by Eve Langlais
Apparently, Miranda had decimated a Mastermind installation. Rumor had it she’d ripped off some arms and used them as weapons. Probably an exaggeration.
“Let’s turn that frown upside down. Never fear. My honey bear will come to the rescue.”
“How?” Maisy asked. “He has no idea where we are.”
“As if that will stop him.” Miranda winked. “My honey won’t let his girls down.”
It made her wonder what Jakob would do.
She got her answer a moment later as the elevators at the far end of the holding room opened and a gurney was wheeled out. As it passed, she gasped because, strapped to it, reeking of booze, with his eyes closed and his mouth slack, was Jakob. Idiot must have gotten drunk and let down his guard.
Mother Q had acquired yet another victim and provided another reminder that family meant nothing to her. Where did children fall on the scale? Maisy feared the answer.
Only once the thugs left with Jakob dumped into a cell did she hiss at Miranda. “We need to get out of these cages and find our girls.”
“I agree.”
“So, how do we do it?”
“We don’t.” And that bunny, that crazy rascally rabbit, beamed as she looked overhead and, in a voice eerily reminiscent of a certain eighties horror movie, sang, “They’re here.”
15
Playing the part of sleeping man proved easier than expected. Snore, drool, and fart. An act that served to convince those who captured Jakob that he’d succumbed to their drugs. What they didn’t know was he’d activated a slow-release adrenaline pill embedded under his skin the moment he saw his mother. It helped to counter the sedative effect.
Although he did allow himself a short nap on the helicopter. And during the car ride to the secret lair. Even once he got to his cage, he knew better than to act too quickly, even though excitement filled him as he caught a certain scent.
He’d found Maze, but he couldn’t smell Peach. What had happened to the sweet little girl? His mother better not have harmed her!
One problem at a time. He had to stick to the plan.
He waited to hear the distant rumble that indicated the expected explosives had been detonated before he acted, rising from the pallet he’d been tossed on, unrolling his sleeves to pull out the thin rubber gloves folded within. Idiots never even stripped him. Good henchmen were so hard to find.
He slid to his knees in front of the cage door and glanced over at the other cells. He saw a snoring Tom and some other person, sleeping with knees tucked to their face. Beyond them, Maisy, who paced with her head down and hadn’t yet realized he’d wakened. But Miranda had. She eyed him and his rubber gloves and the tube he pulled from inside his belt.
He was happy to see the cell had the basics like a prison, with a sink bolted to the wall and a toilet. Both of them were fused too tight to be knocked off, but that was where the tubing came into play. He stuck one end in the toilet, sucked on the other until the water just about reached his lips, and then yanked it free, letting it jet onto the floor. He aimed it toward the bars.
Water and electricity? Never a good combination.
Snap. Crackle. Pop. Even with rubber gloves, he felt a tingle.
Maisy finally noticed his antics. “Jakob, you’re awake.”
“Hey, Maze. You okay?”
“Better than you. How did they capture you?”
“Who says they did?” He winked as he stepped onto the edge of the toilet and balanced as the water kept spilling.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting us out of here, Maze. Where’s Peach?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice wavered.
“Then the first thing we’ll do once I bust us out is find her.”
“And Kelly,” Miranda added.
“Of course. Just give me a second to defuse the bars, and then I’ll get to work popping the locks.” Because this was the kind of stuff he excelled at. Difficult situations requiring special skills.
The lights flickered as the water did its trick and blew the breaker. The humming in the bars stopped. Only then did he reach into the buckle on his belt. The lockpicks slid into his hand. He’d counted on his mother not stripping him. Although, if she had, he had more tools stashed in his prison wallet. Something his ass was trying to forget.
It took him longer than he liked before the tumblers clicked. Too long. Those manning the cameras had surely sent guards to subdue him by now. Or were they too busy with the diversion upstairs? He could hear distant explosions that sounded worse than they were. Pros didn’t kill those they were coming to rescue, but they did like to cause confusion.
