New Species 11 True (3 page)

She listened, hearing the same speech multiple times while
they cleared cells of the test subjects down the hall. All fifteen of them on
that floor had survived. She hoped the ones a floor above had been equally as
lucky and that no one had managed to break through their cell doors. The cops
were using some form of small explosive devices, something the facility guards
didn’t have access to.

“Wait,” a soft, feminine voice protested. “Get off her. Tech
Shiver?”

A gentle hand brushed hair away from Jeanie’s cheek. She
forced her eyes open. It was difficult to even focus, the pain and coldness
that racked her body growing worse. A pair of familiar dark eyes stared back at
her and she tried to smile at 433. The other woman had dropped to her hands and
knees next to Jeanie, so close to the floor that their faces were inches apart.

Jeanie opened her mouth to assure her everything was going
to be fine, wanting 433 to know that she could trust her rescuers, but nothing
came out. She couldn’t speak. Her throat was too dry and exhaustion had taken
hold. 433 brushed her thumb along her cheekbone, growled, before jerking her head
up. The sound deepened into a threatening one.

“She helped us. Get off her!”

“She’s not your concern.” The man spoke softly but his tone
was firm. “Please back away from the prisoner.”

The thumb left Jeanie’s face and 433 rose to her feet,
snarling. “Get off her! She killed them to save me. I smell her blood and she’s
hurt. She needs a doctor.”

“Forget it. Let the bitch die,” the same man stated.

433 stepped closer and Jeanie couldn’t move her head enough
to see what was going on but the weight on her ass was suddenly gone. A man
grunted.

Another growl sounded, far deeper in pitch. “What is going
on?” The angry voice belonged to the man who’d given the speech over and over
to the men and women they’d been rescuing, claiming to be one of them.

“She saved my life. That guard on the floor came in to kill
me but she shot him first. She said help was coming and she had to disable the
locks on the doors to protect us. She was hurt but your males have hurt her
more. She is always kind to our people. She stopped a guard from mounting me
last month.” 433 sounded pissed and frantic. “Make them help her, please. She’s
hurt. Smell her blood.”

“Do as she says,” the deep voice commanded. “Get help for
the human female. We’ll sort this out later.

“She’s an employee here.” Someone yanked on her coat. “Here’s
her card with her picture. She’s one of them,” a man declared. “Technician
Jeanie Shiver.”

A deep snarl sounded and the rough grips securing her hands
and hair were gone. Someone else grabbed her arms and she groaned when she was
gently rolled onto her side. Pain made her cry out. She closed her eyes and
felt blackness taking her.
I’m dying.

“Look at me,” a deep voice snarled.

Jeanie forced her eyes open again. More flashlights had been
added until the hallway was now well lit. 710 glared down at her. His dark gaze
swirled with fury but she saw recognition there. He remembered her.

She studied him. He was tanner than he had ever been and his
blond hair had grown longer. He wore all-black clothing and his vest had white
NSO lettering, which stood for New Species Organization. She’d been given proof
that 710 had survived the rescue assault she’d helped set up on the testing
facility but had never thought she’d get to see him in person again.

“Shiver,” he rasped, his voice sounding harsh but gentle at
the same time.

She blinked at him, holding his gaze, running her tongue
over her dry lips. She tried to speak but nothing came out. His nose flared as
he inhaled and a scary growl tore from his parted lips as he looked at someone
behind her.

“Your men shot her?”

“She was that way when we found her. There were two dead
security officers also shot.” The man who spoke sighed. “It looked as though
they turned on each other.”

“Get help for her now,” 710 snarled. “She’s dying.”

“Okay. Medic, come to the subbasement, lowest floor. We have
a critically injured.”

Another man snorted. “Let the bitch die. They obviously shot
each other to avoid being caught for questioning. It will save us from having
to kill her later.”

710 obviously disagreed. “Get those handcuffs off.”

Jeanie moaned as someone touched her and pain shot up her
shoulder and down her injured side as the metal was removed from her wrists. It
hurt to move but she wanted to touch 710 just once more. She knew she wasn’t
going to survive, despite medical intervention. One glance at the pool of blood
she lay in was enough to convince her of that grim fact.

She reached out and covered his hand with hers where it
rested on the floor as he crouched over her. His face was only inches from
hers. She curled her fingers around the back of his fist. He felt really warm,
where she was so cold. She clung to him as tightly as possible.

He glanced down at the contact but didn’t jerk away from her
touch. She was afraid he might. Blood soaked her hand, staining his as well.
She half expected him to get pissed. She just longed to touch him. She was
scared to die alone.

He lifted his gaze to hers. He turned his hand under her
palm and tightly clasped her fingers. Gratitude filled her that he’d care
enough to attempt to give her some comfort. She licked her lips again,
desperate to get words out.

