Page 22 of Alpha Wolf (Return To Fate Mountain #6)

Chapter

Twenty-One

The next morning, the Steel Protection conference room buzzed with caffeine-fueled energy. Axel looked up from his tablet with the satisfied expression of someone who’d just cracked a difficult puzzle.

“Banking records,” he announced without preamble.

Dom settled into his chair at the head of the table, gesturing for Valeria to take the seat beside him. The casual inclusion in his pack’s briefing sent a warm flutter through her chest.

“Rebecca Matthews was paying monthly payments to SSS Property Management,” Axel continued, consulting his notes.

“Two hundred dollars automatically debited for the past eighteen months. I traced that to Secure Storage Solutions in the warehouse district of Fate Mountain Village. Becca’s unit is number 332. ”

“Interesting,” Dom said, leaning forward. “Why would she need a storage unit when she owned a three-bedroom house with a basement?”

Valeria raised an eyebrow. “How did you obtain her banking records? How did you find out her unit number?”

The room went quiet. Siren’s sharp eyes flicked between Dom and Valeria. Hunter shifted in his chair. Ryder suddenly found his coffee cup fascinating.

“Focus on what we found, not how we found it,” Dom said evenly.

The deflection was answer enough. Steel Protection operated with resources and methods that didn’t always align with legal procedures.

Valeria felt a moment of vertigo as her worldview shifted another degree.

She was sitting in a room with people who’d just committed financial crimes, and she wasn’t reading them their rights.

“We need to get into that storage unit,” Dom continued.

“I can disable their security cameras,” Axel offered.

“Wait.” Valeria held up a hand, her conscience making one last stand. “That is breaking and entering. I’m a sworn police officer.”

Dom and his pack focused on her with varying degrees of sympathy and impatience. Dom’s expression remained neutral, but she could sense the pack’s tension as they waited to see if she’d derail their operation.

“Becca Matthews is dead,” Dom said quietly. “The people who killed her have resources we can’t match through legal channels. Sometimes protecting people requires bending the rules.”

The weight of his words settled over her. This was the choice she’d been building toward since the moment she’d first seen him at the crime scene. Follow the procedure and let the killers escape or compromise her principles for justice.

“How long will it take?” she asked.

An hour later, Valeria crouched beside a parked car, watching Dom work on the storage unit lock. Axel had disabled the facility’s cameras with electronic equipment. The lock clicked open in under thirty seconds.

“Showoff,” Siren muttered, but with obvious approval.

Dom rolled up the metal door to reveal the space. File boxes lined the walls. Charts covered every available surface. Audio equipment sat on a folding table beside external hard drives and backup devices.

“Holy shit,” Valeria whispered. She moved deeper into the unit. “Look at this.” Valeria studied Rebecca’s timeline charts that mapped every Crown Mountain attack in devastating detail.

“Personnel files,” Hunter said, digging into a box. “She identified specific officials involved in coordination failures.”

Valeria moved to his position, studying the highlighted names. Her blood ran cold as she recognized several. These weren’t criminals hiding in the shadows. These were respected community leaders with decades of service.

“Audio recordings,” Axel announced, examining the digital equipment. “She recorded 911 calls during emergencies.”

Rebecca’s voice filled the small space through tinny speakers. It was an emergency call during the wilderness academy incident. “Hold units back until secondary confirmation,” came another voice through the static. Male, authoritative, familiar.

Valeria’s stomach dropped as recognition hit. “Frank Dalton.”

“You know that voice?” Dom asked sharply.

“County Emergency Management Director. He’s been in that position for twenty years.” Valeria stared at the audio equipment in horror. “Everyone trusts him. He coordinates all emergency responses for the county.”

The pieces clicked together with devastating clarity.

“Every single attack,” she said, studying Rebecca’s timeline. “He was on duty for every single Crown Mountain incident.”

Hunter was already pulling more files from the boxes.

“We need to document everything and get out of here,” Dom said grimly, studying the evidence around them.

“Document?” Valeria asked, confused by the change in plan.

“We can’t take any of this,” Dom said, pulling out his phone. “But we can copy it.”

Understanding dawned on her face. “Preserve the chain of custody.”

“Exactly.” Dom was already photographing the timeline charts on the walls. “Axel, download what you can from those drives. Photograph what you can. We need to find a way to tip this off to local PD so it’s admissible in court.”

Axel connected portable drives to Rebecca’s equipment, copying audio files while leaving the originals untouched. “These recordings are going to bury Dalton.”

Thirty minutes later, they had captured most of Rebecca’s investigation without leaving evidence they’d been there. The storage unit looked exactly as they’d found it, but their phones and drives contained copies of everything needed to expose Frank Dalton.

“Perfect,” Valeria said, studying the undisturbed space. “When police find this, it’ll be exactly as Rebecca left it.”

Dom closed the storage unit door and reset the lock. Axel restored the security cameras as they walked away, erasing any evidence they’d ever been there.