Covert Craving (8 page)

“Jake, you ask me like that, and I’m liable to
give you just about anything you want.” Her nipples ached for his touch.

“Let’s get out of here so I can get to asking
then.” He paused to kiss her hand and then surged ahead again.

Damn, the sooner they got out of here, the better.
Sweat trickled down his back and into the waist of his pants in tantalizing
rivulets. She needed to haul him into a shower and find all the different ways
water flowed over him. “Hell yeah.”

For several minutes, they surged through the water
in silence.

“So how did this guy—Dyson—know you weren’t a
Norm?” Greiff’s words bounced off the arched brick ceiling around them in a
distorted echo.

“Not too long after we moved in, I was doing
laundry. And I decided to throw in the clothes I had on because they were nasty
and I wanted to get a full load for my money.” Greiff shook his head and a low
giggle burst free. “Hey, it’s not like I plan this stuff, okay? Middle of the
night, I thought I’d be safe to wait down there and if I heard anyone coming,
I’d just fade out until they left.”

“So you tried to go invisible and he could still
see you?”

“Nah. You’re the only person who’s ever been able
to do that. But he’s different too, right? So when he came in to do laundry,
thought he was alone, and then I came out of the room later…a room he’d thought
he’d been alone in, well, he put stuff together and asked me to demonstrate.”

“And you just agreed? I thought you were supposed
to hide what you are from people.”

Here he went, interrogating her again. It was an
irritating habit, but she understood his need to learn everything he could.
Plus, he hadn’t ditched her alone in the dark. In fact, he’d protected her. “My
friend Lucky recommended the building to me. I’ve known Lucky most of my life.
He was at the camp too. But anyway, when I saw Dyson I knew he wasn’t a Norm. If
you meet him you’ll understand why. But anyway, I signed lease papers with a
management company and it all seemed on the up and up. I didn’t know Dyson
owned the building for a like a year after I met him. He’s even more suspicious
than you are.”

He snorted and shook his head.

“Well, he is. But anyway, he must have decided I
passed muster and he told me about the entrance to the sewers.”

The steady drip of water and slosh of their
footsteps as they travelled filled the silence for a few minutes. Greiff
paused, looked over his shoulder at her, and frowned. He put his finger to his
lips and listened for a minute before starting forward again.

“What’s the matter?”

“I thought I heard something. Don’t worry about
it.” He squeezed her hand. “How many people like you and Dyson do you think are
out there?”

She tried to yank her hand back, but he wouldn’t
let go. “Don’t you mean people like us?”

No matter how much attraction burned between them,
he had to get with the program and admit he wasn’t a Norm either. She halted
her progress and water circled her ankles.

“Yeah. Sorry. You’re right, sweetheart.” He cupped
her cheek. “People like us.”

“I don’t know. Hundreds? Who knows how many camps
there were. Or are. And with the government entwined in this stuff too, there’s
no telling how far this stuff reaches. Shit, they killed your partner.”

He nodded and frowned. “Let’s go. We’ll take the
sewers as far as possible. And then we’re getting the hell out of this city.
God, it stinks down here.”

They resumed their walk through the intermittent weak
pools of light in silence until she remembered something important.

“But Greiff, Dyson is old. Really old. He isn’t
part of the Professor’s stuff. He’s something else.” She bit her nails. “He’s
never actually told me how old he is, but sometimes he says things, weird
expressions, or refers to people who’ve been dead for hundreds of years. Like,
he told me once that Ben Franklin was brilliant, but also a ‘pompous ass with
the social skills of a common unlicked cub.’ I have no idea what that means,
but it’s weird.”

“I think that means that Franklin was rather rude
when he was a kid. I’ve read his autobiography, and—”

“You read Ben Franklin’s autobiography?”

“Yeah. Interesting stuff. But anyway, I think
we’re proof that there’s more out there than plain humans, right?” The pressure
of his fingers reassured her.

Mental pictures of Greiff bent over a book about
Ben Franklin flitted through her head and she suppressed a laugh. Her Jake was
definitely more than a pretty face.

She paused and he hauled on her arm to get her started
forward again. Uh oh. There she went again, thinking of him as hers.

Too hell with it. She wanted him and was going to
keep him. If he wanted her back. She cleared her throat.

“Yeah. And how many of them are like I was? Being
tested or threatened with ending up in an institution? I was scared for years
I’d be trapped and forced into a facility where they did all kinds of
experiments on me and kept me locked up. I did what they wanted because I was
scared.” Chills raced over her back.

“Sweetheart, they got you young and fooled your
family, right? Told your parents you were going in for testing for gifted
children or something, right?”

