Sari

by Middleton, Rose

  SARI

  Hybrids Book One

  ROSE MIDDLETON

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement of the copyright of this work.

  SARI

  HYBRIDS BOOK ONE

  Copyright © ROSE MIDDLETON, 2008

  Cover art by BEVERLY MAXWELL

  ISBN Trade paperback: 978-1-60202-128-0

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT): 978-1-60202-129-7

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  PDF, PRC & HTML

  Linden Bay Romance, LLC

  Palm Harbor, Florida 34684

  www.lindenbayromance.com

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or business establishments, events or locales is coincidental.

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Linden Bay Romance publication: September 2008

  The Facility

  Chapter One

  Sari Jones’ heart boomed in her chest. Her gaze darted from her bare arm to the scanner to the man wielding it. Panic snaked through her veins and the walls of the four wheel drive threatened to close in on her. To her left, Professor Kai Harrison stood at the open door with a scanner in his hand. He stared at the device, his eyes narrowing in accusation.

  The man she’d been admiring for the last two years, and who looked like a younger version of Hugh Jackman, turned his dark and discerning gaze on her. The timing couldn’t possibly be worse. How the hell could she hope to keep him on her side now? He’d just found a microchip embedded in her arm; a microchip she hadn’t known about.

  It wasn’t supposed to go like this.

  “Care to explain why you have a microchip under your skin?” Kai’s deep voice, full of curiosity, rumbled through the air.

  “I have no idea.”

  She wasn’t lying. Sari had no clue why it was there. The when and how were easy. The who was a dead giveaway.

  Zimmerman.

  Oh God.

  She glanced up at the overcast sky, tears burning her eyes. Like the experiments weren’t bad enough, like she hadn’t survived enough nightmares for one lifetime, now this? Panic turned into anger and surged through her. The hairs on her nape pulled tight. Her stomach churned. She needed to think without the intense brown eyes boring into her.

  Sari took a deep breath to calm her raging mind, the awareness of Kai staring at her wearing through her patience. Think. What was Zimmerman’s main purpose for yet another invasion of her personal privacy?

  To identify her corpse?

  To track her movements?

  But if that was so, why hadn’t They come for her yet? Two years since she escaped the hellish Facility and been free to blend into the world. As far as everyone knew, she was a research assistant, a normal woman holding down an average nine to five job, trying to make ends meet in the big city.

  No one knew a thing about the real Sari, especially Kai, and she needed to keep it that way. The stupid bloody chip threatened all her hard work.

  Her chest squeezed, and she grew faint.

  “Sari?”

  The sensation of falling gripped her hard, but warm strong arms prevented her from hitting the ground. She blinked and smiled, opened her eyes to find herself sitting in the front passenger seat of Kai’s SUV. His big hand cupped her shoulder while he looked at her with mixed emotions.

  “Are you alright?”

  She tried to laugh it off, but the moment she moved her head, her vision blurred and dizziness took hold. “I just need a minute.”

  “Would you like a cold drink?”

  “That would be lovely, thank you.”

  “I’ll be right back.” His face appeared before hers. “If you need anything, you just give a shout.”

  “I will.”

  Through the ultra clean windscreen, she watched his lean figure disappear into the petrol station store. Without him so close, the air pressure around her eased and her head cleared. She blinked to sharpen her vision and tried to fit the pieces of information together.

  It seemed logical that They would fit her with a device for identification. Granted, They didn’t expect her to escape, but Zimmerman would have had every angle covered. He was a methodical son of a bitch, pedantic and specific. Nothing would be left to chance while he was in charge. But why would he fit her with a tracking device and not come after her?

  Damn you, Zimmerman.

  Sari glanced at her arm. It wasn’t a big arm by any stretch of the imagination and tracking chips weren’t small, but this was Rex Zimmerman, a man with access to the latest technology. The best place to hide it was in muscle, making removal painful and dangerous. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced of the worst case scenario. Not only was the microchip designed to identify and track her, but it would be tamper-proof. She didn’t doubt it would alert the sick bastard if she tried to remove it from her body.

  She stared across the empty petrol station, her feline vision zooming in on her boss through glass windows. Denim suited him, hugging his athletic figure in all the right places. He was sex on legs. Charm and charisma oozed out of his pores without effort. The perfect fantasy man. Her tongue tingled at the thought of the week ahead. Four nights to seduce and distract him. Five days to find The Facility and come face to face with Zimmerman once and for all.

  It crossed her mind that Zimmerman let her escape safe in the knowledge he could track her at any time. Did he know she was coming for him now?

  Sari swallowed a groan. Could things get any worse?

  “Here you go.” Kai’s voice startled her, and when he appeared beside the vehicle, her heart sank. What the hell was she supposed to tell him? How did one explain a microchip?

  “Sari?”

  Kai looked worried.

  “I’m sorry.” She forced out a laugh. He handed her the cold soft drink can and she sipped it, grateful for the chilling slide of liquid down the center of her body. Sari closed her eyes to savor the sensation and hoped it would help her come up with a reasonable explanation in the next thirty seconds.

