KnightForce Deuces (9 page)

“
Yeah but I didn’t finish what I
needed to do. When I come back, we can crack open that bottle of
Irish whiskey I gave you for Christmas,” Angus said. When he first
arrived at the compound, Froggy had been the first person he
befriended outside of family. They discovered a shared love for the
British Isles and talked of taking a trip to see some of their
favorite spots one day soon.

Froggy laughed. His reddish-brown hair glowed
beneath the light. “I’m saving that bottle for a special date,
someone who looks nothing like either of you.”

Angus chuckled. “Be selfish then.” He looked at
Damian who sat on the stool smiling. “See you later
scamp
,
don’t give my buddy here a hard time. Tell Hawke I’ll see him when
I return.”

“Yes, Sir,” Damian said.

Chapter 9

An hour after Angus’s departure, Hawke and
Silas were going over last minute details for his trip to Maryland
the next day when Hawke stiffened, his eyes widened and he jumped
up from the chair and headed toward the door.

“What happened?” Silas asked
following.

Without breaking stride Hawke glanced over his
shoulder. “Damian said Froggy fell over his desk. He can’t get him
to respond.”

“Is he breathing?” Silas asked as they keyed
the security code to open the stairwell and ran down toward the
gym.

“Yes, barely. Damian doesn’t know what to do,”
Hawke said running faster, slowing down for two security
checkpoints before the gym came into view.

When they entered, the scent of vomit hit
Silas’ nostrils. He moved toward the office. Froggy lay on the
floor. Silas immediately pulled the older man’s wolf. The shift
went smoothly but Froggy’s wolf didn’t move. Instead it whined once
while struggling to breathe.

Baffled, Silas looked around the room wondering
what happened to the older man who’d been with him for decades.
Kneeling, he placed his palm on Froggy’s head and sent healing
energy through his wolf to revive him.

The beast shuddered and whined once again, only
softer this time. Silas sent more energy but could tell it wasn’t
helping. Seconds later, Froggy’s life force slipped away beneath
Silas’ palm.

“What happened?” Silas asked Damian after
Froggy breathed his last breath.

Damian stared at Froggy and swallowed hard
before backing away. “I returned after dinner like he asked. He
wanted to inventory equipment. When I walked in he started talking
about the gym and how we needed to have it available for the
KnightForce recruits. Everything was fine for about ten minutes.
Then he started coughing, his eyes watered and he couldn’t catch
his breath. I asked if he wanted something to drink. He didn’t
answer but kept coughing, then he grabbed his throat and fell to
the ground. I…I… called Dad. I didn’t know what to do,” Damian
moved next to Hawke and stared at Froggy. He pointed at the man.
“Is he…how? We were just talking. He seemed fine when I walked in
and then…” Damian looked at Hawke. “What happened to him? Was he
sick? Is that it?”

Hawke placed his hand on Damian’s shoulder. “I
don’t know yet, pup. We’ll run some tests and figure out what
happened. You did good, calling for help as soon as you realized
something was wrong. Proud of your quick thinking.”

“Yes, thanks Damian.” Silas bent low over
Froggy and inhaled. He breathed in his scent again. “Hawke, smell
him. Take it slow and filter through everything then tell me what’s
off about his scent.”

Hawke knelt next to Froggy, placed his nose
next to his opened mouth and inhaled. He frowned and inhaled
again.

Silas looked at Hawke and placed a protective
shield over the compound. He contacted Hank, his security chief,
with instructions to lock everything down. No one in or
out.

“Small traces of something that shouldn’t be
there. I’ll take him to the lab –”

“No, not the lab. Too many people. Have a team
in full gear go through this room, bag and tag everything. Take him
to a secure area, limited staff, draw his blood and find out how
the hell this shit entered my compound. I want answers now!”
Silas stood. “Until I know what happened, we are quarantined.” He
turned to Damian. “You’ll be staying in the lab for
now.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Heart heavy, Silas stared at Froggy’s wolf and
sighed. “Hank’s pulling the cameras to see who entered, or if
anyone tampered with anything. Damian find out what he had for
dinner, who prepared his food, or came in contact with
it.”

