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  THE BARRIERS

  The Breeders Series Book 5

  Katie French

  Copyright

  Text copyright © 2016 by Katie French All rights reserved. www.katiefrenchbooks.com

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. For information, visit www.katiefrenchbooks.com.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  June 2016 Edition

  Cover design by Sanja Gombar

  Edited by Lindsey Alexander

  Copy Edit by Cynthia Shepp

  Formatting by Polgarus Studio

  Dedication

  To Kimberly Shursen:

  One of the first who told me this writing dream was not as crazy as it sounded. You’re a gem.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Previously on The Brothers: Breeders Book 4 (Spoilers!)

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE - Riley

  CHAPTER TWO - Ethan

  CHAPTER THREE - Riley

  CHAPTER FOUR - Clay

  CHAPTER FIVE - Riley

  CHAPTER SIX - Ethan

  CHAPTER SEVEN - Riley

  CHAPTER EIGHT - Clay

  CHAPTER NINE - Ethan

  CHAPTER TEN - Riley

  CHAPTER ELEVEN - Clay

  CHAPTER TWELVE - Riley

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Ethan

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Clay

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Riley

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Clay

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Riley

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Riley

  CHAPTER NINETEEN - Betsy

  CHAPTER TWENTY - Riley

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Clay

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - Riley

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - Clay

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Auntie Bell

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Ethan

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Riley

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - Riley

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - Clay

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - Riley

  CHAPTER THIRTY - Clay

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - Riley

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - Riley

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - Clay

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - Clay

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE - Riley

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX - Riley

  More Books by Katie French

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Previously on The Brothers: Breeders Book 4

  (Spoiler alert if you haven’t read previous books in the series!)

  The Brothers picks up where The Benders left off—Riley, Doc, and Auntie are traveling from Merek Bullets and Ammo, which has just been liberated by the evil Lord Merek. They are hell-bent on tracking down Ethan and Clay, who they hear are being held captive at Kirtland Air Force Base. Riley is determined to get there as fast as possible, but when she’s stung by a scorpion, Auntie insists they delay. Riley, in excruciating pain, is no good to anyone. To help Riley pass the time, Auntie tells her a tale of escape.

  Seventeen years in the past, we meet Janine, a quiet, submissive Breeders’ girl. Janine is one of the females being used in a Breeders’ hospital to bolster the dwindling human race. But she has a problem—she can’t get pregnant. According to Breeders’ policy, a girl who cannot produce by her seventeenth birthday must be sold into slavery. In the meantime, a Breeders’ doctor, Dr. Houghtson, has taken a liking to Janine. He tells her that if she cannot get pregnant, he will buy her as his wife.

  With her hopes set on one final implantation—her last chance at pregnancy—Janine bides her time. But before the month is up, she’s told she will be sold early. Terrified, she is dragged down to a slave trader, but at the last moment, Dr. Houghtson comes to her rescue, offering up another girl in her place. Now, whether she likes it or not, Janine is indebted to Houghtson.

  When the final implantation treatment happens, the nurse assisting Houghtson notices something strange—the doctor has not implanted an embryo in Janine. They guess he’s been maintaining this ruse all along, trying to keep Janine pure for himself. Devastated, she turns to Nanny Bell for help. Bell tells her there’s only one way to solve her problem now. Under Bell’s direction, Janine convinces her friend and the hospital’s janitor, Robbie, to give her a baby the natural way.

  The time arrives for Janine to prove she’s pregnant or be sold. When Janine reveals she is carrying a child, Houghtson is furious. He knows she was unfaithful, but he had to keep this to himself or risk exposure. He decides to marry Janine and spend the rest of her life torturing her for the infidelity.

  Janine decides the only way to keep Houghtson from wanting her is to destroy the one thing he is drawn to—her beauty. Desperate, Janine burns half her face. While in terrible pain, her only consolation is that Houghtson won’t want her. But when he shows up with a priest, she realizes the depth of his obsession.

  That night, Nanny Bell breaks Janine out of the hospital. On the road, they are tricked and captured by identical twins, Gabe and Tommy. Though they seem like reluctant kidnappers, the boys take the women back to their apartment and tie them up. While Tommy is away, Gabe, the friendly brother, decides to take Janine on a tour instead of keeping her captive. While he’s doing so, Nanny Bell escapes and Tommy catches her, accidentally stabbing her in the process and leaving Bell gravely injured.

  The twins call in Prentice, the town’s defacto ruler, and he is not pleased. He doesn’t care that Bell is going to die. He wants to sell Janine as repayment for the expensive anti-seizure medication he gives Gabe. Tommy and Gabe agree to sell the women, but when Prentice leaves, Gabe tells Janine he has no intention of selling anyone. Tommy, on the other hand, is far too practical to think they can cheat Prentice.

  To cheer Janine up, Gabe takes her on a bike ride through the city, but during their adventure, Janine falls, and Gabe, far ahead on his own bike, doesn’t notice. Three men find her and take her to a warehouse to play a demented game in which two contestants compete to solve a puzzle in an allotted amount of time. If they lose, they are taken to a hallway where they are beaten to death. Janine wins but realizes that by doing so, she has doomed her opponent to die. She is brought to Prentice and finds Gabe, too. Apparently, Prentice and Gabe have a tentative friendship. Prentice tells Gabe that because of her win, Janine must compete again that night.

