by Terra Wolf
“Not to the naked eye there weren’t. Because he is a shifter, I suspect the needle marks healed fairly quickly, however when I looked closely on his arm, I saw a small indication of a puncture wound.” Dr. Fiengold said.
“Did the drugs in his system cause an overdose?” I asked.
“No, these were not your normal recreational drugs. It was pentobarbital and thiopental.”
“Um… in English, doc?” Marco asked.
“They’re barbiturates, typically used to medically induce a coma. My guess is that his blood was drained once he was under.”
My earlier conversation with Gio about the hospital crossed my mind. Could our John Doe be connected? I shook my head. That wasn’t possible. The shifter hospital’s whole purpose was to help shifters, not hurt them.
“Any idea where this guy could have come from?”
Dr. Feingold shook his head. “Last I heard, the CSI team was still canvassing the area for any other information about where he came from.”
Marco and I both nodded. “Thanks for your help, Dr. Feingold. Once you’re finished with your full report, send it over to our office.”
Dr. Feingold nodded. I turned and grabbed my cell phone from my pocket.
“Who are you calling?” Marco asked.
“CSI. We need to find some answers on where this guy came from.”
I paced back and forth in the lobby at the police station. There had to be a logical explanation for all of this. It had to be a coincidence that Gio called about strange reactions to the shifter hospital, and we found our John Doe drained of his blood after being in a medically induced coma.
Marco grabbed my shoulder to stop me from pacing.
“What’s gotten into you, man?”
I let out a long sigh and ran my fingers through my hair.
“I’m starting to wonder if this is connected to Gio and the hospital.”
“You mean him feeling like something is off there?”
“Yeah.”
“You really think something is going on there? I mean they saved his life.”
“I know. But apparently he’s been having some difficulty healing.”
Marco shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe it’s a tiger thing. They might take longer to heal than us strong bears.” Marco lightly punched me in the shoulder.
“Yeah maybe, but Gio doesn’t seem to think so. He thinks something’s going on there. And now with the John Doe drained of blood and put in a medically induced coma, I’m not too sure what to think.”
Marco’s jaw clenched. He was finally starting to see the connection. It was all becoming too coincidental. If the hospital was somehow involved in this, we needed to figure out why—and fast—before any other shifters got hurt.
A female CSI tech walked out of the double doors and held a file tightly to her chest. “Officer McAbbot?”
I turned to face her and nodded.
“I’m Cheryl, one of the lead techs on the case. Why don’t we step into one of the lab rooms to discuss what we found.”
Marco and I followed her through the double doors, down the hall, and into a small lab.
Cheryl pushed the file toward me and I slowly opened it up. The first thing there was a picture of a hospital wristband. Anger bubbled up inside of my stomach.
“It took our team a little while to find this, but we believe it was on our John Doe’s wrist. We found his DNA from skin cells on it.”
I took a closer look at the picture. At the top of the band was the name of the hospital. United Hospital of Portland.
4
Shane
There was a lot of commotion surrounding our desks. Marco and I had just gotten back to the precinct and told the captain and Logan what we had found.
“Do we have any other proof that something is going on at this hospital?” the captain asked.
I cleared my throat and everyone went silent. “Gio called me this morning. He’s been having some trouble healing since he left the hospital.”
“A tiger? Having trouble healing?” Logan asked and turned toward the captain. “Can we get ahold of his medical records from the hospital, and see everything that was done to him?”
The captain shook his head. “Not without a warrant. Then the hospital would know right away that we were looking into them and they would start to either clean up their act or cover stuff up. It seems that they went to a lot of trouble to disassociate this body from them. His finger prints were burning and all of his personal belongings were taken. The coroner just confirmed that several of his teeth were removed in order to make dental records harder to use.”
A low growl escaped my lips. Why would a hospital that had prided itself on shifter health go and hurt one of us? And why would they go to so much trouble to hide the identity of a body? There had to be some explanation as to why this was happening. Maybe we weren’t seeing the bigger picture.
“Playing devil’s advocate here,” I said. “What if this John Doe was just an accident? I mean, do we really need to jump to the conclusion that there’s something going on at the hospital?”
Marco let out a growl and started to stalk toward me. “How could you say that, Shane? Gio is having trouble healing. That does not make sense, unless something was purposefully done to him.”
I rolled my shoulders back and glared down at Marco. He was the youngest of the team, and I asserted more clan power over him. “I’m just saying, I don’t want us to jump to conclusions and accuse a hospital that helps us as shifters. Maybe it is a serial killer trying to cover his tracks, and our John Doe just happened to have left the hospital.”
I felt Logan’s hand land on my shoulder. “I get what you are saying, Shane. But what if this hospital has some ulterior motive? What serial killer uses medically induced comas and drains their victims of all of their blood? We have to consider that it is the hospital, or someone with access to it that is able to do those things.”