“I tried to save them all. Did they make it? Did they all
survive?”

He blinked. “They made it. No Species died.”

Tears blinded her but she blinked them back, desperate to
keep him in focus. She’d succeeded in saving all the men and women trapped
inside the building. It had come at a high price but she had known the risks
when she’d driven to work that morning. So many of them—all those lives were
more important than hers. She closed her eyes and a sense of peace came,
blocking out some of the pain.

“Shiver?” He growled her name. “Open your eyes.”

The demand was one she couldn’t resist as she peered at him
again. He’d inched closer until his warm breath fanned her lips. Breathing took
effort as she struggled to make her lungs keep functioning. Blood loss and her
body going into shock were taking their toll. She hoped she smiled when she
tried, wanting to convey to him that it was okay.

“Don’t die,” he rasped. “Hang on.” He glanced away. “Faster!”
His tone deepened. “Get over here.”

“Move!” a man yelled and something heavy clattered to the
floor behind her. The coat she wore was jerked hard, fabric tore and she couldn’t
prevent the whimper when gloved hands explored her now-exposed side.

“You will be fine,” 710 said, drawing her attention. “Just
stay with me.” He nearly crushed her smaller hand with his, as if he could
force the issue by clinging to her tighter.

“Shit,” the medic cursed.

“Fix her,” 710 snarled.

“It’s bad,” the medic answered. “Jed, get your ass over
here. Open the kit and start an IV.”

Her mouth opened. She didn’t have the energy to tell 710 any
of the things she always wanted to say if they’d ever been alone without the
risk of being overheard by Dean Polanitis or the people who’d worked for him.
It was important that 710 understood how he’d changed her life and made her
realize her purpose was to save his kind. He was the motivation that had given
her the courage to conquer her fears. Not a day had passed since she’d laid
eyes on him that he hadn’t filled her thoughts or haunted her dreams.

“Shiver,” he said a little louder, “stay with me.”

Blackness claimed her.

Tim Oberto shot his team an infuriated look. “You damn near
allowed her to die.”

Trey Roberts, his second-in-command, cleared his throat. “Sir,
how was the team supposed to know it would upset a rescued female that much?
The woman in question was an employee. How many New Species have been murdered
at their hands? I’m sorry the New Species female was that distressed but
employees of those hellholes aren’t our priority. We immediately got that woman
medical help once the situation exploded. She’s going to make it.”

“She almost didn’t!” Tim yelled. “I know it’s your job to
stand up for the teams but we both know they fucked up. Justice is going to be
up my ass because we upset one of their females. She attacked one of our men,
trying to defend that employee. Did she ask for help for the injured woman, or
not, before she threw him into a wall to get his boot off the employee’s ass?”

“She did,” a team member admitted. “But hell, the bitch had
a gun when we reached that floor. She sat there facing us with a weapon and it’s
lucky we didn’t just open fire and blow her head off. I would have taken the
shot if she’d been a man.”

The doors opened and Tim flinched as Justice North and a
dozen large New Species males stomped into the room. Tim recognized how angry
Justice was by the narrowing of his catlike eyes and the fact that his lips
were parted enough to reveal his sharp canines. Tim waited as Justice stalked
closer.

“What is your directive?” Justice snarled.

Tim straightened his shoulders and met Justice North’s
heated stare. “To assist in the rescue of all New Species.”

Justice nodded. “You’re our team. The government assigned
you to assist us but you answer to the NSO first and foremost, Tim,” Justice
growled. “That means all New Species. When a female Species demanded medical attention
for a human, she should have been given what she wanted. First contact is very
important. She thinks your team is just as bad as the humans who kept her
captive. Is it true the human had already been shot when your men roughed her
up and handcuffed her, almost allowing her to bleed out on the floor?”

Tim flinched as his gaze shifted to Trey. “Is it?”

Trey sighed, addressing Justice. “I was a floor above them
but I have spoken to that team leader. It appears so, sir. She was suffering
from a gunshot wound and holding a weapon in her lap. Two security guards were
dead on the floor next to her. The team assumed they’d turned on each other to
prevent us from gaining any information if they were arrested.”

“The Species female,” Justice snarled, “said the human was
beaten by the team. She swears the human’s face was bleeding and bruised only
after they arrived. Is that true? Did someone hit the human?”

Trey cleared his throat. “I questioned them about everything
that happened. One of the men smacked her with the butt of his assault rifle to
knock her down. Her face got bruised then or from when they secured her on the
floor.”

