by K. N. Banet
28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I met Landon, Dirk, and the BSA agents at Heath’s home. Heath had given me a ride after he was done talking to the contractors. His home was better than the bar, which would open and have strangers going in and out. I walked in, threw my bag down, and stripped off my jacket. A light rain had started in the late morning, and now it was pouring down that spring rain that seemed to wash everything away and leave the flowers blooming. I spent most of the morning hours watching the rain while my family got back to me.
I was cleared to approve the deal with the BSA. The family would warn werecats everywhere there was going to be a breach, but no identities would be included, except maybe mine.
As I accepted coffee from Heath, I looked at my new head of security, just as unprepared for his job as I was for mine.
“Dirk, I know you want to stay and help, but can you go back to Kick Shot and keep an eye on Oliver? He’s vulnerable.” I shook my wet hair, letting water fly, and making Heath chuckle as he stepped back from me. “I know you’re taking this really seriously and want to be involved with every step, but I can’t leave him without any protection.”
“On it, boss,” Dirk said, grabbing his coat. “Keep me updated?”
“I will,” Landon said after I nodded. He looked at me as Dirk jogged out. “So you can focus on this, I’ll text him.”
“Thank you,” I said, sitting down at the dining table. “So, what’s our plan of attack?”
“Attack?” Collins sat down next to me this time. “We’ll get to that. First, I have a full background on Sam Blake. He’s not what we expected. I want to make sure neither of you has met him before.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Nothing was as expected anymore.
“He’s former military, a Marine,” Miller explained, putting his briefcase on the table and unsnapping it. He held it open with one hand and grabbed a fat manilla folder with the other. “Discharged after five years and two deployments. He was picked up by a private security firm, but only stayed with them for a few years before shifting into…less honorable work.” He dropped the envelope onto the middle of the table. “Do you recognize him?”
I opened the folder and looked at the picture carefully. I recognized the face, all right. I knew the cruel line of his mouth.
“Yeah…he’s one of the guys who shot at me on the highway.”
“I don’t like that he’s military,” Heath muttered, leaning over to look from a different angle. “The U.S. Armed Services should behave better.”
“He was squeaky clean while he was in. Once he was out, things started to fall apart,” Collins commented as he reached out and flipped through the pages. “He was fired from the private security firm for failing in a protection detail. He injured himself while he was in, too. Tore his ACL at twenty-two, a hard injury to have before thirty. Surgery helped, but I bet it hurts on days like today. What concerns me is he’s never been associated with any extremist movement. Where did he come from, and why now?”
I looked at Heath, who was too focused to notice me for a moment.
I bet he’s not an extremist at all.
When he looked at me, our eyes met, and I knew the same thought was going through his head.
“I’ve never met him before,” I declared, leaning back and letting them have the manila folder. “Do you think we can find him?”
The agents looked at each other.
“I don’t think he was expecting to be seen or for you to survive…twice. I think when they shot at you at the theater, it was desperation. You were supposed to die on the highway, which explains the entire act and show. Shooting you on the open road, running your car off into the ditch, the continuous fire—one and done, make it big to send a message,” Collins explained, sitting back down. “So, they put their motel room in Sam’s name as well. And what’s the message?”
“Or Sam is a fall guy, so no one else involved would get this pinned on them. We’ll figure out what the message is when we get our hands on them,” Heath pointed out. “And we can get our hands on them because they didn’t see the job through.”
“We can,” Special Agent Miller confirmed. “We know where they’re staying. Now we can plan an attack, then get on with our other business.”
“What do we know about the motel?” I asked, putting my hands in my lap, trying to keep my demeanor calm. I didn’t need to look bloodthirsty in front of the agents.
“It’s in the middle of town, here.” Collins pointed at a place I drove past frequently. “Sam Blake may be prior military, but he wasn’t special forces. He was a grunt, and this kind of op wouldn’t have been his thing. That would explain the piss-poor job they’re doing.”
“But why?” I asked, shaking my head when both agents and Heath opened their mouths. “I don’t think anyone here knows the answer—”
“What if he’s being paid?” Landon asked. “If he is, why not pay professionals?”
“Would professionals even take this job?” Heath asked, turning to his son. “Consider it. You’re offered several million to take out…Jacky.” I knew what he was about to say, but the agents were lost. Saying Hasan’s name was a no-no. “Who would get revenge for that?”
Landon nodded, humming to himself, a deep, thoughtful noise as he started pacing. “You have a point. There’re repercussions for that.”
“I know you rule North America as a werecat, but…” Collins leaned toward me. “I have a feeling I’m missing something here.”
“You’re missing a lot,” I confirmed. “What I can say should be obvious. I have semi-control over this continent and South America. It’s not all my personal territory, but I’m supposed to look out for the werecats here. Do you think the other continents don’t have similar?” I tilted my head and smiled. “Or that I don’t talk to them on a regular basis? Remember how I told you the situation about my position was complicated?”
