Breaking Ice (The Jendari Book 2) Read online

  He’d been trying to get Winter into bed since they started ‘dating’, but so far she’d managed to hold him off. Every time she gently rebuffed him, she implied that he wasn’t quite important enough, wasn’t high up enough, for her to give the most private part of herself. She never said it outright, but she figured he was smart enough to read between the lines.

  And last night he’d finally cracked. Sliding his hands under her shirt, he’d whispered that HEC had captured an alien, and, if she was good to him, he’d take her to see it.

  It. As if the Jendari was a thing, not a sentient being.

  Winter had managed to put Ben off, promising to be good to him after he took her to see the alien. It had turned into a covert battle of wills, but eventually she prevailed.

  This afternoon she was meeting Ben at a cross-town bar and he was taking her to see the Jendari. Winter had a tracker in her pocket to put on Ben’s vehicle. She also had two phones on her, one in her purse so she could give it up if Ben asked, and one hidden in her boot. There was also a large wad of cash sewn into her purse, just in case. She was as covered as she could be, considering no one knew she was working on this story, including her editor.

  Most of the time, her job involved a lot of tedious legwork. It wasn’t glamorous, and it usually wasn’t dangerous. But this story was big and the HEC was powerful, with fingers in too many pies to count. Winter was under no illusions about the risks she was taking, but if she could pull it off, this story would make her career. Taking some assholes down on the way was just a bonus.

  ****

  Ben was waiting for her when she arrived at the bar. He stood, his gaze skimming over her in heated appreciation. Winter was on the tall side of average, with a compact body and modest boobs. She wasn’t supermodel material, but she knew how to attract male attention when she wanted it. And her expensive push-up bra was doing amazing things for her cleavage.

  She gave her quarry a warm smile and dropped her voice to a sexy, bedroom tone. “Ben.” Kissing him briefly on the lips, she stepped close, wrapping her arms around him and leaning into his body.

  His arms came around her immediately, holding her tight. “I hate meeting you in public like this,” he whispered into her hair. “When are you going to invite me into your home?”

  “Soon.” She eased out of his embrace. “I told you, my parents are naively pro-alien. They don’t understand my commitment to HEC, nor do they support it.”

  That was a lie. Her father had abandoned her—and her mother—when Winter was six. Since then, her mother had gone from one relationship to another, unable or unwilling to live without a man in her life. Winter had lost count of the “uncles” that had come and gone before she left home when she turned sixteen.

  Smiling at Ben’s handsome face, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Are we all set?”

  “Yes. We’ll have to take the subway to my parking garage, then we can hit the road.”

  “Where are we going?”

  He smiled and gave her a wink. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

  Winter grinned back. She didn’t really think he’d tell her their destination yet, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

  Two hours later, they were traveling south on the I-95 in Ben’s BMW6. Soft rock played quietly on the sound system and they’d chatted off and on as the miles rolled by. Their conversation was general, with Winter drawing her thoughts and comments exclusively from the false background of her alter ego. She had an excellent memory, which was vital when pretending to be someone else for an extended period. Especially when someone as smart as Ben was trying to get to know her better.

  They passed through several towns, and when they got to Tom’s River, Ben left the interstate. They drove through the picturesque town before they turned away from the coast and headed inland.

  “We’re almost there, aren’t we?” Winter heard the shake of nerves in her voice and hoped Ben would put it down to excitement not fear.

  “Almost. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  Winter’s pulse picked up speed and her hands started to sweat. This was going to be the hard part for her, trying to appear calm and collected when there was so much as stake. Including her own safety.

  True to Ben’s prediction, they pulled up ten minutes later at a large gate. Rolling down his window, he pulled a piece of laminated paper from the side pocket of his door and held it up to the camera. The keypad below beeped and Ben entered a six-digit code, which Winter noted and memorized.

  The small car park was almost empty, and the building it serviced looked abandoned despite the fact the construction couldn’t have been more than five years old. “What is this place?” she asked.

  “It was a start-up that never got off the ground. HEC purchased the building for a song, and we fitted it out as a research facility.”

  “To study aliens?”

  “Primarily, yes. But there are also a few other projects on the boil.”

  She would have loved to know what those other projects were, but for now she kept her focus on the task at hand.

  As they exited the car, she linked her fingers with Ben’s, allowing him to lead her into the main building. He gave a nod to the guard at the desk, then headed for a door that led to a stairwell. One floor down, they exited to a second reception area. Another guard, another nod, and then they were in front of three lift doors.

  “These are the elevators that lead down to the basement area.” Ben pressed the call button and the doors pinged open. As they entered the lift, Ben withdrew a key-card from his pocket and entered it into the console before selecting B5.

  As they descended, he pulled Winter into his arms. “Are you excited, Wendy?”

  “Yes.” She slid her arms around his waist. “But I’m a little bit nervous, too.”

  “Don’t be.” Tilting her face up, he kissed her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She nodded and smiled, her heart hammering at her ribs. Ben wouldn’t let anything happen to her as long as he believed the lie, but if he found out the truth, his retribution would be fast and violent.