And his family were pros at this kind of extraction. Part of his plan had entailed calling his brothers and telling big brother Jackson, “Mum stole Maze and Peach, along with some other people. I want them back.”
“How can we help?” No hesitation on his brother’s part.
“I’m going to tempt Mum into taking me and then want you guys to come in and save me.” Because he’d finally figured out why she’d let him loose. She thought her experiment failed, and rather than kill him, she dumped him when he was of no use. But now that she knew he could shift again, he had a feeling she might be wanting her pet project back. Or so he hoped. But for his plan to work, he needed help. With Maisy and Peach in danger, he couldn’t let pride get in his way.
Here was hoping they pulled it off.
The moment the lock clicked open on his cage also turned out to be the same moment the elevator opened and three guards spilled out. For the purpose of keeping them identified, he mentally named them Goons One, Two, and Three, with One sporting a unibrow, Two gripping two needles, and the third armed with a semi-automatic rifle.
Not the best odds. Jakob wouldn’t have time to free anyone else before the guards were on him, so he began to strip.
Miranda yelled, “Yee haw. Someone give the guy a dollar.”
She rattled her dead bars, drawing the eyes of the guards, which was perfect. It allowed Jakob time to shift and run. By the time goons one through three peeked at him, he was soaring, his big bear body creating quite the impact as it slammed into the closest guard. Something cracked as they went down. Goon Three with his gun didn’t get back up.
Jakob rolled and bounced to his feet, stood on one leg and put his paws together, which confused Goon One and caused his caterpillar brow to contract. He raised a can of aerosol, and Jakob grunted before he hopped onto his other foot and hit himself in the stomach, “Oof.”
Goon One hesitated while Goon Two inched around to his left.
He planted both hind paws and held his arms in an Egyptian pose, which only served to cause more confusion. Which was fine. It gave Tom, the slow-moving sloth who drew no attention, time to use the lockpicks Jakob had tossed into his cage as he’d gone by.
Now some people would wonder just what good a sloth was in a fight. They’d obviously never seen them in action. Sure, they moved slow, but when they swiped, watch out, those claws could be deadly.
The two guards were focused on Jakob, and cautious.
Jakob roared as he waddled—in a menacing fashion—at them. Goon Two darted at him and did his best to jab with his needle. The tip snapped off before he could push the plunger.
A chomp to the wrist ensured the screaming guard wouldn’t try that again. Leaving Goon One and his pointed bottle, finger on the trigger.
Pssht. The idiot sprayed as he backed into Miranda’s cage. She grabbed him by the head, rapped it off the bars, and shoved him at Jakob.
Jakob barreled into Goon One, knocking the guard down and then jumping until the limbs stopped twitching—which only took three bounces. By the time he turned around, Maze, Miranda, and the others were out of their cages.
The building shook as more stuff exploded. Jakob frowned at the sifting dust. “Something is wrong. My brothers wouldn’t be trying to take this place down with us in it.”
Maze’s jaw tightened. “We need to find Peach.
”
The problem being the child had hidden her scent again, apparently something she could do at will. But while Peach could hid it, Kelly couldn’t. Miranda took off like a rabbit chased by a hawk, or a mama whose instinct was screaming.
They ended up two levels above their prison floor in a hall lined with small two-by-two windows inset within doors and a strobing red light, but no sirens. Upon passing the first viewing window, Jakob slowed then stopped as he saw the horror within. A young face atop an eight-legged body. The room next to it showed a boy with four arms.
“She’s got children here,” he breathed. And she had experimented on them.
The entire floor was a warren of rooms, ten by ten, with a bed and a television and not much else. Jakob wanted to fling open every single door, and he would, but first he had something to do.
While Miranda ran, following the scent of her daughter, Jakob caught another smell. He galloped after it, only belatedly realizing Maze had chosen to follow him.
He weaved through the corridors until he reached one that resulted in a dead end. He slowed as he lumbered to the last door open just a crack, Maze by his side.
