Viper's Hope (Anguis Defenders Book 1)(76)

"It would be faster to take our vehicle. It's in the garage out back."

"Do we have to go outside to reach it?" Hope looked nervously at the pissed off male striking the window. "There's two others somewhere out there."

"No it's attached to the house. Don't worry our security is pretty good."

Hope nodded.

They moved through the shop to a door at the back. Inside the attached garage was a minivan sized vehicle. Umi opened the door and Hope jumped into the backseat.

She never felt so good as she did when the vehicle took off leaving her three abductors behind. For an old man Orn had a lead foot.

"Thank you!" Hope sobbed then said a prayer thanking fate for putting the old couple in her path.





15 Taking Love for Granted



Viper

"I don't know who ordered me to organize my sect. They just gave me the place and time." The lead Purist rioter wailed, blood streaming from his gut where Viper had raked his claws across his flesh.

Viper was sick of the asshole. It had taken way too much convincing for the tight lipped bastard to crack, but a few claws shoved into the abdomen seemed to do it.

Viper pushed the reprobate up against the wall, his spiked clavum at the male's throat.

"So you just listen to anyone who contacts you?" Viper snarled in the perpetrator's bloodied face.

"They used the code word." The male rasped as he swallowed hard, his throat raking against the sharp projections on Viper's forearm.

"Your life is already forfeit but know this, for every hair that is harmed on the Uxorem's head, I will flay a strip of flesh from your worthless hide, till you beg me for the sweet release of death." Viper promised the wretched male, pressing his forearm into the Purist's throat till blood welled and trickled down the tips of his serrated clavum.

As much as the beast inside was begging Viper to end this lowlife, he pulled back and stormed out of the detention cell.

"Fuck." Viper snarled, wiping blood off his claws onto his pants.

None of the prisoners seemed to know anything of value though several were real stubborn. The ones affiliated with the Purist group had the same story, they received a message calling them to protest, but were ignorant beyond that. The other idiots just seemed to go along for the ride.

"Don't give up." Adder gruff'd beside him.

It was getting late. If Hope wasn't found soon... Viper shook his head. He couldn't think about the awful possibilities.

"Prognatus, I have something I need you to see." Boaz said through Viper's private comm frequency.

"Go, I'll see if I can learn anything else here." Adder nodded to him.

Viper headed to security.

"What have you found?" He said the instant he entered, hoping Boaz had good news.

"The footage outside your cabin isn't the only footage that isn't quite right. Look here, this is the south-western recorder." Boaz stated.

Viper watched the vid seeing nothing unusual. The mercenary walked the perimeter as expected, on schedule, every ten minutes.

"What am I looking for?"

"See that guard." Boa pointed. "He walks from the left of the screen to the right, then back again." Boaz scanned forward. "Now he does it again on schedule, but watch. See how he again looks at his comm at the same spot near the tree, and notice the same bird takes off from the tree when he approaches, here in the top corner of the screen."

"It's a loop." Viper growled.

"Yes. Someone hacked the footage but got sloppy. Whoever was here in security would've been concentrating on the perimeter particularly with the riot. So the hacker did a better job concealing the border feed than they did with your pod, but it's still sloppy. I think they were betting no one would notice surveillance was down outside of your pod with everything else going on."

Viper snarled in anger. They'd all been distracted by the rioters.

"What I haven't determined is the source." Boaz grimaced."The loop was bad, but they covered their tracks well."

"Boaz I want a log of everyone who's had access to security. Cross it with anyone who was on the ship. It may not help but it can't hurt. Has there been any unsanctioned movement at the colony perimeter?"

"Nothing so far. Basilisk reported in half an hour ago but hasn't had any luck searching the city."

"Fucking bullshit." Viper bellowed.

Viper pushed down the feral need to put his fist through something. His hands clenched, claws biting into his palms. The pain a distraction from his mounting fear. He thought for sure the traitor would attempt to make a move to meet up with Hope's abductors.

Hope's beautiful pale face flashed in his mind. He imagined her eyes filled with fear and it nearly ripped him in two.