And then there’d been all that had happened since.
She was back in the BOQ now. After the meeting Drew had presided over, she’d wandered through the crowd, using Shadow as her ostensible reason for walking around.
She had eavesdropped on a lot of conversations.
Some Alpha Force members sounded outraged that someone had used their primo exercise as a cover for trying to steal the elixir.
“What a jerk,” Jock Larabey proclaimed. The muscular lieutenant shook his head and gritted his teeth as if he’d have liked being in wolf form to go for the perpetrator’s jugular.
“The fool probably wants to become like us,” Colleen Hodell said, running a hand sharply through her layered, tawny hair as if she wished it belonged to the bad guy. “Can you blame whoever it is?”
“Maybe not.” Rainey Jessop sucked in her lips grimly as she looked at her Alpha Force boss. “But that isn’t going to happen.”
Sara had listened just as avidly to some USFT members. Captain Rynton Tierney was his nasty, confrontational self as he told his subordinates, “You’d think after a successful exercise like we had, those damned conceited Alpha Forcers would suck it up and not assume the whole world wants to be them. We don’t. We just have to work with them.”
Other members of that team were not as blunt, but neither did anyone she heard admit to believing the rumors that they, too, could become shapeshifters on the swig of a bottle—nor did any say they wanted to. No indication from this who’d been trying to steal the stuff.
Afterward, Jason took Shadow back with him. “He’s going to stay with me in my apartment tonight,” he told Sara. “I’ll enjoy his company. No need for both of us to be on our own. And you should be safe as long as you’re in your own quarters—so head back there with other Alpha Forcers who’re your neighbors then stay inside your apartment.” He’d turned his back on Sara then and walked off with his cover dog.
Leaving her feeling hurt. And bereft.
But she made herself snap out of it—after watching Jason’s sexy backside for a minute more than she should have. They were both doing what they should: staying away from one another.
But even if Jason hadn’t made that jibe, Sara would have felt envious of Shadow and the fact the dog could stay, unquestioned, in the same apartment as Jason.
If Sara could have...well, she wouldn’t get any sleep that way.
She might not, anyway, despite how tired she felt. Her mind might not leave her alone after all this.
She had hung around that busy area until some Alpha Force members were ready to head back to the BOQ. She’d said goodbye to them inside the main entry hall and headed toward the door to the stairs leading to her unit.
As she started walking up the steps, though, Colleen came into the stairwell behind her. “Hey, Sara?” she said. “Got a minute?”
Sara turned and looked down. Colleen had a perplexed expression on her face. “Sure,” Sara said. Did she want Sara to help her shift again? But Rainey had looked fine that evening.
“Come on outside with me, would you? I thought I heard something that might help to figure out what’s going on with that attempt to steal some of the elixir.”
“Really?” Sara perked up slightly. That might be worth staying out of bed for a few minutes—especially if she learned something that could help catch the thief even before the planned ruse for tomorrow.
She’d love to do that, particularly if she could then show Jason she was more than just the general’s assistant.
She followed Colleen back outside. Together, they stood in the shadow of the BOQ.
“I don’t know if it’ll help or not, but there’s something I need to see in the lab before I tell you what I suspect. I know it’s late, but what I heard is just so odd, and yet it might make sense. But I want to look and see if all the pieces fit together.”
“I’d rather wait till morning,” Sara said. “I’m tired. Aren’t you? You were right there in the middle of the exercise.”
“And that’s why... Okay. If you don’t want to come, I’ll do it on my own. I can tell Drew tomorrow, or the general, if I’m right.”
Sara pondered that, but only for a minute.
She wasn’t about to tell anyone, even Colleen, about the ruse they would be conducting tomorrow—or about what had really happened that night with the attempt to steal the elixir.
But if she could learn something useful just by going back there...
She recalled Jason’s warning, of course. He’d said she should stay in her quarters. But this was Colleen. A member of Alpha Force. Even if they weren’t good friends, they were at least close enough acquaintances that Sara had helped the feline shifter before. Had no reason not to trust her. And she would stay wary.
Besides, she still had a military issue weapon in her pocket as she had earlier that evening.
“Let’s hurry,” she told Colleen. “I’d really like to get to bed soon.”
But as it turned out, Sara realized about twenty minutes later, she wasn’t going to get to see her bed that night at all.
Maybe it was exhaustion, or her belief she could solve the main Alpha Force problem before Jason or anyone else could, but despite her earlier determination to remain wary, she wasn’t as careful as she should have been.
After Colleen had slipped her card for the two of them to pass through the kennel with the barking dogs, they headed for the door downstairs to the lab area.
“I just need to check my recollections about something down there,” Colleen said.
She had a key card for that, which somewhat surprised Sara since not all Alpha Force members were given ready access to the labs. Maybe Colleen was working on the elixir formula without Sara knowing about it.
But when they reached the bottom of the stairway, Colleen stopped, moved swiftly behind Sara and grabbed her around the neck, jabbing the barrel of a small gun against her cheek.