The mewl froze them both.
Maze dug her fingers into his fur. “Save my Peach.”
He planned to.
The door swung open when he nudged it.
No surprise, his mother—dressed in crimson—sat on the bed, cradling a shivering cub.
“I underestimated you,” stated Veronica.
Maze pushed past him. “Give me back my daughter.”
“We both know she’s not really your daughter.” Mother Q snorted. “Not exactly, although ironically, we did take some strands from your line and a few from mine. The result was less than spectacular.” She held Peach up by the scruff, which brought another plaintive mewl.
Jakob growled.
“Ah. Ah. Ah.” His mum shook Peach, and all he could do was tremble in rage. “Don’t take another step, or the child dies.”
“Don’t you threaten my daughter.” Maze’s tone oozed anger and fear.
“We both know she’s not your daughter. You found her because she escaped one of my facilities. So perhaps I should thank you for returning my property.”
Jakob seethed. How many times would his mother continue to hurt people?
Peach yawned and rolled her eyes. Could it be…did the little girl feign her trepidation?
Peach winked, and he suddenly had a plan. He shifted, dropping his hands to cover himself as he said, “Exactly how many children have you tried to create?”
“More than you can imagine. Unfortunately, a good number don’t make it to their teens. Some modifications just aren’t compatible. Take your half-brother for example. I knew better than to use Kole’s genes, but he insisted. At least the girl child is showing some promise.”
Cold. So damned cold. “No more.” Jakob shook his head. “This has to stop.”
“You’re all afraid to act, and yet my way is the only way,” his mother said with a tilt of her chin. “It is time we took back the power from the humans. That we became the dominant—Argh! You vicious little beast.”
Mother Q had relaxed her grip on Peach as she ranted. Peach took advantage by twisting and chomping the hand that held her. The moment Mother Q let go, the cub ran for Jakob of all people, which turned out to be okay because Maze, the pacifist doctor, had finally gone feline.
The panther hit Veronica with a snarl, and given she managed to surprise, she got a good grip on her throat.
Jakob tucked Peach to his chest and stepped out of the room and across the hall while the battle raged. He didn’t condemn what Maze did, but he wouldn’t let the child see it.
He glanced into the viewing window of the room across the hall and stilled. There sat the girl from the press conference his mother had held. His half-sister.
He put his hand on the glass, and she raised her head and snarled, her expression wild. He couldn’t blame her. Raised in a prison.
“Fuzz!” Maze yelled.
“Mama!” Suddenly gangly limbs were shoving as Peach reached for her mother.
They hugged, the pair of them crying, and no, Jakob wasn’t crying. It was just dusty in the hall.
Maze gave him a tearful gaze and mouthed, “Thank you.” She held out an arm in invitation.
Jakob was about to join the love fest when Peach shouted, “Bad lady!”
“Oof.” The sudden hug from behind squished his ribs and expelled his breath.
“Grawr.” It would appear his mother wasn’t dead, but she was striped and bleeding in a few places. She was also not the petite and cute quokka of his youth. She looked like she’d been dropped in a radioactive vat. Massive, hairy arms clutched him, squeezing hard enough his ribs protested. If she hugged him any tighter, she’d crush him.
He closed his eyes and thought of his bear. His big, solid panda bear.
Poof. The sudden shift broke his mother’s hold, and he dropped to the floor in a tuck and roll. He popped to his feet and confronted the cutest, most enormous monster ever.
He rammed her, shoving her hard into the wall behind. Concrete cracked. They whirled, and it was his turn to be slammed against an immovable surface.
As part of the ceiling let go, tumbling down in a mess of plaster and wires, Jakob roared. “Grawr!” Which he hoped Maisy understood as “Get Peach out of here!”
He didn’t have time to watch and see if they got to safety as he wrestled his mother for control. Both of them big and strong, but Jakob was holding back, even though he had a few openings to land a killing shot.
