Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3) (17 page)

He blinked in confusion. “Where?”

“The Great Plains Home of Tranquility,” she repeated, reaching up to run her hands through her hair. Sinclair swallowed a groan. He’d wanted to rub his face in those fantastic corkscrew curls for weeks. “It’s near Omaha, Nebraska,” she clarified.

Sinclair leashed his renegade thoughts. Later, he’d rub his face in her hair, and against the curve of her throat, and down the lush curves to the intoxicating secrets between her legs.

For now, he needed to concentrate on her stubborn refusal to travel to the protection of his Pack.

“Why do you want to go there?” he demanded.

“I told you that I was running traces to locate Dr. Lowman,” she reminded him.

He sucked in a startled breath. He’d assumed that she’d been chasing another vague clue. One of potentially thousands. But something in her expression made him tense with an unexpected sense of anticipation.

Dr. Lowman was the key to proving that the SAU was responsible for the Verona Virus. With him standing at their side, no one could deny that it was the shifters who’d been the saviors of mankind, not their destruction.

“You found him?” he rasped.

She held up a slender hand, clearly unwilling to commit one way or the other.

“Perhaps.” 

Reaching out, he grasped the tablet off the desk, studying the sprawling brick building that looked as if it were built in the middle of nowhere.

“This is the search you were running before we left?”

“Trying to, yes,” she said in dry tones, not having to point out that he had been the one to interrupt her efforts.

Not that Sinclair was going to apologize.

As desperate as he was to get his hands on Lowman, he wasn’t about to put this female at any further risk.

She’d done her part.

He hissed as he was struck by a sudden fear. “If it was on the computer, then the SAU has the doctor’s location, as well.”

“No.” An unexpected smile curved her lips. “At least, not unless they manage to repair the damage to their system.”

He studied her upturned face. “What damage?”

“I left behind a virus,” she told him. “It will destroy whatever information was on the computer, as well as any others attached to the same network.”

He gave a slow shake of his head. When he’d first met Mira, it had been easy to dismiss her as being a mousy geek who melted into the background. Now, he understood that beneath her shy nature were a generous heart and an unshakeable loyalty. Two qualities that he valued above all others.

Oh, and she was smart.

And sexy. Lusciously sexy.

“Remind me to never underestimate you,” he said with genuine sincerity.

She shrugged. “Most people do.”

He nodded toward the tablet. “Tell me what this place has to do with the doctor.”

“After I was captured…” Her words trailed away as his low growl filled the air. Then, clearing her throat, she continued. “They demanded that I do the majority of my searches while they could watch, so I created a search with Dr. Lowman’s name and then hacked into various clinics and hospitals to check if he was on their staff.”

Sinclair’s brows drew together in confusion. “You weren’t really searching for him?”

“Not like that.” She shrugged. “A man who’s gone into hiding doesn’t use his real name. Or continue in his same profession.”

Ah. His clever beauty.

“True.”

“So in the background, I was running searches for Patricia Carpenter and Jessica Medlen.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Who are they?”

“Dr. Lowman’s mother and his wife,” she said. “I found their maiden names.”

“Amazing,” he breathed.

A blush crept beneath her skin, only adding to her charm.

As an Alpha, Sinclair could have had any number of women. And not just because his power was an aphrodisiac to many shifters. But he’d always been a loner, his focus never wavering from his duty to his people.

No doubt a psychiatrist would say his past had injured him so severely he was incapable of forming intimate bonds.

But now he was considering the pleasure of having a companion who could be at his side.

One who would not only provide a warm body in his bed, but also a complex mind that could offer logical arguments when she thought he was wrong, and the same loyal dedication to his people that he demanded of himself.

“Not really,” she said, trying to disguise her flustered reaction to his blatant admiration. “It’s logical that they would revert to their previous names. That way, they could stay hidden from those searching for connections to Dr. Lowman, while their family could still contact them.”

“Did you locate them?”

