“Guess I’m gonna have to be my own damn knight in shining armor,” Silver whispered to herself between gritted teeth.
“What’s that, sweetheart?” Tim asked, sticking his face in hers. He smelled faintly of whiskey, too. Mr. Astor must have been having a party with him this morning.
“Nothing,” Silver muttered, as they came to a stop in the hallway just outside of the library. Silver glanced inside, remembering the evening this nightmare had all begun. It hadn’t been that long ago that she had been crouched down on the floor in there, overhearing Mr. Astor discuss how shifters needed to be eliminated. It felt like another lifetime, though. Silver felt the taste of bile in her mouth as she looked over the books, whose spines she had reverently touched so many times before. Suddenly, something inside of her rebelled.
What was she doing, standing here in chains like a coward? Sure, if she shifted, she might not be able to get out of the building. But, then again, she might find a way. And wasn’t it better to go down fighting than to just be led around in chains like a meek little lamb on its way to the slaughterhouse? Silver felt her heart starting to pound with excitement. This might actually be kind of fun.
She glanced down at her hands, trying to see how thick the metal on the handcuffs was. These ones were much thinner than the ones that had chained her to the wall in the secret room. The energy from shifting was probably enough to break them. Silver looked around for a moment, assessing the situation and trying to decide whether she really wanted to do this. She glanced toward the ceiling, quickly finding the hidden video camera. There were cameras everywhere in this hallway. If Silver shifted, there would likely be video footage of it, which she had no doubt Mr. Astor would love to use to prove she was a shifter. Her career as a dancer in Chicago was likely over.
But if she waited until the safety summit to try to do something, she might not be able to escape. There would be too many law enforcement agents around, and she’d never get away. Then her career was really over. Silver took a deep breath, and decided that being forced to escape the city wouldn’t be the worst possible thing. Maybe she could convince Jack to come with her, and set up a life somewhere in Montana. Surely, they needed anesthesiologists in the hospitals out there? And life on a ranch away from a big city was sounding more appealing to Silver by the moment.
“Why are we stopping here?” Silver asked, looking over at Mr. Astor and Tim with defiant eyes.
Tim looked at her like she was the most annoying person in existence. “We’re waiting for Mrs. Astor to clear out some visitors from the main hall. We’d prefer to keep your location a secret until we arrive at the safety summit. I’m sure you understand.”
Silver bit her lip, refraining from the urge to spit in Tim’s face. Then she stood to her full height and looked first Mr. Astor, and then Tim, directly in the eyes.
“Let me go,” she said, trying to sound as authoritative as possible. She knew that they were probably going to laugh at her, but she felt she at least had to say her piece before shifting.
Mr. Astor looked at her with a slightly incredulous expression on his face. “Look who finally had the balls to speak up for herself,” he said. “Starting to get a little scared, are you? Well, sorry sweetheart, but I’m not going to be letting you go. Everything is already all planned out, and you’re going to be the one to take the fall. You should have thought about the consequences of crossing me before you eavesdropped on me and then broke up with my son.”
“I’m warning you,” Silver said. “Let me go right now. Otherwise, you’re going to find out just how real shifters are.”
Tim laughed. “Oh, what? Do you have shifter buddies now who are going to come to your rescue?”
“Something like that,” Silver said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Mr. Astor snorted. “Warn me about what?” he asked.
Silver smirked at him, then borrowed Jack’s affectionate nickname for her. “That I’m Trouble in a fur coat,” she said.
Before Mr. Astor or Tim could answer, she threw back her head and let out a loud, primal roar. The men both looked startled that a sound like that could come out of Silver’s tiny body, but the surprises had only just begun.
With another roar, and a burst of energy and power, Silver started to shift. The thin metal handcuffs on her wrists easily snapped in two as her slender human arms grew into large bear legs. Her clothes tore to shreds as her body expanded and was quickly covered in dark brown fur. Her hands became giant paws ending in sharp claws, and her head morphed into the fearsome face of a grizzly bear.
