Justice

Chapter Six

Justice yawned and glanced at the clock. “It’s after three.”

“I’m ready to call it a night.” Tiger stretched on the couch. “That was a good action film.”

“Thanks for staying with me.”

“Not a problem. Any time.” Tiger met his gaze. “Females are trouble. Never forget that. We’re better off without them.”

“I’m not sure I agree.”

“Do you want me to stay in the guest room?”

“Do you feel like driving home?”

“Not really.” Tiger yawned. “I’m not used to these late nights.”

Justice clicked off the TV and the DVD player, rose to his feet and dropped the remotes on the coffee table. “Stay. We’ll have breakfast together and discuss the new cameras you want installed at the gates.” He withdrew his cell phone and flipped it open.

“Who are you calling at this hour?”

“Homeland. Our human task team went out on a mission and I want to see if they recovered one of our females.”

“They’d have called.” Sadness filled Tiger’s eyes. “You know how these things go.

We would have heard if they’d found one. I know they meant to hit the location at two.

It must not have been a good lead.”

That meant that Jessie had been called away for nothing. It had at least been comforting, thinking he might be without her for the retrieval of one his women.

“Right.”

“Hopefully next time they’ll find one.”

“We can hope. Good night.”

He spun on his heel, walked quickly down the hallway and closed the door softly behind him. His gaze lingered on the fresh bedding on the new bed they’d put in his room. No trace of Jessie’s scent lingered and he had no one to blame but himself for that fact. He’d sprayed the area too damn well with air freshener.

The good news was, Jessie was safe. He began to strip off his clothes, yawned and hoped wherever she was, she thought about him. If she were in his bed she’d be comforted over the failed mission. He’d make damn sure of that.

His cock twitched at the thought of how he’d distract her and he hissed out a curse.

He needed to forget about the sexy human. Jessie Dupree wasn’t someone he could afford to spend too much time with anyway. He knew the futility of their future.

He paused in front of the mirror over the dresser, stared at his slightly altered features and for once regretted being Species. He was the face of his people, the symbol the world saw and he’d never have the freedom he fought so hard to give his people.

Envy filled him as he thought about Fury, Slade and Valiant. They’d fallen for humans and kept them. The males were loved and got to sleep with their mates. They had the anonymity to do so. Justice North taking a mate would be world news and when he did, it would have to be a Species female. Not only would his people expect it but the entire population of humans would as well.

His shoulders sagged as the turned away, not able to look at his reflection anymore.

He avoided contact with human females for a reason. Plenty had hit on him before but none of them had stirred him the way the fiery redhead had. She had the courage to have such bright hair and engage in battle with males. She was fierce, beautiful and off limits.

He leaned down, removed his cell phone from his pants and placed it on the bedside table. He sat hard on the edge of the mattress, thoughts of Jessie still haunting him, and reached for the light. Forget her. You have no choice. It wasn’t meant to be and it’s best that she was called away. It would be a disaster if she became too important. It would only hurt worse since there’s no way for you to be with her without the world finding out.

He climbed under the covers and sprawled out on his back. His cock filled with blood as he remembered the last time he was in that position on the bed with Jessie’s warm, sexy mouth on his body, her hair tickling his thigh. He groaned and rolled over.

Forget her, damn it. She’ll forget about you. It was just a one-night stand and that’s all it can ever be.

Jessie didn’t hesitate to drop to her knees and crawl into the darkness. She inched toward Trey, about ten feet to her left. He had his light trained on the floor as she moved to his side.

“I didn’t want to scare her,” he whispered. “She’s locked up in the corner but I can’t find a light switch.” Trey pointed in a direction under his flashlight so Jessie knew where to look.

“Back off,” Jessie urged him. “Get a lamp in here. Something.”

He backed away and Jessie turned on her flashlight. Jessie slowly lifted the light until she spotted a large dog-sized cage and a thin mattress on the floor of it. A small woman huddled in the corner, wearing a long nightgown that was as dirty and dingy as the mattress cover she sat on. It looked as if neither had been washed for a while.

Jessie lifted the light a little more, careful not to flash it in the woman’s face.

“My name is Jessie,” she stated softly. “We’re going to get you out of here and take you somewhere safe. I’m going to come closer to you but don’t be afraid. I’d never hurt you, okay?” She shone the beam on her face and allowed the bright light to temporarily blind her to give the confined woman a good look at her. “I’m a woman too. See? We’re not here to hurt you.”

Jessie lowered the light and waited until the spots cleared then carefully tracked the beam back to where the woman huddled. She took in more of the woman as she raised the light to the woman’s legs. She was Species all right. Her hair was black and her features marked her as carrying primate DNA. It was obvious from her delicate features, the more rounded shape of her dark brown eyes and her cute, perky nose.

