by Amelia Jade
Shay would, there was no doubt of that in her mind. She had to. Hidden somewhere within them was what she sought. Another race, another stop on one of the several low-level circuits that she frequented that would give her a shot. Another attempt at rising back to the level she had once known. The only question, was where?
The chair across from her squeaked as someone pulled it across the floor, then groaned as the person sat.
“I didn’t see you come in,” she said as Dan pulled himself up to the table.
He snorted. “You were face-deep in your morning wake-me-up. I doubt you would have noticed a dinosaur wandering past.”
Shay smiled. She liked Dan. He was a good man. Rough around the corners and with a short temper, but honest and generally oriented on doing the right thing. That was why she employed him.
Like now. He was right; she was wrapped up in her coffee and the papers in front of her. Sitting up a little straighter, she looked around, taking in the little coffee shop as if for the first time. It was small, buried right in the middle of the pit itself, only several dozen feet from the track. Around her, other racers or their crews sat in small clumps at the black-and-white checkered tables, their own wire-mesh chairs pulled up close.
The difference was that they would be looking at race data and discussing changes to be made for the next day’s actual race. Shay was looking at another race. Any other race, really.
“I finished assessing the damage with Mikko,” Dan said at last.
Mikko was her chief mechanic. Well, really her only mechanic. Dan knew his way around the cars and was a big help, but Mikko was the one that made it so that she could actually go out and race.
“And?” she asked hesitantly as another racing crew came through the door, the little bells chiming their entrance. One of them caught her looking and nodded respectfully at her. She nodded back, then turned her attention back to Dan.
“I think we can get you back on the track,” he said.
Shay knew him. If Dan said he thought it could be done, it could be done. That was great, except…
“Dan,” she began.
“Don’t say it,” he said immediately, holding up his hand to forestall any further words from her mouth. “You’ll be fine. We’ll proceed to the Tusco, and you’ll qualify, and it’ll be fine,” he said firmly.
Shay shook her head. Oh Dan. Always so positive, her own personal cheerleader, never willing to let her get down.
“We’re not going to Tusco,” she said softly.
Dan frowned. “Why not? It’s the next stop. We have three weeks to get everything in top shape before then.” He smiled. “Come on Shay, it’ll be fine. We’ve been through worse.”
Despite herself, she smiled, though it wasn’t a happy one. “Dan,” she said, her spine straightening.
His eyes narrowed as he saw the change in her body language and the tone of her voice registered. “What is it, Shay? What aren’t you telling me?”
“This was it, Dan. They sent me a letter. If we didn’t qualify today, that was our third in a row.” She sighed. “We’re done, Dan. They shut us down.”
Dan sat back into his chair, thoughtful.
She eyed her empty coffee mug while waiting for him to gather his thoughts.
“Okay,” he said at last. “So we shut it down. Retool. Resume our search for a sponsor maybe, and we hit the ground rolling when next season starts.”
Shay smiled, but shook her head. “Dan.” She caught herself, feeling her throat tightening up with emotion as she tried to speak.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
The pattern repeated itself several times until she felt confident the next words would come out without her breaking down in tears.
“You’re great, Dan. It’s been a pleasure to have you on the team.” Shay sighed. “But I can’t afford to keep you on anymore. Our funds are gone. I’m broke.” Her heart shattered into pieces as she watched him process the implications.
Shay was effectively firing him and the rest of her small team, even if she didn’t have a choice. It was a terrible thing to do, but there was no other way around it. She thanked her lucky stars that her entire crew was sought after by other drivers, and would not spend very long unemployed, if they even spent any at all.
“Oh.” That was all he said at first. They had been working together for five years now. He didn’t need to say any more than that to convey his feelings. Then, “What will you do?”
“I thought I’d find somewhere else for us to go,” she said with a nod. “That was until I looked at the bank account. Now?” She laughed, a shaky, nervous thing. “Now I don’t know.”
Dan frowned. “Why don’t you go find your father?”
Shay almost said no without thinking, but something made her hesitate. For several months now, her missing father had been weighing on her mind.
You don’t even know if he’s missing. He could just be going through another one of his uncommunicative streaks. It’s not like he hasn’t done that before. Like, oh I don’t know, the first eighteen years of your life? What’s six months without an email?
It was nine months now, including the three she had been thinking about going to find him. It wasn’t quite that simple though.
Shay had never really had a relationship with her father, a man who had been an enigma for most of her childhood. Even now, the past five years had been filled with sporadic visits and even more random email updates.
“Maybe,” she said at last, hedging her thoughts carefully.
Dan just smiled. She hated how he could often know what she was going to do before she did it.
He’s who I wish my father had been. Big beard and even bigger booming laugh, and he carefully looks out for me while trying not to appear like he is.
“Thank you,” she whispered, accepting his approval of her choice.
“I’ll tell the others,” he said. She smiled, gathering up to give him a hug.
“No, Dan. They’re my team. I’ll tell them,” she said, though she was appreciative of the offer.