  “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything, Sari. It’s none of my business. It just came as a bit of a shock, that’s all.”

  Yeah, to both of us.

  She opened her eyes and met his gaze head on. “Take it out for me.”

  “Are you kidding?”

  Sari shook her head. She couldn’t risk alerting Zimmerman to their proximity. It’d ruin everything.

  “First you tell me what the hell is going on.”

  She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. About to take another sip of her drink, she sighed. How could she keep lying to Kai? He didn’t know the whole truth about her, but that was for his own good. If she wove a complicated tale to explain the microchip it’d only make matters worse. Avoiding more lies would keep things much simpler, but she had a job to do. She liked Kai, but the more she got to know him, the more confused she grew.

  In the beginning, she’d been prepared to screw him over without a hint of guilt. Use his investigation to find The Facility, kill Zimmerman, and save the others. There had always been a significant chance of her destroying the project, but in the early days, she hadn’t cared. No remorse, no regrets, only justice. But the guilt had come and had grown into a force to be reckoned with. The closer she felt to Kai, the more complicated things got.

  How could she betray someone so passionate about the black cats? About her kind?

  “It needs to be removed.”

  Kai shook his head, confusion and anger swirling in his eyes. “What I don’t understand is how it got there in
the first place.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The scanner was supposed to find a microchip in one of the cats, not you. I mean, you’re a person.”

  “I had no idea it was there.”

  Sari still couldn’t believe Kai’s demonstration with the micro-scanner had gone so awry. It seemed the fun and games were truly over now. Worse still, she couldn’t read him. Did he believe her at all?

  “I’m not a surgeon, Sari, and attempting to remove it could go horribly wrong. I’m sure I can find someone to remove it for you.”

  Sari let out a long sigh. “We don’t have time, and I don’t trust anyone else.” That was hard to say. But it was one thing for him to know about the microchip and an entirely different matter to tell him any more. Like that she was a hybrid. Half jaguar, half human.

  Kai sighed. He rounded the front of the SUV and climbed in behind the wheel. A few moments ticked by, giving her enough time to notice his rich brown hair needed a trim and his blue polo collar was all messed. Her fingers itched to unfold the offending flap of material, but she resisted.

  “It sure has been a big morning.” His voice held a weary note as he stared straight ahead through the windscreen. “And something tells me this is only the beginning. In the two years we’ve worked together, I’ve hardly learned a thing about you, Sari, and yet I feel as though you know me through and through.”

  “If you want to turn around and cancel the search, I’ll understand.”

  “Why would I do that? Considering I know so little, I trust you. Are you telling me that trust is mislaid?” He turned to her, his expectant expression pinning her to the spot. “Have I made a mistake in trusting you?”

  Such a fickle thing, trust. So easily broken, so hard to win back. That was what got her here in the first place, trusting that hot, young stud who promised to take her away from the addiction and the drugs and the abuse. She’d believed him without really knowing him, got into the car outside the Auckland hotel and realized too late his intentions were false. She’d woken up in a cage months later, snippets of memories and nightmares shocking her back to reality. Terrible pain from the operations made movement impossible, and drugs to keep her cooperative were injected twice daily. They only gave her the painkillers at night. She’d been so drugged, she hadn’t even known They’d shipped her across the Tasman to Australia.

  Bastards.

  Sari shivered at the memories and tried to ignore the pair of deeply concerned brown eyes staring at her.

  “I know you won’t hurt me, physically.” She couldn’t look him in the eye but was left with no choice when his strong fingers took hold of her chin and turned her face to his. He wanted to know everything, thought he could smooth it over with charming words. Boy, was he in for a shock.

  “Everyone has secrets, Sari.”

  “Perhaps, but I still worry you will betray me. Hell, I think I expect it.”

  His eyebrows arched high on his forehead. “Betray you? How? In what way?”

  “Why do you think I have a microchip inside me? Obviously someone thinks I’m important enough to track down. I am someone, Kai, but I don’t know if you’ll like that someone. Besides, knowing everything about me might get you hurt.”

  He stared hard at her, the angular planes of his face sharpening. His body emitted a new scent, one that reminded her of territorial males protecting what was theirs. The strength she saw in his unwavering gaze sparked a tiny ray of hope. At least he liked jaguars.

  “Trust me, Sari. Now, close your door.”

  “Where are we—”

  He shook his head, cutting her off. “Trust me.”

  When he started the car, he turned it around and drove them back toward Melbourne. Residential houses stood either side of the road, the neighborhood quiet and peaceful. Since her escape, she’d fallen in love with this city. It had saved her, cleaned her up, and kept her that way. She’d come to call it home even though the attachment weakened her.

  As long as she was free and Zimmerman in charge of The Facility, he would hunt her. She should never have settled in the one place.

  Kai pulled off the road into a large, chain motel and parked by the office.

  “Wait here Sari.”

  Sari’s mind buzzed as Kai left the car. Why did it appear that he was booking them into a motel? They were supposed to be following the highway east for another couple hundred kilometers.