She nodded. “Yesterday I got a hit on his wife, Jessica.”

The sense of hope returned at her low words. “What sort of hit?”

“An address in Omaha.”

“If you knew where she was, then why did you insist on staying at the base?” he demanded, still aggravated by the thought of her taking such an outrageous gamble with her life.

“Because her apartment contract shows that she lives alone.”

“That doesn’t mean that her husband isn’t there.”

“No, but it seems strange to risk getting tossed from her apartment when she could have put down a fake name for her husband,” she said. “So this morning, I ran a trace on her place of employment.”

“Where does she work?”

She pointed toward the tablet. “She’s a nurse at the Great Plains Home of Tranquility.”

He studied the brick building. Once again, he was struck by how isolated it was.

“It sounds like a spa,” he said.

“Nope. It’s a mental institution,” Mira corrected. “And her employment files reveal that her brother is a patient there.”

He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes that had darkened with excitement.

“Do you think the brother has information?”

She smiled. “Jessica Medlen doesn’t have a brother.”

George Markham watched as Donaldson paced the office that was as pretentious as it was oversized. He had a theory about men who had big offices. It was to compensate for a lack of genuine balls.

Something he never had to worry about.

Which was why he was leaning against the edge of the desk as his companion was red-faced and twitchy. He had confidence they’d find the missing computer bitch. And if they didn’t…

Well, he was going blame the entire fiasco on the Colonel.

He was the one who’d insisted that they bring Mira Reese to this base instead of staying at the SAU headquarters in Boulder. And he’d assured Markham that the security system was impenetrable.

A young man in a starched uniform stepped through the open doorway, snapping a salute as Donaldson turned to glare at him.

“Well?” the Colonel demanded.

The young soldier paled. Clearly, he was there to offer bad news.

“We did a complete sweep of the base. She isn’t here.”

Donaldson clenched his hands. “Did you check the silos?”

“Yes, sir. Even the abandoned ones.”

Markham rolled his eyes. Why would the woman sneak out of the office and then hide in one of the missile silos?

“What about the security tapes?” Donaldson pressed.

When they’d returned to the office after a long, too leisurely dinner, it was to discover that Mira Reese was missing, and the computer system completely shut down. Nothing they did could retrieve the information from the hard drive.

In fact, each time they tried, they only caused more damage.

“Whatever happened to the computers also affected the cameras,” the younger man said.

Donaldson’s breath hissed between his teeth. “So they’re worthless?”

The man lost another shade of color, and his gaze lowered. “Yes, sir.”

There was a tense pause, as if Donaldson were trying to restrain his urge to smash the poor soldier in the face.

“Get the dogs,” he at last snapped. “I want four separate search parties.” He lifted his hand to point toward each corner of the office. “North. South. East. West.”

The soldier gave a nod, eager to be away from his furious commander.

“I’ll get it arranged at once.”

“Don’t come back without her,” Donaldson warned in dark tones.

The soldier saluted, backing out of the room and closing the door with a firm snap. Markham’s lips twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps scurrying down the hall.

Markham might not be intimidated by Donaldson’s bluster, but obviously, the Colonel’s small army was easily bullied.

“Dammit.” Donaldson whirled on his heel, slamming his fist into the open palm of his other hand. “If she’s with one of the animals, we’ll never find her.”

Markham stiffened. He’d just assumed that Mira had discovered whatever she was looking for on the SAU’s private network and done her vanishing act.

Now he studied his companion with a deep frown.

“What makes you think she didn’t do this on her own?”

The Colonel flashed a patronizing smile that made Markham want to pull the Glock he had strapped to his ankle. Then, the pompous fool strolled across the office to open the window.

“I assume that she destroyed the computers and security system, she’s the expert, after all,” he drawled. “But there’s no way she did this.”

Reluctantly Markham crossed to study the gouges that had been dug into the windowsill.

Claw marks.

Biting back a curse, Markham forced himself to turn back to study the office. Shit. He should have done a more thorough inspection of the office the minute he’d realized that the computer woman was gone.

