Hunted (19 page)

Which is exactly what I was hoping to do now.

But, because I knew how easy it was to manipulate data, I wanted to make sure no one could accuse us of doing just that. So I’d asked Matt to make sure the keyboard and screen of each laptop was covered by a video camera. I wanted every stroke I entered recorded. I wanted every image that appeared on the screen to be seen. There was no way I was going to let Jennings claim we were setting him up.

I just hoped it was enough.

It had to be enough.

“Ready?” Matt asked as he handed me a bottle of water.

“Yeah.” At least I hoped so. “Where’s my grandmother?”

“She is finishing up a call to your uncle. Said she’d join us just as soon as she can.”

“Then let’s get started.”

I moved to take my place at the table and waited as Matt checked the focus and aim of the camera behind me. He lightly patted my left shoulder, my signal that he was ready. Then he moved to sit next to me. We’d decided that was the best way to insure no one thought he was manipulating the camera, stopping and starting it, as I worked.

I reached out, hoping my hands didn’t shake as nerves suddenly flared, and opened the first laptop. As I did, I took a moment to study it. While it wasn’t new--I’d guess it was at least a year old--it didn’t look like it had gotten much use. The letters on the keyboard were still clear. There wasn’t much wear and tear on them or on the mouse pad. What that meant was anyone’s guess. The owner could have used it only for e-mail or could simply be a Luddite who hated computers and used it only when necessary. Frankly, I didn’t care as long as there was something on it that linked the trackers to Jennings.

There was no sense in putting off the inevitable. I pushed the power button and waited. The familiar whirring of the hard drive starting was music to my ears. Just as the logo that popped up a few moments later was a welcome sight. So far so good. Now to see if there was a log-on screen. That was the first test.

“Idiots,” I muttered as the laptop booted directly to the home screen with no log-on required. Maybe this would be easier than I’d thought. Fingers crossed, at least metaphorically speaking, I got down to work.

After checking the documents and images files and finding reports that had been written about my activities and contacts for the last two weeks as well as more photos of me taken without my knowledge, it was time to turn my attention to email. Whichever of the trackers used this laptop had been a trusting soul, surprising considering why they were here. Not only had they left the documents on the hard drive to be found by anyone looking, but they had so kindly not only kept their browsing history but had checked the “keep me logged in” option on the email program. No need to look for a password or try a hack.

Damn, how stupid could these guys be and thank God they were the ones Jennings had sent after me.

 It didn’t get any better--for them at least--with the second laptop. Oh, the emails were a bit more difficult to get to, but only because I had to work at finding the right password. Not hard to do since the guy had made a note of it in a saved document. At least he hadn’t saved the document as “password” or something equally as revealing. But a quick global search found the information I needed. Then it was only a matter of logging in and searching for any emails to or from Jennings.

And that’s when reaction hit. Reading e-mail after e-mail between them brought home just how lucky I’d been when Matt intervened and saved me. Jennings had finally grown tired of the chase. The trackers were under orders to do whatever they had to in order to bring me back to California. The implication was that he didn’t care how badly I was hurt as long as I was returned to him. Then he’d make sure I learned my lesson about how foolish it was to cross him and exactly what my place was.

Fear and fury filled me. My hands above the keyboard trembled and I snatched them out of the range of the camera. I wouldn’t give anyone the satisfaction of seeing how badly Jennings’ words shook me. Damn him. I’d never give in to him and I would never again live in fear of him. If he wanted war, by God I’d give it to him. But he would never have a claim on me. I’d die first.

“That’s enough, Finn.” Matt’s voice was soft, gentle. “Shut it down. We have all we need to make sure Jennings never bothers you again.”I nodded. I couldn’t say anything, not yet. Not with so many conflicting emotions boiling inside of me. The man who’d tried to rape me in order to seal his place as clan leader was also the man I now suspected of killing my parents. His emails to the trackers left no doubts that he’d authorized them to do whatever it took, including hurting me badly if necessary, to bring me back to him. Well, his words would now be used to prove what sort of a monster he really was.