Silver let out a long, low growl as her transformation completed, then shook her head back and forth and bared her teeth for emphasis. Mr. Astor and Tim were sitting with their backs flat against the wall of the hallway, knocked over by the force from Silver’s rapid transformation. The expressions on their faces were of sheer terror, and Silver paused for a beat to enjoy the moment. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Mr. Astor looking anything but smug, and it was strangely satisfying to see him sitting there fearing for his very life.
“Silver, listen, we don’t want any trouble. Just, uh, calm down. I’m sure we can work this out.”
Silver responded by growling again, louder this time. Mr. Astor and Tim both instinctively tried to crawl backwards, but they were already plastered as far back against the wall as they could possibly be. Tim started to slowly reach for the phone on his hip, probably to call for help. Silver growled and swatted the phone away, causing it to shatter into thousands of little pieces as it hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Angry red streaks of blood appeared on Tim’s hand where Silver’s claws had grazed against his skin, and he yelped in pain as he looked up at Silver in horror.
Silver was enjoying this show, but now she had to figure out how to get out of here. Playtime was over. She quickly tried to think of all of the exits she knew in this house. Since the eye scanners would put her on lockdown if she tried to escape through the doors, she’d have to find another way. The condo was at the very top of this high rise building, so it was too high for her to just crash through a window and escape.
She could try the roof. She knew the solar panels were a weak spot in the security system. She’d heard Mr. Astor discussing them before, complaining that he didn’t understand why someone couldn’t design solar panels that were thicker and stronger while still being functional. At the time, Silver had thought he was being ridiculous. He acted like his condo was going to be invaded by enemy forces at any moment. But now, Silver was glad that he had given such a detailed description of the solar panels’ faults. She was pretty confident that she could get out on the roof.
Of course, what she was going to do once she got to the roof was another story. She was pretty sure there was no escape ladder or chute of any sort to get her fifty stories down to the ground. But at least she would be outside. She’d make the rest up as she went along. She had already shifted, so she was already committed to an attempted escape.
Here goes nothing, she thought to herself, starting to turn around to head back toward the rear of the house, where she knew there was an attic type room directly below the solar panels. Before she could fully turn, though, Mrs. Astor appeared in the hallway.
“Dear? Dear where are you? I’ve been trying to find you to tell you that my guests are gone so you can get on with your silly—”
Silver watched as Mrs. Astor made eye contact with her and abruptly stopped talking. The startled woman’s face turned as white as freshly fallen snow, and she was silent for a few beats before letting out a long, loud scream.
Silver knew she was wasting precious time and needed to start heading for the roof, but she couldn’t help herself. She looked directly at the woman whose obsession with high heels had caused her so many headaches, and she growled as loudly as she possibly could. Mrs. Astor screamed again, and then fainted. Luckily for Mrs. Astor, Tim’s reflexes took over and he caught the terrified woman before her head hit the wall n
ext to where the two men were sitting.
Just then, a man dressed in all black with the word “Security” emblazoned across his shirt came running in.
“What’s going on in here?” the guard asked.
“We’ve got a problem,” Tim squeaked out, gesturing toward Silver.
“Shoot her! Shoot her,” yelled Mr. Astor, seeming overwhelmingly relieved that a man with a gun had just shown up.
The security guard quickly reached for the laser gun holstered to his side, and Silver turned to start running. She had to get moving. Who knew how many more guards there were lurking around? The security guard shot off a laser beam, but it went over Silver’s shoulder. He tried again and still missed, apparently not very skilled at hitting moving targets.
Silver turned a corner in the hallway, and breathed a little easier. This condo was something of a maze, but it was a maze she knew well. She could easily lose the security guard. She just hoped she didn’t run into any more of them before making it to the roof. She knocked paintings off the wall and decorations off of shelves as she tried to fit her grizzly form through the human sized hallway, and she couldn’t help feeling smug about how upset Mrs. Astor would be when she saw the damage.