Muck wound around her legs. “Yeah. Exactly. Told
me that my parents would reject me if they ever found out. God, they
brainwashed me. Those sons of bitches.”

He paused near a juncture in the sewer. Tunnels
opened to the right and the left. “I think you were part of an experiment,
honey. They somehow got you set up with Daisy Mae as your roommate, they had
you voluntarily going in for tests…Rebane said they’d come to get us because of
the video they intercepted. I’m starting to think us meeting was a set up as
well.”

Cold realization flowed in a steady stream. “Oh
God. Greiff. What do we do?”

“Take the left tunnel. It smells worse than the
right one. Probably gets used less.” He surged forward and the move jolted her
shoulder.

Fear, anxiety, and sadness overtook her. At some
point, Greiff was going to get really pissed off at her for dragging him into
this.

“You’re on the right track.” A tall slender man
slid from the shadows and into their path. His black eyes reflected the small
amount of light around them.

Greiff shoved her back and aimed his firearm.

Irritation welled up in her and she put both hands
on her hips. She wanted to trip him into the water, but he had a gun drawn.
“How many times are you going to push me today?”

He ignored her. “Identify yourself. Now.”

The interloper held both hands up, palms out.
“Name’s Dyson. And you’re down here because of my bolt-hole.”

She peeked around her lover’s back and wiggled her
fingers. In the time she’d known Dyson, she’d never seen him so at ease and
relaxed. Everything about his posture and demeanor suggested a being in their
natural habitat. “Hey, Dyson. Sorry I called you paranoid that one time. I
should have listened better.”

Dyson waited until Greiff lowered his weapon. “I
forgive you. How many are there?”

“Probably a small squad. Less than a dozen would
be my guess.” The tension in the air lowered.

“I always knew letting you and your roommate into
my building would bring trouble,” Dyson chuckled, his white teeth flashing in
the dark. Each one had a small point to it, even his incisors. “But, I like
you. And it let me gather some intel on some…projects I’m interested in.”

“I can’t believe you were using me too. Everyone
around me has some kind hidden agenda.” A hot tear escaped and zig zagged over
her cheek. Maybe it was stupid to be so upset; Dyson was her landlord, not a
close friend. They’d had pizza in the laundry room now and then, and he’d shown
her the secret escape route from his apartment, but they didn’t borrow sugar or
hang out watching movies. But feelings didn’t always make sense, and it hurt to
know Dyson hadn’t been her friend just because he wanted to.

“I’m sorry, Chloe. Truly. But there is more at
stake here than you realize.” Even in the darkness, she made out the contrite
expression on his coffee and cream toned face. Dyson gestured to Greiff. “You
trust him, or he wouldn’t be down here, correct?”

She nodded. A feeling not unlike grief moved
through her. This was it; she was really leaving her old life behind.

“Wait here. I have some cleaning to do.” The dark
skinned man strolled past them, his movements becoming more fluid and looser as
he went. “You’re going to hear some disturbing things, but it can’t be helped.
My bolt-hole has been discovered, and that’s not an acceptable situation.”

She and Greiff exchanged a look and he moved her a
few feet deeper into the tunnel.

“Won’t be but a few minutes. Just a shake of the
gator’s tail,” he called back to them as he disappeared from view.

Splashes and thuds echoed around them. Men’s
screams rang out and the crackle of gun fire peppered the air. Inhuman roars
accompanied wet, fleshy spatters. She crowded in close to Greiff.

“Uh, Jake, I don’t actually know what Dyson is.
And I’m only standing here because I’m too scared to move.”

He hugged her with one arm and pressed the knife
into her hand. “If he wanted to eat us, he would have already. Right?”

“I guess so.”

Minutes ticked by and the noises lessened until a
final, terrible shriek caused every hair on her body to stand on end. Then
there was silence until the splash of footsteps drew nearer and Dyson’s open,
friendly face materialized from the gloom. He tossed a dismembered leg into the
wall. “Well, that was fun. Haven’t gotten to fight a group of trained humans in
years. Major Rebane’s men are better trained each time I engage them. Quite invigorating.”

An intense shiver racked her body and Greiff
hugged her again and rubbed her arm.

Dyson, the sewer monster, waved his arm at them in
the universal gesture for “come on.” “Follow me. I can get you out of the
city.” The water splashed as Dyson turned and moved away. “And then I’ve an
acquaintance who can get you out of the country.”

“Why should we trust you? How do you know about
Rebane?” Greiff didn’t raise his weapon, but didn’t move either.