“Hold very still while I pat you down,” Colleen said, slightly loosening her grip around Sara’s neck as she ran her hands along her sides—and pulled Sara’s weapon from her pocket. “Ah, here it is. Now we’re going to go into that dumb little office of Drew’s down here and you’re going to call him.”
Sara felt dumbfounded. “It’s you?” she demanded, although her words came out as a croak since Colleen once more held her neck as she propelled Sara down the hall. “But why?”
“Shut up,” Colleen demanded and kicked Sara’s side. “You don’t need to know anything. You just need to obey me, you damned nonshifter bitch.”
* * *
What the hell was she doing?
Jason had been outside giving Shadow a final walk of the night when he saw Sara leaving the BOQ with Colleen Hodell.
Staying in deep shadows, he followed.
He realized, after they passed through most of the base, that they were heading toward the kennel/lab building. Why? Especially at this hour.
He decided it was a good thing he had Shadow with him as cover. He could say he needed to leave his dog in the kennel tonight—which wasn’t true. He liked having Shadow’s company whenever possible and had planned to have him around overnight.
Now, though, he drew nearer, watching as Sara and Colleen walked into the upstairs area of the kennel—causing all the dogs inside to bark. He waited for a minute, then entered with Shadow before the noise died down. Were they just going to see the dogs?
Colleen’s cover feline was in her own quarters, wasn’t she? This probably wasn’t a middle-of-the-night visit to wish the small cougar look-alike sweet dreams.
So...were they going downstairs into the lab?
If so, why? Was Sara taking Colleen there? She had an access key. But what was this all about?
Using his own card key, Jason walked inside with Shadow and waited while his dog traded nose sniffs through the wire mesh entries to the kennels—also using his own enhanced senses to try to hear voices through the barks.
He couldn’t make out any w
ords, but he did hear something from downstairs, or so he thought.
He tied Shadow’s leash to a kennel door then headed toward the stairway, where he carefully opened the door.
And listened some more.
And froze. If he had been shifted, he knew his hackles would rise.
“I don’t understand,” Sara was saying. She sounded as if something was choking her. “Colleen, if there’s something we should—”
“I told you to shut up, bitch! Oh, and if you’re wondering what you’re doing here, you’re bait. And my ticket to get out of here with everything I want. Come on, we’re going to see the guard who’s now outside the refrigerator unit...again.”
There was a gagging sound, and the shuffling of feet.
Jason almost bolted down there. Instead, he made himself wait patiently, but only for a minute.
He was glad the dogs kept barking—and that Colleen was not a wolf shifter.
He knew what he had to do. And he had to do it fast.
He drew his weapon, in case he ran into the two women, but he prayed that wouldn’t happen. Colleen would undoubtedly use Sara as a shield.
No, Jason knew he needed the element of surprise to save Sara.
Slowly, but with utter determination, he sneaked his way downstairs and into the nearest lab.
* * *
“What the hell—” Kerry began. The sentry had been sitting on a chair while guarding the door to the refrigeration unit, but now he stood.
When she realized where they were heading, Sara had hoped that the guard would be able to help her.
Instead, she realized, she had become a bargaining chip.
“I know you’re buddies with Lieutenant McLinder,” Colleen oozed smoothly from behind her. “If you don’t let me into the refrigerator this time, I’ll kill her slowly in front of you, and then it’ll be your turn.”
“But I can’t...” the guard said. “You’ll be caught, anyway. Why don’t you—”
Sara felt Colleen’s arm tightening around her neck and tried not to gag. Instead, she realized how lightheaded she had become. She was going to pass out.
“Do it!” Colleen snapped. She aimed the weapon she held now in her free hand at Kerry, waving it back and forth between Sara and him, even as she kept Sara close.
This time, Kerry closed his eyes briefly then nodded. He used the electronic release and soon the door snapped open.
“This way,” Colleen said. “Both of you.”
Sara was too weak to resist. She knew she was going to die, anyway now. How could she have been so stupid? She hadn’t suspected Colleen.
She should have suspected everyone.
Now...she would at least try to save Kerry.
And if only she could see Jason just one more time...
“He’s right,” she managed to say to Colleen. “You’ll be caught. You think I just went with you like an obedient dog? I let people know—”
“You bitch! You told someone, signaled them, whatever?” Colleen’s fury spewed out—and so did the force at Sara’s throat. She saw Colleen wave Kerry into the large refrigeration room, even as she was dragged inside.
She was suddenly released, and she stumbled to the floor. That was when Colleen, still holding the gun on them, pulled free a large cloth bag she’d used as a belt around her waist and started, with her free hand, to carefully stick vials of elixir from the many shelves of the unit into it. Because of their usual potentially rough handling in the backpacks of shifters’ aides, Sara knew that the thick glass of the storage vials was fairly unbreakable, and the seals were secure and tight.
Shifting Alpha Force members were generally issued only enough of the elixir to help with their next change or two to keep in their possession. How much was Colleen taking? All of it that was currently being stored, apparently—enough to trigger hundreds of shifts.
“I thank you, and my family thanks you,” Colleen said. “Not that you’ll be around to enjoy their gratitude. But now there’s something I’d better do so I can...” Her voice tapered off as she moved away from them.
