“Just doing my job. We might not all work the same job, but we all have the same goal, to keep people safe.” He picked up the phone as it began to ring. “And Trent is one of our own.”
“He is.” But so was Jonas. At least technically. He’d been to war, fought for his country. So why the hell did he fake his own death and make everyone around him feel as if they were to blame? Right now, she wanted to rip his head off his shoulders. Not because of the kidnapping, but because of what he’d done to Wyatt. Her Wyatt, the man who had blamed himself for so long.
Chapter Sixteen – Wyatt
He was alive. Jonas was alive. But how? Why?
“Perhaps he was found floating in the river,” he said to Monica when she joined him outside. “He might have lost his memory.”
She hesitated before answering. “Perhaps.”
“You think he faked his own death and joined up with a bunch of terrorists?” he asked sharply.
“I don’t think anything. Not yet. There is insufficient evidence to make any kind of judgment.” Monica placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it and he welcomed the warmth of her touch, she comforted him. And he needed her strength. Just for a moment. He needed to know she was there.
“I can’t believe he would do this to Trent. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Wyatt’s shoulders sagged forward.
“Don’t judge him. Not yet. For all we know, he may be being coerced himself.” She let that statement permeate his brain.
“You mean he is being made to do this in the same way Trent is being made to break Tarak out?” Wyatt thought it through. “I could believe it. If not for his fake death.”
“What if his mate is behind it? You said she ran off with another man. How do we know she isn’t the one pulling the strings?” Monica didn’t like thinking a woman could be so callous and vindictive, but it happened. War taught you women were just as capable as men of performing atrocities.
“Damn. If that’s true...”
“We don’t know what’s true. But I sure as hell know the quickest way to get yourself killed is to make a move based on what you believe is true. We have to work on the intel we have.” She let her hand drop to her side. “Come on. We have more footage to look at. Then we have to make some hard decisions.”
She left his side and went back inside the sheriff’s station. With one last look up at the mountains, which were calling him home, he turned and followed. He was too involved in this to back out now, and he had to stay by Monica’s side and have her back throughout what was to come.
“I’ve got access to the surveillance cameras in the area around Trent’s house.” Liam leaned forward, looking at the images on his screen.
“Anything?” Wyatt asked, getting his head back together. He had to draw on his personal experience and focus on the job he had to do. Whatever was going on with Jonas, it would all become clear. All they had to do was follow the breadcrumbs.
“I’m trying to locate the closest camera. I think I have it. Now, as far as I can tell, if they were in a car, they would have to pass this way.” He clicked to move through the frames. “Do you have an accurate time she went missing?”
“According to the Jack’s watch, sometime around 2.00 p.m. she left the boundary of the house. Or the watch did,” Monica told Liam.
“That gives us a timeframe. I can work with.” Liam glanced at Monica. “Would you mind making a fresh pot of coffee? I’d ask Wyatt, but I don’t trust him with the coffee machine.”
“Hey, I haven’t been in the mountains that long,” Wyatt protested as Monica went off to fetch some water.
“How are you holding up?” Liam asked as Wyatt pulled up a chair beside him. Two sets of eyes were better than one. While Liam watched for suspicious vehicles, he was going to look for Jonas. He might have been on foot. Who knew?
“I’m okay, in shock and I sure as hell want to fit this all together. If I find out Jonas is behind this, he’ll wish he had died in that river.” Wyatt curled his fingers around the edge of the desk as he fought for control.
“Did Monica tell you about the dark van pulling into the barracks?” Liam asked as a stream of cars passed the camera.
“No. So they drove there?”
“It was the same day Yolanda went missing so we have to assume. But that isn’t to say they didn’t swap vehicles.” He clicked his mouse and froze the shot. “Or maybe not.”
Wyatt stared hard at the screen. “That’s it?” he asked, straining to see who was driving.
