Branded by Lust: 4 (Night Seekers) by Desiree Holt Page B

lot of the same questions.” Rebecca blew out a slow breath. “This is going to
sound like something from an alien world, and we’re basically going by what our
boss’s researchers have found from dissecting the bodies we’ve been able to
deliver to them. But there’s been a lot of advanced work in artificial intelligence
in the past several decades. Especially in this century. Scientists and
neurologists have worked with computer experts to develop chips to implant in
the human brain to repair damage to neurons and receptors.”
    “And,” Logan added, “it includes something called reflex
programming. Doctors use it in people with nerve damage to learn to use certain
muscles again. But these nuts are programming the chips to send certain signals
to the devil beasts to behave in a certain way.”
    Ford picked up on it at once. “So you think someone’s
creating chips with signals and information and implanting them in the brains
of these creatures.”
    “Yes. Improving on whatever kind of brain they start with to
program the Chupacabra to behave in a certain manner. To act specifically in
specific instances.”
    “Jesus.” Doug blew out a breath. “This sounds like something
out of a science fiction movie.”
    “I only wish.” Logan swallowed against the sudden bad taste
in his mouth. “It would make life a lot easier. If you look at the reports I
put out for you, it will give you an idea of what our lab scientists have come
up with so far. It will tell you what strains of DNA they’ve identified so far,
the kind of chips they’ve found implanted in brain tissue, things like that.
Ford, I’ll print out a copy for you before you leave.”
    Ford looked at the copy Doug handed him and his eyes
widened. “Holy shit!”
    “Uh huh. They’re still trying to identify how the chips are programmed
and what kind of signals they give. We’ve got a long way to go on these,
folks.”
    “Someone’s taken what was meant to be a scientific boon for
health and perverted it,” Rebecca told them. “I’m not new to this and it still
scares the hell out of me. Which is why it’s so critical to identify possible
targets.”
    “We’ve got a hell of a lot of miles to search out here,”
Rance pointed out. “Even if I put everyone on my staff on it with the two of
you it would take us forever.”
    Rebecca shook her head. “We thought that at first in Maine.
Aroostook County is two thousand square miles, at least three fourths of it
sparsely populated.”
    “So what did you do?” Ford asked.
    “We actually got lucky. We kept tightening the size of the
area where we searched and identifying possible targets. We discovered it never
widened its hunting ground beyond a certain area. The beast struck at one of the
targets and we killed it. At least that particular beast. But we can’t keep
relying on luck. Too many more people can get killed.”
    “Damn straight,” Logan told them. “We have to figure out how
to be more definitive in our search.”
    “But how is that possible?” Doug wanted to know.
    “When we got back to our home base,” Logan said, “we pulled
out everything from the other killings we’d been investigating since Night
Seekers was formed and studied them. It took us awhile but we finally figured
out that not only does the beast kill in threes, it also kills within a
specified radius. There have of course been some minor deviations from this pattern
but at least it gives us a place to start.”
    “So.” Rebecca leaned forward and unfolded a map of the
county the sheriff had brought. “Show me here where the ranger’s body was
found.”
    Danvers took a pen from his pocket and made a mark on the
spot.
    “Okay.” Rebecca held out her hand for his pen then drew a
wide circle around the mark. “I’d need something a lot more accurate than
eyeballing it to be correct but this is approximately the area we need to
concentrate on.”
    “Isolated ranches,” Logan added. “Homes on the edge of