“What are the updates from Jack?” Tristan asked.
“Nothing new yet, but he should be getting back to us soon. You know Jack, he’s a wiz master on the computer,” Noah said.
Tristan leaned his head against the headrest. Closing his eyes he replayed the events of his last encounter with Victory. Silently he cursed himself for his mistake; he should never have let her go to the lab by herself.
“Tristan.”
His eyes flew open as he lurched upright.
“You okay?” Logan asked.
“I think I heard Victory,” he said.
He closed his eyes and focused on Victory. “Victory, can you hear me?”
Victory thought she felt an ever so subtle buzzing in her temples. Was it Tristan? Could he really hear her, or was it pure desperate hope? Whatever it was, she would try her all to contact him. “Tristan, Collin knocked me out from behind when I walked into the lab. I’m sorry, I didn’t see him and I was so distracted I didn’t even hear him come up from behind me,” she babbled on in her mind.
There it was again. He couldn’t understand everything she was saying, but he did get bits and pieces.
“Well,” Logan prompted. “Are you getting anything?”
“I’m not getting all of it, but I can pick up pieces. She said that Collin came up from behind her in the lab. Which in itself is surprising, that woman has ears on her like no one I have ever known.”
“Does she know where she is?” Noah asked.
“She hasn’t said, at least I haven’t been able to pick that up. I’m going to try and contact her.” Tristan settled back and propped his head back against the seat. Filling his body with a few deep breaths he focused all his energy on reaching Victory.
There it was again. This time Victory felt a very distinct push in her mind. That has to be him. “I’m not sure where I am. Collin said something about a cabin. He wants me to help him. He seems to think that I can reverse what has happened to him, I’ve tried to explain that all I can do is help him adapt to it.”
Tristan blew out his breath, relief flooding his body. He knew she was safe and that Collin needed her, so for now that would keep her safe, he hoped. “She’s okay. I feel a pain in the back of her head, probably where Collin hit her. All I could get was that he wants her help and something about a cabin.” He looked at Morgan. “You know anything about a cabin?”
“He went out into the forest.” Victory continued on. She didn’t know what if anything Tristan could hear, but she relayed everything. “He warned me not to leave, that the area was not safe. He even told me to lock the door after he left. Tristan, I think he is having trouble staying in control, but he knew that so he left me. He left because he could feel that he was losing control, he didn’t want to be near me for fear he might hurt me. This is a good thing. He is beginning to adapt, or at least acknowledge when the change is coming over him. Yet he is trying to stay in control. Maybe this will buy me more time to help him.”
Victory’s head was beginning to pound, between all the thoughts running through it and the large bump. She laid down on the bed and put the ice pack on her head.
“Shit,” Tristan spit, “I think Victory might still be in danger with Collin. She said something about him losing control. What about that cabin Morgan?”
Morgan remained silent. At first Tristan didn’t think he was going to respond. “Nope, I don’t remember anything about a--wait a minute.” Morgan bolted straight up and looked at the other three men staring at him. “His grandfather, I remember last summer we barely got back from a mission. Collin was really upset. His grandfather had passed away while we were deep under cover. He was dead and buried before Collin even knew about it. The two of them were really close. His grandfather raised him since he was ten. Anyway, he got a letter from an attorney telling him that his grandfather left everything to him. This included the main house in Seattle, all his investments, and a small hunting cabin. What was really surprising to Collin was that everything was already placed in his name, over one year before.”
“So, where’s this cabin?” Noah asked.
“I don’t think he ever told me. But it shouldn’t be hard to track it down. It’s in Collin’s name, that’s a place to start,” Morgan replied.
* * *
Victory was lost in a dark forest as she came upon Jeffery and his two friends. Bang, Bang! The gun went off. Jeffery withered to the ground, blood covering his crisp white shirt. “Jeffery,” she screamed, springing up from the bed, tears running down her face.
“Who’s Jeffery?” Collin asked. He was stretched out on the small sofa. There were very few windows in the cabin and Victory could hardly make him out in the early morning light.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“It’s around six in the morning. Why, do you have a hot date?” he smiled. “You didn’t answer my question, who’s Jeffery?”
“He was a college friend of mine and the reason I currently find myself in this situation,” she answered tersely.
“I bet he’ll get an earful when you get back,” Collin joked.
“No, he won’t, he’s dead.” Tears instantly filled her eyes again, threatening to spill down her cheeks. “I watched him get shot by Jerry and there was nothing I could do to stop it.” She wiped her eyes and tried to wipe the scene from her mind. It suddenly dawned on her what Collin had said - when you get back. That was a good sign she thought, he was intending to let her go home, sometime. “Are you telling me I slept the entire night?” she asked.
“I don’t know about that. I have only been here for two hours,” he answered.
“Did you take the tracking chip out of your thigh?” she asked.
“What?”
“The chip, have you removed it?” she repeated.
“What chip? I don’t have any chips. What makes you think I have one?” he quizzed her.
“Morgan told me that you both had trackers put in your upper thigh. You don’t remember?” She knew that was not a good sign.
“No,” Collin responded, confusion playing across his face.
