KnightForce Deuces (32 page)

“And?” Silas wanted to see how far they would
go to avoid discussing his true identity and position.

Crall’s face whitened but he pressed on. “Have
there been any attacks on your pack? The canine trace is hybrid
mixture, wolf and human.”

Silas slapped Crall’s wolf. The Major General
jerked in his chair and wrapped his arm around his waist. “My pack?
Hybrid? Like a half-breed? Is that what you mean?” Silas asked in
an even tone toying with the General.

The General’s face lost color as he licked his
lips and looked at the pages in front of him. “I have a report here
that says there is a nation of half-wolf/half-men residing
alongside us in this country and that you are the leader.” He
looked up, met Silas’ gaze and cried out in pain as he slid to the
floor.

Melch and Kalid jumped up and moved to help
him. “Are you alright?” Melch asked. When Crall moaned from the
pain, Melch snapped at Kalid. “Call out, we need an
ambulance.”

“No,” Crall said. “Just give me a few
minutes.”

Instead of watching the General on the floor,
Summers watched Silas and Hawke.

“I apologize, Sir. I had no idea he would
say what he did
,” General Miller said.

“No matter. He was right, it’s in the files
over there. But he has not pledged his loyalty to me yet and should
never have spoken. That mistake will cost him
,” Silas said as
he continued antagonizing the General’s wolf.

“Yes, Sir
.”

Silas looked at his watch. “Are we
done?”

“No… Sir. You have not answered the last
question. Has there been any attack on your pack?” Summers asked in
a steady voice.

“Define pack?” Silas said as he crossed his
arms and leaned back in his chair.

“Please stop with the games. We know who you
are and what you do. So just answer the question please,” Summers
yelled. “Did this start with your people?”

Silas grinned, enjoying this meeting more than
he imagined. Crall’s wolf submitted instantly but the human side of
the man refused to acknowledge another man’s authority. By the end
of the night he would or die. Melch and Kalid were amusing in their
attempts to help Crall, when the only person who could help the
General sat across from them on the monitor. Summers’ was losing
his cool and soon the real conversation would start. Silas looked
forward to it.

“
No. This is all yours,” Silas
said.

“But… what about the DNA?” Summers
asked.

Silas shrugged. “They used a part of a wolf,
which has nothing to do with me or my people.” He released General
Crall gradually and the man crawled back into his chair, ignoring
pointed looks from the others.

“He’s
angry with you and doesn’t
understand or appreciate the concept of pack or Alpha
,” Hawke
said

Silas watched Crall smooth his hair back into
place then gulp down a bottle of water without looking in Silas’
direction. “
I agree but he will
.”

Tired of the back and forth, Silas leaned
forward, his face filled the screen. The water bottle in General
Crall’s hand froze midair. Melch stopped talking to Kalid and
stared at the screen. Summers straightened in his chair and General
Miller continued to stare at Silas.

“Time to cut through the BS. You have a
clusterfuck on your hands and it didn’t start with or from me. It
started with some power hungry bastards out to make a fast buck. At
some point, a connection was made with Boris Lancaster and the
individual who created the drug. I suspect he gave these
industrious criminals a base compound that would allow animal DNA
to survive, short-term, inside the human body. The DNA takes a
dominant position and destroys everything else. During the
temporary high, people can do extraordinary things, some we’ve seen
on the news but in the end they die unmercifully.” He paused. “You
have yourselves to blame. Somewhere, someone on your payroll
started this genetic bullshit. I know Lancaster, he supplied the
government with all types of things through the years. Many were
used against me and mine.

Now, your experiments are biting you in the
ass. If none of you know, someone does. This shit started in your
backyard, you need to clean it up.”

Summers blinked a few times and then looked at
Melch.

General Crall leaned forward. “Sir, I assure
you I don’t know anything about what you just said.” He held his
hands up. “I’m not doubting what you said, it’s highly probable. I
just don’t know where to begin looking and people are dying, even
those not taking this damn shit.”

“That’s the rub, isn’t it? Your house is dirty
and you don’t know where to begin cleaning. But it’s your house,
not mine. I can’t help you with that,” Silas said to
Crall.

“What makes you so sure this didn’t start with
your people?” Summers asked, his tone combative. “There’s no way
you can know what they’re all doing all the time. What if someone
close to you is behind this?” He pointed at Hawke. “It could be him
for all you know.”

Silas realized Summers didn’t have access to
the complete Wolf Nation files and relaxed a bit. “It’s not. Now,
is that all?”

“Can you at least point us in some direction?”
Melch asked.

Silas looked at him for a moment and then
nodded. “Sure. There are online groups who tell members or
potential members they need to go shoot wolves, take their blood
and then mail it in to receive money and membership. Start with
them.”

“Have you contacted any of these groups?” Melch
asked.

“No need.”

“There was an incident reported in Colorado,
earlier this week…” Melch said.

Silas looked at him, waiting for him to finish
his sentence.

“Do you know anything about that?” Melch
finished.

“Not really.”

“Your brother was involved,” Melch
said.

“No, he wasn’t,” Silas said.

“He wasn’t?” Melch asked.

“No.” Silas refused to place Angus anywhere
near the confrontation.

“Colonel Summers and Kalid, leave the room,”
General Crall said looking at them and then at General
Miller.

“Sir?” Colonel Summers said,
frowning.

“Leave the room, I’ll let you know when to
return,” the General said watching the door close behind
Kalid.

“Yes, Sir,” Summers said as he stood and left
the room.

