X-Ops Exposed

by Paige Tyler

  “But?” Chad prompted. Worry over his daughter’s kidnapping was visibly wearing on him. Waiting for the DCO agents to arrive had been as difficult for him as it had been for Zarina. It didn’t help that he was also concerned the people he’d left at the camp would be attacked again while he, Burt, and Malcolm were trying to save Tanner and the others. That was why he wouldn’t let Peter come with them. He’d wanted there to be at least one fighter back to protect everyone.

  “But the drug angle hasn’t panned out,” Clayne put in. “While we know they’re selling some party drugs out of the club, there isn’t nearly enough stuff being moved through there to justify the number of gang members who seem to be providing security for the place. Besides, if this is simply about drugs, what the hell do they need with Tanner and the others?”

  “Wait a minute,” Burt said. “There are members of an Asian gang pulling security for the place in addition to the mercenary types who attacked our camp? How many guys are we talking about?”

  “There’s no way of knowing exactly how many we’ll face when we go in there,” Danica answered. “But if the pictures our analyst at the DCO has pulled off Facebook are any indication, there are probably at least a dozen at any one time. More at night when the club is open.”

  Everyone at the table looked a little concerned at that, Zarina included. While their group had a Special Forces soldier, two cops, three covert operatives, a hybrid, and three people willing to do anything to save the people they loved, there were still only ten of them.

  “If there will be more security at night, why aren’t we going in now before the club opens?” Zarina demanded.

  Danica shook her head. “We can’t go in there blind. If we try to go in through the front door without knowing what’s waiting for us, we won’t be any help to Tanner and the captives, because we’ll all be dead.”

  Zarina almost screamed in frustration. She wasn’t eager to go charging into that club carrying a weapon, but the thought of Tanner being in danger for another minute was more than she could handle.

  “Okay, so it’s agreed. We need a plan,” Tate said, breaking the silence that had invaded the tight space of the storage unit. “What do we know about the club? Any floor plans?”

  “Unfortunately, we know very little that will help,” Danica admitted. “Before it was a club, it was a sawmill. While it’s been renovated, we can still expect an almost industrial warehouse-like feel when we go in, most likely with limited lighting and lots of small rooms everywhere. Once the shooting starts, we could have people aiming at us from fifty feet away or less than ten, and we might not be able to see them in either situation.”

  Zarina didn’t understand the significance of anything Danica said. But it didn’t matter. They were going in that club, one way or the other.

  “I might be able to help with that,” Cam said, looking up from the cell phone Zarina hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding. “I knew the building The Cage was in was old, so I had a friend of mine who’s an amateur historian do a little digging. It turns out the mill had been set up over the remains of a gold and silver mine in the 1930s. The basement of the club is actually the sections of the mine that weren’t sealed off. My friend’s almost certain there are other ways for us to get into the basement without going through the main entrance. He’s digging out maps of the mine right now.”

  Zarina silently said a quick prayer of thanks. “How long do you think it will take for him to come up with them? We need to get in there before Ryan does whatever it is he has in mind for Tanner and the others.”

  Cam nodded as he shoved his phone back in the pocket of his jeans. “He promised he’ll have the maps within the hour.”

  While that still seemed like an inordinately long amount of time to Zarina, Danica, Clayne, and Tate clearly didn’t agree. They immediately began handing out weapons, ammunition, and equipment.

  “I know nobody wants to talk about this, but I have to bring it up, because I’ve been on the wrong side of this situation before,” Diaz said, taking the boxes of bullets Clayne offered.

  Tate frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that when we go in there, it’s almost certainly going to be bad,” Diaz explained. “Between those gang members and Ryan’s ex-military buddies, there’s going to be shooting, and probably a lot of it.”

  “So?” Tate asked. “It’s not like we haven’t dealt with people shooting at us before. Lots of people in fact.”

  “Yeah, well, the last time we all got into a bad situation with Tanner, he completely lost it and nearly killed me.” Diaz’s face was grim. “What do we do if he loses it again?”

