by Liz Wolfe
“The only way to check out the interior is to get someone in there,” Shelby agreed. She really wished she could have contacted Ethan. He had sources that could get answers faster than she could. But it wasn’t worth the chance. Besides, it wasn’t like she didn’t have any resources at all.
“Parker Security and Investigation.”
That brought a smile to Shelby’s face. “Paige, Shelby here.”
“Hey, Shelby. What do you need?”
“Some research. I’m hoping to confirm Shannon and Sam’s location.”
“Sure. What can I do?” Paige’s voice had taken on a note of excitement, and that was one of the reasons Shelby had hired her. She was always eager for something new.
“Basically, I need you to find out who bought an old prison located a few miles outside of Elk’s Point.”
“Where is that?”
“Washington. Just west of the Mt. Rainier National Park. It would have been sold a few years ago. Don’t have an exact date.”
“Sure. No problem. What all do you need on it?”
“Who bought it, whether it was a person or a corporation. Who’s paying the property taxes. And any other businesses that person or corporation might have.” Shelby paused for a moment, thinking of what else she could use. “After you get that, I’ll have some other research for you.”
“And I suppose you need all this tomorrow?”
“Nope. Needed it yesterday.”
“I’ll see how much of it I can get online tonight and then make some phone calls tomorrow. Anything else?”
“How’s everything at the office?”
“Excellent, as usual. Why? Didn’t you think I could handle it?” Paige’s voice had taken on a tone of defensiveness. Shelby thought she’d have to do something about that someday. Then, again, maybe experience and time would take care of it better than she could.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have left you in charge.” Shelby moved the phone to her other ear and reached for a paper cup of coffee. “Any new business in the works?”
“Nothing to scream about. Had a woman in yesterday who wants us to find out if her husband is having an affair.”
“Great. Can’t have too many of those cases.”
“I told her we’d check him out. It pays the bills, and it’s no worse than the bouncer jobs.”
“How’s Zoe?”
“Hard to say. She doesn’t talk much. But she went to the bouncer gig with me the other night. Did a bang up job.”
“That’s good to hear. I need one more thing from you. Call Ethan Calder and ask him if he has any information for me.” She gave Paige Ethan’s cell phone number. “And, Paige, you are not to even give him a tiny hint as to where I am. And just to be safe, don’t mention Zoe either.”
“Problem with your former handler?”
“No, but information is leaking that’s getting in the way of me getting the job done. Ethan doesn’t need to know where I am or what I’m doing. But if he has any info for me I could sure use it.”
“More coffee?” Mac asked holding the thermal pot over her cup. Shelby nodded and held her cup out.
“Shelby, did I just hear a man’s voice?” Paige’s voice had a smirk in it, and Shelby thought she would have to do something about that too.
“It’s business. He’s with the FBI.”
“Uh huh.”
“Just call me on my cell as soon as you find anything.” Shelby flipped the phone closed and sipped her coffee. She’d been refusing to consider the situation with Mac. Of course, she’d been busy, what with being shot at, finding Chase, getting to Washington. It wasn’t like she was actively avoiding the issue. Besides, she didn’t really know that there was an issue.
They made love. Which was good. Really, really good. And they liked being around each other. Most of the time. Probably, there was nothing to consider, really. Just let it go whichever way it was going. Until there was a problem. She was jerked out of her thoughts when Chase knocked and came in.
He had on an olive drab tee shirt tucked neatly into fatigue pants which were tucked neatly into combat boots. A matching camouflage duffle bag sat next to his combat boots. Where the hell had they gone shopping?
“I’m ready,” he announced as if she should know what that meant.
“Ready for what?” Invading a third world country?
“We need to recon the Fortress. Find out what the exterior defenses are so we’re prepared to take them down.”
“Tonight?” Her thoughts had been centered on Mac and what might be happening in that king-sized bed later. Midnight reconnaissance maneuvers at the Fortress didn’t exactly figure into her plans.
“No point in waiting. We go in, check it out tonight. Then when we get the intel on the interior security and come up with a plan, we’re good to go.”
He had a point. Still she didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t her idea.
Shelby, Mac, and Chase were about fifty yards from the southeast guard tower, lying on their stomachs on the forest floor. Just beyond their position, the land surrounding the Fortress had been cleared. It looked like someone had used Agent Orange on the ground. No grass, no bushes, not even a dead tree stump. A few hardy weeds struggled out of the ground. Figured. The same weeds populated her yard.
They watched and made note of how many men occupied the tower. Then they moved to the next tower. And the next, and the next. Finally, they were back at the southeast tower. It appeared that each tower was manned by a single guard, while two guards walked the perimeter inside the wall. The walking guards and the tower guards changed places every two hours. Shelby didn’t know where the other two guards came from, but assumed they were on some kind of guard duty inside the building.
