Body Thief (5 page)
Authors: C.J. Barry
Cam felt her irritation rising. She wasn’t even sure which part of that logic to attack first. “Because I’m a woman? You think I’m no threat.”
Harding smirked. “You’re captive in a detention center. What does that tell you?”
It told her that Mercer was the one she needed to be worried about, and Harding was a dick.
The director planted his hands on the table and leaned forward menacingly. “Look, it’s just a couple of weeks, and you and your accomplice will be free of all criminal charges. We’ll take care of everything you need. And you’ll have Mercer as your handler.”
None of those things made her feel any better, especially Mercer handling her. She’d already had enough of that. In fact, she had a bad feeling she knew exactly why they wanted her. “I’m a woman.”
“As far as we know,” Harding retorted.
“And Mercer’s a man.”
Mercer raised an eyebrow. “Thank you.”
She flipped him the finger and kept her eyes on Harding. “So by ‘get Mercer inside,’ you mean . . . what?”
“Girlfriend. Wife. Whatever it takes,” Harding said, “to make sure he finds their operation so we can take it down.”
She crossed her arms. “Forget it. Mercer here can have a boyfriend just as easily.”
“Female Shifters have a more acute sense of smell,” Mercer said evenly.
She knew that, but who the hell told him? “Says who?”
“Jesus,” Harding barked, pushing back from the table. “It’s not like we’re asking you to do anything that you don’t do every day. Sniff each other.”
Harding had officially moved up ahead of Mercer on her I-hate-you scale. “Like dogs?”
Harding expelled a disgusted huff and turned his assholeness on Mercer. “We agreed that you would secure her full cooperation. I trusted you to do that much right.”
Mercer gave his boss a benevolent look, but Cam noted the subtle vibration under the suit. Mercer was pissed. If she had Harding for a boss, she’d be too. On second thought, she’d just kill him. It’d be easier.
“I will,” Mercer said simply.
Cam glared at him. She might have to kill him first, after all.
Harding snapped. “I don’t call this cooperation.”
“Hello, right here,” she said. “Sorry if I don’t jump at the opportunity to be manhandled by your agents. I’ve seen them in action. I won’t be your sacrificial Shifter.”
Harding sneered at her like she was just that. “You don’t get a lot of say-so here. It’s not my fault that you chose to ignore the laws of this great country for your own criminal gains.”
She could slit his throat in two seconds. She wouldn’t even break a sweat. Her father was the only reason she didn’t.
“The laws of your country only apply to us when it’s convenient for you,” she hissed.
Mercer finally stood up next to Harding. “Why don’t I take it from here, Director Harding? I’m sure you have more important business to deal with today.”
Cam gave Mercer an “Oh please” look that he ignored.
Harding seemed appeased by Mercer’s ass kissing and pointed a finger at her. “Just remember, you could be here forever.”
“And you could be dead,” Cam murmured.
One corner of Mercer’s mouth curled just a bit. Harding was too busy turning red to notice. “Make this work, Mercer.” And then he walked out.
Most of the tension in the small room left with him. Not all of it, because Mercer was still there. Buttoned up in a dark brown suit, crisp white shirt, and tie, he’d spent the conversation studying her. Like a lab rat. She wasn’t taking too kindly to it.
“Harding’s a douche bag,” she said. “Why hasn’t anyone killed him yet?”
Mercer cast a quick glance to the one-way mirror on the wall.
So careful,
she thought. So patient, controlled. And so controlling. She hated being in this position. When she gambled, she knew the odds and chose whether to accept them. This was different and not at all appealing.
So careful,
she thought. So patient, controlled. And so controlling. She hated being in this position. When she gambled, she knew the odds and chose whether to accept them. This was different and not at all appealing.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he said when he finally answered.
She blinked a few times and said, “You’re letting me out?”
He nodded at the guards and held the door open for her. “Unfortunately, it’s going to happen sooner or later.”
As she followed him out the door, past the guards outside, and down a nondescript white hallway, she started ticking off the security setup. Three sets of men, four card swipes, two handprint units, and a chemical sniffing unit. Nothing she couldn’t handle. Hell, if she had twenty minutes, she could get her father out of here . . .
Then it dawned on her why Mercer wasn’t afraid of her doing anything stupid. He knew the odds too. He held her “accomplice” as collateral. He knew she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his safety, and she wouldn’t. Getting
to
her father would be easy. Getting him out alive—almost impossible. Besides, Mercer could use his freeze ray on her if he needed to easily manage the situation. Manage her. Use her.
to
her father would be easy. Getting him out alive—almost impossible. Besides, Mercer could use his freeze ray on her if he needed to easily manage the situation. Manage her. Use her.
Crap. Were there more like him? Was XCEL now recruiting Shifter hunters with specialized skills? She didn’t want to think about that for long. One thing was clear though—she’d make damn sure she kept her distance from him.
They walked out into the warm sunshine. The building was big, gray, and low, surrounded by parking lots and a few trees. The sign at the entrance read White Enterprises, a generic and equally nondescript name.
“Jersey City?” she asked.
Mercer nodded. “Good guess.”
It was just another survival skill on this planet. Know the lay of the land. “Does XCEL know you can see Shifters?”
“Yes. That won’t work as blackmail.”
He was catching on fast. “So you work in the local field office and they use to you locate Shifters and let the troops do the dirty work of catching them.”
“Nothing new there either,” he said. “You can keep trying though.”
