Nicole

by Sherry Foster

  “Oh, no, they are sending help but not till day after tomorrow and for some reason they are bringing in Gammon’s people. Gammon and his pack don’t run missions, ever. Their place in our world is to protect our females, not search them out. Shit. How the hell did he get involved? No problem, think, think, what would have gotten them involved in this mission? Hendrix. Hendrix knows something but how? He isn’t even on this continent right? He is where now? Hendrix would have called his Alpha. The only reason he would call in his Alpha is if he had a lead on a female shifter from here. Even then he would call his Alpha who would turn the information over to a retrieval pack, maybe a Seeker pack. So the only reason for his Alpha to get involved would be for Hendrix to have traced his mate to this compound. But the only way he could have done that would be if he was here. If the mate had been shipped out somewhere he would have gotten her out by calling for help to his location or taking down the location where his mate was himself. But we don’t take risks with our females like that. Where is his team?”

  “His team is in Africa last I heard. Following some leads down there on some trafficking.” Jeffery volunteered before adding, “so you think Hendrix and his team followed a lead that sent them this direction? We would have gotten the alert to expect friendlies if they were tracking back our way. Maybe he found one of your females and tracked the sale back here. That would explain why he got involved. What the hell is a retrieval pack and a seeker pack? What are you doing?”

  “Sending him a text telling him to back off and stay black. If he had a lead that sent him back toward the people we are after he needs to stand down. I won’t have him blowing his team with the boss. Gonna be bad enough when we try to cover our asses, no need to potentially lose more of our people from the organization if it can be helped. If he was following his mate he is already in the area and he will have to come in for a briefing on the compound.” Samson quit texting to look at Jeffery.

  “Why would, ah, yeah, I see. We are going to take down the compound without permission and Hendrix needs to be clear, yeah, that makes sense, he needs to keep his mission black or two mission will be ruined. So here’s what we need to do. We have what, two days to plant information in our system that a rival is going after the compound. You text Hendrix and I will work on seeding the intel with information that some new player is coming after the traffickers. We will be clear with our people, especially if just before the deal goes down we call for help. Too late to get any but we cover our asses. Get to work, we have a shit-load to cover if we are going to go treasure hunting and still have jobs after wards.”

  Samson nodded absently as he started the text again before he hit the backspace. After staring at the phone a moment he dialed a number he knew by heart. The phones might be monitored but a text could definitely be retrieved by his people. He worried about the coordinates he had sent earlier and the phone calls but sometimes risks had to be taken.

  The fuck you want?

  “You are encroaching upon another’s territory. Back off and stay black.”

  Shit! Aborting.

  Samson gave a huge sigh of relief before he looked back at Jeffery who was staring at him in disbelief.

  “That’s it? What did he say?”

  “Shit. Aborting. What did you expect him to say?”

  “Man, you people give new meaning to our abbreviated speech. He didn’t ask any questions? I mean, think about it, we back our team-mates we don’t warn them away. Hell, it is hard enough to get approval for a hit team to go in as it is. No arguments? No, we got your back? Nothing? Just aborting?”

  “What could he say man? I called territory rights. That took it from a government black operation to a shifter operation and let him know he would be moving in on another’s territory. He may not know why but he will figure it out. He isn’t stupid. If he is aborting then he either found his mate and tracked the sale back here and, no, that would not explain his pack moving in on a mission. If his mate was here he wouldn’t abort, couldn’t back down, his wolf would shred him. So what was leading him this way? If he had moved in the territory already he wouldn’t have aborted, he would have come in for a briefing. We have got to get the information on where all the females have been shipped. I still can’t figure out what would cause him to jeopardize his mission and his spot in the organization to move on us. But it has to be his mate, but still, no something isn’t adding up.”

  “Let me ask you something, if you got the call he just got what would you think? What would you do?”

  “If he called me you mean?”

  “Yeah, say Hendrix called you and said the same thing, what would you do?”

  “Man, I don’t know. I would have to abort and call my Alpha. It would depend on so many things. If my mate was in the compound I was watching and I knew it I would tell him to get bent, he didn’t so his mate isn’t there. But territory rights, that is a big deal. Of course, so is his pack helping run a mission. Something is wrong back home. Something must have happened to pull in the Alaska pack. Now what could have happened that would cause the Alaska pack to run missions?”

  “Hell man, are you asking me? Until a couple of hours ago I didn’t even know you people existed.”

  “Jeffery?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You know how I said I didn’t care what you called us? I lied. You people is starting to get on my nerves. Don’t make the wolf grumpy, the mother-fucker is already pissed we don’t go get our mate now.”

  “What the fuck you want me to call you people?”

  “Shifters, just call us shifters.”

  “What-the-fuck-ever. Look here mother-fucker, I don’t care what you want to be called, if we don’t start seeding intel into our shit when that compound goes down are ass will be on the line for letting shit slip by us. Your people, don’t fucking growl at me ass-hole, I still have the pistol and I will shoot your ass and swear you pulled the trigger yourself, besides, I said your not you. Now, again, your people will be here day after tomorrow so we don’t have much time to get our shit together and plan the take down. You get the plans together we been working on for our teams to do a take down and modify it to fit the mission operation the way shifters would run it and I will start figuring out what kind of shit we can feed into our intel. The after-action report is gonna be a bitch on this one.”