Now he had to act as if Donaldson hadn’t managed to outwit him.

“There’s no sign that she was forced to leave,” he said.

“No,” Donaldson agreed, slamming the window shut. “I would say Mira Reese has been playing us for fools. She’s obviously working with the shifters. They wanted the use of our computers, so she let herself be taken.” He paced to the center of the over-priced, hand-woven rug. “Which means she got what she wanted and called in one of the animals to get her out.”

Markham scowled. How could anyone choose one of those freaks over her own people? He’d heard that some humans even took the animals as lovers.

Sick.

Of course, if she did have a lover…

Markham abruptly reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, tapping the password onto the screen.

“I never did trust her,” he said.

Donaldson pivoted on his heel, his lips twisted in a humorless smile.

“That’s not what you were saying less than an hour ago.”

Markham held up his phone. “Do you need proof?”

Donaldson folded his arms over his chest. “Astonish me with your brilliance.”

Markham once again thought longingly of his Glock. At the Division headquarters, he was treated with respect that bordered on reverence. His companion, however, was roughly on the same level as he was when it came to the SAU hierarchy. Which meant Markham couldn’t demand the deference he so richly deserved.

Dammit.

“After we brought the woman here, I called a security team in Fort Collins to install a camera in case someone decided to come searching for her,” he said, thoroughly enjoying Donaldson’s brief spurt of annoyance before he was smoothing his expression.

“Can you access the tapes?”

“Of course.” With a few taps on the screen, Markham was rewinding the images. “Your technology might be easily compromised, but mine is far more dependable.”

Donaldson said a foul curse. “Jesus, you’re annoying.”

Markham didn’t bother to hide his satisfied smile, quickly skimming until he was at the beginning of the tape. The camera had been hidden in a tree in the front yard, giving a perfect view of the house, along with the driveway.

He paused as a woman appeared from the brick house next door, holding a cat.

“The neighbor,” he said as the woman used a key to enter the house and then left ten minutes later.

“Doubtful that she’s the animal that helped Mira escape from here,” Donaldson said.

Markham agreed. A woman didn’t risk her life for a neighbor, no matter how friendly they might be.

She did it for someone who satisfied her in bed.

He fast-forwarded, abruptly slowing the images as a truck pulled into the driveway, and an unknown man climbed out.

“There.”

“Damn, we can’t see his face,” Donaldson said. “Can you zoom in on the license plate?”

Markham scowled, oddly convinced that there was something familiar about the set of the man’s shoulders, and the way he moved. But unless he turned, it would be impossible for him to place whom it might be.

Dismissing the odd sensation that he might be acquainted with the stranger, he halted the video. Then, sweeping his finger over the screen, he managed to enlarge the image.   

“Got it. I’ll send this to my division.” Taking a screenshot of the license plate, he quickly had it emailed to his head of security. “They can start a search for the truck as well as contact the cops to put out a BOLO.”

Once again put in the position of follower, not leader, Donaldson squared his shoulders.

“Okay.” His expression was condescending. “It’s a decent backup plan if my men don’t find her first.”

Markham released a sharp laugh. “Accept defeat, Donaldson,” he urged the older man. “You and your soldiers let the woman slip from beneath your noses. Now it will be up to me to save your ass.” He pocketed his phone, a sly smile tugging at his lips. “Let’s hope Colonel Ranney doesn’t learn of your slip-up before we can get her back.”

Donaldson jerked at the unmistakable warning. No one wanted to be on the wrong side of the SAU’s founder. Not unless they wanted to end up in an unmarked grave.

“Bastard,” the military man hissed.

****

Mira was doing her best to ignore Sinclair’s brooding gaze. This wasn’t the first time they’d been in a small motel room together.

This wasn’t even the worst motel room. In an effort to avoid detection, Sinclair had often set up meetings in places that were barely fit for bedbugs. This room was at least clean with comfortable furniture.