Jackson: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 1)

by Chelsea Handcock

  “She has checked in a couple of times, but I can assure you she is on Cassie’s trail. Zoey is one of the best operatives we have. She can blend into her surroundings like no other. She can get information that we aren’t able to come close to achieving in conventional ways.” Ryleigh divulged. “But you have to understand, Zoey has had it hard. She doesn’t trust anyone. She only tolerates them; even me. I have known her for ten years and have never gained her full trust. She only lets me in superficially as she refuses to form attachments. But she is determined to find Cassie before anything bad can happen to her.”

  Kayden looked stunned and asked, “What happened to my sister, Ryleigh? And how do I have a sister in the first place? My dad didn’t go to the clinic that I know of. How did they get his DNA?”

  “Kayden, I can’t tell you Zoey’s story because that is for her to tell. As for how these people got you Dad’s DNA, I really don’t have an answer to that right now either.”

  “Well, aren’t you just full of answers,” Kayden snarked then quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, Ryleigh, I don’t blame you. This is just too damn much and what do you mean before anything bad happens?” he demanded. “Something bad has already happened to her. She was abducted. Cassie has been gone for three weeks, and a hell of a lot could have happened to her by now.” Kayden wanted to deny the obvious conclusion to this scenario. “We all work these cases, Ryleigh. These assholes start training their slaves from the onset. Drugs, rape, and beatings; they are all part of the conditioning. What makes you think that Cassie hasn't gone through the same treatment? Shit, those fuckers raped her friend. Why wouldn’t they do the same to her?”

  “Because they want her to be a breeder, Kayden,” Ryleigh responded. “We are counting on that fact. Her mother agreed to let her be placed on birth control before she left. Specifically, the birth control shot. It is effective in preventing pregnancy for a month, but her captors would want to wait for the six-week mark before trying to impregnate her, making sure the drug is completely out of her system. Other methods of birth control would be easier to circumvent.”

  Ryleigh felt for Kayden. None of what she was saying was easy to hear, but she needed him to get his head back in the game, instead of reacting emotionally to everything she was telling him.

  “From the information, we have obtained, we know that they want this to be as natural as possible to prevent side effects and ensure viability.” Ryleigh continued. “I know that is not much to go on, but, Kayden, that gives us at a minimum three weeks to find her.”

  Ryleigh didn’t like the situation any more than he did. She offered him something else, hoping to ease him, knowing that nothing really would.

  “I have every operative in my group working on it,” Ryleigh assured him. “We have determined that tracking down the money funding these people is the best way to find Cassie and bring them down. Zoey had other ideas and is exploring those avenues.”

  “I want to be there Ryleigh. Where is Zoey?” Kayden said. “We are going to work this together whether she likes it or not. I want to bring both my niece and sister home,” he choked.

  “Listen, Kayden,” Ryleigh huffed, “I know you want a relationship with them and to keep them safe, but you need to take this one step at a time.” She put her hand on his shoulder trying to ease his tension. “All I can do is talk to Zoey when she calls in and inform her of your intentions. Zoey’s story is hers to tell, but it is not a good one. You need to prepare yourself for that and for the possibility of never having a relationship with her beyond the superficial.”

  Kayden couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had a sister and a niece and one or both of them might not want to have anything to do with him. No way was he going to let that happen. Even if he had to do it from the shadows, he would keep them safe. They just didn’t know it yet, and Ryleigh needed to stay the hell out of it. He was aware that she had good intentions, but this was now his problem not NAC or The Holly Group’s. He would take care of it on his own; in his own time and in his own way.

  “Zoey’s heart is in the right place,” Ryleigh assured Kayden. “She wants to help people. That is one of the reasons she works for The Holly Group, but her baggage is far and wide. When we told her about you, she asked me to tell you to give her time, and when the time is right she will contact you. You might not like that response, but Kayden, that is progress for Zoey.”

  She knew that this was a hard pill to swallow. “Please, you need to let this happen on her timeline. If you push her the results will not be good,” warned Ryleigh.

  “I will accept this, for now, Ryleigh,” Kayden responded. “I will concentrate on bringing Cassie back, but when this is over and if I haven’t met up with Zoey then, I want to meet her. I would never hurt either of them.” Kayden assured her.

  “I know you wouldn’t hurt them intentionally, Kayden, it’s not in your nature, but please, the most I can tell you without betraying Zoey is that you need to treat her like you would any survivor,” Ryleigh explained. “We found Zoey in a pedophile ring. She had been with them from birth until we found her at sixteen.”

  “Fuck,” Kayden said in a hiss. He was overwhelmed with feelings of disgust, anger, and heartbreak. How are you supposed to react to that kind of news any of this news? After a few moments, Kayden regained his composure and his training kicked in, “So how are we going to track the money?”

  Ryleigh beamed, “Well, it just so happens that I love a puzzle. The information you guys have been gathering is my playground, and we have a lead that indicates there is a real possibility that Dr. Franklin kept incredibly detailed records including known Pandora facilities. If we can obtain that data, we are one step closer to finding Cassie.”