Sara had no idea what Colleen meant by her family and its thanks, but she couldn’t be allowed to get away with this. As Colleen backed toward the door, Sara, weak as she felt, aimed a careful glance toward Kerry. The look in his dark eyes seemed terrified, but she thought she detected a small nod.
“Now!” she cried as Colleen moved to open the door, the bulging sack attached at her shoulder.
But the distraction didn’t help.
“You’re going to die in here,” Colleen said. “I don’t even need to use this.” She waved the gun toward both of them, making Kerry hesitate, Sara saw from the corner of her eye.
She didn’t hesitate, though—but her strength had ebbed because of the choking she’d undergone.
She didn’t reach the door before it slammed shut— leaving Kerry and her inside.
* * *
Should he have taken the time to shift?
No matter now. Jason figured that he would be better able to slink around the lab facilities—and subdue Colleen—while in wolf form.
He had stopped within the main lab and set things up for himself, drinking elixir and using the light to ensure he could shift quickly.
But not before he had used his phone to notify his cousin what was going on, and where.
Now, easing his shifted form against the wall, he moved down the hallway toward where he heard voices—clearly, now that he was in wolf form, despite the fact they radiated from behind apparently closed doors.
Sara was in trouble.
He had to get there in time....
Suddenly, a form jumped out of a door just in front of him.
A growling cougar.
It leaped upon him—its fangs going for his neck.
* * *
Sara stopped talking to Kerry, who, shivering, had ceased arguing with her and headed toward the control panel within the refrigeration unit.
He’d been certain that Colleen would be waiting outside to shoot them. She knew better.
Especially now, with the roaring sounds of animals fighting to the death outside, the sound muffled by the thickness of the door.
Jason, shifted? Some other werewolf?
And Colleen? A few minutes had passed since she had locked them inside. Had it been a mistake to lie and claim Sara had the foresight to secretly notify someone she was going to the lab with Colleen?
At last, Kerry was successful. The door burst open, allowing heat to pour into the area that was just above freezing. Sara no longer had her gun. Colleen had taken it. But even if she’d had it, aiming it would have been difficult.
She had to stop shivering.
She first needed a weapon.
The best thing she could find at the moment was one of the substantial shelves that was now emptied of elixir. She grabbed one, wresting it away from the wall.
“You take one, too,” she demanded of Kerry.
Then she hurried outside into the hall.
And stopped, horrified to see the fighting wolf and cougar. Was the cougar winning? Both were covered in blood.
Her wooden weapon was unlikely to help, but she ran forward, anyway, hoping she could get a good aim at the feline’s head.
Before she could, the cougar saw her, bared its teeth and leaped away from the wolf and onto her. Sara felt its fangs on her throat—but only for an instant.
The wolf had not only knocked it off her, it shoved the cougar onto its back on the floor and stood on its chest, its own fangs sinking into the feline’s neck.
The creature roared and moved—but only for a minute.
“Freeze!” shouted a human voice, and suddenly a cadre of armed military men, led by Major Drew Connell, stood down the hall, aiming their weapons at the cougar.
The wolf moved off it and loped toward Sara. It soon sat at her side, bloody but looking up at her with caring golden eyes.
“Thank you, Jason,” Sara whispered throatily, bending to
give the wolf a hug.
Chapter 23
It was over.
Sara sat in General Yarrow’s office once again, eager to hear everything that had gone on since Lieutenant Colleen Hodell was taken into custody yesterday.
From what Sara had heard, Colleen was being flown to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she would be incarcerated in a highly classified facility within the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks there, pending her court-martial trial for treason and more.
“So here’s what we’ve learned, sir,” Drew Connell was saying to General Yarrow, who scowled from behind his desk. Drew sat in a chair on Sara’s left.
“One thing I hope you learned, Drew, is that your vetting process for Alpha Force members had better be beefed up.” Greg leaned forward with his arms crossed.
“Yeah, like getting more shapeshifting car thieves to enlist.” That was Jason, who sat at Sara’s right. That comment brought a smile to the general’s face and lightened the atmosphere, just a little.
“Yeah, car thieves do a good job of protecting the rest of us,” Greg Yarrow agreed. “Or at least one does.”
Jason’s face lit up in a proud grin that managed to enhance his rugged, handsome features.
Sara felt herself begin to smile, too, but she stopped herself. She still had a lot of questions.
She also knew that her time here, around Alpha Force and Jason, was limited.
Not much to smile about...despite Jason’s teasing bad-boy way breaking through the otherwise heavy atmosphere here.
“What do you mean, sir?” she asked, addressing the general. “I take it that there were things about Lieutenant Hodell that weren’t known before?”
She made it a question, since she didn’t want to accuse Drew, or his other Alpha Forcers, of incompetence. They had their procedures that had to be followed before a shifter could be invited to enlist and join their unit. She had to presume that those procedures were used with Colleen Hodell, too—even if they failed.
“That’s right,” Drew acknowledged. “She was one hell of a liar. She convinced not only me but our whole enlistment committee, too, that she was a solid shifting citizen despite an upbringing in the wilds of South Dakota that left a lot to be desired.”
Untamed Wolf Page 24