  He climbed back in without a word, dropped the key in her lap, and started the car. Soon they stood at the door to Room 15 where Kai took the key from her trembling hands and let them in. It was a basic, run-of-the-mill hotel room. Queen bed, small dining table, bench with toaster and kettle, and a door through which she could glimpse bathroom tiles.

  “You said you wanted the chip removed?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, best we do it somewhere you can rest afterwards, where the blood can wash down the sink and not attract attention.” He stepped closer, took her face in his hands, and brushed his lips over hers.

  Her heart skipped a beat. For two years, he’d shown no hint of attraction toward her, but the last twenty-four hours had changed that. The minute they left their office at Eco-Corp, something between them snapped.

  “This is an act of faith. You could be an international spy and I’m aiding and abetting, but I trust your initial reaction to the chip. Now, this might be a little messy, and I need to get some supplies before we start. While I’m gone, I want you to think of what to do with the chip once we get it out, because something tells me destroying it will give us both a headache.” He smiled, as if to reassure her, and then pressed his lips to hers fully.

  The warm contact sent tingles down her spine and made the hairs on her nape stand on end. His lips slid over hers, his tongue pried open her mouth, and the flood of his taste overwhelmed her. Sari melted into his embrace, not sure whether his unconditional trust or the brilliant kiss brought down the walls. All that mattered was that he’d found a way in. On one hand, it felt wonderful. On the other, the risk of exposure that came with it scared her half to death.

  “I’ll be back in ten minutes. Are you okay with some pain?”

  Sari blinked and nodded, but didn’t let him go. “Pain and I are best friends.”

  He winced. “Sooner or later, you’ll explain that to me.”

  Kai stopped short of the motel room, the paper bag of medical supplies swinging in his hand. The plain brown door stood closed and silent, the non-descript paintwork faded from the afternoon sun. He noticed paint chips had fallen to the ground and, upon closer inspection, saw they’d come from around the top hinge joint.

  Part of him suspected Sari had done a runner. He wouldn’t be surprised if he found the room empty. When he left her, she had been skittish and frightened, trying desperately to hide from him. The woman he’d kissed not ten minutes ago seemed so different to the sexy siren he’d lusted after for two years.

  Silently he berated himself for messing around with the scanner, but who knew he’d find a hidden microchip in his assistant? Hell, she was barely big enough to accommodate the damn thing. Finding it not only erased everything he thought he knew about her but put the whole project in jeopardy.

  Who the hell was Sari Jones, and why was someone tracking her?

  Kai ran his palm over his face. He was not equipped to handle emotional baggage. He had enough of his own. The whole search for the black jaguars was a guise, a façade designed to hide the one thing he was trying to find. His sister, Rebecca. She’d been researching reported sightings of the cats when she vanished into thin air two years ago.

  He’d hoped with Sari by his side, trekking into the area where Rebecca had disappeared would turn over some new clues. With Sari’s strength and her ability to find things most others couldn’t, he’d prayed she could unearth something. He’d never counted on Sari hiding such deep secrets and the desire to help her warred with his need to search for Rebecca.

  Licking his dry lips, Kai hoped that Sari’s secrets w
eren’t about to derail the project. All he could do was believe in Sari and trust that she’d come around.

  Kai glanced down at the paper bag, the uneasy roll of his gut a stark message. He’d agreed to cut her open and take out whatever microchip had been implanted in her arm. One wrong move and he could cut an artery. Or a nerve bundle. Yeah, that made him feel so much better. But when it came down to it, the fear he’d seen in Sari’s eyes pushed him to give it a try.

  For Sari.

  For Rebecca.

  He stepped forward and opened the door, pleased to see her sitting cross legged on the bed, her hands in her lap, her fingers fidgeting like crazy. Unsettled, unhinged. His normally quiet, calm assistant was rattled. All five feet of her vibrated with nervous tension. An unsteady smile greeted him and the innocence returned. His sweet Sari hid secrets behind that naïve smile and those sparkling eyes, things she didn’t want him to know.

  “You okay?”

  She fiddled and nodded. “I’ve put you in a tricky position. Feel free to back out.”

  “Why would I do that?” He closed the door and locked them in. “I want to help you.”

  “Neither of us really knows what we’re doing here.”

  He stifled a chuckle and stopped by the bed. “I agree, but I have a good feeling about this.” Holding out his hand, he waited for her to take it.

  “That’s a sweet lie.”

  Glad she took his hand, he helped her to her feet and led her to the bathroom. She sat on the basin while he arranged the surgical supplies. He got the strongest over-the-counter painkillers he could buy, but she’d still feel the full force of pain from this and it made him hesitate.

  “I told you, pain and I are close friends.”

  He motioned to her sweater. “It needs to come off. Actually, you should think about stripping down to your underwear. I don’t want to get blood on your clothes.”

  Despite her tough talk, horror filled her blue eyes. Had his suggestion sounded lewd? Or did it simply reinforce what he was about to do? He had no doubt he’d spill a bit of blood and the less clothing he destroyed, the better. She didn’t see it as a practical solution, did she?