"There's the fucker I've been wanting to see!" he said, his breath reeking of booze.
He was definitely three sheets to the wind already. I looked over his shoulder at the rager going on, and wondered just what the occasion was. Bear clans, especially clans like the Thrashers, didn't need excuses to party, but this one seemed like there was something behind it.
"Fucking killer party, huh?" Killian asked. "Wildest one yet. These fucking Thrashers really know how to tear it up, huh, brother?"
"Fuck, yeah, they do," I said. "But, uh, you know what the occasion is?"
Killian's eyes went wide.
"You mean you haven't heard?" he said. "Tonight's the night we got everything finalized for the shipments! Clients are set up, deals are done, and all we gotta do is make the deliveries and count the fuckin' money."
He took a look drink of his beer and looked away for a moment, like he was considering something.
"You know, I thought working for the Thrashers and that fuckin' dragon was a bad idea, but we stand to make so much money on this shit, I think I might just start with ‘em full time!"
"I don't know, man," I said. "Working with dragons, just seems like something's bound to go sideways at some point."
Killian raised an eyebrow. "What're you sayin', man? You havin' second thoughts?"
"Nah," I said, not wanting him to suspect anything. "Just thinkin' I might be done with the Thrashers once this is all over. I've heard too much shit about what happens to crews that get on the bad side of dragons, you know? And you saw those poor SOBs who got smoked by Mallory."
Killian waved his hand.
"No way, man," he said. "All we gotta do is make sure that we don't do anything stupid. Just do what they ask, don't skim anything off the top, and don't do anything really, really, fucking stupid like let the Sapiens or something know about what's goin' on, you know?"
Luckily my mouth was full of beer, otherwise, I might've said something stupid. I'd done deep cover before like this, but never for this long and never with some girl to worry about. It was all starting to get to me, as much as I hated to admit it, and I was more than ready to put this case to bed. All I needed to do was get some hard proof that the illegal goods were here—my eyewitness account would be enough—then I could start things in motion with Sapien HQ.
"You know where they're keeping this shit?" I asked. "I gotta see this for myself."
"Yeah, brother," Killian said. "All the shit's in the back warehouse. But they're keeping it pretty tightly locked down; not sure how you'd get back there."
But before the conversation could continue any further, a pair of hands clapped down on Killian’s and my shoulders. We both turned, and were face-to-face with some of the high-up thugs in the Thrasher clan, a couple of the really rough looking motherfuckers who worked closely with Mallory.
"Killian and Connor?" asked one of the Thrashers.
"That's us," Killian said. "What the fuck's up?"
"Boss wants to see you both in back. Now."
"Whoa, whoa," Killian said. "Boss as in ‘dragon boss'?"
The man just nodded and directed us toward the back offices of the warehouse. And if that wasn't enough, they guided us with a firm push. I didn't like this one bit.
"Just what the fuck's goin' on?" I asked. "We're tryin' to drink, my man."
"Boss is doing a check-in with all the freelancers we're hiring. Just making sure you're all on the level."
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Last thing I wanted was to go eye-to-eye with a dragon; they had a way of spotting liars from miles away. But I didn't have any choice—if I made a run for it, they'd know something was up. My only chance was to hope my BS skills were better than Mallory's ability to detect it.
We were led further and further away from the party, eventually ending up in a narrow hallway that led to back office. Eventually, we arrived at a door at the end and the thugs opened it up, revealing a massive room that was something like a combination of an office and a storage room. A big steel desk was in the middle of the place, and the walls were lined with metal shelves. A massive window looked out onto the main warehouse floor, where dozens of Thrashers tended to dozens of supply crates, all loaded down with drugs and guns.
And leaning against the desk, dressed in a lavender suit with a cream white tie, that usual smug look on his face, was Mallory. My gut sank as soon as I laid eyes on him, and I knew right away that this wasn't some fucking meet-and-greet.
"Come in, boys," he said. "Have a seat."
