by Anne Kane
A knock sounded at the door, and Nikki jumped. So much for hiding how nervous she felt.
“Come in.” The cutting edge was gone from his voice. Hard to believe this was the same man who’d just barked at her to sit down.
Mrs. Simmons bustled in, looking slightly flustered. Just at the presence of her boss? The dynamics in this place were odd, to put it mildly. “Yes, Dr. Kvordic?”
“I’m finished with this specimen for now. Please return her to her quarters. I’ll be finished with my notes shortly, and you may review them when you have a minute. Dr. Landers will set up a schedule for her training, but for tomorrow, there will be some preliminary tests and exercises to determine her current level of fitness. You will also make sure she comes into contact with several of the other residents. She is considering helping us with them.” The benign, grandfatherly façade was back. And Nikki found the sudden switch unnerving.
Chapter Sixteen
“Time to get up, Nikki. You have thirty minutes to eat breakfast and perform your morning routine. Please remember that a shower is required each morning and evening.”
Nikki opened one eye and glared balefully at the ceiling. Smart men, waking her up remotely. If they put in an appearance, she’d be tempted to do something nasty to them. Singing came to mind. She could hit every amazingly nerve-shattering high note in the spectrum.
She sat up on the bed and yawned. Despite the absolutely horrible day she’d had yesterday, she’d slept like a log. She suspected they’d drugged her food or the water supply. Possibly both. Still, she felt rested and eager to go so that might backfire on them yet.
Swinging her feet over the edge she slipped into her robe before doing a few quick morning stretches. Dr. Kvordic and crew might be fine with her running around nude, but that didn’t mean she had to oblige them. Time to get breakfast. She had a feeling this was going to be a tough day.
Mrs. Simmons arrived shortly after Nikki finished her shower. Maybe because she’d draped one of those huge fluffy bath towels over the door, effectively blocking the security detail’s view of her morning shower. Petty, but it made her feel a tiny bit more in control.
“Ready for your first day?” Someone had forgotten to tell the guard that perky first thing in the morning was not appreciated. Then again, it would probably be wise to play along until she got a better feel for the place.
“Yup. What’s first? Dr. Landers mentioned some fitness tests.”
“Now that’s the attitude we like to see. Dr. Kvordic said you’d be a practical one.”
The guard pulled a small device out of her pocket, lifting it toward Nikki as she advanced toward her. Nikki felt her eyes widen in alarm as she backed away. “What is that?”
Mrs. Simmons stopped, looking confused for a moment. “This? Oh, it’s like a barcode reader at the store. When I come to get you in the morning, I scan your collar. This will download the day’s activities into your collar, so that security can track where you are at any given time. One of our IT guys designed it.” She raised the device again, more slowly this time, and Nikki suppressed a flinch when she felt a brief vibration against her neck.
So she needed to ditch the collar before she attempted to escape. “That’s fascinating. Your staff must be really smart.” Always play to their egos.
“Dr. Kvordic only hires the best. Let’s go.” The guard held open the door for Nikki to pass through.
This time, they only ascended to level five. When the doors slid open, they once again faced a counter area, manned by a dour-faced security guard.
Instead of a long hallway to either side, there was one door. Mrs. Simmons led her to the right, reaching over her shoulder to key in the door code.
One, three, five, seven, nine. How original. Nikki filed the information away for future use. Chances were, if they used such a simple code on one lock, none of them would be hard to crack. Maybe thinking of their captives as animals had the staff here underestimating their intelligence. That could definitely work in her favor.
The door slid open to expose a huge gym area, with every type of fitness equipment that Nikki had ever seen, and quite a few she hadn’t. Mrs. Simmons plucked yet another clipboard from the wall and perused its contents.
“There’s a locker containing your workout clothing over there.” She nodded to the left, and Nikki went over. There were names on several of the lockers. Jake. Tyler. Sasha. Pete. Riana. Kali. Nikki. Jackson.
