Chapter 17 #2
“Leave her alone,” Farah hissed.
His head half turned as he mocked, “Or what? What will you do, old woman?”
Farah stiffened, and her eyes took on a menacing—inhuman—glow.
A chuckle escaped the general. “Well. Well. Must be my lucky day. A therianthrope. I’ve been searching for your kind for months in this godforsaken country.”
Too late, Farah realized her mistake. She took a step back, only to stiffen. A gun suddenly shoved into your spine would do that.
Men surrounded them, locals by appearance and, given their rough exterior, most likely a gang hired to act as the general’s muscle.
Davidson snapped, “Tie their hands and get them in the truck. We’re taking them with us.
I’m sure it won’t take too much for them to reveal where the lieutenant is hiding.
” He released Nadirah so abruptly she stumbled on the uneven payment, falling to the ground hard enough she grunted and lost her grip on the bag with her book—which spilled onto the pavement.
She quickly tried to shove it out of sight, but the general scooped it up before she could.
As he eyed the cover of a woman cradling her rounded belly, his eyes widened. “I’ll be damned. You’re pregnant. Is it his?”
“No.” A quick reply that he didn’t believe for a second.
The general’s lips curved. “Won’t be too hard to find out. Dr. Levy will be more than happy to test the DNA of the fetus.”
“How did you find Nadirah?” Farah questioned.
“Not easily,” he had the nerve to grumble.
“I thought I wasted my time keeping the bounty on you and the lieutenant active, but it paid off. While there’s a lack of CCTV in the country, that didn’t stop the hackers looking for an easy payday from constantly scanning.
Imagine my surprise when they notified me you’d surfaced at a shopping mall, and in even better luck, you happened to be in the same city as me,” said the general as one of his bully boys roughly tied her hands behind her back.
“Why are you here?” Farah had also been tethered and visibly steamed at the treatment.
“Because I got tired of people failing me. One simple job. Bring me the lieutenant or a therianthrope. And what did I get? Nothing but incompetence. Sometimes, if you want a task done right, you have to do it yourself.”
As they shoved Nadirah in the direction of a panel van with no rear windows, she grumbled, “You won’t get away with this. You’re a foreigner in my country. You can’t simply kidnap one of its citizens.”
Davidson snorted. “I can do whatever I like so long as I throw money at anyone who objects. And you’re one to speak of being a foreigner. You look more North American than Malaysian.”
“You’re wasting your time taking us. We won’t lead you to Phoenix,” Nadirah stated with her chin held high. She’d never betray him or the hidden village of harimau.
“You don’t have to. You asked why I chose to come to Pahang?
Because all the evidence pointed to this city as being the most likely location for the hiding therianthropes,” the general declared.
“See, after the failure at the ruin, where my entire team got decimated by tigers, it hit me that there was one place in your country that felines could freely roam and also be protected. The Royal Tiger Reserve. I was actually on my way with a team to conduct a sweep of the jungle when I got a hit on your location.”
Nadirah’s blood ran cold. “You’re wrong. The reserve is simply a protected space for wildlife.”
“Are we back to lying? We both know it would make an excellent hiding spot for therianthropes, and then there’s the fact that the moment I mentioned it, the old lady turned as pale as the shitty excuse for a pancake they tried to feed me this morning.”
“You’re wrong.” Farah tried to bluster her way through the gaffe, but no one listened, just like no one cared that the hired thugs kidnapped them in public under the darkening skies and shoved them into an unmarked van.
Worse than their capture? The fact no one in the village knew the enemy was coming. Nadirah hyperventilated as she thought of all the innocents, some of them literal babies. Would this sadistic man put them in cells like he’d done to Phoenix and his friends? Kill them for his experiments?
The ride began in silence, with Farah’s head dipped and Nadirah stewing in her helplessness. If only they could warn the harimau in the village. Somehow stop the general. But how? Even if Nadirah’s hands weren’t tied, she couldn’t hope to overcome this many armed men.
The general sat in the back, wearing a smug expression. “How many of them are hiding in the jungle?”
Farah didn’t reply.
“Ten? Twenty? Any children? I’ve yet to capture any but am curious at what age they begin shifting. Patient Zero hasn’t been very forthcoming.”
“Who’s Patient Zero?” Nadirah might be impotent, but she could ask questions.
“The one who provided the basis for the protocol. However, given how close we came to losing him, Dr. Levy strongly recommended we find some other natural-born therianthropes, just in case. Besides, the more genetic material we have access to for comparison, the better we can understand.”