“Ah, so we can’t discuss that yet.” Collins nodded. “But after this…would you care to open up about that part of things?”
“Depends. Are you okay with not hearing names?”
“Yes.”
“Sure.” I shrugged, then looked at Landon. “Any professional would have to be better than…you know.” Hisao.
“There’s no one in the world willing to play that game,” Landon agreed, putting his hands on his hips. “But two punks, looking for an easy payment, probably not understanding what they’re getting involved with? Do you know how many people are that desperate in this country and all over the world?”
“Too many,” Heath agreed. “It’s a theory. Thank you, Landon.”
Landon only nodded. “Let me reach out to some of my contacts, the other seconds and inner circles. You know all the Alphas, but I know all the loose lips. I’ll see if I can stir something up while y’all work out how we’re going to catch these guys and where we’re going to take them.”
“Thank you. Hopefully, they haven’t skipped town.” Heath leaned over the map. “Can we get an APB statewide on the truck? Pull over, stop, and detain for those riding in it?”
“We can,” Miller confirmed. “We’ll tell them it’s a federal case, and they are people of interest. Local sheriffs might get cranky, but the police departments should work with us.” He pulled out his phone and walked off, making a call.
“Step one, catch them. Step two, find out how they learned about me and why they’re trying to kill me. Step three, stop it from happening again. Great. Now, this motel…” I pointed at it and started telling them what I knew about it. I had stayed in it when I came to check out the area to move in and start Kick Shot. It wasn’t an easy place to strike, thanks to being in town, but could be done at night. No one disagreed.
“So, we have until nightfall. Let’s see if Landon can catch any rumors from the packs,” Heath said softly, moving the map to look at it closely. “Do you mind staying here for the day? Where we can keep you safe?”
“I should s
ay no on principle, but I’m not that bad. I’ll stay. We’re better in numbers, and it’s not like I can get in my car and drive off. I still need to deal with that problem. Should have gotten a car the moment I knew I wasn’t going to salvage the Versa.”
“Yes, you should have…between the running through the woods, two hospital visits, and getting sniped in a movie theater parking lot,” Heath replied, his words so dry, I wondered if he needed a glass of water.
“Yeah…” I realized my error, putting too much on myself unreasonably. There was no way I was going to get a replacement in a day, much less during all of this. “I’ll get it handled later. I’m just not used to having my car unavailable. Or, you know, being sniped in a movie theater parking lot.”
We broke up, going into our own groups. Without Landon, a needed member of this strange little team, we couldn’t really make plans. A werewolf second, with over a hundred years of experience, he could point out something valuable the rest of us missed. I made myself a drink and wandered into Heath’s office for a quiet moment.
I didn’t get to stay alone for long. Special Agent Collins followed me without his partner.
“I know you’re cautious about telling me anything, but you and Heath seem like you have your own theories,” he said as he sat down on the couch. “I was hoping you would share them.”
I looked at him and shook my head. If I gave away my theory, I lost the upper hand, and I wanted the BSA to think I still believed they were the leak. The idea a werewolf was trying to kill me, using them as cover…that changed everything.
“Is there anything I can do right now to get your cooperation?” he asked.
“Finalize the negotiations,” I replied calmly. “As they stand, every bit of it, nothing added, no loopholes, no tricks. That’s when I’ll start giving you information.”
He pulled out his phone and made a call.
“She likes the deal. Can we get a signature on it, so she can sign?”
“She’s willing to sign, even though someone tried to kill her, and she thinks we leaked her identity? What changed her mind?” I didn’t recognize the male voice with the light crackle being pushed through a phone. He was surprised by my decision.
“I think she’s realized she’s getting the best deal she can,” he replied.
“I’ll email it over. Boss already signed it when he gave his approval. We just need her. Once we have her signature, we can schedule a meeting to do the official show signing for the President.”
“Do I need to be there for that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Doesn’t this need to go through Congress?”
Collins looked up and put the phone on speaker.
“You don’t need to be there, and the President signs at the press conference. Congress is already waiting to vote. While you’ve been looking at it, we’ve already rounded up the votes we need to make this happen. Everyone is under a gag order for national security reasons until the BSA makes it public with the President’s signing.”
“He’s our political and legal expert on these things,” Collins explained.
“This wasn’t a tentative deal, then. You wanted this handled quickly.”
“The sooner we get a supernatural through the initial negotiations, the quicker we can start working with them on other things. Supernaturals are a national security risk, a hole in our country. We’ll do whatever is necessary, make whatever deal we have to, just to get someone to talk to us. The werewolves were easy because they had to talk to us, but they were tough negotiating the initial laws around themselves. The fae taught us a different lesson,” the guy on the phone said. “They refuse to sit down with us at all, moving around our country without any sort of recourse or monitoring, and we know they are, but we can’t catch any of them out to talk, especially not their leaders. We might not be able to get all the werecats out of you, but we have you. That’s better than nothing. We’ll take it.”
