by Amelia Jade
He shrugged. “Business, really, my dear. The serum that can be derived from their blood is insanely profitable to sell, you see. The instant it was perfected, it became the single most expensive substance on the planet. One vial fetches me more than you could ever imagine.”
“Money,” she said dully. “This is all about money?”
“Mostly,” he said. “My subordinates feel differently than I, as do a lot of other people out there. They would be very content to see your friends and those like them…cut out of the gene pool, so to speak. Myself, I’ll settle for just your friends, the annoying ones who won’t leave me alone. I will confess, those ones I do hate.” His voice dropped several levels and anger filled it, causing Nadia to flinch away in fear.
“Besides, once I have enough serum, there won’t be a need for your friends and their kind anymore either. I may be in it for the business, but I can see where it leads. I’ll keep some alive, of course, to give me what I need for more serum. And I’ll need some people to help breed more.” His grin turned evil. “That’s where you come in. Like I said, I’m not going to kill you.”
The door opened.
“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we think we found some of them.”
The man gave Nadia a look that terrified her to the core. Not for her own safety, but for Jared’s.
“Excellent,” the man said, his lips curving upward. He got up and left the room, laughing to himself as Nadia stared after him in horror.
The moment the door closed she began struggling frantically with her straps. She needed to get free, and fast.
Somebody had to warn Jared that the Agency was coming!
Chapter Thirteen
Jared
“What the hell is this?” Madison asked as he knocked on the door again.
“They took her,” he said, not making a move to come inside.
“What? How?”
“They were tracking her the entire time. A bug in her clothing. They knew where we were all along. Which means that you’re compromised.”
Madison frowned. “Shit. We need to move,” she said to Connor, who was standing in the doorway with her.
“Okay,” the other shifter said, looking at his mate, and then back at Jared. “But why isn’t anyone asking what they’re doing here?”
Jared looked over his shoulder. Standing in the hallway were other members of the Underground.
Josh and his mate Hannah, her brother Chad, along with Justin and Shay.
“We’re going with Jared,” Hannah said simply.
“Going where?” Madison asked, though he could tell by the look on her face that she knew.
“I’m going after her,” he said bluntly. “They took her. I’m going to get her back.”
Connor eyed him speculatively. “Is she the—”
“Yes,” Jared said without hesitating, unflinching at the directness of the question.
He couldn’t have answered that question before. Possibly not even yesterday. But with her gone, his life seemed ripped in half. He needed her back.
“I’m in,” Connor said before Madison could even speak.
“Where did they take her?” Madison asked, trying to be the voice of calm.
“I’m making an educated guess,” he said. “Besides, it’s time that ugly building got a renovation.”
The leader of the underground sighed. “You’re going to assault their HQ?”
“I’m going to rip it to pieces until I find her,” he said flatly.
Madison looked him up and down.
“Very well, I’m coming too.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. Jared had asked the others to come, but he hadn’t been willing to convince them. They had had to come to that decision on their own. It had taken him several hours to crisscross the city to get to their safe houses, but he’d done it, and then they had all gone back to Madison’s together. Thankfully some of the others had managed to keep their trucks, which had made things easier for him.
But Madison was different. He needed her to come along. Her unique genetics meant that, besides him, she was the best bet they had of stopping Mr. J. It was likely that it would require both of them to stop him, if bear shifters could even stop him. Jared wasn’t sure what he was, but it couldn’t be good, that was for sure.
“Where are Milos and Andre?” Madison asked as she and Connor grabbed their things.
“Meeting us there,” he said. “Just like I wish Ajax and Arianna were as well.”
“I’d take them, the rest of his crew, and the Jade crew as well, while we’re at it,” Justin quipped. “Hell, maybe Ferro wants to come play as well.”
Ferro was an ancient dragon shifter who resided in Genesis Valley, extending his protection to it and the surrounding areas. Having him along would have certainly made things easier, Jared thought.
But Ajax and his mate had departed to head back to Genesis Valley several days before things had blown up, and to his knowledge, Ferro was once again trying not to involve himself in the world at large. No, it was up to Jared and his team, his crew, to get the job done.
“Let’s go then,” he said aloud as the door was closed and locked behind them. “It’s time we stopped reacting, and started calling the shots.”
The hallway filled with agreement and growls of approval.
I’m coming for you, Nadia. Just hold on a little longer. Please.
I forgive you.
He did, he thought as they rapidly descended the stairwell. It hurt to know what had happened, but she hadn’t known any better. Jared knew if he was in her place, he would have done the same thing without thinking twice about it. There had been nothing in her life to wake her up to the reality of what she was doing.
That was done now though, and she knew the truth, and she abhorred what she had done. In time, he would come to not care. Even now, he was more concerned with getting her safe, and back in his arms.
He had told everyone what had happened as he rounded them up, and they had all gone through the same stages. There had been shock at first. Then anger. But as they all thought about it and followed in her footsteps, their emotions changed. They felt pity for her that she had been caught up in such a thing.
