Beast's Beauty: A Xeno Sapiens Novel (Genetically Altered Humans Book 4) Read online

  Sunny zipped it shut and swung it over her shoulder. “Do I look like a high-fashion model?”

  “Very,” Robyn grinned, linking her arm with Sunny’s as they headed to Heather’s room.

  “Here she is,” Amanda said as they entered, her eyes narrowed on Sunny’s purse. “Heather, I’ll see you next Tuesday. Robyn, can I have your help?” Robyn and Amanda headed toward the door. “Is that my Nava-Colbana bag?” she whispered to Robyn.

  “Got everything?” Sunny said brightly. “They fed you?”

  “Yes,” Heather said, rubbing her belly ruefully. “Three square meals, plus snacks that Jett and Brax sent down. If I ate any more, I’d burst.” She turned to the small table tray next to her bed, and grabbed a couple of letters, folding them carefully. “Jett and Brax picked out my breakfast tray for me this morning. Amanda brought it in, along with these sweet letters from them wishing me good health and hoping to see me next Tuesday. We’re going to actually meet this time.”

  Sunny was surprised. “Good for them.”

  “Why haven’t they done so yet? I hear some of the other gals talking on the shuttle on the ride in. They’ve all met their sponsors.”

  “I think they felt bad for you. They feel you got the short end of the stick by volunteering for them.”

  “Are you kidding? I get paid good money to clean a den that’s already neat. I try to make up for it by adding extra touches to their meals, which now I know they appreciate.” She nodded to the letters. “They love my cooking. They look forward to each Tuesday and said they eat together at the table instead of working on plans like they had been doing—using it as a desk instead of a table to enjoy their meal.” Her cheeks were adorably pink.

  “That’s sweet of them to let you know,” Sunny said gently.

  “It’s nice to be appreciated.” She leaned in, eager as if sharing a secret. “I spend my week picking out the Tuesday meal to make for them. Making sure the ingredients are available on Xenia. If they aren’t available, there are one or two spices I’ve managed to order in.”

  If Sunny didn’t already like her, her heart would have melted just hearing the trouble Heather went to for the twins.

  “I wrote them a letter back. I’m asking them if any of the meals I’ve made are favorites. That way they can let me know, and I’ll be sure to make it again. Will you give it to them?”

  “Of course! I’ll pass by their place on my way home later,” Sunny said, as they headed outside. They got into the shuttle and drove the short distance to the main gates.

  “Maybe one day, you’ll be able to live here full time. We requested employees without much in the way of family ties, but I’m sure one or two members of someone’s family wouldn’t make much difference.”

  Heather’s gaze was wistful. “It would be nice,” she said forlornly. But there was a sense of finality, and Sunny knew she thought it would never be possible. What was she hiding?

  Sunny rolled to a stop in the small parking area. She hopped out of the vehicle along with Heather and walked with her to the front gates, waving goodbye as Heather entered the waiting cab that would take her home. As soon as it began to drive away, a small handkerchief appeared, flapping in the air as Beast signaled where the invisi-car was parked. She swept around the bend, where he opened the car door—enabling her to see well enough to get inside the cab area with him.

  “Get in, Agent Beauty,” he grinned. His skin was a bit darker today.

  She giggled and slipped in, closing the door firmly around her. Beast accelerated, the car jumping forward to follow the green vehicle.

  “This is fun, Agent Beast,” she laughed. “Doing something dangerous together.”

  “Yeah, but it’s hard for me not to worry about you.”

  “No need to worry. Robyn came up with a cool little device in this cool little purse that will look through walls. We can watch Heather from the car just by aiming this at her place.”

  Some of the tension left his hands as he relaxed slightly on the driver joystick. “I’m sorry. I know you can take care of yourself, baby. I just worry because of your abduction.”

  “Just remember I allowed myself to be kidnapped. I was tricked. And now that I’m with you, it certainly won’t happen again.” She reached for his hand, and he turned his palm upward, clenching hers with his. He brought it up to his lips to kiss.

