New Species 02 Slade (22 page)

they were trying to fool her.

“It’s true. Justice North sent us.” He smiled but it

didn’t reach his eyes.

Crap. How could she tell for sure? She’d hate to shoot

the wrong men but an idea came to her suddenly. “What

do you smell?”

He blinked. “You’re too high up to do that,” he

responded after a few seconds. “We’re primate species.”

Those were rare, she’d only met one, but she’d been

able to tell what he’d been because he’d had feature

anomalies consistent with an ape—a flattened nose and

rounded eye sockets. Her suspicion grew that they lied

to her. Was she willing to shoot them though, one

hundred percent certain they lied? Not yet. She’d hate to

be wrong since she’d only seen one primate species.

I have a medical degree, she reminded herself. I’m

supposed to be smart. She thought for a second and then

smiled. “What’s today’s password? New Species know

about the code system in place and I want you to tell it to

me,” she bullshitted.

He paled slightly. “It’s Noose.”

He’s good. She’d grant him that. He hadn’t missed a

beat in finding an answer to give her. She smiled.

“Wrong answer.”

“It was changed after you were run off the road,” the

other man stated quickly. “It’s noose today. Justice

changed the password because he was afraid it would be

compromised if his man was forced to talk.”

Maybe they actually use code words. That thought made

her hesitate. She’d been guessing but it was reasonable

that they’d have secret passwords or codes. They were

learning from humans since they’d been freed. She

decided it wasn’t proof enough since it was a possibility.

She needed more proof before she could be sure either

way if they were full of crap or telling her the truth. It

would be horrible if she shot a real New Species. Slade

might not ever forgive her and she wouldn’t ever recover

from the guilt. She’d sworn to save their lives, not take

them, when she’d taken the job at Homeland.

“If you are who you say you are then you’ll know the

name of the man Justice sent to escort me to where he

wanted me to be. Tell me the name of the New Species,

not the human escort.”

The second man spoke. “His name is Slade.”

She wavered for a second but then remembered how

Slade had told her that Justice would probably have their

names publicized to make it widely known they were

missing in an attempt to get people to help find them.

Slade’s name might be in the press right along with hers.

She dropped that line of questioning.

Trisha’s finger tightened on the trigger. “What was

the password for yesterday then?” She wanted to know

how far they’d take it.

The men glanced at each other nervously. The

younger one looked up. “Yesterday was my day off. I’m

not sure but today it’s noose. We’re coming up to get

you, Dr. Norbit. We have a team standing by about half a

mile from here and we’re going to take you back to

Homeland. You’ve been rescued.”

If there was a code system, the guy would know it,

especially since he was a supposed member of a rescue

team going after a New Species out of contact with his

people. Since he didn’t, she figured her bluff had

worked.

“There is no password, asshole.”

She saw both men glance at each other again, their

alarm clear. One of them moved his hand and reached

for something at his waist. “I’m getting my ID,” he

warned loudly. “We do use passwords at Homeland. All

security guards do.”

“So you’re New Species security guards? And you’re

New Species? Is security guard your job title then?”

They both nodded. She couldn’t believe how easily

both men lied. Paul had told her New Species never

called themselves security guards, instead preferring the

title of officers. They hated the other term. She watched

him as he removed something from behind him. She

wondered if he’d pull out his wallet and try to bluff her

by showing his driver’s license. Instead he pulled out a

gun.

Trisha panicked at the sight of it, jerked the handgun

in his direction, and fired. Two bullets deafened her

unprotected ears before he fired back. His bullet flew

wide and struck the dirt above her, making it rain down

over her back. The third bullet she fired hit him.

He screamed as he lost his hold, fell back, and

tumbled down the hill. She turned the gun on the second

man who struggled to pull out something from the back

of his waistband, one-handed, while trying not to lose his

grip on the rock he held onto. She saw black metal when

his hand came into view. Gun!

Trisha fired at him and struck him with one shot,

getting better at aiming. She saw a part of his face where

his cheek bloomed red and he screamed out. He released

the handhold he had and fell straight back. She heard a

horrible crunching sound when he hit bottom.

Trisha inched forward to stare down below at both

men who lay at the bottom. One of them had landed on

his side unmoving with bright red liquid spreading on

the ground near him. The other man, the first one who’d

fallen, sprawled face up. He moved an arm and she

heard him groan even from where she hovered. Blood

covered his face and his shoulder area.

She watched him as he lay there moving his leg and

then he reached for something inside his pocket. When

he pulled out a walkie-talkie she realized he would

radio in her location. More of those assholes would come

if they hadn’t already heard the gunshots. She had to

stop him, knowing she couldn’t hold off more of them if

they converged on her location.

She crawled out more until her body partially hung

over the edge. Fear gripped her from how far away the

ground appeared to be below her. She could plummet to

her death if she slipped from her wobbly perch and was

unable to stop her tumble. She aimed and pulled the

trigger, watching him jerk as the bullet tore through his

chest. The radio clutched inside his palm dropped to the

dirt below him. He stared wide-eyed up at her but she

knew he had died when he didn’t blink, didn’t move,

after a good minute passed.