The nonchalant way he spoke had her exclaiming, “What you’re doing is evil.”
The vehement statement brought forth a rusty chuckle. “I am a man with vision. Imagine a world with soldiers who can heal any injury. Who can be dropped into an enemy zone and, even without weapons, be ready to fight.”
“War is wrong.” Nadirah had never understood how a country’s leader could send their people to die, usually over petty politics.
“War is sometimes necessary to grow and maintain power.”
“So this is about greed,” Nadirah spat.
“The money aspect is a nice benefit,” gloated the general.
Farah suddenly growled as she lunged from her seat in the van and threw herself at the general across from her.
To Nadirah’s shock, the teeth in the old woman’s mouth changed from flat ridged to sharp canines.
She snapped at the general, who held her off barking, “Get her off me.” Before Farah could do any damage, one of the thugs seated with them clubbed her in the head with the butt of his pistol, dropping her to the floor.
The general shook his head. “That was foolish. Although I am intrigued by the way she managed to only partially change. We suspected it might be possible. She’d better behave because, once I get my hands on some younger specimens, I won’t have need for one past her prime.”
His attitude grated, and Nadirah snapped, “You’re the one being cocky. Do you really think the harimau are going to let you waltz in and cause harm?”
“Harm?” He snorted. “I know better than to try. Either they surrender or they die, since we both know they can heal just about any injury. Also, thank you for confirming it’s not just Phoenix hiding in the reserve.”
Horror filled Nadirah at her inadvertent admission. She could only hope the general didn’t find the village. After all, it must be well hidden, seeing how visitors to the reserve never seemed to stumble across the place. What she’d not counted on? The general’s dark side.
Farah recovered as the thugs parked outside the reserve and groaned as they hauled her to her feet. A mottled bruise on her face showed where she’d hit the floor.
“We’re here,” the general announced as the van’s doors opened. “Shall we go find your animal friends?”
Their van wasn’t the only one to disgorge passengers. Two more held enough men to constitute a small army, and they came loaded with weapons. They emerged to an overcast sky, the dark and heavy clouds ripe with moisture that moistened the skin.
“Let’s go.” The general pointed, and one of the thugs barked orders to those who didn’t speak English. The menacing group moved for the entrance.
The first guard to confront them attempted to claim the reserve was closed and ended up shot in the head. He hit the ground dead, leading Farah to utter a small cry.
The general smirked. “Did you know him? Was he one of the shifters?”
Farah didn’t reply.
“No need to answer. I can tell by your expression. I’ll have him put on ice so Dr. Levy can dissect the body once I get it back to the lab.
” The general’s jovial demeanor turned menacing as he added, “If you don’t want to join him, then I’d suggest you tell me where the other therianthropes are hiding. ”
“I don’t know.” The truth. Nadirah hadn’t paid much mind to the route they took.
“You might not, but she does.” The general fixed Farah with a stare, but she remained undaunted and silent, her lips clamped tight.
The general inclined his head, and one of his hired guns pointed his weapon at Nadirah’s belly.
“What are you doing? She’s pregnant!” Farah exclaimed.
“I know, and it would be a shame to lose her and the baby, but then again, she’s already provided proof that pregnancy is possible, making her redundant. So I guess the question is, how many people have to die before you tell me the way?”
Farah hesitated, and without the general making any kind of gesture, another gunshot rang out. A glance to the left showed a reserve worker dead on the ground.
“What’s it going to be? My patience is waning. Next shot is in her gut.”
The threat led to Farah’s chin dropping and her shoulders rounding. “Don’t harm her. I’ll lead you to the village.”
With glum expressions—in direct contrast to the jovial general’s—they set off on foot, the trek long and arduous, mostly because of Nadirah’s leaden feet. She couldn’t believe Farah spared her life but condemned that of the harimau.
The stunned stupor lasted until they reached the village. Upon entering, relief filled Nadirah, as no one seemed to be around, a relief short-lived as Phoenix, wearing only hip-hugging shorts, dropped down from the tree they’d been calling home.
The general smirked. “If it isn’t the AWOL lieutenant. You’re a hard man to find.”
Phoenix glared and growled. “You sadistic bastard. Let the women go. This is between you and me.”
“Who says I’m here for you?” scoffed the general. “Why would I want a defective therianthrope when I can have some fresh ones to play with?”
The anger drained from Phoenix, leaving something much colder and darker in his expression. “You should have left me alone, because you just signed your own death warrant.”
And with that statement, the tigers attacked.