Silver had just reached the back west corner of the condo. To her left was the bedroom which served as a closet for Mrs. Astor, who had more than enough clothes to fill the entire bedroom. To her right was a small doorway which Silver knew would lead to a small media room that had a hidden access door to the attic. Joe had loved that media room, and Silver had spent a lot of time in there with him when they were dating. Just as Silver reached to claw down the media room’s door, all of the lights in the house suddenly turned red. A loud alarm sounded, causing Silver to cringe as the noise invaded her sensitive bear ears.
“Red alert, roof breach in progress!”the computer voice of the security system urgently sounded off. “Red alert, roof breach in progress!”
Silver swung her head around in surprise. Roof breach? Had Mr. Astor somehow realized what she was doing and gotten to the roof ahead of her? No, that didn’t make sense. The computer wouldn’t be setting off an alarm, then.
Silver winced as the impossibly loud alarm continued to pierce her ears. She let out a roar of pain and then shifted back into human form, finding a little bit of relief from the volume, but not much. Even though being in human form dampened her bear senses slightly, she still heard much better than the average human. And this alarm was loud enough to cause pain to even normal human ears. Silver covered her ears with her hands, and then suddenly realized she was naked.
“Shit, I forgot about that,” she said. Growing up as a shifter, it was totally normal to see a naked person now and then, since shifting ruined clothes. But Silver couldn’t just head out into the city of Chicago with no clothes.
With a mischievous grin, Silver ducked into the bedroom-sized closet that held just a portion of Mrs. Astor’s extensive wardrobe. Quickly scanning the racks, Silver pulled out a gorgeous royal blue sheath dress. It was knee length, with soft, stretchy fabric. The tag indicated that it was from Dolce & Gabbana.
“Such a pretty little dress,” Silver said aloud. “I’m sure she won’t mind if I borrow it for a bit. She has plenty of other dresses to wear.”
Silver quickly slipped the dress over her head, shaking her head in amazement as the thought crossed her mind that this one dress probably cost more than her entire wardrobe. Silver glanced around trying to find some shoes, but she could only find heels, which didn’t seem like the best footwear for making an escape. She finally spotted a small box in the far corner labeled “Gym Shoes,” and made a beeline for it. Sneakers might not be the most fashionable choice to pair with this dress, but they would be great for running away from security guards.
But when Silver opened the box, she didn’t find any sneakers. Instead, several pairs of leather flats sat in neat rows. Most of them looked like they had barely been used.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Silver said, her eyes widening so much they felt like they might pop right out of her head. “These are her gym shoes? She works out in three hundred dollar pairs of flats?”
Silver shook her head as she grabbed a pair of flats made of a lovely bright yellow leather. She slipped them on, tugging a little to squeeze her feet into them. Mrs. Astor’s feet were a half-size smaller than hers, but Silver didn’t have any other options at the moment. The house lights were flashing red every few seconds, and the computer voice was still urgently warning about a security breach on the roof.
Silver quickly slipped out of Mrs. Astor’s closet-room and into the media room, pushing aside the large couch to find the secret door to the attic.
She had no idea what was setting off the security breach alarms on the roof, but staying here was a death sentence for sure. Time to take her chances outside.
Chapter Twenty One
“Woohoo!” Anderson yelled, whooping in excitement as Sawyer banked the helicopter sharply to the left. Sawyer actually paused to high five Anderson, seeming unfazed by the fact that there was a barrage of laser beams trying to take out the aircraft.
Jack glanced over at Bash, who was rolling his eyes at his dad and alpha, but otherwise looked unimpressed. Jack was pretty sure that his own face was an unhealthy shade of green right now. He’d had his share of wild flights before. What kid growing up in the Alaskan bush hadn’t? Blizzards and unstable weather tended to make flying around up there something of an adventure. But Jack had never experienced anything quite as intense as this helicopter ride to the roof of Mr. Astor’s condo building.