Another growl sounded and one of the New Species males
stepped forward. True was a big son of a bitch—six foot six, wide shouldered and
broad chested. His dense biceps stretched the black shirt sleeves to their
limit. Shiny blond hair fell to his shoulders and his dark-brown eyes narrowed
with anger as they fixed on Trey. Tim tensed, hoping a fight wouldn’t break out
since he was aware that particular New Species, whom they’d rescued on a
previous mission, was still learning to control his temper. The day had already
been a total clusterfuck and he didn’t want it to worsen.

“She’s a small human who was already bleeding. There was no
cause for your team to rough her up or use handcuffs. A small child could have
dealt with her in that condition. She was helpless.”

“I wouldn’t have done it but I wasn’t there to control the
situation,” Trey muttered. “I did bust their asses.”

Tim inched closer to get between them. Those were his teams
so it was his mess. “I understand you’re upset, True.”

“Upset?” True snarled. “No one should abuse a female—human
or Species. This is why I protest being forced to stay in the rear when the
team enters a situation. I wouldn’t have allowed that to happen but she was
already down when the team allowed me out of the elevator. I didn’t realize she
was injured. The stench from the blood of the dead guards and the explosives
used to open the doors masked her scent.”

One of Tim’s men snorted. “She works for Mercile or whatever
company name they are using now. Who cares? How many of your kind has she
helped kill? No disrespect, sir.”

True snapped his head in the direction of Chris, the team
member who’d spoken. “We don’t abuse females. I don’t care if they work for our
enemy. She’s a helpless creature.”

“She works for a company that is an offshoot from Mercile,”
Tim reminded everyone, sending Chris a dirty look to silence the idiot. The guy
was new, had a bad attitude, but he’d deal with him later. He focused on the
New Species again. “Her welfare wasn’t our priority.
That
would be
saving New Species. I’m sorry your female got upset, Justice. The truth remains
the same, though. The woman your female was upset about wasn’t some innocent
victim we attacked. She worked for Cornas, which we all know is Mercile with a
new name, and she’s as guilty as hell under New Species law. The badge clipped
to her coat had her name and picture on it. Not to mention, she was found only
feet from the doors where your people were caged, on the same floor where over
a dozen of your kind were being held. That woman is either going to spend the
rest of her life in prison or she’s going to get the death penalty. They will
decide her fate at Fuller, once she’s transferred there.”

True growled. “She won’t be killed by us.”

Justice calmed. “We don’t condone anyone killing females,
Tim, though sometimes it can’t be avoided when they are among the crueler
doctors whom we’re certain killed our kind or if we had no choice because they
opened fire on us. Our female said the human saved her from a rape last month
and again from a guard putting a bullet into her right before the task force
rescued them. Someone disabled the locks on those cell doors by frying the
circuits with a stun gun. She had one of those in her pocket when they stripped
her bare in Medical and our female said the human claimed she was disabling the
locks to keep them safe. None of our people died because those guards couldn’t
gain access into their cells.”

True nodded. “We discovered bullet scars on some of the
doors. The idiots built those rooms to keep our kind prisoner but they made
them break-in proof as well. The guards would have gone in to shoot our people
dead if those locks hadn’t been destroyed. Whoever disabled them saved lives.”

Tim ignored the throbbing at his temple, a sign of an
oncoming monster headache. His team had made a few mistakes but they were
somewhat justified. “Someone poured coffee into their mainframe computer. We
pulled the woman’s prints off the coffeepot handle inside the computer room.
Why did she do that if she’s so saintly? The data couldn’t be restored. It
fried the damn thing. She covered Mercile’s ass when she did that. There are no
records, no real proof that the testing facility belonged to them. They leased
the building under a shell company and we are hitting a dead end on tracing the
money that funded it. Those files were our only hope of cementing proof
directly back to Mercile.”

Justice frowned. “I don’t know why she did it.” He turned
and stared at the team’s medic. “What is the human’s current condition?”

“I just spoke to the older Dr. Harris. She’ll live. It was
touch and go for a while but they stopped the bleeding. I heard she was given
blood and New Species healing drugs. The injuries caused to her face aren’t
life threatening. She’s bruised up but it’s mostly just painful.”

Justice faced Tim. “Interrogate her but do it with respect.
She obviously saved some of our people. Keep that in mind. Find out why she did
all of it and what she was protecting Mercile from on those computers. Offer
her a deal if that’s what it takes to get more proof against those bastards for
this one.”

True moved closer. “I want to be there.”

Justice studied him. “Why?”

“She worked in New Mexico last year.”

Justice appeared surprised by that news. “You knew her?”

True nodded. “She was kind.”

Justice frowned. “Were there experiments between the two of
you?”

“No.” True scowled. “I’ve never mounted her if that’s what
you’re asking.”

Justice seemed to accept that. “How was she kind?”

