Fever - Selina Brinkmann (short novels to read .TXT) 📗

it was still in New Mexico. We didn’t drive for that long. It might have already been Colorado but not further.”

“So you have been in this cage for three years?”

Evy hiccupped and twister her fingers. Narrowing his eyes Roan saw her tensing.

“No, not really. They sometimes put me out to see if I could really communicate with the wind. If I wasn’t cooperating they would put me out with only a shirt and shorts. But the wind never came. Until I escaped I thought it had left me.”

So she hadn’t accepted her abilities yet. That explained why they hadn’t picked up anything too strong from her.

“Do you remember anything about the day you escaped?”

“Just a bit. They used to put drugs into my food too keep me tranquilized. But I got rid of the food and when they brought me back out I took my chance and ran. The laboratory looks pretty much like an observatory, I guess. But as it is stationed in a valley it cannot be the main purpose.”

Roan could feel the beast in him rising when he heard about her food being poisoned but also felt proud about her escaping on her own.

“Have there been others in this place?”

Shrugging her shoulder Evy leaned a bit backwards. “I think one or two years ago there had been some more. However at the beginning of last year it had grown really quite. I am positive that I was the only one down there.” – At least the only female.

He blinked and thought that he had hear something after she had finished her sentence but dismissing it as nonsense Roan decided that it had been enough for today.

“So do you have taken any liking to the jobs done here?” he changed the topic and send off the record of their talk to Liam for investigation. He might be able to find this place and if he did Roan would personal hunt down the mors that had held her captive.

“I haven’t seen a lot yet and I am pretty useless until I learn how to control my powers but I would quite like to work with the guards. It seemed like a real interesting job.”

Coughing Roan studied her closer. Recalling the guys he had trained with he was pretty sure that Evy only weighted half of their weight and that they could just break a bone in her petite body if they set their mind on it.

“Don’t you think something like Charleen or Roxanne are doing is more interesting?”

Not wanting this idea of becoming a guard growing in her head Roan tried to steer free of that kind of employment while he talked to Evy.

Grinning she realized what he tried to do but let it slip as she quite enjoyed his company. Not being his arrogant and over bearing self he was good to talk to. And it didn’t hurt that every time she caught him looking at her closely he didn’t pretend he wasn’t doing it but focused on her and a warm feeling began to settle inside her.

“So you really think that I should follow Charleen’s suggestion and ask to turn off his boiler if he keeps using showers in the middle of the night!” Evy laughed when she heard him giving her the same advice.

“Definitely and if he doesn’t stop then you can just ask me. I am sure he will back down if he sees me.” He folded his arms in front of him. Getting side tracked by the muscles she could make out Evy didn’t respond at once.

Hearing him clear his throat she looked into his amused eyes and narrowed hers.

“Don’t be so full of yourself. I only have to tell Roxanne how bad this meeting went and she will come running after you and probably hitting you with a broom.”

Faking a terrified scream Roan started to answer but was interrupted by his one screen. Annoyed he picked it up.

“What do you want, T.?” He bellowed into it and didn’t care when Taylor frowned.

“What got your knickers in a twist, big boy? I just wanted to remind you about your meeting with this Wilder guy from Germany.”

Closing his eyes he immediately calmed down and nodded swift. “Noted and will be on my way soon!”

Switching off his phone he turned his attention back to Evy. “Sorry about that. Work calls. I can bring you to your room if you want me to.”

Shaking her head Evy got up and chuckled. “Don’t worry. I will find my way! Might even be able to catch Roxanne. And if not there is always someone around.” And with that she left his room.

Still sitting in his chair Roan also got up. He wasn’t all too happy with that Wilder guy now. Technically he knew that it wasn’t that other guys fault but it never hurt to let off some steam and if the guy was serious about building a sanctuary he better gets used to how things were done.

Small talk with a dragon

“So what do you have for me!” Roan slipped into the control room and faced Taylor. She was sitting with her legs crossed on her chair and twirled a pencil around. Her red hair was shaved at one side and as he approached she swiftly put the pencil behind her ear.

Shaking his head at her antics he simply grabbed it and teased her for a second before putting it back into place. Rubbing her head she shrieked as he pulled a bit at her longer hair.

“Very professional.” Poking out her tongue she twirled around on her chair and faced the screen. “So who did I interrupt you with? Must have been someone important!”

Deciding that she would find out soon enough he just shrugged. “That’s for you being so immature.”

“Well grumpy grandpa not everybody can be 31 already. Sorry for still being in my 20s.” And with a lift of her eyebrow she added “And I bet that Liam knows.”

Roan just shrugged his shoulders and sat down next to her. “So what did you find out about that Wilder guy.”

“First of all, he is called Tom Wilder.”

