She eased back onto her feet to duck walk as far as she could to squeeze behind the dryer. It was a tight fit while she waited. The guy obviously believed he was a better shot than he actually was. He suddenly jumped into the doorway and pointed his gun at the floor where Jessie should have been. Jessie didn’t hesitate as the man’s gun exploded when he fired at the floor feet from her. She shot him three times in the chest. His gaze widened, his mouth opened and blood poured out before he just collapsed backward.
“Three down,” Jessie got out in a shaky voice. “I’m checking vitals.”
“Don’t move, Jessie!” Tim roared. “Wait for backup.”
Oh, he’s pissed and I’m in a world of shit. She hadn’t really had a choice though. Trey and Mike had their hands full, were pinned and both needed to hold back the jerks outside. They needed that door from the living room to the entryway secure. That meant someone had to watch their backs. That left Jessie available to watch the living room and she’d done it.
Jimmy’s voice sounded. “Four down. I repeat, four down. The second floor is secured. No female here.”
Trey and Mike were still exchanging gunfire at the front door until another task-force team arrived to handle the attackers who were pinned without cover. Two of the property’s security guards were dead but another three gave up at that point. Jessie walked out from the laundry room into the hallway once an “all clear” was called.
Trey reached her first. He studied her grimly before leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Good job.”
“Two are down in the living room but I haven’t checked to see if they are still breathing.” She avoided looking at the dead guy in front of the laundry room door. “He’s definitely dead. I got him square in the face.”
Trey glanced down. “Yeah, he’s a toe tagger. I’ll check vitals on the others.” He strode away to do that.
“Someone’s gonna be in trouble,” Mike called out as he swaggered down the hallway holding his weapon cradled in his arms. “We were pinned down and you did good, kid. Thanks.”
Jessie nodded.
Trey returned from the living room. “Make that three toe taggers. You got one in the neck and the other one in the face and chest. I think all that gun-range target practice is paying off, Jessie. The bad news is that there’s no female here. The mansion was just cleared by our teams. The garage and staff living quarters were cleared by our teams. They must have moved her before we arrived.”
Jessie frowned. “They were guarding this building for a reason.”
She spun, nearly ran and searched the lower floor. She glanced at the stairs and headed that way but Trey grabbed her arm. “It’s been secured, Jessie. I’m sorry. If she was here she isn’t now. I know it’s hard to accept but we missed her.”
“Did you find a room they would have kept her in?”
“No. None of the team reported that. They would have.”
“They were protecting something. It’s a guesthouse but it’s empty. All those bodies are security. The dead guys have patches. Why station four men at this location for no good reason and then send eight more out here?” She refused to give up hope.
Trey shrugged. “Maybe the four lived here.”
Jessie jerked her arm out of his hold. “I’m going to take another look. I don’t care if we have to tear it down but they were protecting something that we haven’t found yet.”
Trey hesitated. “Hurry. Tim is on his way and he’s really pissed at you.”
She ran up the stairs. The men were guarding something. Her gut was screaming it at her. The guy who owned this guesthouse was associated with Mercile Industries. He was obviously a rich bastard and probably not a nice guy if he hired mercenaries to guard his property.
She reached the first room, found no furniture at all and searched the open closet. She used her flashlight to search every inch of room, kicked all the walls and found them solid. She bounced a little on the flooring inside the closet and the room but nothing indicated any loosened floorboards.
The next room had a card table set up and two dead men were sprawled on the floor. The table and four chairs were the only furniture in the room. She went for the closet first, not looking forward to having to roll the dead bodies to test the floors under them. She searched it with the flashlight but saw nothing. She kicked one side and heard a solid sound. She kicked the back wall but it didn’t sound right. She frowned and kicked it again. Hollow.
Jessie crouched down and used her flashlight to study the floor carefully. She spotted slight scratches a few feet from the molding. Her fingers brushed over it.
“Goddamn it, Jessie! I fucking warned you,” Tim yelled from behind her. “I’m going to turn you over my knee.”
“Shut up. I found something.” She didn’t bother to look at her boss, too focused on the wall in front of her.
There was silence behind her. Jessie bit her lip and pushed on the wall but it didn’t move. She stood, backed up and studied the wall from a new angle. She glanced back at her team to see that Tim waited in the doorway, glaring at her. Trey and a few of the other guys had followed him up.
Jessie turned, kicking out at the wall hard. Her foot made contact and punched through the plaster a little. The plaster was an inch thick but only darkness appeared in the small hole she’d made instead of wood beams or insulation that should have been behind it. She crouched down and aimed her flashlight into the hole.
“What is it?” Trey was at her side.
“Take it down,” Jessie ordered softly. “It’s a false wall.” She backed up out of his way.
Trey yanked her flashlight out of her hand and crouched to aim the light at the small hole, nodding. “She’s right.” Trey stood. He shoved her flashlight at her as he took a step back. He kicked the plaster wall. “Back up more.”
Jessie gave him room to do his thing. Trey was a big guy, stronger, and he had the kickass military boots on. In minutes he’d destroyed enough plaster to make a hole big enough for a man to crawl through. He reached for his own flashlight clipped to his belt, dropped to his knees and his other hand yanked out his sidearm.
