Page 23

Chapter 22

Where there’s smoke

CHARLIE

I feel Lennox’s eyes on me in the dark, know that he hates that I’m here, but this is what we’ve been working our way toward. Tonight, we bust the New York ASHRA organization.

Several hours earlier, we met with Duncan. He told us that one of his informants leaked vital information about an imminent bombing, but before the young bear shifter could meet with Duncan he disappeared.

“It looks abandoned,” grumbles a police officer who clearly doesn’t want to be on a bust at 3:00 AM. We’re a block away from the warehouse, crouched in a dark alley.

“It’s not,” Talon says.

Talon is Duncan’s head of security. Talon, along with three other bear shifters, joined the team. It was part of the negotiations. Duncan refused to reveal the location of the ASHRA building unless he could send people in. He didn’t want his informant harmed during the bust.

Technically, I have no place on a police bust either, but I talked my way in using my bomb expertise. If there are any explosives in the building, I should be on hand to disarm them.

Lennox argued right up until it was time to move. Not with me. He knows better than to argue with me about my job. He went straight to his superior, and when that didn’t work, he’d gone to mine. I don’t blame him. Now that I can see into his head, I know what his feelings for me are. I can see the conflict he has with his wolf, though both agree on one thing; I should be protected at all costs.

His sharp-eyed glare pierces me through the gloom, but I ignore him as I tug on my bulletproof vest, then slide a protective helmet on, buckling it in place.

As head of our team, Lennox is at the front of our group of seven, preparing to go in first. I’m the second person at the back, the safest position.

There’s another team preparing for entry on the opposite side of the warehouse. They’re going in through a side door while we’re taking a window into the basement.

“You know how to use a gun?” One of the bear shifters asks me, his deep voice rumbling.

“Yes,” I confirm.

“Take this.” He hands me his weapon, showing me the safety.

“Won’t you need it?” I ask.

The cold, heavy metal of the gun feels unfamiliar in my hands. I learned how to use a gun during my training as an investigator, but I’ve never carried one. There aren’t many instances where a fire investigator might find themselves in a life-or-death situation, though that’s changed since meeting Lennox.

The bear shifter holds his hands up, each easily able to encompass and crush my head. “Nope, don’t need a human weapon.”

I laugh nervously. “What’s your name?” I point at myself. “Charlie Lopez.” I leave off my work designation. There’s something about the cool breezy night, the potential danger in our mission, and an exciting electrical charge running through all of us that’s creating an air of intimacy.

“Friends call me Little John.”

Pleased that my new buddy has given me his ‘friends’ name, I ask, “Are you named after the bear in that old, animated Robin Hood movie?”

He grins his approval. “Indeed, I am.”

Enough chatter . Concentrate on the mission at hand. Lennox demands through our private connection.

You’re just jealous I’m making new friends.

We aren’t here to make friends.

Which is why you don’t have any.

His chuckle echoes through my mind and I know he’s not really annoyed with me, just worried that I’m here.

I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m ever so slightly regretting my insistence on coming. I’m not the police. I have no place here. What if I get in the way?

Your place is here , Lennox reassures me. You were a lead investigator on this case and you should be here for the bust.

But you tried so hard to have me booted off the team, I point out, confused by his contradictory messaging.

Your mate tried to have you kicked off the team, your partner is proud to have such an impressive investigator on his side.

I glow at his praise and nearly miss what he says next because he says it out loud, instead of through our connection. His voice is hushed as he speaks to the team. “The other squad is in place. Get ready. We breach in two minutes.”

My heart pumps faster and a zing of adrenalin shoots through me, making me giddy. I take several deep breaths, calming myself. Lennox is right, I belong here. I’m a damn good investigator and any good investigator will see their investigation through to the end.

“Let’s go,” Lennox growls and as a unit we move swiftly and silently toward the warehouse.

At this point, unless absolutely necessary we don’t use our headsets. Instead, we communicate only through the hand signals Lennox taught us.

I’m proud of my partner as he breaks a window in a way that causes little sound and disturbance before being the first to climb through. A shot of fear goes through me as I wait tensely for him to give the ‘all clear’ signal. What if the room he entered is rigged to blow? Maybe I should have gone in first.

I breathe easier when he gives us the thumbs up through the window.

Then one at a time, we climb through. Even though I’m second to last, it’s Lennox’s hands that encircle my waist as he lowers me to the floor through the window, setting me on my feet before returning to the front of the team.

As Little John climbs in behind me, I take in my surroundings. We’re in a small basement room with a single desk and chair, both pushed up against a wall. We follow Lennox out of the room and into a long hall. His shadowy form looks smaller than usual and it takes me a moment to realize he’s hunching in on himself, his body curving around his gun as he makes himself a smaller target. I copy him, folding my body in on itself as much as I can while still being able to walk unhampered.