“You probably shouldn’t. But I just killed six men
in less than five minutes. I’ve offered you no violence, instead I’m offering
you my help. If you want to survive this, you have no choice but to trust me.
The Major is a topic for another time and place.”

The low light flickered and dimmed.

“Hurry and decide your fate, Jacob Greiff. I have
a backup system in place to keep the lights on down here, but it won’t be long
before the lights go out and you’re left in the dark with no means of finding
your way out. Let me lead you into the light and perhaps answer some questions
for you.”

The light bulbs flared super bright and then faded
until they barely illuminated the space.

“Jake?” Common sense told her to follow Dyson and
get the heck outta the underground, but she wouldn’t leave without Greiff.

“Yeah, babe. I know.”

Greiff led the way with one hand on her elbow, and
she lurched beside him, the twists and turns of the day’s events sending her
brain into an unending spiral, tired muscles screaming for relief.

“We’ll need money. Transport. Passports, although
avoiding the border crossings altogether would be better.”

“The country?” She didn’t realize she’d spoken
aloud until Greiff answered her.

“Honey, people from the government are trying to
kill us.” He sped up and forced her to increase her speed as well.

Right. There was that. Chasing, running, being
shot at.

Dyson going gator. Or something. She shuddered.

Time to move out.

Time to move on.

The lights died for good halfway through their
flight through the sewers. Collapsed and caved in pipes littered the way in a
treacherous obstacle course. Slime and muck coated the ground in pools of
stagnant water. In other places the depth reached to their knees.

Dyson held Chloe’s hand while he brought up the
rear when it went full dark. By the time they exited into the basement of a
warehouse, Greiff had lost all sense of direction. Even if they’d had
flashlights to illuminate the way, finding their way through the warren of the
city’s sewers would have been impossible.

Questions doubled up on themselves but he held
them in. Letting Dyson and whoever awaited them offer information would give
him an opportunity to gather intel and also keep the others from knowing how
ignorant he was about the situation.

They climbed the stairs to the third floor with
Chloe in the middle. Black gunk covered her lower legs and her shoulders
sagged. Her tight little ass flexed in front of him as she trooped ahead and a
surge of pride and lust overtook him.

He thought about sinking his teeth into the
muscle, then moving his mouth over to the other side and biting down there too.
Then he’d smooth his palms over her back as he licked his way up her spine—

“Earth to Greiff. Come in Greiff.” Laughter lit
her eyes despite how drawn and tired she looked. The amber flecks in her irises
glowed. “Where’d you go? You look lost.”

He shrugged and smirked at her. The coral pink of
her lips entranced him. A sweaty lock of hair was plastered to her forehead and
dark smudges marred her cheeks and jaw. The sewer smell clung to all of them.
But she was still the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.

“You were staring at my ass again, weren’t you?”

“Best thing I’ve seen since we came outta the
dark.” His dick twitched in his pants and he swallowed a groan.

“Come on, children. No time for fun and games
right now.”

He attempted to not stare at the other man, but it
proved difficult if not impossible. Grey-green scales climbed Dyson’s neck and
traced the area around his ears on his bald skull. Each tooth had a small,
sharp point and his fingers were fused into two over sized, black claw tipped digits,
and a thumb.

Dyson held the exit door open for them. “Head to
4D. Lucky’s expecting you. I’ll return soon. I must secure the building.”

Chloe patted him on the chest as she passed, and
he nodded to her. Greiff mounted the last few stairs and switched his gun to
his left hand. He held out his right to shake hands.

Dyson’s forehead crinkled in surprise, but he
accepted the gesture. “Lucky should be able to answer most of your questions.”

“Are you sure you don’t need back up?” Their
travel through the sewer system had proved Dyson’s trustworthiness as an ally
and friend to him.

A raspy laugh erupted from his companion. “It’s
been more years than I can count that a human has offered to go with me into
battle. You are truly something different, Detective.”

He shrugged. “Am I human? I’m not so sure anymore.
And we both know the government isn’t going to give up that easily. Or this
Professor person. How many are there?”

Reptilian eyes glittered and Dyson’s teeth
extended into long, needle sharp points. “You’re human. I, however, have never
been. I can handle this. The one advantage you and Chloe have right now is that
the Professor’s men and those of your government are busy trying to outwit each
other in this game they play.”

The answer didn’t satisfy him. He didn’t like
knowing members of a group of hostiles were still behind him, but he had to put
Chloe’s safety first. She wasn’t a soldier. Putting distance between her and
their pursuers was the best thing to do. He entered the hallway and found Chloe
waiting for him in front of a door ten feet away with her arms hugged around
her waist. “So what are you?”

