—Tess—
Suddenly, I found myself following a burly bouncer who led me to the front of the line and lifted the velvet rope, offering me entrance into 41X. I knew this wasn’t part of the plan, but it seemed like the best course of action. This was our best chance to get up close to Mr. Cipriano, the owner of 41X and Arturo’s, and also the prime suspect in the case.
I didn’t know if I was making the right choice, but I heard a voice in my head that told me to just say yes and take the easy in. Maybe it was just a hunch, or pure instinct, but I decided to trust it.
The inside of the club was very dark. The bouncer remained at the entrance of the club, so I made my way to the bar. I figured that if they’d taken the trouble to expedite my entrance to the club, it wouldn’t be long until someone came to talk to me. At the bar, I ordered a vodka soda with a twist of lemon.
“Thirteen-fifty,” said the bartender as he slid it in my direction. “Do you want to pay now or start a tab?”
“It’s on Mr. Cipriano,” I said confidently, taking a sip of the cold drink.
The bartender gave me a funny look then walked over to another bartender. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he said something quietly to the second bartender. This bartender left quickly, slipping through a backdoor at the end of the bar.
A few moments later, a man appeared at my side. He was middle-aged and very dapper-looking, dressed in a sleek designer suit and holding a glass of scotch in his hand. I noticed a Patek Philippe watch on his wrist, a watch that easily cost more than my rent for the entire year. He didn’t have to introduce himself for me to know who he was.
“I hope you’re enjoying yourself,” he said, reaching out his other hand. “Paul Cipriano. This is my club. And your name is…?”
“Tess. Tess Andrews,” I said, making up my last name, but not sure why I’d chosen to do so; Elias and I hadn’t discussed anything of that nature.
“Tess. That’s an interesting name.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said, not sure how to respond.
I gave him a big smile, hoping to appear friendly and interested in the conversation. That was the only way I’d get any info out of him.
“I’d like to get to know you, Tess. But I don’t know that a noisy club is the best place to do that. Would you like to head into our VIP backroom? It’s a bit quieter there. Drinks are complimentary of course.”
I pondered his question, not knowing what to do. Was Elias hearing all this? Had he even made it into the club yet? Going into the back area of the club was a huge risk. This time, my instincts didn’t tell me anything, so I stalled, trying to buy some time.
“That sounds like it could be interesting. Let’s have another drink here first, though. I really love the ambience of this place,” I said, trying to come up with a good excuse.
“Me too. We’ve done a lot of work to attract a specific demographic. This is far and away my favorite business of mine. Have you been here before?”
“No, it’s my first time. But I can definitely see myself coming back here a lot in the future,” I said sexily, giving a teasing touch to his shoulder.
He smiled back, pleased at the effect he seemed to be having on me. I was playing my part well, but inside this man truly repulsed me. I needed a signal from Elias before I made another move; I wasn’t going into enemy territory without his approval. I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to stall and still keep Mr. Cipriano interested.
I texted Elias, asking him what I should do.
I’m still waiting in line, but I should be inside soon. Go in when you feel comfortable. I’ve got your back.
I put my phone back in my purse and looked up at Mr. Cipriano.
“Who were you texting? Who’s so important that they could take your attention away from me?” he said, half-jokingly, half-menacingly.
“Oh, my girlfriend. I was telling her to come here. The more the merrier.”
Mr. Cipriano narrowed his eyes. Then his fake smile came back.
“Sure,” he said. “I can’t promise she’ll be invited into the back room, though. It’s you I’m interested in.”
“Well, I’m quite flattered then.”
“You should be. Shall we go?”
“One more drink here.”
“Come on, there are plenty of drinks in the back. Champagne, too. Good champagne, the type of stuff we don’t serve to the public.”
I hesitated. Elias had said it was my call. I told him I was comfortable with this, that I would do whatever it took to break the case. Now I was going in deep.
“Alright,” I said. “Show me the way.”
CHAPTER 14
———
—Elias—
He trusted Tess, he knew she’d make the right call. And damn, was she close to something. But he had a nagging feeling that they were flying too close to the sun, exposing themselves to far too much risk. As it was, he was stuck outside in a slow-moving line, still about ten people away from the doorway. The bouncer only let people in as others exited, and so far as he could tell, it seemed like no one wanted to leave the club tonight.
Fortunately, a large group of people exited and Elias found himself third in line for the entrance. A few minutes later, several more people exited. Elias breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he’d be able to get inside. He started to walk through the roped off area with the other people when a bouncer stopped him to check his ID. Elias handed it over to him nonchalantly, waiting patiently for him to hand it back and tell him to move on through.
“I’m sorry. I can’t let you in,” said the bouncer.
“What? Why not?” asked Elias.
“You’re not allowed inside,” said the bouncer threateningly.
Elias had dealt with guys like this before, usually they just wanted a bribe. He took out his wallet and pulled out a crisp hundred dollar bill, pressing it into the bouncer’s hand.
“I trust we won’t have to make an issue out of this,” said Elias quietly, but with a subtle threat of his own.
“No we won’t,” said another bouncer, just coming over to the conversation. “Now please leave before we have to escort you off the premises.”