We move through the basement like a swarm, searching each room we come across in a labyrinth of hallways. There’s very little of interest in the basement rooms and soon we’re heading up a staircase toward the first floor.

Our mission is threefold, which is why there are so many of us. First, we’re here to locate and rescue Roscoe, the teenage bear who infiltrated ASHRA. Second, we’re here to seize any explosives found on the premises, and third, to arrest any members of ASHRA we come across.

Lennox points at himself, then at the first door on the first floor, then signals that we should stay behind. Everything inside me wants me to follow him, but I know it’s the mating instinct. Lennox is safest if I stay in my position surrounded by bear shifters and human police officers.

“In here,” Lennox calls softly through the door.

We enter the room and I gasp softly, rushing to help Lennox as he approaches an unconscious young man chained with his arms over his head, the chain attached to a ring drilled into the concrete wall.

“Roscoe.” Talon lifts the boy against the wall as Lennox and I grapple with his chains. The others cover the door.

The room is empty other than Roscoe.

“What…?” A faint sound issues from between the cracked lips of the youth as he opens an eye. The other is swollen shut. He’s been severely beaten.

“We need a key,” I whisper to Lennox.

“They… have… key,” Roscoe says, his voice creaking.

Lennox yanks on the chains as though testing them, then says to me, “Help Talon steady him. I’m going to pull the chain from the wall.” He grips the chain beneath the ring.

Roscoe moves his head back and forth in a slow shake. “Tried that… it won’t work.” His voice is getting stronger, as though he’s invigorated by his imminent rescue.

“Might if I help.” Little John stands next to Lennox and grips the chain in both hands. Together they yank.

Dust from the concrete wall powders us as the ring comes loose. Lennox grabs it before it can fall on Roscoe’s head.

As Roscoe collapses into Talon’s arms, an earsplitting BOOM shakes the building.

My heart leaps.

“That was an explosion,” I confirm when Lennox’s eyes seek mine. “Could be a bomb.”

He lifts his radio and tries to contact the other team.

Silence follows and we all stare at each other, fear our primary emotion. Did the other team accidentally set off a bomb?

“We have to move quickly,” Lennox says. His gaze meets mine and I know what he’s going to say before he says it. “Lopez, you leave with Roscoe, get him to safety. Take Officer Bates as backup. Everyone else with me. We’re going to find the other team.”

He wants me out of the building, but I can be useful if he comes across another bomb. I open my mouth to argue but his frantic thoughts cut me off.

Please do this, Charlie. I can’t have you in here with bombs going off. I can’t think straight. I’ll make a mistake . As if that wasn’t enough to convince me to leave, he adds, I love you. It would kill me if anything happened to you. Please go.

What choice do I have?

I give Roscoe the best smile I can manage. “Let’s get you out of here.” I help him heft the chains still manacled to his wrists and slip my arm under his shoulders. He’s taller than me by a foot and twice as wide, but he’s young and injured and leans heavily into me. He groans and clutches at his ribcage.

“I have you,” I assure him, my heart aching for the young man.

We make our way slowly out the door.

Lennox stops me, gripping my shoulder. “Go straight out the way we came in and back to our original position. Don’t come back inside. Ambulances and backup are on the way.”

“Be careful,” I beg him as he nods at the rest of the team to follow him.

Officer Bates draws his gun and takes position in front of us, leading us back down the stairs and into the maze of hallways in the basement. Everything is quiet, all the action taking place on the floors above us.

“You were very brave to come here on your own,” I say to Roscoe in a hushed voice, trying to distract him. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” he says, his voice stronger than it was before. “I was chosen because I’m smaller than most bear shifters, but I’m just as fierce and I’m fast.”

Not fast enough, I think to myself, glancing over his injuries. “What happened?”

“They caught me leaving the building with the bombing plans. I ran and was able to call Mr. Sharptooth to tell him, but they caught up to me.” There’s terror in his voice as he recounts his story. “Gave me the beating of a lifetime and strung me up on that wall.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how were a bunch of humans able to subdue a bear shifter?” If Duncan wasn’t exaggerating, then even a young bear shifter should have been able to take out a group of humans.

“There’s a shifter working with them,” he says grimly. “The humans took me down with a stun gun strong enough to drop an elephant and then the shifter was able to subdue me. She’s strong for a wolf shifter.”

A female wolf shifter.

Oh shit. Edie, definitely Edie.

I silently message Lennox, telling him about Edie’s complicity within the ASHRA organization. She might still be in the building –

My thought is cut off when a shadow falls from the ceiling on top of Officer Bates, gripping him by the neck and twisting until his head snaps to the side. I watch in horror as his body topples to the floor.

A naked woman separates from the shadows, stalking toward us. Roscoe growls, his chest vibrating my shoulder where he leans into me.

“Edie,” I acknowledge grimly.

“Finally,” she says, a smile curving her lips.