Right after she dealt with the shifter.
Kai finally gave up and headed toward the place they’d chosen for camp. I’m right behind you. I won’t let anything happen to you. Satisfied with his choice, Sari turned back along the branch and climbed down the huge tree to ground level. She needed to throw the shifter off their scent. Unbuckling her pack, she dropped it to the ground and unzipped the side compartment. Retrieving a small, unmarked aerosol can, she popped the lid and swallowed the trepidation crawling through her veins.
She sniffed and the eucalyptus stung her nose. Yuck.
If there was one thing cats weren’t fond of, it was eucalyptus. That it helped her blend in with the surroundings was a plus.
Sari smiled, ready to beat Zimmerman at his own game, and covered her entire body with the crazy concoction. The boys in Eco-Corp’s research and development department really had a knack for this fragrance thing. Clothes, shoes, pack, her hair—no part of her was spared. When that was done, she took one step back, spraying the bottoms of her soles before putting each foot back down. To her sense of smell, she smelled like a gum tree. Hopefully she could slip by the radar of the shifters, find Kai and help him fall off the radar too.
Shouldering her pack, she set off through the dense scrub, angling away from Kai and his intended direction. She followed the faint scent of the shifter. It carried on the breeze, but she could smell it on the tree trunks as well. They were in jaguar territory now. There was no hint of leopard, which surprised her. Either the new band of Hunters were all jaguar, since the genes were strongest, or there was a rift between jaguars and leopards causing them to claim different territory. Sari couldn’t decide which scenario was more likely and decided to defer judgment until she knew more.
Unfortunately, it meant that none of her family—the Failures—had escaped and lurked the hills. Aside from Pitch and herself, the others were leopard. She hadn’t picked up any hint of their scent. Should she be happy about that? Sari didn’t know. If they had stuck around, they could have fallen prey to the Hunters. If they had escaped and fled for the cities, she’d never see them again. Catch-22. The story of her life.
As she followed the scent, it grew stronger and tickled her instincts to shift. She couldn’t face down a Hunter in human form and win, and if they saw her, Zimmerman would know she’d found the microchip and removed it. He’d double the patrols in a bid to track her down and wouldn’t stop until he had her in captivity once again. She couldn’t let it happen, but shifting now would defeat the purpose of the eucalyptus disguise. Dreadful as it seemed, she needed to apply it in cat form and for that, she needed Kai’s help.
Taking to the trees once more, she scaled the branches, moving from limb to limb and tree to tree. With her senses of sight, hearing, and smell on red alert, she scanned the ground for signs of feline presence. Just because she couldn’t see anything didn’t mean she was alone. He was close, very close. Sari paused, rested in a squat position amongst a clutch of short, bushy branches and slowed her heartbeat. Becoming invisible was a cool trick.
Below her, a black shape emerged from the maze of tree trunks. Large and sleek, he prowled the forest floor below her, marking trees as he passed by. He barely made a sound. No human ear would register anything, but with her trained senses, Sari heard the soft footfalls of his padded paws on damp fallen leaves. A gentle purr vibrated his flanks, low and menacing. She suspected he sensed something out of place, a presence amiss but couldn’t place it.
Not that he could smell her. Or hear or see her. But inherent in feline DNA was the ability to sense disturbance in air flow, air pressure. It was why cats could alert their owners to someone or something long before it entered the room. She remembered her aunt’s cat, Buster, a shaggy tabby who hid for most of its miserable life. He liked her well enough, would often sit by her feet when she watched TV. One night as she dozed on her bed, Buster curled up on the corner by her feet, he jolted awake, ears pricked, fur on end. It had been enough warning for her to crawl under the bed, merely moments before her uncle, drunk and angry, crashed through her door screaming curses.
Buster had saved her hide many a time with his eerie ability to pick up unseen clues. She’d never understood it until she had to learn to accept her feline half.
