Brawn

by Laurann Dohner

  “Think she’s going to get it on with him?”

  A few of them laughed.

  “Well, if not him, maybe one of them.”

  More laughs.

  “I think I’m going to volunteer monitor duty when we get back. I want to see this if the Doc wants them to fuck.”

  More laughs.

  Becca gritted her teeth and looked up. She glared at the heads turned her way and met the eyes of the men watching her since they’d removed their goggles while she tended Brawn.

  “You’ve made the worst mistake of your lives. My father is going to hunt down and kill everyone involved so I hope you spend your money fast.”

  One of them snickered. “And who’s your daddy, piece of ass?”

  “He lives in the big house on the property you just invaded and hates mercenaries.” She said it to see if they’d respond. She needed answers and every word might clue her in to what kind of mess she was dealing with.

  “I hate to break this to you but no one is going to find you in the hole you’re going to. Your daddy was probably cowering under his bed when he heard those gunshots. Assholes are all talk to their kids.”

  More laughter.

  Becca didn’t know why these men wanted Brawn and she wasn’t sure why they hadn’t just killed her. They obviously had no qualms about killing innocent people since Tina was dead. Relief washed through her because she’d learned one thing for sure. Her father would arrive at her house at eight in the morning to pick up Brawn. He was alive.

  Tim Oberto would move heaven and hell to find his only daughter. It might take time but it’s what he did. He tracked down and found New Species who were being held captive. Her gaze lowered to stare at Brawn. He looked different asleep—vulnerable and less intimidating. Her father and his team would come for her and Brawn. She just had to keep them alive long enough.

  Will it take hours? Days? Weeks? She fought tears, refused to give the assholes watching her the satisfaction, but it wasn’t easy. She could survive hours but days or weeks? What if Dad never finds us?

  She pushed that thought away. He was good at what he did. There was a dead body in her guestroom and while the men who’d kidnapped them might think leaving it would confuse the cops, it would be a clue for her dad. He’d do more than a background check. He’d tear the dead guy’s history apart to find every single asshole in that van and make them talk and reveal what had happened to her.

  “Has anyone called the bitch to let her know we have the male and we got his girlfriend? Maybe we’ll get a bonus.”

  “I did,” Randy’s voice was recognizable. “She’s excited. She really wants a test subject without the drugs. She thinks the drugs will ruin the experiment. She believes it might be the key to success. It was the happiest I’ve ever heard her.”

  “Maybe she should climb into one of the cages with one of the males. She’s such a horrifying bitch he’d be too terrified not to do what she wanted from him.”

  “She’s too dried up to do anything wet,” one of them laughed. “Or she might have thought of that. I know if she glared at me and told me to drop my pants I might want to eat my gun but I’d be too terrified to refuse. I’d be stiff with fear.”

  Laughter erupted from the van. One guy hit the van wall.

  “Image that bitch bending over.” He roared with laughter.

  “How about imagining her bent over in front of 358? Who would be more terrifying a sight? Him going at her or her face?”

  “Forget Doctor Elsa’s face. How’d you like to see her stripped naked? Good thing I skipped dinner.”

  They laughed. “Imagine her talking dirty. Or worse, her having a brat? I don’t care who knocks that bitch up, that will be the ugliest damn baby ever if it looks like her.”

  They were all laughing but Becca felt dread. Whoever this Doctor Elsa was, she wasn’t liked by the men she controlled. The things they said were giving her information though, she kept her gaze on Brawn, hoping they’d keep talking. The more they said, the more she learned.

  Number 358 was a person. All New Species had been given numbers instead of names when they’d been experiments at Mercile testing facilities. She guessed that number used to be assigned to Brawn, which meant the assholes had come after him.

  If they know his lab number then…shit. They must work for Mercile Industries for sure. That kind of information was highly classified. Her father couldn’t even get clearance. He’d also told her Mercile staff had set fire to their medical records and had destroyed the computers by the time the assault teams had penetrated those areas when they’d served search warrants to find New Species.

