Brawn Read online

  “Think she’s going to get it on with him?”

  A few of them laughed.

  “Well, if not him, maybe one of them.”

  More laughs.

  “I think I’m going to volunteer monitor duty when we get back. I want to see this if the Doc wants them to fuck.”

  More laughs.

  Becca gritted her teeth and looked up. She glared at the heads turned her way and met the eyes of the men watching her since they’d removed their goggles while she tended Brawn.

  “You’ve made the worst mistake of your lives. My father is going to hunt down and kill everyone involved so I hope you spend your money fast.”

  One of them snickered. “And who’s your daddy, piece of ass?”

  “He lives in the big house on the property you just invaded and hates mercenaries.” She said it to see if they’d respond. She needed answers and every word might clue her in to what kind of mess she was dealing with.

  “I hate to break this to you but no one is going to find you in the hole you’re going to. Your daddy was probably cowering under his bed when he heard those gunshots. Assholes are all talk to their kids.”

  More laughter.

  Becca didn’t know why these men wanted Brawn and she wasn’t sure why they hadn’t just killed her. They obviously had no qualms about killing innocent people since Tina was dead. Relief washed through her because she’d learned one thing for sure. Her father would arrive at her house at eight in the morning to pick up Brawn. He was alive.

  Tim Oberto would move heaven and hell to find his only daughter. It might take time but it’s what he did. He tracked down and found New Species who were being held captive. Her gaze lowered to stare at Brawn. He looked different asleep—vulnerable and less intimidating. Her father and his team would come for her and Brawn. She just had to keep them alive long enough.

  Will it take hours? Days? Weeks? She fought tears, refused to give the assholes watching her the satisfaction, but it wasn’t easy. She could survive hours but days or weeks? What if Dad never finds us?

  She pushed that thought away. He was good at what he did. There was a dead body in her guestroom and while the men who’d kidnapped them might think leaving it would confuse the cops, it would be a clue for her dad. He’d do more than a background check. He’d tear the dead guy’s history apart to find every single asshole in that van and make them talk and reveal what had happened to her.

  “Has anyone called the bitch to let her know we have the male and we got his girlfriend? Maybe we’ll get a bonus.”

  “I did,” Randy’s voice was recognizable. “She’s excited. She really wants a test subject without the drugs. She thinks the drugs will ruin the experiment. She believes it might be the key to success. It was the happiest I’ve ever heard her.”

  “Maybe she should climb into one of the cages with one of the males. She’s such a horrifying bitch he’d be too terrified not to do what she wanted from him.”

  “She’s too dried up to do anything wet,” one of them laughed. “Or she might have thought of that. I know if she glared at me and told me to drop my pants I might want to eat my gun but I’d be too terrified to refuse. I’d be stiff with fear.”

  Laughter erupted from the van. One guy hit the van wall.

  “Image that bitch bending over.” He roared with laughter.

  “How about imagining her bent over in front of 358? Who would be more terrifying a sight? Him going at her or her face?”

  “Forget Doctor Elsa’s face. How’d you like to see her stripped naked? Good thing I skipped dinner.”

  They laughed. “Imagine her talking dirty. Or worse, her having a brat? I don’t care who knocks that bitch up, that will be the ugliest damn baby ever if it looks like her.”

  They were all laughing but Becca felt dread. Whoever this Doctor Elsa was, she wasn’t liked by the men she controlled. The things they said were giving her information though, she kept her gaze on Brawn, hoping they’d keep talking. The more they said, the more she learned.

  Number 358 was a person. All New Species had been given numbers instead of names when they’d been experiments at Mercile testing facilities. She guessed that number used to be assigned to Brawn, which meant the assholes had come after him.

  If they know his lab number then…shit. They must work for Mercile Industries for sure. That kind of information was highly classified. Her father couldn’t even get clearance. He’d also told her Mercile staff had set fire to their medical records and had destroyed the computers by the time the assault teams had penetrated those areas when they’d served search warrants to find New Species.

  Why does Mercile want Brawn alive? It made more sense if they’d just wanted to kill him. The NSO slammed the company with lawsuits almost monthly trying to destroy them financially. For every New Species found and recovered, another lawsuit and criminal charges were filed against them and more arrests made. The New Species Organization was smart that way. They were making sure Mercile never recovered enough to restart their research.

  “Hey!” one of the men yelled.

  Becca jerked from her thoughts to glance up. One of them scooted closer, staring at her with narrowed blue eyes.

  “You might want to move away. We have to shoot him again. Doc Elsa wants you awake and alert when we get there. Besides, one hit of this shit and you’d die from an overdose.”

  The man pointed the gun and Becca edged away as far from Brawn as she could get. She yanked the dart out of him and dropped it behind her the second that she hid the area with her body when she leaned against him again on the off chance it prevented him from getting a full dose of the obvious tranquilizer.

  They shot him a few more times as time passed. She removed them as quickly as possible without rousing suspicion and worry set in. They were going to kill him with an overdose. She tried to talk them out of it but they refused to listen. His pulse remained steady and she pressed her ear to his heart, reassured when it continued to beat strongly under her ear. His big body kept her warm as the miles passed, taking her far from home.

  Fear was instantaneous when the van finally stopped and the engine died. She sat up and felt pain. The thick bars of the cage under her ass made her backside hurt after no movement for an extended time. The feeling of pins and needles spread across one side of her ass and up her hip. The men exited the van to leave her alone with Brawn.

  She reached for his face, cupped it and rubbed. “Brawn? Can you hear me? Wake up!” She made sure she kept her voice low.

  He didn’t stir at all and she started when the van doors were thrown open behind her. Her hands left Brawn’s face as she turned to glare at the five men who stepped close to the back of the cage door. One unlocked and yanked it open. He withdrew one a dart gun and pointed it at her chest.

  “Get out,” he ordered.

  She had to fight the stiffness in her body to move. She climbed out and her bare feet touched cold, hard concrete. She peered at the large room that reminded her of a warehouse with the super-high ceiling and exposed metal beams. There were a few large windows near the ceiling along the sides. A hand grabbed her arm and led her away from the van.

  She turned her head to watch the four men lift Brawn by each of his limbs. He dangled in their hold, his long hair brushed the floor and they carried him toward a stairwell across the room. To see Brawn, a man his size, that helpless, drove fear right back into Becca. She swallowed and wondered what kind of hell she would face.

  The man gripping her arm jerked hard, forcing her to follow Brawn and she hurried her step. She didn’t want to lose sight of him. The stairs were wide and metal, leading down into a near darkness below. Her gaze flashed upward to the windows. The sight of sunshine assured her they’d traveled for at least three and a half hours.

  Claustrophobia batted at her as they traveled down at least three dark flights of stairs, going deeper into the bowels of the warehouse. Only a few light bulbs illuminated the way for her to see the steps. The air g