“Something very old. And very hungry. Please
excuse me.”

The door swung shut on Dyson’s cold, glittering
black eyes, and Grieff shook himself. An ancient, alien intelligence had
unveiled itself in those seconds and terrified the animal part of his brain.

With long strides, he closed the gap between
himself and the tiny woman waiting for him. He passed his gun back to his
dominant hand and gathered her into a one armed hug. Wrapping his arm around
her reassured him of her health and well-being. He knew he was invading her
space with the constant need to touch her, but she didn’t seem to mind. She
wilted into him, all her muscles going loose and flaccid. He kissed the top of
her head while he knocked on the metal slab with the butt of the gun.

The spunk of sex, booze, and coffee seeped through
the cracks around the door. Multiple deadbolts snapped and snicked as the locks
released. The door swung inward to reveal a short, thin man with white-blonde
hair and blood red eyes in a pair of ratty sweat pants.

Pornographic tattoos covered most of his skin in a
lurid tableau. Metal hoops passed through both nipples.

Greiff pointed his weapon directly at the man’s
forehead. “Who are you?”

Both of the man’s hands shot up palm out and he
backed away. “Chill out, man. Name’s Lucky. Chloe knows me.”

The tinge of stale perfume permeated the apartment
along with alcohol, marijuana, and moldy food in a dense layer under the three
strongest scents. Over all of it, was the smell of sex. He took Chloe across
the threshold while keeping the almost albino man covered.

“You’re from the camp?”

Lucky nodded.

“Sit in that chair over there. Hands where I can
see them. Anyone else here with you?”

The old dining room chair he’d indicated had a
pair of discarded panties and black lace bra hanging off the back rest. Lucky
perched on the edge, and jiggled his leg.

“Jake, he’s cool.” Chloe crossed to an ancient
sofa and curled up in the corner.

“Hey, don’t get your dirty feet on my furniture.
That shit won’t come out.”

Greiff cased the hallway and shut the door. Then
he popped a few of the dead bolts. “Don’t move. And leave Chloe alone. This
place is a sty. Her feet aren’t going to hurt anything.”

He moved through the small, one bed room apartment
in a hurry, checked the closest and under the enormous bed for anyone who might
be hiding. When he returned to the living room, Lucky sat in the chair where
he’d left him and Chloe’d fallen asleep with her face on the arm rest.

“Tell me why I should trust you.”

Lucky fidgeted and crossed his legs. “Dyson sent
you here, didn’t he? Isn’t that good enough?”

“No. I don’t know you and I don’t know him.” He
moved to the wall of computer equipment and jiggled the mouse. Five screens
came to life and multiple CPU’s whirred.

“Don’t touch anything! I finally broke through the
firewalls and they don’t know I’m in yet.” Lucky nudged him aside and flopped
into the rolling desk chair. He entered a command prompt and started
downloading information.

“Chloe says you were at the camp too, so as far as
I’m concerned you might be a plant like her roommate or my partner. You
bugged?”

“Nah, I got rid of that thing years ago when I
hooked up with Dyson for good. I dropped off their map.”

He didn’t know if the man told the truth or not,
but Lucky didn’t smell like Spetrino had when his dead partner lied. And if
anyone wanted to stay off the radar, it’d be Dyson. That dude would be killed
or imprisoned just for existing. Or taken into custody and used as a super
weapon. An army of men like Dyson at the front lines of a war would devastate
countries.

Two of the screens displayed dossiers on himself
and Chloe. Another had blueprints for a building. The fourth and fifth appeared
to be government websites or user interfaces. He watched as the tiny arrow on
the screen moved on one of them and clicked a folder. Information on something
called Project Genesis filled the screen. He skimmed paragraphs dense with
techno jargon and scientific data he’d need hours of study to fully comprehend.

“What are you doing in here, Lucky? Who exactly
have you hacked?”

“Look, I was at the camp. I was like Chloe, just
went with the program until about eight years ago. I developed some skills with
computers and accidentally found my way into their database.”

“Accidentally, huh?” He continued to read the
files on the screen displaying the information on Project Genesis. “So, then
what?”

“Don’t judge. A guy like me can’t always find a
girl who can keep up sexually. Internet porn subscriptions were killing my
income. So anyway, I got curious. When we were kids the tests were more
innocuous, you know? Like, intelligence tests and stuff.” Lucky swiped at his
nose, his left foot bouncing off the floor. “And then when I was about nineteen,
I started having sex with the nurses there. They wanted to harvest my sperm and
stuff. When I found out they were doing the whole thing as an experiment I got
real good with my hand.”