Jessie crawled closer. “Do you know that there are others like you? I’m going to take you home to them, to your family. They’ve been looking for you for a long time.

Can you tell me your name?”

The woman gripped her knees tighter to her chest and her features showed her terror. Jessie didn’t blame her for the fear. “I’m really not going to hurt you. I’m here to take you out of here to somewhere safe. I’m going to take you to your family. They are people just like you, ones who were hurt by others and it’s going to be safe for you there. No one is ever going to lock you inside a cage again. I’m Jessie,” she repeated.

“What’s your name?”

The woman opened her mouth and whispered soft words that were hard to catch.

“Mud.”

Jesus! Rage tore through Jessie at hearing the shitty name her captors had tagged her with but she tried to conceal it. “That isn’t really your name. Do you remember what that is? What you were called before you were brought here?”

The woman hesitated. “My name was Monkey.”

Jessie counted to ten to cool down her boiling blood. Son of a bitch. Is there no end to the mean shit people do to these people?

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we call you Beauty? Do you like that name? I think it fits you much better than those other ones. The men outside with me came to take you away from the men who held you here. I’m going to take you somewhere safe. You can trust me.”

Jessie crawled closer when the Species seemed to calm as some of the fear eased from her delicate features. She switched her attention to the cage, noted the lock and the chains that ran through the squares from the woman’s ankles to a bolt in the floor feet from the container. The bolt pierced right through the floorboards and no screws showed. It wasn’t going to be easy to free this one with those heavy-duty shackles. They usually took them in chains if they weren’t able to get them free on site and that floor bolt would be hellish to break.

“May I look at your ankles, please? I’d like to see if I can get those shackles off and looking at the lock will tell me if they are easy to pick or not.”

“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly.

Jessie reached through the cage to gently grip one of the shackles. There were key holes in each one and the metal was heavy, solid and wouldn’t break with what they carried. The locks were complicated and that didn’t bode well either.

“Look for keys,” she said into her mic. “They have her chained to a bolt that’s going to be tough to remove since it’s through the floor and picking the locks isn’t an option. I could get into the cage they have her in but those shackles are another story.”

“I don’t know where they are,” Beauty whispered.

Jessie set the flashlight down so it gave off enough light for them to see each other as she released her ankle. She reached up and pointed, turned her head to show the other woman. “I have a device inside my ear that lets the people who helped save you hear what I say. I can hear them as well. I was telling them to look for the key. If they can’t find it we’ll try to cut the chain. We will get you out of here. That’s a promise.

Okay, Beauty?”

“Yes. You really are going to take me away?”

“I swear to you I’m getting you out.”

“I found a set of keys on a dead guy.” It was Tim speaking. “We also found an extension cord and a lamp.”

“Just get me the keys and send in Trey since she’s already seen him. Have him come in slowly.” Jessie smiled at Beauty. “That man in here a few minutes ago is going to bring in keys we think are for the locks. Don’t be afraid of him. He’s my friend and he’d never hurt a woman.”

Beauty looked scared but she nodded bravely. Trey crawled into the room and eased down to sit next to Jessie. In his other hand he had four flashlights turned on to light up the room. Jessie flashed him a grateful smile as she accepted the keys. He backed up a few feet.

“Go or stay?” His voice was soft.

Jessie studied the woman who stared at Trey but she didn’t seem panicked or terrified. “Stay,” Jessie decided.

Trey didn’t move as Jessie tried the keys. She unlocked the cage first, eased open the door and hesitated before touching Beauty. The other woman pushed her feet closer to help. Jessie gave her a warm smile and the other woman smiled tightly in return.

“Bingo. We have a winner.” Jessie smiled at Beauty as she unlocked the ankle cuff.

“See? We found the keys.” Jessie unlocked the other ankle. Beauty was free.

“Clear out and give us an open path to a vehicle,” Jessie ordered softly. “We’re bringing her out.”

“You got it,” Tim sighed. “Good work, Jessie. We would have missed her if you hadn’t found that hidden room. Your ass is still mine when you secure her.”

Jessie rolled her eyes but continued to smile at Beauty as she backed up to give the woman room to leave the cage. “Okay. Can you stand?” Jessie rose to her feet slowly and held out her hands to the woman. “You can take my hands and I’ll help you.”

The woman hesitated before slowly leaning forward, crawled a few feet until she cleared the open door of the cage and reached a trembling, pale hand to Jessie. Jessie gripped her carefully while fighting back tears. This part got to her every time. The fear in their eyes to even hope, to trust and believe someone wasn’t just fucking with them always broke her heart. Jessie helped her stand.

