Page 31 of Polestar (The Global Paranormal Security Agency #3)
TWENTY-FIVE
E lias’ muscles strained at the oars as he propelled the small craft along the rolling ocean surface. He’d already made the call to Magnus’ contact. Kane.
He recalled that name. Kane was the woman that had spun his life in a new direction when she visited Barentia all those years ago.
It was her fault that he’d lost his father, and all of this was happening now. He was sure of it.
Despite his overwhelming bitterness when she’d identified herself on the satellite phone, he’d relayed Magnus’ message, then continued his journey.
The bitterness fueled his muscles as he rowed because he had promised his father he would continue on to Bear Island.
His pride screamed to go back. To help. To save his grandfather and people from the humans with weapons that could kill them.
Surely they could overcome them with their great bear warriors.
No. He’d seen the movies and the news on the television. Their warriors wouldn’t even get near the humans to tear them apart with their claws and teeth. How could anyone fight against that?
But Magnus is going to.
He glanced at the pack, wondering if there was a gun in it. He hadn’t explored its contents beyond extracting the needed phone.
He kept rowing, returning his attention to the rolling line of the horizon and the misty bump that was Barentia.
Dots fanned the surface.
He squinted, but even his enhanced senses couldn’t make out their shapes yet.
Birds? Dolphin fins, maybe.
The weak sunlight caught the shape of a sail.
Boats.
‘They will go after you.’ Magnus had warned him.
They would mark him like they’d marked his grandfather and Havard.
Elias swore as he reached for his boots and shoved them into the pack, then pulled off the rest of his clothes, adding them to his boots. Yanking the zipper closed, he spared the growing dots one last glance, unable to determine how many pursued him.
He held his breath, leaped into the frigid Barents Sea and shifted.
His hands extended and widened into powerful paws with deadly claws. The pads of his palms thickened and turned black, while translucent fur sprouted from every pore of his body.
Power and strength surged through his muscles.
Still buoyant, the pack floated on the surface as he drew a breath. Grabbing it with his teeth, he began the long swim to the safety of Bear Island.
Or so he hoped.
A na’s breath caught at the sound of the great roar reverberating through the stronghold.
Magnus!
She glanced up in time to see Antony leaping through the upper portion of the high stone wall, looking like he was ready to fight.
Ulla’s expression registered panic as the sound continued.
Yvan’s gaze focused on Antony’s dramatic entrance.
Adolf slipped out of the door, with no one but Ana noticing his departure.
The sound of thunder echoed between the thick rock of the mountain’s base and the stronghold’s stones. Growing steadily.
“Choppers!” Antony whooped gleefully.
Yvan and Ulla exchanged confused glances.
“Where’s Adolf?” Yvan demanded, moving around the table toward the door.
“I don’t know. Grab the human. Magnus is coming for her,” Ulla shouted.
“Yeah,” Antony said. “And he’s pissed.”
“You saw him?” Ana gasped.
“I was with him when he found his father. The King is dying, Ana. I think he’s going to rip these two apart when he finds them.” His eyes glittered as he looked straight at Yvan. “Especially him.”
“Why?” Ana asked, looking between Antony and Yvan, who stared back at him, color flushing his pale face.
“Who’s she talking to?” Ulla demanded.
“The dead human who can’t do anything to help her, or stop us.”
“Oh yeah? I know the shaman you killed is keeping the king alive, and he’d kick your ass himself for violating their sacred culture.”
“They killed the shaman?” Ana’s voice rose with her shock.
“Yvan, I told you to grab her; take her to the hall where we can display her when we catch Magnus,” Ulla commanded.
Yvan grasped Ana’s wrist, wrenching her forward.
“Ana, you have to escape. Bring a priest to the king’s chambers so they can reverse the spell that’s killing him before it’s too—.”
Yvan shouted several words in a language Ana couldn’t understand, swiping his hand through the air in Antony’s direction.
“Antony!” Ana screamed as he sailed through the air backwards, disappearing through the wall.
Yvan yanked on her arm. She resisted enough to draw back her free hand, and when he yanked again, she used the momentum to launch her fist into his face, cracking his nose.
