KnightForce One

by Sydney Addae

  “I don’t know,” he said gasping for breath.

  Asia signaled Tyrese that she had the information. Tyrese picked him up and walked into the back. Asia sifted through the memories until she found a location. Ruth lived in Maryland, she accessed as much pertinent information as possible. Rush lied to protect this woman, which made her a person of interest.

  Tyrese returned, wiping his hand on a paper towel.

  Asia’s brow rose in question.

  “I put him to sleep in the bathroom, although I didn’t sense any cameras, if there are some, they won’t be any in there. Had to wash my hands.” He tossed the paper towel into the trash. They locked the front door on the way out.

  When they were backing out the driveway, Asia punched Ruth’s address into the GPS. “There’s a woman he wants to protect, Ruth. Let’s go talk to her.”

  Tyrese agreed.

  An hour and a half later, Tyrese parked at the bottom of the hill. Ruth’s house was situated behind an electronic gate in a clearing through the trees. They had been seeking a way in without alerting her of their presence. Neither thought she would just open the gate and invite them in. Asia scanned the area and noted one body signature. She hoped it was Ruth.

  When they exited the car, the two of them ran at blinding speeds through the woods and jumped the high fence. Before a minute passed, they were on the side of the barn.

  “That’s a good girl,” the female voice said in a calming tone. Asia motioned for Tyrese to allow her to go in alone. He nodded.

  Inside the dim barn an older woman with short brown hair dressed in jeans and a tee shirt stood next to a cow. The top of the woman’s head wasn’t much higher than the cow’s that she rubbed. Asia scanned the area again and didn’t sense anyone else.

  “Excuse me, Miss.”

  The hand stopped and the woman turned slowly to look at Asia. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m looking for Ruth.” Asia scanned the woman as she walked toward her and didn’t sense a bomb.

  “What do you want with her?”

  “I can’t say, Herbert was specific.” Asia took a chance mentioning Xavier and hoped he hadn’t wakened from the sleep Tyrese put him in.

  Her cheeks whitened and she faced Asia. “What happened to him?” Frowning, she looked behind Asia. “How’d you get through the gate? I didn’t hear the alarm.” She pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Asia. “Who the hell are you?”

  “A friend of Xavier’s.”

  Ruth fired.

  Asia leapt to the side, avoiding the bullet. Tyrese ran in and knocked the woman to the ground. Asia picked up the pistol, walked over to the woman, and helped her stand. “Sorry about that, my friend has a problem with me being shot,” she said while activating the chameleon and searching for information.

  The woman tried to jerk free but Asia held tight.

  “Let me go,” she yelled. “I don’t know who you are but you’ve no right to touch me.”

  “What’s your name?” Tyrese asked in a low, calm voice.

  “What?”

  “What’s your name,” he repeated.

  “Why? What’s yours?”

  “Rese. Now what’s your name?” he asked again.

  “Ruth. What do you want with me?”

  Disturbed by the memories she’d just seen, Asia released the woman, stepped aside and sent them to Jasmine to share with La Patron. And then she sent them to Hawke, she knew he would be interested. “Let’s go inside and talk, Ruth.”

  “Not until you tell me what this is about.” She crossed her arms, looked at Tyrese and then Asia.

  “Corrina Griggs,” Asia said watching intently.

  “What?” Tyrese said.

  Ruth’s face blanched and then she smiled slowly. “This is about the bombing? You worked fast, we didn’t expect you to figure anything out for a while. What tipped you off?”

  “Where did you get the bombs? Did you buy them from Griggs before she died?” Asia asked.

  Corrina Griggs had been a human breeder who believed half-breeds should rule and full-bloods exterminated. She used flesh covered bombs to target her victims. With a special procedure, some could be placed internally. Two bombers had made it into La Patron’s compound before Tyrese tracked Griggs down and terminated her.

  “Before she was murdered you mean. That bastard murdered her to keep his damn secrets. Well the lid’s being pulled off and soon everyone will know about that son of a bitch,” Ruth said through gritted teeth.