“Yes, Sir.” Damian shot out the
room.

Hawke turned the wolf over and examined him.
“Can you return him to his human form please?”

Silas released his hold on the wolf and he
reverted to a man.

“A team is bringing a gurney to take him below.
Dr. Passen is handling the autopsy. I’ll do the blood work.
Whatever he ingested or absorbed into his system destroyed both the
man and the wolf in less than 30 minutes. Like everyone else here,
he’s been eating the root I brought from the continent, so this is
different,” Hawke said standing.

“Jasmine?”

“What’s going on?”

“Froggy died. Not sure what happened yet but
I want you, the kids, Rose, Danielle and Victoria to go below
ground. Everything there is tamper proof. I’ll have Tyrese and
Danielle come to the nursery to help with the kids
.”

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes.
“
Baby, I’m sorry about Froggy, I know you go way back with him.
Let me know what you find out, okay?”

He released a breath, pleased she wouldn’t
fight him on this. There was a bucket full of things he needed to
tackle. “
Of course, stay open and listen in from time to
time
.”

“Alright. Love you.”

“Love you too
.” Silas stood back as two
men in hazmat gear rolled a gurney in the office and loaded Froggy
onto it. Hawke left with them.

“Tyrone? Tyrese?”

“Sir?”

Silas filled them in on what happened and gave
them instructions to get Jasmine and the pups to the tunnels. Next
he contacted Jacques and sent him to the tunnels with
Victoria.

Hawke?

“Sir?”

“Tell Asia I want her and Sarita to
accompany Jasmine and my pups. No one is to enter without clearing
it through me. Tell her she’s in charge of security.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

A few minutes later his forensics team entered.
He made sure they understood what he wanted done and left the room.
What happened to Froggy? Nothing looked out of the ordinary. It
made no sense.

Silas cancelled his trip to Maryland. He
contacted Cameron and shared the little information he had. No one
would be allowed inside the complex, not even the state Alpha.
Cameron agreed.

Movement inside the compound was restricted to
work areas and living quarters to cut down on cross contamination.
Since Silas had no idea how the poison was administered or when, he
shut everything down while they continued their investigation.
There was a remote chance this was an isolated incident but he took
every precaution just in case.

News of Froggy’s death swept through the
compound. The older wolf was well-liked and highly respected. Silas
read questions in the eyes of his staff. How was Froggy killed?
This place was a fortress and yet a beloved member of their pack
died.

Silas wanted answers just as much as everyone
else. He returned to the gym and searched each level for clues.
Nothing. He bypassed Froggy’s office, allowing forensics time to do
their job and went to Froggy’s personal rooms. There were photos of
him and Detective Jenkins, a police officer killed by Corrina
Griggs. A photo of him and Stefan, the former Alpha trainer and
several pictures of Silas, Jasmine and his pups. A few of Damian
holding Sarita and Hawke with Asia. The place was neat and clean,
just as Silas suspected it would be given Frog’s personality. There
were no letters or mail, nothing from outside the compound. Silas
wasn’t sure if that was normal and wondered if Froggy stashed his
correspondence elsewhere. Inhaling, Silas filtered through scents
to locate anything out of the ordinary and came up empty. He
checked the time and returned to the lab hoping for an
update.

Tyrese and Tyrone joined him. A few moments
later Damian walked into the conference room with his
report.

“Talked to the cook, she took the news really
hard but she cooked him a steak, medium rare and French fries. He
ate it all, they talked and joked a bit. Claims he looked healthy
and had no complaints. She said he planned to come back for dessert
later after doing some work in the gym,” Damian said.

“The autopsy will confirm that,” Silas said.
Stumped, he sat on the corner edge of the table. “Tyrone go to your
mate, don’t return here. If Jacques tries to leave, remind him that
I want him with his mate.”