  Why does Mercile want Brawn alive? It made more sense if they’d just wanted to kill him. The NSO slammed the company with lawsuits almost monthly trying to destroy them financially. For every New Species found and recovered, another lawsuit and criminal charges were filed against them and more arrests made. The New Species Organization was smart that way. They were making sure Mercile never recovered enough to restart their research.

  “Hey!” one of the men yelled.

  Becca jerked from her thoughts to glance up. One of them scooted closer, staring at her with narrowed blue eyes.

  “You might want to move away. We have to shoot him again. Doc Elsa wants you awake and alert when we get there. Besides, one hit of this shit and you’d die from an overdose.”

  The man pointed the gun and Becca edged away as far from Brawn as she could get. She yanked the dart out of him and dropped it behind her the second that she hid the area with her body when she leaned against him again on the off chance it prevented him from getting a full dose of the obvious tranquilizer.

  They shot him a few more times as time passed. She removed them as quickly as possible without rousing suspicion and worry set in. They were going to kill him with an overdose. She tried to talk them out of it but they refused to listen. His pulse remained steady and she pressed her ear to his heart, reassured when it continued to beat strongly under her ear. His big body kept her warm as the miles passed, taking her far from home.

  Fear was instantaneous when the van finally stopped and the engine died. She sat up and felt pain. The thick bars of the cage under her ass made her backside hurt after no movement for an extended time. The feeling of pins and needles spread across one side of her ass and up her hip. The men exited the van to leave her alone with Brawn.

  She reached for his face, cupped it and rubbed. “Brawn? Can you hear me? Wake up!” She made sure she kept her voice low.

  He didn’t stir at all and she started when the van doors were thrown open behind her. Her hands left Brawn’s face as she turned to glare at the five men who stepped close to the back of the cage door. One unlocked and yanked it open. He withdrew one a dart gun and pointed it at her chest.

  “Get out,” he ordered.

  She had to fight the stiffness in her body to move. She climbed out and her bare feet touched cold, hard concrete. She peered at the large room that reminded her of a warehouse with the super-high ceiling and exposed metal beams. There were a few large windows near the ceiling along the sides. A hand grabbed her arm and led her away from the van.

  She turned her head to watch the four men lift Brawn by each of his limbs. He dangled in their hold, his long hair brushed the floor and they carried him toward a stairwell across the room. To see Brawn, a man his size, that helpless, drove fear right back into Becca. She swallowed and wondered what kind of hell she would face.

  The man gripping her arm jerked hard, forcing her to follow Brawn and she hurried her step. She didn’t want to lose sight of him. The stairs were wide and metal, leading down into a near darkness below. Her gaze flashed upward to the windows. The sight of sunshine assured her they’d traveled for at least three and a half hours.

  Claustrophobia batted at her as they traveled down at least three dark flights of stairs, going deeper into the bowels of the warehouse. Only a few light bulbs illuminated the way for her to see the steps. The air g
rew noticeably cooler at each landing. She hated that—it notched up her fear but Brawn remained in sight.

  The bottom level ended in two big metal doors that the men pushed open while carrying Brawn between them. The sight that met Becca’s fearful gaze made her halt in her tracks. The room was large but bright, long lights hung from the ceiling. They showed two large cages clearly in the center of the room, set about ten feet apart. The things were massive, something that should be found in a zoo instead of the basement of a warehouse and the guy gripping her arm yanked hard.

  “Move.”

  She got a better view of the room as she entered the double doors. Other cages were set up along the walls and it horrified her to see a few inhabitants inside them. Someone lay on a bunk while another man paced the length of the bars. His head whipped around and she gasped, identifying a New Species face.

  They had more of them. That realization left her cold. Concrete walls separated those cells along the walls—they were bigger than the ones in the middle of the room and much longer. The guy holding her led her to a cage, opened the door and shoved her inside. He let go to slam the door and lock her in.

