Genesis (The Evolutioneers Book 1), page 11
At least she liked to think she did. The man was more tempting than the last square of a pan of double chocolate brownies.
“Oh my God,” Chase groused, breaking into her maudlin thoughts. With his Native American heritage, his tan skin and sunglasses made him appear more ready for a day at the beach than one spent in the mountains. He huffed and thumped the back of his head against the back of their SUV. “What is taking so long? Why doesn’t Max just tell them we can find this dude in ten minutes and get on with it?”
Chase had the ability to run, throw, jump, and lift more than any man on the planet. Unfortunately, he was also a product of the now, now, now generation and had the patience of a three-year-old.
“Watch it with the real names,” Doc hissed. “These people don’t know that we can. Remember?”
“Well, they should,” he muttered. “They already look at us like we’re freaks. Why can’t we show ’em what we can really do?”
Doc sighed. “We’re not ready. We don’t want to expose ourselves too soon.” She tugged her black knit cap over the tops over her ears. Crystal wore a matching one that fully covered her hair.
“These search and rescues are boring. I’m getting tired of going after people who are too stupid to take a cell phone with them before they head out into the woods. Look at Therian, he’s asleep.” He nodded at Ripley, who was dozing at their feet in the form of a German shepherd. “When can we go after the real bad guys? Like drug runners or Madden, even?”
Doc shared an indulgent smirk with Crystal. “We gotta crawl before we can walk, sport.”
“I can do way more than walk,” he grumbled and flexed the muscles in his arms, straining the leather of his coat.
Crystal chuckled and scanned the crowd around them.
Chase was right about how they attracted curious stares whenever they went out as a unit. Although they were careful not to show their powers, she’d be shocked if people didn’t suspect something was…different…about them.
Their colorful winter scarves didn’t do much to soften the military cut of their liquid-armor-lined leather jackets and the lightweight, flame-resistant pants and black boots that protected their legs. Even though this was a simple search and rescue, this was also their chance to experiment with how best to protect themselves on future missions.
Completing the ensemble for them all were dark sunglasses that Max had tricked out way better than anything available on the market. They were both camera and monitor yet appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary pair of overpriced designer sunglasses.
There was a soft pop from the earpiece Crystal wore before a woman’s voice came across the line. “Is this the missing person?”
A photo of Jeremy Monroe appeared on the right lens of her glasses.
“Affirmative,” she replied to Addison, the newest member of their team.
“Cool,” she said over the click-click sound of fingers working away at a keyboard. “I’ll see what information I can dig up. Check his social media feeds.”
“Copy that.”
Addison’s talents were in technology. Max had discovered her just after they had moved in with him on his mountain and she had hacked into his gaming network. He reasoned her skills would be better used working for them than against them and had created a techno-geeks’ paradise in his computer room.
Crystal resettled her sunglasses on her nose, anxious to get on with the search herself. “I’m going to question the girlfriend. See what really happened before Monroe took off at night by himself.”
The others nodded, and she made her way through the crowd to where Monroe’s family stood, huddled under a cluster of pine trees.
The information the mission commander had issued was that Monroe was on a camping trip with his girlfriend and a few friends from school. Supposedly he had gone to gather firewood and was reported missing when he didn’t return.
Monroe’s mother and father were talking with a deputy. Worry lined both of their faces, aging them in a way only fear for their child could do.
Off to the side stood a young woman. White blonde pigtails stuck out from under her pink knit cap. The red around her eyes matched the red of her nose as she struggled to hold back her tears. Her shoulders trembled under the comforting arm of the young man holding her. He was murmuring words of encouragement to her as Crystal approached them.
She gave them what she hoped was her most pleasant and unobtrusive smile. “Hi, I’m…Tabitha. You’re Jeremy’s girlfriend, correct?”
The blonde sniffed once and burrowed closer to the man as she nodded. “I’m Ashley. This is our friend Dan. He’s dead, isn’t he?” she burst out. “That’s why the military is here, isn’t it?”
“Military?” Crystal squeaked in surprise. “Where?”
“You.” Dan gestured at her and toward the rest of the squad across the lot. “What are you guys, army or National Guard? Why would they call you out unless it was bad?”
Crystal laughed and rocked back on her heels. “Oh, no. We’re not military. We’re a private firm. We like to help out where we can.”
“Really?” Ashley sagged with obvious relief. “You all look so professional. I thought—I mean—” She broke down into tears.
“I understand.” Crystal placed her hand on the girl’s arm in comfort. “I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to do everything we can to find him and bring him back.”
The girl nodded again, her breath shuddering with heaving sighs.
“Ashley, I’m sure you’ve been asked this already, but is Jeremy the type to wonder off on his own? Was he happy, agitated, inebriated?”
She paled under her cold-flushed cheeks and shot a nervous glance at Dan. “No, he was fine. We don’t know where he could have gone, or why he disappeared.”
Crystal smiled even as a weight of doubt pulled at her stomach. “Well, any information is helpful in a missing-persons case.” She tugged her glove off and extended her hand. “Thank you for your time.”
Ashley’s mitten-covered hand grasped hers, meek and trembling.
