“No. He had shifted already, in preparation I suppose. Guess he knew we’d bring the bitches this time today. Seems he whined a bit, which may be unusual but other than that, he seemed fine.”
“Okay. Finish your report and help the others. There won’t be a shift change today, we are short staffed.”
A shiver ran through Tate followed by the sure knowledge his replacements had been permanently terminated.
“Mistress?”
“Asia?”
“I am in the main area and haven’t found Gunnolf, or heard from him. The lab tech I am wearing fears there’s no way to leave alive. Everything is automated.”
“That’s not acceptable.”
She exhaled, looked at the caged wolves and brightened. “Can Jacques teach me a virus to shut the place down for a short window?”
“One sec.”
Asia filled in the computerized forms on each wolf in case someone paid attention.
“Jacques says he needs information on the computer, can you send him anything?”
“No. I don’t have access other than the lowest level.”
“Jacques says that is enough. Type this.”
After clearing the screen, she typed the strings into a file he specified expecting a flashing sign or neon lights. Nothing happen. The cursor stopped blinking, and the screen returned to normal. She looked at the wolves again. The old male gazed at her but didn’t speak. Unable to face them, she left the room.
“Over here,” Chuck waved at her. She jogged closer to help him with the cage. “Word came down to sedate Hawke and the bitches. Then take them out and let him sleep it off. I’d say cut off the bastard’s balls if I didn’t think they’d cut mine off first.”
Not interested in conversation, she nodded and helped push the platform holding the cages. Asia mimicked human behavior and resisted moving down the hall at a faster pace. The vision of the mutilated man nauseated her and she could not rid her mind of the image. Why would anyone do that to someone? What happened to his limbs? His eyes? How did he still survive?
“Heard they tanked Chives and Henly,” Chuck said in a lowered voice, but not low enough that the cameras wouldn’t pick up the conversation. “Now we’re down to the four of us, they expect us to live down here with these animals full time. Fuck that. I didn’t sign on for that bullshit.”
“Be quiet before you’re tanked like the others,” she said amazed at his stupidity.
He snorted. “There’s only one guard on duty above ground and the super. Chances are the super and the guard are somewhere shagging each other and not paying us a bit of attention, eh the bastards.”
Maybe he wasn’t stupid. “How do you know about them?”
Chuck preened. “You’re new, the super used to work down here with us. Last super disappeared, they moved him upstairs. Everybody knows Hawke runs the place, the super is just to make sure the equipment doesn’t fail.”
Asia nodded, calculating the odds. The other three on this floor were no problem to dispose of; the real challenge was the super and the security guard. First, she needed to get through security to reach them. Moments later they stopped in front of the lab door.
Her wolf whined and pushed to break free, surprising her. Henry met them holding a tranq gun. He looked at the cages and then punched in the security code. A beep sounded, and the door opened, he walked inside. A howl and then snarling anger filled the air.
“No!” That one word filled with hurt, anger and despair shot through their link. She closed him out. He was not her mission. Gunnolf and freedom were her only concerns. A thumping sound came from the room. Chuck pushed the cart and then looked at her. She snapped out of it and helped push the cart into the room.
“I’ll stand here with the tranq’s,” Henry said. “Put the bitches in the cages, leave him on the floor. He’ll be mad as fire when he wakes but I’ll show him the damn tape if I have to. Son of a bitch gave us no choice.”
Chuck snorted. “That’s not going to matter to Hawke. Bastard thinks he’s perfect.”
Asia helped pick up the sedated bitches and placed them inside the cages. When her wolf whined over Hawke’s fate, Asia ignored her completely.
Henry wiped the sweat from his forehead and stretched. “I’m going to the back, get rest while you can. It’s going to be a long night.”
Chuck nodded, walked off in the opposite direction, opened his area and stepped inside the hall.
“Let’s grab a bite before I go upstairs to take this stuff back.” Henry waved her forward.