  Brawn was dumped inside the second cage to her right, his body made the cot creak when it took his weight and the four men fled. They not only locked the door but used chains to wrap around a few sections with chunky locks securing them.

  The kidnappers removed their masks as they walked out of her sight through a twin set of double doors near the ones she’d entered. The silence in the huge room was spooky, absolute and she turned to study her prison.

  A cot had been set up, a camp toilet placed in the corner and folded blankets had been left on the long bed. She stared at the metal floor under her feet, lifted her chin to look up at the bars overhead and fought tears. Think. Remain calm. Those silent orders helped as she carefully took stock of her surroundings past the bars.

  It wasn’t hard to spot the cameras aimed in her direction once she scanned the ceiling. They were larger models, geared for outdoor security and a concrete wall blocked her view of whatever was behind her prison. It wasn’t that high, maybe ten feet of divider, but more than enough to keep her curious about what she couldn’t see.

  Her hands gripped the thick, cool bars and she studied them. No signs of rust showed at the joints and she doubted they’d ever seen the outside to be exposed to the elements. She inched to the door, saw the gap was nearly nonexistent and it had been well built. A metal plate covered the section far enough to make it impossible for her to reach around and attempt to pick the lock. The inside part of the door lock was totally sealed, without any key access. It told her one thing for sure. They hadn’t been designed to hold animals. A shiver sliced down her spine.

  Becca got as close to Brawn’s cage as she could, staring at his facedown form. His chest rose and fell, assuring her that he still lived. The drugs they’d dosed him with worried her. She couldn’t see how anyone wouldn’t overdose on all those tranquilizers.

  “Brawn?” She cleared her throat. “Please wake up! Can you hear me?”

  A growl from across the room jerked her head in that direction to see the pacing male had moved to the corner of his cell, gripped the bars and glared at her. He had really long black hair to his waist—a wild mass of tangled, silky strands—but she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes. Just the shape of them and those pronounced full lips and wide cheekbones assured her of his altered DNA.

  “I’m Becca,” she got out, hoping he’d talk to her. “How long have you been here?”

  He growled again, a scary, deep sound. He wasn’t exactly the talkative type, she decided. Not real friendly either. She wasn’t about to give up though. The more information she gained the better the chances of figuring a way out of the nightmare she was living.

  “Can you talk?” She released the bars and touched her chest. “Becca.” She pointed to him. “What is your name?”

  He spun away, snarled and kept pacing. She gave up instantly on trying to learn anything from him. She did study his clothes—white pants with wide, thick seams running down the sides and that’s all he wore. His chest was massive, his arms thickly muscled and his fingers were clawed at his side. Something seemed to have agitated him from the way he stalked back and forth. Her focus returned to Brawn.

  “Brawn!” Her voice rose sharply. “Wake up, damn it!”

  His arm twitched, gave her hope and she pressed tightly to the bars. “Brawn? Open your eyes right now! I’m worried about you. You’ve been heavily drugged and need to fight it. Can you hear me? It’s Becca. Remember me? We live together. Brawn!”

  He was sluggish as he rolled, fell right off the cot and she winced when his big body sprawled onto the metal floor. That seemed to rouse him though as he snarled, pushed up with his arms and his eyes opened. Fury twisted his normally handsome features as he stared at the bars and lifted his chin to take in the cage roof. Every muscle appeared to tighten with strain.

  “Brawn?” Becca softened her voice. “Are you okay?”

  His head jerked in her direction, confusion crossed his face. The anger receded and he paled. “No.”

  “We were attacked. Do you remember?”

  He rose to his feet slowly, rubbed at some of the marks from the darts he’d taken to his thighs and stared around them. His gaze stayed on the cages across the room where the two other prisoners were kept. He moved fast though, hit the side of the bars and growled at the pacing male.