The jaguar below her stopped. His coat was the darkest she’d ever seen, the rosettes barely visible. Strong and muscular, his long tail swished through the air behind him. Lifting his nose, he sniffed the air. With a full-bodied shake, he strolled forward to a tree trunk. He stood on hind legs and stretched his front legs up the trunk. Claws extended, he gouged the bark. She recognized the territorial nature of the move, along with the flutter of joy crossing his facial features. It was the stretch. They all had liked it, and with the flexibility possessed by members of the feline family, stretching while in cat form was a phenomenal experience.
Done with his marking, he dropped back to the ground and moved on. He was a Hunter, one of Zimmerman’s pride and joys. Allowed out on routine patrols, they had been instructed to keep the forest clear of visitors. That meant scaring campers and hikers away. Sari wondered about the marking of territory. If they were the only cats out here, there was no need to mark boundaries. If, as she suspected, there was a split in the ranks, then this behavior was a given. But what if there was no division, no need to outline their home. Did Zimmerman allow it? Did he know about it?
Did he know it left tangible evidence of their presence?
If Zimmerman didn’t know about the clawing, he’d boil with rage to learn hard evidence had been found.
She had to wonder, but with no answers on the horizon and the afternoon light fading, Sari couldn’t sit idle much longer. Climbing down the tree, she slid her digital camera out of a side pocket of her pack and photographed the fresh markings. Too bad cameras didn’t have smell-o-vision because this cat reeked.
Stowing the camera, she made tracks for the designated campsite, praying that Kai didn’t make too much of a fuss when she returned.
Kai dropped his pack on the wet dirt. His back ached, his feet hurt like hell, and he was alone. Definitely not what he’d intended. But it was getting dark and he needed to set up camp.
“We need to get out of here.”
Behind him, Sari’s voice shattered the silence. He spun to face her. “And I’d listen to you because?”
She frowned. “Because one of the cats has picked up your scent and is headed this way. That’s why.”
His breath caught in his throat. “So one minute you’re shut up tighter than a clam, and the next you’re talking? Sari, please cut the games. I think we both know this is too dangerous now.”
She gave a single nod and stepped toward him. From her pack, she pulled out a can of some sort of spray.
“Close your eyes. Hold still.”
He eyed the can warily. “Why am I supposed to trust you?”
With her face tilted toward his and her smile soft and genuine, Kai marveled at his inability to resist her. When it came to Sari, his sense of self-preservation took a vacation.
“Believe it or not, I care about you.”
“You care but you don’t trust? You care but you still keep secrets?” He shook his head. “It’s not enough. This has to be a two-way street.”
“And it will be, just as soon as we shake the cat on our tail and get to safety. If you don’t trust me, that’s okay. Just don’t come running to me when a jaguar catches you.”
He grumbled even though she smiled, and nodded for her to get on with it. Starting at his head, she sprayed him all over. He lifted an arm to his nose, half dreading what he’d end up smelling like, and was surprised to find eucalyptus. She was masking his scent, hiding him, protecting him.
“So we’re blending in with our surroundings?”
She finished spraying his pack and then squatted at his feet. “Lift one foot first.” He did and she sprayed the sole of his shoe. “Don’t step back where you just were. Now lift the other.” Kai o
beyed.
“Sari, you need to tell me everything.”
With a nod, she stood up and faced him. “I know. It’s a long, long story, and I don’t know how much we’ll get through in one night. But before we go on, there’s something you need to do for me.”
She handed him the can, dropped her pack and then began to take off her clothes. Kai’s heart kicked up a notch. What was she doing? He blinked, expecting modesty. She displayed none, but when she stood completely naked before him, he saw fear and worry, and a myriad of scars criss-crossing her stomach.
“You need to spray me with that stuff.”
“Sure—”
She held up a hand. “Not yet. Wait until I’ve changed, then do it.”
“Changed?”
Sari nodded again. “Oh, and don’t let me step off my clothes before you’ve finished. Don’t be afraid. I promise, I won’t bite.”