“We’re on the move,” Jessie informed the team. “Are we cleared?”

“Cleared,” Tim answered softly. “We have a vehicle right out the front door and we dragged the dead out of sight. Jimmy tore down some curtains to drape over the blood.

She’ll probably smell it if she inherited the Species sense of smell but she won’t be terrified by the sight.”

“She’s primate,” Jessie answered, letting her team know that the freed woman was less likely to pick up the scent of death or spilled blood. The primates didn’t have such an acute sense of smell. “Contact Homeland right away and ask where they want her taken so other primates are there when we arrive. She needs to meet her family.”

Jessie kept hold of the frightened woman. Beauty only stood about five feet tall and her rail-thin body revealed she’d been half starved. Jessie could have carried her slight body out of the house if the woman couldn’t have walked on her own. She fought back more tears as they walked through the house slowly. The woman had been beaten recently and she hadn’t been bathed, in Jessie’s estimation, for a few days. Her hair was ratted, a little greasy and dirt clung to her legs and arms from the dusty, hidden room.

Trey remained a silent sentry at their back and she knew he’d remain there in case the female Species passed out from her weakened condition. Jessie led Beauty out the front door into the fresh night air and directly to the open back door of the SUV. She smiled at her charge.

“We are going to get inside this thing and then we’re going to do something really exciting. We’re going to fly in the sky in a bigger thing to get you some medical help and you’re going to meet up with your family. They are going to be so happy to see you.”

“You won’t leave me?” Beauty looked terrified as she clutched at Jessie.

“No, Beauty, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to hold your hand the entire time.”

Jessie squeezed her hand tenderly. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you and I’m going to stay with you for as long as you want me to.”

Jessie urged her to climb onto the center seat and secured her in a lap belt. Jessie smiled again, to be reassuring. “I’ll sit right next to you and Trey here is going to drive us. He’s a nice person.” She checked the belt again, leaned over to push Beauty’s hair behind her ear and gave her a sincere look. “Everything is going to be fine, Beauty. I―”

Pain exploded in Jessie’s back. She was thrown forward and her body slumped over Beauty and the seat. The Species woman screamed.

“Sniper!” Trey yelled.

Jessie fought to push herself up despite not being able to draw breath from the pain in her back. Beauty shrieked in terror again and glass exploded from the front passenger window. Jessie found the strength to shove her chest up, shoved Beauty sideways across the seat and threw herself on top of the other woman.

“I’ve got you,” Jessie panted over the screaming female and gunfire.

Pain exploded again in Jessie’s back, sent a path of fire from between her shoulder blades to the back of her head. This time the pain was too much. She tried to gasp in air but it wouldn’t come. Everything turned dark, the pain faded and Beauty’s shrieks were the last thing she heard.

Justice growled as he rolled over in bed and glanced at the clock. It was four thirty in the morning. He fumbled in the dark for his cell phone and yanked it open, pressing it to his ear.

“This better be good,” he grunted.

“Justice? I’m sorry about the hour. I truly am. We have an emergency. I needed your permission for a few things.”

“What happened, Brass? Permission for what?” He sat up and reached for the light next to the bed, instantly awake.

“We need to send our helicopter from Homeland for an immediate pick up of one of our Gift Females who was retrieved less than an hour ago. We also need permission to bring her to Reservation. They have the better medical facility and this one is coming in rough. She is quite traumatized. They had to sedate her on scene because of the emotional trauma. I thought they’d be able to handle it better at Reservation. Doctor Trisha is still there.”

Justice took a deep breath. “Fine. Send the helicopter to pick up our female. Go ahead and send her here. Call Doctor Harris instead of Doctor Trisha. He is on duty and she’s on vacation. She isn’t to be called in.” He didn’t mention that she’d just had her baby since the phone lines weren’t always secure. “You know that.”

“Right. Sorry. I’m frazzled. The task force wanted to put our female on a private plane to send her to us but I told them that took too long. That’s when they requested our helicopter from Homeland. You have the Reservation one.”

Justice frowned. “Why don’t they fly her themselves? Is their helicopter down for repairs? I know they have one. I had to fight to get the funding for the thing.”

“It’s in use. One of the task force was shot during the extraction. They had to use that helicopter to airlift their injured teammate to the nearest trauma center almost sixty miles away.”

“One of them was shot? How bad is the man? Will he live?”

“It wasn’t a man. It was the human female ambassador on the team. That’s why our female is so traumatized. When the human female was shot it left our female with all men.”

