20. Chapter 20

Chapter twenty

“ S ir, your father’s been challenged.” One of Lucas’ subordinates informed him of the situation inside.

“What? Who?” The four of us parroted each other, shocked by the news the tracker delivered.

Jeff fell in line with the trackers. Once they joined the party there was nothing he could have done that would have bought us more time.

I tried not to let it bother me, but pension or not Jeff’s decision still felt like a betrayal.

“Sir?” Another asked when he noticed the syringe in Lucas’ hand. He seized control of the situation with a snap of his fingers. “We’re going to have to bring you in, Lucas.”

From the way they converged on their leader it was clear, Lucas had not handpicked his team.

“This isn’t what it looks like.” Lucas raised his hands palms out.

“It looks like you’re holding the needle used to drug your opponent. Or am I seeing things?” The tracker drew a taser gun from his side holster. “You can explain it to the council.”

At the right voltage a taser was as effective on a werewolf as it was a human.

“Lucas?” I weighed down his name with all my unspoken questions.

Surrendering had never been a strong suit for either of us. I needed to know where he stood without tipping our hand. Were we running? Fighting?

The tracker had an itchy trigger finger and fired a shot before Lucas could as much as signal the next play.

Lucas’ hands partially shifted when he dropped to his knees. A menacing growl ripped from his throat as his claws dug into the concrete patio.

“Rookie mistake.” I bum-rushed the tracker and connected with my right fist when I landed a superman punch to his face.

All hell broke loose from there.

Gabe joined the fight and dropped a tracker with a heavy-handed upper cut. Two down, four to go. Lucas’ team fell into formation. Two came straight at us while the others flanked our sides. They fought with a fervor and determination I hadn’t expected.

Lucas had trained his team well. Perhaps too well.

If Benjamin had chosen to send one of them after me, I may have ended up back in Cedar Grove a long time ago.

“Caroline.” Jeff shouted my name as he rocked the tracker on my left with a blow to the temple. “Enough. This isn’t going to help Lucas. You’re just going to make things a whole hell of a lot worse if you keep this up.”

The tracker got to his feet and readied himself for an attack. Jeff snatched him by the back of his shirt and yanked him back.

“Hurt her and I will make kicking your ass a full-time job.” Jeff adjusted his grip on the tracker. His fingers dug in as his gripped the tracker’s shoulder.

“I’m not handing him over without a fight.” I dropped into the fighting stance my father had taught me when I was a little girl.

It had served me well over the years and would have again if Lucas hadn’t wrapped a hand wrapped his fingers around my ankle.

“Caroline, you aren’t going to be able to walk this back.” Jeff turned his attention to Lucas who had just ripped the taser leads from his chest. “Don’t let her do this.”

“Lina.” With just the touch of his hand, he put an end to the fight before I crossed a line and found myself cuffed alongside him.

Lucas’ team bound his hands with silver laced cuffs and took their former leader into custody.

“I’ll find your father and meet you at the holding cells.” I offered him the only assurance I had and wrapped my arms around him before the trackers took him away.

Gabe peeled me off Lucas and folded me into his arms, securing me in place to ensure I didn’t take off after them.

“If Benjamin has been challenged, he won’t be much help to Lucas.” Gabe released me from his hold once everyone had slipped out of sight.

“He’s still his father, Gabe. He’ll want to know.” I brushed past him and took my frustration out on the glass door, yanking it open with enough force to rip it free from its hinges.

“Yeah, I get that, but can he afford to?” Gabe caught the door before it crashed on the ground and leaned it against the side of the building. “They can’t make this stick no matter how damning that needle looks. He has an alibi.”

“He was with us the whole time.” I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “I’m an idiot.”

No wonder Jeff had been so insistent about not resisting .

“You’re far from an idiot, but you’re just too close to the situation. Sometimes you have to take a step back to see things clearly.” Gabe delivered his pearl of wisdom without an ounce of condescension.

“The council had cameras installed all over the place.” It was easier to think once I cleared the haze of fear and anger from my mind. “The footage will back us up. We’ll need the head of security to access the tapes.”

“After you.” Gabe motioned to the gaping hole in the building where the door had been moments before.

The head of security had an office behind the concierge’s desk. We pushed our way through the crowd of people that had tripled in size. Cheers for the advancing contender and jeers for our interim alpha followed us as we made our way to the lobby.

“He’s not here.” Amy announced as I jiggled the doorknob for the locked security office door. “Mike’s a little busy as you might have guessed by the angry mob swarming the banquet room.”

“Yeah, we had to fight our way through them to get here.” I contemplated breaking and entering as I leaned against the doorjamb but decided against it.

Too many witnesses.

“Don’t they ever give you a day off?” Gabe struck up a casual conversation with the front desk clerk as if he hadn’t had more pressing matters than her schedule. “You’re stuck behind this desk every time I come in here.”

“We’re stretched a little thin with the challenges. Some of the concierge staff have been temporarily reassigned to housekeeping.” Amy shrugged. “I’d rather man the desk. Fetching towels for alpha wannabes isn’t my thing.”

Before I could blurt out that I had an actual emergency and couldn’t have given two shits about their staffing issues, Gabe steered the conversation in a more productive direction.

“I hope that doesn’t apply to me.” Gabe turned up the wattage on his smile as Amy realized he was one of the so-called wannabes. “Don’t worry, it takes more than that to hurt my feelings. Listen, we don’t want to drag Mike away from his duties. Maybe you could help us.”

