Page 26 of Memphis Heat
Chapter Three
Alexi had to be stopped.
“Team one, confirm.” Jarod tried to keep his voice neutral when inside he was so on edge he wanted to scream. If this went bad, his friends at the MPD were going to die.
“Team one in position,” a voice cracking back on the two-way responded.
“Team two, confirm,” Jarod ordered.
“Team two, in position.”
“Team three, confirm.”
“Team three, in position. All clear.”
Jarod turned to Alexi. “Everything’s in place, boss. All we need is the buyers.”
At precisely that moment, Alexi’s butt buzzed. He pulled out his cell phone and stabbed at a button. “Sergei, tell the lookouts our customers will be here to pick up their order shortly. They’re stuck in traffic.” He flashed a feral grin. “Memphis at rush hour. Surprise.”
Sergei reached for his radio. Something about the look on the man’s face didn’t sit well with Jarod.
Jarod knew Sergei didn’t like him, didn’t approve of him usurping the position of pack second, but Jarod had beaten the old second, Viktor, fair and square.
On top of which, Alexi insisted he was blood.
Alexi had sired Dolf, the wolf who’d turned Jarod.
To Alexi blood was what mattered, no matter that Dolf had meant to kill Jarod.
If Sergei couldn’t accept that, then Jarod was going to have to teach him a lesson he’d not soon forget.
Jarod hated waiting. Though Belle had always known how to make waiting more fun. Too bad she wasn’t here now, which also had him on edge. Alexi had sent her to the west side on watch. It was the longest half hour of Jarod’s life.
Two military surplus trucks, much like the ones Jarod and Sergei had used to deliver the weapons to the bogus Tennessee State Militia compound, arrived at the security entrance at 4:45 pm -- traffic couldn’t get any worse. Callahan was behind the wheel of the first truck, and Butch in the second.
Sergei signaled for the two drivers to back up to the loading dock.
Half a dozen of the pack, dressed in camo fatigues, climbed out of the back of the trucks -- manual labor for the loading.
And backup, Jarod knew, in case everything went bad.
Sergei took Butch Carson to inspect the shipment while Alexi waved Callahan over to the makeshift office area. “You have my money?”
A woman Jarod didn’t know very well -- Amanda Black, he thought her name was -- leaned a little too close to Callahan to be just his work partner. Interesting development.
Amanda flipped open her laptop. “I’m ready for your account number.” She glanced over to Butch. “Everything approved, Boss?”
“Got everything here but the big payload.”
Callahan’s brows pulled together in a look that was all too close to the wolf he was.
“Relax,” Alexi said with a too-charming smile. “I have what you’re after right here.” He held out a canister.
Callahan’s frown didn’t ease. “Looks like a coffee cup.”
Alexi’s smile turned into a grin. “Ten grams of weapons grade Highly Enriched Uranium. Enough to attract as much attention as you want. As you can see from the weight, the canister is lead-lined. All you need for safety. That’s the beauty of this stuff.
Ten grams of HEU will do what used to take eight kilograms of uranium and even more plutonium -- and it’s far safer to handle.
Your expert here knows what to do with it, I assume. ”
“Oh, yeah.” Terra White stepped forward, test equipment in hand. It took her less than a minute to verify the contents of the canister. “This is it, Boss. We’re ready to capture some media attention. Now all those fucking idiot congressman will have to pay attention to us.”
“Worry about that later,” Callahan groused. “Just get it in the truck. We have a lot of work to do before we get to that point.”
A flash of… something… glimmered in Terra’s eyes.
The look made the hair stand up on the back of Jarod’s neck.
Something was off, but he’d be damned if he knew what.
Uneasily, he shifted his gaze over the crowd, then around the compound.
Nothing seemed amiss, but it sure as hell felt wrong.
Suddenly, the fact that Belle wasn’t with him made him more uneasy than ever.
“Jarod, see to it our guests transfer the money as arranged.” Alexi waved them all away dismissively. As if selling nuclear material was no big deal. “Sergei, help with the loading.” Alexi gave the man a hard look. “I want them gone from here as quickly as possible.”
Again, the tone was correct -- Alexi had little patience for outsiders -- but something seemed off. Jarod glanced at Callahan. The born wolf was scrubbing his hand over the back of his neck when he met Jarod’s eyes. Both men were uneasy. That made Jarod want to get the hell out of Dodge. Now.