Trisha fought the urge to be sick as she assessed both

men, determined they were certainly dead and that she’d

killed them. She pushed and wiggled her upper body

back inside the small cave, still gripping the handgun

painfully with her fingers. She stared at it and then

dropped it as tears blinded her. The reality of what she’d

done slammed home hard.

The shock she experienced left her feeling icy cold

inside. When she’d become a doctor she’d sworn to save

lives but she’d just taken two. It was self-defense! her mind

screamed. Self-defense. I had no choice. None.

She forced a few calming breaths through her lips

and remembered Bill. What he’d threatened to do to her

and how he’d hit her wasn’t something she’d ever forget.

Those men were part of Bill’s group and they would

have done bad things to her too.

She remembered how all three of those men had only

kept her alive to tend to their injured friend. She had no

doubt the men she’d shot would have killed her just the

way they’d killed Bart. She forced herself to breathe

deeply, calmly, and finally regained some control of her

shaky emotions. She wanted to cry but Slade’s words

came back to her from when they’d heard the gunshots

after leaving Bart at the crash site.

“Survive first and then grieve,” she whispered aloud.

Trisha wanted Slade with her so bad it became an

ache that painfully wouldn’t subside. She would be safe

with him. She knew he’d hold her and say something to

make her feel better, distract her from the anguish she

suffered. She hoped he was on his way to her instead of

more of those men.

She glanced at the handgun she’d dropped and

pulled her emotions together. Slade would order her to

survive and she’d promised him she would do anything,

suffer anything, to stay alive until he could rescue her.

He wouldn’t want her feeling sorry for herself. He’d

expect her to use her head.

“Calm down and think,” Trisha muttered aloud.

“Great, I’m going to be one of those people who talk to

themselves all the time when this is all over.”

She crawled to the backpack to reload the gun. There

was a box full of bullets that Slade had salvaged from the

camp. She crawled back to the opening on her stomach

and gripped the binoculars to study the area in a grid

pattern, searching for any movement. She stayed low.

Both rifles were at her side and the handgun was placed

inches from her hand along with the box of bullets in

case she needed them.

Movement caught her attention to her right. She

didn’t know the distance but it wasn’t too far. She

spotted three men and then a fourth as they marched

through the thick trees. They were dressed in camouflage

green, similar in style to the men she’d just killed, and

worse, they headed directly toward her.

Three of them had long guns in their arms or resting

on their shoulders. One of them had holsters at his hips

and on his chest to hold handguns. Crap. They were

heavily armed. It scared Trisha badly. They weren’t

going to be happy when they found their dead friends.

She scanned the area, looking for Slade, but didn’t

spot him. Ten minutes later she spied more movement.

She stared at the two advancing figures and hope soared.

Neither man was Slade though. One of the men had

reddish hair while the other one had jet-black but they

were dressed in all black clothing and moved quickly.

Slade had told her that his people would come and

she prayed they were New Species. They had to be

Slade’s men or she was in deep, horrible crap and knew

it. Trisha turned her binoculars back toward the area

where the four men were.

They had made good progress since she found them

a lot closer than they had been. She turned the binoculars

back to the two swiftly moving males in all-black gear. It

appeared they were headed right for the four hunters.

She bit her lip as she tried to estimate if the two possible

New Species would reach the four before they made it to

where she hid. The chances were good.

The four men coming her way were definitely going

to be able to find her. The two dead bodies sprawled on

the ground below her were a good indication of where

she hid. She softly cursed and prayed that the New

Species would reach her first.

Trisha settled flat, hugged the ground tighter, and

shifted her binoculars to watch the progress of both

oncoming groups. She prayed the two New Species—if

they were New Species—were aware of the four-man

hunting party and prayed they’d pick up the scent of

those men. They would unless they were upwind.

She really wished that thought hadn’t come to her. If

those two men were New Species trying to save her and

Slade, the last thing she wanted was to watch them be

surprised by the hunting party. They didn’t appear as

well armed as their opponents.

The tension inside Trisha rose so high her hands hurt

from gripping the binoculars while she watched them

draw closer. They weren’t moving nearly as fast as the

two who she gradually became certain were New

Species. She could now make out their shoulder-length

hair and their uniforms seemed right, although they were

too far away still to make out the NSO patches if they

sported them over their chests.

The four hunters had nearly reached the dead men

below Trisha and she knew she’d lose sight of them

soon. She wasn’t about to inch out farther where she

could look straight down. They’d be able to glance up

and find her too easily. She also didn’t want to give them

a target to shoot at or give away her exact location.

The two New Species slowed, not jogging anymore.

They stalked slowly toward the hunters, obviously

aware of their presence by their cautious behavior. Relief