Текст книги "Valiant"
Автор книги: Laurann Dohner
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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 17 страниц)
You need to come with us and we’ll help you think straight again. We want you to hold a news conference to tell everyone what those sick animal bastards did to you.
That will show the world they aren’t something us decent folks should be living with. They all need to be put down.”
She heard everything he said. His blatant hatred for New Species stunned her a little but the most alarming part of his little speech had been the “us” part. She turned her head and sure enough, spotted three more men edging toward her from the shadows of the building where they’d hidden. Not good. Shit. She peered at the taller man as her heart accelerated from fear. Think.
Don’t panic.
“Fine. You got it. Why don’t you follow me to my house and we’ll discuss it there?” She could drive to the Sheriff’s station if she could just get inside her car or get her hands on her cell phone to dial for help. She had no intention of allowing them to follow her home.
He blinked and appeared a little surprised but his mouth tightened. “We’ll take my truck.”
She nodded, quickly assessing she needed to keep him off guard. It would be easier to surprise him if he thought she was a complete idiot. “Okay. What about my car? I can’t just leave it here. Sam, the owner, will have it towed first thing in the morning if it’s left in the parking lot. I’ll drive and you can follow me.”
A hand shot out and gripped Tammy’s arm. “Your car is the least of our concerns. You’re going to help us turn everyone against those animals.”
Tammy fisted her keys to force a few of them to slip between her fingers. Four men against her weren’t good odds. She silently prayed someone would walk out of the bar to help her but it didn’t happen. Her other hand grabbed the handle of her car door.
“I can’t just leave my car here. I’m willing to listen to what you have to say but I can’t afford to pay the tow yard to get it back.”
The jerk suddenly tried to yank her away from her vehicle. She clung to the car handle, he pulled on her hard enough to open the door slightly, and the interior lights inside her car came on. He yanked harder and the metal she gripped slipped from her fingers. She spun and knew she needed to attack to break free.
She punched the guy hard in the gut with the pointed keys sticking out between her fisted fingers as her foot came down on his. Her hand hurt from the keys when she struck him and her other hand clawed at his face. Her fingernails dug into his flesh just under his eye. He bellowed and released her just as Tammy let out a piercing scream to try to draw attention to her predicament.
Tammy shoved him and started to run for the bar but only got a few feet before someone grabbed her hair.
She screamed again from the pain that shot from the back of her head. The stranger jerked her in his brutal grasp and slammed her into someone’s parked truck.
Their side mirror struck her cheek and pain shot through that side of her face near her ear.
He released her hair so his strong arms could wrap around her waist and they kept her from hitting the ground when her knees threatened to collapse under her.
She screamed again and kicked at the jerk who hefted her off her feet. The back of her head made contact with a face behind her when she threw it back in a frantic attempt to force him to drop her. He cursed loudly and released her.
She hit the ground and nearly fell to her knees but managed to stagger away a few steps instead. Two of her attackers had put themselves between her and the bar. She fought back a wave of dizziness from the pain in her face and the back of her head where she’d head-butted the jerk. She bumped the truck again, used it to push against, and sprinted for the road instead. She made it out of the parking lot to the sidewalk, even to the pavement of the street, and spotted headlights coming at her.
Tammy ran at them, sure that those jerks would run in the opposite direction. Traffic was normally light at that time of night but whoever drove the car approaching her had to be better than those she fled. She waved her arms, yelling to get the driver’s attention, and realized the vehicle started to slow.
She recognized the vehicle as it drew closer. Pastor Thomas’ beat-up old car was a welcome sight when he hit the brakes completely, stopping just feet from where she stood. She couldn’t miss the shock on his features as he peered at her through his windshield. Relief flooded her until his gaze shifted from hers, his lips parted, and his eyes widened in alarm at something he saw to the side of her.
Tammy twisted her head to stare over her shoulder and saw the four men rush at her. The one in cowboy boots who’d lifted her off her feet had blood running down his chin from his busted lip she’d caused and that’s all she saw before they reached her.
Tammy screamed, kicked, and tried to punch but the men grabbed her arms and one of them grabbed her legs. They yanked her off her feet and ran with her body carried between them toward the parking lot of the bar.
A loud horn blared while Pastor Thomas screamed her name.