“So,” he asked as she tossed the sheets together into a pile, putting down some change to cover her cup of coffee as well. “Where do you start?”
Shay frowned. “The last email he sent mentioned something about a place called King City and a possible interview as a Group Protection Plan member, whatever the hell that means.”
Dan smiled, putting his arm around her in a familial gesture. “It’s going to be good for you,” he said. “You’re going to have fun. Trust me.”
She hoped he was right.
Chapter Two
Justin
They were going on a mission.
Not just any job, or thing that had to be done. No, it was time for him and his team to get back to doing what they were in King City for.
“We’re gonna save some city-slicker shifter ass,” he crowed as they filed from the command center, doing his best to contain his excitement.
Behind them, Connor lingered a few steps behind. Probably telling his girl that he loves her. Justin smiled at that. His “girl” also happened to be Madison Rychel, the commander of the Underground, a group of shifters and humans dedicated to helping the shifter population of King City. She was also, as far as anyone knew, the first “test-tube shifter” in existence. After taking several vials of serum derived from shifter blood, Madison had gone from being a half-breed—a “blackblood”—into a full-blown shifter. She was able to call forth her own bear, a powerful beast that, like her human form, didn’t take guff from anyone.
Justin envied his teammate Connor for what he had found. He only wished that the rest of them could end up so lucky.
It was good to have the team back together again.
“What’s the plan, Jared?” he asked as Connor came out of the room after them, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face that he tried mightily to hide. He was failing miserably, but nobody cared.
“The plan, Charlie,” Jared said, lapsing bac
k into their code names as they headed toward their “ready room,” really just a converted garage that now housed their gear, “is simple. Find. Protect. Evacuate.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Of course, Alpha,” he said with false deference, earning him a non-heated glare from the team leader. “I was just wondering, you know, if we had more details.”
“I do,” Jared said calmly as they walked down the corridor. All of their steps were carefully restrained, each of them eager to move forward with their mission.
Josh, the fourth member of their team, groaned at the reply. “Thanks Dad,” he said as the others chuckled.
The hallway ended, opening into a larger room. The far side had two single-car garage doors, currently closed. Two trucks were in front of the doors, reversed in so they could easily be driven out in a hurry. It was what was behind them that made him smile.
Shrouded by a thick woven polyester cover were two sleek shapes that called out to him. Feeling his lips pull back into a grin, he looked at Jared as the leader turned around, then looked over at the shapes.
The leader followed his gaze, then smiled and nodded. “Yeah, go ahead and get ready. You’ll be on scout duty today.”
Yes! He clenched his fist tightly in victory as his bear roared with delight inside of him. Justin knew he must be one of the few shifters on the planet whose bear enjoyed the thrill of two-wheeled propulsion, the thrum of the engine between his legs.
His love for it was almost sexual in nature, but he didn’t care. He loved whipping along, dodging in and out of traffic with the ease and reflexes that only a shifter could have. There was something about the freedom from the cockpit of a normal vehicle that just spoke to him.
As he worked to uncover his bike, a blue and white prized stallion, he listened to what Jared—no, Alpha, he corrected—was saying.
“Standard op I think. Lives in a three-story walkup in the middle of downtown. So this will be a little more public than normal. That means be careful and don’t pull any stupid stunts,” he said with a scowl at Justin.
He just raised his arms and looked innocent as he whipped the cover off his bike in one smooth motion. Two hundred horsepower of sleek, speed-chasing power was revealed.
The others didn’t even notice. They were just unappreciative, he told himself. Didn’t know what the perfect amalgamation of power and style was, even if it came up and hit them in the face.
“Charlie, you’ll do a ride through of all streets in a two-block radius, ensure there’s nobody waiting for us. Then Bravo and Delta will get the target and escort him down to me in the escape vehicle. From there, we will escort him to Safe House Gamma. Any questions?”
There were none. There never were any. The team was a well-oiled machine by this point, even if the past two weeks had seen them doing a number of other tasks as the Underground recovered from the sabotage inflicted upon it by their previous leader.
Justin snarled as he thought of Flint, the traitorous leader, who in reality had been an operative of the Agency, their mysterious and shadowy enemy. The betrayal still hurt all of them, and he knew it wouldn’t go away anytime soon.
“Charlie, whenever you’re ready, head on out,” Alpha said, showing him the coordinates on a map. “We’ll follow you.”
He memorized the location and nodded, pulling on the last of his black tactical gear and snagging his helmet from its hook on the wall. Trying to contain his excitement, he focused on the mission.
Find the target. Get him to safety. It was simple and easy.
With a final nod to his crew, he slapped the visor down on his helmet as they opened the garage. Justin eased the throttle forward and glided down the ramp, making his way around the old warehouse building and toward the streets. It was a good ten-minute ride to the location by car.
Justin would make it in five.
He felt the air begin to tug on his leather jacket as he increased speed, leaning left, then right as he weaved a pattern through traffic, his eyes three steps ahead of the rest of his body, planning his route in advance.
As he approached the target zone, he eased off the throttle.
“Hey!” a scared female voice shouted as he flew past.