  “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he said.

  “You’ll never find out. I’ll be with you always.”

  “Then, how would you like to be”—his voice was hesitant—“paired with me?”

  She smiled. “Do you really need to ask? Of course, I would.”

  He gave her a slow, boyish grin, and it felt just like being on the island again.

  He turned his attention back to the green cab. “I wonder what she’s doing on this side of town?”

  Sunny shrugged.

  It was a run-down section, weeds overgrowing the fields as sections of farms were shut down in areas. Buildings that had been abandoned had never been demolished completely and stood as rickety shacks, the glass in the windows long ago shattered, walls blackened with smoke.

  “Maybe she doesn’t have much money?” Sunny asked. “Though she has a degree.”

  “Something doesn’t add up,” Beast said. “Not only is she educated and intelligent, the pay she receives from Xenia isn’t anything to blink at. She makes in one day what most people make in a week. Even if she was hurting for money, she could technically get a second, full-time job for the rest of the week. There’s no reason to live like this.”

  He allowed the car to roll to a stop a safe distance from the green cab, which stopped in front of a tiny row of rooms that looked like it was once a motel. But it was impossible to tell, as now graffiti covered the walls, masking the name of the building, and the details as to whether it was apartments or rooms for rent.

  Sunny pulled the box from her bag, flipping open the top and turning it on. A small pinpoint of light came from the front, which she hadn’t really noticed when Robyn showed her the device earlier. She aimed it for Heather’s wall.

  Beast scooted closer to her, draping an arm around her shoulders as he watched the small box with her.

  An image appeared on the screen of Heather—sighing as she took in her meager surroundings. There was a lone chair and desk against a wall, a small bed and a kitchenette area. The furnishings were raggedy and mismatched. The worn carpet was threadbare in patches.

  “A motel. No one else in sight. I wonder where the grandmother is?” Beast asked. “Was her whole story a lie?”

  “Can’t be. She had such love in her tone when she spoke of her gramma,” Sunny said.

  In the small kitchen, Heather pulled a teabag from the pantry. The squalor contents of the closet were appalling. She had about five cans of vegetables, two of beans, one soup, and nothing else.

  “That must be what she eats all week until she eats at the mess hall,” Sunny murmured.

  Beast’s voice was a low rumble near her ear. “Where is her pay going?”

  Heather took her tea and went into the larger room that housed the chair and bed. She sat in the chair and stared in front of her where a plastic vidcam was built into the wall. It was a cheap communication device, not worth anything, but all establishments were required to have public access to vidcams.

  However, they didn’t always have to be in working order. The plastic was so scratched it distorted the image of what was on it, so Heather didn’t have a view of the picture of the vidcam, merely the waves of color that rolled across it.

  Then it beeped softly.

  “She has a call,” Sunny said unnecessarily, hitting the button that enabled sound.

  “Incoming reception from Mike Perger,” the computer said.

  “Mike?” Sunny’s gaze flew to Beast. He looked just as confused.

  “Accept,” Heather said softly.

  “Heather? Did you receive our pay?” The computer scrambled the
voice into a neutral intonation, masking the identity of the caller.

  “I did,” she said softly. “I stopped by the bank and cashed it. I have the gift credits chip.”

  “Good. I want you to leave it in the same spot under your front porch.”

  “I want to talk to my gramma.”

  “We want the Xeno Sapien.”

  Heather sucked in a breath. “I told you it’s not that easy.”

  “Let me make it easier on you. You have one week left, so figure it out. Oh, and we’ll be taking next week’s pay, too.”

  “I’m going to get evicted if I don’t come up with some money!”

  “I’m feeling generous. You can take fifty credits from the account for rent.”

  “My rent is sixty-five.”

  “Too bad.”

  The call disconnected with a static sound.