“She didn’t treat us as if we were animals. She sneaked in
candy and pain medication to our injured. She seemed to care about us.”

Justice cocked his head, the frown returning. “You cared about
her?”

“I never attempted to attack her when I could have but I
then learned she was working with the doctors on a drug development.”

“How did you learn that?”

True hesitated. “Polanitis believed I cared about her since
she’d shown kindness and tried to secure my agreement to willingly mount her,
promising it would mean she’d survive. He informed me they were working on a
new breeding drug.”

“Shit,” Tiger cursed. “You probably would have killed her if
you had agreed.”

“You said you didn’t mount her? There’s no shame in
admitting it if you did.” Justice studied him. He didn’t seem angry, more
curious than anything.

“No. I told Polanitis I’d kill her if she was sent to my
cell. I never mounted that female. He wanted my word to stop attacking the
guards after that and to comply with the doctors in charge of testing another
drug on me by answering their questions. It was something they were working on
to improve intelligence or memory.” He shifted his stance, appearing
uncomfortable. “I didn’t agree to his terms until he threatened to have the
guards rape a Species female in front of me to get my compliance.” His voice
deepened into a snarl. “I agreed to protect her from harm. I didn’t inflict
injury on humans when I could have but I wasn’t meek either.”

“Why did he believe you would be able to fuck that woman
while drugged and not kill her?” Tim was curious too.

True glanced at him, his cheeks a little red. “I had a
fondness for her but that changed once I realized she’d probably been nice to
gain my trust. I believe he thought I might fight my instincts while drugged. I
never saw her again after Polanitis’ visit or I might have done some harm in
retaliation of her deception.” His jaw clenched. “I wouldn’t have killed Shiver
though. It was just a threat I made to keep her out of my cell. She didn’t
deserve to die. She might have been kind just to trick me but she did help some
of our people at Drackwood.”

Justice curled his lip in disgust. “I really hate that son
of a bitch, Polanitis. I remember him from last year.”

“Polanitis offered up human females for mounting to reward
Species for good behavior?” Brass growled. “I never heard about that before
now.”

Justice motioned the other Species to silence. “Did he offer
other human females to you?”

“No,” True snarled. “I’ve never mounted that human or any
other, for that matter.”

Justice nodded. “You may be at the interrogation of this
female since you once knew her. It might be an advantage.” He turned to Tim. “True
is in charge. He’s to take over if he thinks it’s too intense.”

Tim wasn’t happy but those were orders, not a request. “Fine.
When should we start?”

Justice hesitated. “We’ll keep her drugged until she’s
better and only wake her when she’s strong enough to withstand interrogation.”

“Sounds good.” Tim hated to wait that long but Justice had
spoken. It would be a waste of his breath to argue.

* * * * *

True entered Medical and walked down the hallway to the
patient rooms. The Species male guarding the door glanced up at him from where
he sat before dropping his gaze to reading an ebook on his electronic device. “No
change,” he muttered.

“Thanks, Jericho.”

The male grunted.

True stopped next to the bed and his hands fisted as he
studied the dark bruise and cut on the female’s cheek. It was healing, the
yellowish color appearing better than when it had been a bloody, fresh wound.
Her skin was too pale for his liking. He glanced at the monitor, seeing that
her heartbeat was steady. She’d survive but it had been close.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he turned, forcing himself
to relax into a more approachable stance. Paul smiled when he entered the room
and rounded the bed with a new bag of fluids.

“She’s doing great, True. I was really worried when Dr.
Harris pumped her full of your healing drug but she took it like a champ. I was
sure it would kill her.”

“Why was she given them if it was dangerous?”

The male switched out the bags, checked the tube that ran to
her arm and held his stare. “Man, I’m shocked she was still alive when they
brought her in. She should have been taken to the closest trauma center but for
some reason the task force team decided to fly her here instead. The fact that
their medic kept her breathing that long was lucky as shit. Giving her the drug
was the only thing Harris could think to do. It speeds up the healing process
and she was a mess. It boiled down to having nothing to lose since she was so
critical.”

The male checked her arm where the needle had been inserted.
“It’s a good thing she’s got a sound heart. That shit is way strong for humans.
I doubt he would have risked it if she’d been older. It’s like shooting massive
amounts of straight adrenaline into us.”

That unsettled True. He hadn’t been allowed to travel in the
helicopter with Shiver when they’d airlifted her. He’d been assigned to handle
the newly freed Species. Protocol dictated he stay with them during their
transfer to Reservation. He’d taken a helicopter to Homeland as soon as he’d
made sure they were settled. It had been hellish hours until he’d discovered if
the female was alive. His attention returned to her. Shiver appeared very frail
and small on the big hospital bed designed for use by his kind.