Wayward Son (31 page)

Mick’s glare softened and he slumped in his seat. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t. He didn’t say who he was going after. I had no idea who you chaps were; where you were located…all I knew was somebody in the States had kidnapped his daughter and held her for nearly ten years.” Mick raised his face and stared at the man opposite him. “Tell me something. You got kids? What would you do if somebody had stolen your little girl and ran all sorts of ungodly experiments on her for ten years? Would you just sit back and do nothing? Would you let bygones be bygones?”

Gregory shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I don’t…I’m not the one in question here.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Mick smirked at the man. “Once that shoe is on your own foot, it doesn’t fit so well, does it, mate?”

Gregory opened his notebook and clicked his pen. “Back to the questions. When you were with Mr. Simmons…”

*****

“Jennifer, you need to get a grip.” Matt backed to the door and reached behind himself to lock it. He watched as he eyes continued to glow amber. “I’m not going to hurt you and I’m not trying to…”

“Get out of my way. Coming here was a mistake.” Her voice growled as she spoke and he could almost watch as her teeth elongated.

Matt squared his shoulders and shook his head. “No.”

Jennifer backed up a step. “What? I’m not joking.”

“And neither am I. I can’t let you leave. Not like this.” He crossed his arms and stared down at her. “My wolf would never forgive me. And to be honest…neither would I.”

She shook her head as she continued backing up. “I can’t be here.”

“I need you to calm down,” he lowered his voice, speaking to her as soothingly as he could. He extended a hand to her. “I’m sorry, Jen. I don’t know why I said what I did. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was…fear. I don’t know. But I know that if you leave now…”

Her eyes slowly ebbed and faded back to normal. “My wolf senses your emotions.” She watched as Matt slowly slid down the door and sat on the floor, his face buried.

“I have no idea what I’m doing.” His voice threatened to break.

Jennifer felt herself soften and she took a tentative step forward. She reached out for him then slowly withdrew her hand. “I don’t know what to say.”

Mitchell lifted his face and she saw his eyes, reddened and wet with unshed tears. “Neither do I.” He sniffed back the pain and wiped at his nose. “This is so damned confusing to me. I’m torn, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

She squatted down next to him and rested a hand on his arm. “Talk to me.”

Matt shrugged and tried to look away. “And say what? That I used to stare at your image when you were frozen and feel…something. That I hated myself for having feelings for you?” He gave a short self-loathing laugh. “For the longest time, I truly did hate you.” He saw the pain return to her face, and he placed his own hand on hers. “I think it’s more accurate to say, I hated what your wolf did. And I kept trying to blame you, but…I knew. You didn’t do it. Your wolf did.”

“I’m still responsible.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she slid onto the floor beside him.

“You can’t be held responsible for what your wolf does.” Matt sighed and lowered his face again. “Just like I couldn’t help what I allowed to happen over the years as you were locked away.”

“You’re saying you have feelings for me?”

“I’m saying I don’t know what I feel. All I know is I’d have dreams of you. And I really did try to get you released, but…” He shook his head in frustration. “They just wouldn’t hear of it.”

Jennifer scooted closer and wrapped her arm around his. “This feels right somehow.”

“I know. And that scares the bejeezus out of me.” He turned and stared at her. He could see her emotions painted across her face just as he knew his must be. She was just as scared, just as confused and just as worried as he was. “Part of me worries about betraying what I had with Jo Ann. Another part of me completely freaks out at the idea of not having you in my life.”

She nodded. “I’m in the same boat. I have all these haunting memories of when you shot me. When you hunted me down. When I escaped here. It’s like a big part of me just wants to turn and run away, but an even bigger part of me is scared to death of going against the Fates.”

“Aren’t we a fine pair?” he snorted and rubbed her arm. “Maybe two basket cases make one complete person?”

She chuckled and squeezed his arm. “Or it makes an even bigger basket case.”

“Oh, we’re screwed then.” He turned to stare at her and saw the vulnerability in her eyes. Everything he feared suddenly slipped away as he stared into her big, beautiful eyes. Matt felt himself being drawn closer, her chin lifting as he closed to kiss her.

A buzzing sounded from his desk, snapping him out of the trance he was in. He pulled back quickly and stood from the floor. He held out a hand to lift her up then reached for his phone. “Go for Mitchell.”

“Colonel, it’s Jack. It’s about time, sir.”

Mitchell glanced at the clock and cursed silently. “Thanks for the heads up, Chief. We’ll be down there in a moment.” Mitchell turned to Jennifer. “It’s time. The sun is almost down.”

Jennifer wiped at her face and stepped aside for Mitchell to open the door for her. “I guess this is it, isn’t it?”

Matt gave her a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“Our wolves are about to meet for the first time. They may not let us change our minds.” She looked to him hopefully.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I don’t care what the wolves think. I’m not letting you go again.”

*****

Apollo watched as each man strode outside to the shipping containers. They had the foresight to leave their clothes behind lest they be ruined either during the shift or by their wolf after the shift. Sheridan directed each man to his container then headed for the unit on the end. He turned to Apollo and gave a mock salute before rounding the corner and disappearing from view.

Apollo gave each man a few minutes to secure their door themselves then announced over the bullhorn that he would be sealing the electronic locks in 30 seconds. He counted down the time then pushed the button. He heard the series of bolts being thrown simultaneously and smiled to himself.

Like shooting fish in a barrel.

He made his way back inside and tossed the electronic lock mechanism onto the counter then picked up the phone. He dialed the number for the duty officer and reported that the area was secure. Once they hung up, he’d head toward the gates and open them for the squads.