The fun had started all the way back in Naperville, a wealthy suburb of Chicago. Jack and Bash had gone out there this morning with Sawyer and Anderson to pick up this gas helicopter. They knew someone who knew someone who had the connections needed to get a gas vehicle—and to get the gas to fly it. Jack didn’t ask any questions. He didn’t really want to know who the helicopter came from. He just wanted to get Silver back.
It hadn’t taken long for the Naperville police to realize that there was a gas helicopter flying through their airspace. The police had tried to chase them down, screaming at them through loudspeakers to land, and that manual aircraft were prohibited. Of course, Sawyer had completely ignored them, and through some fancy flying had left the policehovers completely in the dust. Jack had expected more police to start chasing them as they entered Chicago airspace, but Sawyer had managed to evade being noticed by flying a zig-zag pattern far away from any of the flyways.
Now, Jack was simply holding on for dear life as Sawyer circled wildly around the lasers shooting up from Mr. Astor’s roof. The plan was to get close enough so that Jack and Bash could shoot out the laser guns, and then the helicopter would land. Jack really had no idea whether this would work, but Sawyer seemed confident that it would. He told Jack that laser guns guarding against aircraft were usually pretty easy to shoot out if you got close enough. The problem was that hardly any pilots were skilled enough to dodge the lasers and get close enough to shoot them out.
As the helicopter banked sharply to the right, Jack was beginning to wonder if even Sawyer was skilled enough. They were getting closer, but were still far away. And the lasers were shooting out at them with no discernible pattern.
“This is nuts,” Jack said. He bit his lip, hoping against hope that Sawyer really did have the skills to get them close enough. Silver’s life depended on it. Sawyer continued to maneuver wildly, finally getting close enough that Bash and Jack might have a slight chance at shooting out the guns.
“Alright, boys, do your thing!” Anderson yelled, his voice crackling through their headsets.
Jack pulled his gun out, along with Bash, and they started shooting. They managed to knock out two of the laser guns, but there were still four more. The wild flight pattern of the helicopter, combined with the long distance, made their task nearly impossible.
“We have to get closer,” Bash yelled.
“Alrigh
t,” Sawyer yelled. “Hang on everyone.”
Jack’s stomach dropped and flip-flopped wildly as Sawyer started descending in rapid circles. There’s no way this is going to work, Jack thought. But Sawyer didn’t slow down, he just kept spiraling downward, closer and closer to the roof, through the wild laser beams. Amazingly, they made it several more seconds without being hit.
But then, it happened.
A sharp, sizzling sound, almost like metal on metal, rang out into the air.
“Oh shit,” Anderson said. “Assume crash positions!”
Jack bent over and put his forehead on his knees. He dropped his gun on the floor of the helicopter and put his hands over the back of his neck, praying for the best.
“Woohoo!” Sawyer’s voice came through the smoky air, loud and clear and exuberant.
Jack tilted his head to the side to look at Bash. “He’s crazy!” Jack mouthed. Bash just grinned and shrugged, and Jack couldn’t help but smile.
All of them were kind of crazy. But Silver was in trouble, and it was all hands on deck to save her. That’s what you did for your clan mates. Even though Jack had wanted to leave clan life, with its rules and regulations, he had to admit that it was nice to know you had people who always had your back. The Fur Coats were his clan now. This hodgepodge group of shifters was his life. He reached out his hand long enough to fist bump Bash, who grinned and fist bumped him back right before the helicopter made impact with the roof.
If they were going down in flames, at least they were going down together.
* * *
“What the hell was that?” Silver asked, instinctively freezing in place as a loud boom, followed by what sounded like an explosion, rang through the air directly above her head. The sirens, alarms, and computer warnings were buzzing out of control. Silver felt like she was in the middle of a war zone. Smoky air started to fill the attic, where she was positioned right below the solar panels. She had been trying to figure out the best way to break them, when something had crashed right above her.
Trouble in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 1) Page 17