  “A shortage of fifteen credits means she can’t eat anything for days,” Sunny murmured. “Good thing she had an extra day of meals in medbay. Who is doing this to her?”

  “We’ll find out.” Beast pushed a button on the car. “Jason? Are you watching this?”

  “Yeah. Robyn enabled us to link to the box she gave Sunny. Mike Perger—who is the same person whose remains we have.”

  “Will you include a hundred credit tip on her account for this week?”

  “She’ll receive notification in the morning. We’ll say it came from Sunny as an apology for her scare. Are you two on your way back in?”

  “Not yet. I want to stay and see who rolls up to collect her cash out.”

  “Aim Robyn’s device into their vehicle. We’ll use the destination from the GPS system to trace where they came from.”

  “Will do.”

  “And if it is that dead motherfucker, call me. Don’t kill him again.”

  Beast smiled grimly. “I’ll leave him for now.”

  “Jason out.”

  On the viewing screen, they watched as Heather grabbed the computer chip of credits, wrapped it in wads of toilet tissue and placed it in a rinsed out soup can. She headed out the front door. She looked around her and switched off the porch light. Quickly, she dropped to her knees, burying the can underneath her porch. When she went back inside, she locked the door with a click and dragged the desk across the room to rest against it. Then she turned the front light back on.

  In about an hour, a vehicle rolled up. Sunny aimed the device at the car. It was empty except for the male who slipped out.

  He wore a hat and a handkerchief tied around his lower face, so it was impossible to see his identity. But he was tall and lanky—obviously not Mike.

  Beast raised his brow at her.

  She shook her head. “That’s not him.”

  The man quickly rooted around underneath the porch, finding the can. He opened it, pulled out the wadded up toilet tissue and fished out the chip of credits, running his finger over it to enable a soft glow so he could read the amount. Seemingly satisfied, he tossed the trash onto the porch and hurriedly got back into his car.

  “Hold on.”

  Beast swerved into traffic behind him.

  “Should we be following?” Sunny asked.

  “Just in case they didn’t get the destination from the vehicle back at Systems.” Beast grinned. “We have the invisi-car at our convenience right now.”

  His car headed into the area of deserted farmlands.

  “This is like the area where they’d imprisoned me,” Sunny said.

  “Yes. It’s not far from the area.” Beast curled his fingers around hers.

  Eventually, the car pulled behind an old house, parking in back. Sunny opened the box again, aiming it for the house.

  This time, it showed three faint outlines of subjects inside. Two in the main living area and one in a location further back along the house. Having that many walls meant the device couldn’t get a detailed visual on the third person—just a simple glow of body heat. But it did show the first two, though they were shadowed more so than Heather had been.

  “You got it?” The first man was shorter than the one who’d just come in.

  “Yep.” He untied his face, but it was impossible to see his features in the darkened kitchen.

  Sunny gasped. “That voice does sound a bit like Mike, but I still don’t think it’s him.”

  “Do you think we need to change locations?” The first one asked.

  “I think we’re fine. There’s only another week left to go anyway. When she brings her here, we’ll switch to the other house and get rid of the old woman and the girl.” He sneered. “Unless you want to keep the little cousin for something?”

  “Nah. They’re both a liability.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was late by the time they returned to Systems. The rest of the team still sat around the conference table.

  “Come in,” Renegade said, opening the door.

  Around the table sat several Xeno Sapiens and a few humans that made up security. Robyn was frantically pulling up data on Heather’s childhood.

  “For the most part, the grandmother kept her segregated from her father’s family.”

  Beast pulled a chair out for Sunny, who sat before he took the one next to her.

  “Elsa LeeAnn Marlow,” Robyn said. “Seventy years of age. Widowed. Had one natural childbirth. Her daughter died of a drug overdose twenty-two years ago, leaving a small daughter of two years of age. No known relatives and doesn’t keep in contact with old coworkers or friends. This is interesting.”