It wasn't really a request. As soon as Killian and I stepped into the office, the thugs who were already in there slammed the door behind us and forced us down into a pair of chairs placed in front of the desk.
Fuck. Fuckity-fuck-fuck.
"Whoa, Mallory," Killian said. "What's this all about? What's with all the muscle?"
Internally, I was less than calm. But I knew I needed to make sure that on the outside, I was as cool as a goddamn cucumber that someone stuck in the back of the freezer and forgot about.
"You know," I said, "I think this meeting might be a little more fun at a table in the party with some drinks."
Not my smoothest line, but I figured it was enough to make me look like I wasn't too stressed by what was going on. After all, I didn't have anything to worry about, since I wasn't a Sapien. Ahem.
"Ah, our little freelancers," Mallory said, strolling in front of his desk and looking at us with that scheming expression that he always seemed to have on his face. "Santa's little helpers. You know, I was completely against bringing on anyone who wasn't a by-blood member of the Thrasher Clan. But when I looked over the logistics of this whole operation, and saw just what the scale of it was, I realized that, yes, sadly, we were going to need a little extra help. But that didn't mean I had to like it. Or not take my eyes off of you mercenaries for one goddamn second.
"At least," he continued. "That was the plan. But the best-laid plans of mice and men—blah, blah, blah, so on and so forth. I get elbows-deep in this operation and what happens? Three bears turn up dead. The Thrashers, no less. Murdered right in the street and left to rot like dogs. But I'm sure you've both heard all about this. Needless to say, some of the higher-ups in the Thrasher Clan are very, very eager to get to the bottom of these."
"And you look like you're really bent out of shape about it," I said.
"Please," said Malloy, rolling his eyes. "No offense to my furry little friends, but I've been around since castles were a ‘thing;' I'm not going to be losing too much sleep over a trio of bears. And who knows if they got into some stupid, drunken fight with the wrong people. Stranger things have happened to bears.
"But I got to thinking, and something about the whole thing just didn't sit right with me. So, I figured I'd ask around to our little freelancer crew, see what I could find out. And I've asked every single one of you money-grubbing little lowlifes, and every last one seems to have a water-tight alibi. So, that leaves you two. Whatever your names are—I've already forgotten."
"No way!" Killian shouted. "I was here the whole night! You can ask around! I'd never do you all dirty like that!”
Mallory looked Killian over with skeptical eyes. "Hmm," he said, pacing back and forth, his smooth hands clasped behind his back. "And what about you, handsome?"
"Same deal," I said. "Was with the Thrashers all night working on shit. Same as just about every goddamn night."
Mallory nodded. "Not exactly ‘airtight,'" he said. "And, unfortunately for you, I know that it's total and complete bullshit."
Ohhh, fuck.
With that, the thugs moved it, grabbed me out of the chair and yanked me to my feet. I was face-to-face with Mallory, and all he could do was shake his head.
"I swear," he said. "I put so much time and effort into making examples out of people who screw me over, and it never fails that people still think they can fuck me over! I'm starting to get my feelings hurt. I mean, what do I have to do? Start crucifying you miserable little shifter fucks
in the middle of Times Square?"
He raised his eyebrows and scrunched his mouth, as if he was actually considering it. "That actually sounds a little fun, now that I think about it." Then he shook his head and got himself back on track. "I know it was you; I've had all of you miserable little mercenaries tailed for the last two months. You think I'd just let a group of random bears join my operation? How do you think that I know just who's been fucking me over, and when, and how?"
A few strands of his silver hair fell over his forehead. Mallory took a deep breath, and swooped them back into the rest of his hair. I kept my eyes fixed on him, hard.
"Shit man," Killian stammered. "Is that shit true?"
I kept my mouth shut.
"The only thing I don't know about you, my friend, is just who the hell you're working for. My guess would be the Sapiens—I know how you little do-gooders so enjoy getting involved in matters like this. Or, you could be part of some rival bear clan. That'd be my next guess. But I'll leave it to you to fill in the details."
