New Species 11 True (19 page)

“Yet she still took the risk of trying to get us help,” True
stated. “Tell them what you did.”

She licked her lips, glancing at the familiar faces. It was
a miracle to see how tanned and healthy some of them looked and it felt
wonderful to know they thrived. “I bought a disposable phone with cash and—”

“That’s a cell phone you can buy at any store with minutes
on it that can’t be traced to the owner by financial records or any other
means,” Query stated.

A few of them nodded.

“Yeah. I bought one of those and used the Wi-Fi from a
coffee shop to look up the New Species website.” She paused, glancing at Query
to see if he wanted to explain anything else.

He smiled. “Wi-Fi is an internet signal that anyone can use
if it isn’t password protected. A lot of human businesses offer it for free to
their customers. It would have protected her identity if they traced the
internet signal address.” He nodded. “Go on.”

“There was a phone number on the site but I didn’t know how
long they’d keep me on hold and I hadn’t had enough cash to buy a lot of
minutes for the phone. I chose to leave a message and even sent an email to
give all the details about Drackwood. I left the number for the phone so they
could contact me back. I told them I’d have to hide it so to just text me so we
could set up a time to talk.” Jeanie liked it that True pressed his leg against
hers under the table in a comforting gesture. “I was too afraid to take the
phone home that first night so I hid it at a local park. That’s where I kept
it. The next day I had a text and a direct phone number for Agent Terry Brice.
I called and he set up a meeting. He flew to visit me right away and said I’d
need to collect enough evidence to get a judge to grant a search warrant.”

“We don’t need those,” Jinx stated.

“I didn’t know that at the time.” She held his gaze. “Our
law states that you have to show cause that something illegal is going on to
obtain a search warrant. The judge issues the warrant—a paper that gives them
the legal right to enter and search a property.”

“That’s true,” Luna agreed. “I study their laws in my spare
time since I want to become the liaison who deals with handling the legal
issues that arise between our world and hers.” She gave Jeanie a sympathetic
smile. “Your laws don’t protect or help the victims but seem more focused on
aiding the criminals.”

She shrugged. “There are some flaws. I won’t deny that.” She
continued with the story, explaining what Agent Brice wanted her to get and how
she managed to smuggle out evidence. “He texted me before Drackwood was raided
to make sure I didn’t go to work the next morning. I called him back and we
argued because I wanted to be there to help.”

Her gaze darted to Luna and Flirt. “You both were in severe
danger because the drug cabinet was where you were being treated in the clinic.
I was terrified the doctors might kill you before they tried to escape.”

“The doctors weren’t there yet when the NSO rescued us,”
Luna informed her. “They were in a meeting.”

Jeanie’s hands trembled so she laced them together on top of
the table. “Agent Brice said they were going to hit Drackwood hard and fast and
the SWAT team might mistake me for a bad guy when the shit hit the fan. I didn’t
care.” She stared into Luna’s eyes. “I was willing to risk it but he threatened
to have me arrested if I left my apartment. He said he wasn’t going to allow me
to blow the operation and they had agents watching the location so I’d never
reach Drackwood without being stopped. It was a horrible situation. I wanted to
be in the clinic when they came to make sure nobody got near either of you but
he convinced me you’d die for sure if I did anything to tip off Drackwood of
what was about to go down.”

Luna gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I understand and
believe you. I know you’d risk your life for mine. That guard might not have
been knocked unconscious. He was a big male and he might have done to you what
he planned to do to me to gain revenge for striking him. They really were
vicious when we fought back. You’re small enough for him to have killed with
one blow from his baton but they never just hit once. You would have died if he’d
gotten up.”

“You risked a lot.” True didn’t appear happy as he spoke. “You
were lucky.”

She decided to change the subject quickly because she didn’t
like the look in his eyes as he stared at her. She had a sinking feeling he
planned to give her a little hell later for the danger she’d put herself in. “Agent
Brice came to visit me right after Drackwood was taken down to tell me he had
an informant in another location but she was too afraid to smuggle out
evidence. He had a way to get me employed there so I agreed to go. There were New
Species who needed help.”

