, trying to justify kidnapping children because she was going to
save the world from disease. No. Sorry. It didn’t fly in Jenna’s book.

One
of the white coated technicians entered the cage where Sarah was lying and
Jenna stood and walked to the bars of her cage. “What are you doing?” she
yelled. “Don’t you hurt
her!
”

The
man looked over his shoulder at her and shook his head. “Shut up or I’ll sedate
you too,” he barked, dismissing her. He inserted a needle in Sarah’s arm and
withdrew a blood sample, filling three separate vacuum tubes, before exiting
the cubicle. He sneered in Jenna’s direction as he stepped to a counter,
labeled the samples and placed them in a refrigerated unit. The disdain in his
face was
clear,
she was beneath him, less than human.
A lab rat, nothing more.

Dr.
Montrose returned through a door at the back left of the lab, speaking briefly
with the guard at the door. She walked right up to Jenna, who still stood at
the bars of her cage. “I’m sorry I lost my temper. It’s a fault of mine. I am
passionate about my research,” she said.

Jenna
took a deep breath, antagonizing her captors would not get her anywhere. “I
understand. We will just have to agree to disagree.”

“Would
you allow me to take your blood?” Dr. Montrose asked.

Oh
shit! What should she do? If she said no they would most likely sedate her and
take it anyway, and then she wouldn’t be able to help Bern when they came to
rescue the children. They would destroy the lab when they came, so the blood
would never be tested, right? Okay, let them take it.

“Why
would you want my blood? As you said I am only a human,” Jenna stalled.

Dr.
Montrose arched a brow at her. “I think we both know you are more than that,
now
don’t
we? John said you sprouted claws and roared
when they tried to take the bear cub from you. Can you explain how that
happened?”

Jenna
faked a laugh. “I think your man must be on drugs. I may have roared in anger,
as I think anyone would do if a loved one was being pried from their arms, but
my only claws are these.” She flashed Dr. Montrose her manicured nails.

“Why
is it I doubt your veracity?” the doctor asked.

Jenna
shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe you’ve been hanging around the wrong group of
people,” she said scanning the room with a vicious gaze.

“Touché,”
Dr. Montrose replied. “However, you still haven’t answered my question. Will
you allow me to take your blood? It was your suggestion that I ask instead of
take.”

“Hoist
by my own petard. So it was, good doctor. Yes, I will allow you take my blood.”

“Please
go and sit on the cot.”

Jenna
complied and the doctor retrieved a tourniquet, syringe and several vacuum
tubes from a nearby drawer. When she returned one of the guards accompanied
her. She unlocked the cage and the guard entered first.

“Do
not move from the cot or make any sudden movements.” The guard stood to Jenna’s
left while the doctor took up a position to her right. “Extend your right arm
please.”

Jenna
hated needles and doing this in a cage with a guard standing next to her was
really amping up her fear factor.

Bern
reached out to her.
What is it little
one? I feel your fear.

Just being stupid, they are
taking my blood. I hate needles.

Bern’s
growl reached her mind and she almost smiled.
They will suffer for hurting you, my sweet
.

You are such a bear. I can’t
talk now. Ouch!
The needle sank into her arm and Jenna grimaced and looked
at the ceiling and counted to twenty, it would be over soon. She felt Dr.
Montrose switching the vials with a pinch and swore softly.

“I’m
sorry, almost through,” Dr. Montrose said.

One
more pinch as the vials changed and Jenna groaned, the guard stepped closer and
Jenna cringed.

“Stand
down, David, she just doesn’t like needles. She’s not going to attack me for
God’s sake.”

“You
don’t know that,” the guard grunted.

“She’s
human,” Dr. Montrose said.

“Or
not,” the guard replied.

Dr.
Montrose stuck the last vial in her lab coat pocket and removed the tourniquet,
she swabbed the spot with an alcohol wipe and covered it with a small Band-Aid,
patting Jenna’s arm. “Thank you, Miss Raynes. I appreciate your cooperation.”

“What’s
a little blood among friends,” Jenna quipped.

We’re about to blow the entrance
Jenna, brace for an explosion
.

Holy shit.
Okay, standing by.

Dr.
Montrose and the guard, David stepped from the cage and locked the door behind
them just as the explosion rocked the entire building. Plaster fell from the
ceiling, light fixtures exploded and swung loose from there attachments glass
shattered from cabinets all over the laboratory and the technicians and guards
ran like rats in a maze.

It
wasn’t completely dark in the
laboratory,
emergency
lighting came on over the exits giving the space an eerie red glow. The guards
began barking orders. “Get to your lock down positions.”

“Secure
the prisoners.”

The
white coated personnel all exited out a back door and a dozen or more guards flooded
in from other doors.

Jenna
called to Bern.
There are about sixteen
guards in the laboratory now. All the technicians and the doctor have left for
somewhere else.

Thanks, we’re on our way.

*
* * *

The
entrance blew with a mighty blast of rock and debris and the group rushed in,
half in human form and half shifted. They were better fighters in their beast
forms, but there were some things only a man could do, like open doors and push
buttons.

Over the stench of smoke and Primacord Bern smelled a scent
that enraged his bear.
The man who had taken Jenna was
here. Bern scanned what looked like nothing more than a parking lot, though
many of the vehicles now lay on their sides or crushed by fallen debris. His
nose led him to the one he was looking for in no time.

A
white panel van rested no more than a hundred meters from two sets of elevator
doors in the center of the structure.
Undamaged, of course.
As his men swarmed into the building, seeking cover among the overturned
vehicles and structural supports the shots began to ring out.