  “He might not be the only one.” Clayne glanced at Malcolm. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but bringing another hybrid in with us to go with the other two who are already in there is asking for trouble. The chances of one of you guys going apeshit is damn high.”

  Malcolm frowned, but instead of getting angry like Zarina thought he would, he merely nodded. “You’re right. There’s a good chance one of us will lose control.”

  Zarina wanted to think that what Diaz and Clayne were suggesting wouldn’t happen, but she knew better. As much as Tanner’s control had improved, he was still a hybrid. When the gunfire started and the blood started flowing, there was no telling what would happen. Hell, it might not even be a matter of losing control. If Tanner thought innocent people were in danger, he’d purposely let the beast inside take over, no matter the cost.

  Cam paused in the middle of checking the machine gun he was holding to look at everyone in confusion. He probably wanted to ask what the hell they were talking about, the same way he almost certainly wanted to know why they couldn’t call in Seattle SWAT and have them raid the club. But there hadn’t been time to talk to him about anything, especially the part about his older brother being half animal.

  Zarina picked up her backpack from where she’d placed it on the floor and took out the case with the antiserum. “If it comes to it, I’ll use this on Tanner or any of the other hybrids.”

  Diaz eyed the injector solemnly. “Is that the antiserum?”

  She nodded. “The whole reason I came out here was to get Tanner to take this and reset his body back to the way it had been before he was experimented on. But he didn’t want to take it.”

  “Why not?” Clayne asked.

  She sighed. “A lot of reasons.”

  On the other side of the table, Malcolm’s gaze was locked on the plastic case. “Are there any side effects to taking something like that?”

  “Yes, but that’s not why Tanner didn’t want to take it,” Zarina said. “Because the antiserum resets the body, Tanner—or whoever else takes it—will go through nearly as many physiological and psychological changes as they did the first time around.”

  “What kind of changes?” Malcolm prompted.

  Zarina hesitated. “There’s a good chance whoever takes the antiserum might not be able to have children.”

  He considered that, then nodded and blew out a breath. “Anything else?”

  “You might not remember most of the things that have happened since becoming a hybrid,” she said quietly.

  Danica blinked. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that Tanner might not remember you if you give him the antiserum?”

  “It’s possible, yes,” Zarina admitted.

  Clayne bit back a growl. “You don’t have the right to use something like that on Tanner or any of them. To take away Tanner’s memories of you…” He shook his head. “It’s not right.”

  “Do you think I want to do it?” Zarina demanded. “Of course I don’t. But I might not have a choice.”

  “There’s always a choice,” Clayne said. “Something tells me Tanner would rather die than lose a single memory of the time he’s had with you.”

  Zarina pinned the wolf shifter with a look. “Well, I’m not
ready to let him die, even if it’s what he’d want. If it’s between him forgetting me or accidentally killing someone he cares about, I’ll do what I have to do.”

  In the silence that followed, Chad cleared his throat. “Lillie would hate me for saying this, but if it comes down to Spencer losing control, the antiserum is better than the alternative. Same goes for Bryce.”

  Tate frowned. “Wait a minute. You only have that single injector, right? What happens if more than one of the hybrids loses it? How do we decide who gets the antiserum and who doesn’t?”

  There was another long silence.

  “Let’s pray it doesn’t come to that,” Zarina finally said. “If it does, we’ll use the antiserum on the first one we can get to and deal with the others as best we can.”

  Everyone nodded, then went back to what they’d been doing. A few moments later, Danica told everyone to get the last of the gear packed up. They’d leave for Redmond in fifteen minutes.

  Zarina was looking through a wall locker for extra bullets for her trusty revolver, a task made more difficult since she didn’t know the caliber of the weapon, when Cam grabbed a box marked .38 Special.

  “Here,” he said.

  She opened the box and pulled one of the bullets out, going the extra step of comparing it to the kind already loaded in her revolver. They looked like an exact match to her.

