The Altered (29 page)

Jordan felt
sick. Money really did buy anything.

Chambers
crouched in front of Jordan, the cattle prod uncomfortably close to
Jordan’s throat. “So we were back in business—funded by the private
sector with the government willing to turn a blind eye as long as
we didn’t get caught. And gave them first refusal on our results,
obviously. It’s funny how people are now willing to look the other
way where altereds are concerned.”

Jordan lunged
for him, forgetting about the chains until they stopped him in his
tracks, digging into his throat and making him gasp with pain.

“Ah-ah-ahh.”
Chambers stood and backed away to the doorway of the cage, shaking
his finger at Jordan. “Don’t make me kill you just yet. I have
plans for you.”

He stepped
outside and went to lock the door again, but a loud bang echoed
around them and the doors at the end of the room suddenly burst
open.

The key
slipped through his fingers.

*****

“Where did you
get that?” Daniel stared at the gun in Charlie’s hand.

Charlie aimed
it at the door lock. “I like to be prepared. You can’t fight
everything with teeth and claws.” He glanced over at Daniel,
thankfully keeping the gun trained on the door. “But don’t tell
Keira I said that. She hates guns. I’m amazed she didn’t notice I
had this one.”

Daniel
shrugged. No way was he getting in the middle of that. “My lips are
sealed. But…. ” He looked pointedly down at Sam. Sam might not be
able to talk in his wolf form, but Daniel had no doubt Sam would
find a way to grass Charlie up if he wanted to.

“Nah, Sam’s on
my side with this, aren’t you?” Charlie grinned when Sam snapped
his teeth, in what Daniel assumed to be agreement?
Who knew?
But that was the least of their problems at the minute.
“Ready?”

Ash nodded,
Sam growled, and Daniel swallowed down the knot of fear in his
chest. They had no idea what waited for them behind that door.

The gunshot
echoed loudly around them, but Daniel didn’t have time to complain
about the noise. Sam leaped at the door, and the splintered lock
gave way easily under his brute force. Charlie rushed in after
him—gun in one hand, claws extended on the other.

The guards
inside the door hadn’t got a shot off before Sam and Charlie
disarmed them and rendered them unconscious. Daniel avoided looking
too closely to see if they had been shot when Charlie fired through
the lock. They might even be dead. There was a fair amount of
blood, so the odds weren’t good.

Daniel paused
to look around. Ash came to a stop next to him. There were four
cages on either side of the room. Charlie stood at the bars of the
nearest one on the left, a frown on his face as he stared at the
two people inside it.

Sam made a
beeline for the cages at the far end, and Daniel didn’t need to
look to know who was in there.

He grabbed Ash
by the arm and then ran after Sam. “We’re gonna need to be quick,”
he said, skidding to a halt just in front of Jordan’s cage.
“There’s got to be more guards around, and we weren’t exactly
quiet.”

An older man
in a suit lay unmoving on the ground just outside the cage door.
Daniel assumed Sam had taken care of him. He stepped over him to
get inside, not caring if the man was dead. The guards had probably
been following orders—just doing their job—but the man at Daniel’s
feet was more than likely the one giving those orders. Daniel
didn’t give a flying fuck what happened to him.

“Jordan?” He
knelt on the ground next to where Sam pulled at the chains with his
teeth. They didn’t seem to want to budge, though, and Sam’s growls
were getting more frustrated by the second. Ash crouched on his
other side, examining the shackles.

“Hey.” Jordan
pushed himself up into a sitting position, and Daniel’s heart
clenched at the slow and careful way he moved.

“What the hell
have they done to you?” He reached to cup Jordan’s cheek, melting a
little at the way Jordan leaned into him and sighed.

“Fucking
cattle prod.” Jordan gestured at the unconscious man outside the
cage, and Daniel cursed under his breath when he saw it—two feet of
ugly steel still held tightly in the man’s grip. “You need to get
out of here. If the gunshot doesn’t bring them running, they’ve got
cameras.” Jordan looked up at the ceiling, and Daniel saw them
tucked high up in the corners.

“Well no one’s
turned up yet, and they’ve got cameras along the halls too, but I
don’t think they work. Maybe these don’t either?” Daniel hoped that
was the case, because Sam and Ash weren’t having any luck getting
the chains off Jordan.