Pain lanced through her knuckles and up her wrist, but she didn’t stop striking the much larger man, despite his rock-like face breaking her hand.
Grunting, he grabbed her other arm, and she went at him with her feet like the little hellcat that Magnus had accused her of being.
“Subdue her, now!” Ulla shouted.
Yvan barked a few words as his clammy palm clamped on her forehead.
Ana collapsed as the world went white.
A dolf drove the snowmobile hard, pushing its engine as fast as it would go, as he raced back toward his compound at the northern edge of Barentia.
“No, no, no!” He screamed as a heavy transport helicopter buzzed overhead.
GPSA.
He cranked the engine harder, determined to get to his ships.
There’s only one helicopter. I have an army of men with plenty of guns that will take care of those agents.
By the time he arrived at the water’s edge, the helicopter hovered over his warehouse roof as black-clad agents dropped to the building below while taking fire.
Good. His men were doing their jobs.
Roaring drew his attention to the open landscape beyond the small marina, where an aurora of polar bears churned up snow and rock as they sped toward his facilities.
Panic rising, he glanced back toward his island compound across the water.
One ship had already left the small port. The other was gearing up its engine. It would keep going despite the raid, as instructed.
Adolf ran the snowmobile as close to the dock where his small watercraft awaited him. Jumping on board, he engaged the engine and steered it toward the departing ship. As he sped toward it, he sighted a second helicopter in the distance and assumed it was searching for the first ship.
Eyes on the sky as he sped toward the closer ship, he didn’t notice the massive roll of ocean water until it was too late. Something large and gray barreled into his small boat, sending it flipping through the air.
Stunned, Adolf hit the water hard.
The shock of the cold water sent him to the surface, gasping for air. The large gray mass continued to circle him.
Not a shark or a whale.
He dropped below the waterline to see what blocked his path to escape.
He blinked. What the fuck is that?
He screamed ocean water as it turned and surged toward him, maw gaping, teeth extended.
He shifted instantly.
His slick body darted to the left, evading the jaws of the creature pursuing him.
Extending one of his tentacles, he latched on to the back of the creature’s neck with his suckers.
Adolf ballooned the canopy of his body and enclosed his attacker’s head so that it couldn’t see.
Wrapping the rest of his tentacles around its head and neck, he held on as it jerked left and right, trying to dislodge him.
Unable to, it swam toward the sound of the ship’s motor, straight for the hull where a second creature similar in size but different in form appeared to push the ship’s bow.
Fearing the creature would ram the ship head-first, which would crush Adolf, he let go.
The monster immediately twisted, though not before it impacted the ship, setting it to rocking.
By now, he understood these creatures were GPSA shifters intent on capturing his cargo.
Relieved that the ship didn’t capsize, Adolf engaged his camouflage as he sank to the sea floor, creeping ever forward as fast as he dared, determined to catch the rudder and hide in a crevice. Even if they seized the ship, he could still escape.
A silver-scaled fish swam above him in the ship’s wake. Adolf used it as cover until he made a dash for the gap between the rudder and the propeller and settled in the arch above the two, attaching every sucker, securing him to its surface.
The silver fish maintained its position, following the ship.
Suddenly, the propeller groaned to a stop. The ship continued to drift.
The distinct sounds of shouting and cheering echoed through the hull of the ship, amplified by the ocean surrounding it.
Adolf cursed that he’d lost another ship to the Global Paranormal Security Agency.
I can still escape.
A few moments later, a woman’s voice traveled through the ocean water now that it was clear of the engine’s vibrations.
“Okay Lirikai, track him, but don’t eat him! Kane wants him alive.”
Adolf did not know what that meant. He flattened himself against the rudder as much as his flexible body would allow.
The two larger creatures circled the ship in opposite rotations, capturing and rounding up Adolf’s men as they jumped into the ocean to escape.
The silver-scaled fish drifted up to his level. From this angle, it was impossible to miss all of its razor-sharp teeth as it stared at him with hungry eyes.
His heart pounded as he considered his options, which were few. Very few.
A ghost-like figure drifted in next to the fish and grinned. “Gotcha. Go ahead, try to ink us, you little bastard, I dare you. She’s hungry. Really hungry.”