Mark of the Wolf; Hell's Breed

by Madelaine Montague

  Apparently they were expecting it. One of the agents hit him with a stun gun the moment he moved.

  Lucien hoped like hell it didn’t set off his beast. The agents didn’t appear to realize who and what Kane was or they wouldn’t have been satisfied with the flimsy cuffs they’d placed around his wrists. He was hoping Kane had enough sense not to alert them before he and Raphael could spring him. He hated to think of what kind of deep, dark hole Kane might disappear into if the Feds figured out he was one of the men at the war games that went all awry and shit!

  Either Kane actually was stunned by the gun or it put him in mind of the fact that he was too vastly outnumbered to make a break for it. He went limp and stayed that way as they shoved him into the back of the lead vehicle. Laurie looked like she might try to jump to his defense and then subsided and meekly allowed them to place her in the back seat of the other vehicle.

  Lucien was glad he’d asked the angels to join the party! It was going to make keeping an eye on the black SUVs a hell of a lot easier.

  Particularly when all they had was a fucking boat.

  And two to four legs.

  They shucked their clothes and left them in a pile on the bank. “This is getting fucking old,” Damien growled.

  “Rescuing Laurie?” Basil asked tightly.

  Damien sent him a startled look and then glared at him. “Don’t put words in my mouth, damn it! I meant the damned clothes. I’m thinking of switching to spandex or something.”

  In spite of the situation, Lucien couldn’t prevent a snort of a laugh at the image that put in his mind.

  Basil chuckled, too. “I ain’t sure that would fit our biker image,” he commented, “but you’re hairy enough you don’t really look naked when you are naked.”

  Lucien and Damien both glared at him at that comment.

  “What the fuck do you mean by that?” Damien demanded.

  Basil uttered a snort of laughter and shifted, leaping into the river.

  “I ain’t that damned hairy!” Damien ground out.

  Lucien looked him over and then looked down at himself. “Fuck!” he muttered and then shifted and dove into the river behind Basil.

  They hadn’t just had to abandon their clothing. They’d had to abandon the walkies at the same time—which meant a serious problem with communications.

  Fortunately, they now how Raphael’s entire squad with them. The dark angels were able to follow the SUVs without attracting attention and could leave one to watch while one returned to report in case the hell hounds lost track of the vehicles—even if the two SUVs split up.

  Which is exactly what they did.

  They had another hard decision to make then—whether to ignore Kane’s problem and continue to track Laurie or split up. Michel resolved the issue by volunteering to track the SUV carrying Kane. Since the angels had their walkies, he would be able to report Kane’s situation and condition. Raoul went with him for backup in case it transpired that Kane had a serious situation that couldn’t wait for the others to arrive.

  Lucien figured they were still in good shape. They still had eyes in the sky—Maurice and Raphael. And that meant they had five men to go in after Laurie.

  * * * *

  Laurie thought she was almost as unnerved by the Feds as she had been by the kidnappers. She’d tried to ask questions when they took her into custody and put her in the SUV but all any of them would say was that she would have her questions answered directly. They didn’t know anything and couldn’t answer. They didn’t have clearance to answer or she didn’t have clearance to have an answer. She was being taken to a secure location and she would be told what her status and situation was when she spoke with the agent in charge.

  The ‘secure’ location looked pretty much like any other federal office building from the outside—very basic, utilitarian, non-descript. It didn’t actually look like anything approaching a fort from the inside either, except that there were guards stationed at the entrances and exits, so she wasn’t certain of what they meant by ‘secure’.

  They were considerate enough to ask if she needed anything and when she asked if they had any place where she could clean up a little, she was escorted by a female agent to a bathroom that had a shower. The agent told her that she would wait outside. Laurie didn’t know if that was meant to threaten or reassure, but she was glad for the privacy.

  She took a long, hot shower to wash away the stench of the factory where she’d been held, the men that had manhandled her, the battering, the sense of danger/threat, the aches and pains from her misadventure and the chill. Her head was aching a little more after the shower. She thought it might be because she’d washed her hair and scrubbed her scalp, but she’d found something in the back of her hair she thought might be dried blood and simply rinsing wasn’t enough to remove the uneasy feeling the wound had been contaminated with a zillion germs. The sting of the soap was comforting in that respect even though she knew it had probably only helped marginally if at all.

  When she got out and dried off she discovered someone—the agent she presumed—had brought a change of clothing.

  A federal prison jumpsuit, under things, and canvas shoes.

  How thoughtful!

  She was shivering again by the time she’d dressed and done what she could to rake the tangles from her hair with the flimsy comb that had been provided. She more than half expected to be shackled when she emerged. To her relief, she wasn’t, but it still felt an awful lot more like she’d been arrested than simply taken into ‘protective custody’ as they claimed.

  The female agent escorted her to an elevator and then up five floors and down a long hallway. She was shoved into what looked like an interrogation room. It wasn’t much bigger than the elevator they’d rode up in and contained a small desk and four chairs—two on either side. It wasn’t occupied.

