The large black shape crossed the road and jumped, disappearing into the tree limbs that hung over the fence. Ty quickly lost sight of the agent. He turned when Tracy walked around the truck to stand next to him. He wrapped his arm around her when she shivered.
“No wonder they could get over the fence so quickly,” she murmured, wrapping her arm around Ty’s waist.
Chapter 24
Ella stiffly stood, looking around the large room the gorilla man had led her to. She glanced over her shoulder. He was standing just inside the double doors. He stared back at her with beady, black eyes devoid of emotion. This was the beast from the tales of her people.
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms to warm them, she silently walked around the room. It was filled with artifacts that she recognized. Many of the items were tools that her people still used. Most of the pieces were encased in clear plastic to protect them. Ella found it amusing that anyone would want to keep the old discarded baskets or pieces of hunting string as a prize.
“Fascinating, aren’t they?” A woman’s voice echoed behind her.
Ella turned to look at the elderly woman who stepped into the room. A confused frown creased her brow. This was definitely not how she had expected her kidnapper to look. She watched as the woman slowly walked toward her.
The woman had long white hair with streaks of red running through it. Her hair was braided and fell over one slender shoulder. While she looked old, she did not move like an old woman. Ella turned as the woman walked slowly around her.
“Such a magnificent specimen,” the woman murmured. “To think that humans have existed all this time without being seen. You are truly a rare and unexpected treasure.”
Ella didn’t say anything. Instead, she kept her gaze on the woman. As she turned, a familiar weapon caught her attention. A lance rested against two hooks up on the wall. Ella allowed her gaze to run along the length, to see if there was anything that would prevent her from pulling it free. From what she could see, it was just resting on the hooks.
“What is your name?” The woman demanded, finally stopping to face Ella.
“Ella. What are you called, beast?” Ella asked in a stiff tone.
The woman’s husky laughter echoed through the room. She reached out to tap Ella’s cheek, but Ella slid to the side before she could. The woman’s eyes narrowed, but she allowed her hand to drop back to her side.
“My name is Isabella Wyland,” the woman responded in a slightly chilled voice. “Where did Bearclaw find you?”
Ella remained silent. Once again, irritation flashed across the woman’s face. For several long seconds, they stared at each other – both assessing the other.
“You are stubborn, Ella. That can be a very dangerous attitude,” Isabella informed her in a quiet tone.
Ella shrugged and refused to look away. “I have been told that before. I will not cower before you, beast. You collect human garbage as if it were a prize. Why?” She asked, stepping away from the woman to walk over to a glass box.
“Garbage?” Isabella chuckled and shook her head. “Hardly that. These items represent a time in shifter history when life was much different. We held on to our hunter instincts and embraced who we were. The humans were an amusing adversary.”
Ella reached out and splayed her fingers across the glass. The remains of a child’s doll lay inside. There was a dark brown stain on one side of the face. Ella could almost see the blood that had once covered it.
“Your species almost annihilated mine and you think of us as amusing,” Ella whispered in disgust. “You are nothing but savage animals.”
*.*.*
Isabella Wyland had studied the young human through the two-way mirror for several long minutes before she had entered the room. She had always had a fascination with humans ever since she had been a little girl. An avid collector, she had spent years acquiring as many unusual pieces as she could for her collection.
When her, half-brother, Theodore Badger, had approached her almost a week ago offering to sell her some of his prized pieces, she knew that he had discovered something far more valuable. It was the only reason he would have parted with some of the artifacts he had shown her.
Theodore was a product of her mother’s very brief marriage to Theodore’s father after Isabella’s father, Oliver Wyland, had passed away. Fortunately, her father had been more sensible than her mother. Oliver had set up a substantial trust fund for Isabella which had protected her inheritance from both her mother and the numerous men that her mother would marry after Oliver’s death.
Theodore had approached her almost fifteen years ago with a proposal. He knew of her love for human artifacts. It was one of the few things that they had in common.
Over the years, she had financed many of Theodore’s excursions around the world. In exchange, she had been given first choice of the items found. She had recently discovered that her half-brother had been less than honest about his business dealings with her. For that, he would have to be reminded that she did not like being double-crossed or lied to.
Still, her curiosity had been piqued when he had approached her with some amazing artifacts that he said he had forgotten he had. She had pressed him on the issue until he had finally confessed that he needed half a million dollars by the end of the week or he would lose the find of a century.
“What could be so important that you need such a large sum?” She remembered demanding when he had insisted on meeting her earlier in the week.
“I have a lead on a discovery that could change history as we know it, Isabella,” Theodore had insisted, throwing his hands out in agitation. “I have some artifacts I can sell you in exchange for part of the money.”
Curiosity and intrigue had gripped Isabella. She had never seen Theodore so nervous, desperate, or determined before. He had been on hundreds of expeditions over the last decade and a half, and had never displayed this type of hunger for any of them.
“What have you found, Theodore?” She had pressed.
