by Angela Foxxe
“You’re not getting away that easily, you little imp.”
His fingers dug into her shoulders and armpits, his grip stronger than it needed to be to hold her. He was hurting her on purpose, and he was enjoying himself.
“I told them you were trouble, but you’re Decker’s favorite pet, and he just won’t get rid of you.”
Sabrina kicked the man hard in the darkness, smiling when she heard him suck in a deep breath in pain, losing his grip on her and dropping her there, on the dock. Pain shot through her hip as she connected with the heavy wooden walkway, but she was already up on her feet, running for the end of the dock, ready to jump in and swim after the boat if she had to.
She felt the hand in her hair an instant before she was yanked off her feet.
“You’re not slipping through my grasp,” he man said, wheezing in pain still, his face twisted with rage in the dim light of the flashlights of the other guards. “I’m not going to be the man that has to face Decker when he finds out that his pet project is gone.”
The man didn’t make any move to grab her arm again, simply wrapping her long hair around his fist, dragging her down the dock as she struggled to pull against him, dragging her feet even though the motion caused more than one splinter to find its way into the bottoms of her feet.
“You’re going to regret that,” the man said, still trying to catch him breath and gritting his teeth against the pain she had caused him. “You’re going to wish that you’d never been born by the time I’m done with you.”
“I already do,” she screamed, swinging her fist, lashing out at him the only way she could.
But he was too big, and she was too far away to connect with him hard enough to make an impact. He laughed at her futile efforts, pulling up on her hair so that she had to stand on her tiptoes to keep him from ripping her hair out by the roots.
He leaned over, face near hers, his rank breath hot on her face.
“I’m going to throw you in the pit for a week. We’ll see what a good girl you are then, shifter.”
He laughed, and Sabrina spit in his face once and then again. He stopped laughing abruptly, backhanding her across the face so hard that she saw stars.
“You will never again see the light of day if I have anything to say about it,” he sneered, throwing her to the ground in the gravel parking lot.
One of the other men jumped forward and zip tied her hands behind her back, another tied her feet. They picked her up off the ground, and carried her between them. She felt like a pig, hanging from the long branch that would be hung of the fire.
She kicked and struggled, but her trappings got tighter, and the men got closer to the building even though she slowed them down. She was screaming by the time they went through the door, took a sharp left and headed for the stairs.
“No!” she shrieked over and over, begging them not to go down the stairs and into the sensory deprivation room. “Please don’t.”
She was crying now, begging them to change their minds, but they were laughing over her pleas. She could hear doors opening, the other children who had been fast asleep waking up to see what all the noise was about. She called out to them to help her, but they were just babies themselves, and too young to fight so many grown adults.
She screamed anyway, knowing that no one could help her, and those that could were too afraid to try. She struggled and writhed, screaming repeatedly to no avail.
She heard a voice calling her name over her screams, coming from the darkness.
“Sabrina!” the voice yelled, but the rest was muffled by the darkness.
Hands clawed at her and something wrapped tight around her in the dark stairwell. Her hands were free now, but they’d already closed the door, leaving her in the dark room alone. She pushed at the arms around her, shrieking in fear, and trying desperately to see in the pitch black. She heard her name again, but this time, the voice cut through the fog.
“Sabrina, I’m here. I’ve got you.”
She shook her head, crawling along the dark room, trying to find the door. She could hear the voice behind her, but no matter how fast she crawled in the dark, she couldn’t find the door.
She was in a corner now, with the voice getting closer and nowhere to run. Throwing her hands up, she covered her face and screamed.
The room flooded with bright light, and a familiar face hovered in front of her, saying her name and reaching out to her.
Sabrina sat up, taking a deep breath and letting out a strangled cry. She looked around, confused for a moment before she focused on Paul’s face. And then she knew.
“It was just a dream,” she said, heart pounding violently in her chest. “It was just a dream.”
Paul reached out to her, but she pushed his hands away, standing up and looking back at the corner where she had been sitting.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I need a piece of paper and something to write with before the picture is gone.”
Paul nodded, rushing to a bedside table and pulling out a spiral notebook and a pen, and handing it to her. She folded the cover back, turning the lined paper sideways. She began to draw, closing her eyes every few lines to make sure she was on track, then diving right back into the drawing, lips pursed in concentration.
When she finished, she turned it around, showing him a picture of the dock, the lake and the mountains way in the distance, with a low hill range in the foreground.
“This is where they kept me,” she said. “I don’t know where this is, but-”
“What is that by the dock?” he asked, pointing to a large shape off to the side.
“A statue,” she said, looking at the shape and closing her eyes. “It’s a statue of a bear.”
“If you were going to guess a direction for these mountains, which would you say?” he asked, sounding excited.
“West,” she said without hesitation.
“Then I know exactly where that is,” he declared, pulling his cellphone out of the nightstand drawer and opening the web browser.
