New Species 03 Valiant (32 page)

second one of the security officers would make the

attorney open the trunk. They’d discover her, she’d be

rescued and returned to Valiant.

Instead the car moved again, picking up speed. More

time passed. The car stopped again, the engine died, and

Tammy fixed her gaze toward the top of her prison. It

was dark inside, pitch black, she couldn’t see a thing, but

she knew where the trunk lid opened. A ny second she’d

be saved. She heard keys. Hope soared.

Light blinded Tammy when the trunk was jerked

open. Tammy looked up but she didn’t see a New

Species face. Charlie A rtzola glared at her instead before

he turned his head to look at someone else.

“I told you they’d just wave me through. They trust

me.” The jerk snickered. “Here’s the bitch I told you

about. They wanted a marriage license. She wanted to

marry one of those animals. She’s living with and

screwing him. He looks worse than the rest of them do.

screwing him. He looks worse than the rest of them do.

He doesn’t even appear kind of human. He is a tiger or

something. He is about as freakish as I’ve ever seen.”

Tammy screamed inside her head. NO! The officers

at the gate couldn’t have just waved him past. A nother

man walked closer until Tammy stared at the face of a

man in his sixties. He wore glasses and was bald. He

looked as if he could be someone’s nice grandfather.

That was until he turned a pair of ice-cold green eyes on

her that froze her. He frowned.

“So,” the older man said softly. “We finally have a

test subject. She survived breeding with one of them.

Something about her attracted one and, if my theory

holds, that chemistry should attract 927 to her as well.

You said the one she was breeding with was a tiger?

Well, let’s see how she fairs with a dog.” He laughed. “I

hope he likes her as much as the tiger did.”

Two scary thugs in their twenties suddenly stood

over Tammy. They reached for her and lifted her out.

One of them gripped her legs and the other one grabbed

her under her armpits. They hauled her out of the car.

She saw a flash of trees while they carried her between

them as though she were a large bag.

She glimpsed a house—a white one badly in need of

paint. It was a single story and she didn’t recognize it.

That meant she wasn’t close to town. A s they entered the

structure she stared up at a cracked, plaster ceiling. They

dumped her on a soft mattress.

The twin bed had been set up inside a living room.

One of them grinned at her and pulled out something

from his back pocket. He yanked her hands up and

handcuffed her to something above her head. She

couldn’t turn her head to see what he’d locked her to but

then her legs were jerked down flat and straight. Metal

enclosed each ankle. The scary one by her head leaned

over to stare into her eyes.

“Wait until you meet 927. He’s going to love you.” He

laughed, his gaze lifting to the other man. “For about ten

seconds until he snaps her neck and kills her.”

Tammy heard the other man laugh.

The jerk still leaning over Tammy looked down. “I

almost feel sorry for you. 927 is the meanest beast ever

made but since you like to do their kind, I guess you

might enjoy the rough treatment you are going to get

when he mounts you. If he’ll mount you. The Doc thinks

he might since one of his kind liked you.”

“Get away from her,” the older man demanded

loudly. Tammy recognized his voice. “We don’t want your

smell on her because he’ll just kill her outright since he

hates the two of you so much. We need her to smell like

the tiger.”

Valiant. She silently screamed his name. Would he be

able to find her again? Save her? Would he even know by

now that she’d been taken? That someone had kidnapped

her?

Tears streamed down her face. She screamed again

in her head. Valiant!

* * * * *

“This doesn’t make sense.” Tiger frowned at Valiant.

“Why would they take those two women, walk them a

few miles from their home and just leave them tied up

alone? It was too easy to find them.”

Valiant shrugged. “I do not know but they are fine.

That is what matters, right?”

Tiger nodded. He glanced at the three other men that

he’d brought along on his team. They watched him back.

Tiger sighed. “Something just isn’t right. I can’t put my

finger on what it is but this just makes no sense. What

was the point of taking two women to just tie them up

and abandon them?”

One of the men shrugged. “They are human. They

sometimes don’t make sense.”

Sheriff Cooper approached Tiger and his group with

a wide grin on his lined face. “Thank you so much.

A gain, we owe you. The women are fine. They were

scared but they only have a few bruises. They wanted to

give you their thanks. They said the men didn’t talk to

them at all. The only thing they heard was one of the

men asking if they thought they had moved them far

enough for them to be hard to track. It doesn’t make

sense to me but that’s all they heard. The women said

the men carried them through the woods, took turns

tossing them over their shoulders to get them this far,

and just dumped them at the base of that tree. They tied

them up good and just took off.”

“Perhaps they were planning to come back later.” It

was one of the deputies who worked with the sheriff who

had joined them. “Maybe they wanted more women and

are searching for other victims. We should keep a few

deputies out here just in case they return.”

Tiger’s

cell

phone

rang.

“Excuse

me.

It’s

Reservation.” He turned and stepped away to answer it.

He listened and spun around. Tiger locked his grim gaze

on Valiant and he hesitated.

“I think I know why the women were taken.” Tiger

kept his focus trained on Valiant but then he glanced at

the Sheriff.

