by Paige Tyler
“You didn’t simply kill Ed, you asshole,” Trevor growled as he kept moving, luring Jake, and hopefully the others, in a great big circle around the warehouse. “You put him in a tub of fucking acid.”
“There’s no reason to be like that, man,” Jake said. “It was nothing personal. Just business.”
“Business?” Trevor snapped, doubling back toward the place they’d found Ed’s body. “What the hell does that mean? Whose business?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Jake asked, mirroring Trevor’s movements. “I’ve worked for Thomas Thorn from the day the DCO recruited me,” Jake admitted. “When he called and said it was time for John to die, I simply did what I was paid to do. Like I said. It was nothing personal. Just business.”
* * *
Alina dove for cover behind four yellow drums covered in flammable-liquid labels. It wasn’t the best place to hide. One spark, and it would all be over. But when you’re getting shot at by your psycho ex-teammate turned hybrid monster, you take what you can get.
She turned, expecting to see Trevor right behind her, and barely caught sight of him running in the other direction. Alina moved to follow, but another burst of automatic weapon fire near her feet drove her back even farther, making her scramble for better cover.
She heard Trevor shooting at Jake, then practically taunting the man, and she knew exactly what her partner was doing. The damn heroic idiot was trying to get Wade and all the others to chase after him so she could get away. She could understand why he would do something like that—she’d do the same. But he had to know that, with her background, there was no way in hell she was ever going to leave him—even if they weren’t already more than partners.
So she kept moving fast, avoiding the hail of gunshots coming at her from the catwalk above while trying to figure out where Trevor was at the same time. The moment she got a reprieve from the constant gunfire, she poked her head up to see where everyone was. As she expected, Wade and the other hybrids were coming down the stairs and splitting up to start searching the warehouse.
Seeing Wade up on the catwalk earlier had been bad enough, but realizing Jake, a guy she’d liked from the moment she’d met him, was involved in both Ed’s and John’s deaths was gut-wrenching. Knowing something about what it felt like to find out a team member had betrayed you, Alina didn’t have to guess what Trevor would be trying to do once he thought she was safe. He’d be looking for revenge, and he’d do anything to get it—even if it meant risking his own life.
Alina had to figure out a way to help him. She needed to get Wade and at least one of those other hybrids to come after her and not Trevor. That would give her partner his best chance to deal with Jake—then get them both out of here.
It wasn’t like she’d have to do anything special to get Wade to come after her. He hated her. Chasing her down would be fun for him.
Pulse racing at the insanity of what she was about to do, Alina hunkered down a little lower in her hiding place, trying to be as quiet as possible as she pulled her backup magazine out of her pocket and had it ready so she could reload quickly. When she had a chance to hit these guys, she needed to make it count. Because she wasn’t merely fighting a collection of cold-blooded killers. She was dealing with hybrids who were stronger, faster, and ten times harder to kill than a normal person.
Yup, it was insane. But she was doing it anyway.
“I guess you’re with Thorn now, too, huh, Wade?” she yelled as she moved out from behind the protection of the boxes she’d been hiding behind, firing a couple of shots in the general direction of the stealthy hybrids.
When Wade didn’t answer, she moved a little to the left, not even trying to be quiet, and poked him again. Not so much because she cared what he had to say, but simply so she could get his goat. Because that was one thing she always remembered about him…he hated losing at anything, even if it was just a bout of trash talking. He’d always wanted people to know he was the smartest person in the room and always had the answers.
“Did he buy you recently, or has he owned your balls all along? I know your loyalty has always been flexible.”
That must have gotten his attention, because she heard him growl from somewhere to her right. Crap, he was a lot closer to her than she’d thought. She immediately started backing up, hoping he and the other hybrids—if they were coming this way—would follow.
“I started working for him a few weeks before Turkey,” he admitted as he continued moving to the right. “As much as I disliked the four of you, I hadn’t been planning to betray you. But when a man comes to you and drops a briefcase full of money in your lap, it’s amazing how easy it is to change your plans. Thorn wanted the CIA out of the way so he could put sarin gas in the hands of certain rebel forces in Syria. You and your team had to go.”
“Why would Thorn want something like that?” Alina demanded, just to keep him talking.
If he was talking, she’d know where he was. Of course, there was a very good chance he was just talking to distract her while his hybrid buddies circled around and took her out from behind. But that was a chance she had to take.
“Over a thousand people died in that sarin attack, Wade,” she added. “Why would he pay you money just so a bunch of peasants would get killed? They were nothing to him.”
On the other side of the warehouse, there was a barrage of automatic gunfire. Moments later, an explosion shook the building, and gouts of flame flew through the air, starting half a dozen small fires. Slower, individual shots followed, and Alina knew that meant Trevor was still over there dealing with Jake and maybe one of the hybrids.
“Oldest reason in the world—money,” Wade said from somewhere close behind her.