Justice’s heart dropped. Jessie was the only female who worked with the task force that he knew about. “What happened?”

“Tim Oberto believes our female was the target. The sniper tried to take out our female is what I was told and the human female was shot instead. I don’t know how serious it was but it had to have been pretty bad that they felt the need to use the helicopter to airlift her out rather than get our female to us.”

“Jessie Dupree was shot?”

Brass hesitated. “I don’t know her name.”

“Give me the number to Tim Oberto right now,” Justice snarled.

“Uh, ready?”

Justice leapt from bed and ran out of the bedroom. “Hang on.” He found a pen and grabbed the first folder nearest him on the desk. “Go.” He jotted down the number.

“Brass, do what you think is best. You don’t need to ask me first. Get our female home, whatever that entails and get her taken care of.” Justice hung up and dialed Tim Oberto’s number. It rang four times.

“Tim Oberto,” a male sighed.

“This is Justice. I just heard the news. Was Jessie Dupree injured?”

“Yes.”

Justice wanted to roar from pure rage. “Is she alive?”

“They are working on her in one of the trauma rooms.” Tim took a deep breath. “I don’t know her condition.”

“She was shot?” Justice trembled.

“Yeah. She took one to the back of the head. It looked bad.” Tim’s voice broke. “A sniper tried to take out the Gift Female but Jessie was in the way. She threw herself over your female and took three hits covering her. Her vest took two of the rounds but the third hit her.”

“Where were your men?” Justice roared. “She’s an ambassador. She is supposed to go in when it is safe.”

“Don’t yell at me,” Tim yelled. “We had secured the area before we allowed Jessie to bring your woman out. It was a sniper. We were pinned down until he could be located. I love that girl like she’s my daughter. I’m the one who lifted her off your woman and held her in my arms until our helicopter could reach us. I’ve got her blood all over my clothes and I’m the one who is going to have to notify her father when they tell me she’s gone.”

Justice collapsed onto the desk hard, sat there stunned and closed his eyes. He couldn’t breathe at first, too stricken at the news that the vibrant woman who’d shared his bed had been shot. It took a lot for him to draw in a painful breath.

“You think she’s going to die?”

“She was shot in the back of the head. What do you think? She wouldn’t wake up and it was bad.”

Pain tore through Justice’s chest. Jessie was gone to him forever. Her face flashed through his mind, the memory of her lying naked under him with her arms wrapped around his neck, smiling up at him with her pretty blue eyes. Her red hair had been spread out on his bed. More pain tore through his chest.

“Where are you? I’m on my way.”

Tim hesitated. “Of course. Policy,” he ground out. “It will make a nice photo opportunity, right? You can stand outside the hospital and say some shit in front of the reporters about how brave she was to give her life in the line of duty to save your people. You didn’t know her.”

Anger tore though Justice. “I know Jessie. Don’t you ever accuse me of something that deceptive again. I don’t give a damn about getting my picture taken or about what humans think right at this moment. I want to know where she is because I’m coming there to see her.”

Tim sighed. “I’m sorry, Justice. I didn’t mean that. I know what a good man you are but I’m just totally mind fucked right now. This is tearing me up. Do you understand that? She’s like my daughter. I was threatening to turn her over my knee and whip her ass for what she did tonight and ten minutes later I’m holding her in my arms watching her bleed. I’ve never felt so damn useless in my life and now I’m just so pissed it could happen that I’m tearing into anyone I can.”

Anguish. That was the feeling Tim expressed, Justice identified with him and it, since that emotion poured through his own body. “We’re fine, Tim. Where is she?”

“We’re in Portland, Oregon. It was the nearest trauma center we could fly her to.

The takedown happened in Washington State in a remote area.” He named the hospital.

“I’m coming. You’ve got my cell number, correct? If not you should have it now since I just called you. I want you to contact me the second you know anything about her condition.”

“I will, Justice. Again, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that shit.”

“Don’t give it a second thought.” He hung up and dialed the control center of Reservation. He arranged for the helicopter to be fueled, the pilots to be woken and a security detail to meet him in five minutes. He remembered Tiger in the guestroom, woke him too and rushed to his room to dress.

He froze, unmoving, when he sat on the bed to jerk on shoes. Jessie’s image fixed in his mind caused him to bite back another roar of pain. He’d never get the chance to kiss her again or see her smile. At best he might be able to reach her before she died and get to hold her little pale hand.

Life wasn’t fair, he knew that, he’d had a lifetime of shit handed to him but the loss of her would leave emotional scars too. They’d had so few moments together but they were ones he’d never forget. It hurt.