Asia nodded. The moment they walked into the break room, Henry grabbed her close. His hands roamed everywhere, kissing and touching. She pushed him off her.
“Wait, wait… I thought you and Armand were a couple.”
Henry smiled. “We are.” He reached for her again.
She held him at arm’s length. “I don’t want any trouble. Leave me out of this.”
“It’s okay, he knows, he’s cool. I’ll see him later. Come on; let me initiate you into the brotherhood.” Henry pulled her close again. Sensing the cameras, Asia played it out a bit even though she wanted to punch him for being an asshole, instead she used the chameleon. The familiar tingling raced through her body making the exchange while wrapped in his arms. Once done, she sat on the ground holding Tate’s new body for a few moments. Kissed his cheek and stood.
“Welcome to the lower level, go ahead and sleep now.” She stepped out the door and spoke into the wrist communicator. “I need access to level B to return tranq gun and tranquilizers.”
There was a delay and then a small voice spoke. “Proceed.” Excited for the next stage in her mission, Asia headed for the lift, placed her palm on the key-pad, and entered the door. Seconds later the door opened, and she met the lone security guard. A quick scan showed he was the only person on the floor. She had no idea where the super was.
“You got him?” The guard asked turning to walk down the hall.
Asia followed. “Yeah. Took two shots in him and one each for the other two.”
“Whew, he’s going to be pissed,” the guard said opening a cabinet filled with weapons.
“Yeah. But I followed instructions, he wrote the damn protocols.”
“Funny, but he didn’t mean for them to be used on himself. Bastard never imagined himself out of control in the first place. Not to mention passing up two bitches in heat, he’s going to be real angry,” the guard chuckled putting the weapon away.
“No question,” she said wondering how a full-blood had risen in the ranks of the Liege and commanded this kind of fear and respect. They headed back toward the lift. She noticed the guard appeared distracted.
“What’s wrong?”
The guard frowned. “Nothing, he’s been acting weird all day, locked himself in the computer room, watching cameras.” He waved toward the camera in the hall. “Dance with me Henry, that’ll get a rise out of him.” He grabbed her and started dancing.
Asia laughed and grabbed a portion of his memories. His name, Jerry. His lover, Ponce. They’d started the same time, and he helped his lover get his current position by telling lies on the old supervisor. She bypassed all of that information for something she could use to find Gunnolf and leave the building.
After waving goodbye to Jerry, she headed into the lift, typed in a code and stepped out when it stopped. Immediately she typed in another code to hold it. She sensed Ponce in the room to her left. Something had spooked the young man. Chances were he realized she was on the floor. Using the code from Jerry’s memory, she entered the communications room and tackled Ponce to the ground before accessing the database. Within minutes, she knew everything she needed to know.
Gunnolf was dead.
Hawke killed him. Liege Lord Boris Lancaster owned this place but hadn’t visited in years. Her hopes of discovering more about herself ended. The information she’d received from Gunnolf was now suspect. How would she ever know if the things he shared were real, another memory stolen f
rom someone else or manufactured to suit the Liege’s purposes?
Anger, boiled and rippled through her. A masterful hand had played her like a well-tuned violin. Son of a bitch. She grabbed and threw the half empty bottled water across the room.
Ponce knew computers, and this system was high tech. With a series of keystrokes, passwords and security over-rides, she shut down and disabled every camera in the building erasing everything in the past twenty four hours.
Ready to leave, she unlocked and opened every door and exit. She swallowed her anger over the treatment of her fellow wolves; she turned on the loud speaker and howled long and loud. After a scream or two, she heard the mass exodus of her brethren.
Mission complete, she was going home.
Chapter 6
Asia turned to leave and stopped. Jerry, the security guard stared wide eyed, and he had company. Two vacant eyed hybrids stood behind nearby. Chuck had been wrong. There were others above ground, simply not others he would recognize.
“Okay, Jacques is ready,” Jasmine said.