He got up from the sofa and dropped his jeans. Victory cheeks flamed a dark shade of pink and she turned her gaze away from his direction.
“Damn. That’s what this is,” he hissed rubbing his right upper thigh. “I thought that I stabbed myself during one of my black outs.” Collin picked up his jeans, fished a pocket knife out of his front pocket and headed to the kitchen. There he snapped the knife open, placed it on the counter and grabbed a lighter out of one of his kitchen drawers. He lit the lighter and ran it over both sides of the knife, sterilizing the blade.
“Would you like me to take it out?” Victory asked hesitantly.
“I guess you would do a better job. Do you mind?”
“No problem.” She got up from the bed and walked over to the kitchen. “It would be easier for me if you would lie on the table. The light is better and I can get at it easier.”
Collin handed her the knife and got up on the table. Victory looked at the spot that she was sure contained the chip.
“This is going to hurt,” she warned him.
“Don’t worry, I’ve had a lot worse. Try digging a bullet out of yourself; now that smarts,” he teased. “I’m ready whenever you are – shit,” he snapped as Victory stuck in the knife and scooped out the chip.”
“Sorry. I figured I’d get it done quickly,” she said as she reached for a couple of paper towels to blot the bleeding. “Do you have any antiseptic and bandages?”
“In the cabinet in the bathroom.”
“Here, keep pressure on this.” She headed for the tiny bathroom, found what she was looking for and returned to Collin. A few minutes later she had his cut cleaned and covered. She held out the chip. It was the size of a pen top. He took it from her outstretched hand, looked at it briefly, then dropped it to the floor and smashed it with his foot.
“With any luck, good old Max didn’t find out I left the island right awa
y. But if he started tracking me a couple of hours after I left then he already knows I’m on the west coast. Should give us a little breathing room, but let’s not get comfortable. We will have to think about getting out of here in the next twelve hours. I will need you to make a list of all the equipment you will need in order to find me a cure.”
“I will need a lot of equipment, along with a usable lab. It’s going to involve a great deal of funds and some time.”
“You let me worry about the money and the lab. All you need to do is make me that list,” Collin said.
Victory knew she shouldn’t stress or upset him. For now she thought it would be better to simply play along, and hope that Tristan would find them.
“Okay. Can I have my laptop?”
“Sure, I don’t see a problem with that. There is no internet service available anywhere near here,” Collin responded.
* * *
“Son of a bitch,” Max slammed the receiver against the dashboard.
“What’s wrong sir?” one of the men asked.
“We lost our signal. Damn it, Collin must have found the chip,” Max hissed.
“We’ve crossed into Washington,” the pilot announced. “Do I keep going or turn around?”
“Keep going, I know for certain that he’s in Washington. The only question now is where,” Max grumbled. “Okay, we head to Biotec, Dave is there, he can help pinpoint Collin’s location. He pulled out his cell phone and punched Dave’s speed dial number.
“Hello Max, what’s your status,” Dave answered.
“We lost the signal. I think Collin found his chip. We’re heading to you. I know he’s in the state, but that’s about as good as it gets. I need you to do your thing, and get on your computer and see what kind of hidey holes Collin has access to.”
“I’ll get started right away. Mr. Braxton is not on the premises right now, thank goodness. We need to try and keep this latest news from him. Needless to say he’s already hot about what happened yesterday. What’s your ETA?”
“Thirty minutes. See you then. Okay, take us into Biotec,” he confirmed with the pilot.
* * *
“They’re dropping in altitude,” Noah said.
“You think they located Collin?” Morgan asked.
“Not sure, all I can tell you is that they are landing soon,” Noah responded.
“Where are we?” Tristan asked.
“We’re coming up on Seattle,” Noah answered.
“I don’t think they found Collin and Victory, I think they lost the signal and are probably going into Biotec to get some help. Victory was there when you told us about the chips, remember Morgan? I’ll bet she told Collin about his and he destroyed it. She’s trying to buy them time.”
“Smart girl,” Logan said.
TWENTY–FOUR
The SOCOM offices were buzzing. Wyatt had called in the second team so the place was filled to capacity. Wyatt walked over to Jack’s desk and asked, “Anything?”
“Not yet sir, there are over two hundred McBain’s in the state. He did list his grandfather’s house in Seattle as his home base.”
“We know he wouldn’t take Victory to Seattle,” Wyatt said.
Jack’s Bluetooth vibrated. “What do you have for me Noah?”
“Your wish is my command. Victory must have told Collin about his tracker. We believe he has removed and destroyed it. This should slow Max down a bit,” Noah reported. “Morgan’s memory has improved and he has remembered that Collin’s granddad owned a hunting cabin.”
“Does he know his name?” Jack asked.
“Collin D. McBain.”
“So Collin is named after his grandfather,” Jack responded.
“That’s a good guess. His granddad left everything to him. Even had the titles of all his properties put in his grandson’s name a year before he passed away. Morgan said that Collin does not have a middle name,” Noah said.
“Okay, so where is this hunting cabin located?” Jack asked.
“Come on Jack, we can’t steal all of your thunder,” Noah answered.
“Great. Okay, let me get this into the computer and see what I come up with,” Jack said as he disconnected.