It was the small signs that had caught her attention. The sweat on his brow even though the room was cool. The nervous look in his eyes and his animated body language, both very unusual for Theodore, who prided himself on his cool, calm composure. Lastly, it was his hesitation to tell her exactly what he was after.
Every other time he had come to her seeking financial support, he’d had a battery of documents to back up his claim. That night, he had appeared shaken.
“A human. I’ve found a human female – a live, breathing human, but time is of the essence. If the media finds out about her, then it will be impossible to get close to her,” he finally admitted.
Isabella had been skeptical at first. She had listened while Theodore had told her about the unusual woman he had seen on the Bearclaw estate. That sighting, combined with the information he’d received from a close associate working for President Kodiak, had confirmed the impossible discovery.
“What do you plan to do with her? If she is with the Bearclaw’s, it is highly unlikely they will just let her go,” Isabella had pointed out to her half-brother.
“Ty Bearclaw will probably put her on exhibit in the Museum after they’ve done whatever testing they can on her. It will be a waste of something this potentially profitable. Just think of the possibilities, Isabella, a real human female! Do you know what this could mean in the academic world?”
“But it is more than the academic world that you are thinking of, isn’t it, Theodore?” She had asked, immediately knowing there was more to this than an interest in science and education.
A sly smile had curved his lips and he had nodded. “If there is one, there are bound to be more,” he acknowledged. “Think of the financial income, Isabella. You are wealthy, so you might not care, but I do.”
“I always care about money, Theodore, and good investments. What are you thinking?” Isabella replied, leaning back in her seat.
“The women for breeding and recreation, the men for exclusive hun
ting. You have always resented the restrictions placed on us by today’s society. What if we offered an elite adventure unlike anywhere else in the world? A chance to let one’s inner beast out. Prices would vary depending on the hunt. The richest of the rich would pay handsomely for such an adventure,” Theodore had eagerly shared with her.
“Where would you do this without the government being involved?” Isabella had asked, intrigued.
“I have a private island that I purchased a number of years ago, one of my early investments. It is outside the North American boundaries and under free law,” Theodore had confided.
“You have been holding out on me, Theodore,” Isabella had chided, raising an eyebrow at him and giving him an assessing look. “What else have you been doing that I’m not aware of?”
While Theodore had sworn that he had always been upfront with her, she had discovered a hitherto unknown aspect of her half-brother that she hadn’t been aware of – and that irritated her. When he had informed her that he planned on using someone known as the Collector to retrieve the human, she had told him that she would save them both some money and arrange the retrieval herself.
“It will be dangerous. I don’t want anything pointing back to me,” Theodore had warned. “The last thing I want is to have the Bearclaw’s or Michaela Kodiak coming after me. That is why I wanted to use the Collector.”
“I will handle this, Theodore,” Isabella had calmly stated, rising to her feet. “It is best if you are not seen here again for a while. I will notify you once I have the woman.”
Isabella remembered the dark, suspicious look on his face. She didn’t blame him. After all, she trusted him about as much as he trusted her. Still, his plan was fascinating, and as he so eloquently pointed out, had the potential to be extremely profitable. With this type of wealth, she would be able to support the changes in government that the New Reform wanted.
*.*.*
Isabella watched the expression of disgust settle over Ella’s face. A sneer curled her own lips. The ignorance of the young and defenseless, no matter the species, disgusted her. Ella was a model of what was wrong with today’s youth. They had no respect for those more powerful, more deadly, than they were. They hid behind the protection of the laws that tried to soothe the animal that they were.
Calling forth her animal form, Isabella partially shifted. Her fingers grew longer and curled with sharp nails on the end. Dark, reddish hair appeared along her arms. Reaching out, she wrapped her fingers around Ella's neck.
“An orangutan is a very powerful creature, Ella,” Isabella murmured, squeezing Ella’s delicate throat. “We are also often underestimated. There are those who believe we are docile creatures, but we aren’t. We are very intelligent and natural born rulers. I asked you where you came from and you will tell me. Broken bones heal and are not fatal, Ella, but they are very painful. You will tell me where you came from and how many other humans exist or I will start with your delicate hands and work my way down until you do. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Isabella waited until Ella nodded before she released her. A cruel smile curved her lips when Ella stumbled backwards into the case and lifted her right hand to massage her throat. Isabella focused on her hands until the evidence of her other self disappeared.
After a moment of silence, Isabella decided it was too dangerous to stay in the area. It would be best to retreat to a more private location. Turning toward the desk in the room, she paused when the lights flickered. She glanced at Abe, who had been silently watching her and Ella from the door. The hair on the back of her neck suddenly rose in warning.
“See what is going on,” she ordered.
*.*.*
Ella watched as Abe nodded and turned to open the door. The moment the door closed, she took advantage of Isabella’s distraction to step toward the wall where the lance was hanging. Behind her, she heard the woman’s annoyed hiss when she turned back around to find that Ella was no longer standing beside her.