Liam clicked on a different image and split the screen. One was from outside the Wadepark barracks, showing a dark, possibly blue, van. The other was from the street along from Trent’s house and showed a very similar, if not the same van, although the license plates didn’t match. “Let me run a check on both plates.”
Liam left his seat and went to another desk, where he tapped on the keyboard and waited for a few minutes, while Wyatt stared at the screen, wishing he could see inside the van. But he couldn’t. They had no way to know if Yolanda was in there or not.
“The plates are stolen. They must have switched them to cover their tracks.”
Over the space of the next hour, they pulled up images from different traffic cams and pieced together the route taken by the van. It soon became obvious it was the van they wanted. But it didn’t tell them whether Yolanda was inside or not. Until they got lucky. The van stopped across the street from a traffic cam.
“Toilet break,” Monica breathed as the back doors of the van opened and a woman was bundled out. “We’ve got them.”
“Freeze it.” Wyatt put his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “That’s him. That’s Jonas.” Like a ghost from the past, he’d come face to face with the man who had caused him to question who he was. “Son of a bitch.”
“Wyatt, there still could be a reason he’s there.”
“Other than for financial gains or otherwise.” Wyatt couldn’t control his anger as Jonas led a sobbing Yolanda to the restroom and went inside with her.
“He could be being coerced. Liam, can you track down Jonas’s wife?” Monica couldn’t bear the look of disgust on Wyatt’s face, which made Wyatt angrier, if at all possible. “Do you have her name, any information, Wyatt?”
“Iris Diarmuid. She left him for a man named Thomas Calthorpe. He was a real estate agent, with a big house in Reaminster.” Wyatt got up and walked around in a tight circle. His wolf was desperate to get out, to take them back up to their cabin in the mountain and put this all behind them once more.
We can’t run, he told his wolf. This is where we belong.
His wolf, who had helped him overcome his guilt, slunk back to a corner of his mind and lay down, his head resting on his paws.
“Got her.” Liam showed them an image of Thomas Calthorpe at a fundraiser, next to him stood a pregnant woman, the photograph tagged her as Iris Diarmuid. “If his body was never found, they likely never married.” Liam went onto social media and pulled up Iris’s profile. “I think we can rule out her involvement. There are pictures of her baby, and yesterday she cooked chicken hotpot for dinner.”
“Listen, we have to focus.” Monica’s voice was firm. “All this changes is that we have an idea of who we are dealing with, even if we don’t have a motive.”
“Monica’s right.” Wyatt pulled himself together. He was a professional. And this was war. His friend was being made to do something against his will, a woman was being threatened and a child had been dragged away from his home and his parents. Time to settle this. Time to bring them home. “Monica and I will go back to Harlan’s house.”
“I’ll stay here and go through the rest of the footage. Luckily, it’s a quiet day in Bear Creek. I might also ask Avery to look at some of the footage, too. She won’t mind having something to focus on other than baby bottles and diapers.” Liam got up and refilled his coffee. “As soon as my shift is over, I’ll go home, check on Beverly and change clothes. Then I’ll meet you at Harlan’s place.”
“My pleasure. This reminds me why I liked being a police officer. Maybe I won’t go back to being a storekeeper.”
“Believe me, Liam. There is something to be said for a quiet life.” Wyatt pressed his lips together, his forehead creased as he took one last look at the computer screen and left the sheriff’s office.
“I need to know if you are okay.” Monica walked by his side to the car, her expression filled with concern.
Wyatt stopped and leaned on the roof of the car, his head hanging down as he fought to control his anger, which simmered under the surface. He pushed it back down. He could conquer this, he would conquer it. “Honestly, I want to go straight to the Wadepark barracks and burst in there, teeth and claws ready to rip Jonas apart. But I know that’s not the answer and will only make things worse for Yolanda. What Jonas did...”
“If he did it,” Monica reminded him.