He was trying to herd her toward one of his men, she realized. Her instincts screamed at her to fall farther back or try and loop around him to the left. But she knew she’d never beat these guys at this kind of game. They were better equipped to be the cats than she was to be the mouse in this scenario. She moved behind a stack of heavy crates, preparing to shoot the first person she saw coming her way, praying it would be Wade.
“I guess Thorn was hoping the attack would prompt the U.S. and European coalition to mount a full-scale invasion of Syria and topple the al-Assad government. If that had happened, Russia and Iran would have been drawn in as well, and Chadwick-Thorn would have made billions selling arms to every side.”
Even though Alina was coming to understand how horrible Thorn was, her mind still rebelled at the idea that someone could be so greedy they’d start a war for money.
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she leaned out from behind her crate just enough to see one of the hybrids standing a few feet away. She held her breath as the man sniffed the air. While it seemed like he might be picking up her scent, it was obvious he couldn’t pinpoint her location. The fumes must be confusing him.
She slowly lifted her weapon, getting ready to shoot. She would have felt better if she’d known exactly where Wade was, but she wasn’t about to wait to see if he’d show up. She’d never get a better chance than this to take out one of the hybrids trying to kill them.
The hybrid must have seen her movements, because he snapped his head around in her direction at the last second, his eyes glowing crazy red. He started bringing his weapon around, but she got her shots off first, hitting him three times and dropping him to the ground. Even after being hit that many times, he still got right back up and scrambled away between two rows of boxes.
She started to move after him, but as she stood up, she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She spun around and popped off several shots at Wade before throwing herself to the side just in time to avoid the burst of gunfire slamming into the crates only inches from her head. She was sure at least one of her shots had gotten the man, but he barely moved in response.
When Alina hit the concrete floor
and rolled behind the next row of drums without getting shot, she thought she’d been lucky. Then something exploded nearby, sending a firestorm of flames rolling right over her head, forcing her to quickly crawl on her hands and knees to get away from the heat. She heard Wade somewhere right behind her, laughing now that he thought he had her.
But then she heard him curse as he moved right to avoid the flames starting to eat into all the cardboard boxes and wooden crates around them. “You’ve always been naive, Alina!” he shouted. “That’s why I couldn’t stand working with you. You never understood how the world works and how vicious people really are. You think Thorn made me and all these other hybrids to save the world or something? Fuck no! He needs a squad of unstoppable soldiers to start his war. He tried it before with lesser men, but this time, he’s not messing around.”
Alina came to her feet, trying to get a shot lined up on Wade through the flames as he prowled around. But the fire grew out of control now, and he was forced toward the front of the warehouse by the spreading flames, away from her.
The urge to do something extreme, like jump through the flames and go after him, was hard to resist. But her need for revenge paled in comparison to finding out what he was talking about. If Thorn was going to pull something like that sarin gas attack again, she needed to know about it. She wasn’t going to let more innocent people die because of her.
“You’re full of crap. There’s no war!” she shouted, praying his ego would force him to answer.
Wade smirked as he backed farther away, the flames making his eyes look even redder. “The crazy bastard is sending us to the eastern part of Ukraine. Wearing Russian uniforms and using those Russian weapons we stole, he wants us to go kill a couple thousand people in the nastiest massacre you’ve ever seen. And we’re going to make sure Russia gets blamed for it all. You wanted to know what war I’m talking about? The big one—World War III. The United States and NATO will have to respond, and then Russia will counterattack. After that, it’s all over. Just think of all the money to be made in a war like that.”
Alina stood there in the raging fire as drums of flammable liquid began to rupture, spilling sheets of flames everywhere. Her stomach churned as she realized all of this really was about money. Raging mad, she lifted her weapon and fired three shots at Wade. He skipped aside, though, and she missed. She expected him to return fire, but he laughed and backed toward the exit.
“I would have preferred shooting you.” He grinned. “But burning you to a crisp works, too.”
With that, Wade turned and let out a loud growl, like he was calling to the other hybrids. Then he picked up speed and disappeared into the warehouse beyond the smoke and flames. A moment later, she heard movement on the catwalk above, and she caught sight of the hybrids racing through the smoke, leaping to the floor beyond the wall of flames that had cut her off from Wade.
Alina turned and ran toward the back of the warehouse. She hadn’t heard many shots being fired from that direction, and she prayed that meant Trevor had already won and found a way out of here. The flames were spreading fast, and soon, the smoke building up in here was going to make breathing impossible.
She found Trevor and Jake standing beside the tubs where they’d found Ed and the security guard, fire burning all around them. She slid to a halt, coughing and choking on acrid smoke. Jake had some kind of wicked clawed crowbar in his hands while Trevor was empty-handed.
“It’s over, Jake,” Trevor said, and Alina had to wonder why he was trying to talk the man down. It wasn’t going to happen.
“I don’t think so.” Jake adjusted his grip on the makeshift weapon. “I’ve hated you and all your damn shifter friends the entire time I’ve been here. There’s no way in hell I’m letting one of you put me in jail.”
Lifting the crowbar, Jake let out a shout of hatred and charged at Trevor.