He typed quickly, then scrolled through the results until his eyes lit up and he tapped the screen. He turned the cellphone around triumphantly to show her.
“Is this it?” he asked.
“Yes!” she said. “That’s exactly it.”
“You were in Bear Creek Park, just outside of Denver. It’s been shut down to the public for almost two decades with no explanation.” He ran his finger along the south edge, then the west, and then the north. “There’s a road here, here, and here. You were no more than ten miles from any of the highways from where this picture was taken.”
She shook her head.
“We were that close to help and no one knew we were there.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “That must be frustrating to know that you were right there and no one in the surrounding communities had any clue. It’s just after midnight now. We’ll put together a group in the morning and we’ll head there.”
“No,” she shook her head. “This can’t wait. Something big is going to happen, and it’s going to be soon. We have to go now. They might not be there if we wait.”
“I understand. Let me make a few calls while you get dressed.” He slid his finger along the wall, and Sabrina heard a soft click. The door rolled away and a large display case was revealed. “Pick your weapon and pack me two that are easily put into my backpack. Take whatever you think we’ll need. Don’t think about it, just let your instincts guide you and if I don’t have it in my arsenal, come downstairs to the war room and I’m sure I’ll have what you need.”
He kissed her on the cheek and left before she could respond, already on a call and talking to one of the other WereLions. Sabrina hurried to the gun case, grabbing three handguns and more ammunition than she thought they would need. She put two of the guns in his backpack and the third in hers after she double-checked the knife she had purchased was still in her bag.
She hurried to get dressed then, feeling so at home in her black ta
ctical clothes and combat boots. She grabbed anything else she thought she might need, following Paul’s instructions to go by instincts. Her memory was coming back, but if she forced it, she would just push the information she need further into the recesses of her mind.
She threw her own bag over her shoulders, then put Paul’s bag over one shoulder and rushed out of the room and down the stairs.
There were already people gathered in the living room, several of them on their phones and relaying information to as many people as they could in a short time. Paul tossed her the keys.
“Load our gear in the front seat at your feet. Everyone has their own gear and will keep it close. Get in the truck, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She nodded, rushing out the door for several, similarly dressed men and women on her heels. When they piled into the cab of the truck, and the rest hopped into the bed and settled in, she was surprised. She got into the passenger seat and put their gear of the floor, pulling her legs up and crossing them in the seat.
“If we’re all going, who is watching the tunnel?” she asked.
There was a chuckle from the backseat, and a man she didn’t recognize smiled at her.
“There are hundreds of us providing combat support when needed. Don’t worry about the town or the tunnel. It’s being handled.”
She nodded, watching two more groups of people rush out of the house. They split up, half getting into each of the two pickup trucks left in the driveway. Those two trucks took off before the last man in the bed of the truck settled in, heading down the driveway and turning south.
Paul got into the driver’s seat a moment later, reaching out to squeeze Sabrina’s hand once he put the truck in gear and took off down the driveway after the other two.
“That was fast,” she said in awe.
He shook his head.
“We knew it was only a matter of time before you recovered something, and we were all pretty much ready.”
She laughed.
“So, the only thing you were waiting on was me.”
“You remembered the most important thing first,” he said. “I thought it would take longer, that’s for sure.”
He smiled at her, his pride evident.
“It was probably the wine and the strawberries,” she teased, forgetting about everyone in the backseat until someone snickered quietly.
She blushed, but no one could see her in the darkness. She didn’t care. Being teased by the other members of the team was par for the course. She felt at home, sitting beside Paul and hurtling down the highway toward the border to save the captive children.
The border!
“How are we getting past the border?”
“Remember the hunter?”
“Of course,” she laughed.
“There’s a road at the back of his property that goes straight into the woods and comes out at an old ranger’s station on our side. He showed it to us on a map before he left with Richard.”
“There’s no one covering it?”
She was shocked.
“No one even knew it was there. It’s a fire service road. We’ll take that through the border and meet up with the highway somewhere south of that.”
“Decker is going to be furious,” she said with a laugh. “All those funds spent on securing the borders and he missed a gaping hole in the fence.”
“That’s not the only thing that Decker is going to be angry about, but I have a feeling that tomorrow evening is going to be a rough one for him all the way around.”
“What do you have up your sleeve?” Sabrina asked, smiling in the darkness even though he couldn’t see her.
“You will see. I have to keep something a surprise.”
He pinched her thigh playfully and let his hand rest on her leg. His eyes were on the road, his face relaxed while Sabrina was reeling inside. This was it. They were going to right the biggest wrong committed against the shifters and their families. It wouldn’t erase the assassinations on Sabrina’s hands, but it goes a long way toward healing her heart and making her feel worthy of their kind acceptance.
She looked at the clocked and sighed inwardly. As fast as he was going, they weren’t going to be in Denver until sunset almost fifteen hours away. As excited as she was, nothing was going to happen tonight and they had a long drive ahead of them.