They were muscular men, far bigger than Elias. Of course, he could easily shift into his werewolf form and destroy them both in seconds. But that would attract exactly the type of attention he didn’t want. There would be cops all over this place in five minutes if he pulled something like that. He’d have blown his cover as an FBI agent and as a werewolf. And nothing good could possibly come from that.
Elias nodded politely at the men and walked away. He wasn’t nervous. He’d had to modify missions in mid-execution before; that was just the nature of this type of thing. One couldn’t get far without a talent for improvisation. He only wondered how he could possibly get into the club at this point. A back entrance was likely to be heavily guarded. He could try the roof.
Just then he felt a sharp pain in his head. Suddenly, everything around him came into intense focus. His instincts had been aroused. It wasn’t just the other shifters in the area; he’d been aware of them all along. It was Tess. She was in trouble. He heard shouting come across the wire, then a loud crackling sound, the irritating sound of static. Then the connection went dark; they must have realized she was wearing a wire.
He could feel her fear as he sprinted around to the back of the building just in time to see a limo pulling out of the back alley and out onto an adjacent street. Elias sprinted after it; he knew Tess was inside. Her thoughts sporadically came before his mind. She had no idea where they were taking her. She’s wondering where I am, thought Elias. I told her I’d protect her and now I’m not there when she needs me most.
Elias knew he’d never catch the limo on foot. Not as a human, anyway. In mid-stride he vaulted into the air, his body contorting as he hovered above the ground, and his bones elongated as his smooth skin became overgrown with virulent, silky fur. His muscles convulsed as they expanded and the dark sha
pe that fell back to earth was a grey wolf, monstrous and fearsome and out for the blood of the men who’d taken Tess.
But he knew he’d be caught if he stayed on the streets; any impediment would slow him down and put Tess’s rescue beyond his grasp. With all his force he sprang into the air and landed on the fire escape of a nearby building, climbing his way to the rooftop where he’d be able to stealthily navigate the city without drawing any unwanted attention.
From the rooftop he could see the limo stopped at a red light about a block away. Like brisk wind through forest trees, he bounded from roof to roof, the agile movements of his massive wolf-body making only the slightest bit of sound. He was pure energy, an unstoppable force flowing over vast stretches of manmade structures, of forged metal and concrete. Soon enough he was level with the limo and the light turned green. He bounded across the gap at the intersection, his body seeming to fly through the air, its dark shadow becoming one with the night sky.
He could jump now if he wanted to. He could stop the limousine short and make a daring attempt to save Tess—this was what he wanted more than anything in the world. But despite that, he knew he had to be level-headed, to think logically. They were still in Midtown Manhattan, encompassed in bright city lights and vast amounts of Saturday night traffic. It was simply too risky to chance a fight in the very epicenter of New York civilization.
No, for now he’d have to follow, unseen and unheard, waiting patiently to strike when the moment was right. He only hoped he wouldn’t be too late.
—Tess—
I sat in the back seat of the limo, trembling as Mr. Cipriano ran his fingers across the back of my neck.
“Take a right up here,” he said to the driver. He turned and gave me a slight smile, a menacing charm in his eyes.
“Where are you taking me?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Mr. Cipriano, averting his eyes and looking back out the front window.
The driver took the right and continued down a long boulevard. A few minutes later Mr. Cipriano indicated that the driver was to take a left turn onto a far darker street.
“It’s up ahead on the left,” said Mr. Cipriano. “Two blocks away.”
The limo crawled down the street, and my mind reeled, wondering just what was in store for me. Where the hell was Elias? He said he’d protect me. Was he still at the club? I hoped he’d called off the mission and marshaled the entire police force. I was willing to risk myself in the sting, but I wasn’t ready to die a meaningless death. All they would have of Cipriano was a recording of him taking me into the back room. A solid lawyer would be able to get him off any conceivable charges they brought forward on that evidence. That would get us no closer to solving the abductions case.
Suddenly, I was thrown to the front of the car. I heard the sound of crunching metal and smashing glass. Mr. Cipriano and I were both violently jostled and found ourselves sprawled on the floor of the limo.
“What the fuck was that?” he yelled, struggling to get up as he once more rolled down the barrier between us and the driver.
The driver gave no answer and upon closer inspection we saw that he was pinned to his seat by the bent metal of the car frame and the partially-deployed airbag. I gasped, surprised at the amount of blood that was splashed against the spider-webbed glass of the front window.
Mr. Cipriano pulled out a gun, steadying himself with his other hand on the partition at the front of the car. With another jolt we were bounced back onto the floor and I looked up to see the door to the back of the window being torn right off its hinges, yielding a horrific, metallic shriek. In the shadows outside I caught a glimpse of what looked to be an animal, dark grey, its glowing blue eyes the most visible features of an otherwise hidden body.
My nails dug into the leather of the car seats, my body stricken with fear, gone cold in the presence of a strange creature that, for all I knew, was here to kill me. I pulled myself up and the animal thrust its head inside the car, its eyes looking right at me. A gigantic wolf was staring at me face to face.