“Sure thing. Do you need to fill out an incident report or something?” Amy pulled a clip board with a stack of blank forms pinned beneath the large metal clip.

“We need to see the security footage from the cocktail party.” Gabe rested against the counter. “Think you can unlock the door for us?”

“As much as I’d love to help, I get paid by the hour. They don’t give people like me keys to the security room.” Amy shrugged. “You need to change your reservation or call for valet, I’m your girl. You want access to the security cameras? You’ll have to wait for Mike.”

“I’ve got a key.” I slammed my fist against the doorknob to bump the lock. “Why don’t you go grab a coffee or something?”

“That I can do.” Amy glanced at her watch before she grabbed her purse stowed beneath the desk. “I’m overdue for my fifteen break anyway.”

We waited for her to leave before going inside the office.

“What do you have against the doors in this place?” Gabe teased as he jiggled the wireless mouse beside the keyboard on Mike’s desk.

The monitor illuminated the office as it came to life. A few strokes of the keys later Gabe had unlocked the head of security’s computer and pulled up the footage.

“How did you figure out the password so fast?” I peered over his shoulder and watched the hotel guests zip around the screen in reverse.

“A quick scan of the office cross referenced with the most worn keys on the keyboard.” Gabe double clicked the rewind button and jumped the recording back another ten minutes. “Mike’s a big Dire Wolves fan.”

“Hey, whatever floats his boat. I prefer the real deal, but if that’s his thing—”

“I take it you don’t follow college football.” Gabe chuckled and pointed to a sports themed calendar on the wall.

“I don’t follow football period. The only sport that was ever on the TV in my house growing up was boxing.” I told him and proceeded to overshare by explaining how my father used the championship matches he forced us to watch as an educational tool.

My dad never saw a tactical advantage in watching team sports. A wolf was nothing without the pack, but in a challenge the wolf stood alone in the ring—just like a prize fighter.

Gabe knew what he was looking for on the recordings and how to find it. He navigated the digital security system like an IT pro while I made a mental note to delete my browser history before I ever lent him my laptop.

With a few more clicks of the mouse and clacks of the keys Gabe had isolated all the frames of video that included Lucas.

“Hang on, back that one up.” I tapped the block on the upper right corner of the screen which showed footage from one of the cameras in the banquet room.

“How far?” Gabe rolled the well-worn office chair out from under the desk and settled in as he rewound the footage.

“A couple of seconds should be plenty. Watch the guy in the Fedora.” I gnawed at my bottom lip as I waited for the replay. “There.”

I pulled out my phone, tapped the camera ap and hit record. It wouldn’t be high quality video, but beggars can’t be choosers. I didn’t need high def. I just needed it clear enough to prove Lucas’ innocence.

“Holy shit.” Gabe froze the frame and searched for the man wearing the hat from the other camera angles. “Nice catch.”

“Well, his choice of accessories wasn’t very discrete.” I said, pointing out the perp’s flashy taste in fashion.

“No, but that bump, and drop was.” Gabe zoomed in on the action and slowed down the replay. “The guy had a featherlight touch. I doubt Lucas felt anything after the initial brush when he passed as we took our seats.”

“Okay, so the needle is planted here.” I tapped the monitor screen again. “When was it used to inject the contender?”

“It depends on what was injected and how many ccs.” Gabe’s brow furrowed as he puzzled out the toxin and dosage used. “Toxicology would be too much to ask for … Did it look like a 3cc syringe to you?”

“And I would know that how?” I had basic first aid training and that was it.

I never needed more than that—excluding the time my wolf decided to teach me a lesson. I may not have had the scars across my abdomen with more intensive training.

As it was, my stomach was marred, and I had no clue what a 3ccs syringe looked like.

“Was it squatty or skinny?” Gabe did his best to describe the different sizes. “First answer that comes into your head.”

“Skinny.” I blurted out before I had time to over think my response.

“Okay, so probably a 1cc syringe.” Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose. “We still don’t know what he injected the contender with, but we can assume it was powerful stuff.”

I listened with rapt attention as the former detective worked out the solution to a problem that was missing more than one factor.

Algebra had never made it onto my short list of favorite subjects when I was in school.

“Too soon and the effects would have been too obvious.” Gabe zeroed in on a timeline as we scanned the frames. “Too late and the fight may have ended before the drug kicked in.”

“That feels pretty vague.” I rubbed my temples in the hopes of easing the headache that had blossomed behind my eyes. “Will it narrow down our window enough to catch him on camera?”

“We might not catch it at all.” Gabe scratched at the stubble along his jaw. “If it were me, I’d get him in the gym locker room, or a bathroom. Anywhere the council wouldn’t have cameras.”

“That’s what you think.” I wrestled the mouse free of his grip and pulled up footage from the cameras installed on the outside of the doors leading into areas off limits to recording video. “There’s a lot of blind spots.”

“Yeah, like the whole bathroom.” Gabe assigned each of us a target. “You follow the hat and I’ll follow the contender.”

I stared at the screen until my vision blurred.

“Got him.” I rubbed the exhaustion from my eyes.

The adrenaline rush had worn off and I was paying the price for having slowed down.

Gabe pulled up the one camera angle until the view filled the screen and slowed the feed. Just as we hoped, the contender walked in less than a minute later.

We had them.

It wasn’t ironclad. Not without footage of the actual injection, but when combined with our testimony it should be more than enough to convince the council Lucas was innocent.

There would be hell to pay if it wasn’t.