Nothing to indicate the species of the occupant, and of course, no locks to ensure privacy. She opened the one with her name on it and pulled out a one-piece spandex suit. They had to be kidding. This looked like it would show off more than it covered.
Or maybe she should be thankful they didn’t expect her to exercise in the nude. She dropped her robe to the ground and pulled the suit on. The front zipper stopped just above her breasts, but at least it felt like there was some support built in. Good thing she didn’t have huge boobs.
The next three hours were spent in the most grueling round of exercises that Nikki had ever participated in. Treadmill. Stationary bike. Weightlifting. Exercises that tested every muscle in her body, and had her ready to beg for mercy. She was an accountant, for pity’s sake, not a contender for Olympic gold. What the hell did they expect? She’d thought she was in fairly good condition, but by the end of the morning, she was ready to throw in the towel.
Mrs. Simmons made yet another note on that blasted clipboard of hers when Nikki failed to raise the barbell off the rack. “Perhaps you’ll do a better after lunch. You’ll want to shower first. I can smell you from here.”
If that smile was supposed to be sympathetic, she needed to work on it. If they didn’t want her smelling of sweat when she worked out, they might want to consider supplying deodorant. Nikki refrained from snarling. Too many cameras ready to record any indication that she wasn’t playing nice selkie.
A bank of glass-enclosed showers lined one side of the doorway, and Nikki no longer cared who was watching. She cranked the heat up as far as it would go and closed her eyes, letting the water cascade in a delicious torrent over her sore muscles.
If they planned to work her hard every day, she wouldn’t have the energy to attempt an escape. She turned to let the water hit a particularly sore spot on her back.
“Two minutes.” Mrs. Simmons’s voice crackled briskly through the glass wall. “You need to get lunch before we start our afternoon session.”
Nikki cranked the heat up as far as she could tolerate, and spent a few more blissful minutes soaking her sore muscles. The water abruptly shut off, and she reluctantly opened the door and reached for a towel. This whole schedule thing was beginning to annoy the crap out of her.
“Just your robe will be fine. Once you’ve been here awhile you won’t bother with that.”
The guard looked decidedly impatient. Maybe Stan was waiting for her in the lunchroom.
Nikki grabbed her robe from the locker and wrapped it around her. She turned and noted Mrs. Simmons shoving the discarded workout suit down the laundry chute. Hopefully there’d be a clean one for her this afternoon. Modesty aside, she needed some kind of support if they wanted her to exercise this hard.
They crossed in front of the desk in what she’d begun to think of as the lobby, and Mrs. Simmons once again punched in a code to open the door on the left of the lobby. This time, she made an effort to block Nikki’s view so she couldn’t tell if the code was the same. The faint taps on the keypad, though, told her that it was again a five-number code. Could they really be that trusting?
Turned out the lunchroom was cafeteria style. Mrs. Simmons waved her toward the counter. “They’ll scan your collar and serve you whatever the doctor ordered. You can sit with the other creatures and chat but remember, security is monitoring all exchanges, and if you misbehave you’ll be punished.”
Well, that was encouraging. Someone thought she had enough energy left to misbehave. She approached the food counter and managed not to flinch when th
e lady with the lovely purple hairnet poked one of those damn scanners at her neck. The result was a platter of roast beef, potato salad, and a thick slab of whole-grain bread. Apparently, her collar thought she needed fattening up.
She grabbed a bottle of water and a cup of coffee before she picked up the tray and looked over at the table area. There were only four other occupants at the moment. She had no idea if that meant that Dr. Kvordic hadn’t managed to kidnap too many of them yet, or just they staggered the mealtimes to lessen the chance of an inmate revolt.
Whatever. She was starving.
Just to look like she might be considering Dr. Kvordic’s offer, she took her tray and plunked it down on the table opposite two guys who were scowling at their meals. For some reason, they’d been given what looked like Caesar salads, and by the looks on their faces they weren’t vegetarians.
She sat on the bench seat, and started to fork the roast beef into her mouth without bothering with niceties like introductions. Who knew when they’d decide that mealtime was over?
