The Alphas Game - Complete Set (9 page)

Chapter6

The plane trip felt like it was the first peaceful moment that I had in weeks, but I know that it wasn’t. We all breathed a sigh of relief as the plane picked itself up off the ground, knowing that they had put extra precautions into our flight because of the danger that it caused. We had gotten into the habit of looking over our shoulder recently and paranoia doesn’t allow us to do our job. We become reactive instead of proactive and because of that our case might never be solved.

The prison was a stark brick building. It looked like a highrise  in the  center of Houston. Nobody would ever expect the building to have literally miles of prison beneath it, and because of its location in a busy city center it wasn’t strange to see people going in and out of the parking garage all day long. They knew that they needed to get some work done; they needed to see the prison. They parked in the parking garage and entered the building through the connecting door at the ground level. They were greeted by a very nice receptionist who  seemed alert and efficient. “May I help you?”

Grey showed her his badge and Kevin pulled his out as well. “Deputy Director Schmidt should have called you.”

She looked through her files. “I see that, you’re here to see Alfi aren’t you?”

“Yep.” Rosie nosed her way into the conversation, moving forward and pushing her way between the FBI agents that she had been accompanying.

“You are Rosie Zuckerman, right?” The receptionist glanced at her paper to assure that she had used the proper name.

“Yes ma’am.”

“May I see some ID?”

Rosie pulled out several pieces of paperwork, including her driver’s license and government consultant identification, her FBI pass, and even a card identifying her as a licensed private detective. “Is this enough?”

“Not quite, I need to see the special stuff.”

“Oh, OK” She pulled out another card, this one appeared to be a membership to some sort of warehouse store, but everyone in attendance knew what it truly was. It identified her clearance, which was located beyond top secret, the kind of clearance that gave her access to information about the supernatural creatures and the government agencies that maintain the secrecy.

“Everything looks to be in order.” Rosie could see the receptionist’s magical sight checking for lies and other deceptions, like disguises or other possibilities. “Officer Grenada will see you to the meeting room.” She motioned to the side and for the first time they noticed the large gray-skinned man watching them. He didn’t say a word, resisting all attempts at communication as he led them into an elevator, taking them down into the first basement level. Upon leaving the elevator, they were met by another man wearing a uniform and holding a wand that looked very much like a metal detector. They all knew that it was much more than a metal detector. It was a magical object meant to judge the intention of anyone walking into the prison. It was in this place that everyone relinquished all weapons that they had, the FBI giving up some guns and Rosie giving the pocket knife that she had carried since she was a child. It looked completely miniscule next to the shiny black weapons that the government had issued those men, but it was still something that could be considered a weapon if a prisoner found it, so it had to be locked up safely.

They were shown into a small windowless room with bars over the walls. It looked like it was a reinforced room that made no effort to hide its own stark little reality. They waited in silence, but it wasn’t for long. A man with long stringy blond hair was shown into the room. The strands were falling over his face and his head was down. It was impossible to see what he looked like until he was seated and handcuffed to the table, with the shackles attached to a loop in the middle of the table, just far enough away to limit his movement severely. The guard stayed at the door ready to stop anything that might happen while they were questioning a prisoner.

“Alfi?” Grey asked the man, but he didn’t receive an answer. “We need to ask you about Ysella.”

The man’s head shot up, he looked ready for a fight. Rosie couldn’t help noticing that he would have been handsome if he didn’t have the creepily evil glint in his eye. His eyes were a bright blue color that seemed to snap at them. “You’re going to leave her alone.” The threat that echoed through the room was almost tangible.

“She won’t leave us alone.” Grey added, trying to remain as calm as possible while Kevin looked on at the scene,  carefully picking his next words.

Alfi smiled gleefully, and it was the scariest sight that Rosie had seen in a long time. His teeth were shiny and white, resembling the fangs of a fairy tale monster. His eyes brightened with implied threats and danger. “She’s going to kill you. She’s going to get me out and there is nothing that you can do about it. Your puny little actions aren’t going to change anything; you might think they are, but they’re not. There’s nothing that you can do to stop this. It’s going to happen and you help her with every move you make against her. She’s got you, all of you, wrapped around her finger and you’re just too stupid to realize it.”

Kevin chose this moment to speak. He had listened to the man’s demented ranting enough. “You’re the one who is wrong.” His voice was low, controlled and powerful. The fairy had to lean in to hear it. “We’re going to stop her and you don’t stand a chance against us.” The confidence seemed to ban the chilly terror from the room, instilling everyone with more confidence.

The fairy just smiled again, that crooked and frightening grin. He turned to the guard. “I think I’m ready to go.” He announced the words, knowing that there wasn’t much that the two FBI agents and the private detective could do about it.

They watched the man leave, supreme confidence exuding from him, unable to do anything to stop him. “She’s planning to break him out.” Kevin looked grim. “I think that he honestly believes what he’s saying.”

“I do too.” The witch shuddered, worried about what that could mean. “Let’s go to the hotel and get some rest. We can try to get something out of him again tomorrow.”

“I don’t think he’s going to talk to us again tonight.” With the three of them in agreement they left the prison and went to their nearby hotel, ready to climb into bed. On the way back they had stopped and picked up some fast food, knowing that they had to eat something even if the disturbing man had unnerved them to the point of not feeling hunger.

Settling into separate rooms, they found that they were right next to each other. As a  result,  they put Rosie into the middle room. She sat for almost an hour, trying to focus on whatever channel the television was on before restlessly sighing and turning on her laptop. There were no new messages waiting for her. She called and checked on her secretary who seemed to be doing rather well,  considering and asked about the interview. Rosie didn’t tell her the entire truth about it, leaving out the frightening details, instead remaining at the core of the conversation and let the woman try to eat something.

