Slade (New Species #2)(26)

She crawled toward the opening on her belly to peer down and jerked back hard when she saw someone move below her. She moved backward, still on her belly, and grabbed one of the rifles too. She fought down fear and inched forward to reach the opening.
She kept on her stomach when she drew closer to the edge, laying the rifle at her side to keep it within easy reach. She stayed as low as possible to peer over the edge again until she saw them. Two men were about twenty-five feet below her, climbing up the hillside were she hid. She ducked down. 
Both men wore camouflage green clothing and headed directly toward her hidden spot. She hoped they hadn’t seen her, assumed not, since they hadn’t called out. They’d reach the opening soon enough if she didn’t do something. She wondered how they had found her and if they were New Species. They usually wore black uniforms but did they wear them away from Homeland too? She didn’t know.
She could sit there waiting for them to discover her or keep them below her. She didn’t know what to do. She frantically wished Slade hadn’t left her because he’d know how to handle the situation. At least Slade would be able to smell them to know if they were his people or the enemy.
Indecision sawed at her. She uttered a silent curse and then decided she had to hold them back. If they reached the opening she wasn’t sure she could shoot them before they shot her since they outnumbered her. Slade had told her to hold them off with the weapons and he’d hear it. She wondered how these men had gotten past him but it didn’t really matter since they had. She moved again quickly and grabbed the last weapon. She wanted all three of them available.
She crawled on her stomach and peeked out over the edge again but couldn’t see their faces. She gripped the handgun and waited until one of them looked up. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. Trisha leaned out more to aim the gun right at him. His gaze widened in surprise when he saw her.
“That’s far enough,” she called out. “Don’t move or I will shoot. Who are you?”
The man next to him jerked his chin up until she could see his face too. He was a little older than his companion, in his early thirties, with facial hair, and a cold look. Trisha kept glancing back and forth between them. They climbed in a steep area below her, she remembered vividly how difficult it had been, and both of them had to hold on not to fall. It would be a painful fall if they lost their holds, if not deadly. They were a good fifty to sixty feet up the incline.
“We’re New Species,” the younger man stated evenly. “We’ve come to rescue you, Dr. Norbit.”
She bit her lip, studying their features. He looked a hundred percent human but so did the other man. Most of the New Species had distinct facial anomalies similar to Slade’s with his flattened nose and pronounced cheekbones. Justice North had those feature anomalies but he had cat eyes. Every New Species man she’d ever seen had long hair that fell at least to their shoulders but these men had crew cuts.
“I don’t believe you.” Fear gripped her, knowing they were trying to fool her.
“It’s true. Justice North sent us.” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Crap. How could she tell for sure? She’d hate to shoot the wrong men but an idea came to her suddenly. “What do you smell?”
He blinked. “You’re too high up to do that,” he responded after a few seconds. “We’re primate species.”
Those were rare, she’d only met one, but she’d been able to tell what he’d been because he’d had feature anomalies consistent with an ape—a flattened nose and rounded eye sockets. Her suspicion grew that they lied to her. Was she willing to shoot them though, one hundred percent certain they lied? Not yet. She’d hate to be wrong since she’d only seen one primate species.
I have a medical degree, she reminded herself. I’m supposed to be smart. She thought for a second and then smiled. “What’s today’s password? New Species know about the code system in place and I want you to tell it to me,” she bullshitted.He paled slightly. “It’s Noose.”
He’s good. She’d grant him that. He hadn’t missed a beat in finding an answer to give her. She smiled. “Wrong answer.”
“It was changed after you were run off the road,” the other man stated quickly. “It’s noose today. Justice changed the password because he was afraid it would be compromised if his man was forced to talk.”
Maybe they actually use code words. That thought made her hesitate. She’d been guessing but it was reasonable that they’d have secret passwords or codes. They were learning from humans since they’d been freed. She decided it wasn’t proof enough since it was a possibility. She needed more proof before she could be sure either way if they were full of crap or telling her the truth. It would be horrible if she shot a real New Species. Slade might not ever forgive her and she wouldn’t ever recover from the guilt. She’d sworn to save their lives, not take them, when she’d taken the job at Homeland.
“If you are who you say you are then you’ll know the name of the man Justice sent to escort me to where he wanted me to be. Tell me the name of the New Species, not the human escort.”
The second man spoke. “His name is Slade.”
She wavered for a second but then remembered how Slade had told her that Justice would probably have their names publicized to make it widely known they were missing in an attempt to get people to help find them. Slade’s name might be in the press right along with hers. She dropped that line of questioning.
Trisha’s finger tightened on the trigger. “What was the password for yesterday then?” She wanted to know how far they’d take it.
The men glanced at each other nervously. The younger one looked up. “Yesterday was my day off. I’m not sure but today it’s noose. We’re coming up to get you, Dr. Norbit. We have a team standing by about half a mile from here and we’re going to take you back to Homeland. You’ve been rescued.”
If there was a code system, the guy would know it, especially since he was a supposed member of a rescue team going after a New Species out of contact with his people. Since he didn’t, she figured her bluff had worked.
“There is no password, asshole.”
She saw both men glance at each other again, their alarm clear. One of them moved his hand and reached for something at his waist. “I’m getting my ID,” he warned loudly. “We do use passwords at Homeland. All security guards do.”
“So you’re New Species security guards? And you’re New Species? Is security guard your job title then?”
They both nodded. She couldn’t believe how easily both men lied. Paul had told her New Species never called themselves security guards, instead preferring the title of officers. They hated the other term. She watched him as he removed something from behind him. She wondered if he’d pull out his wallet and try to bluff her by showing his driver’s license. Instead he pulled out a gun. 
Trisha panicked at the sight of it, jerked the handgun in his direction, and fired. Two bullets deafened her unprotected ears before he fired back. His bullet flew wide and struck the dirt above her, making it rain down over her back. The third bullet she fired hit him.
He screamed as he lost his hold, fell back, and tumbled down the hill. She turned the gun on the second man who struggled to pull out something from the back of his waistband, one-handed, while trying not to lose his grip on the rock he held onto. She saw black metal when his hand came into view. Gun!
Trisha fired at him and struck him with one shot, getting better at aiming. She saw a part of his face where his cheek bloomed red and he screamed out. He released the handhold he had and fell straight back. She heard a horrible crunching sound when he hit bottom.
Trisha inched forward to stare down below at both men who lay at the bottom. One of them had landed on his side unmoving with bright red liquid spreading on the ground near him. The other man, the first one who’d fallen, sprawled face up. He moved an arm and she heard him groan even from where she hovered. Blood covered his face and his shoulder area.
She watched him as he lay there moving his leg and then he reached for something inside his pocket. When he pulled out a walkie-talkie she realized he would radio in her location. More of those assholes would come if they hadn’t already heard the gunshots. She had to stop him, knowing she couldn’t hold off more of them if they converged on her location.
She crawled out more until her body partially hung over the edge. Fear gripped her from how far away the ground appeared to be below her. She could plummet to her death if she slipped from her wobbly perch and was unable to stop her tumble. She aimed and pulled the trigger, watching him jerk as the bullet tore through his chest. The radio clutched inside his palm dropped to the dirt below him. He stared wide-eyed up at her but she knew he had died when he didn’t blink, didn’t move, after a good minute passed.
Trisha fought the urge to be sick as she assessed both men, determined they were certainly dead and that she’d killed them. She pushed and wiggled her upper body back inside the small cave, still gripping the handgun painfully with her fingers. She stared at it and then dropped it as tears blinded her. The reality of what she’d done slammed home hard.