Chase used hand motions to direct her vision to the tall poles about twenty feet outside the walls. Some kind of electronic equipment was mounted at the tops of the poles. Chase had brought a pair of night vision binoculars, and she motioned for him to pass them over. The boxes appeared innocuous enough, but they had to be there for a reason. Shelby looked at their positions in relation to each other and figured they had to provide some perimeter detection.
She motioned Chase and Mac back into the forest another twenty yards, told them to expect some commotion, and returned to the edge of the trees. Her hands fumbled around on the forest floor until she came across a pinecone. She crouched and threw the cone toward the wall. Nothing. Probably wasn’t big enough. But anything bigger might garner the attention of the guard in the tower closest to her. She picked up a section of a fallen branch and waited. The ground guard passed by the front gate and out of sight. Then the tower guard stood up and stretched, and turned away from her. She heaved the branch with all her strength and was rewarded by a flash of lights that burst from the southeast and southwest towers on either side of the front gate.
Shelby hurried back to where Chase and Mac waited, motioning them to silence. The front gates opened and three armed guards walked out. They checked the ground, walking toward the forest. Shelby held her breath as they ventured several yards into the trees with powerful flashlights.
“Nothing here. Must have been another freakin’ animal,” one of the guards said.
“You think so?” another one asked.
“Yeah. Happens a couple times a week. Some creature crawls into the laser beam field and sets off the lights and alarms.”
Laser beam field. Crap.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Shelby motioned to Chase to hand over the night vision binoculars again, which he did, although he looked like a kid parting with one of his favorite toys. She slung them around her neck and climbed up a tree until she was high enough to be able to look down into the Fortress. Not that there was much to see in the wee hours of the morning. But, she got a good look at the guards in the towers and could see that inside the gates there was a short driveway leading to a small parking area. The wall stood about thirty yards from the building all around. The building was massive,
and she felt her confidence fade a bit as she considered how they were going to get in, and then how they were going to find Shannon and Sam.
The limb Shelby was sitting on jiggled, and she looked down to see Chase coming up after her. He paused at her limb, motioned for the binoculars, and climbed higher. He’d been observing the Fortress for several minutes when Shelby felt the tree move and saw that Mac was joining them. Noisily. She put her finger to her lips in the universal sign for be quiet and frowned at him. He slowed down a bit but finally made it up to her limb, then tugged on Chase’s pant leg, and motioned for the binoculars.
Great. It was a little party. She was going to have to explain about this being her op again. After Mac had a minute or two with the binoculars, she took them back and motioned him down the tree. Chase and Shelby followed, and they all crawled away from the Fortress for a ways, and then jogged back to the truck.
“Impressive,” Chase said as they headed back to the motel.
“Makes me wonder what all they’ve got going on in there. They didn’t have anything near this for security in Tucson.” The thought of them doing something even worse than they were doing in Tucson made her blood run cold.
“Looked like military guards to me,” Chase said.
“Not possible,” Shelby argued. “It would have to be a government operation to have military guards. Maybe they’re mercenaries.”
“That might be, but they were definitely military at some point. You can tell by the way they walked, the way they stood.” Chase frowned. “You’re sure this isn’t a government operation?”
“God, I hope not.” Shelby shook her head. “If it is, it’s gone real wrong somewhere.”
“It just feels weird,” Chase said. “Mercenaries usually aren’t so disciplined. Even the ones that are ex-military. And they’re too straight, too clean, too neat to be mercenaries.”
“True,” she agreed. “Most ex-military go into the mercenary arena because they can’t hack it in the military.”
“Former military, then,” Mac said. “But I’d bet they think they’re guarding a government center.”
“That could be.” Chase nodded. “My dad is retired military, and he gets called occasionally to do a job just because of his military career.”
“That would explain why all the guards were older. I don’t think any of them looked under late thirties, early forties.” Shelby pondered the situation for a moment. Was this to their advantage or not?
“One thing for sure,” Chase said. “If they’re ex-military who think they’re guarding a government center, we sure as hell don’t want to get caught by them.”
“I would imagine that the doctors have instructed them to shoot first and ask questions later,” Mac said.
Well, that was a happy thought. Getting shot at by her own government while trying to do a job for them.
“Shelby?”
“What?” She recognized Paige’s voice but it took her a moment to remember why she’d be calling. Untangling her legs from Mac, the sheets, the blankets, and a pillow that had somehow ended up at her feet, she sat on the edge of the bed. Mac grunted so she stuffed the pillow into his arms. He smiled and seemed to drift off again.
“Did I wake you?”
Shelby checked the clock. Nine in the morning. “No, not at all. What’ve you got?”
“I did wake you.”
“I just said you didn’t. Now spill.”
“No, you said ‘no, not at all.’ That always means yes when you say it.”
She really had to stop saying that. “What do you have?”
“Okay. First of all a message from Ethan. He said to tell you that some of the files you downloaded from The Center’s computers started to self-destruct as soon as they opened them.”
“Self-destruct?”
“Evidently there was a virus attached that just ate the files as soon as they were opened without a password.”
“None of the files were password protected?”