“Finn, you don’t have to do this.”

I turned in the car seat and looked at Matt. I knew what he meant and I even appreciated the sentiment behind it. But he was wrong. I did have to do this. If I ever wanted to put my personal demons to rest, I couldn’t avoid what lay ahead. Sure, I’d come a long way this past week between accepting Matt as my mate and taking my place in pride and clan, as well as making that call to Jennings. But I wasn’t fooling myself either. Much of what I’d done was out of my control. That’s the benefit and the drawback to being a shape-changer. There are times when the “animal” dictates your actions. Then it is up to you to find a way to live as a human with the consequences of what you’d done.

Which was exactly what I was trying to do now.

That meant I needed to face down the men who’d tried to forcibly return me to California and Jennings. I had to accept on an intellectual level as well as on the emotional one that they’d been willing to hurt me, drug me and kidnap me. They hadn’t cared that I didn’t want to return to the clan I’d grown up in. They’d simply accepted the job and then tracked me like an animal.

Well, they were about to learn just how foolish they’d been.

“Matt.” I rested my left hand on his arm, glad we were parked. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

For a moment, he didn’t say anything. He just looked at me, his expression concerned as he searched my face for any indication I might not be telling the truth. I couldn’t blame him. I’d probably be doing the same thing if our roles were reversed. After all, only a few days had passed since he’d rescued me from these same men. He’d seen me, hurt and scared. The fact he’d not tried to dissuade me from coming before now said a lot. He knew, even if he didn’t completely approve, of my need to face the men.

“You’re amazing is what you are.” He released his seatbelt and pulled me as close as possible with a stick shift and console between us. I didn’t mind the hug. I hated the rest of it, but I’d not tell him that. I’d be too worried he’d do something foolish like sell the car and it really was a nice car, as long as you weren’t trying to neck--or more.

“Not really. I’m just tired of running.” I smiled up at him. “And I refuse to let Jennings or anyone else drive me from my home.”

“Good.” He gave an emphatic nod before bending to lightly kiss me. “Shall we get this over with?”

Now it was my turn to nod. The sooner we dealt with the trackers, the better.

A moment later, I stood next to the Mustang and looked around. We were parked in front of what looked like any one of the innumerable warehouse districts that had sprung up around the DFW area over the last twenty years. Non-descript one and two story buildings that showed the signs of hard use over the years. Some of the storefronts were vacant but most looked to be occupied. Loading docks were visible at the ends of the building and there were more in the back, unless I missed my guess. Because it was nearing the end of the workday, men and women moved across the parking lot to their vehicles. There was nothing to point to the fact something out of the ordinary might be taking place in one of the buildings.

Matt took my hand and led me around the corner. As we neared a door set into the wall next to the nearest loading dock, Teresa stepped outside. She paused and looked around, eyes sharp. I had a feeling she could describe down to the color of my underwear what I was wearing. Good. That meant she wasn’t likely to overlook anything where the trackers, or anyone else, was concerned.

“Matt, Finn, let’s get inside.”

She stepped aside so we could enter. Then sameness of the exterior continued inside. White walls, linoleum floors that showed hard use over the years lined a dark corridor leading further inside the building. That all changed as we came to the end of the corridor and Teresa used what was clearly a top of the line security panel to open a second door, this one out of sight from the exterior.

The moment the door closed behind us with a very ominous click, lights came up. A stairwell led down to what I assumed was a basement. It might have been that years ago. But now there was no mistaking what it was--a high security tech center of some sort.

What the hell?

Matt watched, a slight smile on his face, as I moved from work station to work station, being careful not to disturb the men and women working there. Computers were set up to monitor local, national and international newscasts. One seemed dedicated to monitoring local law enforcement broadcasts. A flat screen monitor on the wall facing the workstations was divided into four sections. One section was black while the other three focused on different men sitting at tables in different rooms. The trackers.

