by Crissy Smith
“No, no sign of him,” Luca said.
Jamie growled. “Head straight across and crawl under that wheel.” Jamie pointed. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Luca counted to three then took off. He still didn’t hear any more blasts. Maybe the sniper was gone. He rolled when he got to the container across from him before scooting to the other side. From the ground he searched for any sign of Zak or Cole.
There! One car over. He quickly raced to them, hearing Jamie right on his heels. He dropped to his knees and checked Cole over. The wolf shifter was lying under as much cover as he could, covered in dirt and blood. Zak had stripped off his shirt and was holding the cloth to Cole’s side.
“He’s going to be okay,” Zak told them as Luca and Jamie joined him. “It was a clean shot, through and through.”
Luca peered at the large cut on Cole’s forehead. He had to have hit it when he fell.
“We need an ambulance and backup here now,” Zak ordered.
“No! We need to get that fucker. If we call in the rest of the team he might spook and take off,” Cole argued.
“He might already be gone,” Luca pointed out. “We have to get you help. We’ll hold off the ambulance, but get the backup in now. Tell them to use stealth.”
Zak nodded.
Cole blinked up at him. “Luca?”
It took Luca a minute to realize that Cole didn’t know who was around him. Damn, the guy must be in pain. “Yeah, buddy, I’m right here.” He patted Cole’s uninjured side.
“You have to find Jade!” Cole struggled to lift his head.
“Stay down,” Zak demanded. “You’ll bleed out.”
Cole fell back to the ground but grabbed Luca’s hand. “I heard her yell. You have to get to her.”
Fuck! Rage boiled inside him at the thought of Jade being hurt. “I will,” he promised.
“Back closer to where we came in. The second or third container probably,” Cole told him.
“I’m coming with you,” Jamie stated. “Remember we don’t know if the shooter is still out there so move quickly.”
“Yeah,” Luca agreed. “Let’s go down this row first and then over.” He took off without waiting for a response. He would be faster if he shifted into his coyote but he didn’t know what condition Jade was in. When he reached the third empty train car he paused for just a second. He ran toward the first line.
Three quick rounds landed close to his feet and he dove under the container as soon as he was able. He spun to look over his shoulder. Jamie was still stuck in the second row, and now they knew that the shooter was still there. Hopefully one of the other teams could spot him.
He had to find his woman.
* * * *
Jade heard the sounds of three more bullets being fired and cringed. It had been quiet for a good five to ten minutes. Her guess was that one of the other units had arrived and they were being attacked. When she got out of this stupid metal box she was seriously going to hurt someone. The shots had seemed closer but she couldn’t be sure. With the darkness around her it was hard to tell what was going on.
She’d finally found her flashlight, but had decided to keep it off for the moment. She knew that someone would find her soon and that she only had to wait, but she could use the big flashlight as a weapon if need be. She didn’t want to accidentally shoot the rescue team.
There was a loud thump outside the door. She froze, not knowing if the bad guys were back or if it was her rescue. The whistle that followed, though, she knew was for her.
Since she didn’t know if anyone would hear her if she returned the gesture, she picked up the flashlight and slammed it down onto the metal. She did it again and again.
Finally she heard the wrenching scream of the door being opened. As the moonlight filtered in she could see she’d made it to the very back of the container.
“Jade?”
“Luca! Thank God!” she called out to him.
He peered through the opening, running his eyes around searching for her. When they settled on her, his gaze widened. “You okay?”
She wanted to laugh, or cry, maybe scream. Instead she managed a nod.
“I’m coming in,” he said.
“No!” she shouted. “There was a shifter out there. That’s how I got stuck in here.”
Luca turned quickly. He put his back to the opening as he scanned the yard.
“I’ll come to you,” she said. It would be slow going. Her body was still hurting pretty bad. She didn’t want to try to stand without help, but she could crawl. She’d probably been over half the container searching for her flashlight.
“I’m right here,” he promised, still keeping watch.
That helped. Knowing that Luca wouldn’t leave her and that she was getting out gave her the strength to make her way out. It seemed to take forever and she was shaking and sweating by the time she could put her hand on his leg, but she still smiled. She was getting out.
He angled toward her. “What’s wrong? Why can’t you stand?”
“I’m okay,” she assured him. “I landed on a board, but no permanent damage.
He growled as he reached for her. Gently he lifted her.
“Do you sense anyone?”
He kept her body tight against his. “Not right now, but someone was here,” Luca said. “How’d you know it was a shifter?”
“I couldn’t move that door. It was rusted open. Only a shifter could have closed it on me,” she explained.
“After he threw you onto a board?” he asked.
“More like pushed,” she corrected.
Luca growled so he probably didn’t really care about the difference.
“Is Cole okay?” she asked. She was afraid of the answer, though, and gripped him tightly.
“Yes,” Luca replied.
She grabbed his shoulder. “Luca?”
“He was shot, but he’ll be okay. Zak’s with him now and Jamie’s calling for backup,” he told her.
“Where was he—?”