The only good to come from it, it seemed, was that she had met Jared. In his eyes, it was a damn good thing.
The shifters piled into two trucks, and the speedy sports car that Shay had somehow managed to dig up. The convoy moved out of the parking garage for the condo building and into city traffic, with Shay’s car sandwiched between the two trucks, to help them perhaps blend in just a little more as they neared their target.
They crossed the first major intersection and turned left.
“Uh, guys,” Josh said from his spot behind the driver. “Anyone else see that convoy of SUVs turning right, and heading back the direction we came?”
Jared’s head snapped around. True to Josh’s word, four big Agency SUVs moved in a line, heading down the street toward the condo building they had just vacated.
“Step on it,” he commanded without hesitation.
“Why?” Chad asked from the driver’s seat, though he did as Jared said.
“Because if those are Agents, it means that their base just got a whole lot less crowded. We were given a window. They have to search the building, realize we’re not there, and then come on back before they can confront us in force. We need to take advantage of that.”
The others nodded. Because they were the first truck in line, the others followed without hesitation as their speed increased, moving skillfully through city traffic.
Jared stared ahead, his face becoming carved from steel as he stoked the rage in his bear.
I am coming for you.
***
The vehicles pulled to a swift halt against the curb in front of the lobby of the Agency headquarters.
“Look alive people,” Jared said as they all disembarked rapidly and formed up on him, long strides carrying them across the open ground.
The big glass windows of the ground floor loomed up in front of them, becoming transparent as they closed distance. Inside he saw people shouting and gesturing like crazy as they realized that the Underground had arrived.
Jared didn’t have to give the command. He simply leaned forward and called to his bear, summoning the feral beast that lived within him, until it ripped from his skin with a monstrous roar that shook the glass and sent bystanders scattering for cover. He surged forward, alone for just a moment in time, him against anyone who stood between him and Nadia.
Then the others were there. Giant bears shouting their defiance and anger as they charged alongside him. Mixed within them were the sleek, lethal forms of the werewolves, howling their distaste for those who continued to seek the extinction of their kind.
The Underground hit the glass like a wrecking ball, not slowing down as they barreled into the lobby in a hail of glass shards. The Agency was waiting for them. They didn’t have any shifters of their own, but they were all Extremis Agents at a minimum, and he guessed there would be several Enhanced Extremis among them as well. They were shifters who had been injected with a rarer, more advanced serum that gave them the baseline shifter powers along with a greatly increased single one, such as strength, or speed.
Jared didn’t even try to slow as he picked a target. Instead his bear’s jaws snapped out, crunching down on the man’s arms. He planted his feet and spun, hurling the man across the room with frightening power. The movement didn’t kill his own momentum and he slid across the marbled floor, his giant claws leaving huge furrows in the material as he dug in, bringing himself to a halt.
All around him, his team took on the men of the Agency. To his right, Justin’s bear clamped down on an Agent’s leg, puncturing it with his teeth. The Agent raised his hand and slammed it down on the bear’s head, but the distraction was complete. A wolf lunged forward and took out his throat, darting away before the backhand could connect.
Something hit Jared like a ton of bricks and he went rolling onto his back. His training kicked in and he rolled with the blow, coming to his feet as the chunk of marble ripped from a column by an Agent and hurled at him came to a halt. He growled and charged at the man, who was already beginning to pry another piece free.
It was going to be close as the distance closed. Jared leapt from the ground at the same time the square piece of marble came free. His paws ripped the man’s throat to shreds as the makeshift weapon slammed into his side.
His bear made a pained noise and he went tumbling away under the blow, shocked at the intense strength behind it.
Must be an Enhanced.
The Sentinel Alpha recovered first and darted in to finish his foe before he could get to his feet. Blood dripped from his jaws as he stood up and looked around to see how the fight was going. It was mostly over. Even as he watched, the two wolves pulled down the final attacker, sharp teeth tearing flesh from his body with precision and speed, until the flayed corpse lay still in a pool of red.
He shifted back, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. It came away red, but he ignored it. That was the price of business.
Around him his team, his friends, his family, all shifted back as well, ignoring the carnage they had wrought.
Such was the life of a shifter.
Where to now? He walked up the stairs to the elevators.
“What floor?” he wondered aloud as the first elevator came to the bottom. They tensed, in case there were enemies inside, but it was empty.
“Based on the blueprints we got, the third floor seemed the best bet,” Justin said. “The layout of the rooms would work well for some interrogation-style ones.”
He looked at the other man, who just shrugged. “Got a better idea?”
Jared didn’t. “Three it is.”
Half of them piled into elevator one, the other half took the second elevator as it arrived.
The doors dinged open and he rushed out, ready to kill anyone waiting for them, but the hallway was empty.
