by Tl Reeve
“Don’t mince words with me, kid.” Rafe chuckled.
“Wasn’t going to, pops.” The corner of Gabriel’s lips tipped upward in a sarcastic smirk.
“Got it.” Lix entered the observation room carrying a piece of latent tape. The red fingerprint had been in exceptional condition and would hopefully point them in the direction needed to find whoever killed Aurin and Bain along with the others. “I’ll clean up the tracker. I noticed a code on it, maybe someone can get information there, too.”
“I’ll photograph it when you’re ready and send it on to my aunt,” Gabriel said.
“While you’re waiting—” Lix pointed over his shoulder— “there’s a Live Scan machine in the analysis room where I drew Rafe’s blood.”
“Thanks.” Rafe took the fingerprint from Lix then exited the room, leaving Gabriel to trail behind him.
“The only way it’ll be in a database is if the person was picked up before,” Gabriel said. “We’ll go through AFIS, FBI, and State first, then I can send it on to my aunt who can go deeper.”
Rafe nodded. “Same with the code.”
“Yes. Seeing as PBH uses it, I would assume it is a government entity supplying them with the subdermal trackers.” He frowned as he stared at the fingerprint. “What if we’re looking at this wrong. What if the guy we thought was a runaway, is really someone working with PBH?”
Rafe slipped the fingerprint into the machine and started the scan. “Are you saying Aurin or Bain killed him, and he was added to the pile?”
“Don’t know.”
“Let’s walk through this idea of yours. If he cornered everyone, Aurin kills him first or Bain, and they keep going. Now, when all is said and done, PBH in a desperate attempt to hide evidence of them being there, throws the kid in as cover—while destroying evidence at the warehouse—which, by the way, they did a shitty job of.”
“It’s plausible,” Gabriel said. “PBH has no value on life, unless they’re using it to their benefit.”
“True. We’ve seen it firsthand today.” The machine beeped. “Well, hello, Mr. Lu Wu.”
“Damn.” Gabriel stared at the photo that appeared on the computer screen. “He was only twenty-one. Shit.” He stared at the photograph. “Oh, fuck.”
“The upper end of the age scale, though he looks pretty young,” Rafe murmured. “Is he on the list of victims?”
Gabriel shook his head. “No. But, I know the last name.”
“Looks like your hypothesis is playing out,” Rafe said. “What do you mean you know his last name?”
“Yeah, looks like it.” Gabriel slipped his phone out of his pocket. “I should let my uncle know.”
“Do you want to wait for the code off the tracker?”
“Nah. If anything I can get the ball rolling for more information on Lu.” He pushed open the door leaving Rafe to stare after him.
Gabriel stepped out of the room and into the hall. As he hit send, he sent up a silent prayer he’d be wrong. Because if Lu Wu was who he thought it could be, the family would be devastated. Yet, it also didn’t make sense when he thought about it. Why would a shifter family be helping PBH, especially after everything they’d been through over the years?
“Why do I feel like every time you call, my day get worse?” Kalkin said in greeting.
Gabriel smiled. “Hey, what can I say? I’m on the ball today.” There were only two paths for Lu Wu. Either he worked for PBH and was killed, or he was a double agent, which would complicate the whole fucking case, because they were still missing a kid.
“Well, spit it out,” Kalkin snapped. “Your aunt has dinner waiting on me.”
Damn was it that late already? He frowned when he realized darkness surrounded the building they were in. Where are Natalie and Hauser? “We found a tracker on one of the bodies.”
“A tracker?”
“Yeah, we also found a fingerprint on the tracker. It comes back to a Lu Wu.”
“Hmm...”
“He’s twenty-one,” Gabriel added. “It caught my attention. Fallon’s last name is Wu.”
“Boy, I need you to call Adrian. He doesn’t do very many jobs now that he’s out, but he did have a few double agents working for him. If anyone would know who Lu is, it’s Adrian.” Kalkin rattled off the phone number. “Even if the kid isn’t one of ours, Adrian will still be able to give you the rundown on him.” He paused. “Does this mean, what I think it does?”