She had to admit to herself that she was frightened and felt entirely alone. She wanted company, comfort, anything to make the frustrations of this case fade for a few moments, but she didn’t know who she wanted to talk to. With another pronounced sigh she opened her door and stepped into the lushly carpeted hallway carefully deciding which direction she was going to go. With another sigh it was decided that she would go to the left.

She knocked on the door, half hoping that he would be in the shower or otherwise unable to answer the door, but there was no such luck. The door opened and he looked at her, at her face and smiled. It was a comforting gesture that had been made with kindness. “Come in. I take it there’s something wrong.”

She walked in and sat on the bed, crossing her legs. “He was pretty creepy.” It was the only explanation that she was ready to give.

He sat next to her and wrapped a single arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “It’s going to be fine. We’re going to stop this. We know what’s happening and we can stop it now.”

“Are you sure about that? I already said that I thought she wanted us to come here; she wanted us to see him. So I don’t know if it’s over yet.”

“We’ll catch her. The prison’s on alert and they know all of the tricks that she’s been known to use. They’ll be ready.”

“I wish I could be as confident as you are.”

He hugged her again, trying to stay strong as his body hummed with lust next to hers. The truth was that he wanted her, but would never have the opportunity to be with her. He wanted this woman and he couldn’t believe that she had walked into his room.

“Grey?” She asked him.

“Yes?” He sounded concerned.  There were tears in her voice when she had said his name and it just about broke his heart. He didn’t like hearing that sound in anyone’s voice, but this dynamic woman wasn’t suited to sound that sad.

“I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“You can stay here if you want.” He was surprised that she was willing to admit her vulnerability. He continued to hold her, hugging her to help her get over the stress of the recent events. It felt like they could finally relax, almost like they were on the home stretch. He couldn’t blame her for wanting  to wind down the tension and to feel safe for the first time in weeks. He just couldn’t figure out why she would come to him. He wasn’t exactly someone who had helped these feelings, but he did know that Kevin’s sin had been much greater than his. Still he didn’t like being the lesser of two evils. “I’ll sleep in the chair, you take the bed.”

Rosie nodded wordlessly, knowing that what she was doing would more than likely cause a lot of tension between Grey and Kevin. Kevin was a good man, but she didn’t know what to do about him. She climbed onto the bed, ready for this entire ordeal to be over. She was tired, but couldn’t sleep. She lay there, thinking dangerous thoughts and smelling Grey’s cologne on the pillow. She sighed and rose, walking over to the chair where the werewolf was looking at a computer screen. “What are you looking at?” She hugged herself close as she squinted at the screen, even though it was at an angle that she wouldn’t be able to read anyway.

“Am I bothering you?”

“No, I’ve got other things on my mind. Something feels wrong about this.”

“I know. It just feels too easy.” Grey agreed with her, looking at her face. It looked so tired.

“I hate waiting.” She was honest. Waiting had never been something she was good at; rather it was something that she trudged through, the boring part of her job. “What are you working on?”

“Just trying to figure out something else about Alfi. I know that we need to find some information.” He pointed at the screen after adjusting it so that she could see. It was Alfi’s file on the screen.

“Have you found anything?”

“Well, I notice that he likes women, by like I mean that he likes to cut them up and leave their pieces scattered all over the countryside.” He looked at her and smiled. “Would you be willing to go talk to him alone if they let you?”

“I could probably do that, but you guys would have to be close.”

“That’s a definite.” When she leaned in to see the screen a little better he could smell her natural scent. She smelt amazing and he couldn’t stop himself from taking a huge whiff of her natural aroma.

She noticed the sniff and looked at him; her face was sideways and so close to his. She smiled and he kissed her. The action took them both by surprise, but it wasn’t unwelcome. He had been drawn in by her closeness and her scent, it made him feel heady and just a little bit out of control. Her scent brought out the animal in him and all he wanted to do was throw her down on the bed and take her, but he was absolutely certain that she wouldn’t want something like that. A thousand thoughts, a million possibilities, and a billion little fears flooded through his mind and his heart started to race as he pulled away, opening his eyes and looking at her.

From the sight of her face, he could tell that she had felt the same exhausting sensations from the kiss. Her smile had faded. It was replaced by a look of pure shock, something that told him that she had enjoyed it, but hadn’t expected it. She didn’t move so he felt compelled to find out how she was doing. “Did that bother you?”

“Um, uh, no.” She actually looked a little ashamed of that fact.

“I’m sorry.” He hung his head down.

“No, don’t be sorry.” She asserted, regaining her senses after the all-encompassing kiss that she knew would be on her mind for a long time. She smiled again, hoping that it would make him feel better. “Sometimes I wish that I hadn’t met Kevin, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Don’t forget that he came to you to help find me.” Grey admitted.

“Yeah, but that’s a little different. This entire mess has hurt everyone I care about and I don’t like it. I want to do something, spring into action and start fixing things. It hurts that I can’t do anything about it.”

“We are doing something about it.” His voice was soft and he could still taste her lips on his. He licked his lips and she laughed at him. “What?”

“I think I left some of my chapstick behind.”

“Well it tastes pretty good.” He smiled at her, wanting to kiss her again. He shook his head and turned away, needing to calm himself down. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I’m going to change and climb into bed.” She had turned away as well, both trying to control their mutual lust.

They tried to sleep, fighting with it and forcing it to come from separate sides of the room. Grey woke up to the noises coming from the bed. She was tossing and turning in her sleep. “A nightmare.” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and rose up to check on her, his bare chest picking up on the cool air coming from the air conditioning unit.