“Thank you,” he said as he hit send. “They’ll send you all the data they’ve got.”
She blew out a breath. “Okay. So take me back—”
“Well, here’s the thing. You’re not going to believe any of it until you see for yourself. Like really see.”
She sighed, reluctantly starting to believe his tale. Obviously, he was involved in crime of some sort. He’d zip tied her with professional speed and had bulletproof windows. And since the CDC had already figured out that whatever was causing the Detroit Flu was most likely man-made, it stood to reason that a criminal element might have information they didn’t.
“Data is data,” she said. “We don’t have to see anything but the numbers. If it’s repeatable then we don’t care where it came from.”
She watched his mouth tighten. He didn’t say anything, just waited her out. In fact, it was the exact expression she used when her aunts started talking to her about how to catch a husband. She pressed her lips together, assumed a fake expression of interest, and waited until they finished with their nonsense.
“Do you even know how real science works? If it’s a real lead, you just have to send it to us. We’ll look at it.”
“Because you always open files from strange email addresses.”
Okay, so he had a point. “Fine. You have my email address. Take me back to the hospital and I’ll look at it.”
“You have to see first. Otherwise, you won’t believe.”
She snorted. “Let me guess. Weird body changes. Hair. Claws, even dental. Look, we’ve seen the disfigurements—”
“Shape-shifters, Dr. Lu. The Detroit Flu activates shifter DNA. Full shifters go adrenaline-rush crazy. Normal people just feel sick and hallucinate for a bit. But those with only some shifter DNA? They become different. Hybrids, if they don’t die from the stress.”
Ah hell, she’d been kidnapped by a crazy person. Then she snorted. Of course, he was crazy. He was a kidnapper!
“Werewolves. Bear-shifters. Cat-shifters. All of them exist. And yeah, I know you don’t believe me, which is why you have to see. But I can’t shift while driving my car so I’m taking you somewhere safe to show you.”
No sense arguing. She needed to focus only on the true details in his crazy reality. “Where? Where is safe?”
“The Griz have a central—”
His words were cut off as his phone vibrated. He grunted under his breath, then frowned. She saw it distinctly as he cut her a hard look.
“Make a sound—any sound—and I’ll knock you unconscious. Got it?”
His expression was fierce, and she immediately nodded. Let the crazy person think that she was cooperating, but was she really going to be quiet? When the person on the other end of the line might be able to save her?
She was still undecided because, honestly, she absolutely believed he could knock her out. Quickly, quietly, and probably while driving at sixty miles an hour. But maybe that was a chance she was willing to take. Until his very first word as he pressed the phone to his ear.
“Mother?”
Damn it. Any woman who had raised a crazy kidnapper was not going to help the kidnappee. She grimaced and adjusted her position on the seat. He was just pulling off the freeway. Maybe she could use his distraction—and his slower speed—to engineer some kind of escape. Though one look at the neighborhood had her gut tightening in fear. This did not look like a neighborhood where she should be wandering around alone after dark. Or in full daylight.
Meanwhile, Hank—if that was his real name—growled low and deep in his throat. It was a dark animal sound, and it made goose bumps rise on her skin.
“Get out. Get out now!”
Cecilia’s gaze shot to him. He wasn’t looking at her but at the road as he abruptly spun the car around in a hard U-turn. She saw his hand grip the steering wheel and his jaw clenched in his large, square face. It was the side with the scar on it, and she watched the jagged edge of it pulse under the sporadic streetlights.
“Fine. Then bar the door.” Pause. “With a table! Anything. Hell, get everything! I’m coming.”
And he was coming. He ran straight through the stop sign and back up onto the freeway. Before he’d been going a respectable sixty miles per hour, heading toward seventy. Now he blew past that and she watched in horror as he topped eighty. She was sure he’d have gone faster, but he was already taking the off ramp. She was up now and braced against the car door so she could read the signs.
She wasn’t a native of the city, but even she knew this was not a good area. And yet, he was torpedoing down the streets like it was safe. Or perhaps like he was the baddest person around. And then he started talking. It took her a moment to realize he was speaking to her because his tone was so casual. And even then, she had to replay his words in her head just to make sure she’d heard him correctly.
“So you’re going to get that demonstration differently, Dr. Lu. I’ve got a situation here, and it’s dangerous. We’re going to Mother’s house. Not my mother, but a woman who takes in shifter strays. We all look out for her because being a shifter kid is hard, and she’s been there for us no matter the breed.” He sighed. “I know you don’t believe any of this, but one of her kids is in trouble and I’m going to help. I’ll undo your restraints, but I promise you, if you run, you’ll find a whole lot worse trouble outside.”
Cecilia nodded and tried to smile with genuine warmth. It probably came out more like humor-the-crazy-person because he rolled his eyes. Weird that, given he was speeding down the street straight through red lights and everything.
“I’m not crazy. This is real.”
“I believe you,” she lied.
“And it’s dangerous.”
“Right.” Her gaze cut to the apocalyptic neighborhood. “Dangerous.”
“Yeah. And it has werewolves, too.”
Of course, it did. Which is why she resolved to run as far and as fast as she could the second he stopped the car.