“It’s another room,” he confirmed, inching closer.
Jessie’s heart pounded as Trey disappeared into the hole on his hands and knees. Seconds passed as slowly as if they were minutes. Trey suddenly called out.
“Jessie, get in here. She’s alive.”
Chapter Six
Justice yawned and glanced at the clock. “It’s after three.”
“I’m ready to call it a night.” Tiger stretched on the couch. “That was a good action film.”
“Thanks for staying with me.”
“Not a problem. Any time.” Tiger met his gaze. “Females are trouble. Never forget that. We’re better off without them.”
“I’m not sure I agree.”
“Do you want me to stay in the guestroom?”
“Do you feel like driving home?”
“Not really.” Tiger yawned. “I’m not used to these late nights.”
Justice clicked off the TV and the DVD player, rose to his feet and dropped the remotes on the coffee table. “Stay. We’ll have breakfast together and discuss the new cameras you want installed at the gates.” He withdrew his cell phone and flipped it open.
“Who are you calling at this hour?”
“Homeland. Our human task team went out on a mission and I want to see if they recovered one of our females.”
“They’d have called.” Sadness filled Tiger’s eyes. “You know how these things go. We would have heard if they’d found one. I know they meant to hit the location at two. It must not have been a good lead.”
That meant that Jessie had been called away for nothing. It had at least been comforting, thinking he might be without her for the retrieval of one his women. “Right.”
“Hopefully next time they’ll find one.”
“We can hope. Good night.”
He spun on his heel, walked quickly down the hallway and closed
the door softly behind him. His gaze lingered on the fresh bedding on the new bed they’d put in his room. No trace of Jessie’s scent lingered and he had no one to blame but himself for that fact. He’d sprayed the area too damn well with air freshener.
The good news was, Jessie was safe. He began to strip off his clothes, yawned and hoped wherever she was, she thought about him. If she were in his bed she’d be comforted over the failed mission. He’d make damn sure of that.
His cock twitched at the thought of how he’d distract her and he hissed out a curse. He needed to forget about the sexy human. Jessie Dupree wasn’t someone he could afford to spend too much time with anyway. He knew the futility of their future.
He paused in front of the mirror over the dresser, stared at his slightly altered features and for once regretted being Species. He was the face of his people, the symbol the world saw and he’d never have the freedom he fought so hard to give his people.
Envy filled him as he thought about Fury, Slade and Valiant. They’d fallen for humans and kept them. The males were loved and got to sleep with their mates. They had the anonymity to do so. Justice North taking a mate would be world news and when he did, it would have to be a Species female. Not only would his people expect it but the entire population of humans would as well.
His shoulders sagged as the turned away, not able to look at his reflection anymore. He avoided contact with human females for a reason. Plenty had hit on him before but none of them had stirred him the way the fiery redhead had. She had the courage to have such bright hair and engage in battle with males. She was fierce, beautiful and off limits.
He leaned down, removed his cell phone from his pants and placed it on the bedside table. He sat hard on the edge of the mattress, thoughts of Jessie still haunting him, and reached for the light. Forget her. You have no choice. It wasn’t meant to be and it’s best that she was called away. It would be a disaster if she became too important. It would only hurt worse since there’s no way for you to be with her without the world finding out.
He climbed under the covers and sprawled out on his back. His cock filled with blood as he remembered the last time he was in that position on the bed with Jessie’s warm, sexy mouth on his body, her hair tickling his thigh. He groaned and rolled over.
Forget her, damn it. She’ll forget about you. It was just a one-night stand and that’s all it can ever be.
* * * * *
Jessie didn’t hesitate to drop to her knees and crawl into the darkness. She inched toward Trey, about ten feet to her left. He had his light trained on the floor as she moved to his side.
“I didn’t want to scare her,” he whispered. “She’s locked up in the corner but I can’t find a light switch.” Trey pointed in a direction under his flashlight so Jessie knew where to look.
“Back off,” Jessie urged him. “Get a lamp in here. Something.”
He backed away and Jessie turned on her flashlight. Jessie slowly lifted the light until she spotted a large dog-sized cage and a thin mattress on the floor of it. A small woman huddled in the corner, wearing a long nightgown that was as dirty and dingy as the mattress cover she sat on. It looked as if neither had been washed for a while. Jessie lifted the light a little more, careful not to flash it in the woman’s face.
“My name is Jessie,” she stated softly. “We’re going to get you out of here and take you somewhere safe. I’m going to come closer to you but don’t be afraid. I’d never hurt you, okay?” She shone the beam on her face and allowed the bright light to temporarily blind her to give the confined woman a good look at her. “I’m a woman too. See? We’re not here to hurt you.”
Jessie lowered the light and waited until the spots cleared then carefully tracked the beam back to where the woman huddled. She took in more of the woman as she raised the light to the woman’s legs. She was Species all right. Her hair was black and her features marked her as carrying primate DNA. It was obvious from her delicate features, the more rounded shape of her dark brown eyes and her cute, perky nose.