  Samson laughed, “Not if we do it right. Remember, we, you and I, won’t be there so our after action report will be on what happened from a distance.”

  “Oh? I thought we were going in with your people.”

  Samson closed his eyes and shook his head. “Work with me here, this is not like you. Are you sure you didn’t bump your head or something? We are going in, but our report won’t say that shit cause we are not going to rock that boat if we don’t have to.”

  “Am I sure I didn’t— oh hell no you fucker, I told you this whole story was insane and I specifically remember pointing out that I could have a head injury and not remember it happening. Food poisoning, hallucinations, drugged, any number of reasons my world just turned upside down and you want to accuse me of having— stop fucking laughing.”

  “Yeah, I’m almost sorry, but I have to laugh or I could go insane myself.” Samson stopped laughing and looked at his partner, “I have never gone through anything so hard in my life. I have to find a reason to laugh, or I might start to cry and that shit would never fly. I would have to kill you. Man, to know that just down the road is the other half of me, the reason for living, the greatest treasure in the world and the most precious person ever created, and I have to sit here twiddling my thumbs not knowing what is happening to her. Not knowing what kind of torture she is living through or the terror riding her. Not being able to tell her I will come for her, I will always come for her. I would walk through the gates of hell and spit on the devil for her and I have to let her sit in that place going through gods knows what and trusting they hold to the course of not taking the female before an auction. Knowing if something happens
to her I will feel it in every fiber of my being and I could lose her forever without ever getting to meet her is tearing me apart. I wouldn’t wish this internal torture on my worst enemy, wait, yeah, I probably would cause the fuckers would deserve to suffer.” Samson looked down at his hands before looking back at his best friend and brother-in-arms. “I don’t know how to hold it together while she suffers alone. I don’t know if I can make it two more days. I have never known this kind of pain, this tearing at my soul. I can’t go in and get her, I would never make it out alive. But I can’t wait, but I have to.”

  “Damn bro. I didn’t realize. I am sorry, shit, if the two of us could get her out we would go now. I can’t even imagine what you are going through. Fuck, you people don’t have it easy. Come on, let’s get our ducks in a row and be ready to brief the team coming down here. How much c-4 do we have?”

  The two men put their heads together and spent the rest of the day planning for every situation they could think of and making up scenarios. When Marcus and his people landing they planned on being ready to roll out as soon as they could get the men briefed on everything.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Marcus had just found Trey’s number when the phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number on the screen and thought a minute about letting it go to voice mail. But then again, he didn’t know who from Gammon’s place might be calling.

  “Hello?”

  I hear you are in need of some toys for a little get-together you are hosting.

  “Who the hell is, oh shit, yeah, we need toys. All the toys we can get.”

  Word has it the mission is going to be fast and dirty.

  “Well, fast yeah, I don’t know about dirty. We aren’t taking Kate with us if that is what you mean.”

  Look, we don’t mind dirty. We need to find out what you got going on before we deal ourselves into the game. What do you have planned so far?

  “Well, it depends a bit on your people. If we are going to pick you up we will fly out of Port Fourchon, and cross the gulf to the coordinates we have picked out. If we can’t get you in on this we will still be flying out of there, just won’t make a side trip to grab you.”

  How are you going to manage to fly out that many birds across the gulf without raising suspicion?

  “We don’t have to worry about flying them out. Major hub for the crews on the gulf to fly from. What we have to worry about is landing them in another country and getting back out again. And returning to the States might prove tricky if we have Mexican citizen aboard.”

  You got a way to refuel them? Because I don’t think, no in fact I know you can’t fly that far in those little birds you have.

  “We have a source who said he can get us refueled.”

  You are going to rescue Samson’s mate and you don’t have all the plans for getting in and out worked out?

  “We have never operated in another country before. Not like this. So we have the best plans we can make and wing it from there.”

  So a shit sandwich in the makings. Why do you people make things so difficult. Alright, yeah, your plans or lack of plans won’t sit well with Dacron. Tell you what. Send me the coordinates and the time of arrival of your birds and we will find our own transportation down there.

  “Whatever man. Sending them now.” After Marcus forwarded the coordinates he heard a muffled “got em.” Before the phone went dead.

  He shook his head and snarled, “The fuck is so hard about saying bye, or later, or something. No, these mother fuckers gotta hang up without telling you shit. And he complains about the plans we have.”

  Jaden had walked out earlier with his phone to his ear listening. Now he held it up, “Hey man, Gammon is on the phone. He said he tried yours first and it went to voice mail. You need to listen to what he has to say.”

  Marcus took in a deep breath before he reached for the phone, despite everything that had happened the last few months with all their packs, Alpha’s really did not work well together and he was about sick of having to work with others. His wolf had gotten snarly about the situation.

  “Yeah?”

  Marcus, I just received an unusual text from someone. Seems they received a call a short time ago from a team-mate of theirs telling them to back off their mission. Now this team mate, according to them is currently located where I want to be in a couple of days. What do you know about this?

