Page 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
D iego’s rage rose as he and Cassidy searched Xav’s new home, finding scattered clothing, rifled drawers, and the shoes Xav liked to wear waiting by the bed for him to slip them on.
The wolf cubs scampered here, there, and everywhere, noses busily taking in scents, tails wagging hard.
Only Cassidy, Tiger, the cubs, and Leah had entered the house with Diego. The rest of the Shifters, with a contingent of DX men and Emma, waited down the street and around the corner. Diego had wanted to keep Tiger out of sight, but he’d weighed the possibility of the neighbors being spooked against Tiger’s unique tracking abilities and decided to risk it.
Leah uttered a cry as she snatched up Lindsay’s jacket from the living room rug. She buried her face in it, but she didn’t weep, as though trying to stay strong.
Tiger stood in the middle of the kitchen, eyes closed. This was his way of assessing a situation, Carly had once tried to explain, though Diego hadn’t really understood. Tiger could sense things, apparently, that other Shifters could not.
A super-Shifter, they called him. Tiger would sometimes don a cape to amuse the cubs, who adored him.
Matt and Kyle scrambled up Tiger’s motionless body without fear, perching on his shoulders while they waited for him to figure things out.
Tiger opened his eyes, which were yellow-gold and intense.
“There were four captors inside the house,” he announced. “They used tranquilizers, most likely in darts, to subdue Xavier and Lindsay. From the residue, the tranq was strong enough to put a human out for a few hours, but a Shifter for only half that long.” Tiger met Diego’s incredulous expression with a deadpan one. “I learned much about tranquilizers.”
From the scientists who’d experimented on him, Diego knew Tiger meant. They’d tested all kinds of drugs on him, gauging his reaction to them and building up his resistance.
“Interesting,” Diego said, tamping down his disquiet. “Why didn’t they give Lindsay a stronger dose?”
“Because they didn’t realize she’s Shifter,” Leah said, triumphant, as she emerged from the bedroom. She held out a Collar, one of the fakes Eric and Liam Morrissey had created. “She fooled them. And she got hold of a phone.” She radiated pride in her daughter.
“Lindsay’s not dim,” Cassidy agreed with enthusiasm.
Of course, who the captors were and why they’d taken both Xav and Lindsay remained a mystery. The most logical solution was that the gang they’d been tailing had decided to find out who’d been following them, and why. Jeff was being guarded, but he might have managed to report in to his leader—if Jeff still felt any loyalty to him—and tell them about DX Security.
Diego’s phone buzzed. His heart leapt in hope that it would be Xav responding, but the readout said it was Neal.
“What did you find?” Diego asked him.
“A name.” Neal’s wolf rumbles came over the line. “I was able to hack into the guy’s number and pull up his calls and texts. He’s called Ron Becker. Lives off Harmon, near Sam’s Town.”
“He sounds familiar. Wait a sec.” Diego seated himself at Xav’s computer, which the kidnappers had also left intact, and logged into DX Security, scouring its records. “Shit.”
Diego sat back as the screen showed him its information on Ron Becker.
“What?” Cassidy leaned over him, her silken hair brushing his cheek.
“He used to work for AC Parkes,” Diego announced. “Neal—grab AC, drag him down here, and meet us at DX Security. He’s going to tell us everything he knows and where Xav and Lindsay are most likely to be.”
* * *
Dean reached into a pocket, and Xav tensed before the man slid out a cell phone. “While your girlfriend is enjoying herself, you can call your brother.”
Xav raised his brows. “I thought we were waiting for a reasonable hour.”
Dean shrugged. “I changed my mind. Have him fetch AC, and then we’ll give him another call when we get to the location and tell him an exact meeting point.”
“If I phone Diego from an unknown number, he either won’t answer, or won’t believe I haven’t been coerced,” Xav argued.
“Maybe.” Dean caressed the cell phone’s black face with his thumb. “But this is my number, which he can verify. He’ll believe that you found me.”