“You were sent to the facility rigged with bombs?” Luna
frowned.

“No,” Query answered for her. “She’s talking about Cornas
Research.”

Jeanie went into more details about working at Cornas and
finally paused. “I told Agent Brice I’d stay home the day of a raid. I even
borrowed a neighbor’s car that morning to take to work in case the police were
looking for me. I made it to Cornas and made sure they couldn’t gas the New
Species.” She shared all the details right up until she woke at Homeland. “That’s
when I found out Agent Brice really doesn’t work for the NSO and that he’d been
using me all that time.”

“You left out an important detail.” True shot her a pointed
stare.

She stared back him, clueless as to what he referred to. “I think
I covered it all.”

“Tell them what happened to you at Drackwood and what you
endured.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “That’s irrelevant.”

“They should know all you’ve suffered trying to get us
freed, Jeanie.” His stern expression brooked no argument. “Tell them what
Polanitis did to you.”

She lowered her voice. “It’s not necessary.”

“It is.” True stood so fast his chair fell over, crashing to
the floor with a bang. “Polanitis threatened to have me killed if Jeanie didn’t
submit to taking breeding drugs.” He bent forward, flattening his hands on the
surface of the table. “She agreed and I’m alive.” He slowly examined the male
faces around the table. “I want to know if any of you mounted her while she was
drugged since she wouldn’t remember. I’ll even allow you to live long enough to
try to explain to me how any of you could hurt her that way.”

“Shit.” Query rose to his feet a lot slower, his gaze locked
on True. “Are you serious?”

“Did you mount her? She was drugged and helpless. She
retains no memory of it.”

“Fuck no!” He shook his head in denial. “I never touched her
and you must be mistaken. They wouldn’t give that shit to a human.”

True snarled. “Don’t look at her that way. They did, and I
want to know if any of you touched her.”

“Me too,” Luna spat, her tone harsh. “A male would have to
have agreed to mount her without drugs in his system since she’s still with us.
She wouldn’t have survived otherwise. I could barely withstand an
out-of-control male in that state and that’s only because I was clear-headed
enough not to struggle. The pain she would have endured from the breeding drug
alone would have her thrashing around and that would have incited more rage
aggression from him.” She looked around the table. “Which one of you agreed to
mount her?”

No one spoke.

“Perhaps if you hadn’t stated that you were going to kill
them,” Flirt quietly announced, “they might be more willing to confess.”

True’s upper lip lifted, showing his sharp canines. “I will
allow them to apologize to her and explain why they’d hurt Jeanie before I use
my bare hands to deal out justice. She was helpless. You know what that drug
does and there is no given will. She didn’t agree to be mounted.”

“True, please,” Jeanie pleaded. “It doesn’t matter.”

He whipped his head down, his eyes wide. “It does. How can
you say that?”

Tears filled her eyes as she rose to her feet. She rapidly
blinked to clear her vision. Her legs wobbled but her knees didn’t buckle. She
couldn’t look at anyone but him, feeling embarrassed and horrified at the same
time.

“I told you that I’m pretty sure I would have known if
anyone had done something to me, okay?”

“You can’t know for sure if your body was used but they do.
They’d only give you the drug to use in a breeding experiment. They would need
a male—these males—and I want to know who mounted you.”

More tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She
reached up and wiped them away, still staring at him. “If there is one thing we
all know in this room, it’s that Drackwood was a nightmare for us all.” Her
voice broke and she had to swallow before continuing. “I don’t want to know,
True. I care about everyone in this room and it would be easier to think it was
similar to the situation I experienced when Polanitis came after me—everyone
had to agree to do what he wanted. I made a deal with that devil to save you,
True. I never regretted it and I can live with it because you’re standing right
in front of me. The bottom line is that I’m alive too. Maybe things went down that
I don’t remember but it doesn’t matter. We survived and that’s what counts.”

“It matters.” True’s eyes seemed suspiciously wet as he
rapidly blinked and reached out to grip her shoulder with gentle fingers.