Melch looked at General Crall and then at
Silas.

“Vernon Dreft died painfully from complications
of this drug. We know he collected blood from a wolf or hybrid.
After his death his brother, Henry sold the drug and is setting up
a business in Colorado,” General Crall said watching
Silas.

“We can send someone in to deal with Henry if
you’d like, or allow you to handle it,” the General said after a
brief moment.

“Where are you going with this?” Silas asked.
There was no way Angus would allow Henry to sell drugs using his
blood. The Dreft men had gotten lucky and stole the blood of a
300-year old wolf - potent stuff that would be hard to find again.
Which meant someone would continue searching until they found
something similar.

“Chase is a good man and a friend,” Crall
said.

Silas accepted the olive branch for what it
was; Crall would submit to Silas and the Nation. “Don’t worry about
Henry. How do you plan to stop this shit from spreading?” Silas
asked.

“From what we’ve learned, a major supplier in
your area was shut down recently. We confiscated one of the
shipments and are tracking down the others. The videos Melch sent
you were taken last week, with the exception of Dreft. That was
yesterday.”

“So there hasn’t been any more foaming at the
mouth and fights?” Silas asked.

“We don’t have information on any new
outbreaks, other than the one with Dreft. He’s still in the initial
stages of his venture but he will act soon.”

Silas shook his head, they’d played him. Piled
on the sympathy and married it to his concern for anything that
would hurt his pack. Well done, he would remember this in the
future. “You could’ve just asked me to take care of Dreft? Why make
Summers suffer through this meeting?”

“A few things had to be verified,” Crall said
looking at Silas.

“He would like to connect with you and offer
allegiance
,” General Miller said.

“After this meeting and Melch is not around.
Take him to your office or go to his and I will accept his
oath
,” Silas said, pleased.

“Yes, Sir
.”

“I don’t believe this has played out but I hope
your optimism is justified. Men want to be stronger, better and
bigger, even if it’s for a short period of time. There are those
who would force variations of this drug on men for specific suicide
jobs.” Silas paused and looked at Melch’s raised brow.

“Think about it, Melch,” Silas said. “Because
someone else has already thought of the flip side of using this in
that manner. It may be part of the reason it was
created.”

“But you can’t control them,” Melch
objected.

“No need to control them. Pull them from
prison, give them a shot and set them down in enemy territory.
They’ll do some damage and never live to tell what happened,”
Miller said.

“But, they’ll kill each other, not the enemy,”
Melch said his tone filled with disbelief.

“Not if they’re told they’ll be free after they
take out a certain target,” Crall said. “There is some cognition
after they are infected.” He looked at Silas.

“They’ve been running these tests
,”
Hawke said. “
Crall knows about them.”

“So it appears,
” Silas said, eager to
speak with Crall.

“In that case, I understand your concern,”
Melch said, backing from his position.

“We have secured samples of the drug. Is there
a way to run tests of the serum in a controlled environment to
determine overall effects with a representative of your lab
assisting? It may provide valuable insight,” Crall
asked.

The invitation to collaborate and see a back
room operation where drugs and chemicals were created to harm his
pack was worth the wait and gave the entire meeting value. Having
invisible pack members in high positions opened previously closed
doors.

“Thank you, I will arrange that,” Silas said.
“
Who do you want to send
?” He asked Hawke.

“I’ll go
,” Hawke said, his eyes lit like
shiny marbles.

“Why am I not surprised
?” Silas
teased.

Crall nodded with a pleased smile. “We hope to
work together with you on future projects and strengthen our
commitment to live side by side in harmony.”

Silas smiled at the canned response and
understood Crall repeated it for Melch’s benefit. “Thank you,”
Silas said.

Miller smiled.

Melch looked thoughtful and Crall flipped
through the pages in front of him. When he finished he looked at
Melch. “I’ve asked all of my questions and made my suggestions, is
there anything else anyone wants to discuss before Mr. Knight and
his associate leaves?”

“No, Sir,” Miller said, reminding Silas that
Crall was the highest-ranking officer in the room.

“You mentioned something about not being able
to smell the men? Am I saying it right?” Melch asked.

“I don’t have that in my notes, can I see your
copy?” Crall held out his hand to Melch whose face
reddened.

“It’s not in my notes, this is based on a
previous conversation with Mr. Knight a few days ago,” Melch
said.

“In that case we should discuss matters that
all of us can participate in. Do you have any questions or comments
based on information in our briefings?” General Crall
asked.

Silas applauded the man’s skill in derailing
the conversation on scents. He had no intention of discussing that
matter with the government.

“Maybe we read him wrong
,” Hawke said,
there was a thread of amusement in his tone. “
Maybe he wanted
them to see him come after you strong and suffer for it so that he
could get his way in the end. Interesting strategy
,” Hawke
said.

Silas thought about it and shrugged.
“
Maybe
.”

“No, Sir, I have no additional questions,”
Melch said. Miller said the same thing.

“In that case Melch, recap the highlights of
this meeting and then we adjourn.” General Crall looked at
Silas.

He nodded his agreement.

“We’re searching for the street drug called
Amplify and based on the leads we should have it impounded within
the next 48 hours. Henry Dreft, Amplify dealer, will be handled by
Mr. Knight. In addition, Ollie Brown and his partner, John Crawford
have been placed on the FBI Most Wanted List for their role in
creating and selling the drug,” Melch said.

No one reminded him of the standing invitation
to Silas to watch a demonstration of the drug in use. Crall would
ensure it happened.