Wyatt sighed, unconvinced. “If he did it, was cold and calculating. And that is what we have to be. Cool, calm and organized. This must be a two-pronged attack. We have to go to Wadepark, but we also have to give Trent the support he needs. I’m damn well not going to give Jonas the satisfaction of tearing a family apart. It’s as if he wants to get revenge on us.”
“Was there ever a problem between Trent and Jonas?” Monica unlocked the car and got in. Wyatt took a last look at the mountain range before him and did the same.
“No. Trent always had our backs. He’s was a good man. Jonas always had this wild streak, but he had our backs, too. We all trusted each other and relied on each other.” Wyatt leaned on the car door, resting his head on his hand. Closing his eyes, he pulled up memories of the squad, of them working together. Helping each other, keeping each other alive. “There was one incident.”
Monica looked at him sharply. “There was?”
“It was after Iris left. Jonas was on patrol and there was an incident where Trent accused him of using unnecessary force when detaining a suspect.” Wyatt recalled the conversation that followed. Trent had eventually decided not to include it in his formal report, but Jonas hadn’t taken the accusation well.
“That might have been enough to push Jonas into wanting to hurt Trent. Compound that with losing his own mate. While Trent appeared to have everything. A wife, a kid. What if he kept tabs on you all after he disappeared and saw Trent’s life and wanted him to feel the same pain?”
“But we were a unit. We were family.”
“And sometimes families are dysfunctional.” Monica looked back at the road. “Mine sure as hell was.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Wyatt asked.
“Not much to tell. My dad was in the Army, and no, that was not the reason I enlisted. If anything, he put me off of it. We had to move from Army base to Army base, and he treated us like we were in the Army. Everything had to be regimented when he was home.” She smiled to herself. “But when he was away, my mom, my brothers and I used to have the best times.”
“Your dad was the shifter?”
“My mom. I used to always wonder why she stayed with him. Now I see it. And they were happy, they are happy. He’s softened now that he’s retired.” They pulled up in front of Harlan’s house. “Let’s get this over with. We make a plan and then execute it. Or execute Jonas.”
Wyatt got out of the car, not sure if Monica was joking or not. When they eventually encountered him, they might have to save each other from themselves.
Chapter Seventeen – Monica
They stood in the backyard of Harlan and Fiona’s house, ready to begin. After an afternoon spent discussing strategies, they had decided to split into two groups. Monica, Wyatt, and Liam would go with Fiona to Wadepark. Jay and Alex would go with Sapphi and Harlan. Ruby, much to her disappointment, would stay here and watch the children. She was under strict instruction to take them and run or fly if anyone approached the house. Although it appeared Jonas and his men either didn’t know where Jack was or didn’t care. From the surveillance cameras, it seemed that no one had left or entered the barracks since the night Yolanda was kidnapped.
“Take care.” Harlan hugged Fiona, their love for each other visible on their faces as they kissed briefly.
“I know how to look after myself,” Fiona said gruffly as they pulled apart, but her fingers lingered on his chest.
“I know you do. But I’m allowed to worry.” He turned and faced Sapphi and Alex. “Just as I worry about all my family.”
“You make sure you bring them back. And yourself. I will go on a fire-breathing rampage if you don’t come back in one piece.” Fiona turned and walked into the center of the clearing. “We’ll go first.”
With that, the air shimmered and the build-up of static electricity made the strands of Monica’s hair, not tamed in a ponytail, stand on end. Then Fiona disappeared from this world, to be replaced by a massive reptilian-like creature, who swung her sinewy neck from side to side as she flexed her wings.
“Climb aboard.” Harlan approached the dragon and stroked her snout. She closed her eyes as if in ecstasy for a brief moment before they opened again, alert and ready to leave. “She won’t hurt you.”
Hoping Harlan was speaking the truth, Monica approached Fiona’s dragon, running her hand over her snout and stroking her as if she were a horse. Although horses didn’t have shiny bronze scales and large talons that could probably slice through an armored vehicle. Stepping on the foreleg Fiona offered them, Monica swung up onto her back, and Wyatt followed. He sat behind her and they made themselves as comfortable as possible before Wyatt wrapped his arms around her waist and Monica held on to a thick spiney horn, one of many that ran down the dragon’s back.