  The elevator doors opened and they walked along a sterile corridor. They passed several doors before Ben stopped and used his key-card to enter a small room. Grasping her hand, he led her forward through yet another room, larger with a raised platform at the far end.

  They walked between long desks and high stools until they got to the end of the room. Stepping onto the platform brought Winter eye-level with a long narrow window. When she looked through the glass into the next room, she couldn’t control her gasp of horror.

  Strapped to a table was a Jendari, naked but for a pair of white pants. He was bound at his wrists and ankles, and wide leather straps pinned him at chest and hips. There was also a leather collar that she assumed was attached to the bed somehow.

  “You’re not taking any chances with him, are you?” she whispered.

  “No.” Ben’s voice was quiet and calm. “We know so little about them, about their abilities or skills. We can’t afford to make any assumptions.”

  Winter stared into the room. As uncomfortable as she was at seeing anyone so vulnerable, she knew she had to take in all the details she could. Forcing her compassion into a little box and closing the lid, she let her eyes scan the Jendari.

  Despite his current condition, he was beautiful—long in the body with broad shoulders and a deep, wide chest. Even from this distance, Winter could see the definition in his washboard abs and the enticing ‘V’ of muscle that led from his hips to the waistband of his pants. His arms and legs were thick with muscle and even though he was tied down, power seemed to radiate from him.

  But it was his face that was truly captivating. His prominent cheekbones were not quite at the right angle, proclaiming his Jendari heritage. His nose didn’t dip at the bridge in the way of human physiology, and his eyes were exotically tip-tilted. A fringe of thick, dark lashes contrasted with his long blond hair and neatly trimmed beard. />
  Winter took a deep breath and eased her eyes away, scanning the room that was his prison. And what she saw almost made her weep. There was an array of medical equipment, but there was also an abundance of what looked to her to be tools of torture. Knives, pliers, a blowtorch, three kinds of tasers and two car batteries —and that was just the equipment she could identify. She swallowed against the lump of anger and despair that clogged her throat. “What are you doing to him?”

  “Not him. It.” Ben didn’t look away from the Jendari either. “Initially, they did some testing with blood and tissue samples, trying to find a weakness the HEC can exploit. Now they’re testing the subject’s limits to see what extremes it can tolerate.”

  Winter didn’t want to ask, but she had to. “Extremes of what?”

  “Everything. Heat, cold, pain, sound, light. Hunger, thirst, wakefulness.”

  Christ on a crutch, he sounded like he was reading a shopping list. “Torture, you mean.”

  Ben grunted. “One subject’s torture is another man’s experiment.”

  Winter closed her eyes for a second to wrestle her emotions under control. Forcing her anger deep where it wouldn’t show, she clung to her façade of calm with a desperate grip. This wasn’t the time or place to lose her shit.

  Keeping her eyes forward, she looked at the Jendari. Even from here, she could see he was in bad shape. “He doesn’t look so good.”

  “That’s what I’ve been saying. The doctors assure us that they can keep it alive, but I’ve got my doubts. It looks to me like it won’t last the week.”

  Winter didn’t think the Jendari would hold on for that long.

  She had intended to come here today and simply gather information. Check out the lay of the land, maybe even make plans for a second visit. But the state of the man tied to the table forced her to throw those plans away. Somehow, she had to get him out. Now.

  Keeping her gaze on the inner room, she leaned into Ben. “It’s quite exciting, isn’t it? Seeing it tied down like that.”

  “It is.” Ben’s arm snaked around her waist and he nuzzled her neck.

  “Can we go in there?” She felt Ben’s stiffen and she continued on before he could say no. “Assuming you have clearance, of course. I imagine they don’t let just anyone into that room.”

  “No, they don’t.” His hand slid down to caress her ass, and rather than flinching, Winter arched into his touch. “But I can sneak you in,” he said, “as long as you don’t tell anyone.”

  “Not a word.”

  He turned and she followed him to a door at the end of the platform. “There’s not many people around, even for a Saturday.” She gave him a sultry smile. “Did you pull some strings to make sure we’d be alone?”

  Chuckling, Ben led her through the door and down the steps of the torture room. “You wouldn’t believe the favors I had to trade to sneak you in.” The price she’d have to pay for those favors was implied in the tone of his voice.

  She smiled at him but didn’t comment. As she followed him down the steps, she caught sight of several cameras. “Is the surveillance equipment on?”

  “Are you kidding? I’d get my ass handed to me if anyone found out I brought a civilian in here. We’re safe for the next fifteen minutes.” He cast a heated look at her over his shoulder. “You better make it worth my while.”

  “You can count on it.” She winked at him and motioned for him to keep moving.

  Following Ben as he crossed the room, her skin prickled with awareness, her senses alerting her to danger. And that was when she realised the Jendari was awake. He hadn’t moved when they walked in, but as soon as they got into his eye line, he began tracking them with a cold gaze. Winter couldn’t look at him without giving herself away, so she kept her attention on Ben and wracked her brain for a workable plan.