“Yes, PBH has one of ours. Whoever is on the table in the autopsy room, took the place of one of the teens we were supposed to bring back to Window Rock or PBH saw his dead body and decided to lump him in with ours. Either way, one of the kids is missing.”
“Mother fucker,” Kalkin growled. “Find the answers and bring the kid home. Those are your new mission parameters along with finding who killed our agents.”
“On it.” When he hung up with Kalkin, Gabriel dialed Adrian’s number. He knew the guy had gone with his mate and her family to visit Poe’s family in Baltimore. Gabriel understood the circumstances of Adrian living in Window Rock. It’d been the only way to keep the guy off the radar for PBH. Bringing him back into the fold would be risky. Yet, none of made a bit of difference if Adrian didn’t want to help them. Of course, Gabriel couldn’t blame him if he didn’t. The bounty on Adrian’s head sat at thirty million.
The phone rang twice before Adrian answered. “Yeah?”
“Uh, hey, It’s Gabriel.”
Adrian yawned as though he’d been sleeping. “Hey. Everything okay?”
“No. Not really. We have a case.”
“What can I do?” Adrian snapped to attention. “Where are you?”
“Salem,” Gabriel answered.
“Shit, we had a pick-up near there, didn’t we?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “It’s why I’m here. Look, some shit went down. Aurin and Bain are dead.”
“Fuck,” Adrian said on an exhale.
“So are the kids. It’s why I am calling. There was a body on the pile that’s not one of ours. He’s PBH.”
“What?” Adrian snapped.
“While the autopsy was being performed, a tracker was found. A fingerprint came back to a Lu Wu.”
Adrian blew out a breath. “Shit.”
“Uncle Kalkin said you might have had agents working with you.”
“Yeah,” Adrian said. “Lu is one of mine along with his twin, Lyle. Their sister, Fú zé, works for PRA, you should know that, and they have a brother, Ji.”
He knew Fú zé, or Fallon as she liked to be called. They’d talked a few times, but not much. She had a chip on her shoulder, and he couldn’t blame her. Their parents had been killed by a drunk driver when they were younger and coming to Window Rock to live with their aunt, wasn’t the ideal new life.
Fallon began working for PRA a year ago when she turned seventeen. As one of the younger members, it’d been her job to follow the sheep boys and take on some of the “not so,” dangerous jobs for agents. She along with her partners, Grainger, Warren, Kage, and Abraham were on their way to Florida as they spoke. Sometimes, he hated the fucking job because he knew as soon as he saw the name, it involved the Wu family. Damn it.
“Are they still on the inside? Lu and Lyle?”
“They wanted to stay,” Adrian answered. “Where are you going with these questions? What’s going on with Fallon?”
“Did Lu inject trackers?”
“Yes. He placed them in all of the agents including himself and his brother,” Adrian replied. “Now what the fuck is going on?”
Gabriel swallowed hard. “If I send you a photo of the person we have, can you tell us if it is Lu or Lyle?”
“Fuck me,” Adrian snarled. “I can. Send it on.”
“Give me a second.” Gabriel walked back into the autopsy room. The body of their person of interest laid on the table while Lix finished sewing him closed. Gabriel took a picture of the guy’s face then sent it to Adrian. “Should be on the way to you.”
Gabriel did as the man requested, including the fact he’d found a little girl. “Her name is Halo. I adopted her. So, you have a niece, I think, if you want.”
“I do want. Thank you,” Adrian murmured. “Anyway, Lu and Lyle shadowed the teen groups of “sheep boys.” They were to report back on what PBH was doing out on the street without my authorization. When they reported back, I took the appropriate steps to correct the behavior. When my cover was blown, I feared theirs had been, too. However, it appears until recently they were still deep undercover in PBH.”
“Who was their point of contact after you got out?”
“Jerome,” Adrian answered. “I would assume. Perhaps Rapier. Are you going to tell me what Fallon has to do with this?”
Then they were helping us? Gabriel blinked. “What the fuck is going on here?”