Fine, she would. “Your shirt was professionally laundered and pressed. You wear boxers. And you stopped at Starbucks on the way into work this morning.” She glanced at him walking next to her. “How am I doing?”
He stared straight ahead. “I make my own coffee.”
“I’ll note that in your file,” she said, enjoying her small victory. The underwear was a total guess, but it’d worked. Now he could worry if she had X-ray vision.
They walked across the building lot and into a private park that connected to the compound via a narrow bridge. The empty path meandered through cherry trees that wrapped a large pond. Ducks floated lazily on the smooth water. Cam inhaled floral fragrances, felt the warmth of the sun, and pretended she was alone.
“What will it take?”
Mercer’s question broke her small moment of peace. “For what?”
They stopped at the edge of the pond, surrounded by overhanging shrubs. “What will it take for you to buy into this? Money? A new car? Fresh DNA? What?”
Cam crossed her arms. He was negotiating. Interesting. They must really, really need her. “You’re desperate.”
Mercer’s cool gaze didn’t flinch. “I don’t want to have to worry about you killing me in my sleep.”
“I don’t know, that’s pretty tempting. Could take quite a bit,” she countered.
Mercer eyed her. “Give it your best shot, Camille.”
Was he talking about killing him or negotiating? “Call me Cam. My father—” She stopped. She was going to say that her father was the only one who called her Camille.
“Your father?”
She winced. Damn. That was stupid on her part. She licked her lips and noticed Mercer’s gaze drop to her mouth. Then he looked away, at the pond. Too late. She’d seen it, she could use it, and she would. That went into the mental file as well.
Cam said, “If I go along with you, I want a
guarantee
that you will let us both go. In writing that any court would uphold.”
guarantee
that you will let us both go. In writing that any court would uphold.”
“That’s the deal on the table,” he answered smoothly.
She added, “Regardless of whether this little gig succeeds or fails.”
By the way he tensed, she knew he didn’t like that part. As she suspected, this wasn’t as simple as Harding explained. There was something more they didn’t want to share. Call it instinct, but that was the part that she knew she needed.
He said, “You’re an integral part of that success or failure.”
True, but still negotiable. Cam tried a different tack. “In that case, I want to know everything. A full partner. Full disclosure.”
“Impossible,” Mercer said.
That was bullshit. Anything was possible. Look at Shifters.
She stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the pond and forcing him to look at her. “Then I can’t be responsible for the outcome, and whether or not you like what I lead you to. I’m a full partner, or this doesn’t happen.”
Their eyes locked, and Cam could feel the undercurrent of tension that held him together. Ah, not tension. Anger. Determination. His eyes betrayed him, and the suit barely contained the man. Keeping it all under tight wrap. It was at the same time intriguing and disconcerting. She’d met angry humans before. Ones that hated Shifters because they feared them. Mercer didn’t fear them. He just hated them.
“If I give you full disclosure, you’ll do your very best to make sure this mission is successful?” he asked. “You’ll follow my orders. You’ll trust me—”
“Don’t push it,” she interrupted. The deal was probably as good as she would get. “Yes, I’ll behave.”
Suspicion clouded his eyes. “I doubt that.”
You have no idea,
she thought. “You’ll answer all my questions.”
she thought. “You’ll answer all my questions.”
He hesitated. “Agreed.”
That settled the free-floating anxiety she’d been feeling since talking to Harding. Now for the bonus round. There was something else that had occurred to her last night while she stared at her cell ceiling. “And I want you to locate my brother.”
Mercer narrowed his eyes. It took him a few moments to reply. “Brother?”
Huh. They didn’t know about Thaniel. Obviously, her brother was better at keeping a low profile than she was, which made sense since
she
hadn’t been able to locate him in the last year. “Yes.”
she
hadn’t been able to locate him in the last year. “Yes.”
Mercer continued to stare at her. “Family reunion?”
She put on a currish smile. “What else?”
Mercer’s expression darkened. “Now see, that worries me.”
She shrugged. “Deal breaker, Mercer. Take it, and I’m all yours.”
He seemed to ponder that for a minute. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“Last year.”
His eyebrows rose slightly. “He could be out of the country—”
“He’s not,” Cam interrupted sharply.
Then she drew a breath to calm herself. No point in giving Mercer any more ammo than he already had. Besides, her lack of emotional control was what got her into this situation in the first place. So stopping and thinking was good. Thinking avoided a lot of problems. But fighting was so much more rewarding.
She added, “Look, XCEL has resources that I don’t and won’t ever have. I can give you the last name he used and all the information I have on him.”
Mercer nodded. “Agreed. Once this mission is over, we’ll hand over what we’ve uncovered.”
She was half surprised that he acquiesced so easily. Hell, at this rate she could get herself a nice rental car and a sweet loft in Brooklyn—
Mercer leaned forward suddenly and drew her full attention. He was close enough for her to see the streaks of gold in his dark brown eyes. His voice was low but firm. And all that hate rushed her senses. “But I’m in charge. That means you do what I say, when I say. I want you in,
all the way
.”
all the way
.”
This job would be dangerous, and she’d be working for them on a mission they’d gone to a damn lot of trouble to put together. This negotiation meant little once the shooting started, and she was sure they would.
So far, she had secured her freedom, her brother’s location, and with any luck at all, her father’s salvation. That was as good as it was going to get. All it would cost her was every bit of her dignity.
“I’m in,” she said, and made a deal with the devil. “All the way.”
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