“We’ve got him,” the full-blood paramedic said
stooping next to Johan and prepping him for an IV. Angus removed
his hand and stood. Watching them work to save the young life, he
moved to the sidelines.
“Silas?”
“Angus, how did it go?”
He briefed Silas on everything that happened to
that point.
Silas whistled. “
So the dampening drug
weakens their wolf? He’s not able to heal
?”
“Looks that way. If he doesn’t make it, I’ll
have a rush on the autopsy so we’ll have information on both ends.
The full-bloods we captured earlier didn’t seem to have this
problem, maybe it’s the dosage
,” Angus said.
“Or how often the chemicals were used. To
dampen a wolf’s scent you have to attack the wolf and that’s never
a good idea
.” Silas released a long sigh.
“It’s a really bad
idea because most of our abilities come from our wolf not our human
side.
”
Angus watched as the paramedics put the young
wolf in the van. The scent of death clung to Johan.
“What did you learn about him
?” Silas
asked.
“He wired the grounds for the
explosion that killed the half-breeds. This group planned another
kidnapping tomorrow, they were taking humans as well. Seems they
have a Nazi thing going on, trying to purify the ranks. Full-bloods
only.”
“You tell Chase?”
“Yes, he’s preparing a welcome party for
them. I think the family members of the deceased are the guests of
honor and will be first to rip them apart
,” Angus
said.
“Sounds about right. What about the
house? Anything in there?”
“Still waiting for the go-ahead to enter.
The bomb squad is there now
.” Angus paused. There had been
someone else in all of their memories but this person appeared as a
shadow which puzzled Angus. “
I think there’s another player.
Maybe the head guy
.” He explained the car leaving when they
arrived.
“You think he gave them the drug
?” Silas
asked.
“Yeah, I do. Also, this person has
knowledge of how we work, our ability to scan for information,
because he’s shadowy. No face or voice. But today, when he walked
to the car, for a few seconds he seemed familiar. I couldn’t place
the scent but I’ve smelled it before.”
“Considering how many places you’ve been in
the past few weeks, he could be anybody from anywhere
,” Silas
said.
Angus silently agreed and headed back to the
house to wait for approval to enter. “
For someone who wants to
purify the race, at some point, these guys hung around a human. I
smelled a trace scent when I searched each one.”
“Humans are involved?”
“Maybe. At some point, each of them brushed
against a human. That could have been at a restaurant or in the
mall. There wasn’t much physical contact but that doesn’t mean they
didn’t sit at a conference table exchanging information or
products,
” Angus said looking at the well-lit house and the
bomb squad running tests.”
“True but this may shed some light on what’s
going on. Could be connected
.” Silas told him about the meeting
with Melch, Dr. Hickle’s confession and the attack.
“Sounds like you’ve been having quite a bit
of fun. How do you see these as connected events?
” Angus said
leaning against a light pole across from the house.
“Not sure yet. Once we get some lab
information back we should be able to tie up the loose ends. Once
you are sure Chase is happy with the results of your investigation,
leave the clean-up to his men and close this case
.”
Angus thought of the male who left and wondered
what his role was in this whole thing and how would he feel when he
discovered the loss of his team. “
What if the guy who left
decides to continue with the kidnapping?”
“With another team?”
Not likely but possible.
“
Yes
.”
“Give Chase everything you got from those
guys, do your best to point him in the right direction and then
return here. If something else comes up, we’ll handle it. But he
has security in place to deal with threats to his
pack
.”
Angus pushed away from the pole and headed to
the house. “
Will do, Chief. I’m going in
.”
Chapter 21
Tyrese drove up the long winding road to find
the address Hank secured while researching Ollie Brown and John
Crawford. The house was at the end of a paved, tree-lined street on
a hill overlooking the town. Tyrese looked around the neighborhood
and wasn’t surprised the closest neighbor was at least two or three
miles on the opposite side of the road.
He parked beneath the branches of a large tree
and stepped out of the late model BMW. Inhaling, he scanned the
area, locked his car, pulled the hood of his black jersey over his
head and walked beneath the shadows of the trees toward the
house.
There were three humans inside but he couldn’t
positively identify them as his prey. When he reached the edge of
the property, he scanned the security system with his hand-held
device. Within a few seconds, the screen displayed a diagram of the
house’s layout. There weren’t many places he could walk without
tripping an alarm but if he were careful he would arrive at the
side entrance undetected.
Mentally, he calibrated the distance to make
the jump over the fence to land in the first unmonitored spot. He
moved back across the street, ran and leapt over the 10-foot high
fence, twisting his torso at a right angle to land in a flower bed.
Crouched low, he sprung forward to the next spot and then next to
the wall near the side entrance.
No one had moved from their locations, no
alarms sounded and according to his scanner he hadn’t tripped any
alarms. As he inhaled, Tyrese listened carefully to the sounds of
the night and filtered scents. Everything seemed normal. “
I’m at
the property near the side entry
,” he said to Hank who
monitored him from the compound. Tyrese placed the scanner on the
metal door next to the keypad.
“I’m running the information now
,” Hank
said. The device uploaded key information regarding the security
system for the house so they could safely breach it. “
Got it.
This one’s good, very high-tech. Some parts it’ll take longer to
access because they were not on the same panel as that
door
.”
“Okay, how long before I go in and gut those
bastards?”