Luca covered her mouth with his hand and leaned farther from the door. Her back protested, but she swallowed her whimper. She didn’t know what he’d heard but something had put him on alert. He nodded toward the wall so she pushed off him and grabbed hold of a handrail on the side of the container. He removed his gun as he slowly peeked out again.
“Luca?” Sal called.
Luca put his finger to his lips, telling his brother to be quiet. He holstered his weapon and reached for her again. “This is going to hurt, but I’m going to lift you,” he whispered.
“Okay.” Not like she had many options. It would be too painful to jump down on her own.
Sal and Flynn were standing guard at the edge with their backs to them. “She okay?” Sal asked when he glanced back and saw Luca carrying Jade. Luca nodded once, but didn’t speak.
“Here, pass her to me.” Sal held up his arms. “It’ll be easier than you trying to climb down with her.”
Luca’s hand tightened around her for an instant. He clearly didn’t want to let her go. Not even to his brother. She was touched, but she wanted off the fucking train car. “It’s okay. Sal won’t drop me,” she joked.
Luca smiled at her before he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently.
The handover was pretty easy. Luca placed her in Sal’s outstretched arms and she was lowered to the ground. Luca jumped and was right there a moment later. He took her back from his brother. “There are shifters involved,” he murmured.
“I can smell them,” Sal confirmed. “Jamie’s back with Zak and Cole. Cody and his team are shifting and will fly over to spot the sniper. Calvin was knocked out, but, other than a bump on his head, he’s okay. He’s in the van with Sam and Patrick. The rest of our people are surrounding the place in their shifted forms. No one is going to get out of here. We’re just waiting for Cody’s signal to begin.”
“I need to get Jade to safety,” Luca told him.
“I’m fine. As long as I’m not
inside that damn eroded box. Just set me down under it,” she suggested.
“No, we need to get you away from here. Any one of the shifters will be able to find you if you’re too close. Plus we need to get you to the hospital,” Luca said.
“I’m fine!”
“He’s right,” Flynn agreed. “I can take her back to the van.”
“I’ll go,” Luca insisted.
“Flynn knows where it is and can take the same path we did to get back. That way our scent is not all over the place,” Sal pointed out.
“Or I can just follow your trail,” Luca argued.
“Just give her to Flynn,” Sal ordered.
She could feel Luca’s body tense up. She leaned her head on his shoulder to get his attention. He looked down at her. His features softened. She nodded to let him know that it was okay.
Luca huffed, but, after one quick kiss, he carefully put her in Flynn’s hold. Jade smiled for him then Flynn was striding away, taking her with him.
“Is everyone else okay?” she asked when they’d gone out of view. He was making his way over a small hill.
“Yes, we’re coordinating our attack now so we’ll be able to get Cole out and still capture whoever did this,” he told her.
“I can’t wait for this to be over,” she said.
Flynn chuckled. “I bet. Now what happened to you?”
She explained about being locked inside the container. Flynn continued to stroll along with her as if her weight had no bearing on him at all. When she had finished her story he was frowning.
“What the hell are shifters doing here?” he asked.
“That’s what I was wondering,” she admitted. “I thought we were up against the agents who wanted to take Cole out, but now we have a sniper and a shifter.” She spotted the van and was grateful. Even being carried was putting a strain on her body.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon,” Flynn told her.
The back door of the van opened and Sam ran out.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked when he reached her.
“Yes.” She smiled. She really did like the young agent. He might have made some mistakes when it came to his partner, but he was doing everything he could to make up for it.
Flynn strolled to the vehicle and gently put her down on the bench seat. “Ambulance should be around the corner. They are supposed to wait until we call them closer. As far as they know, this is an active crime scene,” he explained. “We’ll get Cole back here as soon as we can.”
“Thanks.” She captured his hand. “And you be careful too.”
He grinned before turning and jogging back toward his partner and Luca. Jade hated not being involved in the takedown but she knew that she would only be in the way. She looked back at the three occupants with her in the van.
Patrick sat across from her wringing his hands. She still didn’t like the guy, but she didn’t want to see anyone stressed. “You okay?” she asked him.
“Me?” He jerked back with a look of shock. “You’re the one that was hurt. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know any of this was going to happen.”
She believed him. Patrick might be a coward, but she didn’t think he’d had anything to do with the attacks. He was just a pawn, like so many. “It’s okay,” she told him. “We’ll get this figured out and everything will go back to normal.” She hoped so anyway. This was more excitement than she had counted on when she and Cole had been assigned to the task force.
The entire mess was pretty unbelievable. Someone at the FBI had lost their mind. To take on the Coalition and the ATF just to take out an agent of their own? Jade couldn’t wait to see who took the fall for this. And someone had better be held responsible. It made her sick to think about all the friends she’d made along the way who could now be involved in the plot to take out her partner. Why was being a shifter such a problem? She didn’t understand the reasoning. A shifter couldn’t help their transformation any more than a human could pick their skin or eye color. She’d have thought that in this day and time people wouldn’t be judged as harshly as they once were. If faced with the same decision she didn’t know what she would have chosen to do. She would want to be one of the shifters brave enough to come out but it was easier to say that when she would never have to deal with the consequences.