But, damn, what was this setup? It looked a lot like the settings for some of the shows I’d seen on TV over the years. Private security, usually of the sort that contracted with the government, and their super-secret headquarters complete with cells and interrogation areas. And always having the best in cutting edge technology. Maybe that’s what this had been inspired by. All I knew was that my parents hadn’t had anything like this and it made me more than a little uncomfortable.

Well, there was no way to find out except to ask. So I did.

“This is the product of Danny’s and Teresa’s professional paranoia.” Matt grinned as Teresa simply shook her head.

“Finn, you were right the other evening when you talked about the danger we all face from advanced technology and science,” Teresa took up. “Danny and I came to Matt several years ago, not long after he took over clan leadership, to talk to him about how close we’d come on more than one occasion of having our existence revealed simply because some overzealous lab tech decided to process all the evidence found at a crime scene. Most scenes have a lot of trace evidence that has nothing to do with the actual crime. No matter how careful we are, we leave behind skin cells, hair, and so much more. We’d been lucky and had managed to keep anything untoward from coming out, but we knew our luck was running out, especially if we didn’t do something.

“Fortunately for all of us, Matt listened. Then he talked to some of the other clan leaders in this part of the country and they listened to him. We pooled resources, including manpower and finances, to build this place. Our cover, if you want to call it that, is that we also do private security, including forensic testing. But our real job is to make sure none of our people are implicated in something that could bring about the public knowledge of our existence before we are ready for that to happen. Everyone who works here is either a shape-shifter or related to one.”

“Finn.” Concern filled Matt’s voice when I didn’t say anything. “Are you okay with this? I probably should have warned you.”

“No.” I shook my head. “You’ve had more than enough on your mind. And yes, I approve. Hell, I’ll even help man it if you let me.”

“Good.” He grinned and then told Teresa how I’d dealt with the laptops, including the video precautions I’d insisted on. She nodded in approval and then smiled. So far, so good. Let’s hope I didn’t do anything to mess things up now. “Have you gotten anything from our
guests
?”

Teresa’s smile turned sour. “Nothing but a headache. They spent the first hour or so threatening everything from lawsuits to criminal charges if we didn’t let them go. One of them even tried to bribe me. When I pointed out they were wasting their breath, the two older ones got nasty. A word of warning, their control isn’t great. The last time I checked in on them, their features were blurring with the need to shift.”

That wasn’t good on several different levels. One of the first lessons my parents had taught me when I started shifting was that high emotion could bring on a shift if we weren’t careful. They worked with me, sometimes in ways I didn’t really appreciate, to build a control that would be hard to break. They metaphorically beat into my head how important it was that none of us ever lost control to the extent that we shifted in a public venue. To do so could sign the death warrant for our entire kind. That’s pretty heady stuff for a girl to have to learn, but learn I did. It bothered me that Jennings had sent hunters, who should be the most controlled of all our kind, who were ready to start shifting just because they found themselves in a difficult situation.

“I assume you’ve taken precautions then.” Matt sounded as unhappy with the news as I felt.

“They’ve been put in separate rooms as you can see. They’re cuffed to the table and their ankles are secured to their chairs. We searched them for weapons and took their IDs. I’ve done a standard criminal history search on them and have to admit I am not impressed. The two older have a string of traffic tickets stretching across the country as well as drug possession charges and two convictions in California. The third one is clean. But he is young and he’s scared to death.”

“Do you recognize any of them?” Matt asked and I turned to look at the split-screen images again.

“No.” Not that I’d really expected to. I hadn’t thought Jennings would send anyone who had known me or my parents. There would have been too much of a chance they might not bring me back if they actually caught up with me, especially not if they gave me a chance to try to dissuade them.

“What do you want to do?” Teresa looked from Matt to me and then back to Matt.