I felt my bear bristle underneath the surface. I hated being challenged by another bear, but I knew Logan was right. It was worth checking into the hospital. I did not want to find another shifter thrown away in an alleyway, drained of their blood.
I clenched my jaw and slowly nodded. “Okay then, how do we start to look into this?”
The captain cleared his throat and walked over to us. “You can start by trying to find out all the information you can about this hospital.”
My vision blurred as my eyes lost focus. I shut my eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of my nose. We had been searching for information on this hospital for hours and I was starting to get tired of all this research. I felt my bear shift underneath my skin. He was restless as well.
I glanced over at Marco and Logan, and they both looked like they were feeling the pain. Marco barely had his eyes open as he scrolled. Logan was on a phone call and had his head in his hand as he listened to whoever was on the other line.
I stood up and walked over to Marco’s desk. Stretching my legs felt good after researching for so long. Marco barely noticed that I had even walked up behind him. I flicked his wrist and he jolted up out of his chair. I let out a slight laugh. He was too easy to mess with. “Hey man, it’s just me.”
“Fuck you, dude. You know not to startle a bear like that.”
I smirked. “Come on, let’s regroup and see what we all have found. I can’t stare at this computer screen for much longer.”
I heard Logan slam his phone down and let out a low groan. I guess that call went well. Logan looked up at me with a frustrated look and I waved him over.
“So have we found anything on them?” I asked.
Marco picked up his note pad from the desk. “ There have been a few complaints on the United Hospital of Portland from patients and their families, but nothing solid. All I could find online about the hospital itself is that a private company called Purest, Inc. is the owner.. All of their funding seems to come from that large corporation.”
“Any idea what Purest, Inc, does?” I
looked over to Logan. He shrugged his shoulders.
“There wasn’t much info online about them other than they were a large corporation that focuses on consumer health. I tried calling their corporate office, pretending to be a reporter that wanted to do a piece on them, only to be transferred to several of their media departments that just spouted the same mission statement: Purest, Inc, combines research and science to advance the health of the world.”
“So they’re a research company? Researching what?”
“That I am not sure of. They seem to be a huge conglomerate of a bunch of smaller ventures, like the hospital, all focusing on health care.”
I dropped my head into my hands. There was no way that we were going to find out more information from the company itself. If they were as big as they sounded, they could drown us in paperwork through all their legal teams and publicity departments. We would never be able to crack the surface of what was truly going on.
I brought my head up and stared at Marco, Logan and Garrett. “We need someone on the inside to figure out what’s going on.”
“How do we even find someone on the inside that could help us?” Logan asked. “I don’t think that anyone we turn to at that hospital will be willing to work with us.”
I nodded. “You’re right. The chances of us finding someone at the hospital are slim. We need to go undercover to find out what’s really happening.”
Marco looked at me with excitement in his eyes. From the moment he joined the force he had wanted to be placed on an undercover gig. He was such a rookie to our unit, and I admired his spunk. But I knew he wouldn’t be the one to be put in. Not after he had warned his sister Lydia about the investigation of her company. The captain hadn’t fully forgiven him for that yet.
“Marco, man, I know you want to do it. But I’m not sure you’re ready,” I said. The excitement in his eyes vanished. Cold, hard anger replaced it. I let out a low growl, and I prepared to stand my ground. Technically I was his superior and he should fall in line.
“What the hell, Shane? Why am I not ready?”
Logan stepped between us again. “Hang on, we haven’t decided who’s going undercover yet. Don’t get both of your panties in a bunch. Let’s figure out how we are going to do this, and then we can decide who’s going.”
Good old Logan. Always being the mediator of the group. The hardness in Marco’s eyes softened. Once I saw Marco’s power subside, I backed away from him as well and felt my bear slowly calm itself under my skin’s surface.
“All right,” Garrett said. “So how are we going to go undercover?”
Silence spread between us as we all tried to think of the right way to approach this situation. I walked back over to my desk and looked down at my note pad. One of us going undercover as a doctor or a nurse wouldn’t work, because who knew what access we would actually be given. The whole hospital couldn’t know exactly what was going on, because otherwise the police department would have heard something about it by now. There was probably only a select few doctors and nurses that truly know what was happening. I looked back up to the guys and looked around. Besides, no one would ever believe that any of us could be a doctor or a nurse. The only way to go in and figure out what is really happening is to have one of us be their patient.
“One of us has to go in to the emergency room and be admitted,” I said. Logan opened his mouth to speak but I stopped him. “It’s the only way we can really know what’s going on.”
“Isn’t that risky?” Logan asked. “I don’t feel comfortable sending one of us in alone. Especially if they are putting people under and draining them.”
Logan had a point. “It would need to be two of us then,” I said. “One as the patient and one as the family member to see what tests are happening.”
Garrett let out a laugh. “The only way they would let two of us in is if we were married. None of us look alike enough for us to be brothers or other family members.” Shit. Garrett was right. I didn’t think about that.
Marco stifled a cough. “So we would have to pretend to be a gay couple?”