“Yes, Sir.” Tyrone left.

“Tyrese, Hank’s going through camera footage
searching for anything out of the ordinary, go, be another pair of
eyes.”

“On it.” Tyrese left.

Time dragged. Silas paced the conference floor
and watched the clock. Finally he looked at Damian. “Let’s search
the grounds.”

The two stood and cleared the check-points
before stepping onto the grass outside the building. Silas shifted,
Damian followed his lead and the two of them searched the perimeter
of the compound for clues.

Two hours later, they returned to the lab,
tired and still just as baffled as before.

Chapter 10

Angus’ jet arrived at the private landing strip
on Alpha Chase’s private grounds. The Alpha
and
his Beta, Jasper, met the plane. Silas had given
him some background information of both men. Chase could trace his
royal Viking heritage back to
Sweyn
Forkbeard
,
who
sat on the English throne from 1013-1014 and his son Cnut the
Great
who reigned
from 1016 - 1035.
True to his Norse heritage, the muscular blonde stood as tall as
Angus and ruled his state with a firm grip.

Waves of pent-up frustration and anger wafted
from both men. Jasper had completed his Alpha training at the top
of the class. With his Scandinavian heritage, the former lumberjack
had been offered and accepted the position of Chase’ Beta before he
graduated. Built like the log trees he cut down, Jasper was indeed
a fierce warrior few engaged.

“Alpha, Jasper,” Angus greeted the men fully
aware of their displeasure of not being allowed to go after the
rebels personally.

“Welcome, Angus. Didn’t expect to see you back
here so soon. How are you feeling? Are you sure you’re up to this?”
Alpha Chase asked while walking toward the vehicle.

Rather than be offended at the skepticism Angus
heard in the Alpha’s voice, he answered the question with the
understanding of the stress Chase was under. Rebels continued
terrorizing pack members in his territory and compromised his
position as Alpha. Silas had tied Chase’s hands by not allowing him
to retaliate against his enemies. But that was not Angus’ concern;
his mission took precedence over everything else.

“Not only am I feeling better and up to the
challenge but my mission has been reinstated to infiltrate and
bring this to an end.” He slapped Chase on the back and stopped at
the large black SUV.

Chase smiled widely. “Well, that’s the best
news I’ve heard today. What do you need?”

Angus placed his bag on the floorboard of the
SUV. “After I change, I’m going hunting. I’ll check in with you and
Silas from time to time but otherwise, I’ll be
off-line.”

“When you see those bastards, send me their
coordinates. I need to be involved taking them down,” Chase said,
staring at Angus.

“Silas doesn’t want the Feds or humans to know
about this, that’s why I came alone,” Angus reminded
him.

Chase ran his hand through his hair. “As Alpha,
I need my pack to see me doing something to retaliate, not being
rescued.”

Angus stared at Chase. This was as close to
insubordination as the Alpha dared come, otherwise, Angus would
terminate him right now. He took a moment to decide how he wanted
to go forward.

The car stopped outside the Alpha house. Chase
sent his Beta inside while he and Angus remained in the
back.

“Look, I know how this sounds but understand my
position.”

Angus held up his hand. “I understand your
position but you do not have any idea what is going on with Silas
on the national front. He makes decisions for the entire nation,
not one state. There is a lot at stake right now, like I said you
have no idea and I’m not at liberty to discuss those matters with
you. Give me a few minutes to discuss this with Silas but
understand, I serve Him and if he says no, I expect your immediate
compliance or step down from your position. Is that
clear?”

Chase nodded. “Of course. My allegiance is to
my Alpha. Part of that requires me to run the territory of Colorado
in a manner he has described. I’m asking for assistance to maintain
peace in my area. The pack expects to see me retaliate for the
rebels stealing members. I would serve La Patron best by allowing
that to happen.” Alpha Chase’s face reddened but he didn’t look
away.