Greiff blinked. Way too much of an overshare.

“Where?” The schematic caught his attention, and
he focused on it. It reminded him of a military base or compound of some sort.

“The Professor’s little playground? It’s out in
North Dakota. I don’t know what the official name is. Chloe calls it Area 46.”
Lucky changed out a jump drive. “I thought it was awesome at first. All the sex
I wanted with these hot nurses. And brother, I need a lot of sex. Like, a lot
of it. All the time. I’ve got rabbit DNA and it is like, my sex drive—”

“I don’t care.” Now that they’d stopped moving, he
craved a cigarette. Plus, he wanted to cover the stench of the apartment with
something. “Do you smoke?”

“Oh yeah. There’s a pack over on the kitchen
table.”

He headed for the other room and pushed aside
piles of mail and empty food cartons to unearth four empties and a soft pack
drenched in spilled beer. “Do you always live this way? It’s disgusting.”

“Nah, just had a party though. Man, you should
have seen it. Chicks everywhere. I had sex all night and half the next day.”

He shrugged and tamped down his aversion to the
conversation. “I don’t care. Get to the point. How do I know I can trust you, and
who is the Professor? What’s Dyson’s play in this? And why is the government
trying to kill us?”

“Oh, I doubt the government is trying to kill you.
They’d much rather take you into custody.”

A violent vibration rippled through the building.
Trash and clothing cascaded onto the floor. Chloe woke up and screamed in fear.
She curled into the fetal position and covered her head with her arms.

He rushed to her and checked her for injuries. They
needed to get out of the building. “What the hell is going on? What’s our exact
location?”

“Don’t worry about that. It was Dyson sealing off
the sewer entrance to the building.” Lucky stood from the computers and picked
something up off the floor. “Here’s those cigarettes. As for the Professor, his
name is Xalvador Del Bosque. Born in Spain in 1752. Emigrated to the U.S. at
age thirty.”

Greiff looked her over once more, determined she
was fine, and stood to retrieve the pack.

“What are you doing?” Chloe intercepted him and claimed
the smokes. “You’re not starting this crap again. I fall asleep for like ten
minutes and you’re sneaking.”

“Babe, you can’t smell this place like I can. It’s
horrible.” He stalked her around the room as she backed away. The small points
of her nipples showed through the thin material of her top and he sucked in a
lung full of her scent. “Come on honey. I’ll make it worth your while if you
let me have one.”

“No.” She tucked them behind her back and held her
free hand out in front, palm out.

He decided to change tactics. “So Lucky, you’re
saying this guy, this Professor is hundreds of years old.”

“Right. He and Dyson go way back. Dyson’s like,
one of the original residents of New Orleans. Except, it wasn’t anything back
then. Just swamp land. Not even the Native Americans went in there.”

Chloe stumbled over a pile of pizza cartons, and
he swooped in to catch her. He had the cigarettes held aloft in moments, and a
squirming, sexy woman snuggled up tight in his arm. Not bad at all.

“Hey. No fair,” she pouted and went to her tip
toes to try and retrieve the cigarettes.

“Chloe, seriously. I know you don’t like it, but
at least let me light one to try and cover the stink in here. I can’t breathe.”

She shook her head and scowled.

“I won’t smoke it.” He leaned down to whisper in
her ear. “I promise. And later, I’ll eat your pussy until you scream.”

“This is a totally inappropriate time for telling
me things like that.”

Lust hazed her eyes and the scent of her arousal
tinged the air. Masculine pride flowed though him. He loved that, how she
responded to him and got all wound up just thinking about sex with him.

“But it got your attention.” He licked her ear
lobe and she shivered.

“Wow, man. That’s quite a promise there. You
better be able to deliver on that. Chicks get pissed if you don’t deliver.”
Lucky typed with rapid fire speed.

“He’s got enhanced ears. So even if you whisper,
he can hear you.” Mirth bubbled in her eyes and she kissed his chin before
moving away. “Fine. Do what you want. I’m not your mother.”

“Lucky, focus. We’re on a tight schedule here.” He
rooted in the pile of debris Lucky produced the smokes from and found a
lighter. “I can’t protect Chloe if I don’t know who I’m up against and why.”

“Alright, well the short version is that the
government had a contract with the Professor until recently. Something went
down I haven’t been able to crack yet, and that relationship went splitsville.
So, all kinds of flags popped up in the Professor’s files. Stuff about moving
the time tables up on longer term projects. The government knows who all the
participants in the program were, but not where they all are physically.”