  “You were in her group? You knew Merriweather, the son?” Tyrese asked.

  “Silas Knight killed them too. He’s a cold-blooded murderer and he’ll pay for what he –.”

  “Stop,” Asia interrupted. “Where are you getting this information from? Were you there? Did you see any of this?”

  Ruth’s jaw tightened. “No, but someone who was there, someone related to the family, he was there and told us all about it.”

  Asia was confused. Ruth spoke the truth, as far as she knew it anyway but it wasn’t true. “So an eyewitness saw Silas Knight kill Griggs and Merriweather? Is that what you’re saying? And because of that you sent a bomb into a grocery store to kill innocent people?”

  Ruth’s face dropped. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a test, that’s all. We needed to see if the… equipment worked.”

  Asia’s heart clenched. “We’ll get to the information on Silas Knight in a minute. First, where are the rest of the bombs?” she asked in a low tone. Something wasn’t right here, she couldn’t put her finger on what troubled her about this woman, but this whole situation smelled wrong.

  Ruth’s head snapped toward her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Since that was a test, you have others. Where are they?” Asia asked, sorting through the information she had just taken and found nothing. Strange, the chameleon hadn’t picked up certain information.

  “I don’t know.”

  Asia and Tyrese looked at each other and then back at Ruth.

  “Tell me what you do know?” Asia said trying to inject warmth and patience in her voice when she wanted to strangle the woman.

  “Not much. Griggs was the real deal, her sons were dumb, stupid but they were her kids. She didn’t deserve what he did to her. She didn’t need to die like that,” Ruth said, sorrow entwined in her voice.

  “Like what?” Tyrese asked. “How did he kill her? I’m curious.”

  Ruth looked at him. “Why are you curious?”

  “Because I was there when she and both her sons died. I saw their deaths. So I’m curious.”

  Her face paled. “You were there and didn’t stop him?”

  “First off, Silas wasn’t there when Griggs was killed. Anybody who says he was is lying. Second, there were just the two of us from the compound at Griggs that day, and her son, Tomas still alive. The rest cannot speak from the grave. Leon works with me at the compound and has not told anybody shit about Silas. Her son Tomas has been adopted and doesn’t have anything to do with this bullshit.”

  “How did she die?”

  “Does it matter? You’re not going to believe that Silas had nothing to do with her death, your group wants a reason to kill innocents and is using an innocent man as a scapegoat,” he said.

  Ruth laughed. “Innocent my ass. Even if he didn’t pull the trigger, he approved it. My sister was a breeder and she died giving birth to those animals. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll expose full-bloods to the world and bring them down.”

  “So you’re a breeder?” Tyrese asked.

  Ruth’s lips tightened but she didn’t speak. Asia hadn’t read anything about the woman’s sister or Ruth being breeders just now. Were breeders able to manipulate information? There were still so many things they didn’t know about human breeders. Hawke would be interested to know about this.

  Asia stared at the woman a few seconds. “Did the suicide bomber get his bomb from here or someplace else?”

  Ruth sighed and shook he
r head. “He had it when he came here.”

  Asia released a breath and looked around. Ruth just lied which could mean the bombs were stored somewhere on the property. “Call it in, Rese,” Asia said inhaling deeply.

  “Hawke, the bombs may be hidden somewhere on this property, what should I look for? How does it smell?”

  “Damn-it,” Tyrese said moving forward.

  Asia spun around to see Ruth on the ground, digging in the hay. The next moment the gun went off and Ruth dropped to the ground.

  Chapter 8

  “Silas, what’s wrong?” Jasmine asked walking into the dim room. She’d sensed his disturbed thoughts earlier and decided to see him rather than talk through their link. Gently she took his hand and sat in the black leather bucket chair in front of him.

  His dark green gaze met hers and for a few seconds they simply stared at each other. She sent love and affection down their link, reminding him they could get through anything together. He squeezed her hand and exhaled.

