Desire Unmatched: 4 (Coded for Love) Read Online Free PDF Page A

knew by
the softness of the ends he was due for a trim.
    The concrete floor was cold against his bruised abdomen, and
the insides of his biceps screamed in agony as they stretched into position. He
lay parallel to the door, neck craned to the side to catch his first glimpse of
his captors. Two sets of black boots came into view. Goddammit, one of the
pairs was his. Stolen off his feet. The dude had to die.
    The boots marched within inches of his line of sight. One
prodded his side, but he hid his reaction. He’d die before sharing how much
pain that one little push had caused. “Soldier,” the man said.
    Xander turned his head but didn’t reply. They didn’t seem to
want a response. “Soldier,” the man said again. “Welcome to your new reality.
You will follow every order or you will die.”
    He remained silent. Really, what was there to say to that? Sir,
yes sir? The only person who’d ever taken that kind of obedience from him
was his father.
    “You will cooperate with the doctor or you will die.”
    The guy needed to stop throwing the word die around.
Though he wasn’t chomping at the bit to meet his maker, there were things in
the living world that terrified him more than dying. Emma, for one.
    Wait a second, had he said doctor? There was only one doctor
he could think of who would have interest in him. Sure enough, a small dark
shadow of a man appeared in the doorway. Xander blinked at the apparition to
see it was Paulson, looking much older than he had a few weeks back in London.
Of course he’d only caught a brief glimpse of the doctor, but the man hovering
in the doorway looked old. As in about-to-keel-over old.
    “Paulson?” he asked from the floor.
    The old man shuffled closer. “You know me, soldier, but I
don’t know which of Shepard’s boys you are.”
    “Does it matter?”
    The older doctor sighed and reached an age-spotted hand to
steady himself on the wall, which was badly in need of a fresh coat of paint.
“No, I suppose not.”
    “You’ve gotten into bed with some bad partners, Paulson.”
Xander spoke clearly, not caring that the captors surrounding him with guns
might take offense.
    Paulson didn’t respond for a minute, but then he leaned away
from the wall and down so far Xander feared he might fall over on top of him.
There was a look in Paulson’s eyes he tried to decipher. Was it despair? Fear?
    “Stop this conversation. Enough.” The guard with the cultured
accent stepped into Xander’s line of sight. “Doctor Paulson, tell him what you
need, then we leave.”
    Paulson straightened and eyed the guard, who was clearly the
leader. “My old age has made it hard to talk. I wrote out a list of
instructions for the soldier. With your permission.” He held out a piece of
paper ripped from a notepad out in a shaking hand.
    The guard scowled and grabbed for the paper. “I read that
first.”
    Xander noted the byplay, using every bit of information to
gather intel and plot his escape. Paulson wasn’t fully trusted by these Middle
Eastern men. Interesting. He didn’t waste much time wondering about the motives
of Paulson’s partners. They were likely a terrorist cell hoping to breed an
enhanced soldier for their own use. Thinking long term, obviously, as it would
take a long time for an enhanced baby to grow up and do their bidding.
    The leader read whatever was written on Paulson’s
instruction sheet. When he didn’t find anything suspicious, he nodded, crumpled
it into a ball, and hurled it at Xander’s face. Then he squatted on his
haunches, making sure the semi-automatic was within view at all times, and got
up in Xander’s face. “You follow instructions. You live a bit longer. You got
it?”
    Xander didn’t respond. Was there a need? Until he read
Paulson’s paper, he wasn’t agreeing to anything. The guard rose to full height
and jerked his head toward the door. Everyone filed out.
    “I’m going to want a bed. And food. And my boots,” he called
at their