Alina lifted her weapon to shoot, but before she could squeeze the trigger, Trevor reached out and grabbed Jake, flinging him into flames. There was a short shout of pain as Jake’s body disappeared into the inferno, but the fire roared higher, snuffing out the sound.
Trevor stood there, motionless for a time, staring into the flames where his old partner had disappeared. Finally, he turned and saw her. He ran over to grab her hand. “Can we make it to the front of the building?”
Alina shook her head. “We’ll never get that far. There’s a wall of flame between us and the doors. Even if we could, Wade and the other two hybrids are probably waiting for us.”
“Then we find a way out the back,” Trevor said without hesitation, tugging her in that direction.
But by the time they were halfway to the back wall of the warehouse, thick, black smoke was working its way down from the ceiling, making her lungs feel like they were on fire. There was no way they could keep going in this direction. She opened her mouth to tell Trevor as much, but he’d already scooped her up into his arms and was running through the boxes and crates so fast they were almost a blur.
Alina couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her, so she had no idea where they were going. She only prayed they got there soon. Gas cylinders and fuel drums were exploding all over the place, puncturing the smoke with gouts of red and yellow flames. If they didn’t escape soon, this whole place was going to disappear.
Through watery eyes, she saw a patch of light ahead of them. She had half a second to remember the dirty windows covered with the security grating. Trevor didn’t even slow down. He simply tucked her to his chest and smashed his shoulder through the glass, metal screen and all.
They hit the ground outside, then rolled a few times before Trevor was up and running away from the building with her. They’d only gone about twenty or thirty feet before the warehouse blew outward, and a column of fire consumed the sky behind her.
Trevor didn’t stop running for at least five minutes, probably worried about hybrids coming after them. But when it appeared that wasn’t going to happen, he carefully lowered her to the ground and checked her urgently for injuries, his face so overwhelmed with concern she could have kissed him.
The hell with it.
Reaching up, she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and dragged his mouth down to hers. Trevor seemed surprised at first but must have decided that meant she was okay, because he let out a sexy growl and returned her kiss full force.
Pulling away, he looked at her seriously. “You really okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, though maybe we should stop putting ourselves in positions where you have to keep saving my ass like that. Not that I mind being swept off my feet now and then, of course.”
He grinned. “I like saving your ass. It’s a nice ass.”
She laughed but then grew serious again. “I know you were busy, but did you hear what Wade said to me? It’s possible he was full of crap, but considering he probably thought we weren’t going to make it out of there, I don’t see why he would have bothered lying. I think he was serious. I think Thorn means to start a war.”
Chapter 16
It was getting dark by the time Trevor and Alina got to the address Adam had given them when Trevor called asking to meet with the reclusive shifter. Unlike the normal out-of-the-way places where they usually met, this one was bustling with people. Of all the places Trevor expected to meet Adam, an expensive loft-style apartment complex near the Navy Yard wasn’t one of them. As they walked in, something told Trevor this meeting was going to be different from the previous ones.
The first floor of the building looked like an office of some kind, complete with desks, leather couches for visitors, and potted plants. Trevor looked for a sign on the wall indicating what kind of business it was but didn’t see one. The employees—three men and a woman—looked up from their computers as Trevor and Alina entered. Trevor would never have known they were shifters if it wasn’t for the fact that—like Adam—they didn’t have a scent. He ha
d heard Landon and Ivy refer to them as hidden shifters, because they could essentially hide in plain sight. While they possessed some level of animal ability, it wasn’t enough to put them on the DCO’s radar as potential agents. But they’d gained Adam’s attention and now worked for him.
The woman pushed back her chair. In her midtwenties, she had long, wavy, blond hair and gray eyes that looked like they’d seen way too much for her age.
“You must be Trevor and Alina,” she said. “If you’ll come this way, I’ll show you where you can wait. Adam will be with you soon.”
She led them down a hallway lined with small offices, storerooms, and corkboards filled with worker’s comp disclaimers and work schedules that Trevor suspected were there more to make this place look like an actual company than anything else.
He picked up the scent of his fellow shifters long before the girl opened the door to the room at the far end of the hall, so he wasn’t surprised to see Ivy and Landon; Ivy’s sister and fellow feline shifter, Layla, and her boyfriend, Jayson; Clayne and Danica; the newest DCO agent, former Special Forces soldier Angelo, and his fiancée/partner, Minka, the hybrid Thorn’s doctors had created using Ivy’s DNA; feline shifter Dreya Clark and her partner/boyfriend, Braden Hayes, a former detective from the Washington burglary squad; and finally Declan and Kendra and their newborns. Even Tanner and Zarina were in attendance.
“Are you going to introduce me?” Alina whispered.
Trevor grinned. Despite the fact that the proverbial shit was about to hit the fan, he was damn glad to see everyone alive and in one piece. “Yeah. Come on.”
Taking her hand, he led her into the room with its pool table, big-screen TV, more video game consoles than he’d ever seen in once place, and gigantic sectional couch and made the introductions.