Without another word, she closed her eyes. The air around her shimmered, blurring her form. Kai thought he saw her arms lengthen, her legs shorten, but he was distracted from any other physical changes by the black fur spreading over her skin. She dropped to all fours and, when the air cleared, a black panther looked up him expectantly. Her blue eyes implored him to be quick and though shock threatened to stop his heart, he did as she asked. Spraying her from top to tail, he tried to absorb as many details as possible.
Sari was a cat. A jaguar to be precise. How the hell—?
Gene splicing did not turn humans into animals. Did it?
He squatted in front of her when he was done, and her beautiful blue eyes sparkled at him. She purred softly when he scratched behind her ear and in that instant, his anger abated. How could he not trust those baby blues?
She nudged him back before the air around her shuddered. A minute later and the Sari he knew stood before him. Her body shook, but he suspected the cold air had nothing to do with it. A shy, furtive glance his way confirmed his thoughts. He stepped forward, took her by the shoulders and pulled her into his arms.
In a sudden flash, Rebecca’s fate hit him square between the eyes. She had either been killed by the cats roaming the hills or she’d been turned into one herself. Only one person possessed the knowledge and skill he needed to find his sister.
Sari.
Chapter Five
Rex tried to focus on the paperwork before him. He needed it faxed back to headquarters before sunrise, but his mind refused to focus. Something was very wrong. He sensed it, felt it deep in his bones, and nothing replaced good, old-fashioned, human instinct. Not in Rex’s opinion. The cats might have enhanced powers, but he couldn’t see himself trusting it without doubt. Ever.
Knowing that Tom hadn’t returned from his patrols didn’t ease his suspicions. Not one little bit. Not when he could count on Tom to follow his orders to the letter and never question Rex’s superior authority. Hell, the kid had hiked it all the way to Melbourne, roamed the streets in cat form, risked exposure, and dueled with Sari, all because Rex ordered it. Nothing earned his trust and admiration more than a soldier willing to follow orders he might not agree with, orders that might put him at risk. But there was the greater good to consider and Tom understood that. He saw the bigger picture that Rex had been protecting for the last thirty years.
Rex sighed and let his pen fall to the desk. Where was Tom? The Hunter had never been two hours overdue before. Impatience warred with suspicion, blurring Rex’s eyesight and making official duties near impossible. The only news capable of easing his discomfort was the announcement of Tom’s safe return. Sure, he’d punish the boy as a lesson to all the others, but the severity would depend entirely on Tom’s reason for his tardiness—assuming there was one.
The pager sitting on the corner of his desk sprang to life, vibrating across the laminate surface and bumping into his glass of water. Rex snatched it up and read the message. He smiled, picked up the phone and dialed Sub Level 7.
“Send him to me.”
No more needed to be said, and for the five minutes he waited, Rex tidied the paperwork into appropriate bundles based on urgency. He could get back to it once he’d vented his anger at Tom.
Of all their subjects, Tom was the first to volunteer for the gene therapy. Before that, he’d worked military detail back in the States, offering to travel down to Australia to work with The Facility. It hadn’t been easy to accept the kid’s eager questions. So few knew about The Facility and the science breakthroughs they’d experienced that when a young man in his early twenties asked to join the ride and then volunteered his own life…Rex had to fight the urge to interrogate Tom the minute he walked through the doors.
But time had a funny way of bringing Rex around to acceptance. Just like he could function knowing that Sari could rat them out at any moment yet chose not to, he could continue his job and live with the suspicion that Tom had a secret agenda. In the twelve months since he was turned, Tom had proven his worth. He took to his new form with vigor, trained until exhaustion to control the shift to and from the jaguar within, and performed any task asked of him.
Rex remembered the first time he’d sent Tom on dusk patrol. The fear that the boy would turn tail and run at first opportunity had kept Rex on edge, alert and awake until Tom returned. Ever since, Thomas James Reilly had succeeded in all his ventures, even when his personal safety was jeopardized. Actually, Rex was surprised that the kid hadn’t slipped up until now.
