The blond frowned. “How do you think? How is your mate? Is she better?”
140 shook his head. “No. She is still weak.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
140 snapped his gaze to Lauren. “What do you care?”
She flinched at the look of hatred in his eyes. “I am not the enemy.”
He inhaled and some of his anger faded. “You aren’t. I know this. You are with one of our kind. Tell me about him.”
“He’s a few inches taller than you and he works with a group of humans who are searching for those of your kind who haven’t been freed yet. They track down people like those assholes holding us.”
“You were telling the truth about the NSO, weren’t you?” It was the dark canine.
Lauren met his eyes. “Yes. Everything I’ve told you is true. When places like this are found by the people Wrath works with they come in to rescue us. They take you home to the NSO and you are free.”
“Tell us about them,” 140 urged.
Lauren began to talk, sharing everything she’d ever read or seen in person during her brief visit to Homeland. They listened and shock showed in their eyes often. She finally stopped. She didn’t let them know she was aware of exactly where they were in case Mary or any of her men were listening. She was afraid they’d move the New Species to a different location.
“I’m going to tell them about you when I get out of here. They’ll find you.” It was a promise she made.
140 sighed. “There is real hope of them coming for us, isn’t there? That we could go live in peace with our kind away from our enemies?”
“Yes. I did mention the hate groups, right? There aren’t many of them but they are annoying. Most people are good, not like the assholes you’ve dealt with, and they are as horrified as I am over Mercile Industries.”
Footsteps sounded and Mark returned carrying plastic bags in his hands. He stopped near one of the cages. “Move back.”
The golden-haired New Species edged to the back corner of his cage. Mark reached in and dropped a bag, moved to the next one and left another bag. He finally stopped at Lauren’s cage. 140 moved, pressed against the back of the cage, while Lauren didn’t budge. He set down two bags and backed away. His gaze fixed on Lauren.
“I was told you’re dating a New Species. Is that true?”
“Yes. Are you going to insult me too?”
He glanced behind him and lowered his voice when he faced her again. “I want a deal. When you get out of here, will you talk to your boyfriend for me? I’m willing to give them the address of this place in exchange for a million dollars, total immunity against any crimes and safe travel out of the country. I didn’t know they had their own justice system. They can make deals, right? I never signed on for any of this shit but they’ll kill me if I don’t do what Mary says. The only choice they gave me was to stick around Mercile to be arrested or go with them.”
Lauren bit her lip, her mind working, and hope filled her. “To agree to your terms they’ll want all the New Species back alive.”
“We have four of the men and one woman. Mary and her sister were researchers at one of the facilities. They took these five and we helped get them out after the search warrant was served. We all thought it would blow over but it didn’t. Mary just wanted to protect her research with these ones but now it’s all gone to hell. Our place got busted. We’re probably wanted by the police and I can’t even contact my parents or sister. I’m sick of living in this dump and being treated like shit. I just want my life back.”
Lauren felt zero pity for him but he was desperate and she was willing to take advantage of that. The bastard had worked for Mercile and was still holding New Species in cages. “I’m a mate,” she lied. “I can negotiate a deal with you and they’ll accept it.”
Hope filled his eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah,” she bullshitted. “A million dollars, immunity and a helicopter ride to the nearest border is a bargain for the lives of five New Species. I know they will agree.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “How can we do this? If anyone here finds out they’ll put a bullet in me.”
“Do you have a phone?”
“Yeah but I’m afraid to give it to you. They could trace that shit. I’m not stupid.”
She plotted fast. “It takes at least three minutes to trace a call.”
“I’ve heard that.”
She had no idea if it were true or not, didn’t care either, but he needed to get a message out. “Call Homeland, keep it under three minutes and tell them you know where five New Species are. Give them your terms and tell them I made a deal with you. My name is Lauren Henderson.” She paused. “Tell them my code word is Jasper’s. That will assure them it’s for real and we actually spoke.”
“Code word?”
“You know how parents give their kids a safe word? New Species use code words and mine is Jasper’s.”
He paced as he contemplated her offer and finally nodded. “Okay. Mary is gone for a few hours, the guys are taking off in a bit and I’ve got access to the office. They keep cell phones in there. Homeland, you said?”
“Yes. Call Homeland.”
He walked away and Lauren began to pray he actually made that call and that someone got her secret message. It was a long shot but a lot of humans worked with Wrath. One of them might remember Jasper’s. It had been a popular club once.