Justin glanced over his shoulder to see a woman with her arms in the air giving him the finger. He latched on to her green-blue eyes for a second, then she was too far gone for him to make out details. He cursed himself for not seeing her as she emerged from between two cars, but that was just as much her fault as his.
As he slowed, Justin began to move with the flow of traffic. Blending in would be more key than speed now. He needed to search for any potential Agents that may be waiting for his team. If he missed anything, then he could be putting his entire team in danger. Suddenly everything snapped into crystal-clear focus as the seriousness of his mission washed over him. It was always like this: the free and easy ride to the target zone, followed by a period of high-octane adrenaline as he cruised the streets, looking in every vehicle and shop that he passed.
His ear buzzed with Alpha’s voice. “How’s it looking out there, Charlie?”
“So far it looks more peaceful than the sight of a sleeping newborn,” he replied, his vision going left and right.
There were no telltale signs of an Agency presence. They weren’t overly known for being stealthy. Big black SUVs and men clad in military black were the name of the game. Justin knew it was only a matter of time before they started to use vehicles that would blend in a bit more, but for now, it was still the same old.
“Okay, we’re moving in,” Alpha said. “Stand by.”
He radioed his confirmation, and then found a spot three buildings down from the one their target resided in. There he waited.
After two minutes his fingers began to bounce on the frame as his nerves built. The radio stayed silent. Despite his growing urge to check in, to see the progress, he waited silently. Cars drove by on his left in a near-steady stream as the traffic built from the midday lull. He sat back into his seat, running through several mental meditation exercises designed to help him relax through controlled breathing. Justin hated not knowing what was going on.
“Move out. Charlie, scout the way.”
He was moving before the last word was spoken. The engine roared and he eased into traffic, forcing two cars to leave a space for him.
The car in front slammed on its brakes, coming to a halt.
Justin cursed and tried to get around it, but there wasn’t enough space.
“Shit. Alpha, traffic jam. I’ll catch up, but don’t wait for me.”
Without waiting for a reply, he leaned to the left, but there were oncoming cars. So much for making his own path. After a thirty-second wait the traffic began to move again. This time Justin was able to zip out into a space in oncoming traffic and jump three cars ahead. This repeated itself until he got to a stretch of road that had less traffic. Ahead he could see his team’s truck at a standstill, waiting for the light to turn.
A flicker of motion to his right caught his attention. Glancing over, he watched as a large silver-metallic SUV eased up alongside him.
Something was wrong.
“Alpha, something is wrong. Get the hell out of here,” he said, even as the window began to roll down.
Ahead of him tires screeched and the black truck carrying the rest of his team shot through the intersection, narrowly avoiding a blue four-door sedan that slammed on its brakes, which missed the rear bumper by inches.
Justin slowed as he and the SUV came to a halt. The light turned green just as they slid to a full stop, and he looked back over as he picked up speed. Two men were visible inside. One of them was sitting in the middle, looking calm and impervious to the wind rushing through the opening. Something about the gray suit and immaculate haircut set Justin’s neck tingling. This was a bad man. But who was he?
The other man loomed into his vision with a leering grin as he tilted his head in Justin’s direction. The bold blue eyes, bald head, and big s
car that started at his right eyebrow and ran up as far onto his head as Justin could see, all combined to make him look like some sort of specter of evil, the very stereotype itself come to life.
Whoever they were, they were not normal Agents. His eyes flicked to the driver’s seat as he kept one eye on the road. The man behind the wheel, on the other hand, was Agent to the core. Black uniform, crew-cut hair, etcetera. So whoever these men were, they worked for the Agency.
“Alpha, we have two baddies. Suits. Very non-natural.” He paused. “Oh, and they’re driving a silver SUV.”
“Be safe Charlie; don’t do anything stupid. Lose them.”
“Roger that,” he replied, intending to do just that.
Before he could, the wildly-grinning man waved at him.
Justin frowned.
The man leaned back, and suddenly the entire door of the SUV was flying right at Justin as the man kicked it completely free of the vehicle.
“Shit!” he swore and tried to duck under it.
The door was too big. It impacted him side-on, kicking the tires out from beneath him as he fell to the ground. The bike began to skid across the ground, leaving a blue and white skid mark behind him, which was marred by the black from his jacket. The rough road quickly ate through his protective gear and began to shred the skin on his back. Justin screamed in pain, though he knew the injury wasn’t very bad. It would heal itself in a very short period of time, once he finally came to a halt.
The silver SUV, missing a door, sped off, taking a sharp right and disappearing into the rest of the city.
“I’m down, but okay. Get the target out of here, then come back for me and the bike,” he said as he hit something on the ground, his slide turning into a spin. Ahead of him his bike’s front wheel slammed into the curb, bending metal and making it unusable.
Justin hit the curb with a decent amount of speed. He tried to use his feet to cushion his impact and bring him up to his feet, to make it look smooth, but he failed miserably. Instead of looking suave, he flipped himself up in the air, going end over end, until he landed flat on his back at the feet of a random pedestrian.
