Ryland by Kathi S. Barton Page A

there, he said there were laws or some shit.”
    “Yes, there are laws that he has to
follow. It was leave him there in charge or leave you. And you had things to do
for me.” Eli could hear his IQ lower every minute he spent with this fool. “And
I told you to leave her alone. She’s our only link to Bronwyn. Once we… You
said she was gone too? When did this happen?”
    Crawford shrugged. “Don’t know. About a
week ago, I guess. Her place is all there like she was coming back, but she
hasn’t yet. And that guy I had on her, that Otter? He’s gone too. I’ve been
looking for him since last week too. You think they being gone together means
something?”
    Eli laid his head on his desk. A week. She’d
been gone a week, which meant that either she was gone in the wind with Bronwyn
or she was with the other cat. It was highly unlikely that she had gone to
another cat. Her mate from before had been brutal and nasty. He doubted the
woman had even been near a man much less slept with one since.
    “You okay there, Eli?” He looked up to
see Crawford leaning toward him. “I thought maybe you were upset about Otter. I
am. He was a good kid.”
    Laughing at the absurdity of it all, Eli
sat up. He picked up his phone and found his calculator on it. He did some
quick math before putting it down again and looked at Crawford.
    “You can only spend twenty-five minutes
with me a day from now on. And, after you leave, I will need to spend twice
that to get even half the brain cells I lost trying to understand you. You’re
detrimental to my wellbeing.” He lifted his hand, already anticipating that
he’d have to explain most of the words he’d just used. “Twenty-five minutes. And
I’m setting the timer when you come in. Do you have anything else to tell me?”
    “I don’t think… You want me to go and
check to see if that building is gone still? I could go right there now.”
    “No. I’m pretty sure that once a
building is gone, it’s pretty much going to stay that way. But thanks. I want
you to find Sindy Wilson. And not to hurt her, just find her and bring her to
me. Understand?”
    “Yeah. Find Sindy Wilson and bring her
to you. I can’t hurt her either. I’m betting the others can’t hurt her either,
right?” Eli said that was correct. “I’ll go by her place and see if she’s come
back. If not, then I’ll go to her work place. I have me a friend in there that
can tell me what I want.”
    A friend in the hospital. Eli had
visions of his friend being a brain surgeon or something like that. He nodded
and, after writing down the instructions in his book, Crawford left.
    He was going to have to figure out a
better way to run the cats. They were afraid of Crawford; everyone was when he
was a cat and pissed, but he was beyond stupid and going to get them killed. How
he’d not managed to do that so far was insane. Eli opened the folder with Bronwyn’s
name on it.
    Christ, she was a beauty. Long red hair
and eyes that were both scary and hypnotizing at the same time. And her power? He’d
never created a more powerful being. And the fact that she could control it was
what he wanted. What he needed.
    He could make millions from her. Selling
her to the military, any military that had the funds he wanted, would do that.
Then he’d have the funding that he needed to make him more of a long-term cash
flow. Drugs that could do three to four times the damage for half the cost. But
he’d charge ten times what he would get for the real stuff.
    But he needed her first. And she wasn’t
doing what he’d wanted her to. Not now and not when he’d had her the first
time. Smiling, he flipped to the back of the folder to see the pictures he’d
taken of her the last time.
    Eli was a sadist. He knew that and so
did anyone who was caught in his bedroom or the play room with him for more
than five minutes. The only way he could get off was from inflicting physical and psychological pain to his victims,
and he loved it. And