“Maybe they did it to save me. If it even happened.” She
forced herself to look at the faces around the table as she struggled to pull
herself together. She rested her hand over True’s. Just touching him helped her
find strength. “It doesn’t matter. I’d forgive someone if they were given an unfathomable
choice and we all agree that I’d have been killed if they’d drugged up someone
else while I was injected with that shit. We’re here to talk about Agent Brice
and try to figure out how to find the son of a bitch.” It got easier to breathe
as she calmed, instead focusing on the anger she felt over being used to extort
money from the NSO. “Let’s deal with that.”

“I never touched you,” one of the males stated.

She looked at him, seeing sincerity in his dark-green gaze. “Let’s
drop it.”

“I didn’t either.” Another male cleared his throat, giving
True a wary look. “But I would have agreed to take her to my mat if given a
choice between killing her and making sure she’d survive.”

Jeanie winced, glancing up at True to see his reaction. He
appeared unusually pale and still angry. His chest expanded as he sucked in a
deep breath and slowly blew it out.

“Anyone, just speak now if Polanitis offered you Jeanie. I
won’t seek retribution.”

Silence reigned and Jeanie closed her eyes, relief so
overwhelming she nearly choked up again. She was pretty sure no one had
sexually molested her but she was certain someone would confess if there was
anything to tell.

True squeezed her shoulder before pulling his hand away. She
let him go but he quickly wrapped his fingers around hers instead, keeping hold
of her hand as he righted his chair with the other one and sat. She opened her
eyes as he motioned with his head for her to take her seat too. She gratefully
collapsed into the chair.

“Tell us about this agent,” Query urged. “Give us a detailed
description. We have access to the out world’s databases. We can try to find
him through DMV records. Did he drive a car? Did he have an accent that might
indicate what state he lived in? We can pull all the photos that match his description
for you to look at, until we find the right face.”

The tension in the room seemed to dissipate. “He is a
Caucasian male in his mid-to-late fifties. Approximately five foot eight with a
heavy build. He wore glasses, had light-brown eyes, I think, since the lenses
were tinted, and he had a mole on his face.” She pointed to her cheek to show
them where it was located. “He was balding on the top of his head. His hair was
brown with a lot of gray. He drove a rental car to our meetings. They had
stickers on them so it was easy to figure that out but he used different
companies.”

“Heavy as in muscular?”

She glanced at Flirt. He’d pulled out his phone to text the
information she gave or take notes. “No, he was out of shape and kind of huffed
if he moved too fast.”

“Huffed?” Luna leaned in closer. “Was it an animalistic
sound? Perhaps he’s a Species. A few of us could pass for full human.”

“He’s not New Species.” Jeanie smiled, amused. “He was a
marshmallow. I should have said he panted because he got out of breath easily
when he walked fast and broke out in a sweat. It didn’t help that he wore dress
shirts. He had the whole business-suit look going on, regardless of the
weather.” She glanced at the men in the room. “You guys couldn’t get that out
of shape even if you really tried. He is also much older. He was born way
before Mercile started their experiments. Agent Brice is definitely human.”

“He’d have to be fully human from the description you gave.
Mercile killed flawed children with no Species traits.”

“A few of us could pass though,” Luna protested. “I’ve met
two who appeared human but they weren’t that old. They were rescued from the
place Darkness came from.”

“Two.” Flirt shook his head. “I’ve met both males you speak
of but they have physical traits of Species regardless of the lack of facial
markers. Even those can be seen if you are looking for hints.” He reached up
and ran a finger over his cheek and jawline. “The bones always tell.”

Jeanie studied his face, looked at True, then Query. They
did all have very masculine bone structure. “Agent Brice is not New Species. He
has kind of girly features.”

Query chuckled. “Girly?”

“Feminine.” She smiled at him. “Softer and you can’t even
see his cheekbones. He’s got a round face.”

“He’s soft,” one of the males stated. “That’s what she
means. Like a human female—the flesh isn’t stretched taut over bone.”