They hoisted her into the air and tossed her over the rim of the bed of the truck as if she were a sack of potatoes. The force of the impact when she landed knocked the air from her lungs and pain exploded inside the back of her head where it slammed into the metal truck bed hard. She gasped in air, ordered her body to move, but the second she tried to sit up, two bodies crushed down on top of her.
She struggled and clawed at both men but they easily kept her pinned under them. The truck engine roared to life and doors slammed a second before the transmission was thrown in reverse. Wheels spun and everything moved rapidly.
The sudden and abrupt movement of the truck rolled two of the men away from her as they slammed into the side of the truck bed. It rolled Tammy onto her side. She glimpsed the night sky. The truck brakes locked up and rolled her in a new direction a second before the driver changed gears again. The transmission protested loudly when it made a grinding noise.
Tammy reached for the edge of the truck in hopes of climbing out but the driver punched the gas before her fingers could make purchase. The momentum of truck’s forward motion made Tammy slide toward the lifted tailgate. Hands grabbed her and two bodies came back down on top of her, pinning her under them. She managed to scream.
The truck speed at a fast rate but over the stressed engine and the heavy breathing from her captors, she heard a horn honk repeatedly behind them. Pastor Thomas followed the truck and refused to stop trying to draw attention to what had happened.
Bless him! Unfortunately it made the driver of the truck more reckless. The truck hit some potholes and Tammy groaned in agony as the men on top of her slammed and crushed her tighter against the painful metal under her back.
Her ribs and head hurt. She also fought to breathe with their combined weight compressing her lungs. The horn kept honking behind them and it seemed to go on forever. The men holding her down were swearing when the ride turned really rough after the driver seemed to leave the road, driving over what Tammy guessed was grass from the way she could feel the ass end of the vehicle sliding and how bumpy and violently it moved.
The sound of a horn grew fainter. She realized her attackers were smart enough to go off road since the pastor’s car wouldn’t be able to.
Tammy nearly passed out from the pain when a loud grinding noise came from the truck and it slowed until it came to a stop. A man yelled curses from the cab. The men holding her down eased their hold. Tammy kneed one of them in the stomach hard. He made a horrible retching noise and she clawed her hand across the arm of the other man who tried to grip her thigh. Her nails dug into soft flesh until he screamed, jerking away.
Tammy fought with her fists and legs to get away from her captors. She managed to do enough damage that they winced away. She sat up and lunged in the other direction. Her fingers gripped the side of the truck.
Desperation and terror made her find the strength to drag her body up until she fell out of the back of the truck and hit the dirt on her side. She lay there for a second, in pain, but stumbled to her feet when the cab door near her squeaked open.
She was able to make out the heavily wooded area that surrounded her with the help of the moon. She ran for the dark, dense tree line, hoped she could hide there, and knew it would be her only chance to lose the bastards. She barely made it to the trees when she heard them shout at her. It encouraged her to run faster and fear motivated her to press on while ignoring the pain in her side.
Someone panted heavily behind her, closing the distance, and the urge to scream gripped her hard. They were gaining on her. She dodged a dark shape and hoped they’d hit what she’d avoided. Instead something slammed into her back. It sent her sprawling hard into the leafy dirt and a heavy, painful weight pinned her down. Pain ripped through her with an intensity that made everything go black.
* * * * *
“Valiant?” Tiger yelled again.
Valiant walked out of his house, approached the gate and stopped. He glared at his friend. “Is there a reason you’re bellowing at me at two in the morning? I was sleeping.”
Tiger looked grim. “We got a call a few minutes ago from the local sheriff. They need our help.”
Valiant narrowed his eyes in anger. “You know humans aren’t my favorite. Go help them if you wish to do so. Why are you bothering me?”
Tiger bit his lip. “You need to remain calm, all right?”
Valiant’s gut tightened. Tiger would only warn him if whatever he had to say would make him angry. “Why?
A re more humans planning to attack us? Do you need me to patrol the Wild Zone? Have they breached the walls? I’m not patrolling outside with the human security.
I’ll just kill the intruders if they come here.”
Tiger hesitated. “A human woman has been kidnapped from the town and there is a witness. The guy who saw her taken followed the truck but lost it when her kidnappers drove into the woods where the witness’s car couldn’t follow. He used a cell phone to call for help but it’s a small town. It took the cops a few minutes to get to where he’d lost them. They found the truck but not the woman. Four men took her and fled into the woods. The local law enforcement doesn’t have immediate access to tracking animals. They’d have to wait for daylight and it may be too late for her by that time. The sheriff thought of us. A few of our officers are heading there with me to help and I thought you would want to go with us.”
