Full Moon on the Lake (8 page)

7

Henderson sat in the brush across the lake watching the cabin.  He had seen his target two days earlier but realized she was under constant guard. Hence, he waited patiently for an opportune moment. Tonight he saw his opening.

The person Kathleen had been seen holding hands with took off suddenly into the forest and two of the guards followed close behind him. Then, a few minutes later the leader of this strange commune took off with one of the women staying at the cabin with Kathleen leaving the female guard and one other.

“Bill get the guys together we move tonight!” he ordered as he stood bushing off the dirt from his pants.  He was going to get this job out of the way.  He gathered up his gear shaking his head, a freaking runaway wife. He was not normally into domestic issues, but the man on the phone offered an awful lot of money for such a simple job. Well his group was for hire. They needed to lay low for a while after the last job, so when this job landed in their lap, how could he turn it down.

“Jeff grab the four wheeler and meet us over there near the road in forty-five minutes.  Bill, I will take Mike with me we can handle the two women.  You take the rest of the guys and cause a diversion and meet us at the rendezvous in one hour.  Use the dart guns only if necessary, unless the situation warrants otherwise, no mistakes this time!  Anyone not at the rendezvous on time is left behind you will have to find your own way out. Let’s go!”

Henderson and Bill hurried off into the forest circling around the lake. They had noticed the guards never went beyond a certain point so it was easy going up to that point.  When they reached the edge of the patrolled area, Henderson gave Bill the hand signal to go. When Bill’s group disappeared into the trees, he move stealthily and fast toward the cabin.

Arriving at the cabin Henderson noticed there were no lights on, but if the guard was worth her weight in gold, he knew she would be alert.  He signaled Mike to move to the other side of the cabin and waited for him to get in position.  When Mike signaled his readiness, Henderson picked up a pebble, threw it at the porch causing it to roll across the worn planks, and waited.

Serena heard the sound of leaves crunching outside and listened intently. A few seconds passed and she heard something clatter across the porch, jumping up she went over to Daniela and woke her placing a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. “Shh, someone is outside.” She whispered.  Daniela nodded her understanding and Serena removed her hand, “I am going out to investigate. Where is your phone?”  Daniela reached under her pillow and grabbed the phone showing it to Serena who nodded.  “Good if something happens call for help. Stay in the cabin!” Serena turn away and quietly walked to the door.

Standing at the door she listened for a few seconds then cracked the door opened. As she opened the door further, she took a deep breath and found a scent that did not belong. Looking back at Daniela sitting on the edge of her bed she nodded once, opened the door and stepped out.  She spotted the man in the trees right away and headed in his direction. She had gotten only two steps in when she felt something bite her in the shoulder and fell hard onto the ground.

Daniela watched Serena rush out, heard her take a couple of steps on the porch, then heard something heavy hit the ground. Worried she jumped up and ran across the cabin to the door. The intention was to peek out to make sure Serena was okay, as she held the phone tightly in her hand.  She got to the door and cautiously looked out. Seeing Serena lying unconscious on the ground, Daniela raised the phone to dial the number she had ready for help, when a man emerged around the side of the cabin. Before she could scream or even press the button to send, something hit her in the chest, she looked down surprised to see a dart. She looked up at the man astonished as everything went dark, the phone slid loose from her fingers falling to the ground.

“Like clockwork.” Mike said smiling down at Kathleen lying on the floor. 

“Yeah, text Bill tell him mission accomplished.” Henderson returned as he bent down to check her pulse.  Finding her pulse and breathing steady he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, heading to the rendezvous point smiling.  Bill finished his texted and followed pocketing his phone.

They had been running for twenty minutes when they met up with Bill just five minutes from the SUV.  Henderson set Kathleen down on the ground then stood looking at Bill, “Any trouble?” 

Bill smiled, “Nah, you were too fast, never even came across anyone. It was almost too easy.” He laughed. 

Henderson nodded, “Grab her and let’s go.  We need to get to the car before the sedative wears off.” Bill nodded, pointed to one of the men who picked her up and they took off toward the car.