Their companions must have already made that connection, because when Sabrina looked back, the three people in the backseat were already sound asleep, and the ones in the bed of the truck were laying down below the window.
She looked at Paul, wondering if he had slept at all before she had woken him up, shrieking in fear and running around the room like a madwoman.
“I’m fine,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “Get some rest and I’ll wake you up when I’m too tired to drive anymore.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” he said, patting his leg.
She scooted across the bench seat and laid down, resting her head in his lap. His hand was on her cheek, caressing her face gently. Her eyes grew heavy, and she let out a yawn before giving up the fight. She needed the rest if she was going to be effective on the ground the next evening, and since she was the only one that “knew” the property, they were counting on her.
Too bad she didn’t know more than what she had seen in the dream.
CHAPTER 15
Decker’s men came out of the tunnel one by one, fanning out, assault rifles held at the ready, dressed from head to toe in tactical gear in the darkness. Frost was in the lead, the men following him around the compound, which was dark and appeared deserted.
The area was quiet, and they had made it all the way through the tunnel and into The Zone without anyone sounding an alarm or coming at them. Frost was starting to feel excited. Decker’s plan had worked, and the lions had let their guard down. It was just after sunset and Frost didn’t doubt that everyone had gone home for the day, enjoying dinner with their families, unaware that Decker’s men had already breeched their safety net and were now on their way toward the bright lights of the tiny town just inside The Zone.
“What do you see?” Decker’s voice said in his earpiece.
Frost shook his head, glad that Decker was in his office in Denver and not where they were. It was bad enough to have the man in his ear, but he’d been insufferable since the hunter had disappeared from Decker’s office, blaming the entire thing on Frost as if he was able to do anything about what happened in Denver from a roadblock in northern Wyoming.
“Nothing,” he responded. “It’s quiet here and there don’t appear to be any guards.”
Decker chuckled in his ear, the sound so smug that it made Frost cringe. He took a deep, inward breath, reminding himself that he was retiring after this mission. Decker’s explosion over the hunter had pushed Frost too far. He was getting out of HLF and going back to the FBI where it was safer.
Decker had no idea, and Frost wasn’t about to tell him. But his vehicle was already packed, and his acceptance back into the field office already clinched.
“I told you that they would drop their guard,” Decker said. “Stop wasting time. Get into town and take care of anyone in your path. Paul crossed a line, and I want him to understand what he did. Everything that is about to happen to his kind is because of what he took from me.”
“Sir?” Frost asked, trying to figure out what exactly Decker was referencing.
“Annie, Sabrina, they took them both. Paul Vincent is going to pay for what he did, and so are they.”
“Got it,” Frost said, but he didn’t.
Annie Decker had been kidnapped and killed by Richard Noble. By all accounts, Paul Vincent had nothing to do with it. Still, Frost could understand his rage. He didn’t know what he would do if he ever lost one of his children.
They moved on in formation, clearing all the little guard and walking over the grassy, uneven ground of the field that separated the edge of town from the guarded area.
He felt something move beneath his foot and he looked down. A white smile flashed from the ground beneath him, the face previously hidden by heavy camouflage paint. Before he could react, he heard the unmistakable sound of a bullet going into the chamber and realized that the man had a gun pointed straight at his head.
He froze, looking around and seeing the same thing around him. Every man on his team was frozen in place, some with their hands up already, the shifter in the grass disarming them and training the weapons on them once more.
“Hands up, Buttercup,” the man at his feet said with a big smile.
“What’s going on, Frost?” Decker’s voice said in his ear.
“Ambush,” he said quietly, his heart sinking.
He closed his eyes, expecting the gun to go off at any moment and his life to be ended. He had been so close to walking away from Decker and the HLF. One more day. That was all he needed to get on that plane and fly back to DC. Just one day too late.
He felt handcuffs snapping onto his wrist, his arm pulled down from where he held them in surrender and twisted behind his back to secure the second cuff to his other wrist. His legs were kicked out from under him and he landed hard on the ground.
He struggled to sit up, his hands behind his back of little use the way that they were tied. Swearing under his breath, he finally got upright, and that’s when he saw her, coming out of the fog like an angel on the moor, white blonde hair flowing in the gentle breeze, a soft smile on her face.
“Annie,” Frost whispered in awe. “I thought you were dead.”
“They’re tricking you!” Decker screamed in the earpiece. “That’s not Annie, it’s an imposter. Don’t fall for their lies.”
But Frost was focused on the vision in front of him, a small bundle in a sling wrapped tightly around her.
“I can hear my father yelling from here,” she said, her laugh soft and airy. “He never could hold his temper.”
She turned her attention to all the men, who Frost could see had been cuffed like him and sat in a semi-circle around where Annie stood. Like Frost, they were staring at her in awe, ignoring the angry voice in their ears, listening only to Annie.