Valiant hated the idea of any woman at the mercy of human males. They were unstable and mean. “I’m sorry for that female but I still don’t understand why you came here. You’re wasting time by talking to me if you plan to search for her. You should go after her instead.”
“To make matters worse, when the sheriff and his deputies found the truck, they searched it, looking to identify the owner. They realized these guys are members of one of those anti-New Species extremist groups. They had some flyers inside the truck that pointed to that conclusion.” Tiger hesitated. “They took Tammy.”
Shock tore through Valiant. “My Tammy?”
Tiger nodded grimly. “Yeah. Your Tammy. I thought you’d want to help find her.” He paused. “I figured you’d still remember her scent well enough to be able to track her faster.”
A roar erupted from Valiant. Rage gripped him at the thought of males attacking his Tammy. Hate groups killed humans who associated with Species. Her beautiful face surfaced in his mind instantly. He panted, going insane a little at the thought of what they’d do to her and he struggled to think.
Tiger flinched. “I take it you’re coming?”
Valiant spun around and sprinted for his home. “Let me get a few things,” he snarled loudly. “Do not leave without me. I’m going to tear them apart with my bare hands if they have harmed her in any way.”
“I figured!” Tiger yelled.
Valiant stormed back outside a few minutes later.
Tiger noticed the shoes Valiant had donned and glanced at his thigh. He didn’t say a word about the wicked-looking knife strapped to it, but instead just climbed into the Jeep. Valiant jumped into the passenger seat. Tiger waved an arm in the air to signal the two other vehicles behind them to follow.
“I’m going to kill them if they hurt her,” Valiant swore.
Tiger bit his lip. “Remember, we’re not going to be on Reservation. Their law might have a problem with that but they did kidnap a woman. Keep in mind that their law is going to come down harshly on them when we capture them. I want to make sure you realize that.
Couldn’t you just maim them a little and let them live? It would be bad press to return these humans in pieces to their law enforcement.”
Valiant growled. “It depends on if they hurt her or not.”
“That sounds fair enough to me.” Tiger punched the gas.
* * * * *
White-haired Sheriff Cooper, who appeared to be in his midfifties, gaped openly as at the four New Species who climbed out of three Jeeps. Tiger had told Valiant the human’s name on the way there and warned him to try to be polite. Valiant had snarled.
He just wanted to find Tammy. He didn’t give a damn about impressions they made or if Justice wanted them to be nice. Tiger seemed to think it was a big deal that humans would ask them for help, a first step to acceptance by the town, but Valiant figured they were just desperate enough to ask anyone for aid.
His gaze darted to the other three Species. Tiger, Brass and Rider wore their uniforms. The sheriff seemed to fixate on Valiant the most and fear widened the human’s eyes. It could be because he didn’t wear a uniform, instead sporting jeans and a gray sweater he’d tossed on when Tiger’s presence had awoken him. He met the sheriff’s direct gaze and realized the human seemed unable to look away from his face. He resisted baring his teeth to really put on a show. Obviously it wasn’t the jeans that put the guy off as much as his facial features.
The human seemed to get a grip on his fear and stepped closer to them as they approached. He cleared his throat and held his hand out to Tiger, who had taken the lead to meet with the group of humans waiting at the side of the road. “I’m Sheriff Greg Cooper and these are my deputies. Thank you for coming. You got here very quickly and we deeply appreciate it.”
Tiger stopped near the human and shook his hand.
“I’m Tiger. These are my men.” He released the guy’s hand to point. “That’s Brass, Rider and Valiant. We’re glad to be of service, Sheriff Cooper. Has anything changed since you called us?”
Sheriff Cooper shook his head. “No. I don’t know how this could happen. I’ve known Tammy Shasta since she moved here when she was just eight years old and I don’t know anyone who’d want to hurt her. She’s a nice little gal. Our pastor is the one who witnessed those men snatch her and he followed them out this way. The truck they used to abduct her broke down about a mile from this road. They tore out the oil pan and the engine seized up. Those men are strangers to this area because Pastor Thomas knows everyone who lives out this way and they aren’t anyone he recognized.”
Tiger nodded. “We’ll take it from here. You’re more than welcome to come with us if you want. We can track anything between us two cats and the two canines.”