She turned to Dan, who slid his bare palm against hers in a strong grip. “Thank you,” he said.
Before he let go, Crystal scanned his memories of the last twenty-four hours. Thank goodness the sunglasses hid the narrowing of her eyes, otherwise he might have suspected that she would have dropped him to the ground if she had the chance. Her smile faltered as she clenched her teeth.
The lying, cheating little SOBs. No wonder they were afraid for Monroe. A betrayed man alone on a mountain was usually not a rational one. They should be hanging their heads in shame and be sick with fear for what they had done.
A compassionate person would probably walk away and leave them to wallow in their guilt. But she abhorred cheating and couldn’t resist twisting the screws a little. “You know, my team and I are going to do everything we can to find him, no matter what condition he’s in.”
“Condition?” Ashley’s voice wobbled.
“Yes, condition. We don’t know why he wandered off, so we have to consider the possibility that maybe Jeremy wanted to get lost. By finding him, we could end up angering him, or cause him to make poor choices. There is also his physical well-being to consider. He’s been out in the freezing elements for hours with little protection, food, or water. He could have fallen down a ravine, been trapped under an avalanche, or worse. If we find him, the man who comes back will not be the same man you knew. You better prepare yourself for that.” She paused to let her words sink in. “But like I said, our team always finds our man. Dead or alive. Have a good day.”
With her cheeriest wave, she left them alone to simmer in their shame.
Ashley’s renewed wailing turned several heads in their direction.
Okay. That might have been a little too evil. Karma might bite her in the ass later, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit of satisfaction about pushing a distressed young woman to tears, but Crystal held little patience for those who believed their actions went without consequence. If Monroe had come to harm, it was all on the heads of those two.
Max met up with her on the way back to the others. “Did you know that you look like a cute little ladybug in those glasses?” he teased with his signature boyish grin. The one that made her want to smile back and curl under his arm and snuggle against his side for as long as…well, forever.
Oh, how she hated that smile. Fun, teasing Max was as just as difficult for her to resist as powerful, in-charge Max. Hell, the man was just plain irresistible, period. It was easier to hang on to her resolve to remain just colleagues when he spent hours in his workshop creating his inventions. When he emerged from his cave and tried to draw her into his world with his killer smile and requests to play video games, she felt like a shrew bitch when she turned him down.
Didn’t he understand that anything other than a working relationship between the two of them was impossible? Friendship would lead to her wanting more from him, and that led to only one destination: heartbreak. Emotional distance was her only hope to maintain her professionalism where he was concerned.
“Did you get our coordinates?” she asked, all cool and no-nonsense.
The edges of his smile dimmed. “Yeah, I’ve got them.”
“Good.” She nodded once and kept marching.
“Hey, wait a second.” He snatched her hand as she passed and pulled her close.
Physically she stiffened, while inside she melted like chocolate under a hot marshmallow. The heat between them grew as his hand came to rest on her waist, his fingers spread wide to caress her hip. She clenched her teeth to stop the shudder that threatened to give her attraction away.
“Later tonight, what say you and me grab my telescope and head to the clearing? There’s supposed to be a spectacular meteor shower tonight.” His voice dipped low to slip over her like warm honey.
Maybe she should have had a bigger breakfast, then maybe Max wouldn’t sound so damn edible. “Is everyone else going?”
His lip curled in a snarl for half a second. “Nope, just you and me. We haven’t had much of a chance to have any alone time.”
She pushed against his chest, desperate for a millimeter of space. “That sounds like a date. Not a good idea.”
His fingers tightened with possession, pulling her flush against his body. “Why not? I thought you wanted us to be friends. I know I do. There’s a spark between us that I’ve been dying to investigate. Come on, come with me. Please,” he whispered as his head lowered.
Their noses bumped gently before he brushed a line of soft kisses along her cheek. Crystal closed her eyes, fighting the need to agree even as her fingers gripped the leather of his coat as if she would never let go.
Her breath hitched as his memories of his morning traveled through the connection of his lips on her skin. She saw him in the car on the way to the site and getting dressed for the mission. And before that, standing in the shower. Steam billowed around him as he braced one hand against the tile wall and leaned his head back while stroking his cock. His features tightened before he groaned her name and released his cum into the hot spray. The mixture of relief, loneliness, and dissatisfaction on his face were emotions that she was all too familiar with.
Oh, God. Crystal jumped out of his arms with a strangled moan. Did he project his thought to her on purpose, or was it her own longing playing her, desperate for any intimacy between them?
In the end, though, she knew the truth. Lust and sex, that’s all it was between them outside of a professional courtesy. A meaningful relationship was something neither of them wanted or needed at this stage of their training. In the hierarchy of global importance, hot sex was at the bottom of her list. Right?
“Stop. Please.” The desire she couldn’t hide, even to herself, roughened her voice. “Dating and work do not mix. This time is about finding Jeremy Monroe. We need to focus on that.”
She stalked away before she said Fuck you to her convictions and ran back into his arms. The disappointment drawing his lips down matched the squeeze around her heart.