“She’d almost be cute if she stopped shoveling that damn meat in hear mouth so fast.”
“You think? There’s not much to her. She probably isn’t our type. Females usually have a lot more bulk.”
“Maybe not, but if we don’t get out of this place soon, I’m going to get a whole lot less picky.”
The first guy snickered. “You’ve never been picky. Remember that one you dragged to the pack hunt last spring? I’ve never such a homely female in my life!”
Nikki glanced up and caught a grin on the second guy’s face. “She had other talents.”
“So, pretty lady. Plan on telling us who you are, or do we have to keep this babble going?”
Nikki gulped down the last of the roast beef. “Name’s Nikki. I’m a selkie. You?”
“Pete and Jackson. Werewolves.” He frowned. “I thought Sasha was the token selkie.”
“Yeah, well. Apparently she’s not doing so well so they brought me in.” She was careful to avoid the word kidnapped. No telling who was listening. “If she recovers, she’ll be bunking in with me.”
Tension suddenly radiated from Jackson. “Not doing well how? We were close, and then she disappeared. I thought maybe she escaped.”
Nikki shook her head. “She tried, and they caught her. I’ve no idea how, but she was pregnant and she lost the kid. I guess it was pretty hard on her.”
“Shit!” Jackson slammed his fists down on the table, earning himself a warning glare from the guard at the front of the room. “That was my child. I thought she made it out.”
Nikki gulped and tried to extricate her foot from her mouth. Sympathy slid through her. The anguish in Jackson’s voice was real. “Sorry. I didn’t know. They told me she was raped by the alpha.”
Disgust dripped from Pete’s voice. “They don’t know squat. We knew we couldn’t all make it out, but we thought we’d managed to slip her past the guard to freedom. When she disappeared, we were sure she’d been successful.”
Nikki lowered her voice. “They’re watching us. The doctor offered me privileges if I convince you guys to play ball.”
The look on Jackson’s face was shrewdly assessing. “And?”
Nikki shrugged, her voice barely above a whisper. “I want out. Fast. I think someone is coming after me, but I’m not going to sit here twiddling my thumbs while I wait and see if he shows up. If we work together, we might be able to come up with a plan. If the psycho doctor thinks I’m on his side, he’ll let me in to see you. But we have to be careful. Those damn monitors are everywhere.”
Pete’s gaze strayed over her shoulder, and he spoke loudly. “So what do you think of the exercise facilities?”
Nikki caught on immediately, rolling her eyes. “I’ve never been so damned tired in my life, and I still have this afternoon to go. If I keep this up, I’ll be in tiptop shape in no time.”
“Glad to hear you’re keeping a positive attitude, Nikki. This afternoon will be easier on you, I’m sure. Mostly balance and agility tests.” Dr. Landers gave her a friendly pat on the back. “I see you’ve met Pete and Jackson. They’re two of the werewolves. Jackson is the alpha and Pete is his second.”
Nikki hoped her smile looked sincere. “Yup. We were just talking about the training programs.”
“Well, I won’t interrupt. Enjoy your lunch.”
“Thanks.” She watched as the doctor headed for the staff tables.
Pete waggled his eyebrows at her. “Suck-up.”
She picked up the bread and tore off a chunk. “Pays sometimes.” She looked pointedly at their salads. “I had no idea werewolves were vegetarians.”
Jackson let out a hoot of laughter. “She got you on that one. The doctor felt we were disrespectful to him yesterday and ordered us off red meat for a few days. Said he thought it encouraged our aggressive behavior.”
Pete laughed. “He’s keeping a pack of werewolves captive. Can’t imagine why he didn’t expect aggression. So you have an escape plan yet? Or just high hopes?”
“Mainly high hopes. I need to know more about this place before I can plan.”
He lowered his voice so she had to strain to hear him. “If you want our help, you need to find out more about Sasha. She’s got to go with you or no deal.”
Nikki felt hope surge through her. Allies. “No problem. I was kind of hoping we’d all make a break at the same time. Overwhelm them with numbers.”
