Because of the acts Grace might perform while shifted, and despite the extra guards in the vicinity, Autumn and Ruby had managed to perform their magic again on the security cameras, limiting their views so they would not rotate low enough to spot a canine. If the bad guys showed up, as anticipated, they wouldn’t be able to crawl on their stomachs even if they wanted to, to elude detection—not if they carried biohazards containers.
Grace and Kristine might be visible on the cameras now, but that was okay. If Colonel Otis paid attention, he would figure they were on duty, performing their Alpha Force function, whatever it was.
Now, after doing a quick preliminary recon, Grace beckoned for Kristine to follow her to the same location along the border of the hospital property and air-force base where she had shifted before. Once again hidden by hedges and ignoring the smell of jet fuel, Grace removed her clothes. She couldn’t help glancing around briefly. Last time she’d been here, putting clothes on instead, Simon had been watching her.
Would he keep his promise and stay out of this situation, let those with the responsibility take care of it?
She hoped so, for his sake. And hers. If this situation had the result she wanted, she would be through here. Leaving the hospital. Leaving Simon. Even so, she wanted him to stay safe.
But Simon had never done as she had asked in the past. She wasn’t sure he would now.
“Ready?” Kristine whispered.
Grace nodded, and Kristine handed her the Alpha Force elixir, then bent to get the light ready. As Grace downed the potion, she thought fleetingly of Simon again. What was his method, his formula, for shifting when he did?
She didn’t have much time to ponder that. Kristine shone the light on her and waited.
In moments, Grace felt the beginning of her shift. Her limbs tightened, her insides changed, and she experienced the inevitable sensations of stretching and discomfort.
“I’ll go get Bailey now,” Kristine whispered from beside her. “We’ll have your back.”
That was the last thing Grace heard before no vestige of her human form remained.
Softly, quietly, she crept toward the area where she could remain behind the cover of automobiles and watch the location of interest.
She was glad when the sharp smell of jet fuel segued into the somewhat softer smell of gasoline amid disinfectant aromas emanating from the nearby hospital building.
The pavement was warm beneath the pads of her feet, but not painfully hot now that the sun was down. The parking lot was illuminated by overhead lighting.
She stopped and waited. Hearing the soft sound of wings, she glanced up. A hawk landed on one of the light posts.
There were voices from the far side of the parking lot, closest to the hospital entrance. She moved farther away, positioning herself where she could watch the critical areas in the building where the MRSA samples would be taken.
She sensed additional movement on the fringes of the parking lot. She lifted her nose into the air. Kristine was there, with Bailey. Ruby, Autumn’s backup, was there as well.
Grace wasn’t alone, although her path to resolve this would be different from theirs.
She crept forward once more, keeping herself far from visibility from the building—and inhaled another scent. She stopped. Growled softly not in anger, but in frustration.
She smelled Simon. At least it was his human scent, but he had gone back on his promise.
She could do nothing about it, but would have to be careful not to let his presence distract her. She had to concentrate on what was bound to occur—
There. It was beginning. Like the last time, when she had watched in human form, two humans wearing sterile clothing exited the tunnel from the hospital, each carrying large containers of what must be biohazard samples. Others were with them—two men in camo uniforms, wielding weapons, plus a third who also appeared wary but did not aim any gun. Was that Major Dryson?
The door to the room where the building’s security staff was stationed opened, and the five walked in. The door closed behind them.
Only…she suddenly smelled the terrible yet light chemical stench she had experienced before from that office, when the biohazardous materials were stolen. The door opened once more.
The two men in uniforms dashed out. They carried the containers of hazard samples, strapped somehow around their necks so they could still aim their weapons. They slammed the door shut behind them and started to run.
The guards…they were the thieves!
She looked up to see the hawk circling. The tangos’ whereabouts would at least be observed.
But it was time also for her to act.
She was not the only one to hurry forward, dashing through the parking lot among the cars. The other Alpha Force members—those who were not shifters—were to her right, ducking from one area of concealment to the next, as she was doing.
Kristine and Ruby, weapons drawn and ready to fire, followed the thieves, saying nothing yet but ready to take them down. Bailey, his leash attached to a belt at Kristine’s waist, loped at her side.
The two men ran toward the back of the storage building, through that portion of the parking lot, and up to the fence that separated the hospital property from the air-force base. The gate there should be locked. They would be trapped.
As they reached it, they turned as if to ensure that no one followed—and one of them spotted the humans behind them.
With no warning, he aimed his weapon and fired.
Kristine fell to the ground.
Damn! Kristine Norwood was shot. Simon watched as the woman with her grabbed the dog’s leash while kneeling beside the fallen woman.
Simon hadn’t been at all happy about Grace’s demands that he stay out of their operation to trap the biohazards thieves.
That was why he partially ignored what he had promised her. He hadn’t shifted…yet. He had understood her concern about two roaming wolves being in the area at the same time, and whether that would be more obvious than one. Just because they had both shifted previously at the same time didn’t mean they could easily get by with it again.