  The door closed behind her.

  She looked around the room, stared at the cameras strategically placed near the ceiling for two different angles long enough to determine that they were on, and then sat down in one of the chairs and cradled her head in her arms. Until she did, she didn’t realize how exhausted she was from her ordeal. She supposed she shouldn’t have been. It wasn’t as if she’d exerted herself a lot beyond the race from the cabin in the predawn hours the day before? Earlier that same day? She discovered she’d completely lost track of time. Struggle though she might, she couldn’t straighten out the time line and finally realized that was because she hadn’t been conscious/clear headed the entire time but mostly the opposite.

  She was pretty sure she’d blacked out for a little bit after she was stunned, put in the car, and bound. She hadn’t been ‘out’ the entire ride from the cabin to the boat, but she’d feigned unconsciousness at least part of the time—same once she’d gotten into the boat when the bastard had knocked her down and she’d hit her head.

  She thought only one full day had passed, though, and it was the night of the same day she’d been taken—maybe.

  She wondered where they’d taken Kane and if he was alright. Either the wound in his side hadn’t been as bad as she’d feared, though, or Lucien had told the truth when he said they healed amazingly fast. Unfortunately, even if the wound wasn’t life threatening, it didn’t necessarily follow that he was alright. They’d tazed him and shackled him, refusing to listen to her or him when they’d tried to explain that he was a deputized officer of the court who’d been tasked to protect her as a witness to a major crime.

  She hoped that didn’t mean they actually knew who and what he was.

  Not that she understood it herself, but even though she knew she had next to no facts about them or their situation, she had enough to figure out they were in serious trouble if the government and/or military got hold of them.

  If the tale about the vortex wasn’t true at all, the alternative was that the development part of the story was true. They certainly hadn’t been born that way without some kind of help! She’d seen them change w
ith her own eyes. She’d seen what they were capable of and that meant they’d been designed as weapons by the government—in this world or some alternate. No one else would have the unmitigated gall to experiment with human beings!

  It was outrageous that they’d been made to think they weren’t human beings!

  Despite her worry, she’d almost dozed off when the door opened, jerking her to alertness once more. The man that entered looked very business-like and totally alert—which she wasn’t, which put her at even more of a disadvantage.

  “I’m Agent Mixon,” he said, cordially enough, offering his hand. “Did anyone give you any refreshment? I got the impression you’d been without anything for a while.”

  She bet it was more than a fucking impression! “They let me take a shower and gave me this nice jumpsuit to wear,” she said sarcastically, ignoring the hand.

  He moved to a speaker by the door. “Bring Ms. Stone something to eat and drink from the vending machine.”

  He settled at the desk then and put a thick folder down, opening it.

  Laurie had so many questions she hardly knew what to ask first. “Where did they take Kane? And why was he handcuffed? The DA hired the guys to protect me.”

  He nodded. “Yes. I’ve been briefed with the story. I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anything right now. I don’t have that information.”

  Lying bastard! And what the hell did he mean by ‘story’! That part damned well wasn’t a lie! Maybe the bulk of it …. It wasn’t like they’d had a lot of time to come up with something convincing!

  “I just have a few questions ….”

  “Well I have a lot of damned questions and I’m not answering any of yours until I have some of mine answered!”

  He studied her for a long moment and finally shrugged. “I’ll answer what I can, but I have to warn you there’s a limit to the information I have.”

  Laurie gave him a look of disbelief. “What the hell is in that file, then? It looks thick enough to have my life story and then some!”

  “I’m sorry. The contents of the file are confidential ….”

  “Oh that is so much bullshit!” Laurie burst out, but then clamped her jaws shut. She was upset and the bastard was cool and collected. She was way more likely to say something she shouldn’t than he was. “Do I need a lawyer?”

  He looked genuinely surprised. “Why would you need a lawyer?”

  “This isn’t exactly what I meant when I said I had questions,” Laurie said tartly. “The way this is supposed to work is I ask and you answer. You don’t come back with another damned question! But if that’s the way you want to do this we can just swap questions until my lawyer gets here. I’d like to call one now. I have the right to an attorney whatever the hell you guys have come up with to charge me.”

  “You aren’t being charged with anything that I’m aware of.”

  “No? Why am I here then? Why the jumpsuit?”

  “Protective custody and that is all that was available unfortunately. I have sent someone to your apartment, however, to collect some of your things.”

  Outrage washed through Laurie. “What did you do that for? Just who the hell gave you the right to go to my place and go through my damned things?”

  He flushed faintly. “As I said, you’re in protective custody now ….”

  “I was already in protective custody and they didn’t go through my damned personal belongings!”

  “This is federal now.”

  “And you think that makes it ok to go through my stuff? Why is it federal now when it wasn’t before and the victim was a federal agent?”

  “The agent was killed in Georgia. You’re right. It should have been a federal case, but the people in Georgia were already investigating the case before we discovered the victim was a federal employee and we allowed them to retain jurisdiction.”