Jessie crawled closer. “Do you know that there are others like you? I’m going to take you home to them, to your family. They’ve been looking for you for a long time. Can you tell me your name?”
The woman gripped her knees tighter to her chest and her features showed her terror. Jessie didn’t blame her for the fear. “I’m really not going to hurt you. I’m here to take you out of here to somewhere safe. I’m going to take you to your family. They are people just like you, ones who were hurt by others and it’s going to be safe for you there. No one is ever going to lock you inside a cage again. I’m Jessie,” she repeated. “What’s your name?”
The woman opened her mouth and whispered soft words that were hard to catch. “Mud.”
Jesus! Rage tore through Jessie at hearing the shitty name her captors had tagged her with but she tried to conceal it. “That isn’t really your name. Do you remember what that is? What you were called before you were brought here?”
The woman hesitated. “My name was Monkey.”
Jessie counted to ten to cool down her boiling blood. Son of a bitch. Is there no end to the mean shit people do to these people?
“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we call you Beauty? Do you like that name? I think it fits you much better than those other ones. The men outside with me came to take you away from the men who held you here. I’m going to take you somewhere safe. You can trust me.”
Jessie crawled closer when the Species seemed to calm as some of the fear eased from her delicate features. She switched her attention to the cage, noted the lock and the chains that ran through the squares from the woman’s ankles to a bolt in the floor feet from the container. The bolt pierced right through the floorboards and no screws showed. It wasn’t going to be easy to free this one with those heavy-duty shackles. They usually took them in chains if they weren’t able to get them free on site and that floor bolt would be hellish to break.
“May I look at your ankles, please? I’d like to see if I can get those shackles off and looking at the lock will tell me if they are easy to pick or not.”
“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly.
Jessie reached through the cage to gently grip one of the shackles. There were key holes in each one and the metal was heavy, solid and wouldn’t break with what they carried. The locks were complicated and that didn’t bode well either.
“Look for keys,” she said into her mic. “They have her chained to a bolt that’s going to be tough to remove since it’s through the floor and picking the locks isn’t an option. I could get into the cage they have her in but those shackles are another story.”
“I don’t know where they are,” Beauty whispered.
Jessie set the flashlight down so it gave off enough light for them to see each other as she released her ankle. She reached up and pointed, turned her head to show the other woman. “I have a device inside my ear that lets the people who helped save you hear what I say. I can hear them as well. I was telling them to look for the key. If they can’t find it we’ll try to cut the chain. We will get you out of here. That’s a promise. Okay, Beauty?”
“Yes. You really are going to take me away?”
“I swear to you I’m getting you out.”
“I found a set of keys on a dead guy.” It was Tim speaking. “We also found an extension cord and a lamp.”
“Just get me the keys and send in Trey since she’s already seen him. Have him come in slowly.” Jessie smiled at Beauty. “That man in here a few minutes ago is going to bring in keys we think are for the locks. Don’t be afraid of him. He’s my friend and he’d never hurt a woman.”
Beauty looked scared but she nodded bravely. Trey crawled into the room and eased down to sit next to Jessie. In his other hand he had four flashlights turned on to light up the room. Jessie flashed him a grateful smile as she accepted the keys. He backed up a few feet.
“Go or stay?” His voice was soft.
Jessie studied the woman w
ho stared at Trey but she didn’t seem panicked or terrified. “Stay,” Jessie decided.
Trey didn’t move as Jessie tried the keys. She unlocked the cage first, eased open the door and hesitated before touching Beauty. The other woman pushed her feet closer to help. Jessie gave her a warm smile and the other woman smiled tightly in return.
“Bingo. We have a winner.” Jessie smiled at Beauty as she unlocked the ankle cuff. “See? We found the keys.” Jessie unlocked the other ankle. Beauty was free.
“Clear out and give us an open path to a vehicle,” Jessie ordered softly. “We’re bringing her out.”
“You got it,” Tim sighed. “Good work, Jessie. We would have missed her if you hadn’t found that hidden room. Your ass is still mine when you secure her.”
Jessie rolled her eyes but continued to smile at Beauty as she backed up to give the woman room to leave the cage. “Okay. Can you stand?” Jessie rose to her feet slowly and held out her hands to the woman. “You can take my hands and I’ll help you.”
The woman hesitated before slowly leaning forward, crawled a few feet until she cleared the open door of the cage and reached a trembling, pale hand to Jessie. Jessie gripped her carefully while fighting back tears. This part got to her every time. The fear in their eyes to even hope, to trust and believe someone wasn’t just fucking with them always broke her heart. Jessie helped her stand.
“We’re on the move,” Jessie informed the team. “Are we cleared?”
“Cleared,” Tim answered softly. “We have a vehicle right out the front door and we dragged the dead out of sight. Jimmy tore down some curtains to drape over the blood. She’ll probably smell it if she inherited the Species sense of smell but she won’t be terrified by the sight.”
“She’s primate,” Jessie answered, letting her team know that the freed woman was less likely to pick up the scent of death or spilled blood. The primates didn’t have such an acute sense of smell. “Contact Homeland right away and ask where they want her taken so other primates are there when we arrive. She needs to meet her family.”
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