Jace had just finished his rounds and was heading back to the cabin to meet his relief when strange scents caught his attention.  Following the scent, it lead to the lake just outside the patrol area where he found multiple scents in one place. He circled the area coming to a spot where the unknown people split up. A bad feeling circling in his gut as he realized one set of scents were leading toward the cabin.  Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialed Michael rapidly as he ran toward the cabin.  The bad feeling growing worse the closer he got.

Jacob woke abruptly, frantically looking around the room. Seeing Eric sitting by the door and Thomas sleeping on the floor in his wolf form, he stood looking back at Eric.  Eric stood slowly feeling a threat coming from Jacob as he growled, watched as Jacob’s eyes darken in confirmation something was wrong.  Thomas hearing all the commotion woke alert and ready.  Jacob took a step towards the door and Eric held up his hands, “Jacob, you can’t leave and you know it, so stop right there.” 

Jacob reluctantly stopped, “Something is wrong!  We need to get to the cabin.” He pleaded almost frantically.

Eric looked at Jacob and assessed he was not lost in the mating, but a real concern edged his appearance. “Look we have orders to stay here,” putting his hands up to stop Jacob from arguing he continued rapidly, “I will call the cabin and check on things, ok?”  Jacob relented and nodded his assent pacing impatiently. Eric pulled his phone out and dialed Jace, it went directly to voice mail. Hanging up, he dialed Serena next where it rang four times also going to voice mail again. He looked up at Jacob and Thomas and dialed Derrick’s number, again nothing.  Jacob getting further agitated, paced the room with Thomas following.  Eric confused was starting to wonder if Jacob was right, hurriedly dialed Michael next.

The phone beeped as Michael was finishing his call, with the last man on his list given instructions for the search. Jace had called as he raced to the cabin to let him know what was going on. Getting up he hurried to the garage grabbing a car and drove quickly out to the cabin. He found Serena unconscious but alive on the ground in front of the cabin as Jace arrived.  Nodding he left Jace to watch over her as he checked in the cabin for Daniela, it was empty.  Answering the call, he heard Eric ask him ‘what was going on, he had been trying to get a hold of someone at the cabin, Jacob convinced something was wrong.’  Michael shook his head forgetting that particular problem voiced, “Shit” in answer to Eric’s question. Then explained quickly what was going on.

Derrick heard the commotion long before he saw the lights of the cars shinning all around the cabin, picked up speed. He entered the area and shifted as he walked over to Michael who was yelling at Jacob to calm down.  Jacob was on the edge fighting for control over his wolf.  Laying a firm hand on Jacobs shoulder to help calm him, he looked to Michael to explain what was going on. He feared the worst.

Kyla seeing Derrick take off suddenly, followed close behind watched him shift and head to Michael.  Seeing the door open to the cabin, she headed in that direction running through straight to the bathroom to get clothes. She noticing Serena on the bed and looked at Doc beside her as she sped through.  Dressing quickly Kyla grabbed a pair of sweats and headed back into the main room throwing them at Thomas standing off to the side. “Derrick.” She ordered, Thomas nodded and left.

Kyla walked over to Doc and looked down at Serena sleeping on the bed, “What happened?” 

Doc looked up with sadness in his eyes, “She will be alright,” He pointed to the dart sitting on the table,

“She was tranquilized, she will be out for another hour or so.  She was found outside on the ground, Daniela is missing, her phone found on the ground by the door.  Michael thinks it was a professional job.” 

Kyla sat heavily down in the chair nearest her. “Shit!”

“…After Jace called, I sent out search parties right away, three have called in with nothing to report, I am still waiting on the other two.” Michael was informing Derrick as his phone rang. 

“Yeah!” He answered gruffly, “Where?”

Michael turned looking across the lake directly across from the cabin saw a light signaling clearly.  Derrick and Jacob turned and looked toward where Michael’s attention was directed. 

“OK, split into two groups and search the area, I’ll send more help.”