  “Thanks,” she said, slipping the box in the pocket of her jacket. It was heavier than she thought it’d be.

  “No problem.” He gazed down at her with blue eyes so like his brother’s, it made her heart pang. “So, do you think you can tell me what the hell is going on? Because I didn’t understand half the crap you guys were talking about. Hybrids, people going crazy, and antiserum that takes away a person’s memory? None of this makes any sense.”

  Around them, everyone was hurriedly loading weapons and trying on night-vision goggles. They didn’t have a lot of time for this.

  She looked at Cam. “Remember in the diner when Tanner said those bad people he mentioned had done some experiments on him? Well, you’re going to see the effects of those experiments tonight, and it’s going to freak you out. Tanner, as well as Malcolm and two other men Ryan kidnapped, are part animal now. When they lose control, the animal takes charge, and they can be extremely dangerous.”

  Cam did a double take. “Damn. When he said that, I had no idea… What kind of sicko does that to another person?” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care if my brother is part animal. Tanner would never hurt me.”

  “He wouldn’t want to, and it would destroy him afterward, but if he was far enough gone, he’d rip your throat out without even realizing who you are.” Zarina swallowed hard. “If something happens, and you see Tanner doing things that scare the hell out of you, get away from him and find me. Okay?”

  Cam regarded her thoughtfully. “So you can give him the antiserum that might make him forget you?”

  Tears burned Zarina’s eyes. The possibility that Tanner might not remember her and everything they’d shared tore her heart out, making it suddenly hard to breathe. “Yes.”

  Chapter 16

  It had taken Tanner and Bryce almost two hours to get Spencer to calm down, and by then, Spencer’s wrist was mangled and bloody. If he were human, losing his hand would have been a forgone conclusion, but he barely seemed to notice it. The craziest part of the whole thing was no one else in the small room had freaked out. Perhaps they had experience with shifters before. More likely, their spirits were so crushed that caring about anything was impossible.

  “We’re going to figure a way out of this,” Tanner told Spencer. The other hybrid sat huddled on the floor beside him, his arms wrapped around his knees, his eyes staring at nothing. “I have no doubt Zarina has already called the organization we work for. They’ll be here soon. In the meantime, we’re going to find Lillie and get her out of here. I swear it on my life.”

  Maybe Spencer heard him, maybe he didn’t, but Tanner kept talking, hoping to snap him out of the nearly catatonic state he was in. Tanner didn’t know what the hell was going to happen next in this place, but when they had a chance to move, he needed Spencer to be ready.

  “This is all my fault,” Spencer whispered.

  At least he was talking now. That had to be a good thing, even if his words didn’t make a lot of sense. Tanner glanced at Bryce to see if he knew what Spencer was referring to, but the younger hybrid only shrugged.

  “What do you mean?” Tanner asked Spencer. “None of this is your fault. There’s no way you could have seen this coming.”

  Spencer looked at him, his eyes full of regret. “I’ve already hurt Lillie once. No matter how much I love her, I knew if we stayed together, it would only be a matter of time before I hurt her again. She got kidnapped because she was with me.”

  Shit. Tanner suddenly had a vivid sensation of what it must be like for Zarina when he took responsibility for every bad thing that happened in the world. Was it as frustrating for her as it was for him right now? Probably.

  Tanner was seriously considering using one of Zarina’s lines on Spencer and telling him Lillie was an adult who made her own decisions when the door opened. Ryan, Emilio, and Anton strode in, followed by three big Asian guys.

  Even though he knew he had to stay calm, Tanner’s heart beat faster. They were almost certainly here to take someone upstairs to fight. This might be their chance to make their move. Tanner didn’t like the odds, though. Three hybrids chained to the floor against six trained men with weapons wasn’t the most ideal situation. If they uncuffed more than one of them, that might improve their chances.

