The Recruit (Book Three) (14 page)

Andrew set his
tea on the side table and reached for Chen’s arm. “Since we’re just
sitting here, I should probably do my job.”

He began to
pull and massage Chen’s arm gently as Chen winced.

“Does that
hurt, master?” Hannah asked softly.

“A little.” He
grunted.

She sat down
next to him and took his cup of tea from him before holding his
hand. “Squeeze my hand if you need to, alright?”

He didn’t reply
and she kissed his cheek again before resting her head on his
shoulder.

“Mom wants to
see you. She asked me if you were feeling up to stopping at the
farmhouse for a visit.” Hannah said softly.

Chen shook his
head. “I don’t think that’s a good – “

“That’s a great
idea.” Andrew interrupted, ignoring Chen’s dirty look. “Chen can
get some fresh air and it’ll do him some good to get out of the
facility for a bit.”

“Good.” Hannah
gave him a pleased look and Chen closed his eyes in defeat. “We
could go this evening and see them.”

She hesitated.
“Shit. That’s not going to work. I told Selena I would hang out
with her tonight. She’s been going through some stuff.”

She didn’t
elaborate further and Andrew hesitated before clearing his throat.
“I can take Chen out to the farmhouse. If you don’t think your mom
would mind.”

Hannah shook
her head. “She loves meeting new people. Thanks, Andrew.”

“No
problem.”

Chen made a
soft curse under his breath and Hannah squeezed his hand. “She
misses you, Chen. She’ll be upset if you don’t visit her and trust
me, you don’t want that. You should never make a hippie angry.”

Andrew snorted
laughter as Chen rolled his eyes. “Your mother doesn’t have a mean
bone in her body.”

“Tell that to
the ballet teacher who told me I was too fat to continue in dance.”
Hannah grinned at him. “Mom ripped her a new one, and I think the
woman is still cowering in fear in her dance studio to this
day.”

A faint smile
crossed Chen’s face as Hannah put her head on his shoulder again.
They sat in silence as Andrew rubbed and massaged, and Chen did his
best to ignore the tingles of pleasure from his warm touch.

Chapter 11

“Hannah, you
don’t have to hang out with me. I’m fine.” Selena flopped down on
her bed and stared up at the ceiling as Hannah sat down beside
her.

“No, you’re
not. You’ve been upset for the last few days. Talk to me,
Selena.”

Selena sighed.
“Reid thinks I’m a tease and honestly? He’s kind of right.”

“People do dumb
things when they’re drunk.” Hannah shrugged.

“That’s what I
told him but I was just being defensive. I’m running hot and cold
with him and it isn’t fair. I just need to stay away from him.”

“Why?” Hannah
asked.

“I told you
why.” Selena replied grumpily.

“Yeah but
you’re obviously attracted to him. I don’t get why you’re torturing
yourself like this. Have some fun with him.”

“And then what?
I sleep with Reid a few times and what happens then? He’s not
interested in a relationship and I – “

“Do you know
for sure he isn’t?” Hannah interrupted.

Selena rolled
her eyes. “He’s not.”

“But you’re not
really interested in a relationship either.” Hannah pointed
out.

“I know, but –
“

“But what?”
Hannah said a bit impatiently. “Life is short, Selena. You and I
know that better than anyone. You need to –

The door to
their room opened and Mannie stuck his head in. “We’ve got leeches
outside.” He said grimly.

Hannah jumped
off the bed. “Shit! Where’s Will?”

They followed
Mannie down the hall. “He’s in the control room with Jordan,
Constance and Reid.”

“Control room?”
Selena asked.

“Yeah, they set
up this room that shows us the views of all the cameras around the
perimeter of the facility.” Mannie replied.

He led them
through the maze of hallways to an unmarked door. Hannah blinked in
surprise at the numerous computers and the large screen on the far
wall. Will and the others were standing in front of it and she
hurried to his side, squeezing his hand lightly as she nodded to
the others.

“How many?”
Mannie asked.

“We’ve counted
twenty.” Jordan replied.

“Fuck. They
have to know the location of the facility.” Mannie shook his head.
“There’s no way twenty fucking leeches would just be wandering the
damn forest together.”

“Maybe they’re
a sub group of Samuel’s pack of leeches.” Constance said
thoughtfully. “A second group ready to go if the first one
failed.”