“I insist on it,” the sheriff stated as he gave them all a nervous glance, seeming unsure about not being there to watch whatever they did. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my life and when we find Tammy, I have a bad feeling that if she’s still alive, she might want to see a familiar face. I can’t think of why four men would grab a pretty woman unless it’s for the worst. I have an ambulance on standby if they didn’t just rape and kill her flat out.” He paused, frowning. “Two cats and two canines?”
Valiant snarled and startled all the humans around him as they backed away fearfully, their gazes locked on him. If any of the humans had put their hands on Tammy sexually he’d tear their fingers off. He’d rip their arms from the sockets while they screamed and then proceed to beat them with the their own limbs. He’d—
Tiger spoke, ending his violent plotting. He flashed a warning look Valiant’s way, silently conveying that he needed to keep a leash on his rage. “Valiant and I are feline species while Brass and Rider are canines.”
“Oh.” The sheriff seemed at a loss for words.
Valiant’s irritation couldn’t be contained. Tiger wanted to play polite with the humans but he just wanted to hear what the sheriff knew to help him track Tammy.
He hated wasting time. He lifted his lip to flash fangs at Tiger, conveying a silent message of his own. He wasn’t patient and the bullshit needed to stop. A gasp from the humans made him glare at Sheriff Cooper, who stumbled backward, his gaze horrified, and stared at his mouth.
“A re those…”
“A re those…”
“Teeth,” Tiger acknowledged. “Don’t worry about Valiant. He’s just very angry that the woman was taken and wants to go after her right now.”
The sheriff finally glanced at Tiger. “I sent somebody to her car at the bar where she was grabbed to see if he could find something of hers that would have her scent. I know when we use hounds they need something from the victim. My deputy should return with it at any time.
He radioed in that he has her jacket.”
Tiger pointed to Valiant. “That won’t be necessary.
We’ve both met her. She did a catering job at Reservation and they’ve become friends. That’s why he’s here. He spent more time around her than I did. He’s very familiar with her scent. He’ll have an easier time tracking her.”
The sheriff shot a horrified glance Valiant’s way.
“Well, I guess that’s good. That means you fellas know what a nice gal she is and that we’ve got to find her before the kidnappers have time to really hurt her.”
“I’m going after her,” Valiant snarled, done listening to them waste time when Tammy needed him. “You stand here bullshitting. I’m getting her back.” He took off toward the woods at a run.
“Damn, he can move fast.” The sheriff sounded amazed. “I won’t be able to keep up. Just go. Find Tammy. They have an hour lead.”
Tiger snarled. “Wait up, Valiant. I’m right behind you.”
Valiant eyes adjusted to the darkness and followed the clear and deep impressions the truck tires had left in the long grass. He knew Rider and Brass followed him closely. They probably were under orders to make sure he didn’t slaughter the human males when he found them. Two Species males wouldn’t be enough to prevent that from happening if they’d done anything bad to Tammy. Tiger should have brought a dozen males with them if that was his intention.
Valiant located the truck and smelled Tammy right away inside the back of it. He leapt into the truck bed and discovered blood. He crouched down, sniffed, and only calmed slightly when he realized it wasn’t hers. He closed his eyes as he took a few breaths to memorize the stench of the males. Pure rage coursed through him because he could smell Tammy’s fearful scent along with those who had taken her. He stood and jumped out of the truck.
Tiger and the two security officers watched Valiant, waiting for his assessment.
“Two of them had her in the back of the truck.
There’s blood but not hers.”
Tiger nodded. Valiant walked to the open driver’s door. He stopped and sniffed, moving around it to the busted side mirror. He growled as his entire body tensed.
“What is it?” Tiger moved forward but the answer was there as he inhaled. “Blood.”
“Hers.” Valiant threw back his head and roared. “Her blood is on that broken mirror so they hurt her. I’ll kill them for this.”
Brass cleared his throat. “She fell here and ran away but they followed.” He stood about ten feet from the truck near the tree line of the woods.
Valiant lunged forward. The four of them sniffed the area and studied the tracks on the ground. The small impressions were harder to detect at night. “It’s not old.”
“That’s what the sheriff stated.” Tiger confirmed.
“They took her about an hour ago. Do you think she got away from them?” He stared at the smallest tracks—a female running. He glanced at Valiant. “How physically fit is she? Do you think she could outrun her attackers?”
“No,” Valiant snarled. “She’s small and no match for four males.”