Could she stand in front of others and take all that hate? She hoped that she would be strong enough but she just wasn’t sure. She respected Cole so much more now. She also wondered if he would be able to return to the FBI. Jade wasn’t even certain that she wanted to anymore. Maybe she should take early retirement and concentrate on lobbying for shifter rights. She’d set out to help people, but now that she knew that her agency was drowning in hate and deceit, she didn’t know if she could pretend every day that she enjoyed her job while looking over her shoulder to see who would stab her in the back next.
She knew that a decision didn’t have to be made right away and she would talk to Cole about it before she made up her mind, but it was a subject that would have to be brought up.
* * * *
Luca glanced over his shoulder and saw Flynn running back to them. Knowing that Jade was safe would help him concentrate on what he needed to do.
“Everything okay here?” Flynn asked as he joined them.
Luca nodded. “No sign of anyone else.”
“Maybe one of us should go under the containers to have a view of the next aisle,” Flynn suggested. “The more area we can cover should help.”
Sal nodded. “Why don’t you do that?”
“Be careful. That is definitely close to being in sight of the sniper. I still don’t know where he is, but he almost took me out when I ran from Zak to here.”
“Got it,” Flynn said before he darted down.
“It’s a good thing you weren’t shot,” Sal muttered. “I would have been really pissed off.”
Luca grinned. His brother really did love him. “It’s a good thing only you and I went into law enforcement. If you had to be this worried about the others you’d already have a head full of gray hair instead of the few strands you have.”
Sal turned his head very slowly and glared at him. “I do not have gray hair. I’m only forty.”
“Don’t worry,” Luca teased. “It makes you look handsome.”
“I take it back,” Sal grumbled. “Run out there and get your ass shot.”
“Oh, come on!” Luca chuckled softly. “It’s not that many.”
Sal opened his mouth to no doubt threaten him when a loud falcon cry sounded. That was their signal. Luca looked up and saw three different types of bird circling overhead. A shot broke the silence of the night, and Luca finally saw where the sniper was hidden.
Luca and Sal took off down the aisle to where Cody’s team had an eye on their target. A loud, long howl of a wolf was next. The teams were all moving. They raced past four containers, narrowing the distance between them and the sniper’s nest, when a black shape dropped down in front of them. Luca skidded to a halt. “Shit!”
A black leopard with gleaming white teeth stood in their way.
“Get down!” Sal called just as the feline launched himself in the air.
Luca dropped to his stomach so that the cat flew past him. Damn, they wouldn’t be able to take the shifter in their human forms. “We need to shift,” he yelled to his brother.
A roar, one that could only belong to a bear, echoed around them. It looked as though they wouldn’t be the only ones to transform.
“You first,” Sal ordered. “I’ll keep him off you while you shift then you do the same for me.”
Luca ran toward the train cars to use them as cover. He slid under and started to tear off his clothes. A shift was quick, but in the few minutes the transformation took he wouldn’t be able to protect himself. He started his transformation before he was completely naked. As soon as he was done he darted out straight toward the leopard.
He’d have to watch the cat’s teeth, but coyotes were good at working
together. He and Sal teamed up could wear down most predators. He just had to stop himself from being bitten while his brother shifted. He circled the big cat, wishing that Zak was there with him too. The leopard was big but nothing compared to the massive size of Zak.
The feline lunged for him but Luca was able to sprint to the side to avoid the paw with long nails that was aimed for his side. He couldn’t see his brother and hoped that Sal was almost done with his change. He circled his opponent, looking for an opening.
Sal came jumping out at the leopard, and Luca used the cat’s distraction to run behind it and rake his claws down its back. The feline hissed and leaped far enough away from them to show his natural gift. Leopards could also climb damn well, so he and Sal needed to keep him in the open.
A siren and flashing red and blue lights lit up the sky. The leopard looked back, giving Luca the chance to run forward and jump on his back. He sank his canines into his neck and held on with his claws as the feline tried to shake him off. He was relieved when the first Coalition agent in human form appeared. Luca might not be the biggest or baddest of the shifters, but he could do his job. He’d hold on long enough to capture the shifter. But he was damn glad to see backup.
Adam held his dart gun, aimed, and shot the leopard in his side. The cat went crazy. He was trying to bite or scratch his way loose. Adam reloaded and sent another dart into the leopard.
Tired from the fight and with the drugs starting to take effect, the leopard stumbled. Luca released his teeth just before the leopard collapsed onto the ground.
Adam, Brady and Calvin rushed forward. Sal was at Luca’s side, butting his head against his leg. His brother wasn’t happy with him jumping the leopard. He dropped down and allowed Sal to rub his snout over him to know that Luca wasn’t hurt in any way. The cat hadn’t gotten any marks of his own in before their teammates had shown up. Once Sal was seemingly convinced that Luca wasn’t hurt, he allowed Luca to roll over.
Luca strolled over to Adam and leaned his weight against the wolf shifter. Adam laughed as he buried his fingers into Luca’s scruff and tugged gently. “Yeah, buddy, I’m glad I got here too,” Adam said.