“Even so, Diego will be snuggled in bed with his lady. He won’t want to answer a call from anyone.”
“Be persistent.”
“All right.” Xav heaved a sigh as he reached for the phone. “I’ll put up with Diego reaming me out, if he even answers.”
Dean set the phone on the table next to the coffee maker and stepped away from it. He wasn’t going to let Xav come too close. “Convince him you’ve found me, tell him to fetch my brother, and say you’ll bring him to a location you’ll fix later. Pretend you’re being extra cautious about my enemies catching us.”
“And then I take my girl to Tahiti?” Xav asked with feigned ingenuousness. “I’ll need to grab my passport.”
“We’ll talk about that once I see my brother.”
Xav didn’t think much of AC’s chances of getting out of this alive, or his own, or Lindsay’s, or Diego’s either. Xav’s advantage was that Diego wasn’t stupid and had much experience saving Xav’s butt. Plus Xav had Lindsay and whatever wild ideas were in her head.
Xav took a step to the table and reached for the phone.
The lights went out.
The room didn’t go completely dark, because emergency lights above the door instantly glowed. That was too bad, because Xav couldn’t use cover of darkness to grab the phone or tackle his captors.
The remaining henchman drew his firearm. “What the fuck?”
Dean calmly opened a blind and peered through the office window. “Whole building is down.” He didn’t sound concerned.
“You hooked up to the grid out here?” Xav asked. “Or is it all generators?”
Dean shot him a derisive look, not about to tell him whether they were within a city’s power supply. “It goes off sometimes. This whole place needs work.”
“Probably abandoned for a reason,” Xav said, as though he commiserated.
“Probably.” Dean gave his guard a nod. “Check in with Ron.”
The man pulled out a handheld radio and clicked it to talk. “Anything going on? Ron, you there?”
When there was no response, Dean at last came alert.
The henchman was about to repeat his question when static sizzled on the walkie, and Lindsay’s voice came to them.
“Ron fell over in the dark,” she announced. “Looks like he’s hurt.”
Dean scowled, but motioned to his goon. “Go check it out. Round up Jack and Kurt.”
“You going to be okay in here, boss?” the man asked, glancing at Xav.
“Escobar is cool,” Dean said. “Right? If he doesn’t want his girlfriend to be toast.”
“Should I shoot her?” the henchman asked with chilling indifference.
“Nah,” Dean answered with the same detachment. “I like her. I might kill Escobar but keep her. Just make sure she behaves.”
“Sure.” The henchman was skeptical, but he holstered his weapon and obediently marched out.
“Let’s get back to calling your brother.” Dean gestured to the phone. “Keep it simple. You found me, you need to meet. He brings AC, and we all have a family reunion.”
“Right.” Xav kept his expression neutral as he picked up the phone.
Whatever had happened to Ron out there was Lindsay’s doing, and so was the power cut. Xav knew that like he knew his own name.
You go, sweetheart.
He remembered her leaping down from on high at the stadium to wipe out the arms dealer who’d been about to shoot him. Xav wanted to laugh. Dean’s guys would not know what hit them.
At the same time, Xav couldn’t dial back his anxiousness about her. A gun might go off and wound Lindsay, or they might bring out the tranq darts again. He could only pray she was too fast and too tricky for Dean’s men.
Dean shot Xav a hard look when he began to tap in Diego’s number. “Keep it simple. No extra words, no coded messages. Got it?”
“Hey, what’s between you and AC is your business,” Xav said without heat. “I’ll deliver him and whatever, and then I’m gone. With my brother, and Lindsay.”
Dean gave his uncaring shrug. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Keeping his expression neutral, Xav tapped the last number and listened to the phone ring on the other side.
“Hey, bro,” he said rapidly when Diego answered with, Who the hell is this? “I found Dean. This is his phone. Grab AC. I’ll text you a meetup point when we get there. See you soon.” He pressed the Off button as Diego began to splutter questions. “Good?” Xav asked Dean.