Logan smiled and nodded, then clapped his hands on both our shoulders. “You two look like you would make a great couple.”
I quickly moved my shoulder out from under him. “Oh, come on man, you know we could never pull that off. They would see through that lie in a second. Marco and I could never actually be a believable couple.”
“Yeah, you’d annoy the shit out of me if I were dating you,” Marco laughed.
“Feeling is mutual.”
I sat back down at my desk. How could we pull this off? I looked over to Marco’s desk, where he had a picture of his family. My eyes shot up to Marco’s face.
“What are you staring at?”
“Lydia could go undercover with me.”
Marco’s jaw clenched. “No, we are not getting my sister involved in this.”
“Come on, Marco, she’s perfect. She’s a shifter like us, so I know she would be able to hold her own if something happened.”
I saw Marco’s skin shift, and I could tell he was getting pissed. “We’re leaving my sister out of this. I will not put her in any danger. Letting her know about the company was enough.”
Logan walked up to Marco and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Marco, Lydia is one tough chick. She can handle her own, and we would be in contact with them the entire time.”
“Marco, it’s the best option we’ve got,” I said. “I’d train her so she would know exactly what to do. You don’t want to find another drained shifter body, do you?”
Marco let out a long sigh. “No, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of this fucking hospital. But I want eyes on Lydia the entire time.”
“Don’t worry, man, I’ll protect her,” I said and winked at him.
Marco let out a low growl. “That is exactly what I’m afraid of.”
5
Lydia
I sat in the chair in complete and utter shock. “I’m so surprised you’re letting me do this, Marco.” Marco had cryptically called me into the police station saying that he needed to talk to me about a work opportunity. Going undercover for them as a confidential informant was not at all what I was expecting. Especially how he reacted with the situation with my company.
“I am too, and trust me, I don’t like it. But after going through all the scenarios, this was really the only way we could come up with.”
Anger bubbled up in my chest. I was sick of Marco thinking that I was some fragile girl. “Look, I know you’re worried about me doing this, Marco. But believe it or not, I can handle my own.”
Marco paced back and forth in front of me in one of the questioning rooms. I could tell by his tense shoulders that he was not comfortable with this situation at all. I finally get fed up with his stupid pacing and I stood up, walked around the table, and grabbed him by the shoulders. His eyes immediately shot down to the floor. It was so unlike him to be this submissive when it came to my safety. He must have really realized that this was his only option. I felt his shoulders tense underneath my touch and I could tell how stressed out he was. Marco always seemed to go with the flow. Being the rookie on the squad, I bet he probably didn’t want the rest of them to see him this worried.
“Marco, look at me.”
He slowly looked up at my face. “It will be fine. I can handle my own and you know that. Dad trained me how to fight just like he trained you.” I squeezed his shoulders with the hope of giving him some reassurance.
“Besides, I’ll be in contact with you often. I’m not the one who’s being tested on. I’ll just be the eyes and ears for what’s going on at the hospital.”
Marco let out a long sigh. “I know, Lyd, but it still makes me nervous to put you in that line of danger. I mean, that’s why I told you to get out of that job of yours when I wasn’t supposed to.”
I reached up and gave Marco a big hug. “I know, and I appreciate that. Trust me, everything will be all right, okay?”
<
br /> I felt him nod slowly against my shoulder. “So are you going to tell me who they’re putting me undercover with?”
I felt his shoulders tense again. He broke our hug and walked across the room. I wrapped my arms around my waist, waiting for his response. “I wish it could have been me with you, Lydia. But we need it to seem like a real relationship, not a family one. A couple was more convincing than just brother and sister. Plus they thought putting me with you would be bad because I would be more focused on making sure you were all right than the job at hand.”
I nodded my head. That made sense. Marco would worry about me the whole time, rather than figuring out what was going on at the hospital. He wouldn’t be able to fully do his job, and I refused to put him in that position.
“They’re putting you with Shane.”
I felt butterflies start to form in my stomach. I had met Shane before, when Marco first started working at the precinct. I doubted Shane would even remember that, though. It was only for a few moments.
Shane was much taller than me, probably landing at 6’3”, and had reddish brown hair. He had broad shoulders and though I couldn’t be certain, from the way he looked in his clothes, I bet he had a nice body underneath all his button down shirts. He had a strong jawline that always seemed to have some slight stubble on it, in a very sexy way.
We had only spoken a few words to each other when we had met. I was waiting for Marco to finish up his first day so I could take him out for a celebratory drink. Marco had me swing by the station to meet him. When I arrived, Marco was finishing up with a report and had me wait by the extra desk near the lobby. Shane spotted me and introduced himself. He seemed fairly nice, but very focused on his job. When I was brought in and questioned about the company, I was sad that it wasn’t Shane with me in the questioning room. It was Logan that questioned me. Logan was a funny guy, but not my type. I liked them tall and a bit of a challenge, and I knew I was in for it the moment I had met Shane.