  “I got a call from someone who is suppose to be Trey’s brother and—”

  Wait, Samson called you from our destination?

  “I have to assume so. He was more cryptic with his information than we are with ours. Damn skimpy information, nothing more than coordinates to land and an agreement to get us refueled. Oh, and a demand to be there tomorrow. Seems his mate is there. Why? What more do you know? I hate going out blind, deaf and dumb on a mission this important.”

  The bird just arrived, we will be there as soon as we can get him refueled and fed and rested a bit. If Samson has boots on the ground there then he has all the intel we will need. Hold up making any more plans ‘cause he will just shred them with his intel. Did you get help from Dracula and the others?

  “I would like to think so, but how the hell do I know. They were no more free with their information than anyone else has been.”

  Alright, fine, keep your information on our southern partner quiet for now. They play a dangerous game.

  “Gammon, can I ask? What do you know about Samson?”

  Anyone who comes to my territory is known to me, if they have a sister or a daughter, I vet them well. Stormie was here so Samson was vetted. When he got old enough I had someone pull some strings to get him a job he wanted. He is still there and from what I have been told he is doing our people proud. Anymore than that will have to come from him. I gotta go now, William is calling. Time to pull some more strings.

  Marcus handed the phone back to Jaden, “Well, we still don’t know much more than we did but Gammon vetted Samson and that will have to be good enough for me. You heard the man, our plans are probably worthless now. Go inside and tell everyone to break for dinner. We won’t get much more done tonight, just turn ourselves in circles reworking plans that we probably can’t even use anymore. Tell them to get a good night’s sleep and meet back here about eight am. I am going to see Krys and look around to determine what we still have left to do to get our territory back the way it was before the last shit storm.”

  Jaden watched Marcus walk away before he muttered, “Couldn’t just announce it through the pack?”

  “I heard that. No, I don’t want everyone to quit work, fuck, Jaden this place still looks like a war zone. I just want the teams to get some rest and relax before the mission.”

  “Love how you are taking your own advice bro. Cleaning up this place isn’t getting rest. Find Krys and take your own advice and just chill for the rest of the evening.”

  Marcus shot him the bird as he turned the corner.

  Chapter Twenty

  “What do you mean Avery refuses to meet with anyone?” Gammon growled.

  His son was killed and a strange female dumped in his driveway. Have you seen the news? The public has been on a feeding frenzy lately. He had to find a cover story for his son’s death and explain the female to the public. He is in mourning and he basically said fuck the world.

  “He took an oath, he can’t walk away from this shit that easy. He is young enough he can have another child. If his son had not been holding females captive he would not have to explain why a female showed up in his driveway and he took her in. I saw the news, he is trying to pass her off as his late son’s fiance.”

  Gammon, he says his son is innocent. He refuses to believe his son would have held a female against her will. He is out for blood and he wants the head of the female who took his son’s life. He doesn’t even care that she is one of ours. Doesn’t help that according to him the female dumped in his drive swears his son was part of the ones who rescued her and gave her a good life. All he has to go o
n is the female he has with him now.

  “Oh really? Tell you what you do. Have you met Kate?”

  No, I have not had the questionable pleasure of meeting her yet. I have heard a few things about her though, why?

  “I will talk to Marcus and get him to let Avery meet Kate. Of course, then we will have to get another man in the Senate cause Kate will kill him. That would be hard to explain. What the hell is wrong with the man?”

  He lost his son. What would you do in his shoes? Kate can’t kill Avery, you know what happens if a member of a pack pledged to the Council kills a council member. Are you willing to take that risk? William asked.

  “I want to know how his son had a government facility, albeit an abandoned one, and he didn’t know what was going on. That is bullshit William. See, this is the kind of shit that happens when you don’t have an Alpha oath-bond.”

  The oath-bond the Council takes is as strong, in some ways stronger than the Alpha one.

  “Maybe for you and the rest of the members but who is his son oath-bound to, or rather, who held his oath bond before he was killed? Nobody that’s who. The Council oath may be all well and good for you and yours but the offspring of the members should be in a pack. He should have been in a pack and oath-bound to an Alpha. These young ones running around without packs are part of the reason we are in this mess. The Council needs to figure out a fix to this mess. We have a shit ton of our people running around without a oath to bind them and causing problems for the rest of us.”

  Gammon, I don’t say I don’t agree with you, but who will take them? We have too many males and not enough females. The packs who have females, who are honorable and true to our world don’t want single young males coming in who could go rogue on them. If every pack had a Seeker then they would have some sort of protection against the possibility. See a rogue, take them out. But Seekers are few and far between and you know that. As large as your pack is you don’t have but what, two maybe three max. And we can’t patrol all the packs when some of the packs don’t recognize the authority of the High Council and fly under the radar. Hell man, some of the packs formed in the last fifty years don’t report at all to the Council. Everyone tries to keep to themselves to either do what they want or protect what they have. We have less than thirty packs registered with the Council. But this does bring up an interesting point. You do know what happens if an oath bound pack member attacks a Council member right?