“I’d prefer to have their whole system online,
which should take another 10 minutes.”
Tyrese ground his teeth at the delay but
understood the necessity of having another pair of eyes while
inside.
“Okay, I’ll just hang around I
suppose.”
“Can you go out the same way you entered? When
you return, I’ll manipulate the system so you can walk in easier,”
Hank said.
Tyrese didn’t want to risk it. “There’s not
enough room for me to maneuver. I’ll need to wait here or close
by.” He looked at the flower bed and took a leap just barely making
it within the shadowy, unmonitored section.
“The side door is unlocked. I’ve got control of
the cameras. Make sure to remove the scanner from the door when you
walk in,” Hank said around 15 minutes later.
“What about the grounds?”
“One second.”
Tyrese stood and stretched, his thoughts on the
upcoming confrontation. According to the research on Brown, the man
had boxed professionally 20 years ago and had a reputation for
being a tough guy without a sense of humor. The other, Crawford,
had been involved in some shady arms deals but stayed a step ahead
of his competitors and avoided prosecution. He flexed his arms and
unclenched his fists thinking of Froggy and the others.
“Good to go
,” Hank said. “
I’ll pick
you up on the camera when you go inside. I have a visual
confirmation of Brown and Crawford. There is another male with them
who I’m still running through the database.”
“Someone else?”
Tyrese asked as he made
his way to the side door and stepped inside. His eyes adjusted as
he looked down the long dark hallway to the right.
“Yes, someone’s in a room on the bed but I
can’t clearly make out his face. But your targets are in the office
on the first level.”
Tyrese walked down the hall, inhaling and
filtering scents. He turned right and slowed seeing lights at the
end of the hall. “
What’s behind this door
?” He didn’t sense
anything and waited for a response.
“It’s a blind spot. I don’t see you now or
what’s on the other side,”
Hank said.
Tyrese looked over his shoulder down the hall,
nothing stirred. Brown, Crawford and their guest remained in the
same locations. He synched with his wolf and scanned the area but
couldn’t get a sense of what was behind the door.
“I’m going in,
” he told Hank.
“I have eyes in their office when
you get there.”
“Maybe I’ll get a better scent of
them when I clear this area.”
“Sounds good, I’ll monitor through our
link
.”
Tyrese pushed down on the handle slowly until
he heard it click and then pushed open the door. Some type of
vaporous gas exploded in his face, blinding him. He coughed, unable
to breathe as the gas burned his throat. Grabbing his neck, he
backed up and felt the door at his back. At some point it must have
closed, leaving him in the small space. Gasping for air, his legs
buckled and hit the ground. Sounds of his pack filled his
mind.
“Tyrese
,” Danielle called.
“Rese,
” Tyrone yelled.
“Listen to me
,” Silas said. “
I’m
sustaining your wolf and fighting the chemicals. Stay with me, I
need you alert.”
“Do my best,
” Tyrese gritted out. Sweat
beaded his brow as his muscles bunched beneath his shirt. His skin
itched as his wolf threatened to break free.
“Easy, easy
…” Silas said sending a
cooling blast of energy through Tyrese that eased the pain of his
raw throat. “
Inhale, let me get a feel of what they’re
using
.”
Tyrese inhaled.
“Lay still while I push the drug out of your
system so that you’ll be ready when they come for you,”
Silas
said.
Tyrese slumped onto the concrete floor, the
burning sensation in his chest and stomach abating. Sweat mixed
with the toxic chemicals ran down his face. His breathing eased and
his mind calmed.
“Tyrese?”
Danielle called as she sent
waves of love through their link.
“Much better. Now I have another
reason to kick their asses.”
“I know. Just… just be careful. I can’t lose
you
,” Danielle said.
He recognized her fear. “
I promise. I can’t
lose you either.”
“Can you breathe?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. I’m going to cause your body to
have a reaction so that they think the poison worked. Just continue
to breathe,”
Silas said.
“Huh?
” Tyrese asked and then yelped as
his body shook and shuddered so hard his teeth rattled. He flopped
on the ground a few times like a fish seeking water.
“Hawke said this is how your body would
react to the tranquilizer. Had to make it realistic, no permanent
damage
,” Silas said.
“Good to know, next time explain first…
please,”
Tyrese said. His head throbbed from the repeated hits
on the concrete floor.
“They are heading toward that area,
let them drag you out and see where this goes.”
“Rather than break their necks?”
Tyrese
asked
.
“Yes, don’t kill them right
away.”
Tyrese prepared to play along with the ruse.
The sound of footsteps came closer. He closed his eyes. An outer
door swung open. The cool air flowed over his skin as he inhaled
the scents of the two men standing near him. Each grabbed him
beneath an arm and dragged him out the room. He opened his eyes a
bit as they continued down the hall and turned.
“Do you see this
?” He asked
Hank.
“No, you’re not on the security system I
pulled up. They must have a separate panel for those rooms,”
Hank said.
The men stopped.
“It’s cooler here and smells like
the underground lab we took out in Pennsylvania.”
“Can you sense anything
?” Silas
asked.
“Not yet… wait, the door’s opening. Yes.
There are three more people in this room. All human. This is some
sort of lab
.”
His arm stung. “
They shot something in my
arm
,” he told Silas.
“Got it
,” Silas said.
“That should keep him out for a while longer,”
one of the men holding him said.