Grim determination swept through Ella. She had seen the ruthlessness in the woman’s gaze and heard it in her voice. Deep down, Ella knew that the woman wouldn’t hesitate to torture her to get the information she wanted.
Sprinting for the small settee, she jumped up on it and grabbed the lance. She turned when she heard Isabella snarl behind her. Twisting around, Ella shot the older woman a look of warning as she adjusted the lance in her hands and gave her an almost feral grin.
“Now, you’ll see that you are not the only hunters in the world,” Ella growled back.
“I’ll break both of your legs, you foolish girl,” Isabella snapped, ripping at her shirt.
Ella didn’t wait when she saw the woman’s face beginning to distort, the bones changing under her skin. Twirling the lance over her head, she jumped off the settee, wincing when her ankle protested briefly and struck Isabella across the face. The blow sent Isabella stumbling backwards in shock and rage. Ella followed the blow with another to the woman’s chest that sent her crashing to the floor.
Swiveling, Ella took off for the door where Isabella had entered. She jerked the door open at the same time as a horrendous snarl rang out behind her. Ella glanced over her shoulder as she stepped through and pulled the door closed behind her. Before it shut, she had seen Isabella struggling with the long slacks she was wearing. They were torn and twisted around her lower legs. The brief thought that Ty was right when he said that shifters didn’t want to get caught up in their clothes when they shifted popped into her mind before she slammed the door.
Ella turned the lock before turning to look around the room. She needed to put as much distance between herself and Isabella as possible while trying to find a way out of the building. She hurried across to a closed door and opened it.
Quickly peering into the hallway, Ella stepped into the corridor at the same time she heard a loud bang at the door that she had locked door where Isabella was trying to escape. The sound of voices coming from the left drove her to the right. She ran down the hallway. She didn’t stop until she reached a narrow door near the end of it. Twisting the handle, she slid through the opening. Her breath caught when she heard the gorilla man’s low, urgent voice.
“We’ve got company. The girl must have a tracking device on her,” he said. “
“Find the device and the girl,” Isabella snapped.
“You need to leave. I’ll find her and bring her to you,” the gorilla man replied. “Hyde is securing the bottom floors. It will take them a while to get in. All the bars have been activated on the bottom floors. You’ll need to go out through the upper level to escape.”
“Abe, break her legs so she can’t run again,” Isabella instructed.
“No worries about that, I already warned her I would,” Abe replied.
Ella pulled away from the door and looked up and down. She was in a stairwell. Her heart pounded. The other man was downstairs and it was sealed off, that left her with no choice – she would have to go up if she wanted to escape.
Chapter 25
Theodore threw the last remaining papers he would need into his briefcase. He glanced around his home office one more time. Isabella’s promise to retrieve the human might not be the best solution, but it would be the most cost effective. He had very little that he needed or wanted to take with him here in his small townhouse.
He hadn’t wanted to take a chance on losing the priceless artifacts that he had gathered over the years. Instead, he tookhad shipped them out of the country and placed them on theto his island. His small inheritance, combined with the lucrative income from the sale of black market antiquities and his good investments, had enabled his purchase of the island.
He glanced around the room one more time to be sure there was nothing to implicate him in any way with the human’s disappearance. He reached up and ran a hand down his tired face. Theodore winced when he brushed over the bruise on his cheekbone where Ty Bearclaw’s elbow had caught him. It would heal in a matter of days. He planned
to be long gone before anyone here could ask him about it.
He picked up his briefcase, strode over to the door of his office, and pulled it open. A shiver shook him when a touch of chilly air from the living room swept down the hallway. That was another thing he would not miss – the damn cold! He was sick of it.
A single lamp illuminated the living room with a soft glow. He stepped into the room, fumbling in his pocket for his keys. He paused when his badger growled in warning. Stiffening, he paused and cautiously looked around the room.
“Going somewhere?” A cool voice asked from the shadows.
“What…?! Who are you? How did you get in here?” Theodore demanded, glancing at his front door, the only door into his townhouse. The series of locks and chains were still in place. His gaze swung back to the figure. “What do you want?”
“Where is the girl?” The man demanded.
Theodore’s gaze narrowed. He couldn’t see the man’s face. It was hidden behind a black mask. There was something about him, the way that he moved that had his badger frantically urging him to run.
“What girl?” Theodore asked, walking slowly around the couch and placing his briefcase on it. If he could get to the gun he had tucked at his waist, he could find out more about his masked intruder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The Collector does not like making business arrangements and having them fall through, Mr. Badger. It is bad for business,” the man calmly stated. “I wouldn’t reach for the gun, if I were you. I want to know where the human is.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Theodore stated, folding his arms and scowling. “Now, I suggest you leave before I call the authorities.”
“Go ahead. I have a copy of the security disk from the Observatory that they would be very interested in receiving. It is amazing how easy it is to hack into a security system nowadays,” the man said with a cruel grin that quickly faded. “Tell me where the girl is, or not only will they receive the disk, but they’ll be picking up body parts and putting you back together for identification.”.”