  When night comes, Tommy, Gabe, and Janine go back to the warehouse for another puzzle competition, but this time, the man competing looks highly skilled. Janine is sure she’ll be killed, but at the last second, Tommy takes her place. In a terrible turn of events, he loses and is sent to the hallway. Janine cannot watch Tommy die, so she risks everything and begs them to stop. When things turn violent against Janine, a powerful out-of-towner shames Prentice into calling off the beating. They’re safe for now, but Prentice is furious. They’ve cost him tons of money, and they need a plan to pay it back or he’ll no longer supply Gabe with life-saving drugs.

  The three concoct a plan to break into a local hospital where it is rumored drugs are stored. They’ll get Gabe’s medicine and repay Prentice at the same time. Janine wants the twins to join her and Nanny Bell because she’s developed feelings for them.

  When they get to the hospital, they discover it’s full of traps. They find the medicine, but not before Gabe is nearly blown to pieces. Tommy rushes him home to be bandaged up, and then together, Tommy and Janine deliver the drugs to Prentice.

  When Prentice sees the drugs, he i
s furious. The drugs were his in the first place, and now, thanks to the booby traps, half his stash has been destroyed. He sentences Janine and Tommy to battle each other in the last game. Both are devastated. Tommy confesses his feelings for Janine right before they are sent in.

  Now Janine must face Tommy in the last game—a tank of water with a puzzle box secured to the bottom. As she struggles to open up the box, her tank is filled with water. Though she solves the puzzle, the key doesn’t fit the lock. Prentice has rigged it so that both contestants will die.

  Just before she drowns, a bullet shatters her glass and releases her from her watery grave. Houghtson has tracked her down. Half-mad, he tries to take her back, but he ends up in a shootout with Prentice’s men. Tommy, who Janine has freed from his tank, tries to save her from Houghtson and dies in her arms. In her rage, she kills Houghtson. With Tommy dead and their debt paid, Prentice tells them to leave. Together, with Nanny Bell and Gabe, they take Tommy’s dead body and drive away.

  That night, they cremate the body. Janine is heartbroken. The man she loved is dead. She comforts his twin, telling him she loved Tommy too. The twin turns to her, surprised, and kisses her. It turns out Gabe is dead and Tommy is alive. Gabe switched places with Tommy at the last second. Though they are sad about Gabe’s death, Janine and Tommy have each other. Tommy changes his name to Arnold to keep Prentice off his tail, and the three go on to make their way in life.

  PROLOGUE

  Beetle drove up the cracked road as fast as the depleted solar car would go. Subject Seven was gaining on him.

  He’d seen flashes of Seven in the rearview, racing along the roadside behind him, ducking in and out of debris, cactus, and brush. He’d stunned it, that much he knew for sure. Zapped it good from six feet away with his Taser, a killer shot by anyone’s standards, but it had recovered so quickly. It was then Beetle realized he never should have come alone, or this late in the day. Now, with no sun to charge the solar car and no juice in the batteries, he was a few minutes away from having to run.

  And that would be a problem.

  He’d tracked the damn thing all afternoon. The crumbled city was a veritable labyrinth of places for it to hide. Every collapsed building hid dark basements and closets. Each alleyway had piles of bricks and trash, perfect hiding spots for a being as disgusting and ruthless as the one he was tracking. Then he’d found the lair. Both terrified and excited, Beetle had waded through nests of shredded fabrics, dirty sweaters, blue jeans, and kids’ blankets, all culled from the abandoned storefronts and dragged into the basement of one of the collapsed buildings on Main Street. But Subject Seven wasn’t in the nest. Satellite technology wasn’t what it used to be. That could explain the error in Dr. Washington’s calculations, but as he climbed through chunks of the abandoned town the thing called home, he had a feeling Seven was setting him up.

  The damn thing knew he was coming and had laid a false trail. One he followed until it nearly took his head off.

  It was smarter than they thought. And more brutal.

  They’d jumped him in an alley, Subjects Seven and Eight working in tandem. He hadn’t even considered Eight could be a threat. He’d nearly had his head separated from his body before he was able to get the Taser in his hands and zap them both. Once they were on their backs, he’d given Seven a swift kick, not that he would tell anyone. Then he’d grabbed Eight and ran.

  Now he glanced in the backseat at the mound beneath the blanket. Eight—unconscious and safe. If he brought Subject Eight back, he’d receive a hero’s welcome. Dr. Washington could continue her experiments and “set the world straight again.” And if he failed? He didn’t know who he was more afraid of—the other doctors or Subject Seven.

  His foot pressed the acceleration pedal to the floor, but the car continued to creep along, lurching like a drunk toward home. Only minutes left until the juice ran out. Until he was stranded.

  “Come on, you bastard,” he said through gritted teeth. He pressed his foot down until it hurt, but the car continued to slow.

  “Oh God,” he breathed, his fingers trembling as he glanced into the rearview. Where was Seven?

