New Species 03 Valiant (9 page)

chickenfeed. I make really good money and I have all the

toys I want. Let me help you out. Do you remember

when my dad had his stroke last year and they sent out

that shitty home nurse from the hospital for him? You

came and took care of him. You found the wonderful

woman who takes care of him now. You changed his

diapers for weeks and wouldn’t take a penny. Now let me

help you.”

“Tell you what,” Tammy sighed, turning to face him,

“you can come change my diapers if or when I ever have

a stroke. Until then, don’t shove money at me. It’s

different.”

Tim laughed. “Finally! You’re giving me a green light

to take your pants off.”

Tammy laughed and shook her head. “You’re

disgusting.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Hey, that’s the closest

thing to an invite to see you naked that I’ve ever gotten.”

“That’s not true.” She disposed of her beer bottle

inside a trash can and gripped her purse. A glance at her

watch showed it was just after eleven. “Don’t forget the

time I wanted to go skinny dipping when we were ten.

You chickened out. You thought a snapping turtle would

latch onto you in a bad place if you took off your

underwear and waded into the pond. You could have

seen me naked.”

“That doesn’t count. I thought all girls were yucky at

that age and besides, you hadn’t grown up enough yet to

see anything good.”

She laughed and waved. “Neither had you. I have to

go. We have to cater a luncheon tomorrow at the church

and I have to be at work at seven to help prepare. A shley

Bless met some guy and is getting married. Tomorrow is

their engagement luncheon.”

Tim shuddered. “Someone is marrying her? Did she

have a personality transplant? She’s the most annoying

person I’ve ever met. Poor sucker.” He took a deep drink

of his beer.

Tammy snorted. “No. She’s still a bitch but she’s

convinced this idiot it’s somehow cute to listen to her rant

about everything. That or she uses that big mouth of

hers to give him amazing head.”

She walked toward the door, waved, and blew him a

kiss. She heard Tim choke on his beer over her parting

comment and laughed as she left the bar.

Summers in northern California could be weird. It

had been hot during the day but the sun had gone down,

bringing a chilly breeze that stirred around Tammy as

she headed for her car. She glanced around, enjoying the

quiet night. Growing up in a small town had always been

great. She knew almost everyone and she’d had a lot of

freedom since her grandmother had been half senile.

Tammy had moved in with her just after her eighth

birthday but she still remembered living in a big city

before that. She loved the rural area more.

“Hey,” a man called out. “A re you Tammy Shasta?”

She’d already withdrawn her keys for her car. She

turned to stare at the tall stranger who wore jeans with a

green, long-sleeve, cotton, button-down shirt. He had

finished his outfit with a pair of faded brown cowboy

boots. He was definitely not someone who lived in her

small town. He had short brown hair and appeared to be

in his midthirties. She instantly became more alert. She

had been taught to never trust strangers, especially men.

“Who wants to know?”

The man paused and hooked his thumbs through the

loops of his jeans. “I’m Terry Briggs. I heard there was

an incident with you at that New Species place they just

opened up near here.”

Her heart began to race. What has he heard? Who is

this guy? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she

lied. “You have a nice night.” She unlocked her car door

but kept her gaze on him. Scary scenarios began to play

inside her head and she wanted to groan. A shrink would

have a field day with her love of overthinking everything.

“Don’t be that way,” he demanded as he took a step

closer. “We heard you had a run-in with one of those

animal experiments out there and he put his paws on

you.”

Tammy tensed and fear inched down her spine. He

had moved within a few feet of her now. He stood tall at

about six feet but that wasn’t saying much. Everyone was

usually taller than her but he was a stranger and she felt

threatened. She glared up at him and didn’t like that he

invaded her personal space. She couldn’t open her car

door unless she inched closer to him, which she wasn’t

about to do.

“Look,” she glanced down at his boots and then back

up to his face, “cowboy. I don’t know what you’re talking

about. Whatever you heard, that rumor was wrong. Now

you need to back up because I want to leave.”

A look of disgust crossed his face. It made his

features ugly and harsh. “They brainwashed you, didn’t

they? Those animal things do that to some people. It’s all

right, lady. They’ve done it before and you aren’t alone.

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