Reid leaned
forward and stared at the multiple views displayed across the large
screen. “I don’t know. They’re not actively headed toward the
facility. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

“Pretty fucking
big coincidence.” Mannie grunted. “Besides, leeches can’t stand
each other. They wouldn’t be spending time together unless they had
a purpose.”

“It doesn’t
matter.” Jordan said suddenly.

The others
stared at him in surprise as he studied the screen. “We take them
out now. If it is an attack, we’re not going to allow them any
closer to the facility then they already are. If it’s just a
coincidence, then it’s a few less leeches to worry about.”

He turned to
Constance. “Gather a team of the older recruits. I want at least
twenty.”

“We don’t have
twenty left.” Constance replied.

Jordan frowned.
“What about the babies?”

“No.” Will said
immediately. “They’re not ready. Sending them out there tonight
means sending them to their death.”

Jordan grunted
with frustration. “How many do we have who can fight?”

“I’d say about
twelve.” Constance replied.

Jordan
hesitated and Mannie rolled his eyes. “Twelve will be enough. You
forget that we have Constance and Will and Hannah.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?” Jordan asked tightly.

Mannie
shrugged. “You have no idea what Lycans are capable of but you’re
about to find out.”

“Hannah’s not
shifting.” Will said quickly. “She doesn’t have enough control over
it yet.”

Mannie frowned
at him. “Will – “

“He’s right.
I’m more comfortable with my swords.” Hannah interrupted. “I don’t
need to shift to kill them, you know that, Mannie.”

“Yeah, I guess
I fucking do.” Mannie muttered.

“Um, guys?”
Selena had moved closer to the screen and she glanced at them.
“Where the hell are these leeches going?”

She tapped the
screen and the others watched as five of the leeches broke off from
the main group.

“They’re
heading south.” Jordan grabbed a map that was lying on the desk and
scanned it. “What’s to the south?”

Hannah
stiffened as Will groaned. “The farmhouse.”

“Mom?” Hannah
whispered. She turned to bolt from the room, snarling at Will when
he grabbed her arm in a tight grip.

“Wait!”

“Let go of me,
Will.” She warned softly as her eyes began to glow.

“You’re not
going by yourself.” He snapped at her. “Calm down, Hannah.”

She growled at
him as Jordan gave her a thoughtful look before tapping the map.
“Constance, Reid, Selena and the recruits will go after the main
group. Will, Hannah and Mannie will head toward the farmhouse.”

Will shook his
head. “We don’t need Mannie. Hannah and I can kill five leeches
easily. Keep him with the larger group.”

“Two against
five isn’t – “

“He’s right.”
Mannie interjected. “Trust us, Jordan. We know what we’re
doing.”

“Very well.”
Jordan said coolly. “Go out and do your jobs.”

* * *

“It was so kind
of you to bring Chen out for a visit, Andrew. I’ve been anxious to
see him.” Natalie smiled at Andrew as she held out the pot of tea.
“More tea, Chen?”

“No thank you,
Natalie.” Chen replied. Natalie stroked his arm affectionately
before sitting down at the table across from Chen and Andrew.

“It was no
problem, Mrs. Torrington.” Andrew bit into a cookie. “These cookies
are delicious.”

“Thank you,
dear, and please call me Natalie.”

“Where are Jim
and the twins?” Chen asked.

“Jim and Tyrone
went into town to visit with Heather. Just between you and me, I’m
a little worried about her. She’s spending way too much time alone
but we can’t convince her to move out to the farmhouse. That house
is much too big for one person.”

“You could stay
with her.” Chen said.

“Yes, but I do
like being at the farmhouse. Barb and I have grown quite fond of
each other, and both Jim and I enjoy living so closely to
Hannah.”

“Luther didn’t
go?” Chen asked.

She shook her
head. “No, I’m a bit nervous about letting him go out what with
being bitten and everything. He was terribly disgruntled with me
and put up a fairly convincing argument about his abilities to kill
the vampires, but I worry about my boy.”

“So you have
three children?” Andrew asked politely.