  “Tyrese found a case of flesh covered bombs hidden in the barn, like the ones Griggs used. I thought we were done with those but apparently not. The police chief has a bomb squad on the premises going through everything. Five bombs are missing, we know about one. That leaves four.”

  Jasmine nodded, Asia had already shared this information.

  “Tyrese took the laptop and digital equipment to see if there is any information that would lead to the individuals who may have taken the explosives. Hopefully there is some type of list or schedule or anything that can give us a lead.”

  “If there is any information on the computer or at that location at all, Asia and Tyrese will find it.”

  “True.” He paused. “I received a call from a pack member in the Pentagon. They got wind of the bombs and are demanding details. For some reason they’re upset I didn’t share the information with them sooner. He said the higher ups want to meet with me and discuss the matter.”

  Jasmine could only imagine his response. She leaned forward, cupped his short hair covered cheek. “When is the meeting?”

  “After they dismiss all of these trumped up charges against me.” He winked and pulled her onto his lap. She snuggled beneath his chin, comforted by the steady thud of his heartbeat.

  “You cut a deal?”

  “Not really, I placed my terms on the table. They’ll take the bombs from the police anyway and dissect them like we did. But they are behind with the technology and if they want to catch up, they’ll talk to me, or not. Either way, I’ll beat the charges. They’re dragging this out like a bad play.”

  She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “You did blow up the labs, they have proof.”

  He leaned back, his brow raised. “And the people who matter know why. They understand and agree what the Liege did was barbaric against my pack and I had to take action.”

  “But they can’t come forward, just like you can’t, otherwise everyone will know you’re a badass Alpha wolf who don’t take shit.” She giggled when he tickled her.

  “Haven’t you learned it’s not a good idea to bait an angry wolf?”

  “Think I heard something about that in the story books, but what happened to that wolf in Red Riding Hood? I can’t remember.” She shrieked with laughter as he picked her up, walked to the leather sofa and dropped down on top of her.

  “No one will save you from me,” he murmured placing kisses on her lips and cheek.

  “This woman doesn’t want to be saved. Ravage me, Wolfie.”

  Silas swooped down for a hot, long kiss. Her world narrowed to the fire sizzling along her skin. His fingers grabbed her hair, holding her in place. Didn’t he know there was no place she’d rather be than with him?

  Gasping, they broke apart.

  “Woman, what you do to me… never stop. You’re the light in my darkest moments.

  She melted beneath the husky timbre of his words.

  “I need to taste you.”

  “Whatever you need, Silas, I’m yours.” She rubbed the back of his head in a slow, soothing, rhythm.

  He shuddered and burrowed his face in the crook of her neck. He lay there for several moments, breathing as though he had just completed a marathon. Every once in a while his large body shook.

  “Angus is missing.”

  Jasmine stilled. She couldn’t have heard correctly. “What?” she whispered.

  “The past three hours Chase sent pack into the mountains to search for him.”

  She pushed up on his chest and met his sober gaze. “Wait. Start from the beginning. The last I heard, he was on the mission. Did something go wrong? When did you learn he was missing?” She tried to slow her racing heart. Not Angus. Angus was a rock, impossible to bring down. Silas had to be wrong.

  He rolled to the side, bringing her with him. “After I got the message about the bomb in Maryland I tried to contact him to let him know Asia and Tyrese were out of the state.”

  “And he didn’t respond?”

  “No. That didn’t concern me at first. Sometimes when we contact each other, and we’re busy, we talk later. I realized in the wee hours this morning he never contacted me, that’s never happened. So I knew something was off.”

  “Silas, that was yesterday afternoon. You haven’t heard from Angus since yesterday?” she asked slowly, realizing he never mentioned it to her. Not last night or this morning and it was lunch time now. Almost a full twenty-four hours had passed.

  “No, I haven’t. Somebody either took him from the fight location or he wandered off, which doesn’t make sense because of the plan.”

