Free Brandi by Donna McDonald

caught up in her emotionally charged debate with Gareth that she’d missed seeing him come into the room. She spared one last glance at the most distracting man she’d ever met before turning her attention to the distracting man’s handler.
     
    He was dressed in a pristine white lab coat, and underneath it she could see Shitty Sheldon wore business casual clothes. Chinos. Pale blue polo. Not exceptionally high quality, but not rack either. The only oddity was he wore sandals and socks instead of the expensive leather shoes his brother had favored. Of course, his brother had been located in Alaska.
     
    If you set the sandals aside, Sheldon Crane looked a lot like his brother Randall, only a lot less crazy and a lot more mean. But she’d seen mean before and had no doubt she’d see it again after today, regardless of any deals.
     
    “I’ve been an agent for over a decade, Dr. Crane. If I had a nickel for every time someone tried to kill me and failed, I’d be pretty rich right now.”
     
    “I’ve probably killed a few more people than your typical blood-thirsty target, except maybe the drug dealer who caught and tortured you last year. Ramirez wanted to become synonymous with the word evil. I believe he was well on his way to doing so before your team finally blew him up.”
     
    Brandi shrugged. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by someone with access to her records.
     
    “All they blew up was what was left of Ramirez when I got done. If you read the report I filed, you’ll know I got free… and that I stopped him.”
     
    She saw a flash in Crane’s eyes. Pride? In her? She snorted at her imagination, but couldn’t set her instinct about it aside.
     
    “I know everything about you, Agent Jenkins. I even know what my misguided brother did in his experiments. In fact, I knew nearly everything there was to know long before Gareth called to say he’d found another hybrid and would bring you in.”
     
    “Apparently raising cattle for a living is a boring life for a retired agent. We all know I got dropped into Gareth’s lying lap like a Christmas present. This is old news and not even interesting. What did you promise Travis Black Wolf in return for the information he provided?”
     
    To her amazement, Shitty Sheldon laughed. And when he did, he sounded just like his maniacal brother. Her wolf snarled inside her, wanting to break free. Brandi agreed with her wolf’s assessment of the potential danger. But she needed a lot more information. Silencing the man was the last thing she wanted to do.
     
    She watched as Dr. Sheldon Crane paced around the lab looking holier than the Pope in his pristine white scientist garb. She would have thoroughly enjoyed letting her wolf lunge at him just to see his face lose its smug expression. She had no doubt Ariel’s wolf would have already been at the man’s throat—a thought that cheered her immensely.
     
    She suspected Gareth would now try and stop her if she let her wolf loose on the man. His loyalty to anyone named Crane was just one more reason to distrust his words. Fighting didn’t suit her present interests in fact-gathering, but she certainly wouldn’t mind another chance to kick Gareth’s ass in the name of retribution.
     
    “I can honestly say Travis Black Wolf told me nothing interesting about you, Agent Jenkins. He didn’t even know you were an operative until I informed him. The only reason he’s here is because he has the same genes as his grandfather. Dr. Santiago confirmed the DNA match is very close.”
     
    Brandi glared at the explanation. “So you are planning to make more of me. When Santiago starting talking about changing me back, I suspected it wasn’t his real agenda.”
     
    “I haven’t told you about our real agenda yet, Agent Jenkins. You see, Randall was sending me regular updates on his experiments, including bios and photos of his subjects. It was my brother’s favorite way to brag about his achievements. But if I