Being an adult about this was the right thing to do. Of course it was. Still, she was going to need a lot of therapy time with a gallon of mud pie ice cream the moment she returned home.
“It’s about time,” Chase exclaimed when he saw them. He tilted his head from side to side, popping the joints in his neck before swinging his arms back and forth to stretch his muscles. “Where to, boss man?”
Ripley jumped to his paws, eager to go as well. He shook his big body, knocking the dust from his fur. The glittering silver chain around his neck glinted in the sun. The snake-like design adjusted to whatever form Ripley took and contained a camera that connected back to headquarters so Addison could direct them when necessary.
“There are six teams heading out. We’re heading north, north by northwest, not far from Madden’s last-known location.”
Her stomach jumped when Max mentioned the primary reason why they had agreed to assist on this case. It was the same reason for everything they did. Madden Senior.
Max’s father was an elusive bastard. Whenever Max found an outlet to expose Madden for the traitor he was, it disappeared faster than the last pair of designer sandals at an end-of-summer sale.
Ripley had tried searching Madden’s estate several times in a variety of different animal forms and always come up empty. His undercover work stopped when his rodent form was discovered and an exterminator was called in. The mark on his tight backside, from where a trap snapped on his tail, lasted for days, but it was falling ill to rat poison that was the last straw and he called an end to the dangerous searches.
Their focus changed to Madden’s other installations when Addison discovered the businessman had secretly purchased portions of the Cascade Mountains. Satellite photos were inconclusive as to what was transpiring on the land, so this particular search and rescue mission was the perfect cover to go poke around. If Madden was nearby, he would have been notified that rescuers were combing the area, and wouldn’t be surprised to see people wandering around his neck of the woods.
“This is reconnaissance only, right?” she asked. They were getting better as a team, but in no way were they ready to go head to head with the big man—yet. “Everyone is clear that this is not the time for any Rambo-Terminator type actions.”
Max’s reply was said in just a slow-enough tone to set off her internal alarms. “Right. We’ll get a lay of the land and come back later with a more defined plan of attack.” His smile was warm and reassuring. Not. “Does everyone have their earpiece in? Network, display a topographical map of the area on our screen.”
“Uploading now,” Addison replied.
Their custom earpiece was another of his inventions, designed specifically to pick up the sound of their voices from the vibration of their vocal chords through the inner ear. It eliminated the need for a microphone and funneled out background noise. The soft latex casing was flexible enough that Ripley could shift and it would remain in place, no matter what he morphed to and from.
“Did you find out anything else from the girlfriend?” Doc asked Crystal as she secured the straps on her backpack.
“Oh yeah. Either the sheriff was holding out on us, or the girlfriend was holding out on him. Monroe found her and his best friend having sex in the woods. A fight broke out, and he took off. That was the last they saw of him.”
“Great,” Doc huffed. “So instead of a missing camper, we now have an angry, distraught lover who may not be thinking rationally, wandering aimlessly in the woods.”
“Exactly. I haven’t gotten a vision of where he is, but I know where the fight occurred.”
“Good thing I swiped this when no one was looking.” Chase produced a gray T-shirt from his pack.
“What is that?” she asked.
“Monroe’s shirt.”
“Where did you get it?”
His smug grin revealed beautiful white teeth. “Being faster than lightning has its advantages. Swiped this from his bag when everyone was listening to the sheriff. Here, boy, get a whiff of this.” He held the shirt down low for Ripley.
The German shepherd shot him a look that should have dropped him dead. Ripley hated being treated like a common pet in animal form, which Chase loved to exploit at every opportunity.
The kid had better watch it. Ripley was very good at retaliation. When they had first arrived on the mountain, Max originally designed Ripley’s camera collar with a set of heart-shaped dog tags engraved with the name “Fifi.” To add insult to injury was the electric shock device embedded in the chain that zapped him whenever he left his room.
In response, Ripley demonstrated how all of the monkey species flung their own poo. It was an Animal Planet lesson they could have all done without.
“Right.” Max choked back his laughter and clapped his hands once. “Let’s move out. Prism, take the lead.”
Crystal nodded and settled her own backpack that carried water, some food, and thermal blankets on her shoulders.
Instead of leading them to the quadrant of forest they had been assigned to, she directed them straight to the campsite Monroe and his friends had been partying at earlier in the weekend.
The tents had long since been removed, and a few bits of trash littered the space. A black ring of soot was all that remained of the roaring, cheerful fire.
“This way.” Crystal led them deeper into the woods, retracing the route Dan had made to the rendezvous site he had arranged with Ashley earlier that day. A little secret nookie while the others were supposedly asleep. What an idiot he was to think they wouldn’t get caught.
“The fight occurred right there.” She gestured to a heavy cluster of trees. “There was a lot of yelling and shouting, then Monroe took off in that direction.”
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” A group of men emerged from the foliage, matching frowns were carved on their foreheads.
Marcus Boudreaux. Since Max and his group’s first search and rescue mission, Boudreaux and his hunting buddies had been nothing but a pain in the ass. Something about the man gave Crystal the creeps, and that was without having to use her powers. Maybe it was his beady black eyes or the way he licked his lips whenever he glanced in her direction.