“Exactly. Somebody named Josh said they didn’t appear to be password protected just so if anyone tried to open them, the virus would be activated.” Paige paused, obviously reading from her notes. “He said that if they’d known about the password, then they would have broken that first and the files would still be intact.”
“Did Ethan say what files they were?” She’d already gotten the analysis of some of The Center’s files about their experiments. What files could be more important than those?
“He said it was files that he believes would have led them to The Center’s financial source and to the people who were willing to buy the meta-humans.”
That must have pissed Ethan off. Pissed her off a bit too. “What else have you got?”
“I found out who bought the prison lands and building. A corporation called New Millennium. Haven’t found a person’s name associated with it yet, but I’m still working on it.”
“That’s all?”
“Nope. I also found a research center owned by the same corporation. Called Fortress Bio-Psychological Research. Again no names yet, but I did find a list of suppliers.”
“You got supplier names?”
“Yep. Everyone has a credit history. Even corporations. No real surprises. Medical suppliers, linen suppliers, and a food service supplier. I’m working on getting more information on that.”
“I’d rather know that Ruth Carlson or Jonah Thomas are linked to the Fortress.”
“I’ll see what I can do. At least I have an opening in one of the suppliers.”
“What’s that?”
“I have a friend who works for one of them in the billing office. She can get me details on what they’ve bought, how often, stuff like that.”
“Good work. Call me when you have more.” Shelby flipped the cell phone shut and looked at Mac.
He was sleeping peacefully, hair tousled, long, muscular body stretched out in a tangle of linens. He looked comfortable. Too comfortable. If she was awake, he should be too. And she knew just how to wake him up. But first, maybe she’d brush her teeth and take a few tangles out of her hair.
Shelby slipped into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, ran a brush through her hair, and then used her fingers to fluff it up a bit. Then the bathroom door opened.
“Morning, love.” Mac smiled sleepily at her.
“You’re awake.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“No, not at all.” She pulled the brush through her hair again. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Good idea.”
Yeah. Not as good as the idea she’d had about five minutes earlier, though. She turned the water on, waited for it to warm up a smidgen, and stepped into the stall. She lathered her hair, rinsed it, and slathered on some conditioner.
“Mind if I join you? It’ll save time.” Mac stepped into the shower stall, which was a bit small for two people, so they ended up pressed up against each other.
“Save time? Are we in a hurry to get somewhere?”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” Mac bent his head and started to nibble on her neck.
“Really? Then we should hurry up so we can have breakfast.”
“That isn’t what I’m starving for.”
Yeah, neither was she.
By the time she’d showered a second time, and she and Mac had dressed, Chase was knocking at the door. Over breakfast, Shelby filled them in on the information Paige had given her.
“Look, we know that Thomas and Carlson are in there along with Shannon and probably other innocent victims.” Chase shook his head and shoveled in more eggs, hashed-brown potatoes, and bacon. “I say we just go in and get the job done.”
“I need to make sure before we move.” She sighed at the look of disgust on Chase’s face. “Otherwise we’re opening up a huge can of worms.”
“Trust me, Shelby. This is the place. I can feel it.”
Crap. That psychic stuff again.
“Tell you what. If I c
an’t get confirmation by tomorrow one way or the other, we’ll go in. Happy?”
“No, but I can deal with that.” Chase ate more food and then looked up again. “I’m getting that Shannon and her kid haven’t been touched yet. But it’s only a matter of time.”
“Can you get actual thoughts from her?” Mac seemed to be fascinated by all this psychic stuff. Shelby was fascinated too, but in a way that made her a little queasy.
“Not really thoughts. Not words, anyway. Mostly I just get emotions. Right now she’s tense but unharmed.”
“I gotta go make a couple of calls.” Shelby wiped her mouth on a napkin and pulled a twenty out of her pocket. “See you guys back at the motel.”
Mac picked up the twenty and stuffed it in her breast pocket, copping a subtle feel. “I’ll get breakfast.”
“Bring me back a large coffee.” She resisted the impulse to kiss him and hustled her butt out of the restaurant. Shelby punched in Mel’s number as she walked the half block to the motel.
“Serenity Haven.”
“Hey, Mel. Shelby here.”
“Is everything all right? Do you have Shannon and Sam?”
“Not yet. I need a favor.”
“What?”
“I want Bear.”
“I know, dear. Most women feel that way about him eventually.”
“Not sexually.”
“Oh.” Mel snickered. “I guess you have that all wrapped up, huh?”
“Mel!”
“Lighten up, Shelby. I’ll have him there—hold on.”
Shelby heard the tapping of the keyboard.
“He’ll be there at four-fifteen. Alaska Airlines. What else do you need?”
Shelby rattled off a list of items that she absolutely needed; then a list of stuff that she’d like to have, but could do without.
“No problem. He’ll have luggage, so have someone pick him up at the baggage claim at four-forty.”
“Mac will be driving a black Ford 250.” Shelby paused. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
“You will. Someday I’ll call in this chip.”