A knock sounded on the office door. “Enter!” Rex bellowed.
Tom moved into the room with ease, seeming unperturbed by any threat of punishment. Hell, a sly grin curved his lips, intriguing Rex. Somebody had some news.
“You’re late.”
“I am, and I apologize.”
“And the reason?”
Tom’s grin widened and his eyes glowed amber. Strange how none of the other jag’s had that coloring. Just as Sari was the only to remain blue-eyed, Tom had developed a shade all his own. “She’s here.”
Rex blinked. “Who’s here?”
“Sari. I picked up her scent in the western quadrant. She came up through the canyon, but she’s not alone. She travels with a man.”
Rex pushed up slowly to his feet. And so it begins. “Tell me more.”
“I lost her trail. She must have found some way of covering her tracks. I followed the male to a small clearing by the river. I think he was about to set up camp, and then his scent disappeared. And I mean disappeared into thin air. It just stopped in the middle of the clearing.”
“But they’re here,” Rex continued, thinking aloud. “And they’re looking for cats. I wonder how much Sari has told her companion.”
Yes, I know your game, little one. Rex clasped his hands together and settled them on his hard, flat belly. So Sari thought she could outsmart him, eh? He knew more about her than she realized. That she’d not only found the microchip but had removed it and set it up to look as if she continued her daily routine impressed him. Of course, she worked for a high tech research laboratory, so finding someone skilled and knowledgeable enough to extract the device without disabling its tracking function probably didn’t pose a great challenge for her.
Still, he wondered how she found it in the first place. And just who did she convince to play out her daily movements?
Curiosity ate at him. He turned back to his desk and slammed down on the phone. It rang twice before Stevens picked it up.
“Have you located Sari?”
“My men are just moving into place, sir.”
Rex growled. “Your men are too damn slow. It seems Sari is here. Follow the trace. I want whoever is pretending to be Sari Jones brought in for questioning.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rex smiled at Tom, who returned the gesture with the same intent that simmered in Rex’s blood. “Then bring me Waylon Landau. He knows more than he’s shared.”
After he returned the phone to its cradle, Tom cleared his throat. “What do you want done about Sari? I can find her for you, subdue her
and bring her in. The male too.”
“Oh, no, no.” Rex shook his head and sat on the edge of his desk. For too long he’d resisted the urge to hunt the little escapee down and bring her back. This was her home, after all, but forcing her to return wouldn’t be enough. Having her come home of her own free would gave Rex a taste of sweet victory. “Let her come to us. Give them a few hints tomorrow. Take Mara with you and tease Sari and her companion. Lead them right to us.”
He met Tom’s stunned gaze. “She’s too smart for that, Mr. Zimmerman.”
“Not at all. Her desperation to find this place will drive her right through the front door, right into the arms of a welcoming committee designed just for her.”
His blood heated, his heart raced. Sari was coming home, albeit without any means of defense against her recapture. The delicious sense of triumph slipped through his veins, intoxicating, making him heady. She’d scored the first strike by escaping, but ultimately, he had won the battle.
In a flash, he saw her sharp claws slash at his throat. He practically felt the razor-like claw slice open his jugular and had to forcibly restrain himself from grabbing at his throat. If anyone knew of the visions, they’d surely take the concerns to the top. Rex could not afford for anyone to know that his secret experiment had backfired. The horrific images were punishment enough for trying to steal Mystery’s enhanced ESP.
He straightened and smoothed his hands down his navy blue pants. With a fake smile, he turned to Tom and gave a nod.
“And I can’t wait to see the look on her face.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Sari said, pulling her sleeping bag up closer to her neck. She glanced around at the walls of the tent illuminated by the small, lantern-style light. While she kept one ear open for warning sounds outside, she was fairly confident she’d successfully covered their tracks. Spraying the outside of the tent had taken too long and by the time they crawled inside, it was well past midnight.
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