Taking another slow breath, he walked backward until he was able to sit back down on the edge of the desk. "Well?" he said, gesturing with his hand. "Do go on."
I let the silence hang in the air. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Killian looking at me with an extremely worried and shocked expression. But he knew better than to speak up.
"Actually," I said, "both guesses are wrong."
"Really?" Mallory asked. "Then enlighten me."
"I'm, ah, just bored, really. Got laid off a while back, stopped in the bar, and figured it sounded like fun. You can only handle so much daytime TV and YouTube, you know?"
Mallory sighed and shook his head, as if scolding himself for thinking he could expect anything else other than a smart-ass answer. Couldn't argue with him on that.
"You're really, really, lucky I'm not in the mood to shift and ruin this perfectly good suit, you know. I've been alive for over a thousand years, and if there's one thing that never gets old, it's hearing the screams of the poor fuckers I roast alive. Although stomping on them has its charms—nothing like the smash of feeling all the bones and guts turn into jelly underneath your foot, you know?"
With unbelievable speed, he reached toward Killian, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him off the ground, the bear's big black boots dangling helplessly in the air.
"So, I think I'm going to appeal to your sense of camaraderie with this," Mallory said, not struggling at all to keep the big man in the air. "Here's the deal: You tell me who you're working with, and you also tell me what you know about the witness who you were with when you killed those three bears."
"And you let us go?"
Mallory chuckled. "No," Mallory said, "you're going to fry either way. But if you're a good boy and tell me what I want to know, then I'll let this poor sap get back to work in one piece. Otherwise, I give just a liiittle twist, and, just like that—dead!"
This was quite a predicament—no fucking doubt about that. But at least I know that they were fuzzy on the details about Jane. Still, I wasn't about to let Killian die; he hadn't done anything other than have a few drinks with me. Nothing worth dying over. I looked over Mallory's shoulder at the large window leading to the main warehouse area, and a thought occurred to me.
Fuck. Here goes nothing.
"Sure," I said. "Let me just start from the start."
"I'm listening…"
Then another thought occurred to me. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea if he knew who Jane was. I knew where the warehouse was now, I had the dirt on him, and with Jane's eyewitness report, Mallory was as good as fucked. The only issue was if he decided to get paranoid and slip back into the shadows after this was all over. No—I had to give him an opportunity that he couldn't say no to.
"Okay, fine," I said. "The girl's name is Jane. But leave her out of it, okay? She's got a lot going on right now. I mean, this Friday she's got some fancy fuckin' social going on with her rich family. This is the last thing she needs, you know?"
Mallory's mouth crinkled into a little smile. "Interesting," he said. "I'll have to keep all of this in mind. Unfortunately for you, this information isn't going to save your life. And since you refuse to tell me who you work for, I'm afraid that it's not enough to save your friend's either."
I didn't give him another moment.
With that, I shifted. And before Mallory had a chance to react, I lunged over and sank my teeth right into his arm. He howled out in pain and instinctively swiped with his fist, connecting right with my side in what had to have been the hardest punch that I'd ever taken in my life.
I let out a roar, and watched as Killian landed on the ground with a hard thud and scrambled to his feet. I opened my mouth and reached over, taking him in my jaws hard enough to pick him up but not hard enough to hurt him.
"What the fuck?" he shouted.
The guards around me began to shift, and I didn't waste another moment. I rushed for the window and, turning, leaped right through it. I landed on the grounds of the warehouse floor and tore through the place, weaving in and out of Thrasher Clan members and the boxes full of their illegal shit.
"Don't fucking shift, don't fucking shoot!" Mallory shouted. "If so much as one package of this shit is damaged, I'll rip the fucking guts out of the bear who was stupid enough to do it!"
My gamble paid off—Mallory wanted to catch me, but he wasn't going to risk wrecking his shipments in the process.
I took a quick look over my shoulder and saw Mallory glaring at me from the shattered window of the office. Unless he wanted to dragon shift right then and there and chase me out onto the streets of the Bronx in the form of a supposedly mythical beast, he was sunk.
