Jace (River Pack Wolves 2) (Paranormal Romance) (6 page)

She strode confidently past the reception desk toward the offices on the main floor.

Piper had a lot of experience acting like she knew exactly what she was doing even when she had absolutely no clue. Pretending she was precisely where she belonged was an art. With the right amount of confidence and charm, she’d proven time and again that she could convince almost anyone of anything. It was a kind of game, this mask she put on for the world, not so much a deception—at least for the good guys. The bad guys, she was happy to screw all day long. Not in the literal sense. The only men she allowed in her bed were the ones who had some decency. It was often a fine line, especially in the field, but she had a well-tuned antenna. Knowing the difference between the good guys and the bad could mean walking away or ending up in pieces. That wasn’t an exaggeration, even for a rapid-healing shifter like her. And the genuinely good guys were rare, so when she found one, her antenna pinged hard.

Like with Jace River.
She pushed that unwelcome thought aside. She’d blown her chance with him by bailing and coming here… and she didn’t plan to stick around Seattle long enough to have another.

As she wound through the cubicle-land of the command center analysts, Piper held her head high, met the curious stares with a smile, and occasionally gave someone a friendly wave. Anyone at their desk at 6 AM was either working the early morning shift or had been there all night. As civilian counterintelligence for the Army, her time in Washington was usually spent in Olympia at the capitol building, consulting with Senator Krepky’s staff for the Senate defense subcommittee. Her clearance, her experience, and the fact that she was a shifter, all made her a resource the Army liked to exploit to keep the political types on their side. 

It was a great job, actually, and one she had no desire to lose. Not to mention that her travels conveniently kept her far from this precise building where her father, Lt. Colonel Astor Wilding held court. Ever since she had turned eighteen and stormed out of the house, staying out of her father’s orbit had been priority number one. This little mission was trespassing on her father’s territory, something she had long ago vowed never to do. But Noah deserved better than to disappear into a black hole and have no one even try to find him.

Once she had made a circuit through the first floor, she subtly tried the access to a stairwell with her key card.
Locked.
She didn’t want to trigger any alarms with a repeat attempt, so she made her way to the coffee room and poured herself a brimming, steaming cup. With any luck, the command center would be high enough on the food chain to have decent coffee. Which she certainly needed after being up most of the night. She took a few sips—not bad—then casually strolled back down the hall and ducked into an empty cubicle.

The analyst who owned this ten-by-ten space had either not come in yet or stepped away. In case they’d only made a quick trip to the bathroom, Piper hung out, sipping her coffee and looking like she was just on break. After about three minutes, she set down her cup, eased into the chair, and tapped awake the computer screen.

Her background didn’t include a specialization in computer hacking, but she was familiar with military security protocols, and she hopefully had the right ID. It wasn’t so much a matter of hacking, as just having the right access to begin with. The computer was locked down, as per protocol, but anyone with standard level access should be able to open it up again. Which she managed with a simple swipe of her key card. The prompt for the central database would be the trick. She’d already constructed a new user and password for her ID—she tapped those in, said a silent prayer, and pressed the enter key.

Access denied.

She typed it again hoping she had simply mistyped the first time.

Access denied.

Shit.
Third time was either the charm… or the thing that would set off all the alarm bells. She stood up, ready to make a run for her car, as she carefully typed the string of letters and numbers one more time.

She didn’t even finish typing before a shuffle of boots and a click sound made her look up. Standing at the entrance to her cubicle was a burly man in camouflage with an M-16 pointed at her head.

Her hands whipped up into the air. “Hey, no need to get excited! I just was checking my email.”

He didn’t move. Half a breath and a flurry of stomping boots later, four more rifles appeared over the top of the short cubicle walls, all pointed at her head.

“Hey, now, come on,” she said quickly, forcing a smile on her face. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Down on your knees,” the first one said in a low command that brooked no dissent.

She dissented anyway. “But, I swear, I didn’t—”

“Not going to ask you again, Ma’am.”

The military politeness sent a shiver through her. The boy was serious. He was prepared to shoot her dead right here in the cubicle.

“Yeah, okay, sure. Just don’t… don’t shoot, okay?” Piper kept her voice light and scared, like an innocent person would have, even though she was far from that. She slowly sank to her knees, hands behind her head.

The soldiers rushed in and shoved her to the ground.

Somehow, she’d really fucked this up.

Daniel was convinced Piper would come straight to the Joint Base, and Jace could understand why: she had stolen his ID. Which was why they were sitting in the security office of Lewis-McChord, getting Daniel’s fingerprints and retina scans recorded and cleared through the system. They’d been there for over an hour, and the sun was halfway up the sky. Finally, after a hell of a lot of paperwork even for the military, Daniel scored a new ID, and they were released. Jace had a restricted-access visitor’s pass, but Daniel had his full security clearance key card enabled.

Jace glanced at his phone: nearly ten o’clock.

As the two of them strode out of the brick-and-concrete security office near the front gate, Jace asked, “Your dad’s a Colonel here, right?” He hadn’t wanted to mention it earlier, while they were inside, especially given how it seemed a sensitive issue between Daniel and Piper. But it was pretty relevant to their objectives, given the Colonel surely could have vouched for his son and expedited getting a new ID.

“Yeah.” Daniel’s face pinched in. “Trust me, the Colonel’s not the kind to easily forgive something like losing your ID. It was easier and less painful this way. Plus, I didn’t want to explain that Piper was the one who stole it.”

Jace looked askance at him. “But if Piper came here directly, wouldn’t he already know? Especially if she used your ID to get in? I mean, would that even work? You two look alike, but trust me, no one’s going to think she’s male.”