“So what. Trust me I’d rather not have interrupted my prior conversation. He is lucky that I don’t call him idiot or worse.”

“Charming, charming.” Taylor suppressed a chuckle. “Well if you want him to cooperate with us you should restrain from calling him that then!”

When he simply snorted she added. “He is originally from Siegen. It is half an hour away from Cologne. They are 18 of them at the moment.” Having agreed to the EU orders both of them knew that Germany’s government didn’t allow any survivors to search refugee in their state officially but it was known that some of their parties supported them. Having a sanctuary abroad might give them the opportunity to finally enter the continent again without too many issues.

“Moreover he has good knowledge in technic and might be able to strengthen our defences and stretch our resources.”

“Do you know anything about his abs?” Roan needed to know that. If they were to trust that man he needed to know as much as possible.

“No records. At least so far. There are some rumours but they sound too much like fairy tales to be true.” Taylor opened her One-Screen and projected a picture of this Wilder fellow.

He was a tall guy. If Roan was standing next to him they would probably be of the same height. His eyes were a really light shade of blue and the colouring was enhanced by his sandy hair colour. The only thing disrupting his surfer image was the scar that was running across his face. From his left temple it cut through his eyebrow and went across his nose. His eye was luckily spared but the corner of his mouth was lifted slightly due to it and he appeared to be smirking constantly.

“It’s a shame with the scar. He would have made a great model.” Taylor shook her head and grinned when Roan looked at her.

“A woman is allowed to admire a fine specimen of man from time to time.”

Roan just turned his head back towards the picture and looked at it closer. He was sure that he has seen that guy before. The eyes smiling on that picture could turn cold within seconds or so he thought he knew.

“Do you have anything else about him? Something about military service maybe?”

“As you mentioned it. I remember reading something about that.” Bending down she looked at the papers cluttering her desk. However before she could show it to him her controller rang and she mouthed.

“They are calling.”

Nodding Roan switched the screen on and now had the live Tom Wilder sitting in front of him. The connection seemed stable and as he knew that Taylor would never allow an insecure one he started to speak.

“Tamara told me that you were seeking our aid in building a sanctuary in Germany. Am I correct Tom Wilder?”

The guy grinned and flashed a pair of nice white and even teeth. “Just Wilder. And yes your information are correct.”

Roan narrowed his eyes at the man and studied him closer. And then he realized who the guy was.

“Drake Wild. Fancy seeing you so soon again.”

His blue eyes didn’t reveal an emotion at all. “Tell me why you changed your name.”

“I doubted that you would receive my call if I contacted you as the Drake Wild.”

“Maybe not” reconsidering it Roan leaned back, “I would probably have received your call. It is nice to see someone from Chamerleys hounds being loose.”

Snarling Drake took a step closer to the camera. “I don’t work for that rat anymore. Left him a year ago. He left us to rot in the jungle of Pucallpa.” Pointing at his scar he added “got a nice souvenir.”

“O yeah. I thought that it had been new. But then our last encounter was a long time ago and I didn’t want to sound as though I enjoyed studying your ugly face.”

Drake broke out into laughter and when it ceased Roan could still see his shoulders tremble. Having fought some nasty battles against each other both being ordered by different man and not them they had enjoyed the fight from time to time as long as nobody on their troops had been seriously injured.

“So are you still doing it?” Drake asked and leaned back in his chair.

“Gotta keep the money coming in.” Roan laughed, “And it keeps me fit. Cause trust me it takes a lot of time to actually run a sanctuary.”

Coming back to the topic Drake lifted one eyebrow. “I am used to hard work and I got some guys here from my former troop so I wasn’t joking about building one up.”

Taylor couldn’t resist and poked her head in from behind Roan. “It’s not too bad and our big guy here had a nice chat today. Stretching his pause to almost two hours.”

Drake laughed when he saw Roan pushing the girl away from the screen. “Seriously you are not supposed to tell him that. You completely destroyed my bad guy image here.”

“So who have you been talking to? Who was the lucky girl?”

“So sure it was a girl?”

Drake leaned his head to the side, “Roan you might be one of the fiercest fighters I had the displeasure to meet but you wouldn’t sit with a man in your break just for fun. So who is she?”

“Nobody you would know and that is all I am telling right now.”

“Fair enough, mate. But back to business. I got some buildings in the area here and also support from the left wing. Not official of course but I know that they won’t intervene if we start a new project here.”

“When I started New Terra we decided to go underground but I think those buildings should do nicely. Well as long as enough people can live there.” Roan frowned. “Our two other sanctuaries are quite small. Our is filled to three quarters but if space is needed we can easily widen our system. Do you have any figure in your head?”

“At the moment we are quite small. But