  Federal employee? She didn’t believe for a minute that the guy had just been an employee and not an agent of some kind or that the Feds were unaware of his death! Clearly, if this guy’s lips were moving he was lying!

  She decided to take a different tact. “He was there to watch me, wasn’t he? The kidnappers were after some kind of plans. And I know my father used to work for the government doing some kind of research.”

  The man stared at her for a long moment. “I did tell you that there were some questions I wouldn’t be able to answer. That one pertains to national security, I’m afraid, and I don’t have the clearance myself to answer it.”

  She thought that was an answer. It wasn’t an accident that the agent was there, not a strange sort of coincidence. They’d been tailing her in the hope of finding out who was trying to steal top secret military/weapons plans and the agent that was supposed to be watching her had been killed by somebody the traitor had sent to kidnap her the first time. Or they didn’t have her father and they’d had her watched in the hope of catching him. Either way, no coincidence and they’d been using her. “Where are my brother and sister and their families?”

  “That I can answer!” he said, smiling tightly. “Your brother and sister and their families were taken into witness protection eighteen months ago and relocated.”

  Laurie gaped at him in complete disbelief. Six months before the attempted murder, or kidnapping of her? “And nobody thought to tell me?”

  “They aren’t allowed to communicate with family or friends after relocation.”

  “So what stopped them before relocation? What stopped someone from the protection unit from notifying me that my family hadn’t just disappeared?”

  “We weren’t aware of your existence at the time.”

  Pain speared through Laurie, but, regardless of the rift between them, she didn’t believe for one moment that her sister and/or her brother wouldn’t have told the Feds about her if they’d thought she was in danger! And if they’d agreed to relocation and giving up everything and everybody they’d known then they’d damned well felt threatened!

  Clearly the bastard would lie to her no matter what she asked, but she had what she needed. Her family was safe. She didn’t know when or if she’d be able to see them again, but at least she could comfort herself with the thought that they were alive and well.

  It was just as clear that she’d been left hanging as bait—just as Damien had suggested—either in the hope of luring her father in or the men who were after her father’s plans. At this point it was hard to say whether they had her father or not.

  “When can I see my father?” she asked abruptly on that thought.

  She could see a faint jolt of surprise run through him. She’d caught him off guard.

  “I’m afraid I can’t answer that either. Again, national security.”

  They didn’t have her father. She was pretty sure that was what that jolt was about. Maybe they’d thought she had some idea where he was? Maybe they’d left her hanging because they thought she would lead them to her father?

  Which just went to show they weren’t terribly bright! Her father hadn’t tried to contact her since she was six years old! Why the hell would he bother now? And that was supposing the old bastard even remembered he had children!

  “Now, if that’s all I’d like to get a statement from you about your ordeal and ask you a few questions?”

  Laurie smiled at him. And she planned to be just as truthful and forthcoming as he had been!

  “What can you tell me about this man, Kane .. uh Kane Moreland? Because I have to tell you his credentials aren’t adding up. It looks like he may be someone the military has been looking for for a while.”

  Unfortunately for his wish list, it was at just that moment that the lights went out.

  * * * *

  The security at the federal building where they took Laurie was no tighter that Lucien could see than the kidnappers had had at the factory with the exception of the electronic surveillance. And, unfortunately for the Feds, that just wasn’t going to be good enough. One of the nifty things about the dark angels was thei
r mastery of electricity.

  It took them a little while to find the right access to the building’s electrical supply since it was run underground for security purposes, but once they had they were able to join forces as they had in the warehouse and send a high enough electrical surge through the wiring to create havoc with the electronics. The lights went out. Fully half of the surveillance equipment went off line because the backup was only sufficient to power emergency lighting and electronic locks. The emergency lights were back on in the corridors within fifteen seconds, but that was enough time for the men to take out the guards at the rear of the building and get inside.

  Once inside, they tracked Laurie’s scent through the building to the elevator.

  He’d more than half expected it and Lucien was still pissed off at the delay. They were going to have to stop at every frigging floor to check! Abandoning the elevator since it seemed the best way to get caught before they could track Laurie down, they found the stairs and took them up. They had to break the lock on every frigging level to check the corridor. Finally, when they got to the halfway point, the fifth floor, they hit pay dirt. Laurie’s scent was still strong enough on the fifth floor that they knew she had to be there—somewhere. The trick was to find her and get out without getting her killed.

  They knew security had probably found the bodies of the guards in that length of time and would have mounted a floor by floor search. Time wasn’t on their side.

  They’d found the door/room they were looking for when the bell on the elevator announced the arrival of the cubicle. The doors began to open slowly to reveal a wall of heavily armed guards.

  “What the fuck? Dogs?” one of the guards exclaimed. “How the hell did a pack of dogs get in here?”

  Lucien and Damien glanced at each other. Mentally, Lucien shrugged and adopted the demeanor of a submissive, bowing his head and curling his tail under. Damien and Basil followed suit, sidling toward the men with the attitude of surrender generally adopted by Betas when confronted by the Alpha.

  The men lowered their weapons. One of the men whistled.