Daniel grimaced. “She probably altered the ID. And she’s probably sneaking around the base without setting off any alarms. It’s the kind of thing she’s good at.” He scowled like there was a history behind that statement. “Believe me, she doesn’t want my father to know she’s here. I’m sure she’s using all her shiny new spy skills to avoid that.”

“So, then, what’s our next move?” Jace wasn’t familiar with the base. During his time in the Army as a medic he was stationed at Fort Drum in New York, the First Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. The 1st BCT deployed to Afghanistan, like Noah Wilding’s troop, but Jace discharged over a year ago now, and there had been thousands of soldiers rotating through Afghanistan since then. Still… some of his contacts in the Division might know if soldiers had started to go missing. Jace had already put some feelers out before they left the safehouse.

Daniel gestured to his car. “Next, we go to my office and try to figure out where Piper might be.” They hopped in and drove to a large brick-and-white stone building near the center of the base that looked brand-spanking new. Its towering glass and steel architecture was straight out of a design catalog. The sign out front identified it as the Theater Aviation Command (TAC) Readiness Center.

“Your buildings are like flipping cathedrals here,” Jace said, with a smirk as they climbed out of the car. “Knew I should’ve tried to get stationed in Washington.”

“It’s not all sunshine and sparkly granite,” Daniel said, with a grimace. “Working in the same building as your father has drawbacks.”

“So, what’s the deal with Piper and the Colonel?” Jace didn’t want to pry, and he really shouldn’t care… but he did. Piper was definitely a full-blooded Wilding—wild and sexy and feisty. Not entirely bad qualities, except for that
wild
part, but the way she’d blown up like a hair-trigger IED when the topic of her father came up made Jace more than a little curious. Yet it was the sad look in her eyes that really drew him in. She’d locked down emotionally there at the end as if she was dead certain she couldn’t depend on anyone but herself.

Just Piper against the world.

That gnawed at him. And it kept drawing his wolf uncomfortably close to the surface. No one, but especially a shifter, should ever be that alone in the world. That’s what
family
and
pack
were all about.

Jace’s father had died a long time ago from an early heart attack, but family was everything in the River pack. And not just blood relatives—the River pack wolves were like brothers. And his mother was a momma wolf to every stray shifter that came through the area. She’d practically adopted several who had taken up residence at the safehouse—they helped keep it running in return for having a family and a home to call their own. As for Jace’s actual brothers… Jared and Jaxson were like his own flesh. He couldn’t imagine not trusting them, the way Piper obviously didn’t trust Daniel or even her own father.

Jace’s question still hung in the air, unanswered, as they walked toward the two-story entrance to the Joint Base’s command center. He waited until they were past the two heavily-armed honor guards and just inside the glass door.

“Hey, man, I don’t want to pry into your family,” Jace said, quietly. “It’s really none of my business. I just think it’s somewhat relevant to our mission here.”

“You’re right.” Daniel tossed a cold look his way. “It’s none of your business.”

Okay, then.
Jace arched an eyebrow.
“Do not trespass
sign duly noted.”

Daniel growled, but it seemed more in frustration than anger. He stopped before they got much further into the two-story reception area. “Look, I don’t mean to be an ass. There’s just a lot of private family stuff that went down a long time ago. All you need to know is that Piper’s erratic. My sister’s been making shit up since she was a kid. She ran away from home more times than I can count. And she’s always done
exactly
whatever she wants to, no matter how difficult that makes life for the rest of us. If she’s here on base, we need to find her before my father does. Before she digs herself a hole deeper than I can get her out of.”

Daniel’s worried look was the first hint Jace had seen of the kind of brotherly concern he expected. So… maybe it
was
in there, just buried under a mountain of bad history.

“Understood.” Jace wanted to know more, but they needed to keep their eyes on the prize—making sure Piper wasn’t getting sucked into a mess she couldn’t handle and finding the truth about Noah’s disappearance.

Daniel led the way up to the second floor and a small office with the door that he quickly closed behind him. He logged into his computer and scanned his messages.

“Give me a minute,” he said, “and I’ll see if there’s any hint of on-base unusual activity. Then I’ll see what I can do about finding out what happened to Noah.”

While Daniel worked his computer, Jace stared out the window at the sprawling campus. Where would Piper have gone? She had to already be on base. Which meant she must’ve used Daniel’s ID. The question was… why hadn’t the guards at the gate mentioned anything about that? It should have come up during their security check, at the least. Piper was counterintelligence—did she just waltz in with false ID? Probably. If what Daniel said was correct—and there was no doubt Piper was unpredictable—then maybe she didn’t do the logical thing. Maybe she was holding off, laying low until she came up with a better way to access the Joint Base’s resources. Then again, the girl who grabbed him and kissed him in his own kitchen, after breaking into his house, didn’t seem like the type to hesitate to action.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

A short brown-haired woman popped her head in the door. “Sir? Your father would like to see you in his office.” She ducked her head and closed the door behind her, as if she knew she was delivering bad news and needed to escape quickly.

Jace threw a fast look at Daniel, eyebrows quirked up. “Does that happen often?”

Daniel’s face was clouded, a deep scowl immediately setting in. “Never.” He had already risen up from his chair, but then he hesitated and shut down his computer.

Before he could reach the door, Jace caught up to him and asked, “Do you think your searches about Noah tipped him off?”

Daniel shook his head. “I barely got through my email.”

They didn’t speak on the walk up to the Colonel’s office, which was apparently on the third floor in the far corner overlooking a manicured and spectacularly green lawn.