“Like that war movie, The Great Escape?”
She nodded. “Yeah, something like that. What do you think?”
Jackson looked thoughtful. “By my estimate, there’s at least twenty of us here now, not counting the segregated section. That just might work. Let me think about it and get back to you tomorrow. If they rotate lunch breaks and I don’t see you, I’ll send a message with one of the other guys.”
“Sounds good. What’s the segregated section?” Nikki felt her spirits lifting. She could make this work. She mentally hugged the connection to Wolfe. She hadn’t realized how much she’d grown to rely on his strong quiet presence until it had been ripped away from her.
Pete shrugged. “Not sure what’s in there, but it’s in a separate wing with mega security on it. No one talks about it, but I see them sending the guards down there in pairs, so whatever is in there must be damn tough. Hell, I’m a werewolf and they don’t look at me with nearly as much fear as they do that section.”
Interesting. Maybe she could find out something from Mrs. Simmons. As if she were aware of Nikki’s thoughts, the guard glanced over. “Five minutes, Nikki.”
* * * * *
The afternoon disappeared in a blur of sore muscles and barely repressed screams. Exercise was supposed to make you feel better, wasn’t it? Muscles she’d never known existed were sending torturous messages to her brain. Nothing that felt this bad could possibly be good for you!
“Take a break.” Mrs. Simmons pursed her lips. “I can see it’s going to take some work to get you into top form.”
Nikki sagged to the ground where she stood. She didn’t have the strength to make a snappy retort. There had to be something in the Geneva Convention against torturing kidnap victims. Wasn’t it bad enough that they’d been kidnapped?
“Have you made a decision on the topic we discussed yesterday?” Dr. Kvordic stepped away from the wall.
Nikki hadn’t even noticed him there. Creepy. His lips were curved in a friendly smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Cold chips of blue ice ran an assessing gaze over her, as if she really were the animal they claimed. “You had a chance to talk to the alpha at lunch. He’s a tricky one. Managed to block every camera angle so we couldn’t tell what you three were talking about.”
Nikki looked up in surprise. “He did?”
“I take it you weren’t aware then? Good. We don’t need more troublemakers.”
She really hadn’t noticed. Smart move! A slow chill went up her spine. How long had the werewolves been here, to have figured that o
ne out? Both Dr. Kvordic and Mrs. Simmons were staring at her now.
“Well?”
She frowned, confused. “Well, what?”
“Are you going to join our little team?” Apparently, patience wasn’t his strong suit.
Did she really have a choice? If she said no, they’d make her life decidedly more miserable, although at the moment it was hard to imagine how. “I guess. I really don’t know how much help I’ll be.”
The doctor’s smile was creepy, although she was sure he thought he looked fatherly. “Good girl. I’ll have Mrs. Simmons bring you up for another little chat soon. In the meantime, keep up the good work. We’ll have you in tiptop shape in no time.” He gave the guard a pleasant nod and opened the door, leaving without so much as another glance at her.
But then, to him she was just another animal in his zoo.
Chapter Seventeen
“What? Who’s got Nikki? How?” Panic gave Trina’s voice a shrill quality.
“Don’t know. She was outside, should have been safe. Three men, maybe four. Had a helicopter waiting. By the time I got there, she was gone.”
“Oh, no!” Panic rose sharp in Trina’s voice. “Do you know where they took her?”
“No, but I can still feel our link. I’m going to follow it until I find her.” And make sure those assholes never do it again. But he didn’t say that. “Was there anything else in your vision that would help me? Anything that gives a clue to where she’s being held?”
“I don’t think so. I thought the vision had already been fulfilled when you took her to your sanctuary. There’s just a mist with weird creatures in it. I can’t even tell what they are.” He could sense the frustration in her voice. “Visions aren’t always clear. It’s like reading a book with pages missing—sometimes I can make sense of it and sometimes I can’t.”
Wolfe started walking, holding the phone to his ear. Every second counted. “It’s okay. It was a long shot anyway. I’ll do whatever it takes to find her and get her back.”