Apollo hung up then worked his way outside. He paused as he listened to the men begin their shift, grunts and howls coming from the containers followed by angry outbursts as the wolves discovered the silver mesh lining each container. For the briefest of moments, he almost felt sorry for the poor bastards. “Better to go out like this than having you pull another sneak attack.”

He worked his way to the front gates and quickly unlocked the padlocks holding the ends of chain together. Pulling the chain out from between the two chain link gates, he slid one side open, then the other. Apollo worked his way back to the warehouse and dropped the tailgate on a pickup parked within. Hopping onto the back of the truck, he waited for the squads to show up and make quick work of the wolves locked away.

*****

“Failure. Back to the beginning,” a voice echoed over the intercom.

Kalen was nearly ready to collapse. He collected his arrows and walked back to the entrance of the CQB simulator. “If you’d just come in behind me and look pretty, we could get this over with once and for all.” Brooke stuffed her throwing stars back into her belt and sheathed her sword.

“Simply follow you? Did you forget we are supposed to work together?”

“Yeah, yeah. Teamwork building. I get it.” She leaned against the pillar outside the door of the CQB sim room. “But face it, Sugar Cookie, that just ain’t gonna happen.”

“Because you refuse to be a team player.” Kalen hung his bow over his shoulder and stood at the ready.

“Because I’m
not
a team player.” Brooke pushed off the pillar and come to stand beside him. “I’ve been on my own for far too long. I don’t play well with others.”

“Learn,” Kalen growled. “I do not wish to be out here all night. I’d like to get a little rest before dawn.”

Brooke snorted. “This is my daytime, Keebler. I can drag this out for days.”

Kalen turned on her, his pain and exasperation painted clearly on his features. “Why? Why do you insist on being this way? Is it truly so hard to rely on another?”

Brooke turned away from him. “I don’t do well with partners.”

“You need to accept assistance from others. Learn that your team is there to help you. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. Those who excel in one area can assist the others who do not. It truly is a simple concept to grasp.”

Brooke shook her head almost imperceptibly. “I don’t need help.”

The claxon sounded and a yellow strobe light went off indicating the beginning of another round. With each round through the training simulator, different bad guys and good guy targets were popped up in different locations. No two drills were exactly alike and Kalen truly felt that if Raven didn’t get her act together, they would see every possible combination more than once.

“You want left or right?” Kalen stacked on the right side of the door.

“Just go in. I’ll take what you don’t.” She shot him a hateful glare.

Kalen counted down…three…two…one…and kicked open the door, immediately turning to the right, his bow drawn and ready to fire. Raven disappeared to the left and began sweeping the room left to right. Kalen ascertained the targets and just as he put his arrow into the ‘bad guy’ target, Brooke’s throwing star sliced into the target just below his arrow. He shot her a warning glare then advanced to the next area. Brooke entered without stacking up outside the room and began throwing stars at all of the targets, regardless of their identifier. Immediately, the claxon sounded indicating their failure once more.

The voice echoed through the simulator, “Failure. Back to the beginning.”

Kalen slumped his shoulders and began collecting his arrows. “I told you, Sugar Cookie. Just fall in behind me and we’ll be—”

“No!” Kalen turned and threw a finger into her face. “We will work this drill as the instructor stated. We will work as a team or we will continue to run it until Chief Jack returns and
makes
you become a team player.”

Brooke gave him a crooked smile. She opened her mouth as if to say something then pulled his finger into her mouth and sucked the end of it. “Mmm. You even
taste
like a sugar cookie.”

Kalen pulled his hand back and stared at her wide eyed. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“To diffuse your anger, Keebler.” She shot him a wink. “Fine. You want to play like a real team and get this over with? Then let’s do it. One time like we really mean it.”

Kalen narrowed his gaze at her and set his jaw. “Are you being truthful?”

“Yup, I mean it.” Brooke stepped out of the CQB simulator. “But as soon as we kick this drill’s ass, you have to learn how to have a little fun.”

Kalen stiffened. “I know how to have fun.”

She shook her head. “No, Sugar Cookie, I mean real fun.” She winked at him then squared off for the next round.

“I don’t think I like the sound of that.”

“Is it a deal or isn’t it?”

Kalen considered her bargain then nodded. “Agreed. It is a deal. But nothing against the rules.”

Brooke laughed as the claxon sounded. “You didn’t say
whose
rules.”

*****

The teams loaded their gear and extra ammunition into the black trucks parked in the parking lot. Neither truck had been fitted with the ceramic armor plating or the 30MM canon. As of now, this was simply a transport vehicle.

Spalding called for a coms check and each member checked in. He nodded to Lamb who started the truck and pulled the Raptor out of the gravel lot and out onto the paved roads of Tinker Air Force Base.

“First Squad, you are essentially under Spalding’s command for this operation,” Jericho Jones announced over the communications channel. “Drone will be airborne in one-zero mics.”

“Copy that, OPCOM. ETA to target site two zero mics.” Spalding looked to the GPS unit on the dash and turned to Lamb. “We’re going through our own backyard here so keep the speed down and try to look inconspicuous.”

Lamb pulled through the main gates and accelerated up the onramp to I-40. “This thing has a lot more go to it than the Hummers.”

“I imagine so, but we aren’t in a huge hurry. Unless Apollo is completely selling us out, they’re all contained and waiting on us. They can just keep waiting. I’m in no hurry and don’t want to have to explain to any local law why we’re out in town with automatic weapons.”

“Understood.” Lamb let off the accelerator and set the cruise control. He turned to Spalding and elbowed him. “You don’t really think Apollo would set us up like that, do you?”