Jordan shook
his head.

“They work
just fine.”

Daniel jumped
at the new voice behind him, shuffling quickly around to see who’d
spoken. “You’re still alive, then,” he hissed, easily recognising
Chris’s brother despite the dishevelled state he was in.

“Just about.”
Ian Carter sneered as he stared back at Daniel. “I’m sure you’re
gutted. Anyway.” He nodded at Jordan. “He’s right about the
cameras. They can hear us too, so they definitely heard that gun go
off. Unless you want to join us in here, you’d better leave.”

Daniel was
just about to mention Chris Carter, Keira and Matt, but he held his
tongue. If the security devices worked, he didn’t want to alert
anyone that more of their group were nearby.

“We’re not
leaving you here.” Daniel leaned his forehead against Jordan’s and
closed his eyes for just a second. It felt so good to be touching
him again. There was no way they were going anywhere without
Jordan. Daniel didn’t give a shit what happened to Ian Carter.

“Any luck?”
Daniel turned to face Ash. “Can you get them undone?”

Ash shook his
head, his eyes telling Daniel everything. “I checked his pockets
for a key.” He gestured behind them. “Couldn’t find it.”

“Bollocks.”

Daniel glanced
around, searching for anything that might help.

Why the bloody
hell didn’t he think of that to start with?

Daniel half
turned to shout back over his shoulder. “Charlie! Get over here
now. We need that gun.”

Charlie
immediately stopped whatever he was doing with the people in the
other cage and ran to join them. “What do you need it for?”

Daniel pointed
to where Jordan was bolted to the floor. “Can you shoot through it?
We can’t get it undone.”

Charlie
ushered them out of the way and bent down to see for himself. He
aimed his gun and told Jordan not to move. Daniel covered his ears
this time, waiting for the bang, all the while keeping his eyes on
the damaged doors on the far wall.

“Shit!”
“Bollocks!”

Jordan and
Charlie cursed at the same time as Sam bared his teeth, his head
snapping around to stare at the side wall.

“What is it?”
The noise of Charlie shooting at the chain holding Jordan to the
floor drowned out Daniel’s voice.

Sam was up and
charging toward a door opening in the side of the room. Daniel had
to grab hold of Ash to stop him following. “You’re unarmed!” he
yelled.

Ash’s face
fell, and before Daniel could think better of it, he whipped out
the knife Keira had given him and thrust it at Ash. “Take it,” he
said when Ash hesitated. “Charlie’s got a gun. I’ll be fine.”

“Thanks.” Ash
unsheathed the knife and ran off after Sam. Thank fuck they had
worn the vests.

Daniel turned
back to watch Charlie shoot out the rest of the chain, and then
Jordan was free.

“Help me up.”
Jordan grabbed hold of Charlie and Daniel, biting his lip as they
got him to his feet.

The sounds of
fighting came from where Ash and Sam had run to. Daniel looked up
in time to hear Sam yelp and saw him collapse in a heap on the
floor. “They shot Sam!”

Charlie raised
his gun, aiming at the guards now running toward them and managing
to hit at least three of them. There were too many for Charlie to
stop with just the one gun, though, and they were going to get hit
themselves unless they could get out of there.

Bullets pinged
off the bars around them, ricocheting back, and Daniel prayed none
of them found their target.

They weren’t
that lucky, though.

Charlie cursed
as a bullet grazed the side of his neck, and he dropped to the
floor trying to avoid more of them. Daniel—too busy checking to see
if Charlie was okay—felt his breath leave him in a whoosh as a
bullet hit him, knocking him back onto his arse. It had lodged
itself in his vest to the left of his heart.

Jesus
Christ.

“Don’t shoot
the seer, you fucking idiots!” The guy on the floor had apparently
woken up while they’d been preoccupied with Jordan and had managed
to slide himself a fair distance from the cage door. “Use your
tranquiliser guns.”

Jordan gave
Daniel a shove toward the cage door. “
Run
.”

No way was
Daniel leaving, but he didn’t get the chance to protest as
something sharp sank into the side of his neck.