He’d decided to observe what occurred as a human—unless shifting became, in his estimation, necessary.
He wasn’t military. Didn’t want to be military. But as a doctor, he knew well what a disaster caused by loosing biological weapons could do.
Was the MRSA virus capable of being used that way? Just because it hadn’t been officially recognized as an item of warfare didn’t mean it couldn’t be weaponized and used to infect masses of people. With its resistance to most antibiotics, it might do a lot of damage.
Had those trying to catch the thieves filled the containers with something benign instead of MRSA materials? Maybe, but no one had known who the bad guys were. They might have been aware of any switch.
Now it seemed apparent that the men they were after were part of the military security team. They would know the capabilities of the others after them.
Most of the others.
Could Simon do something more to help in wolf form now that a member of Grace’s team assigned to stop the thefts had been shot? He didn’t know if Kristine was still alive, but presumably the other woman with her was doing everything possible to save her. As a doctor, he might be able to help, but that other woman surely carried a cell phone, could call 911 and get help from the ER there stat.
He had other skills that might be more useful now in saving not just one life, but potentially hundreds…or more.
Not to mention the woman—wolf—he cared about so deeply.
He hurried away from the cars that he’d been hiding behind. Sped toward a thick grove of well-watered hedges, out of the line of sight of any person who might be in the parking lot, too.
Once well-hidden, he reached into his pocket and extracted a small plastic bottle that contained one pill.
He placed it far back in his mouth, made himself salivate…and swallowed.
She could do nothing to
help Kristine now. Not while shifted. She had to follow the two miserable culprits.
All her instincts while in this form urged her to attack. But the formula that allowed her to shift maintained her human rationality.
She took one further glance around the car that obscured her from view from the building. Help had arrived for Kristine, who was moving. She was alive. She had worn a vest beneath her dark clothing. With luck, she had been struck there. She would feel pain, but she would survive.
The emergency workers and Ruby Belmont were not the only ones with her. Doctors were there too, including the ones she had suspected of being the thieves after they had minimized the importance of the last episode and this one. Colonel Nelson Otis and Captain Moe Scoles were helping to care for Kristine.
Who were the thieves?
She would learn. Now.
Human security forces had converged from the hospital and the tunnel and dispersed, some heading in the right direction though they clearly did not know where the thieves had gone. Grace would need to be cautious to stay out of their way.
Ruby, Autumn’s assistant, held Bailey’s leash. She had backed away from Kristine. She glanced up to where the hawk circled more widely, and off toward the north, the way the thieves had gone.
Good.
Grace dashed off in the direction in which they had run. Her enhanced senses would allow her to locate them. Autumn’s observation from overhead would help.
The perpetrators veered toward the east. That was what the sounds of their running, and the movement of the hawk, indicated. Did any human military members pursuing them go in that direction, too? Grace didn’t think so. As far as she could tell, they remained headed west, following what they would consider to be logic. Not using any special senses that enhanced tracking abilities.
But as Grace cautiously yet quickly darted toward the thieves, she realized she was no longer alone. By scent and by sight, she recognized her new pack member who suddenly ran by her side.
Simon.
He glanced toward her, a sleek, silver and black wolf with the glittering eyes of a being as determined as she was.
Together, they would hunt, and bring down, their prey.
The cover of the rows of automobiles ended. Grace stopped, looking in the direction the thieves had gone. Only a line of hedges along the fencing between hospital grounds and the air-force base was there. Where were the objects of their pursuit?
The hawk now circled the edge of the air-force base. Somehow, the humans had gotten through.
Therefore, the wolves would, too.
Glancing around, nose in the air, Grace made as certain as possible that no human pursuers were nearby, then loped toward the barrier. Their prey had obviously touched the plants and wire, had left their scent behind on them.
Simon pushed his muzzle through the growth. There was indeed a hole in the fencing behind it.
The thieves must know this area well, had probably made the hole with wire cutters or otherwise ahead of time. Had possibly used this exit in prior thefts, as well.
Simon shoved Grace out of the way with his body, preceding her through the hole. Was he acting on instinct to try to be alpha of this pack, or had whatever he used to shift also allowed him to maintain some sense of humanity, keeping her from going first, headlong, perhaps, into danger? She liked it, while at the same time feeling anger. He had promised to stay out of danger. She was the military member. She should go first.
But when she got through the opening, he was fine. No one awaited. No guns were fired at them.
They were at the far end of an airfield, close to a row of hangars where planes were stored and repaired.
Where were the men they pursued?
She listened and scented the air as Simon did the same. Simultaneously, they sprinted toward a building in the middle.
The sliding metal door was slightly ajar. Grace heard running footsteps inside. She pressed her nose through the opening before Simon could interfere, saw nothing except a large, looming fighter jet parked there and edged inside. Simon followed.