“I’ve got no clue kid,” Adrian said. “But it sounds messed up.”
“Look, Fallon is on her way to Florida to investigate a black-market operation we found earlier today. She has her team with her. We have some evidence pointing to this case being connected to there. In fact, I found the body at the scene today.”
“Shit, Gabe, this isn’t good. If Fallon finds out, especially with her team.”
Yeah, he knew. The team was made up of two vampires, two demons, and a tiger shifter. They were young, but one of the strongest teams PRA had. Fallon was lethal; Gabriel would suspect as powerful as her brothers, while the others were hell on earth, literally. “I know. You don’t have to say it. Is it safe to say Lu might be in the field?”
“Could be. Stay away from him. If he knows about his twin, he can be unpredictable. They were like you and Natalie. Lu and Lyle might be tiger shifters, but they also have 4th degree black belts in Kung Fu.”
“What’s the likelihood he’d help us find Lyle’s killer?”
Adrian chuckled. The sound wasn’t warm or inviting. It had a dark, dangerous intonation Gabriel had only heard come from his uncle Kalkin. “Slim and none, Gabe. If he already knows, you’ll be following a trail of bodies straight to the killer.”
“Shit. This won’t help us. It’ll only make it harder.” Gabriel scrubbed his head. “How do you feel about being a consult for this and maybe seven other jobs?”
“I’m under protection twenty-four-seven, Gabe. I can’t leave this house without my detail.”
“Don’t expect you to. I can have everything we have sent to you through an encrypted email to Midnight if you want. There is a pattern here, and if Lu and Lyle are part of it, you’re the key.”
“Fine, sure. Send it on. But, I swear if you pull me from my mate to come catch Lu, I’m going to kill you,” Adrian stated.
Gabe smirked. “Would never dream of it. I don’t need that firefly of yours on my ass.”
“Goodbye, little brother.”
Warmth filled his chest, it’d been the first time Adrian called him ‘little brother,’ even though biologically they weren’t related. Gabriel hit end on his phone and walked back into the office where he’d left Rafe. The man stared at him with a curious expression as he folded his arms over his massive chest. The other members of his team had joined him, with Shax, Hauser, Maxwell, and Natalie suspiciously missing.
“Did you find anything out?” Rafe groused.
“I did,” he answered. “The guy on the table in there is Lyle Wu. His twin brother Lu is deep undercover in PBH. Their sister, Fú, better known as Fallon, is also a member of PRA. She just joined us last year and is part of the team heading to Florida right now.”
“What in the shit?” Rafe stood taller. “Are you fucking with us?”
Gabriel shook his head. “When I saw the last name I knew something was amiss.”
“And, this Lu fellow,” Raum stated. “Where is he?”
“According to Adrian, he could be hunting.”
Caim whistled. “What a cluster fuck.”
“I’ve made the decision to bring Adrian into this mission as two of his agents, Lu and Lyle were both involved. Also, since Lyle’s body was found with our people, we are now in search of a teen, who has been taken by PBH.”
“Do we have a name?” Rafe stared at Gabriel.
“According to our documents, yes, his name is Daniel Chu. He has the ability to control electricity or electrokinesis.”
“Double shit,” Caim grunted. “The kid could be used to take out power grids.”
“I have to get all of the files to Midnight for Adrian to go over and get caught up to speed. I should head back to the hotel,” Gabriel said. “Where’s my sister?”
“The hotel,” Rafe replied. “She, Shax, Maxwell, and Hauser returned to get things ready for us, so we can eat dinner and get some rest. We’ve all had a long day, and I believe tomorrow might be worse.”
“True.” Gabriel nodded. “Well then, I guess we shouldn’t waste any time then.”
“I can’t wait to wrap my hand around a cold one and get a shower. I need to get the stench of death off me,” Lix said. “Plus, staring at dead bodies for the last twelve hours is a buzz kill.”
Gabriel nodded. “I’m feeling a bit peckish myself. When can we transport the bodies?”