“We better find them fast,” Brass growled.
The four men ran. They stopped where Tammy had been tackled and the signs of where clear to each of them that she’d impacted the ground. Valiant roared again when he discovered more of Tammy’s blood.
“Easy,” Tiger snarled low. “We’re all allowing our animal sides to rule but we’re dealing with humans.
Control your instincts while we hunt. They aren’t deer.
Keep that in mind.”
Rider growled where he crouched, examining the disturbed leaves. “One man is carrying her. His track impressions show the added weight.”
“He’s dead when I reach him,” Valiant promised.
“Let’s go.”
* * * * *
Tammy woke and softly cursed. Her shoulder, arm, back, and head hurt. She stopped listing what ached and tried to concentrate instead on what didn’t. Her feet and her ass were fine but that was about it. She forced her eyes open to stare at a blazing campfire. She rested on her side facing it, a few feet away from the flames. She turned her head, only to instantly regret it.
Four men sat on a fallen log glaring at her. One of them, Terry, had his cowboy boots off. Dried blood stained his chin and shirt. She’d head-butted that one.
A nother one had strips of his torn shirt stuffed up his nose that seemed to be actively bleeding, while another one had his hand clamped over his arm where bloody claw marks from her fingernails assured her he’d been one of the jerks in the back of the truck with her. The fourth man appeared unhurt.
She looked away from them and glanced at the trees surrounding them. She had been placed on grass but as she tried to lift up, she couldn’t move her arms. She tugged and realized they were bound behind her. She glared at the men.
“My leather belt is wrapped around your wrists, you little hellion. You just stay down.” It was the unhurt man who spoke in an angry tone. “I still say we should just kill her. Look at all the shit we’re in because of her. She broke Ned’s nose when she kicked him in the face on her way out of the truck.”
Surprise registered to Tammy. She didn’t remember doing that but hid a smile, happy it had happened. She vaguely remembered using her feet to help kick off to shove her upper body from the bed of the truck. She’d thought she’d used the floor to do it. The fact that it had actually been his face made it better.
“I think two of my teeth are loose. She slammed her head into my mouth,” Terry said and grunted while he glared at her. “I say I take my belt and blister her ass with it.”
“Stop all of that whining,” the guy with the scratched arm ordered. “We need her help. You heard what our informant on the inside of that animal land told us. One of those animals grabbed and carried her off. We need to convince her to go public and tell everyone what he did to her to gain support for our cause.”
“Like that bitch is going to do that.” Ned paused.
“Right. She broke my nose. She’s as much of an animal as they are. Did she come with us peacefully the way a real lady would? Hell no. She fought as though she were an animal. Now here we are stuck in the woods without a truck. That car followed us and I’m pretty sure that guy went for help. He probably got the license plate. We probably have half of the state searching for us because she wouldn’t just be reasonable.”
“We should have waited, Paul.” Terry frowned at the guy with the scratched arm. “He ordered us to wait to take her when he arrived. You’re the dick who thought she’d be easy enough to grab. You said it would be as simple as eating pie. The boss is going to be here in a few days and he’s going to tear you a new asshole and us along with you since we were dumb enough to listen to your screwed-up plan. You know the boss wants her bad, he told you he has big plans for her. He said he could talk her into doing whatever we needed her to do but now it’s all turned to shit.”
Chapter Five
Paul cursed. “I can fix this. We can convince her to tell the press what we want but it just might take a bit more time.”
“We don’t have that,” Terry ground out. “Our boss is going to have all of our asses for this mess. We screwed it up bad.”
Paul glared at Tammy. “A ll you had to do was come peacefully. We’re human, damn it. We’re your kind. What did that animal do to you when he carried you off? Did he rape you? Did he take a bite out of you? Did he try to turn you into one of them? Tell us the truth right now!”
Tammy glared at him. “He was a gentleman and brought me tea. A fter that, he asked me how my day was,” she lied. “He didn’t toss me into the back of a truck and crush me into near suffocation, nor did he drag me out into the woods and use a belt to tie my hands behind my back. He was actually intelligent and polite.”
She hoped she wouldn’t go to hell over stretching the truth because while Valiant was intelligent, the polite part would be considered a little shady.
“They are animals.” Terry glared at her. “You’re sticking up for them?”
“You’re calling them that? That’s priceless coming from four thugs who kidnapped me.” She snorted loudly and rolled her eyes.
