Savage Hunger(55)

“It’s a little late to discuss what I should’ve and shouldn’t have been doing.” Warrick grunted as they climbed the stairs into the house. “And like I said earlier, not much of your business anyway.”

Quinton muttered something harsh, and Warrick was pretty glad he couldn’t hear it.

The other agents came rushing toward them, voices rising with anger and shock as they realized what was going on.

Biting back a bitter sigh, Warrick let Quinton do the answering, and was offered a small bit of relief that Sienna wouldn’t see what happened next.



What on earth was going on in the other room?

Sienna paced the bedroom, her stomach tied up like a pretzel. She wrapped her arms around her middle and swallowed the lump in her throat as she listened to the sounds of movement and raised voices.

Where had he come from? That officer had seemed to come out of nowhere. Well, really he had, because they were out in the middle of nowhere. How had he found them? Had someone tipped off the local sheriff’s office?

Her chest tightened and a chill raced through her. Maybe that was exactly it. Maybe someone had tipped them off. Someone in the house.

Quinton’s face wavered in the back of her mind and she bit her lip. Was it him? Really? He’d threatened to call them. Or maybe it wasn’t Quinton, but someone else entirely.

Maybe Leo had been hinting that there were a couple of the agents—God! How could she know? How could she trust any of them?

“What the hell are you doing to me?”

Sienna froze and her heart started a slow, heavy, foreboding thump. The shrill scream had come from the officer, which meant he was awake. Alive.

Thank God they hadn’t killed him.

“I’ll have you arrested. Every last one of you!” the man threatened, but the way his words wavered showed his terror.

Sienna stared at the closed door. As if maybe this time she could see through it to observe whatever horrible thing was being done. What was being done to the man?

Would they hurt him? God, they wouldn’t kill him would they? No, if that had been their intention they would’ve killed him on the trail. So, dammit, what was going on?

Sienna strode to the door—ignoring Warrick’s warning to stay in there until he came to get her. She twisted the knob and silently opened the door. When she didn’t see anyone guarding outside her door, she let out a silent sigh of relief.

Whatever was going on, she needed to see it.

Tiptoeing down the hallway, the sound of movement and the officer’s angry, fearful threats grew louder. But no one else said anything. It was just the cop and his panicked words.

Sienna reached the end of the hallway and gripped the wall, peeking her head around to glance into the living room. The air in her lungs caught as she watched the scene unfolding.

The officer had been strapped into a chair, with some kind of headphone type thing slipped over his head. He thrashed wildly, his eyes wide with panic, fear, and anger. The agents around him, for the most part ignored him.

“Please,” the officer begged now, seeming to lose any remaining pride. “I have a wife. Grandkids.”

Sienna shoved her fist into her mouth to keep from crying out to stop them. Her stomach churned and nausea assailed her.

“It’ll be over in a moment, Officer.” Quinton lifted some kind of remote device and pressed down on a button.

Sienna gasped as the man in the chair went still, his eyes widening. He shook his head and tried to lift his hands, but they were tied down to the chair handles.

“What are you doing to me?” the officer choked out. “You’ll spend the rest of your lives in a jail cell for this. You’ll never get away with this…”

He trailed off and then winced, almost as if in pain. His eyes closed for a moment. When they reopened, his gaze was disorientated with just flicks of recognition every now and then. His lashes fluttered closed once more, but this time stayed closed.

“And we’re done,” Quinton said quietly. “Get him onto the sofa. We’ve only got a few minutes before he comes around.”

When the agents moved forward, Sienna ducked her head back and out of view. She let it fall against the wall and closed her eyes.

Oh God. Oh God, what had just happened? Had that been the memory wipe in action? The process Warrick had told her about? What else could it have been?

Quinton had said the officer would come around. So he wasn’t dead. Thankfully. The man had been innocent, just out doing his job, and now this. She swallowed the lump in her throat and willed the racing of her heart to slow.

“I’ve got this, boys,” Quinton continued. “Let me do all the talking. In fact, everybody can just disappear for a little bit, all right? It would be better if I’m the only one around when he comes to.”