Asia rested on the balls of her feet as Jerry typed on the keypad looking inside the room with a deep frown.
“Incoming.”
“Incoming? Wait. Jacques said whatever you do don’t shut the system down, it will trip alarms and alert the Liege. Don’t use a hammer, is what he said.”
Asia shook her head at the late advice. Heart racing, adrenaline pumped through her providing an outlet for her anger in preparation to fight. “Too late, already done, company’s here.”
The door slid open. “Ponce, what are you doing?” Jerry hissed pulling her close, looking around until and stopped on the floor where Henry lay dead on the ground.
“Shit, I didn’t mean for you to kill anybody, we were just kidding around,” he said and fired the weapon in his hand at the hybrid. Surprised, Asia stepped aside, and avoided being slammed into the controls when the other hybrid charged. Jerry emptied his pistol slowing down the hybrid, but she knew that wouldn’t stop the breed. Nothing would until they completed the mission with their deaths.
Asia jumped up, flipped and landed behind the second hybrid. She punched the thing in the eye, withdrew her fist, and punched again. This time she ripped out the chip behind his eye. He screamed and held his face. Grabbing his head between her palms, she twisted, snapped its neck and silenced him at the same time.
“What… how’d you do that?” Jerry asked staring as flesh re-knitted over the metal on her arm. Since there was no reasonable answer, she gazed down at the other hybrid lying on the floor with a hole in his chest and neck. Jerry had destroyed his opponent with a laser. Asia hoped he wouldn’t do the same to his lover.
“I think I read about it somewhere, come on let’s go.” She stepped over the hybrid and headed toward the door.
“Go? Go where,” Jerry yelled and then raised a closed fist before lowering it. “There are chips in our brains, those bastards can find us anywhere in the world. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Do you know what they do to people who fuck up?” He pointed to the dead tech.
Asia looked out the door.
Jerry grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Asia read his pain at what he needed to do. He loved Ponce and planned to kill them both to save them from the Liege. Instead of speaking she laid her palm across his cheek and morphed. Side by side, she placed the lovers before scanning through Jerry’s memories. His knowledge of the castle seemed like a birthday present and Christmas rolled into one. A hidden door on an upper level met her immediate needs and she moved at an even pace, entered a code and headed down the stairs. Jerry and Ponce often left the building for picnics and outings through this exit. With each step to leave this accursed place, her wolf whined. Night had fallen by the time the copse of trees on the other side of the castle came into view.
Asia looked up at the dark, imposing building and spit on the ground. Gunnolf died years ago and somehow his memories lured unsuspecting protégés into a web of servitude. If she had explosives, she would blow the place apart.
Tired and hungry, she morphed into the guard who helped rescue Tyrese from Lyrill just in case the European pack was still in the area. Jasmine would have flight arrangements made, ready to take her home and it would be too difficult explaining a new person in the country.
Mission over, she headed toward the small house on the opposite side of the lake where she’d stayed before the job in the castle. Tonight she would rest, explain the situation to Jasmine and wait for an extraction. Now that she’d calmed down, she realized she’d violated a direct order from La Patron by releasing the test wolves. No telling how he would respond.
Also Greggor would be angry over the security breach and start the hunt soon. By disabling the cameras she’d covered her tracks temporarily, but leaving the continent was the safest bet. Eager to leave, she took off at a fast run until sensing full-bloods followed.
She didn’t sense aggression and stopped to wait. A few seconds later a pitiful, rag tag bunch of people surrounded her. Recognizing them from the lab she wondered why they had not returned home or left the area. They stared as if she had answers. But why follow her? A stranger.
“Why are you following me?”
“We don’t know where to go.” The plain comment took her by surprise.
“It has been many years since I have seen the moon or felt dirt beneath my feet. Where do we go now that we left that place?” An older man she recognized from inside, his skin held a blue tinge that mystified her. Was she responsible for them? For this?
