Mine to Possess

Clay made a note to check up on that. If one of the Rats had fathered a child, he could understand their protectiveness in hiding the kid, but DarkRiver needed to know. “What’s the closest safe insertion point to the lab?”

“Cinnamon Springs-only town within any reasonable distance.”

“We’ll fly there tomorrow, check it out,” Clay said.

Judd reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a data crystal. “The exact location. Keep it on an absolute need-to-know basis. One slip and they’ll move the lab. If you want me to go in with you, call. Otherwise, everything I know is on that crystal.”

“There has to be a way in,” Brenna murmured. “Sorry, darling, but Psy often don’t think about us animals.”

“Even Psy learn,” her mate responded with an amused smile that was so unexpected, Talin’s mouth fell open. “They’re wary of cats and wolves now. There’s a high probability the area’s been seeded with sensors calibrated to pick them up.”

Clay stirred. “Yeah, but what about snakes? Snakes can hide in corn and, in animal form, they’re unique enough that the sensors shouldn’t go off.”

“You know a snake? Oh!” She suddenly remembered his story about a changeling with shimmering black scales. “Do you think your friend will help us?”

“I’ll ask.” Clay nodded at Judd. “Best-case scenario-we go in without setting off alarms, kids are there, we get them out.” A pause. “High-tech security like that-I’m not sure we can maintain your secret.”

“If you think it’s going to turn to shit, warn me. I need to alert my contact.”

Talin met the Psy man’s cold gaze. “Why?” They could be undoing everything he had worked to achieve, but he hadn’t flinched.

“Sometimes,” he said, “you have to save the innocents you see in front of you and worry about the ones to come later.”

At that instant, Talin realized that who Judd seemed was not who he was. She was about to thank him when her brain suddenly presented her with the answer to a question she hadn’t been conscious of considering. “You know, I was always good at puzzles.”

Everyone looked at her.

“How do we get information from inside a locked room without opening the door? We have someone send it to us, of course.”

Judd shook his head. “The lab is under a blackout. No PsyNet access.”

“What about the Internet? Telepaths tend to ignore it, but it works just fine.” Brenna sat up straighter. “Judd, baby, do you have a link on the inside?”

“We have suspicions that a certain scientist may be open to being turned but no proof.”

“You able to put out some feelers?” Clay asked.

A sharp nod. “I don’t know how much good it’ll do. My contact is…not good as you would think of it. He’s not evil, either, but he won’t do anything unless it complies with his personal code. That code involves a deep loyalty to his race. However, since he passed on the information about the kidnappings, he may be willing.”

Talin hoped with all her heart that the humanity within this unknown Psy was stronger than the Silence.

CHAPTER 35

Jonquil opened his eyes and for a horrifying second, thought he was blind. His lungs grew tight as he fought the screaming urge to panic.

Then cool fingers touched his forehead. “Lie still.”

“You.” Relief turned his limbs to water. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Your eyelids are grossly swollen.” She touched them and even that feather-light brush caused excruciating pain. “I apologize. I was applying a salve-give it a few minutes and the swelling will reduce to a negligible level.”

He trusted her. She was the only adult in this place who hadn’t tortured him. “What did they do to me?”

“I’m not certain, but I believe they were testing a new compound that’s purportedly meant to help with the integration of an implant.”

He didn’t understand most of that, but he caught the idea. “They poisoned me?”

“That wasn’t the point, but let’s say it’s a good thing for you that their science was flawed. Had it not been, you’d be dead now.”

He was used to listening for nuances in people’s voices. However, Blue…she was beautiful, with her smooth skin and wolf eyes, but her voice was utterly toneless. So he made a guess. “Did you help that flaw along?”

A small silence. “You’re highly intelligent. Yes. It was to my advantage that their experiment failed.”

“Why?”

“I need you alive.” She touched his face, then his neck. “Why do you have so much bruising? It should have been a simple injection.”

He could make out some light now. Relieved that she’d been telling the truth about his eyes, he answered almost absentmindedly. “I think I might’ve tried to hit them while I was out of it.”

“That explains Larsen’s black eye.”

Fear clawed through him. “The little girl-did that guy hurt her? He said they wouldn’t if I cooperated.”

“He lied,” she responded, cold as the chill of these antiseptic walls. “Nothing you can do will stop him. But the girl is safe for now. He’s having some trouble getting new subjects so he’s taking care with the single undamaged one he already has.”