Harlan stepped back. “Are you ready?”
No, Monica’s bear roared in her head. This was the most unnatural thing they had ever done.
“Yes.” Monica gave him a thumbs up. “We’re good to go.”
Harlan walked back to join the others. Beside him, Liam shifted into his eagle and took off into the air, flying hard to gain height before Fiona pressed her body close to the ground and then leaped into the air. Monica clung to the spine, glad she had worn thick gloves to protect her palms. Fiona’s wings rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm and they lurched up into the air almost vertically until they were above the trees, and then the flight smoothed out as they skimmed across the top of the trees, following the slope of the mountain, as they flew further away from safety and Jack.
Ahead of them, Liam’s eagle flew hard and fast, not looking behind him as he led them across the mountain, toward Wadepark some hundred miles or more away. The journey was fast, Fiona’s dragon flew straight and true, but Monica got the feeling she could have flown a lot faster if Liam was not with them. As it was she tempered her flight to match the eagle shifter’s speed. He was their lookout man, or bird, keeping his senses alert to what was below, and guiding them around towns and cities.
Relief swept over Monica when at last they reached the open countryside surrounding Wadepark. Below them all was dark, no street lights, no houses. The barracks themselves were also in darkness. Liam swooped down lower and circled the base a couple of times, looking for any signs of life. When he rose back up and joined them, he shook his bird head. A sense of fear prickled at Monica’s mind. What if they were too late?
Angling her wings, Fiona dropped smoothly out of the sky to land on a patch of ground that once was used for target practice. When she was settled on the ground, she angled her leg outward for them to climb down. Monica had never been more grateful to stand on firm ground. Not that the flight hadn’t been exhilarating. But the lack of control over her own life was discomforting.
Or maybe it was the scales and the fire-breathing abilities.
The air shimmered and Fiona stood beside them, dressed from head to toe in black. “I could sense body heat in the building toward the north.”
“You can do that
?” Liam asked, impressed.
“I can. Heat is my thing. It’s how I hunt my prey.” She kept her face straight and Monica couldn’t tell if she said the words as a joke, or to shock them. Or if it was the plain truth.
“Remind me to never be your prey,” Liam said and fell into step with her.
“I’m going wolf,” Wyatt said suddenly. “I work better that way.”
Good idea,” Fiona agreed.
“Let me check the phone app.” Monica took Yolanda’s phone out of her pocket and scrolled through the screens until she got to the phone app icon. “She’s somewhere in the buildings to the north as Fiona said.”
“I’ll head that way,” Liam said and shifted into his wolf.
“I hope we’re not too late. They might have left already,” Monica voiced her concern as Wyatt’s wolf moved further ahead of them.
“If we are, then we head down to the river until we pick up their scent.” Liam pulled out his cell phone. “Avery is watching the front gates, she’ll let us know if anyone tried to leave by that route.”
The journey had been timed to perfection, if anyone had been looking up at the sky, they would not have seen the dragon and eagle flying across the dark night sky. Unfortunately, the darkness also took away their vision, until Liam dug into the pack on his back and produced a couple of pairs of night vision goggles. “I took them from the store. Unfortunately, I only have two pairs.”
“I can manage without them,” Fiona insisted. “My normal vision enables me to see in the dark, to some extent at least.”
“It does?” Liam asked with surprise.
“Yes.” Fiona’s brief answer ended the conversation, it appeared she did not like talking about herself, although she fascinated Monica. There were so many questions she would love to know the answer to, questions about Fiona’s long life.
Another time, perhaps, her bear said.
Another time. Right now, we have to track down the source of the heat signatures Fiona saw.
Silverback Wolf (Return to Bear Creek Book 17) Page 11
