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Rye, Ryan Desalvo, his bodyguard and friend, met him halfway.
Dane lowered his head to Rye’s ear. “Bring the discs.”
He felt Rye tense. “Seth will cut your heart out.”
/> “And dine on it for dinner, I’m certain,” Dane drawled. “Bring the discs.”
They had brought the discs as insurance, just in case. Just in case this happened. Just in case the votes needed didn’t appear forthcoming. Because the majority of those men didn’t know the true scope of the atrocities the Council had committed, and they clung to the hope that it was indeed Breed propaganda that claimed it had happened.
As in so many events in the past, those of evil and malicious intent twisted the truth to suit their own purposes. The discs and images of the true scope of cruelties committed against Breed females were hidden, for the most part, within the Breed strongholds. But Seth was an enterprising chap. He’d found many of them. And they were needed now.
Lawrence Industries and Vanderale Industries were the Breeds’ major supporters. If they fell, so many others would fall as well.
As Rye moved along the hallway, turned and headed for their rooms, Dane moved back to the board members.
“He’s surely not serious,” said Brian Phelps, owner and CEO of a large import/export business that Lawrence had taken under their wing and refinanced. Phelps had been given a seat on the board, while the import/export business had become a part of Lawrence Industries at a drastically reduced amount.
“I believe he may be,” Dane admitted with a sigh. “Let’s reconvene, gentlemen, and see what we can do to draw Seth back to the table.” He glanced back in the direction Seth had gone as though worried, when in fact he was damned near gleeful that Seth had finally pushed the board members to resolve this. Now they would learn who their allies were and who was backed by the Council.
Seth had been serious, and the members of the board had seen it. Seth rarely became upset; he never walked away from negotiations, preferring to fight them out instead. Dane remembered the year of hell that he had worked to get on this board. Drawing Seth in had been nearly impossible. The other man had made him sweat, and it hadn’t been pleasant.
“Let him enact the codicil,” Theodore Valere, the member that worried Dane the most, inserted arrogantly, and too smugly.
Valere owned the majority of Spain’s pharmaceutical companies; unfortunately, he had made the supreme mistake of allowing his brother a large share of those companies. The brother had sold them to Aaron Lawrence when Valere refused to bail him out of a rather large gambling debt.
Hence the reason Valere was on the board to begin with. He couldn’t take the shares back; all he could do was give his input or vote on how the majority profits of Lawrence Industries were used. And then only if Aaron or Seth were willing to negotiate. The codicil to the major shareholder agreement was completely legal and enforceable.
“Theodore, if Seth enacts that codicil, we could all be shitting with our thumbs up our arses the next time we’ve a problem facing our own companies.”
“It’s not as though it will affect Vanderale. Lawrence Industries is no more than a pet project of yours, Dane, admit it,” Carrington snapped. “The holding Lawrence bought from you was in no way attached to Vanderale.”
“Father can be a shade possessive of his holdings.” Dane sighed as though he were the reckless playboy he was perceived to be. “He’s going to expect results from me here, and he does have a soft spot for the Breeds. Disappointing him here would not be in my best interests.”
Or those of the others. The world was no longer such a small place and Vanderale Industries had always had its sights toward that. It had a finger in many pies, just as Lawrence Industries did. Many of those pies were now staring back at Dane, sweating, uncertain if they should stand their ground or allow Seth’s measures to continue to back the Breeds.
Backing Sanctuary and Haven was a smart business decision, as Dane well knew. Callan Lyons and the Wolf Breed leader, Wolf Gunnar, were excellent leaders and strategists. They would lead the Breeds into a future that would one day see them not just secure, but completely profitable and self-supporting.
“Ah, here’s Rye,” Dane murmured then and glanced back at the board members. Yes, the members of Seth’s board of directors were about to receive a very rude awakening. “A few discs I’ve managed to attain myself from some very greedy Council soldiers. Should we go view them?” He extended his arm to the meeting room as the others watched him with almost fearful curiosity.
Valere was quiet, but in his black eyes Dane glimpsed the evil that he could smell hovering over the man like decayed flesh.
Theodore Valere came from Spanish aristocracy. His family could trace their roots back to the Middle Ages. Hurrah, hurrah. Dane’s father had traced the Valere family roots as well and found a history of depravity and petty cruelties. The past three generations of Valere money had filled the Genetics Council coffers.
The Council had ruled the Breeds with an iron hand, destroying their creations despite the billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars that had gone into giving them life. The miracles they had created were ignored. The scientists didn’t see them as miracles; they saw them as tools and as expendable creatures.
The discs Dane had acquired had been authenticated by the world’s foremost authorities on video and audio production, enhancement and duplication. There was no doubt each event, each bloodcurdling scream, each demented plea for mercy was real.
The blood that filled the labs, the cold faces of scientists and soldiers alike, the complete inhumanity of the experiments, all in the name of science, were events that even the staunchest stomach couldn’t bear.
And the girls. The faces of young female Breeds, were those that were hardest to bear. Dane stood by the viewer and stared back at the board members, his eyes hard, the sounds of agonized wails echoing in his head, as they always did, even in his nightmares.
All but Valere turned away. He stared at the images, a heavy frown on his face as he watched, a glimmer of pleasure in his eyes. And Dane swore, before much longer, he would have the proof he needed. When he did, Valere would die.
Dane wasn’t bound by Breed Law. He didn’t have to turn his evidence over to the Breed Ruling Cabinet, law enforcement agencies or senators. All he had to do was assure his own conscience. Once that last shred of doubt was assuaged, then Valere blood would spill.
As Breed blood had spilled.
Over and over again.