Daniel reached
up to feel a dart sticking out of his skin. He immediately pulled
it out and tossed it to the floor, but the damage was done. He felt
heavy, as though he suddenly weighed too much to support himself,
and he collapsed onto his back.

Daniel heard
his name called, but it sounded faraway, and he couldn’t be
bothered to see who it was. The effort of keeping his eyes open was
suddenly too much, and he let them slip closed.

Daniel came to
with a throbbing headache that made him wish he was still
unconscious. He went to massage his temples, but his arms wouldn’t
move. “What the—?”

“Daniel?”

“Daniel? Are
you okay?”

Daniel
struggled through the foggy mess in his head, blinking rapidly and
turning in the direction of the voice. “Hey.” He smiled as Jordan’s
face came into focus.

Then
everything came back to him in a rush.

Jordan’s
capture. Breaking into the facility. Getting shot.

“Shit.” Daniel
closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing and take stock of
the situation. His arms and legs were tied to the chair he sat on,
his head still ached, but the haze he’d woken up with was clearing.
Thank God
.

Nothing seemed
to be broken, so that was a plus.

“Daniel?”

“I’m okay.”
Daniel met Jordan’s gaze. “What about you?”

Jordan and
Charlie were now locked in a cell together—Charlie was still out
cold.

“Not too bad,
all things considered.”

“Fuck.” Daniel
realised they both had their arms chained to the ceiling. “Where
are the others? Oh my God… Sam… Ash?” Daniel suddenly remembered
Sam’s yelp as he was shot, and he had no idea what had happened to
Ash.

“Hey… Daniel.”
Jordan nodded over to the cages next to them.

“Are they
okay?”

Sam lay on the
ground, not moving. There was no mistaking the dark puddle
underneath his chest. Ash lay hunched over on his side,
unconscious. One of his hands was outstretched toward Sam, but the
cages were too far apart for them to touch. Daniel swallowed the
lump in his throat as he waited for Jordan to answer.

“Yeah. Sam
lost a lot of blood, but he’s already healing.”

“And Ash?”
Daniel couldn’t see any injuries on him, but that didn’t mean
much.

Jordan glanced
over at Ash and smiled softly. “He’s fine. He put up a fight when
they separated him and Sam. So they drugged him.”

Ash wasn’t on
his own in his cage either. There were two others: one in military
fatigues, and the other in a white lab coat. Like Ash, they were
unconscious.

Crap.

He itched to
have his hands free, wanted to run them through his hair or rub at
his eyes, but tugging at his restraints made them dig in more.

“Stop,
please.” Jordan shook his head, looking down at Daniel’s hands.
“You’re making it worse.”

Daniel slumped
back against his chair, frustrated and angry. “Keira?” he mouthed,
aware of the cameras and possible microphones around them.

“Close.”
Jordan mouthed back.

Daniel craned
his neck as far as he could, trying to get a good look around the
room. The remains of the double doors they’d broken through lay
scattered over the floor. The bodies of the dead guards had been
removed, but the bloodstains remained.

Two more
guards now stood on either side of the shattered doors, guns
trained in Daniel’s direction. He hoped wherever Keira was, she was
being careful. They couldn’t afford for her to get captured as
well—she and Matt were their only hope of getting out of there.
Daniel didn’t count Chris Carter.

He didn’t have
time to ask Jordan anything else because the side door opened
again, and Daniel recognised the man in the suit who walked
through, followed by two men in white lab coats and four
guards.

“Fucking
Chambers,” Jordan muttered, glaring at the approaching group of
people.

Daniel had a
few moments to worry about why he was on a chair outside the cages
while everyone else was locked up until a heavy hand clamped down
hard on his shoulder.

“Mr Fellows.”
Chambers squeezed hard, digging his fingers in, and Daniel winced.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been looking for someone like you.”
The way he said it made Daniel’s skin crawl. He wanted to shrug
Chambers off, but the ropes held him firmly in place. “Someone who
can not only spot a shifter in their human form but also the extent
to which they can shift.
Fascinating
. And also extremely
useful.”

Jordan growled
in the cage opposite them, his fangs and claws already out.
Chambers let go of Daniel and walked closer to the cage. Daniel saw
his raised eyebrow and curious expression as he looked between
them.