  The solar car meant safety, a solid steel-alloy frame with giant all-terrain tires. What would he do when it finally died? How in the hell did he think he’d get away on foot carrying the nearly seventy-pound cargo? He couldn’t leave Eight behind. Dr. Washington would banish him to the desert.

  The Taser should’ve laid Subject Seven out longer. Beetle thought a zap that powerful might’ve killed the thing. That one error might mean the end of his life.

  The car slammed to a stop. Beetle’s chest rammed into the steering wheel, shooting pain up his sternum. Eight rolled off the seat and banged into him from behind. He hoped it was okay. He pressed the accelerator once more, but nothing happened. His wheels were stuck, and the car’s battery was almost dead.

  “Sonofabitch!” he screamed, pounding the steering wheel until it hurt. Why wasn’t he paying attention to the road? Goddamn it, he was not going to die. He was not!

  Glancing out the windows and seeing nothing but buttes and scraggly cactus, Beetle swung open the door and stepped out. The concrete in front of him had fallen away, tumbling into a broken pile on the bottom of a three-foot crevice that cut jaggedly across the road. It had probably been created by those earthquakes they’d felt a few months ago. His front wheel had gotten lodged in the crack. If he had seen it, he probably could’ve dodged it, but he was preoccupied with looking in the rearview. He leaned down and considered his predicament. The tire dangled into the open space, and the car was resting on its frame. If the batteries weren’t on their last legs, he could gun it in reverse and probably get free, but the car had given up the ghost.

  “Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” he yelled, and then regretted it, swinging around to look for Seven. So far, nothing. Dear Christman Jesus, he had to hurry.

  God, how far was he from the base? In the distance, he could see the dip in the road that led home. Why had Dr. Washington sent him alone? Why wasn’t the team watching on the satellite and sending help? Maybe they were watching and didn’t care. This could all be part of Washington’s plan. To see what Subject Seven would do when provoked. As sweat poured down Beetle’s face, he decided to hell with Subject Eight. To hell with Dr. Washington. He didn’t want to be torn to pieces and left on the pavement for birds to pick at his guts.

  He heard heavy breathing behind him. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck.

  From his periphery, he saw the huge shape just before it clobbered him.

  He fell hard. His head jarred against the pavement with a smack that radiated through his body. Blackness.

  When he came to, everything was blurry, fuzzy shapes in brown, yellow, and green. He couldn’t remember… Subject Seven. When he turned, pain shot up into his head sharp enough for his consciousness to fade. He blinked his eyes into focus.

  Subject Seven was tearing the solar car apart in a frenzy. Beetle heard the creak of complaining metal as the door was bent back.

  “Ssstop,” Beetle slurred. Where was the Taser? His trembling hands crept down his sides, searching for pockets that seemed miles away. The pulsing pain at the back of his skull threatened to end him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Dr. Washington’s greatest achievement. And her worst.

  “Don’t take it,” he managed.

  Subject Seven turned and pounced.

  Beetle’s breath chuffed away as Seven slammed both hands into his chest. He gulped for oxygen, but there was none to be found. His eyes opened to see Seven’s face above his, evaluating, calculating. There was no mercy in that gaze.

  The last thing he felt was the blow to his skull.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Riley

  I grit my teeth and place the gun barrel into the guard’s ear. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell me where they are, and then I’m pulling this goddamn trigger.” I push the gun into his cartilage to make my point.

  “I-I told
you,” he whines, snot dripping from his nose onto the dirt where he sits. “I d-don’t know.”

  This kid’s sniveling should stir something human in me, but it’s Clay and Ethan we’re talking about. I’ve been trying to get here for three days, not to mention the weeks spent at Merek Bullets and Ammo, and that long, hard journey seems to have hardened any softness left in me. Staring at the back of this guard’s bristly shaved head glowing bronze in the twilight, I feel nothing but fury.

  I thumb down the safety. The guard, eighteen tops, begins quietly crying.

  “Riley,” Doc says, fixing me with a look. He should be paying attention to the six other guards tied up and sitting in a circle outside Kirtland Air Force Base’s mess hall. Instead, he’s trying to stop me from doing something foolish. I’m not sure if I’ll let him.

  “Riley,” he repeats louder. “That’s enough.”

  I say nothing and keep my pistol where it is. The baby-faced guard is shaking with sobs. The other uniformed boys sitting in the dirt with their heads down look about as pitiful. But with a gun in his hand, this kid is no different from Nessa, from Marlin Tate, from any of the despicable humans who’ve tried to kill me and mine.

  “Riley.” Auntie lowers her rifle and scratches her armpit through her shapeless cotton shift. “Knock it off, or the kid’ll piss himself. And I ain’t cleanin’ up after him.”

  “He’s lying,” I say more to the guard than to Auntie and Doc. “Maybe if I take a finger or two, I’ll know for certain.” I grab his hand, yank it back, and press my gun to his knuckle.

  “No!” he cries, his head whipping up. “Please!”

  “Then tell me something!” I’m spitting mad.

  “The old man,” one of the guards on the ground says. “Jack, tell her about the old man.”