Hanging up he yelled, “Andy, Southeast side of the lake!”  Jeremy, you take the south. GO!” 

Ten men shifted in unison and disappeared into the night. Michael turned to Derrick with a pissed look on his face,

“I failed you Sir.  Gary found a recent camp abandoned on the other side of the lake. They were there at least three days watching the cabin. I should have covered more ground.” He exclaimed rubbing the short-cropped hair on his head in frustration.

“Michael, this is not your fault, we both underestimated the situation.  Let me know as soon as you hear anything.” Derrick consoled, then looked to Jacob,

“We need to talk.” 

Derrick turned and headed into the cabin. Jacob gave Michael an ‘I’ll deal with you later’ look then followed close behind, knowing they had hid something important from him.

Derrick walked into the cabin and over to where Kyla was sitting next to Doc, both watching over Serena.  Kyla looked up seeing the frustration in his eyes stood to stand next to him getting the message he wanted to talk, as Jacob walked through the door. She looked at Jacob as he stormed up to Derrick standing in a challenging stance in front of them.

“Okay, spill it. Now!” He said angrily.

Jacob’s aggravation more than obvious, Kyla understood what Derrick needed from her, moved to his other side maneuvering Doc at Jacob’s back.

“You have to understand Jacob,”

Derrick started as he glanced over Jacobs shoulder at Doc who was now standing, nodding at Derrick unspoken signal.  Jacob just stared waiting for Derrick to continue.

“Daniela asked us to keep her secret. Even from you.”

“Her name is not Daniella Casey; her really name is Kathleen Bentley.”

Jacob stood stunned staring in confusion at Derrick then at Kyla. Suddenly His eyes widened,

“Garret Bentley’s ex-wife?!?”

Derrick nodded solemnly.

Before anyone could react, Jacob threw a punch knocking Derrick across the room. 

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” He growled, “You knew she was in danger and you said nothing to me?!”

He growled his wolf’s anger pushing to the surface as he turned aggressively toward Kyla. Before he could react again, Doc injected a sedative into Jacob. Jacob turned abruptly and hit Doc knocking him across Serena on the bed just before he slumped to the floor and passed out.

“Well, that went well.”

Derrick said as he pulled himself off the floor rubbing his jaw. He walked over to Kyla, tears falling in sadness down her face, pulling her into his arms holding her close. Stunned by what happened Doc looked to both as he slid to the side of the bed taking his weigh off Serena.

Rubbing his own jaw, he looked at Derrick and Kyla,

“Someone wanna maybe explain what just happened?” He asked confused.

“I can.” said a voice behind them.

Caleb was standing in the doorway, walked slowly into the room looking sadly down at Jacob lying on the floor. “It is about to get a lot worse now that Kathleen is missing.  Even after she has been found his wolf has been pushed to the surface.” Looking at Doc he continued, “I am afraid at this point, if you had not sedated him he would have tried to kill Kyla and anyone who got in his way.” He said sadly. “He may now be lost to his wolf.”

Out of the astonished silence that followed Caleb’s announcement, Derrick roared, “Shit!” then thundered, “Michael!”

Derrick was in Alpha mode as Michael enter, taking in the all the circumstances in the room with one glance. Derrick needed to think of the packs safety first, not just Jacob's and Kate’s.

“Michael gather ALL the Command, Security and Elders Councils immediately. No excuses except for those on the search. We meet here in ten minutes I want an update on everyone’s progress then.”

Michael nodded, opening his mouth to speak; Derrick abruptly waved Michael away, turned addressing Doc,

“Keep him sedated until we figure out what to do with him.”

He looked at Kyla, “You need to be at the meeting, gather your council.”

Furiously turned and stormed out the door leaving everyone to complete his or her assigned tasks.

Derrick stormed out looking to the organized chaos, turned away from it all and walked into the woods to gather his thoughts.  Everyone who looked to the alpha when he came out could feel the wrath and power radiating off him, bowed their heads in submission, leaving him to his thoughts.  Only the very foolish or Kyla ever approached him in this mood.