“You specifically asked me to bring Valiant. Why?”

The sheriff frowned. “Well, he’s your best tracker.

That’s why I asked for him.”

“Who told you that?” Tiger clenched his teeth.

“It was one of the news reporters who’ve been

hanging around town since Tammy was taken. They

practically camp outside our station. He said he covers

stories all the time for you folks and that Valiant was the

best tracker you had. He said if more women were ever

kidnapped to be sure to ask for him because he’d be the

best chance at finding them fast.”

“What is going on?” Valiant frowned. “How would

any reporter know my name? It was never released, was

it?” He glanced at Tiger for an answer.

“No, it wasn’t.” Tiger appeared killing mad. He glared

at the Sheriff. “Do you remember the reporter’s name?”

The sheriff hesitated. “No, but I know his face. Why?”

Tiger growled. He turned his head to Valiant.

“Tammy has been taken from Reservation by force. She’s

gone, Valiant. Flame was asked by our attorney to escort

her to his office. When they didn’t return to the hotel

within twenty minutes and Flame didn’t respond to the

radio, a team immediately went in search of them.”

Shock jolted through Valiant. “No.”

“They found Flame on the floor unconscious inside

the attorney’s office. He’s been drugged with an unknown

substance. The attorney and Tammy are missing. Her

purse was found but she was not. Our people picked up

only the attorney’s scent and Tammy’s. That led them to

the parking lot, which makes it apparent he took her. We

are sure she didn’t go willingly because her scent of fear

lingered. He drove right out the gate. We trusted him.

We check incoming cars but not outgoing ones when

they are driven by trusted employees. He took her,

Valiant. The kidnapping of these two human women was

obviously a ploy to lead you away from Tammy.” Tiger

growled and glared at the Sheriff. “The man who spoke

of Valiant used you to lure him away.”

Valiant threw back his head and roared in rage.

“We’ll find her,” Tiger swore. “Everyone is on this.”

Tammy had fallen asleep at some point but awoke

when the thugs released her from the bed. They’d

dragged her on barely working legs, her entire body

sluggish, to push her into a bathroom. To her

humiliation, they’d refused to give her any privacy,

leering as she used the facilities. She’d had no choice.

One of them had threatened to hit her if she didn’t

comply.

They’d gripped her arms at that point and dragged

her back outside to a white van. The sun had gone down,

assuring her she’d been unconscious for hours, and she

wasn’t given the opportunity to escape. Both men kept a

tight hold on her wrists. They threatened to beat her if

she put up any resistance. One glance at their faces made

her a believer. They had cold eyes and cruel demeanors.

They’d put a metal collar around her throat and

locked her inside a large cage at the back of the van. The

collar was chunky and had a two-foot chain they

connected to the bars of her tiny cell. She’d peered at

that large cage with terror. Even the fact that they

contained her in one was terrifying. Why would they

need a cage like that and what did they usually transport

inside it? She touched the wide metal bars, guessing,

whatever its purpose, it would hold almost anything.

One of the men climbed out while one remained

inside the back of the van with her. He turned on an

overhead light to watch her with a smirk. The departing

guy slid the side door closed and then opened the

driver’s door, got in and started the engine. Tears filled

her eyes from fear and not feeling well from whatever

drug they’d given her. She had a headache, her tongue

was a little swollen-feeling, and her limbs still moved

sluggishly.

“Don’t bother putting on the waterworks,” the man in

the back snickered. “Nobody gives a shit if you cry.”

“Why are you doing this?” Tammy hated the way her

voice shook. “Who are you people?”

“Why? Because you like to fuck them. Because one of

them fucked you and didn’t kill you. That’s why. The

doctor we work for is really interested to see if 927 will

breed with you. You better hope he likes you. It will be

fun to watch, either way.”

The man in the front laughed. “I doubt she’ll think it’s

fun.”

The man in back laughed. “Yeah. True.” His eyes

sparkled with glee. “Do you want to know what happens

if that beast doesn’t tear you apart with his claws and

toss your body parts outside the cage? The doctor is

going to strap you down to a table and flood your system

with hormones and drugs to try to get you to conceive

with that beast. A fterward, we get to toss you back inside

with him so he can fuck you again. The doctor has all

kinds of formulas he’s thought up to try to get you

pregnant by the beast. It could take months before he

figures out how to get the results he wants.”

The driver laughed again. “That will be a lot of fun to

watch if he accepts her. I’m not getting my hopes up

though. He killed the other two women we locked up

with him. That last one was the one who got to me. She

was one fine piece of ass. I almost cried when he

snapped her neck and threw her at the door. Maybe we

should toss in men to the beast.”

“She was hot.” The man in the back scowled at

Tammy. “This one is cute but nothing even close to the

other one. She’s definitely not playmate-of-the-month

material. I think the doctor is excited for nothing. I think

the beast will kill this one just as fast as the last one.”

“Who knows?” The driver sighed. “Maybe the doctor’s

theory is right and he’ll accept her because she’s doing

one of them and she’ll smell like him. They never killed

their own women. He’s also sure it’s got something to do

with their sense of smell and body chemistry. Whatever