Page 84 of Arresting the Warlord

Pepe growled.

I asked,“You hungry, Uncle Jesse?”

“Now that you mention it, I am.”

“I apologize. I apologize,”Jia cried.

Picking up on her distress, Pepe bared his teeth and snarled viciously.

Jake pointed at the beastie.“What is that?”

I shrugged.“Not sure. Giovanni created him. He’s a smart little guy and he can mind speak.”

“Huh. Zarek will definitely want to us to confiscate him.”

“No!”Jia clasped the little guy to her chest.“Pepe’s mine and I won’t let you take him from me.”

His eyes cold with menace, Jake stated,“Prisoners have no rights.”

“Prisoner?”

“Partner,”I hurriedly inserted.

Jake slid me a narrowed sidelong glare.

“I’ll explain later,”I said on our private link.

“Yes, you will.”

Jia glared at us.“I thought this was a team effort to stop Giovanni and free his prisoners?”

“We are currently hunting Giovanni and there were no prisoners. Just empty cells,”Jake shot back.

The color drained from Jia’s face.“Dio mio. I knew it. Giovanni killed my brother.”

“You don’t know that yet. There are several drugs that can sever mental links. Once his base was under attack, Giovanni probably had the Rodan transport all his test subjects to another location,”I quickly interjected.

Jake nodded. “We found several stasis chambers in Giovanni’s lab. If your brother was placed in one, you won’t be able to link with him.”

“Adam could still be alive?”Hope flickered to life in Jia’s eyes.“We’ve got to find him before he turns into one of those horrible creatures. I can’t lose him too.”

I turned to Jake“The Rodan have to have a cloaked ship nearby. Were you able to track the transporter beams?”

“Sariel is pursuing the Rodan ship now,”Zarek answered.

I stifled a shriek. The man needed to wear a bell around his neck.

Amusement flashed in Zarek’s eyes.“What fun would that be?”

Holy hell, he was teasing me.

Pepe let out a warning bark.

“Shhh. Easy boy. He’s a friend,”I told Pepe.

Jia looked at me like I had lost my mind.“Friend?”

“Jia, this is Zarek, the Overlord of the Coletti Empire.”

---