Then I heard a loud noise ring out as Mr. Cipriano unloaded several shots at the wolf’s head. The wolf pulled his head back out of sight and I heard Mr. Cipriano curse as he started to reload his gun. Then all the sudden I was being pulled out of the car. The wolf had me in his clutches, his teeth clasped around the fabric of my dress.
I tried to hold onto the leather of the seats, then the sides of the door, doing everything I could to keep myself inside the limo and away from this terrifying beast. My weak arms were no match for its limitless strength and I felt myself whisked out into the cold night air. But to my surprise this strange animal set me gently on the curb next to the car.
Go, it said.
Well, it didn’t really say it, but somehow I heard those words reverberating through my head. I’d had this sensation before, strange but reassuring. I hesitated, staring into its eyes, searching for some hidden meaning. I should have been afraid, but I wasn’t. There was something familiar in them. Had I seen these eyes before? But where? Perhaps in a dream, in a fantasy, maybe.
Go.
The words rang out in my head once more and I turned, my feet moving, my legs starting up into a jog that would turn into a die-hard sprint. I didn’t know where I was going. It didn’t matter at this point; any place was safer than here. I had to get as far away as I could and as fast as possible.
I heard several more gunshots and turned around for a brief instant, crouching behind a car parked about a hundred yards down the street. The back windows of the limo were blown out; I wasn’t sure if a bullet had shattered them or if it was an effect of the force of the wolf’s blows. But I didn’t stop to think about it for more than a second; something inside me told me to keep running, to get to somewhere safe. So I kept running, but I still didn’t know where my final destination would be.
—Elias—
Elias could sense where Tess was headed before she even knew it herself. He knew that when all this was over, that once he’d dealt with Mr. Cipriano once and for all, that he would find her in the hotel. He knew she’d be scared, waiting for his comfort, waiting for him to tell her that everything was OK, that it was all over. What bothered Elias was that he didn’t know if he’d be able to tell her that. As far as he knew, he might not make it out of this situation alive. Who knew what was in store for him?
Elias paced around the car. He knew that Mr. Cipriano was inside reloading his gun. He glanced sideways, his large furry head turning just in time to glimpse Tess as she ran beneath the bright light of a streetlamp. Then her beautiful body slipped back into the shadows and he lost sight of her.
He heard Mr. Cipriano’s gun go off, but his supernatural spatial sense allowed him to dodge any bullets sent his way, at least in this instance. He heard the hollow click of an empty cartridge and knew Mr. Cipriano would be forced to reload again. This was his chance to make a move.
Elias slammed his huge frame into the side of the limo, toppling it onto its side. Then he crunched down on it with his enormous fangs, their absolute sharpness piercing the metal of the car frame. With all the strength he could summon he lifted the full weight of the limo with his powerful neck muscles and gave it a vicious shake, forcing Mr. Cipriano to fall out of the hole in the car’s side and onto the sidewalk. Now the unrepentant mobster would be forced to confront him.
Mr. Cipriano lifted the gun up toward Elias, but it was quickly swatted away by Elias’s enormous paw, it’s sharp nails cutting the skin on Mr. Cipriano’s arms. He screamed in agony, holding the open wound with his unwounded hand.
Seeing that the threat was no longer eminent, Elias shifted back into his human form, quickly retrieving the loaded gun that he’d just knocked to the curb. He walked back calmly to face Mr. Cipriano, whose arm was now bleeding substantially.
“Paul, your game is up. I want to know what you’re hiding,” said Elias, forcing the cold metal of the gun up to his neck.
“Fuck you,” said. Mr. Ci
priano. “You’re a dead man. As soon as my men hear about this, your days are numbered.”
“I thought you were shifter, too,” said Elias.
Mr. Cipriano laughed cynically.
“Me? No, I’m not a freak,” he said, a sick smile crossing his face.
“So you made a deal with my kind?”
“A deal? That’s pretty naïve.”
“I may be naïve, but I’m the one with the gun. So you better start talking.”
“I’ve been doing deals with shifters for the past decade. I’ve had them working directly for me for almost as long,” said Mr. Cipriano, gasping for air as Elias forced the neck of the gun against his throat.
“Doing what?”
“They’re enforcers usually. Tough guys. They make sure the deals fall through.”
“What about the deals you’re doing with them?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“If you want to know anything else, you better get me to a hospital. I’m losing a lot of blood here,” he said, his voice starting to sound weaker.
“I’ll call you an ambulance, but I want to know a few things first,” said Elias.
“OK,” he said. “What?”
“Is your crew responsible for these abductions?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Mr. Cipriano.
“Fuck you. I know the answer to this question. I just want to be able to tell the jury you were cooperative with our investigation you piece of shit,” said Elias, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him back against the limo.
“I want immunity before I give a full testimony. Can you promise me that?” asked Mr. Cipriano.
“Yes. But I want answers now.”
“Yes. My crew is responsible.”
“What’s the operation?”
“We kidnap young women and sell them to the shifters,” he said bluntly.
“You sell them for mates,” said Elias matter-of-factly.
The Shifter's Conspiracy (Paranormal BBW Werewolf Romance Novella) Page 8