“Tomorrow afternoon,” Lix said. “Aurin and Bain were picked up while all of you were working. PRA is quick.”
“Have to be when it’s life and death,” Gabriel said.
“We’re going to catch whoever did this,” Rafe said, placing his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.
Gabriel smirked. “Of course we are. The question is, will we find them dead or alive?”
Chapter Seven
For two days, they went over the information found in the burned-out remains of the warehouse. Gabriel gave Rafe plenty of room, and for some reason, it hurt. It hurt his heart and his pride, plus it left the wolf within him pouting like a wounded animal. Of course, he could be partially to blame. When it came right down to it, he wouldn’t answer Gabriel’s basic question, what was he?
The question kept him up at night. He realized it was his own insecurities that held him back from saying the truth. For as much as he was a bad ass, he also had feelings, and he didn’t want to be rejected. What are you, a girl? Rafe snorted at himself. He shouldn’t say stupid shit. After all, some of the toughest people he knew were of the female gender, including Gabriel’s twin, Natalie. The woman didn’t understand what fear was or why it should dictate how she went about her day.
While they’d been trying to track down all the missing pieces of their case, Rafe did a little digging on the Raferty twins. Their story was a bit different, but mostly the same as everyone else’s. They grew up in Window Rock. Went to school there. Graduated at number four and six in their class. While Gabriel went right for the Sheriff’s Department, Natalie went to community college. She studied art history and took some early education classes. Rafe figured, she used what she learned at the orphanage until both Gabriel and she decided to help PRA.
It made sense.
After seeing both Gabriel and Natalie in action, they were invaluable. The way they amplified each other’s abilities, left Rafe gobsmacked. And, their aura? Shit. A phoenix rising from the ash. “Temper us in fire, and we grow stronger. When we suffer, we survive...” he muttered his favorite line from Cassandra Clare’s City of Heavenly Fire. Which coincidentally dealt with angels.
“What was that?” Caim asked, tilting his head.
“Nothing,” Rafe said. “Did you find anything useful in that stack of paperwork?”
“Nope.”
Rafe glanced up at Caim. “Then stop paying attention to me and get back to work.”
“You’re in a dickish mood today.”
Maybe he was. Since he woke the other morning, not knowing how he got home and was filthy, he’d had a pounding headache. Having to deal with a situation that continued to grow increasingly bizarre by the minute, didn’t help t
he ache settling in at his temples. Gabriel and Natalie tried to reassure him that it was normal. But, it didn’t feel normal.
“Holy shit,” Raum said from across the room. “I got something.”
“Go get Natalie and Gabriel,” Rafe said to Caim. “Also, find out where Maxwell and Hauser got off to.”
“I think the guys said something about dropping off some documents or whatever,” Shax stated. “They should be back sometime tomorrow morning.”
Rafe nodded. “Better than sending it out through email. Keeps us hidden for a bit longer.” As Caim exited the room, Rafe joined Raum at his Frankensteined computer. He only used the beast when he had to hardwire hard drives into his computer to download their information. “What have you got?”
“Everything. Pick-up dates. Locations. Transfer fees. Going rates for trafficking. Shit.” He opened a ledger file next to one of the other document folders. “Money. Millions of dollars in imports and exports. This shit even goes overseas.”
“What goes overseas?” Gabriel asked, joining them.
“PBH,” Raum answered. “Did you know?”
Gabriel’s gaze slid to his twin who held Halo snuggled to her chest. “No. None of us did.”
“Can you print all of it off?” Rafe questioned, while he continued to stare at Gabriel. For someone who claimed the baby, he never seemed to care for her. Natalie did most of the work on her own.
“On it. Thank fuck for an industrial printer. There have literally got to be thousands of documents and entries.” Raum began highlighting each piece of information he wanted then hit print, before beginning again. “We could be here a while.”
“We could run and get lunch,” Natalie said.
“I’ll take you,” Shax said. “You can leave the kid with your brother, since he’s a doting dad and all.”
Natalie frowned. “I enjoy having my niece near me. Her spirit is so warm, and she’s such a good little girl.”