  “Were the other bodies still there? Did the rebels take him?” She didn’t like the sound of this at all.

  “Yes, the other bodies were still on the ground. If the rebels took him, they did something that limits him from making contact with anyone. I can’t access his wolf, or our link. That’s not supposed to happen.”

  Jasmine refused to think Angus was dead, besides, Silas would feel it. “We need to link together and do a deeper search for him.”

  “Sweet Bitch, I’ve sat here all morning searching –”

  “And we’ll search together this time.” She slapped his chest. “And don’t try to sweet talk me, after my brother is found and is safe, we’ll have a heart-to-heart talk on you keeping important family matters from me.”

  “Jasmine.”

  “No, Silas I mean it. Angus missing for a few hours, okay. But for twenty-four hours? No, that’s something you should’ve shared with me. I love him too, he’s my brother.”

  Silas pulled her close and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re right. The time slipped away, and last night I needed to lose myself in you, away from everything going on outside our bedroom. Forgive me.”

  “We’ll talk about that later. Link with me so we can find him.” She wasn’t going to allow him to get off so easy. Silas needed to remember he wasn’t an island and sharing didn’t make him less effective as a leader. They had several versions of this conversation in the past and he always apologized, but he needed to change.

  Familiar heat slid down their link. Jasmine grabbed it and entwined her energy with his. Mentally she prepared for the jolt that occurred when they were fully combined. Her back arched with the sizzle anyway. Now Silas could deepen his search.

  “Look in Maryland first,” she said ignoring his sigh at her remark.

  “Focus on Angus, not the state,” Silas said.

  Images of Angus floated through her mind, jokes they’d shared, long talks on Asia and Damian, his hopes for his future. Jasmine had no idea how long they lay together thinking about Angus when Silas jerked.

  “Got something. Looks like an abandoned, house. No, the shape is hazy, maybe a barn.”

  “Can you get the coordinates?” she asked.

  “I’m working on that.”

  Jasmine rolled her eyes at his snappish tone and continued focusing on Angus.

  “I cannot see him, but I sense he’s in tha
t building which is more than I had before. Chase has pack members who live within miles of the place, they’re on their way.”

  “Is the plane on the way?”

  Silas placed a kiss on her forehead. “Not yet. I need to verify it’s him.”

  “It’s him, Silas. Place the jet on standby to bring him home.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  She ignored his teasing tone. “Can Hawke examine him?”

  “Yes, but why not Dr. Passen?”

  She shrugged. “Hawke has more experience with being tampered with and will know what to look for. Dr. Passen will need to ask questions and Angus may not be up to that.”

  “Good point, once Angus is in the air, I’ll have Hawke on standby. Asia and Tyrese don’t know about Angus and I don’t want them to know. I told Tyrese Angus wasn’t available to talk,” Silas said.

  “Okay. Searching for the bombs is important too, they don’t need to be distracted and go looking for whoever took Angus. That will happen soon enough.”

  Silas nodded, his chin rubbed against her head. “If someone got to him before he could defend himself, he won’t stop until he finds out how they did it and why. He’s going to be one pissed off wolf.”

  “Pissed off I can live with,” she said in a soft tone, rubbing against his chest, comforted by his warmth. Together in an easy silence they waited for more information.

  Silas tensed and then relaxed.

  “They found him?” She leaned back to search his face and checked their link.

  “Yes. He’s in wolf form, lying on top of a table. Chase sent for a paramedic’s truck so they can lift him safely and put him on the plane. It should arrive soon. I want to try and reach his wolf.”

  “Is Chase there?”

  “No, not yet. I have to wait for him, but before they put Angus on the gurney, he needs to be awake. If he wakes while in transit it could be dangerous for everyone in the van.”

  Jasmine exhaled in understanding. Any wolf would react strongly to returning to life after being drugged.

  “Chase is there now and going in the barn. He sent everyone else out.”

  Smart man, Jasmine thought.