“Guess so,” Dean said.
Xav nodded, laying down the phone, waiting for his moment to take Dean, find Lindsay, and get the hell out of there.
* * *
Lindsay lay on top of the tall shelving unit in lynx form once more—she’d shifted enough to answer Ron’s walkie-talkie before turning it off, placing it carefully next to her, and melding back into her cat.
The second man who’d been in Dean’s office came striding out, obviously looking for Ron. He found him easily enough, sprawled on his back at the base of the shelves, where Lindsay had left him.
“Shit.” The man bent over his colleague, lightly shaking him. “Ron. You okay?”
He never heard Lindsay coming. She dropped from the shelves and landed on him in complete silence, toppling him to the ground. One paw pressed his face into the floor while Lindsay let the other become a hand long enough to grab the taser from his belt.
Before the man could drag in a startled breath to yell, she jammed the taser to his shoulder and stunned him. Maybe weapons did have their uses.
Because Lindsay had been holding him down, she couldn’t avoid receiving part of the shock but jumped away fast enough that she only singed her fur. Stifling a growl, she rose into her half-human, half-beast form.
Lindsay powered off the taser so it could recharge, held it between her wildcat teeth as she became all lynx, and swarmed up the shelves to her hiding place once more, making sure not to dislodge any boxes as she went.
Later she’d have a good rummage through the crates, to see if there were any more decent shoes. They shouldn’t go to waste gathering dust in this old place.
But first she needed to save her mate. Dean was dangerous, in a calm, cold way, uncaring about what happened to anyone he left in his wake. She knew he had no intention of letting her and Xav go, no matter what he offered.
Lindsay laid the taser next to Ron’s walkie and cell phone she’d relieved him of. Once she eliminated the rest of the guards, she’d figure out where this warehouse was located and call her mom again.
Scouting from above, Lindsay pinpointed more of Dean’s men. Dean had them patrolling all four corners of the warehouse, walking through their areas then meeting up in the middle to give one another the all’s well signal, before they returned to wandering the aisles.
None of them hurried to see how Ron was doing or to help their colleague with him, so they must think the second guy had it covered. Or, they didn’t care. A hurt man was someone else’s problem.
Lindsay reasoned that there must be more guards outside, but she’d tackle them later. The men inside had been only slightly spooked by the lights going out, but they’d quickly recovered. Overloaded circuits might be a frequent occurrence.
Flying boxes weren’t, though.
Lindsay grinned ferociously as she hovered above one of the guards, then flung a heavy box down at him. He heard it at the last minute, yelping and jumping aside as the box burst open in a cloud of foam peanuts.
He jerked around, weapon drawn, trying to figure out where the attack had come from, but Lindsay was already gone.
She wanted to laugh out loud, or yowl in glee, but she controlled herself. She landed on the next set of shelves and sent a whole shower of boxes cascading down, then was four aisles over by the time the slower humans reacted.
Their shouts drew the others. Lindsay bombarded all of them, scampering away before they saw her.
Lindsay leapt and caught the nearest beam, easily lifting herself onto it. The rafters that held up the vast roof were interspersed with pipes of a sprinkler system that crisscrossed the entire building. Lindsay clung to her beam and used her between-beast strength to break one of the slenderer pipes.
Nothing happened.
Damn. Lindsay glared at the dangling pipe. She reasoned the building must connected to a water supply, because she’d used the bathroom without a problem, and they’d have to have water for their coffee maker. But maybe Dean’s men hadn’t bothered with the flow that led to the fire suppressant system.
Well, she’d just have to find the water controls and turn it back on.
Lindsay quietly broke a few more pipes, then skimmed across the rafters to a high window. The window was narrow, used only for ventilation, but lynxes were fairly small, even Shifter ones.
Before she could slide through, however, the office door abruptly opened. Dean pushed Xav in front of him as they emerged, wedging a pistol firmly against Xav’s neck.