Wrath Read online

  “I’m going to tell them about you when I get out of here. They’ll find you.” It was a promise she made.

  140 sighed. “There is real hope of them coming for us, isn’t there? That we could go live in peace with our kind away from our enemies?”

  “Yes. I did mention the hate groups, right? There aren’t many of them but they are annoying. Most people are good, not like the assholes you’ve dealt with, and they are as horrified as I am over Mercile Industries.”

  Footsteps sounded and Mark returned carrying plastic bags in his hands. He stopped near one of the cages. “Move back.”

  The golden-haired New Species edged to the back corner of his cage. Mark reached in and dropped a bag, moved to the next one and left another bag. He finally stopped at Lauren’s cage. 140 moved, pressed against the back of the cage, while Lauren didn’t budge. He set down two bags and backed away. His gaze fixed on Lauren.

  “I was told you’re dating a New Species. Is that true?”

  “Yes. Are you going to insult me too?”

  He glanced behind him and lowered his voice when he faced her again. “I want a deal. When you get out of here, will you talk to your boyfriend for me? I’m willing to give them the address of this place in exchange for a million dollars, total immunity against any crimes and safe travel out of the country. I didn’t know they had their own justice system. They can make deals, right? I never signed on for any of this shit but they’ll kill me if I don’t do what Mary says. The only choice they gave me was to stick around Mercile to be arrested or go with them.”

  Lauren bit her lip, her mind working, and hope filled her. “To agree to your terms they’ll want all the New Species back alive.”

  “We have four of the men and one woman. Mary and her sister were researchers at one of the facilities. They took these five and we helped get them out after the search warrant was served. We all thought it would blow over but it didn’t. Mary just wanted to protect her research with these ones but now it’s all gone to hell. Our place got busted. We’re probably wanted by the police and I can’t even contact my parents or sister. I’m sick of living in this dump and being treated like shit. I just want my life back.”

  Lauren felt zero pity for him but he was desperate and she was willing to take advantage of that. The bastard had worked for Mercile and was still holding New Species in cages. “I’m a mate,” she lied. “I can negotiate a deal with you and they’ll accept it.”

  Hope filled his eyes. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” she bullshitted. “A million dollars, immunity and a helicopter ride to the nearest border is a bargain for the lives of five New Species. I know they will agree.”

  “Okay.” He nodded. “How can we do this? If anyone here finds out they’ll put a bullet in me.”

  “Do you have a phone?”

  “Yeah but I’m afraid to give it to you. They could trace that shit. I’m not stupid.”

  She plotted fast. “It takes at least three minutes to trace a call.”

  “I’ve heard that.”

  She had no idea if it were true or not, didn’t care either, but he needed to get a message out. “Call Homeland, keep it under three minutes and tell them you know where five New Species are. Give them your terms and tell them I made a deal with you. My name is Lauren Henderson.” She paused. “Tell them my code word is Jasper’s. That will assure them it’s for real and we actually spoke.”

  “Code word?”

  “You know how parents give their kids a safe word? New Species use code words and mine is Jasper’s.”

  He paced as he contemplated her offer and finally nodded. “Okay. Mary is gone for a few hours, the guys are taking off in a bit and I’ve got access to the office. They keep cell phones in there. Homeland, you said?”

  “Yes. Call Homeland.”

  He walked away and Lauren began to pray he actually made that call and that someone got her secret message. It was a long shot but a lot of humans worked with Wrath. One of them might remember Jasper’s. It had been a popular club once.

  “Was that the truth?” 140 drew her attention. “Will the NSO make a deal to buy us?”

  “They’ll do anything to get you back.”

  140 smiled. “I like you.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Wrath paced, too worried about Lauren to sleep. He heard footsteps running down the hallway and spun just as his door was pushed open. Shadow burst into the room.

  “Come with me now.” He spun and bolted away.

  Wrath was on his heels a heartbeat later, terrified something bad had happened. The NSO had assured him they’d meet whatever demands the kidnappers made to get Lauren back safely but humans were unstable. They could have changed the terms.

  Shadow ran down the hallway into the main living area and slowed. Wrath paused at his side. Tim and some other humans were sitting at the table with Brass, who pointed at the phone that had been brought into the room.

  “We will do that,” Justice North stated from the speakers on the phone. “This female is very smart. We know they have five Species and now have a way to get them returned to us.”

  “He’s talking about Lauren,” Shadow whispered.

  Confusion filled Wrath but Brass gave him and Shadow a signal to be silent.

  Tim sighed. “Are you able to get that kind of money? The guy wants it in a few hours.”

  “That isn’t a worry,” Justice replied.

  Tim was grim. “The exchange is going to happen in the middle of the night. Where the hell can we get that kind of money? The banks are already closed.”

  Justice laughed and so did Brass. Tim shook his head. Wrath wondered what was going on and why there was a meeting about Lauren. He also noted the mention of the exchange possibly happening before dawn and five Species were involved now.

  “What is so damn amusing?” Tim slammed his palm on the table. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Brass cleared his throat. “Lauren rescued Wrath when my team was captured and she called Homeland for assistance. One of males told her that they have the ability to quickly trace all incoming calls there. He didn’t believe she really had an unconscious Species with her and accused her of being one of those humans who harass us. He identified her location to prove his point. She talked one of the humans holding her into calling Homeland directly.”

  Justice spoke. “She remembered and hoped we could track the signal. She went even farther to ensure that we’d be able to pinpoint the location.”

  “It just takes longer to trace a cell phone signal, which the human male used when he called to make his demands but we have bought the best technology there is. We were able to pinpoint the cell tower used where the call originated.” Brass grinned. “Tell them, Justice.”

  “This human called and had to explain the deal Lauren made with him. She not only talked him into calling but convinced him we’d agree with any deal she made with him. To prove it, he told us her specially assigned Species code word.” Justice chuckled. “Which we don’t have and that tipped us off that it must be a message.”

  A new voice came on the line. “It’s Tiger. I immediately called the local police authorities in the area of the cell tower and asked them if her code word meant anything to them. I had them pull in all their detectives to pool their resources and as soon as they heard it, one of them remembered a club. Her word was ‘Jaspers’ and do you want to know what the name of that club once was?”

  “Jasper’s.” Tim smiled.

  “Exactly,” Justice chuckled again. “It was turned into a restaurant but eventually it closed down. According the police the building has been unused for a few years but they were kind enough to place a call to power and water for us. Someone is paying to keep the lights on.”

  Tim stood fast enough to almost knock his chair over. “I’ll get a team ready immediately. We’ll breach the building.” He snapped his head in the direction of his men. “Find out if we can get the blueprints on it and I want current satelli