  At least Ryleigh hoped it did, because she wasn’t willing to look at the alternative. They really didn’t have a lot of other leads at this time. She hoped that Zoey could come up with something, but that was even a long shot. NAC & The Holly Group needed to shut these people down and soon.

  “Why don’t we call the other guys back in so we can get to work?” Ryleigh suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan and before I forget, thanks, Ryleigh,” Kayden said. “As disturbing as this has been for us, it couldn’t have been easy for you. Telling a bunch of strangers about your past takes brass ones. I also want to apologize. I haven’t been very understanding with all of this. It’s all just too much if you know what I mean.” Kayden grumbled.

  “Thanks, and Kayden,” Ryleigh said, “-just so that you know, I am sorry about how this all came out. We didn’t know your connection to Cassie or Zoey until about two weeks ago. We had to find out where the familial connection came from and who was responsible before we could bring it to you. We didn’t want to cause more damage if it was a false positive or an obscure link we couldn’t prove.”

  “Ryleigh, I would like to say I understand,” Kayden said. “But right now, that is not possible. I’m overwhelmed, and up until twenty minutes ago, I didn’t have any family left. Now I have a sister and a niece who are both in danger. My tiger is not accepting this possibility. Please just give me some time and space. I will help find my niece and hope Zoey gets in contact with me soon.” Kayden thought to himself and said, “I guess Zoey and I do have some traits in common.”

  “That is all I can ask, Kayden, thank you,” Ryleigh commented.

  She left the room to get the rest of the men to join them in the conference room again. Coming to a stop, she realized none of them had truly gone that far. They were all lined up outside the door. She tilted her head to the side indicating that they should come back into the room and was surprised when none of them made a sound and just did as directed.

  Chapter 15

  The men filed back into the room, one by one. All of them were still trying to comprehend the news that was dropped on them not thirty minutes ago, and what they had all eavesdropped on since. The room was somber

  Senior attempted to get the meeting back on track, “Okay, Gentleme
n, what we are proposing is a merging of NAC with Holly Group. For all intent and purposes, this would be an in-house merger only.”

  Ryleigh spoke up, “The Holly Group will eventually completely merge with NAC. We are the babies in this field; your skill and expertise is what we need to continue. All I ask is that you accept our help going forward. Senior let me give you this information because we found it and investigated it. When determined very early on that it was well above our heads it was decided that we forward it to you, which is why we called for this meeting. I apologize for keeping you waiting for the last three days, but we needed to verify our results.”

  Ryleigh was surprised to see the men’s interest in the proposition. She expected resistance because these guys generally like to run their own cases and do it their way. By joining the two groups they wouldn’t always be able to do that, maybe that part just hadn’t dawned on them yet.

  “The reason for an in-house merger only, for the time being, is that we do not want to raise any red flags that would bring attention to us before we can figure out what is going on,” said Senior. “With our combined contacts and security clearance, we would become a powerhouse,” he said in an attempt to ease his men’s apprehensions. “The powers that be are okay with us currently and what our objectives are, but if we go after Pandora, they will not be as open. Once we start targeting corporations and the individuals associated with them, we will most definitely ruffle a few feathers. We have been able to determine from our preliminary reports that the Pandora Group employs or pays out to people that are pretty high up on the food chain, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. We don’t have enough information to determine how high this goes yet.”

  Ryleigh noticed the men all looked disgusted by what her father was revealing. She couldn’t blame them; she was too. Science had its place, but what these people were doing was unfathomable. They were playing God, for money no less, and needed to be stopped.

  Senior continued. “Davis Defense is another place we need to concentrate our efforts on. They have visible military and government ties, but we can also link them to Pandora Group, although at this time the connection is very flimsy. Both groups carry an extreme amount of clout in both the private and public sectors. We also have the unpleasant task of trying to figure out who we can trust.”

  Jacks could feel the tension in the room, and he knew that his brothers felt it as well. None of them were safe. These people needed to be stopped, and he knew they were just the men to do it.

  “Shifters existence should not be widely spread, making it impossible to determine who we can trust,” Senior said. “From what we have determined so far, the DNA was gathered randomly. However, that does not explain why there weren’t more matches between our groups. The Holly Group has six leading members with several offshoots employees making their total operatives around twenty. Our group consists of six teams with six members of each team. Including myself and support staff, we number closer to fifty. If we play the odds, we should have had more matches, but that wasn’t the case. If you include the initial testing made from family and friends, the lack of matches just doesn’t add up. We need to figure out where the other DNA strands came from that helped create these women.” Senior stated.

  “Thanks, Dad,” Ryleigh replied.

  Ryleigh stepped forward to address the men. They were waiting for her to blow their minds with even more shocking revelations. She could tell because they all looked like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, and she had a colossal shoe for them.

  “Gentlemen, I want to emphasize that not all operatives from the Holly Group will work with your teams in person or on the ground,” Ryleigh stated. “They will support and gather information; giving the information over secured lines. Going forward, our active members would join your teams, but the remaining members would only offer technical and research support. My operatives are good, but many are reclusive. We also didn’t realize when starting The Holly Group that our training was not enough. NAC and your training is what we need to continue.”

