Valiant Read online

  “I’ll hurry.”

  She hung up and walked into the bedroom. At least it would distract her from worrying about Valiant for a little while. Her purse still sat on the closet floor where Valiant had placed it after the sheriff had brought it with him to interview her. The New Species had to check it first and it had been delivered later that day. She’d also learned that the sheriff had her car safely towed to her house when he’d retrieved her purse from the crime scene.

  She brushed her teeth and hair again. She didn’t bother with makeup. The quicker she could get back, the better, her mind was still on her coworkers. She didn’t want to miss their calls when they got her messages. Flame stood outside in the hallway when she opened the door. She smiled at him.

  “That attorney called and said he needed me and my purse.” She lifted it to show him. “And here we both are.”

  Flame smiled. “He called. Are you ready to go? His office isn’t far. I’ll call for a Jeep and I’ll drive you there.”

  “Thanks.” They left the suite.

  Flame used his radio to ask for the vehicle to be pulled up in front of the hotel while they waited for the elevator and by the time they walked out of the lobby, it had arrived. Flame helped her climb inside and rounded the vehicle. He drove from the hotel to where a two-story office had been constructed. He parked and helped her out.

  The reception area was empty and silence filled the air. It seemed the building wasn’t currently in use. Flame hesitated. “I’m not sure where his office is. I haven’t been in here before. Only a few human employees work at Reservation and I haven’t been assigned this post. Did he tell you where it was?”

  “No.”

  Flame sighed. “Let’s find him. I’d make some calls but we’re on high alert right now and I don’t want to bother anyone when I can sniff him out.” He drew in air a few times through his nose and pointed to a hallway to the left. “This way. Male, human, and recent. His aftershave stinks and not in a good way.”

  She grinned. “Most guys are clueless and wear stuff that reeks.”

  “We tend to be sensitive to smells. Most of our people use natural-scented products. Humans don’t.”

  Tammy followed him through a maze of hallways. “Are you on high alert because the two women were taken in town?”

  He nodded. “Yes. We have tightened all incoming security and put our snipers on top of the walls in case someone decides they want to try to breach Reservation. We will never forget the attack that happened at Homeland.”

  She’d heard about that on the news. A hate group had attacked the New Species Homeland right after it had opened. They’d rammed the front gate and a bunch of men with guns had invaded with trucks.

  Deaths had resulted from that attack. Luckily those killed had been mostly the hate-group members. Tragically, a few human security guards who worked for Homeland had also died. It had been shocking that something like that could happen. Obviously the New Species were afraid of another attack and she didn’t blame them.

  They found Charlie Artzola on the second floor in one of the offices. He sat behind his desk digging inside a drawer. He glanced at them both when they entered and he smiled.

  “That was quick.”

  “I told you I’d escort her immediately.” Flame leaned against the wall right inside the office.

  “Have a seat, Miss Shasta.” The attorney jerked his chin at a chair. “You and your men can come inside and have a seat too. There’s four chairs and they may as well get used.”

  “It’s just us. I’m fine standing.” Flame relaxed his stance.

  The attorney nodded. “I’m looking for the notes I made. I’m very sorry about this. I was nervous and think I wrote the information down wrong. I might have just put in a wrong license number and the computer system will find you so we don’t have to fax it to them.” He leaned over farther behind his desk as Tammy took a seat closest to him. “Aha! I found it. I’m sure this is just an error. I probably just have it off by one or two digits.” He closed the desk drawer.

  Tammy leaned back against her seat and set her purse on her lap. The attorney straightened. She barely had time to react before seeing it wasn’t a paper he lifted from behind his drawer. It was a weird-looking weapon he pointed at Flame and fired. Tammy gasped. Flame grunted behind her and crashed to the floor.

  Tammy jerked around in horror to stare at Flame sprawled on the carpet. The gun hadn’t made a loud sound. Flame had fallen on his side by the door. She gawked at him, too stunned to do anything else for long seconds. She didn’t see any blood as she sat motionless. She finally regained the ability to move. Her head turned toward the attorney to discover he’d pointed the strange gun at her.

  “You will do exactly what I tell you to if you don’t want to die, Miss Shasta. I have no qualms about killing a woman.”

  Her mouth opened but no sound came out. The gun was no more than three feet away, pointed right at her face. She knew he wouldn’t miss at that close range. The attorney slowly rose from his chair with a frown twisting his lips. The wide muzzle never wavered.

  “Stand up slowly. I will shoot you in the back if you try to run.”

  After a long moment of trying to get her body to move, she managed to rise to her feet. Her purse slid to the floor since her fingers refused to hold onto it. The attorney motioned toward the door with the weapon.

  “We’re going to walk outside to my car and you are going to get inside the trunk. I’m going to kill you if you don’t. Do you understand me?”

  She swallowed. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

  He glared at her. “Someone I know wants to talk to you. He’s deeply worried that you’ve been compelled into marrying a New Species.”

  Her brain began to function. The attorney wouldn’t be threatening to kill her if someone just wanted to talk to her. He was lying about that. She bit her lip and took a tentative step. She didn’t see any way to get away from him without being shot. He couldn’t miss her if he fired the weapon.

  Her gaze dropped to the fallen New Species. He wasn’t moving at all but she still didn’t see blood. As she took slow steps toward Flame and the door, she realized two things. Flame’s eyes were closed but his chest rose and fell, proof that he was still breathing. She had to step over his arm and then his leg to exit the office.

  She glanced back at Charlie Artzola. He stayed close and still pointed the gun at her. She walked, following his orders as he directed her where to go. Tammy’s heart pounded with fear but Tiger’s earlier words surfaced in her memory.

  The New Species were on high alert. The attorney would never be able to get her off Reservation without them finding her. When she’d brought her catering van to the gates they’d searched every inch of it. She had to trust that they’d check the trunk of the attorney’s car and find her. They exited the building from a back door where a nice four-door sedan had been parked.

  He made Tammy wait as he unlocked the trunk. He moved back, aiming the gun at her chest. “Climb inside and be very quiet. The trunk is too small for me to miss you if I fire through the backseat. Do you understand me? You better not scream when we go through the checkpoint. I’ll kill whatever New Species you tip off. Your life is only in danger if you make me shoot you. My friend really does want to talk to you, Miss Shasta. He’ll be angry if I have to kill you so do us both a favor. Get in and keep quiet.”

  “Who told you to do this to me?”

  “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you’ll walk away from this in the end if you don’t give me any problems.”

  Tammy wanted to scream and launch her body at the guy and attack him. Of course she didn’t believe that she wasn’t in danger if she complied. The attorney was a big liar. She felt torn. Fight or do what she was told?

  He softly cursed, seeming to sense her dilemma. “This is a special dart gun filled with strong drugs designed to take down and kill New Species. You wouldn’t stand a chance of survival if I shot you. Get insi