"What the fuck; what the fuck!" shouted Killian as I rushed through the warehouse doors.
Once outside, I glanced back again and saw that a group of four Thrasher bears were in hot pursuit. Luckily, we were in a fairly abandoned area of the Bronx, and no one had caught sight of us yet.
I continued to run, making my way to a nearby abandoned park, the small stretch of patchy green out of the sight of anyone nearby. I knew that I was going to have to fight, and I figured away from prying eyes would be the best place for it to go down. Once I reached a shrouded area of the park, I dropped Killian and shifted back.
So much for going undercover, I thought as the now-human forms of the Thrasher bears rushed to catch up.
"Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Killian demanded as he stood up and frantically looked around.
"Here's the deal, pal," I said, tensing my body and preparing for a fight. "If you would've stuck around, you'd have gotten popped when me and the Sapiens brought the hammer down on this shit. And if I get killed, they're gonna come for you next. So, you'd better fight with me. You do, and I'll let you get the fuck out of here scot-free. And that's the best deal you're gonna get."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Killian said, weighing his options carefully. "Serves me right for workin' with fucking dragons."
He squared up next to me, and I realized that he'd made the smart choice. The Thrasher bears cut into the park, shifting back into their bear forms as they did.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Ready as I'm gonna be," Killian said, shaking his head.
With that, we both shifted into our bear forms as the Thrashers approached. Killian's form was that of a massive, powerful-looking Kodiak, and I was immediately glad to have him on my side.
The Thrashers came in hard and fast. Two of them broke off toward me, and the other two went for Killian. The pair who'd lined me up in their sights rushed in simultaneously, hoping to take me out with a quick blitz. But I wasn't about to go down that easily. I juked out of the way, one of the bears flying past me and the other slamming hard into my side. I absorbed the impact, but it sent the bear that collided with me into a daze. I took advantage of the bear being off-kilter by rising up on my hind legs, spreading my paws out, and bringing them in like a vice on the bear's head. I heard
a sick crack, and the bear dropped like a sack of doorknobs.
One down.
The other bear, the one that flew past me, had only just begun to recover from the momentum of his run. I turned toward him, and watched as his eyes flicked to the now-human corpse of his companion. Rage boiled in his eyes, and I realized gleefully that by taking out his partner, I'd put him into a state of emotional agitation that made it very likely that he'd do something stupid.
And that's just what he did.
The bear roared in a deafening boom, and rushed toward me. But I was ready for him. I stood up on my hind legs as he closed in on me, bracing myself into position. The bear lifted onto his own hind legs as he approached, and we collided in a grapple. The bear and I went back and forth, snapping at one another with our jaws and trying to overpower the other. He was stronger than I was expecting, and it took everything I had to keep him off my ass. But his jaws moved closer and closer, I began to worry that he'd overpower me.
But before he could best me, a massive form rushed in from the side and slammed into the Thrasher bear. I turned and saw that it was Killian. Once he had the bear off of my back, I looked over to where he was moments ago and spotted the two mangled corpses of the other Thrashers.
Holy shit. I'm glad this fucker's on my side.
Killian and the final Thrasher fought hard, and I ran in to help him out. The final bear was no match for the both of us, and a few claw swipes later, the fucker was dead. His corpse shifted back to his human form, and the battle was won.
I turned to Killian, the both of us panting hard.
"Good fight," I said.
"Fuckin' A right it was," Killian said. "Not bad for four-on-two."
I nodded, a pleased little smile forming on my lips.
"I can't believe this shit," Killian said. "I put months into this fucking operation just to find out that there was a fucking Sapien sting happening right under my goddamn nose."
"Consider yourself lucky," I said. "Even if you managed to help pull the thing off, I wouldn't count on Mallory giving you what he promised. Shithead dragons like him would just as soon roast you to tie up any loose ends rather than pay you what he owed you."
Shifter Wars Complete Series Page 46