This evil villain was still his mom. Would he ever recover if he killed her?
His indecision led to him standing face to face with his mother. She flexed her claws, and he’d swear her cute furry face—the only thing still adorable and recognizable in her mutant new form—smiled.
The quokka’s big, expressive eyes rounded as it exhaled a soft, “Coo?” before slumping and falling over in a furry heap.
Behind her stood his dad, a gun in one hand and an empty syringe in the other. “She really should stop hitting the ‘roids.”
If he could have laughed, he would have, but the moment was too grave. He and his da stared at each other. Did his dad know it was him?
As a bear, he couldn’t speak, and before he could change, more Joneses filled the hall. More eyes widened. Someone said his name.
The moment he’d feared had arrived. His family now knew his secret.
It was Uncle Kary who broke the silence. “Do you know what kind of jobs and money we can make in Asia with a panda on our team?”
Nothing more was said because that was when they all heard a roared, “Miranda! Kelly! Where are you?”
The squeals of happiness could be heard by anyone, but what had everyone stunned to silence was the wail of a baby.
They ran at that point and were in time to see Chase cradling his newborn son, whom he held a loft with a grin. “He looks just like me.”
Meaning the baby sported a scowl. The now bigger family huddled together, with Kelly tucked to her mom with one hand outstretched to hold the baby’s hand. Miranda, still for once, beamed fondly at her mate, and Chase looked as if he’d die of happiness.
Jakob glanced to Maze on one side of him and felt the reassuring weight of a cub clinging to his back. Could they have the same thing?
When Peach hopped off to check out the baby, Jakob shifted and stupidly said to Maze, “Marry me.”
16
The demand took her by surprise. And she didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Her mouth was too dry, her heart racing like mad.
“I have to check on the baby.” An excuse so she wouldn’t have to answer. What would she say? Yes. But what of her fear that Jakob would leave? His uncle had made it plain that Jakob was more of an asset than ever.
Could she really be with someone who constantly went off fighting other people’s wars? She’d made a vow to save lives. Unless it affected her daughte
r’s life. She already knew she’d kill to keep her cub safe.
“Down.” Peach squirmed to be let loose.
Maisy didn’t want to let Peach go, but she also couldn’t hold her daughter back because of fear. She set Peach on her feet. “Don’t go too far.”
A request that fell on deaf ears. Now that her daughter had been saved, she was more interested in the men toting guns. Peach and Kelly raced off with the Jones men, armed with enough firepower to take over a small country. She knew her kid would be safe and perhaps even of aid in reassuring the children they freed. Thirty-three of them when all was said and done, plus another dozen or so adults, nine of them former humans. Hopefully the last that would be genetically modified.
Mother Q’s empire of evil was no more.
Everyone was safe once more. Jakob blushed and beamed as his family ribbed him about his panda. It pleased her to see they didn’t reject him as he’d feared. On the contrary, the uncles and brothers were already talking about their future missions as they headed to the building entrance where transportation awaited them.
The Joneses headed for the helicopter with its whirring blades. Rather than watch Jakob leave with his family, Maisy, with Peach holding her hand, followed Chase, who carried Miranda, who held the baby, while Kelly sat perched on his broad shoulders.
The dust in her eyes brought tears as the chopper lifted. When the breeze died, she realized someone walked by her side. She glanced over to see Jakob.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he held open the door of the van. “Shouldn’t you have gone with your family?”
“I am.”
She stumbled getting into the van. He steadied her.
“I never replied to your proposal.”
“Even if you never do, my place is by your side.” He sat in a chair by a console and pulled her into his lap. Peach clambered over to a different chair and shared it with Kelly.
Maisy leaned her head on him. “You’ll get bored pretty quick.”
“You will never bore me. Marry me.”
“I don’t know.”
It wasn’t easy to say yes, even as her heart screamed at her. They returned to the Academy, and she walked around in a daze, hearing the students cheering their safe return, the school song being bellowed as they celebrated.