“Was everyone really downstairs?” he asked as they prowled down the hallway, splitting off to open doors and look for Nadia or any other prisoners.
“Over here!” Madison called from farther down the hallway.
He moved swiftly to her side as she looked into a room. There was a metal chair and table bolted to the floor, with a pane of glass in the otherwise solid wall to the right.
“If this isn’t an interrogation room, I don’t know what is,” he said, moving past her to start checking all the next rooms.
The fourth one down opened, but this time, the chair was filled.
Chapter Fourteen
Nadia
“Nadia!” Jared cried, rushing into the room and ripping the restraints off of her with a casual ease, more concerned with getting her into his arms.
“I’m so sorry!” she said immediately, throwing herself at him as he swept her off her feet, spinning her around before he pulled back and planted a not-very-chaste kiss on her lips.
Nadia didn’t care; she moved fully into it, her lips hungrily tasting his as they embraced.
“I’m sorry,” she said again as they broke apart.
“No need to be,” he said. “But we have to go. We won’t have much more time here.”
He took her hand and led her from the room.
A door marked Exit popped upon. “Hey guys!” Connor said, sticking his head out. “I went to look upstairs, and you’re going to love it! Come on!”
Jared looked at Nadia, as if to ask if she knew what was up there. She shrugged, and they moved after him, along with everyone else. His hand found hers automatically again as they went up, grabbing onto her tightly in a way that made her heart swell. She never wanted to let go.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to come for you,” he said as they climbed the second set of stairs to where Connor was waving frantically at them, holding the door open to the next room.
“Shut up,” she said, kissing his shoulder as they emerged onto the floor. “I was the one who ran off, instead of staying and facing what I did head-on, like an adult.”
Jared didn’t get a chance to reply. A whistle sounded from her lips.
“Wow,” she said softly.
“They all must have evacuated down the stairs when they heard us coming,” Connor said, throwing his arm out to show them all what he had found.
“This is their entire system,” she said.
Before them was a wall of monitors easily thirty feet long and eight feet high. Two banks of terminals were in set up in front of it on a raised floor to create a stadium-style atmosphere.
“And it’s all on!” she said excitedly, slipping into a central seat that looked slightly larger than the others.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, learning their database as fast as she could.
“What does that mean?” Jared asked as he leaned over her shoulder. “What can you tell us?”
She looked up at him. “What do you want to know?” she replied with a grin. “It’s all here. They didn’t lock it down at all. I can find everything,” she told him, still in disbelief herself. “This is amazing.”
She started scrolling through file names, showing just how much they had access to.
“Wait!” Connor’s voice rang out, and she stopped her scrolling.
He pointed at the main screen, which was showing a larger view of her terminal. “Go back.”
She frowned, but Jared nodded, so she started to scroll back up.
“There. That one. Garrett Hoffman. Pull that up,” he said.
Nadia did as she was asked, though the name meant nothing to her.
“Who’s Garrett?” she asked Jared softly as the big shifter looked at her screen instead of the big one.
“A good friend,” he replied equally softly. “He lives in Genesis Valley, and helped lead us against some very evil shifters and their dragon overlord. He is the Alpha of a group called the Jade Crew, and ever since he came to u
s, he’s not had any memory of his prior life.”
The depth of emotion in Jared’s voice told her this was important, so she pulled up the files. “There’s video files labeled Interrogation, along with some science-sounding ones. Hmm,” she said, scrolling through it. “What’s this?” She opened up a text document labeled End of Study.
Title Subject: Garrett Hoffman
Length of Stay: 4 months
Objective: Conversion to suitable sleeper agent
Progress: None. Subject has resisted all attempts at cranial manipulation. Subsequent attempts have rendered subject unconscious for increasing periods of time. Final attempt also resulted in complete memory loss. Recommend termination of subject.
Director’s Note: Recommendation overruled. Dispatch subject to border of Genesis Valley and encourage him to head there, in case manipulation attempts prove successful in the long-term. –J
End Report
“Well holy shit,” Jared said. “The tough old bastard was supposed to be an Agent, but they couldn’t convert him to their cause.”
Connor laughed. “And then they tried to infiltrate him anyway instead of ending him. I bet they kicked themselves pretty hard over that one when he ended up becoming the focus of the resistance to their invasion!”
The Sentinels shared a laugh, which brought a smile to Nadia’s face.
“What do you want me to do with all this data?”
“Can you download it to something, so we can take it?” Jared asked.
She shook her head. “No, there’s petabytes of data here. That’s far too much to carry with us. Maybe if I had a few hours to sort through it…”
The big shifter shook his head. “No, we need to go. We’ve already delayed too long.”
“I could dump it all onto the internet,” she suggested as the idea came to her.
“How long would that take?”
“Ages, but I could write a simple program to automate it in perhaps five minutes,” she said, her fingers already flying across the keyboard as she started to code.
Something caused her to look up. Jared was staring at her.