Page 27 of Grizzly Sleuth
“Then help me do something about it.”
She glanced at him. “Join you in your suicide quest?”
“At least I’m doing something. We both know running is only a temporary solution. So, why not stick around and help me?”
He raised a good point. Fleeing Russia might only provide a temporary reprieve. “What can I do? I’m not a bear.”
“No, but you’d fight to the death for one. And don’t sell yourself short. There’s lots you could do, like reach out to Levy and tell him you’ve got a tip on the bears. Tell him you’ll only talk to him in person.”
“Sounds like a good way for me to be shot on sight,” she muttered.
“We wouldn’t let you go alone.”
“And if we’re overwhelmed? Once this doctor has you and Yuri, he wouldn’t have a use for me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’d simply have to admit you and Yuri are related.”
“How does that help?”
“Levy won’t kill you, as that prick will probably get a hard-on at the thought of comparing your genetics to your brother’s.”
“He won’t find anything,” she stated.
“Don’t be so sure.”
“I am sure, because Yuri was god-blessed.”
“Was he? Or did it just so happen that was the first time he managed to touch his other side? You share the same blood. Who’s to say you just haven’t had the right trigger yet?”
Her, a bear? Ridiculous. “Your plan has one big flaw. Soon as this doctor sees and recognizes me, he’ll know it’s a trap.”
“Got a better idea?”
She did actually. Forget everything that had happened in the last day. Drag Idris to the bedroom and indulge in some stress relief.
A plan that never had a chance, as Yuri chose to return at that moment, crowing, “We have a car!”
Chapter Eight
Dr. Ian Levypaced within his hotel room as he listened to the general rant on the phone tucked against his ear.
“…should have shot that fucking bear in the head when we had the chance. It wasn’t as if he served any use, given his weakness.”
Patient Seventy-six, known as Idris Robinson, had been kept alive at Ian’s request. He didn’t see any of the subjects who survived the protocol and could transform as failures. But he and the general had very different views on what counted as a success.
“I actually think it’s a good thing he’s reappeared,” Ian stated.
“Are you dumb?” An insult Ian ignored, as the general had a tendency of denigrating those he worked with. “How is his reappearance good? He risks blowing Project Therianthrope wide open. I want him dead.”
“No.” Ian found it easier to use the word with General Davidson, who was thousands of miles away in Malaysia, hunting yet another escaped patient as well as seeking out new genetic material. Research indicated that tiger shifters still existed in that country.
“What do you mean, no? Patient Seventy-six serves no purpose.”
“I disagree. Now that we know for sure that this other bear, Yuri, is also a shapeshifter, it is imperative we capture Seventy-six.”
“You’d better have a good reason as to why,” the general’s terse reply.
“Because having a pair means I’ll have a proper base of comparison. Think of it. Two males, both capable of morphing into ursines, means I can study the difference between them, if any. Perhaps even see what caused the defect that makes Patient Seventy-six shift with only minimal pain.”