Jarod surveyed the room again as Alexi gave Amanda the account number. She was uneasy too, gaze darting around so much she couldn’t concentrate on the task at hand. “Something’s wrong,” she muttered.
Callahan moved behind Amanda in a protective position. The she-wolf didn’t protest but put herself in a better defensive stance. The two were obviously used to guarding each other’s backs.
Terra White was helping Sergei and several of Alexi’s men, along with the muscle Callahan had brought, load cargo onto the trucks.
Sergei pointed to a stack of crates just outside the building, taking Terra’s arm and steering her in that direction.
Two of Callahan’s men went with them. Still, nothing out of the ordinary.
Every instinct Jarod had was screaming at him to get the hell out of there.
He needed Belle. She had always been his reason.
Even more so now they were both wolfen. Indecision warred with the need to complete the mission.
As soon as the money was transferred, the account traced, and the nuclear material secured, they could blow this place wide open.
Until then, everything depended on all of them keeping their cool.
No matter what. The fate of the entire United States was, quite possibly, riding on the next few minutes.
Jarod glanced back at the trucks. Callahan’s men were still loading the goods, but Sergei’s men were nowhere in sight.
Neither was Sergei or Terra. Jarod’s gaze whipped to the warehouse door and the crates to be loaded there.
The cargo was still there, but not the men.
He squinted, looking for something -- anything -- that seemed even the slightest bit off.
Then he saw a man’s hand lying on the ground behind the crates, the rest of the body out of sight.
“Abort!” Jarod hissed to Callahan and Amanda.
The wolf pair didn’t hesitate, but snatched their gear up and ran, Callahan speaking into the transmitter at his wrist. The whole team began pulling back, nothing subtle about it.
Jarod took one last look around him, expecting to see Belle trotting through the warehouse, coming to him. Where the fuck was she ?
A deafening, bone-shattering explosion rocked all around him.
Jarod was thrown across the warehouse, landing hard against the far wall, the breath knocked out of him.
His ears rang and his vision seemed to fade in and out as he struggled to his feet.
Shaking his head, Jarod stumbled to the back of the warehouse, away from the explosion just as another deafening boom resounded in the enclosed space.
The contained energy seemed to bounce off the walls inside the warehouse like a pinball against the bumpers in a pinball machine.
Chunks of debris fell from the vaulted ceiling dangerously close to Jarod.
He’d lost sight of the others, though he could scent fear all around them.
The urge to shift became too much, and he gave in to the driving instinct, shifting to his wolf form, trying to find his way through the smoke and debris.
Sharp screams and yelps seemed to surround him, along with the overwhelming stench of smoke, ozone, and blood.
Stumbling through the chaos, Jarod found two more of Callahan’s men on the ground… missing various body parts, one of them blown completely in two. Both dead. Still, no scent of Belle. He cursed the decision to leave her side at such a critical time. Fucking stupid !
Finally, he could see sunlight through the gaping hole in the back of the warehouse, obscured though it was by smoke and dust. Clinging to that light, Jarod finally made it outside and into fresh air…
Only to be pounced on by a larger wolf. Sergei !
Jarod lashed blindly out with claws and teeth, not really having a good idea of where his attacker was, only that he was out for blood.
Rattled as he was, Jarod had a real fear he might lose this fight.
Not only would that mean loss of position in the pack, but it would put Belle in even more danger than she was already in. Which explained a lot, actually.
“You’re dead, human!” Sergei’s voice was deepened and roughened as he shifted to his battle wolf form, the state between human and wolf that used the strengths of both creatures. “And I’ll take that tasty little bitch of yours so she won’t have time to grieve for you.”
Red flooded Jarod’s vision, the battle wolf rising to the surface even through his injuries.
He was still unsteady on his feet, but healing fast thanks to his shift.
Strength filled his limbs as he twisted around to launch himself in Sergei’s general direction.
The taste of blood only heightened his rage.
Claws and teeth slashed and snapped, connecting more often than missing on both sides. Both men snarled as they lashed out, growling and barking viciously as they fought. Jarod raked his claws over Sergei’s torso even as the other wolf scored a hit across Jarod’s face.
Blood and chaos reigned.
A sharp yelp caught Jarod’s attention for a split second, the sound all too familiar. Belle ! She stood about fifty feet away, Alexi’s fist around her throat, claws dangerously close to her jugular.