He wore a hat and sunglasses but his features were something she’d learned to identify with the wider cheekbones and flatter shaping of his nose. His full lips were sealed but she knew he was New Species. His big frame and tall height also pointed to him being one of them. Of course the three human men were no slouches in the muscle and sheer-size departments either. They all were bruisers.

“Where are they, Lauren? I’m not screwing around. I want answers.”

“I don’t know. Who are you?” She knew she was in deep shit. The only thing she couldn’t figure out was why a New Species was with Mel’s sister. She forced her gaze away from him to stare at the woman still fisting her shirt. “I haven’t seen them since I left the office yesterday.”

“140? Tell me what you smell right now.”

The New Species lifted a hand, removed his glasses, and stepped forward. He inhaled, sniffed a few times, and his eyes widened slightly while he frowned. Lauren stared into his eyes. They were catlike—an amazing swirl of bright blue, rimmed along the outer edges with deep amber. They were beautiful, striking, and almost unreal. No one should have eyes that looked like that. His tan skin and black hair only added to how dramatic and exotic they appeared.

“Well?” The woman turned her head and shot him a glare. “Tell me, damn it.”

“Their scent isn’t here at all. Not on her or inside this place.”

“What do you want to do, Mary?”

The woman shot a glare at one of the thugs with her. “She knows something.”

She shoved Lauren hard enough that she hit the back of the couch but she was free. Lauren assessed her situation and knew it was grim.

Mary backed up a step, held her gaze, and it chilled Lauren to the bone. If the eyes were the windows to a person’s soul this woman had a dead one. A shiver ran down her back.

“I know you brought a New Species into the office yesterday. My sister called me and told me that. She was freaking out and scared. I didn’t get home until this morning to hear her message. Where the hell are they, Lauren? Tell me the truth and stop playing games or you’re going to regret it.”

“I don’t know anything,” Lauren lied. “Mel pulled me into her office and said the client was a rapist and she shoved me out the back door. That’s all I know. She wasn’t alone with him though. Brent and both John T and B were in her office with her.” She paused. “I was sure Kim was still there when that happened and Gina should have been in her office. Ask them again because I’m sure they were there after I left.”

One of the thugs snorted. “They can’t talk. They had accidents.”

Horror hit Lauren and she didn’t need to ask. They were dead. She wanted to scream but managed to stay on her feet, a real victory since her knees wanted to collapse under her.

“I’m a real bitch,” Mary admitted. “You’re going to tell me where my sister and her friends are or I’m going to have 140 start breaking your bones one at a time until you tell me what I want to know I have my sister back. You took that New Species out of there in a chair after he was shot with a tranquilizer dart. My sister said they had one of them out cold and two more captured. All the witnesses couldn’t be wrong and they know you. Kim and Gina were pawns who are no longer a threat.” Her gaze raked Lauren. “A chubby blonde was pushing him out of the office and down the street. Tell me now or you’re going to die a really slow, agonizing death. You are done lying to me.”

Lauren stared up at 140, decided she’d be honest, but only with him. “Why are you with them? You’re being called a number as though you weren’t freed. Is that it? I’ve seen two New Species fight and you could kick these humans’ asses. Your people have been freed and you don’t have to stay with these people.”

He growled. “They have my female.”

Shit. Lauren swallowed. “Can’t you just kill them and get her back?”

Mary struck hard and fast, backhanding Lauren in the face, and the blow threw her back against the couch where she nearly flipped over the thing. Pain made her curse, grab her injured cheek, and glare at her.

“I guess you weren’t joking about being a bitch, were you?”

“Where is my sister and her men, Lauren?”

She figured out quickly it would be a death sentence the moment she confessed they’d been taken by the NSO. They’d already killed the other two innocent people who’d worked in her office. Kim and Gina hadn’t worked for Mercile but they’d been witnesses to what had happened inside that office. Her only hope would be to stall for an hour until Wrath and his team arrived. If they arrived at seven. Otherwise there’d be two hours to drag out to give her any hope of surviving.

“I might let you live if you just tell me.” Mary rubbed the hand she’d struck her with.

Lauren glanced at the New Species. He shook his head, telling her not to trust what she was told and she believed him. He was obviously being forced to be there but it didn’t mean he liked it if he was willing to give her that tiny signal of warning.

“Okay. I’ll tell you the truth.” She remembered the conversation she’d overheard from her office. “I didn’t know what he was until Mel told me. Brent and both Johns wanted to ransom the three guys for a lot of money.”

Mary glared at her.

“Mel didn’t want to cut you in on it. Brent said to throw you off the track and they’d just disappear after they got paid. Your sister doesn’t want to give you any of the money. I’m sorry but that’s the truth.”

Lauren hoped her plan would work. Mel’s sister should be mad, thinking Mel was trying to screw her out of a bunch of money. It might possibly make the woman buy the story enough to wait around for a nonexistent phone call.

“If I don’t answer, they are going to be in the wind. That’s what John T said.”

Mary hit Lauren again, harder, and the taste of blood filled her mouth as she spun hard and sprawled over the back of the couch. It was the only thing that kept her on her feet.

“You’re lying. My sister wouldn’t do that.”

“You didn’t find the courtesy van in the parking lot, did you? That’s what they used to transport the New Species. They don’t want whatever phone they are using traced to my phone since I’m calling the NSO. They are having some stranger call and I’m supposed to answer with a code word. You’re not getting that out of me because then I know you’ll kill me.” She watched her blood drip on the couch, stain it, and used her hand to wipe some of it from her chin. “It’s Mel you should be pissed at. I’m just the idiot who lost her job and desperately needed money enough to do whatever she said.”

“They wouldn’t run like that,” one of the men said. “Mel wouldn’t do that. You know that, Mary. She’s lying.”

“You have five minutes to tell me where my sister is before I have the animal start breaking your bones. Do you know he can snap them in seconds? I won’t have him kill you by breaking your neck. You’ll lie there bleeding on the inside, in the kind of excruciating pain you can’t even imagine, until you die of shock. It will be the longest minutes of your life. Tell me where to find my sister. You’re going to die but it’s up to you how painful you want your last moments to be.”

Lauren saw the truth in her eyes and one glance at the New Species’ grim expression assured her that he believed it too. She had to change tactics. Nothing was going to save her if she didn’t think of something fast.

She allowed the tears to well in her eyes, not something difficult to do since the inside of her mouth hurt.

“Fine. I do have a number for them. I was supposed to call it when the NSO has the cash ready for the exchange but I’ll let you talk to your sister. She will tell you not to kill me.”

“What’s the number?” Mary seemed to calm.

“I don’t know it by heart. John T wrote it down and I hid it in case the NSO showed up here. It’s in the top drawer of my desk.”