“Oh no, dear.
We just have our two girls. Hannah and her younger sister Sara.
Sara was murdered by the leeches and Hannah was almost killed as
well. She was saved by Will and brought to the facility. We
actually thought she was dead for the longest time, and then
vampires broke into our home and were about to kill me to draw
Hannah out. But Hannah and Chen and a few of the others from the
facility arrived just in time to save us. It was all very dramatic
and exciting.”

Andrew grinned
a little before cocking his head at her. “So the twins…”

“A couple of
genius hooligans.” Chen muttered.

“What?” Andrew
gave him a curious look.

Natalie
laughed. “Chen’s quite right. They’re geniuses and hooligans. After
Hannah faked her death, she met up with the twins after they tried
to rob her and – “

“Wait, I
thought she went to the facility?” Andrew interrupted.

“No, no, that
was the first time we thought she was dead.” Natalie said brightly.
“She faked her death a second time to save us and the others she
loved from being hunted down by vampires.”

“Right, of
course she did.” Andrew replied.

“Anyway, once
we found out she was alive again and met the twins, Jim and I sort
of took the boys under our wing. The poor things are orphans. Jim
always wanted boys and I love teenagers so it seemed natural for us
to take care of them.” Natalie said cheerfully.

She took a sip
of tea and caught her saucer from falling off the table when a loud
boom from upstairs shook the entire house.

“What was
that?” Chen started to stand and Natalie waved her hand at him.

“Oh, it’s just
Luther upstairs. He’s taken an interest in chemistry as of late.
There have been quite a few explosions from his and Tyrone’s room
the last few days.”

She laughed
softly. “Jim made them put a fire extinguisher in their room. As
far as I know they haven’t had to use it yet.”

There was the
sound of a door slamming and the heavy thud of footsteps on the
stairs.

“Natalie! Hey,
Natalie? Guess what I made!” Luther, his face covered in soot and
his eyebrows singed, charged into the kitchen.

“Luther,
dearest, your sleeve is on fire.” Natalie said delicately before
taking another sip of tea.

The boy’s shirt
sleeve was, in fact, burning and Andrew watched as the young
teenager hurried to the sink and doused the fabric with water
before collapsing in the chair next to Natalie. He gave Chen a wide
grin.

“The kung fu
master is in the house.” He held his fist out to Chen and Chen
bumped it lightly.

“Luther, this
is Andrew. He’s Chen’s physiotherapist.” Natalie said.

“Nice to
meetcha.” Luther nodded at Andrew before leaning forward and
studying Chen’s bandaged stump.

“You gonna get
a hook or what?”

Chen rolled his
eyes. “No, Luther.”

“Why not? You
could do some serious damage to those fuc – “, he paused and gave
Natalie a quick look, “those darn leeches with a hook.”

Andrew nudged
Chen. “He’s got a good point.”

Chen glared at
him as Luther nodded. “Damn right I do. It’s why I’m the smart
twin.”

“You and Tyrone
are equally intelligent.” Natalie said firmly.

“Actually, what
you need is a sword attached to your arm.” Luther rubbed at his
singed eyebrows absently. “How fucking badass would that be?”

“Language,
dear.”

“Sorry,
Natalie.” Luther leaned forward again and studied the bandage on
Chen’s arm. “I bet I could make something that would fit around the
stump.”

Chen snorted
loudly and Luther shrugged. “What? I could. If I had the right
materials and the proper tools, I could whip something up in no
time.”

“I don’t need a
– a prosthetic arm that ends in a sword.” Chen scowled at him.

“You say that
now but when you see what it looks like, you’ll change your mind.”
Luther said confidently.

Chen grunted in
reply and shifted in his chair as Natalie folded her hands in her
lap and smiled at Andrew. “So, you’re from New York, Andrew?”

“I am.” Andrew
confirmed.

“Lovely. Jim
and I went to New York City once on holiday. We got lost and had
the most dreadful argument in the middle of the subway.”

“It’s a big
city. It’s easy to get lost.”

“It certainly
is.” Natalie smiled at him. “So, are you married?”

Andrew shook
his head. “No, ma’am.”

“Dating
someone? Is there a special man in your life?” Natalie asked.

Chen choked on
his tea as Andrew smiled at Natalie. “How did you know I was gay,
Natalie?”

She grinned.
“I’m very good at reading people, dear.”

She paused and
gave him a horrified look. “Oh no. Is it a secret? Are you still in
the closet?”