“Seems Victory has bought us some time,” Wyatt said.
Jack looked up at Wyatt. “Captain, sometimes you and Tristan give me the willies,” he said shimming his shoulders in an example.
“Plug in Collin’s name and cross reference it with his grandfather, and let’s see what you get for properties owned.” He sat down in the chair across from Jack’s desk.
“Got him,” Jack said ten minutes later. “Collin McBain owns a small place in the foothills of Mount Baker, Washington. The title was transferred into his name sixteen months ago by a Collin D. McBain.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Wyatt answered.
“Do you want to contact Tristan, or should I call Noah back?” he asked raising one of his eyebrows.
“Call Noah, you have all the details,” Wyatt answered with a smile on his face. He loved that even now he could spook Jack, it served to lighten the mood more times than he could recall. “I want to leave Tristan’s “channel” open. He has been picking up snippets of Victory’s thoughts.”
Noah’s phone vibrated. “Yeah, Jack what do you have for us?”
“Collin D. McBain transferred title to a place in the foothills of Mount Baker to a Collin McBain, approximately sixteen months ago. It’s pretty isolated by the looks of it and it’s surrounded by forest. Got a pen?”
“Shoot.” Noah jotted down the address. “Great, thanks Jack. Got him, foothills of Mount Baker, isolated in the forest, sneaky bastard.” Noah relayed the coordinates to the pilot. “Looks like our closest helo pad is located in Nooksack, we’ll need to land there if we want to pick up transportation,” Noah reported.
“Let’s do it,” Tristan confirmed.
Max’s team, plus three new guys, loaded into the helicopter to head out to Nooksack. He was feeling much more comfortable about going into this with three additional men, especially since two of them had some military training and the other was Detective Ken Howard. They would be landing in Nooksack in forty minutes and his team was edgy.
Tristan and his team landed in Nooksack. Waiting for them was the SUV they had reserved while still in the air. “Noah you drive, Logan you’re his navigator. Morgan, you and I will take the back. Let’s park the vehicle a couple miles from the cabin and make sure it’s well hidden. We’re not sure how close Max and his team is, but I am sure he will be hot on our heels and we don’t want to tip our hand,” Tristan instructed as he jumped into the back of the SUV.
“What’s the plan?” Logan turned towards the backseat and looked at Tristan.
“Morgan is going to try and talk Collin out. You’ll need to do it fast, can you do that?” he asked as he looked at Morgan.
“If you would have asked me that last month I would have said absolutely. At this point I would say it is fifty-fifty now,” Morgan replied.
“You’re still our best option. Let’s get going.” Tristan said as he smacked the back of the driver’s seat.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later Max’s helicopter touched down on the same tarmac in Nooksack. Two SUV’s sat on the tarmac a few yards away. “You three come with me,” Max said pointing to Ken and the two new guys. “You five take the second vehicle and follow us.” They loaded all their gear, jumped into the SUVs and were heading toward the edge of town a few minutes later.
* * *
A strong buzzing started in Victory’s head. It was Tristan, and by the strength of the buzzing he was close by. Victory nearly choked on her sandwich. Boy, it still startled her when he did that. She coughed, picked up her coffee and took a sip.
“You okay?” Collin asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. It went down the wrong tube,” she said as she patted her chest. “Tristan, I know you’re close,” she sent as clear a thought as she was able. “We’re both in the ca
bin at the table eating.”
“The cabin is right up ahead,” Noah informed the group. “Time for the details, Tristan.”
“Let me go in alone, you guys cover my six, but keep back. The last thing we want to do is spook him,” Morgan said.
The three teammates looked at one another; slight nods went around the group. “Okay,” Tristan answered for the team. “But Victory is our primary concern. If he threatens her, all bets are off.”
“I understand, but I want to get Collin out of this in one piece too. So give me some room, please,” Morgan replied.
“Let’s do this. We’ll be having company soon,” Tristan said.
Morgan started towards the cabin. He made sure that he was out in the open so that Collin would see him coming.
Collin suddenly stopped eating. He swung his head in the direction of the door. Damnit all to hell. He could smell Morgan, and he wasn’t alone. He put his fork down and stared at Victory.
“What’s the matter?” she asked trying to act confused.
“They’re here,” was all he said.
“Max?” she asked with real fear creeping into her gaze. He couldn’t have beaten Tristan here, she prayed.
“No Morgan, and he’s not alone,” he answered.
Relief filled her. “That’s good Collin; they want to help you, as I do.”
“Collin,” Morgan yelled from the front yard. “I know that you know we’re out here. Come out so we can talk face-to-face. We’re here to help you.” Morgan stood still holding his ground, arms out low in front of himself, palms up. “Collin I know you can hear me, and I know that you are aware that I am not alone. Tristan and his team are here to help you.”
Team? That spiked Collin’s interest. What kind of team. He looked at Victory with a menacing stare. “What kind of team?” he demanded. She sat not saying a word, feeling the pressure of his stare. “What kind of team Victory? I know you know. He came to the island with you, but he’s not your assistant is he?” Collin prodded.
Chasing Victory (The Winters Sisters) Page 20