  She wandered around the room, trailing her fingers over the countertops. When she came to an array of scalpels, she palmed one and tucked it into her sleeve. Turning to Ben, she nodded toward the wall-mounted camera. “Are you sure that isn’t on?”

  “I’m sure.” Ben gave her a reassuring smile. “I promise the electronic surveillance is down until the end of the current shift.”

  “I want to get a good look at it, but I’m afraid to get too close.” She tried to strike the right balance between scared and curious. “Will you check the restraints to make sure it can’t get away?”

  “It’s not going anywhere, I promise.” As he turned to the alien to do as she asked, Winter picked up a taser. When Ben leaned down to the thick leather straps, she rushed forward, pressing the taser against his back and flipping the switch.

  Ben went down like a sack of potatoes, his unconscious body twitching on the floor. She didn’t know what kind of amperage was in the taser, but it must have been over the legal limit to knock a grown man out. Ignoring Ben for the moment, Winter rushed to the cabinets and started pulling open cupboards and draws. When she found some zip ties, she grabbed a handful and rushed back to her unconscious date. Working quickly, she tied his hands behind his back and zipped his ankles together. Then she rolled him on his side and used more ties to connect his hands and feet. Once he was hogtied, she went in search of something to use as a gag.

  “What are you doing?”

  The voice came from behind her, scratchy and dry. She turned to the Jendari. “I’m getting you out of here, just as soon as I sort him out,” she said, nodding to Ben.

  The Jendari gave her a flat stare. “Undo my restraints and I’ll take care of him myself.”

  Winter found a sheet and used her purloined scalpel to cut a gag. “No killing. I’ll free you, but I’m not leaving a trail of dead bodies behind.”

  She rushed over to Ben and gagged him before searching his pockets. She took everything—his cards, wallet, security pass, car keys, and phone, shoving her haul into the pockets of her denim jacket.

  Once that was done, she turned to the Jendari, moving close enough that he didn’t have to strain to see her. “My name’s Winter.”

  “Kasim.”

  “Okay, Kasim. I’m going to let you free, but first you’re going to promise not to kill anyone.”

  “No.”

  Winter stared down at him. He might be in bad shape, but he was still big, heavily muscled and no doubt tall when he was on his feet. She couldn’t afford to set him free until she had his word. And by the look in his pale, blue eyes, that promise was going to be a long time coming. Time neither of them had.

  “Your word, Kasim, or we go nowhere.”

  Chapter Three

  Kasim knew he was in no position to argue, but the no-killing rule was stupid. He looked at the human woman who hovered over him and noted the steely determination on her face, and the stubborn set of her jaw. Clearly she meant business.

  Narrowing his eyes at her, Kasim gave her what assurance he could. “I promise not to kill anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  She nodded. “Good enough.”

  With quick, efficient movements she unbuckled his restraints and for the first time in days, Kasim allowed himself to believe he might actually get out of this hole alive. He struggled to rise, rolling to one elbow in an attempt to lever himself upright.

  “Let me help.” Winter came forward and before he could stop her, she had her arm around his shoulders.

  His whole body shuddered in revulsion and he pushed her away. “No, don’t touch me.” She jerked back and he lifted his eyes to hers. “I’ll manage on my own. Can you find me a shirt and shoes?”

  “Of course.”

  She moved around the room, opening doors and drawers, giving Kasim a measure of privacy and a little time to pull himself together.

  By the time he’d struggled into a sitting position, his whole body was shaking. His stomach roiled and he thought he might throw up the little he had in his belly. For a few terrifying moments, the room spun and Kasim could do nothing but grip the edge of the bed and wait for it to pass.

 
Eventually, the room righted itself and Winter came into focus. She gestured to the shirt she’d placed next to him. “I could only find scrubs, and there are no shoes.” She looked at his feet, then at the human lying passed out on the floor. “His won’t fit so you’ll have to go barefoot.” She held out a small container with something orange and bubbly inside. “Here’s an energy drink. Get it down fast because we need to go.”

  Kasim open the container and guzzled the drink, ignoring the sickly-sweet flavor. The moment he was done, he slid off the table and pulled on the tunic Winter had found for him. It was short and tight, but it was enough to cover him and that was all he cared about. “Let’s go.”

  Winter led him to a set of stairs set against the wall. The mesh treads were cold on his unprotected feet, but he didn’t care. Every step brought him closer to freedom, so he gripped the rail and put one foot in front of the other. They went through a door, down another set of steps, and across a room crowded with long desks and high, backless chairs.

  Kasim staggered a little, knocking into furniture, but he kept his eyes on Winter’s back. He continued moving forward, but it was getting harder and harder to command his body. His vision narrowed, and his breath came out in loud, uneven gasps.

  Just before they breached a door that led to an outer corridor, Winter turned to face him.

  “I know you don’t want me anywhere near you, and I get it, I truly do. If I’d been subjected to what you have, I wouldn’t want another human near me either.”

  Kasim just stared at her. Her being human wasn’t the problem. He couldn’t stand being touched by anyone.

  She stepped closer, tilting her head up so she could look into his eyes. “We need to get out of here quick and quiet. That’s not going to happen if you don’t let me help you.”