  Dang, Ryleigh was used to her Dad and the vibes he put off, but she had never been in a room with so many Alphas in her life. The combined vibes were enough to make her want to run or lay on the floor in the fetal position. She needed to lighten them up a little bit, or she was going to do something really girly like cry.

  “Now if you wouldn’t mind introducing yourselves,” Ryleigh requested. “Dad introduced me to you, but would you mind telling me your names and what team you head up? That way I can put faces with names going forward.”

  “Oh, sorry honey, allow me,” interrupted Senior. “Starting from my right, this Jackson Thorp, he heads up Alpha. Kayden Walker is Bravo. Liam Lucan is Charlie, Carter Shadow is with Delta, Milo Stern is with Echo, and Dane Whalen is with Zulu.”

  All the men acknowledged her in some way some with a tilt of the head, some with a wave of the hand, and others with a salute. But Jackson Thorp, no, he just stared at her smiling, arms crossed around his chest, like he knew all her secrets and she kind of believed he did. Damn it, Jackson Thorp, leader of Alpha. The man she had hoped to stay away from was the very man she would be working with the closest, she thought to herself.

  Jackson, or “Jacks”, as a few of the men had called him, was utterly stunning, Ryleigh thought; apparently not a good thing for her or her body or mind. She was so not going to get up close and personal with that man even if she had to work with him for the foreseeable future. He affected her body in a way that it had never been affected before, and she did not want to explore that right now, maybe in her dreams, her scalding dreams, but not right now. She looked around the room seeing if her discomfort was obvious to any of the others.

  Just looking at his rugged beauty and unnatural eyes, she could feel the moisture collecting in her panties; so not a good thing. Why did it have to be this man causing her body to react when it had never been an issue before? How the hell was she going to make it weeks in his presences without letting him know how he affects her?

  Just then she noticed the cocky little smirk that crossed his face as he scented the air. Ryleigh could feel her face lighting up like a Christmas tree; the bastard already knew how he was affecting her. Clearing her throat, okay, back to business, she assured herself. It needed to stay professional.

  Ryleigh stammered, “It is a pleasure to meet you all and finally put some faces to the men I have heard about from Dad. Dane, you have a case in your district that we all feel strongly needs to remain your focus. One of our cases caused us to look further, and we believe they are linked. If I read the reports correctly, there have been three bodies of missing persons found with surgical wounds in the last two months.”

  Dane growled, “Yeah, we think we are tracking a serial offender. All the victims have been women between the age of 18 and 21. They are all college students that have very similar features; hair, eye color, stature, and features. We are considering bringing in a profiler. We don’t know if we are dealing with a black-market organ operation or something worse. The local coroner is a joke but has concluded that all the victims have recently undergone surgery to remove organs, vital and not.” He elaborated. “The victims were cleaned thoroughly with medical grade solvents before being dumped. The incisions are precise that is why we have concluded the perp has medical knowledge.”

  “We agree with your assessment. Our case was outside of your district, but close enough for us to look for similarities,” Ryleigh said. “I will have you video conference with Mia and Ava. Mia is a doctor and Ava is a profiler. They have already ruled out the black-market organ trade. Each victim is missing not only her uterus, but also their ovaries. Today, those are not viable for transplant. The other organs the victims are missing were crudely excised, making them unusable. We feel the real goal may be the ovaries, more specifically the eggs within the ovaries. Your case is vital. Having the victims show up in your area means that a test facility may be there. If we can find and shut down
a test facility, we are closer to hobbling Pandora.”

  Ryleigh wasn’t going to say it, but shutting down one facility would help, not hobble them. She had a feeling Pandora was a lot bigger than any of them thought.

  “The Holly Group will be the gatherers, and the NAC groups will be the hunters,” Ryleigh continued. “To do this, we would like to have an operative from my team to work directly with the six of you and your teams only.”

  Ryleigh could tell all the men were not on board with their plan. Kayden seemed receptive, and so did Carter and Dane, but the rest of the guys looked kind of sick to their stomachs with the idea of working together and that just pissed her off. The Holly Group had an excellent reputation and men would just have to learn to live with what was coming.

  Jacks didn’t like the idea of bringing a woman into his team on a permanent or even semi-permanent basis. Women had their place in NAC and on the teams, but it was mostly administrative or on the special occasion where they needed to distract someone with a beautiful woman and he didn’t see the ladies of The Holly Group playing either of those parts.

  “Tell only the people you trust most about the DNA information we disclosed earlier,” warned Senior. “Pandora deemed the six ladies of The Holly Group as failures. However, with them starting breeding programs again, we are afraid their viability will once again become valued if they cannot locate the other women or children that Dr. Franklin created with only a single DNA strand. Their mixed genetics might be the last resort option for them,” Senior said.

  Ryleigh elaborated, “Just last year one of my operatives was pursued aggressively. We assumed it was because of the nature of the operation she was working on, but the players did not match up.” Ryleigh continued, “She is the youngest of our group at only 23 years old. When we did the testing, she is also the only one that tested with less than three shifter DNA strands. Which means hypothetically, over time, Dr. Franklin or Pandora got better at manipulating the Shifter genes.”