It was dark in the hangar, with no illumination from the blackened sky outside. Whatever the moon’s current angle, it was not now visible. In the distance, Grace saw the faint beam from a flashlight. Moving sideways so her body met the smooth furriness of Simon’s, she nodded in that direction.
Together, slowly, carefully, their paws making little sound on the concrete floor, they headed that way.
The two men had entered a small storage room at the end of the hangar. They turned on the lights.
The men were Sgt. Norman Ivers and Sgt. Jim Kubowski—two of the PTSD patients. Kubowski had seemed like a nice enough guy, for a psych patient. Ivers had been a jerk. But Grace hadn’t suspected either. How had they left the psychiatric wing of the hospital without anyone knowing? Why were they stealing the biohazards? Were they enemy agents under cover? If so, why did they allow themselves to be confined at a military hospital—to collect hazardous materials until someone could come for them?
There were cabinets along the wall. One man reached into his pocket and pulled out a key.
Inside the cabinets were shelves filled with cans of oil. Quickly, the men removed them—and pulled out the shelves. Then vertical panels comprising the wall. It was a façade—and behind it was another, deeper, similar set of shelves.
Several were full of containers similar to the one Ivers had carried, then put down on the floor beside him.
Grace had seen enough. Time for human assistance.
But the men spotted them.
“What the hell?” Kubowski shouted. “Did someone set search dogs on us? Let’s get rid of them.” He pulled a gun from his belt and aimed at Grace.
Before she could react, Simon had raced toward the man. He bit down on his gun hand. The gun went off, the shot going wild, hitting no one.
Grace took no time to react, attacking Ivers to ensure he didn’t shoot Simon.
The men fought back, but they were no match for the two angry wolves. They were soon on their backs on the floor, weapons dropped, sharp teeth at their throats.
“Don’t move!” shouted a loud, familiar female voice. Grace turned her head to see Ruby standing there, her service weapon drawn and aiming toward the humans. At her side, Bailey was straining at the leash attached now to her belt, obviously wanting to attack the bad guys. He had worked with Grace in this form before. He might go after Simon, though, so it was best that Ruby keep him restrained.
After helping Kristine, Ruby had obviously followed her shapeshifting charge, and Autumn had directed her, too, toward this building.
Human help had arrived.
Grace moved quickly away from Ivers and saw Simon do the same with Kubowski.
Ruby, still aiming at the men on the ground, spoke their location into a radio.
The men didn’t move.
“You two had better go,” Ruby said, clearly recognizing, despite never having been told, that the canine that was Simon was an ally.
Grace glanced toward the handsome wolf that was Simon. Met his gaze. Nodded.
It was over.
Chapter 17
Sitting on one of the usual hard chairs at a table in the Charles Carder cafeteria—alone— Simon drank coffee and reviewed patient files on his laptop. That way, he avoided looking at anyone around him. The place wasn’t crowded, since visitors hadn’t yet been welcomed back. Even so, it was noisy, thanks to the few brave souls from outside who were here, plus hospital staff members. It smelled of the usual mediocre food and the people eating it.
Simon was not happy.
Well, not exactly true. He had helped to accomplish what had needed to be done: Catch and stop the thieves.
He had also helped Grace accomplish her mission. And made sure she came through it without being harmed. Although he doubted she would acknowledge his help. She had thanked him last night after they had both shifted back into human form. But since then she had avoided him.
He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but that hurt like hell, especially after what they had been through together.
But he couldn’t complain. In fact, he was glad about what they had achieved. Not only had they caught the bad guys, but the big bonus was that they had also located all the missing biohazardous materials. The Air Force Security Forces were checking the containers and confirming everything was there—under the direction of their commanding officer here, Major Louis Dryson.
Dryson had thrown himself into the situation by accompanying the movement of the biohazards samples to the storage and incineration building, and had become a victim of the thieves just as his security force stationed there had been. Another chemical had been released that had knocked them out, but all were recuperating. Another good thing.
Simon took another sip of coffee, shaking his head. He should feel good. Everything was wonderful. No one other than Grace and the members of her military group knew that he was a werewolf in disguise, and they would never reveal it to anyone. He had the same knowledge to hang over their heads.
Hell. Enough feeling sorry for himself. Time to go back to work. See some patients—including checking on the MRSA patients whose serious illnesses had triggered this last situation that had ended so favorably.
He closed his laptop and glanced around at the crowd. Some nurses he recognized were just entering the cafeteria. A few more visitors now occupied tables. No one paid attention to him, which was as it should be. He stood.
“I thought I’d find you here.” The familiar, melodic feminine voice from behind him made him smile. He quickly returned his face to the friendly detached expression that he used around most patients.
He’d let himself get preoccupied by feeling sorry for himself. Otherwise, he’d have picked up Grace’s scent long before she got so close—softly floral tinged with that intriguing harsher overlay.
He turned. “Hi, Grace,” he said, as remotely as if they were strictly uninvolved coworkers.
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