“That’s very pragmatic of you. Send it along.” I crossed my arms and leaned on Heath’s desk.
Collins ended the call. “We were never out to get you, Jacky. We’re just thinking about how the future may play out. What if we had never made a deal with you, and a werecat killed someone?”
“I understand.” I sighed. “Well, as long as it doesn’t leave this room and that’s moving, I’ll talk to you. There’s some information you need first to understand.”
He perked up.
“Werecats have a different culture than werewolves. You probably see new werewolves every year, maybe ten or twenty a year, slowly growing but unstoppable. They commonly die pretty young, less than fifty years after they’re Changed, so the large packs constantly need to replenish their ranks. It helps that there’s a waiting list for people to become werewolves. Family of the pack first, employees of the pack second, and so on. This is information I was educated on ages ago…by my father.”
His confusion was almost comical. Collins stood and crossed his arms.
“Your father is a human and has no ties to any supernatural organization, for or against.”
“Werecats don’t Change people the way werewolves do. We don’t just pick random people to fill out our numbers. We’re lonely creatures. We live alone, most of the time, and we have a different type of magic than the werewolves.”
“So, you don’t have pack magic…the ability to communicate in your animal form.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “Instead, I have territory magic, which allows me to protect my space from invading supernaturals. This land is mine, even if it doesn’t legally belong to me. To another werecat or any other supernatural, walking into my territory without my permission is a death wish. I’ll fight tooth and claw to protect it.” I sat down at Heath’s desk, trying to get comfortable. It was the same chair I had in my office since I had let Heath pick out mine.
“It’ll be better for your back,” he’d said.
“I see…” Collins sat across from me. “But how does this information factor into what we’re dealing with?”
“Werecats don’t just Change people. If I were to walk out there right now and Change someone into a werecat, by our culture, they would become my child. My responsibility to teach, protect, and help transition into our lifestyle. Anything they do after I let them branch out onto their own could come back to me, my failings. So, when I say I was taught by my father, I don’t mean my human one. I mean my werecat father, the man who Changed me…and the ruler of the werecats. That’s how I was put in charge here.”
“Nepotism.” Collins called it the way he saw it.
“I won’t say you’re wrong.” I chuckled. “There have been a few werecats who have tried to kill me. They thought I was a failing of my father. His children rule all over the world, though. My siblings. So, when we were talking about the repercussions of killing me, we were talking about the ancients all over the world who see me as their wild little sister, who keeps getting into trouble. We’re not a pack. We’re a family, and we kill for family, even if we don’t live together.”
“And…” Collins took a long breath. “So, you were Changed by the ruler of all the werecats?”
“Yes. And no, you don’t get to talk to him. You don’t rule all the humans. There’s a balance of power we need to maintain. He approved the deal, though. They all did.”
Collins let out that long breath and sank in his chair. “How does one man rule an entire species?”
“Can’t tell you that.”
“Can you tell me anything else?”
“Well, if these guys were hired by werewolves, they might not be trying to kill me for being me, but to get back at my father. That’s why I accepted the deal. I don’t believe the BSA is the leak anymore. I think we’re dealing with something a lot more problematic. A werewolf working to hurt werecats where it would sting the worst—killing another one of my father’s children, which could potentially start another war. Don’t worry, Heath and I have already brushed up against this issue a couple of times.”
>
“Which part?” Collins demanded, a lot more stressed than I wanted him to be.
“The war part.” I stood, walked around the desk, and out of the office.
29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I was nearly in the dining room when Collins came running after me, broken out of his shock.
“I need more of an explanation than that,” he snapped. “How often do the werecats and werewolves nearly go to war? What sort of tensions are we dealing with here? Do I need to call in a better negotiator? Someone who can talk this down?”
Heath was in the kitchen and dropped what he was holding. Landon caught it. Miller sputtered, spitting his drink out.
“Depends on who is involved,” I answered, “and who finds out. Hotter tempers are an issue, and there are some. There’s a lot of animosity between the two species of moon cursed. Heath and I are the exceptions, not the rule, remember?” I turned to him, stopping where I was as he barreled toward me. “The worst thing you can do is get more humans involved. If you expose the fact werewolves and werecats are enemies, you’ll destroy the trust people have in both kinds once the werecats are revealed. Plus, it’ll make the werewolves look like bullies.”
“We do have the larger force,” Heath agreed. “How did this come up? Why are we talking about war?”
“I was explaining to Collins the problem we have on our hands. I accepted the BSA deal,” I explained. “My family was for it, so I decided to pull the trigger. My family’s identities aren’t revealed, though, so let’s keep being careful.”
“I’m lost,” Miller declared. “Can anyone catch me up?”
“Jacky and Heath have a theory the humans were hired by werewolves to kill her,” Collins explained quickly to his partner before glaring at me. “Because she’s not just the ruler of werecats in the United States, she’s considered the daughter of the ruler of all werecats. This is the kind of important information we need before we make deals with political powers!”