  Ryan had clearly learned his lesson last time, because he didn’t come anywhere near Tanner. He regarded Spencer for a moment before turning to Bryce. He gave the men with him a nod, then motioned to Josh and a few of the men along the far wall.

  “Bring the woman, too,” Ryan said. “For whatever reason, people love seeing a woman in the cage. Hopefully sending the freak out there with them will give us a better fight than the last group gave us. The betting barely started before they all got thrashed.”

  The three Asian men moved in to unchain the people Ryan had selected, while Emilio and Anton focused on Bryce.

  “You don’t have to do this, Ryan,” Tanner said, his gums tingling as the hybrid inside tried to make an appearance. “It’s not too late to fix this.”

  Ryan’s lip curled. “Damn, Tanner. Do you ever give it a rest? Stop trying to save my soul. The army burned it out a long time ago.”

  “Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep through the night?” Tanner demanded. “That the army’s to blame for all this?”

  Ryan chuckled and stepped closer but still well out of reach. Tanner gave Bryce a quick look, then glanced at Emilio, still unlocking the manacle, hoping the hybrid got what he was trying to tell him. Bryce nodded slightly in understanding.

  “You don’t have to worry about me, Tanner,” Ryan said, dragging his attention back to him. “I sleep just fine at night.”

  Bryce made his move the moment Emilio unchained him. One moment, he was sitting on the floor docilely; the next, he was sinking his fangs into the man’s shoulder.

  Tanner lunged for Ryan at the same time, but his old friend quickly backpedaled, and Tanner’s outstretched claws missed the man’s neck by inches. Tanner slammed to the floor in frustration just as a gun went off. Cursing, he jerked his head up, trying to figure out where the gunshots had come from, only to see Bryce tumble to the floor, dragging Emilio down with him. The man immediately rolled away and jumped to his feet. His shoulder was bleeding badly, but otherwise, he was uninjured. He reached under his jacket and pulled out his weapon, quickly pointing it at Bryce, but the move was unnecessary. Bryce was already down, and judging from the two dark stains spreading over his shirtfront, he wasn’t getting up anytime soon. That so
n of a bitch Anton had shot him in the stomach.

  “What the fuck did you do that for?” Ryan shouted. “He was going to earn us a million dollars in bets tonight. Mr. Nguyen is going to go ballistic.”

  “The asshole was going to kill Emilio,” Anton said, his weapon still pointed at Bryce, curled up on the floor with his hands cradling his stomach. “He had his teeth buried in Emilio’s damn shoulder!”

  Ryan didn’t seem to give a shit about that. He completely ignored Emilio as the man peeled back the collar of his shirt and checked the damage, muttering something about turning into one of those damn freaks. Instead, Ryan shoved a hand through his hair and cursed, his eyes darting back and forth between Bryce and Spencer, who was still sitting there staring at something only he could see.

  “What the hell are we going to do now?” Ryan muttered. “The crowd up there is frothing at the mouth for the big fight we promised them.”

  “Drag him up there,” Anton said, gesturing with the gun at Spencer.

  Tanner tensed. Spencer was still out of it. If they tossed him into a fight right now, there was no telling what would happen.

  Ryan frowned. “I don’t know. I think Mr. Nguyen has other plans for him.”

  “I’ll do it,” Tanner said before Ryan could change his mind. Or suggest that his men drag Bryce up to the ring to fend for himself. A hybrid could take a lot of punishment, and Tanner hoped Bryce survived long enough for him to figure a way out of this, but the man was in too much pain to fight.

  Ryan gave Tanner an appraising look. “Mr. Nguyen has something special planned for you, too, and as much as I’d love to see you get your ass whooped, I can’t have anyone damaging our star attraction before the main event.”

  Tanner shifted just enough to make his eyes glow red, grinning as Ryan took a quick step back. “You seriously think anything you have waiting up in that cage is going to damage me?”

  Ryan gazed at him for a moment longer, then turned to Anton. “Take off his chains. He’ll go up in place of the other one.”