Read New Species 02 Slade Online
Authors: Laurann Dohner
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