  The other guy ignored him, kept walking the length of his cage and Brawn sniffed loudly. “Fuck.”

  “What?”

  He turned his head. “We’re in a lot of trouble.”

  “No shit!” She bit her lip and glanced at the cameras. “They are watching us.”

  He followed her gaze and turned her way, came to the corner closest to her cage and studied her body slowly. “Are you harmed? Did they drug you too?”

  “No. I think they are from Mercile.” She whispered that part. “I overhead enough to know they are working for some woman doctor and they know your number. That’s classified, right?”

  “My number?”

  “358.”

  “That’s not me.”

  She stared at the Species pacing. “Maybe it’s him.”

  Brawn glanced at the other male before staring at Becca. “I can smell drugs heavily in the room and suspect he’s drugged. I’ve smelled those chemicals before and he’s mentally gone if it’s coming from him. Has he talked to you at all?”

  “No. He growled a bit but no actual words. I tried to ask him how long he’s been here but he just began pacing again. He’s done that since we came in.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “About four hours, best guess, but it could have been longer. I saw sunlight before they brought us down here. We were in that van for at least three and a half hours because that’s how long it would have been until the sun rose when we were attacked. They drove us here in a commercial van with a home security logo on it but I’m pretty sure they don’t work for that company. I got a good enough look at it to see it was one of those magnet signs affixed to it and a real company would have them painted.”

  “We are in serious trouble.”

  “You think?” She gaped at him a little. “What I can’t figure out is why they wanted us alive. Wouldn’t Mercile employees want you dead? You guys sue the shit out of the company and my dad said that they are tracking down anyone who worked at that company to show the victims pictures to try to identify the ones who abused your people.”

  He sniffed the air. “Hope my memory is wrong.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He hesitated. “I smell the drug they used on us for breeding experiments.”

  Her knees weakened. “What does that mean?”

  “They developed a highly stimulating drug to force us to desire sex and dosed us when we refused to mount our women sometimes when they were trying to figure out why we weren’t able to get ou
r females to conceive. The room reeks of it and that is very bad.”

  No shit. “I don’t see any of your women. There’s the guy sleeping on the cot and him.” She glanced at the pacer who hadn’t slowed inside his cell.

  “I smell another Species male, at least twelve different human males and two human females. You are one of them.”

  That was seriously disturbing. Becca knew the doctor the mercenaries worked for was a woman so that just left her on the wrong side of the cage bars. The blood drained from her face at the implications.

  “You don’t think they brought me here to…you know.” She slowly mouthed the next words she hoped he’d understand after lifting her hands to cover her profile from the cameras. “They think I’m your girlfriend.”

  Brawn spun away with a snarl, obviously able to read lips. He walked to the cage door, studied it and gave it a kick with his bare foot. Becca winced, knew that had to hurt and the metal didn’t budge. He lifted his leg, rubbed his toes and snarled again. He dropped the leg, spun and stormed back to the corner closest to her.

  “I will do everything I can to protect you,” he swore softly. “You need to trust me.”

  “I do.” She meant it. She hadn’t known him for long but he was a good guy. “We’ll be found.” She didn’t want to tell him about the dead body or how her father would use it to tear into the man’s past, too afraid the cameras would pick up her words. She didn’t want these assholes to be warned. “Nothing will stop them.”

  He nodded. “Watch what you say.”

  That bit of advice was useless since she already had surmised that. Brawn stared at her and took deep breaths. “I was not drugged with the breeding drug. This is good news.”

  The double doors the men had left through suddenly were thrown open. The sound echoed in the big room and Becca gaped at the sight of four men pushing a gurney through the opening. A large New Species male was strapped down on it. His eyes were closed but his heritage was apparent from his muscular size. It became more apparent as the jerks pushed him closer. His cheekbones and full lips were a dead giveaway and Brawn sniffed loudly as they passed their cages and moved out of sight behind the concrete wall behind them. The wheels of the gurney stopped shortly after.