“Bitch!” Ned yelled as he lurched to his feet. “You broke my nose. I’ll show you what kind of animal I can be.”
Paul gripped his arm. “Sit down.”
“She’s asking for it,” Ned whined but he sat.
Terry sighed. “She’s never going to do what we want.
We should just get rid of her and tell our boss she accidently died when we grabbed her.”
“You don’t go against the doctor’s orders ever. I told him I’d make this happen and that, in the end, he’d get her alive when we were done with her.” Paul shot a frightened look at his men, seeming to be in charge of them. “Trust me. That’s one man you never want to disappoint. He is allowing us to get a taped statement from her but after that, he plans to use her for one of his experiments. Our informant believes something sexual happened between her and the animal who took her. He overheard a conversation between Justice North and one of the security animals. They said she could be hurt and they wanted a doctor to check her out but she refused to press charges against the animal for rape. They didn’t say attempted rape. He was clear about that.”
Tammy knew the color drained from her face.
Someone had leaked information to a hate group, someone close to Justice North. She’d never met him but she’d seen him in interviews on television since he was the most well-known New Species. His people had voted him into leadership as though he were some kind of president. He made most of the decisions for them.
Someone obviously was spying on him and telling these men what was being said. Worse, they knew about her and Valiant. Not good.
Four pairs of eyes studied her. Tammy glared back.
She guessed the only way out of the mess would be to convince them they had the wrong information. She could only hope they wouldn’t kill her.
“I don’t know who you’ve been talking to but it’s bullshit. That never happened,” she bluffed. “I’d find someone more reliable if you’re paying that person to feed you information. Maybe you should hire them to write fiction since they seem to be good at making up stuff. Is your informant some reporter for one of those gossip rags? Did an alien attack me too?”
“She fucked one of those animals?” Terry sounded stunned as he stared at her as if she were something he’d never seen before, something disgusting. “You screwed an animal?”
She closed her eyes, counted to five, and opened them. “Listen, cowboy. Did you just hear me? Whoever told you this crap is full of it.”
“That’s what we were told,” Paul confirmed. “He hauled her up off the ground and carried her away. Our informant heard the conversation between the head animal and his security dog.”
“I think his head of security is a cat.” Ned shrugged.
“Does it matter? Dog? Cat? What’s the difference?”
Terry snorted. “They are animals that walk around on two legs thinking they are as good as us but they aren’t.
They are nothing more than test rats that grew brains.
I’m so sick of them breathing and seeing idiots on the news praising those abominations for what they are doing by setting up their own living environment. It’s like patting a bird on the back for making a nest in their cage with newspaper bits. They are tainting our country and now they are putting their dirty paws our women. We’ve got to stop them.”
Ned stared at Tammy. “Maybe he brainwashed her.
We know it’s possible.” He leaned over, staring at her. “Is that why you’re protecting your animal lover? Did he torture you into submission? Maybe he bit her and infected her with some disease that makes her one of them. Is that it? A re you infected? Have you started to grow a tail or fur?”
Tammy couldn’t believe she’d been kidnapped by such morons. It made her almost feel ashamed that they’d succeeded. “Why don’t you come over here and take a look?” She wanted to kick the son of a bitch since legs that weren’t tied down.
He stood and walked toward her. Tammy tensed.
When he was close enough she twisted and kicked him as hard as she could in his shin. He screamed, jumped back and fell on his ass.
“You bitch!” he yelled.
“You moron!” Tammy shouted back.
“Enough,” Paul demanded. “Stay away from her.
She’s obviously sick in her head if she let one of them touch her. We’ll have the doctor take care of her. He’s a vicious son of a bitch.”
“It’s a good thing those animals are shooting blanks or she could have a litter of puppies if she got pregnant by that thing.” It was the unhurt man who spoke while he studied her. “Do you think, if it was possible, that she’d have as many as a dog bitch would have? My pit bull had six puppies last time.”
“Shut up, Mark.” Paul shot him a glare. “Everyone knows they are sterile so don’t even go there. It makes me sick. That’s a blessing they can’t have kids. They probably would breed like animals, with litters. Let’s just get some sleep, rest up, and in the morning we’ll hike out of here and take her to the house. Our reinforcements will hit town the day after tomorrow with the doctor. We just need to keep her alive until he arrives. That should give us plenty of time to make her tape a statement that we can send out to the press to show everyone that those things are dangerous.”