Asia looked at the wolves and sighed. Tonight had been a series of her messing up one after the other. What had she done? She didn’t like being responsible for people.
No, she was responsible and somehow they knew.
To free the test wolves without thinking of the next step or what the cost would be had been a big mistake. Now they needed direction, and she had nothing. No place to take them, no pack for them to join, not even food to feed them or medicine to help them heal. In her anger, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. It never occurred to her they would need more direction. The urge to run and disappear rode her hard.
Eager to leave the area, she waved for them to follow her. Together they moved through the woods at a decent pace until she scented Tobias, the beta from the European pack. Earlier that month, he and his pack mates helped Tyrese, La Patron’s son and others fly out of the country. Jasmine had them wait for her to complete her mission and help her leave as well.
“Tobias,” she extended her hand in greeting to the tall, red headed, full-blood. He shook her hand but his attention settled on the ragged wolves with her.
“La Patron asked my Alpha to have us look for you and offer help if needed. We’ve been waiting in the area all week.”
Glad for the help she explained the dilemma without going into too much detail. She sensed he read between the lines.
“Soon I’ll be returning home. Can you take them with you, reacquaint them to pack life.” Since he didn’t know Silas had been in recent contact with Alpha Frederick she didn’t offer that information.
“I need approval from my Alpha. But it should be okay. When do you leave?”
“I am waiting for arrangements, Gunnolf is dead –”
“Gunnolfs’ been dead a long, time. Hawke tried to save him, but they used him instead. Heard they have a way of using the dead,” one of the wolves said in an eerie voice sending chills up Asia’s spine.
She looked at the older woman. “When did Gunnolf die? I swear he spoke to me.”
The woman cackled showing browned teeth and missing canines. “Gunnolf speaks to everybody. All of us were in the orphanage at one time. A great man he was, great man. Pity they use him the way they do.”
“How do they use him if he’s dead?” Asia didn’t understand, none of this made sense.
“Somehow they got hold of his memories and used those to lure us into the web. I heard his voice over twenty years ago, but he wasn’t th
ere.” She eyed Asia and nodded with the self-assurance of someone who visited another spiritual plane often. “I still listen to his voice. I’ve been meaning to return to the village. Rumor says he warded the place and stashed his things there. Course that could be just the voices.”
Asia nodded, ready to end the conversation. Too much time had passed, and she needed to rest after expending so much energy with the bracelet. That was a small price to pay. “You should get them out of here before it’s too late.” She stressed the last words so Tobias understood the danger.
He nodded. “You?”
“Just waiting for instructions, go ahead.” She had to confess her actions and hope Jasmine forgave her.
The wolves followed him through the trees, she ran in the opposite direction wondering why she hadn’t left with Tobias. Her wolf whined and howled. The small house came into view, and she breathed in relief no one had been inside to touch her things. The backpack lay in the cupboard; she grabbed the straps and left the hut for the forest. It didn’t take long to find her tree. It stood tall and majestic above the others. Asia slid the bag on her back and climbed upward. Halfway up the tree, the roar of engines in the distance filled the air. Tobias and the wolves were on their way.
Once she found the three branches close enough to lie across, she hung the backpack on a nearby limb and pulled out her jerky, dried fruit and nuts. She ate until her stomach agreed she could stop and drank from the canteen. The cool water eased her throat and rested well in her belly. In the morning she’d need to refill it in the nearby stream and go into town for more food. Beyond tired, she placed everything back into her bag and zipped it tight to keep out bugs. Next she pulled her heavy knit cap and a lightweight jacket, and slid them on. Dressed for sleep, she did a preliminary scan of the area.
The sounds of the forest soothed her. Unaccustomed to handling an entire mission, from beginning, to implementation, to completion, she hated all the mistakes, but she’d learn. Yawning, she lay on her side and closed her eyes.
“Where are you?”
Sword of Inquest (La Patron's Sword Book 1) Page 3
