Into the Lair (Falcon Mercenary Group #2)(75)

She was too horrified to protest, too dumbstruck to do anything but stare at him in absolute disbelief. Was he joking? He said it so flippantly, like he was doing her a grand favor by sparing her a pregnancy. And who the hell did he plan on fathering those babies?

A shudder rolled over her shoulders, and bile rose in her throat. She’d never been more disgusted in her life, and Ricardo de la Cruz was plenty heave-worthy.

“I’m not planning to hurt you, Katie,” he said in a cajoling voice. “You’re far too important to me. I plan to take very good care of you.”

“Why?” she whispered. “Why on earth do you want people who can shift? Why would you force that on anyone?”

“It’s merely a starting point,” he said idly. “If I can alter human DNA and make a man a hybrid between human and beast, what else can I create?”

“You want to be God?”

“No, I wouldn’t want his job,” he said seriously. “It’s not my place to judge, to make life or death decisions. Who gets to live, who gets to die. I’d rather offer humans choices.”

“Oh, dear heaven,” she groaned. “I take it you don’t believe in the whole theory of free will? You believe in predestination? And if that’s the case, don’t you think God would have to be pretty stupid to preordain someone who could change all his rules?”

She hugged her knees to her chest, ignoring the pain in her ribs and the raw wound that had partially reopened in her fall from the snowmobile.

Esteban smiled ruefully. “You intrigue me, Katie. I hadn’t expected you to be so difficult. I think you’ll make a fascinating addition to my experiment.”

“And what will you do once you’ve turned me into a trick pony?” she asked softly. “Are you just going to let me go? Let me go back to my life?”

His lips pressed together in an expression of regret, and then he shook his head. “I’m sorry to say that your life as you know it is over. The sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be.”

She eyed him coldly, allowing the full force of her hatred and disdain to bleed into her expression. “You’ve made some ambitious plans,” she said in a mock congratulatory tone. “But you forgot to factor in one little variable. Make that two.”

Esteban’s eyebrow went up. “Oh? And what’s that?”

“Ian and Braden Thomas,” she said evenly.

“You think they give a damn about you?”

She smiled tightly. “I don’t have any illusions where they’re concerned, but I know how much they hate you. They’re not going to give up hunting you.”

For a moment annoyance flickered across his face, and then he shrugged nonchalantly. “If they do, they’ll die.”

“But I thought you didn’t make life or death decisions?” she taunted.

“If they go after me, they choose death, I don’t choose it for them,” he said in a chilling voice. “Their deaths will be a consequence of their choices.”

She stared at him calmly, confidence radiating. “And maybe your death will be the consequence of your choices.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“The last time we went into a compound like this, I lost a man,” Eli said grimly as he looked at the gathered men. “I don’t want that to happen this time.”

Jonah stood to the side, his arms crossed over his AK-47. He looked almost bored. Except for his eyes. They flickered alertly over the assembled group as if he were measuring each one.

Mad Dog and Tits flanked Ian and Braden, and Tits slapped at another bug, real or imagined, Ian wasn’t sure.

“Goddamn it,” Tits muttered. “The entire jungle is determined to have me for dinner.”

“It’s the fresh blood,” Mad Dog drawled. “If you’re not careful, they’ll suck you dry. They grow ’em big here in South America.”

“Hey, f**k you,” Tits said. But he pressed a hand to his wound as if to prevent any bugs from invading the bandage.

“You boys done?” Jonah asked dryly. “We’ve got a job to do here. I’d just as soon quit f**king around and get it done.”

Braden nodded his agreement. He was tense and edgy. Ian worried that he might be close to shifting, but neither of them wanted to risk taking a sedative and not being a hundred percent when they went in for Katie.

Her signal had led them deep into the Venezuelan jungle to a compound undetected by satellite. Mostly underground, what was above the terrain was hidden by heavy growth and lush foliage. Thank God for the tracking device or they would’ve never found her.

If Esteban had hurt her there would be no mercy. Obtaining a cure was no longer a priority, at least not for Ian and Braden. Ian knew that Falcon was still keenly interested in Esteban because of Damiano. All Ian cared about at this point was extracting Katie. Alive. Esteban could live or die.

Jonah looked toward Eli, a concession to the fact that he led this mission. Ian wasn’t in the mood for a pissing match or a contest to see whose dick was bigger. The merger wasn’t his idea. He didn’t give a shit who called the shots as long as Katie got out alive.

“Let’s go,” Braden growled.

“I’ll shift and find a ventilation system to get in. Give me a ten-minute head start so I can take down the security system,” Eli said.