  Robyn pushed a button and displayed a series of bank statements onto the viewing screen. “She received pensions and income throughout the years. But she made regular cash withdrawals onto credit chips.” She pulled up images of Heather growing up. “They always lived like paupers. Look at how raggedy their clothing is.”

  “That’s what Heather said,” Sunny said. “Sometimes her gramma had to hang clothes on the clothesline and sit outside with a shotgun while they dried so no one would steal them.”

  “With the amount of money the woman had, there would have been no need for that. Wait a minute,” Steele said. “Robyn, roll the statements back again.”

  Robyn scrolled through the images.

  “She had two credit chips she was withdrawing money to. Not just one.”

  Robyn peered closer. “You’re right.”

  “Can you trace the cash outs again?” Steele asked.

  They waited a few minutes while Robyn’s finger flew over the keys. When she finally spoke, she sounded excited. “Before, I thought it was several withdrawals made onto one credit chip. So each month, I tried to trace it, without success. Now that I realize there are two, it was just random chance that I was selecting the anonymous chip to trace. If I trace both at the same time, this one”—she circled one of the withdrawals—“is still anonymous. But the other? It shows a record.” Her voice had a small triumph.

  “Where was the cash being deposited?” Jason asked.

  “A college on Alpha One. For years. Heather’s degree is completely paid for three times over. Unfortunately, there’s no way to recover that money. But I’ll bet the grandmother figured that someday when she passed, the college would get a hold of Heather and tell her she could further her education beyond the degree she currently carries.”

  “That would enable her to remove herself from Earth-Ground, correct?” Sunny asked.

  “Technically, yes. She would be able to live on Alpha One for the rest of her education.”

  “So gramma was trying to get her away from here.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Jason said. “We’re just surmising here. As head of security, I think we need to err on the side of caution and consider Heather still a criminal.”

  “I agree,” Renegade said softly. “It’s for the safety of us all.”

  “So she’s guilty until proven innocent?” Amanda asked. “I think it’s an odd coincidence that Heather is withdrawing money the same way her grandmother did and showi
ng nothing for the expense.”

  “It’s not something we’re proud of,” Steele said. “And if we find evidence that proves otherwise, we’ll certainly exonerate her. But the safety of the Xeno Sapiens comes first. We can’t risk her harming someone deliberately because we want to believe she’s a victim.” He turned toward Sunny.

  “I know you and Beast believe she’s innocent. But Sunny, you also believed Mike until that fateful day.”

  “This is a different situation,” Sunny said. “I wanted to believe Mike.”

  “Do you not want to believe Heather?”

  “Heather has never spoken of her innocence or guilt in one way or another.” She sighed. “But I understand where you’re coming from. We’ll continue to search for evidence of her innocence while keeping an eye on her as if she is not.”

  “That’s all we’re asking,” Renegade said. “I propose we check out Elsa’s residence tomorrow, along with the location of the person who is taking money from Heather.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jason said. “My team can head out to her last known address. How about if Esson Four goes to the house of these two men?”

  Beast looked around the room at Pax, Steele, and Renegade. Sunny could feel the excitement in him at hanging with his buddies. She smiled at him. “It’s been a long time since the Esson Four group got together. I think that’s a great idea.”

  “Meeting adjourned,” Jason said. “My team and Esson Four—let’s meet up at six a.m. Beast, Sunny—I’ll give you a lift to the cabins.”

  The room dispersed quickly. Six a.m. would roll around quicker than anyone expected. Beast and Sunny walked down the front steps to the parking area with Jason, sitting in the small transport vehicle.

  “Look, I know how you two feel. I understand. I do.”

  “You can’t possibly think Heather is really the brains of this operation,” Beast said to Jason.

  Jason fired up the ignition. “We have to think of her as such. Otherwise, it won’t be good for us. Especially Jett and Brax. You know they wish to exonerate her no matter what? We can’t have someone defending her to that extreme. Chances are, she is guilty, and they refuse to see it.”