31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Danny, Sidnee and I stole fifteen minutes from lunch to look through more of the files. I was sure we were missing a lot by skimming but our time was so limited. Frustrated, I threw my file back into the case. ‘Any other names you recognize?’

‘Not in this one,’ Danny sighed. We both picked out another file.

Suddenly Sidnee yelped. ‘Hey, you guys! This one names several high-ranking politicians in Alaska, including one whom I’m assuming is Thorsen’s daddy.’

‘Fuck,’ I swore.

‘We’ve got to get this info to our Nomos,’ Danny said urgently. ‘This is big – it may need a meeting of Portlock and Ugiuvak. The only way we can work through this is together.’ He was right: this was way too big for us three to deal with alone.

I returned my folder to the case. ‘I don’t see Sergeant Marks’ name anywhere – I think he’s clean.’

‘Clean enough to bring him in on this?’ Sidnee asked.

I considered it for a minute but in the end I shook my head. ‘I think it’s safer if we keep it between us. This knowledge is dangerous and I don’t want to put Marks at risk, even if he’s clean.’ The sergeant’s comments about his job had stuck with me.

Danny nodded. ‘I agree.’

I licked my lips. ‘Connor pointed out that Fischer is going to be missing these documents soon, so we need to hide the case somewhere and get the documents out of the academy. We’ve only taken pictures of a quarter of the files so far – this is taking too long. The longer the files are here, the more danger there is that we’ll be found with them.’

Danny frowned. ‘What I don’t get is why they were stashed in a utility room behind some pipes.’

I’d wondered about that, too. ‘I think they were originally kept in Engell’s office. One of the desk drawers was emptied recently and there was no dust. I figure that when Petty hit the room twice, Fischer decided to hide them somewhere out of the way. Where better than the plant room that we’re not allowed to enter? You can’t have top-secret documents floating around in a poltergeist storm.’

‘That’s definitely possible. So where do we hide the documents until we can get them out?’ Danny asked.

I racked my brains. Everywhere except the TAC officers’ rooms was open to the recruits. Our footlockers and closets were supposed to be private but anyone could get into them if they wanted to; I could open a footlocker without much effort, and even humans could do it with the right tools. Think outside the box, Bunny, I said to myself.

‘The bathroom?’ Sidnee suggested.

I shook my head. Our bathroom was pretty open and it would only take two minutes to search.

She went on, ‘I was thinking where I’d avoid looking if I were a guy. I wouldn’t want to go into a woman’s bathroom. Throw a few pads and tampons around and they’ll turn tail, right?’

Danny snorted. ‘We’re not that delicate! I’ve pawed through worse in searches.’

I glanced at the clock: we had three minutes before our presence was demanded. ‘Okay, let’s go with misdirection. I have a rucksack with a load of pockets and one of them is concealed. Let’s put the contents of the files in there and shove some tampons and snacks in the other pockets. Hopefully nobody will dig around enough to find the hidden compartment. We’ll leave the rucksack in plain sight – nobody will be suspicious of something that’s out in the open. Then we fill the attaché case with loose papers and stuff it in a cupboard in the break room. If it’s found, nobody will suspect us because everyone has access to the break room.’

Danny whistled. ‘That’s pretty darned ballsy.’

Sidnee grinned. ‘It’s so bold, it might even work!’

We leapt into action. Sidnee pulled the documents out of the files whilst I dug out my rucksack. It was hot pink with an animal print on it; I freaking loved that bag because it reminded me in a good way of the glittering lights of London and the life I’d left behind.

I stuffed papers inside it as fast as they were handed to me. Once we’d finished, the rucksack was only half full so I put a jacket over the papers and threw in all the packaged snacks we’d saved and a bunch of Sidnee’s sanitary supplies. When it was full, I zipped the bag closed and went into the break room. Luckily it was empty; the other recruits had already cleared out and gone to class.

I leaned the duffel against one of the sofas, then opened a cabinet and shoved the attaché case full of fake papers to the back and replaced the food items in front of it.

‘Hey, Bunny?’ Danny asked quietly.

‘Yeah?’

‘Where did your nickname come from?’

Sidnee giggled.

‘When I was little, before I was a vamp, I was actually a shifter. A were-rabbit.’

Danny snorted. ‘I call bullshit. I’ve never seen someone so fascinated by our “remedial” lessons. No way you were born supernat.’

I grinned. ‘How about this one? I have a wild, hoppity fighting style so my Nomo nicknamed me Bunny.’

Danny grinned. ‘You’re taking it to the grave, huh?’

‘Something like that.’

We raced downstairs and walked into class two minutes late. Captain Engell frowned at us but he was in the middle of his introduction, so we didn’t get told off. The lecture was an overview of forensic accounting, and it was also the final day the guest captain would be with us. If he was involved and he was gunning for me like Thorsen had said, then I might face a kidnapping attempt today. With that in mind, it was hard to focus on Engell’s droning voice.

I’d thought the subject would be boring but I did find some of it interesting, particularly the descriptions of how the authorities found money that criminals had hidden. It wasn’t an in-depth lecture because forensic accountants were specialists, but it gave us an idea of what they did and when we’d need one.

As the lecture was ending, Lieutenant Fischer came into class to announce a surprise squad challenge that would take place after dinner. I found myself looking at him in a whole new light and it was hard to keep the censure off my face. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could hate someone else so much, whatever our differences.

I focused on his words and kept my gaze on my notebook. The squad challenge was a scavenger hunt in the woods behind the academy and I suddenly realised that it was probably an excuse to get the recruits out of the building so that he and Engell could search for the missing documents. Thank goodness we’d hidden them – but was hiding in plain sight going to work or bite us on the arse harder than the were-bunny I’d pretended to be?

Our hiding place had to work because I wouldn't be able to go back inside the academy until the squad challenge had finished. Connor had messaged and he was coming back at 10pm.

When Engell dismissed the class, he met my eyes and raised an eyebrow, tacitly asking if I'd heard from Patkotak. I shook my head and walked out; I wasn’t giving him chance to get me alone because I trusted him about as far as I could throw him.

Fischer herded us into the mess for dinner; no one was allowed to slip away, not even for a moment. We had to act normally since he sat next to Margi and Eben; it was obvious to me that he was sitting with the supernats to keep all of us in his sights. He knew: he knew one of us had the case.

After we’d finished eating, Fischer led us out to start the challenge. We split into our squads and gathered behind the building for our instructions: we had to locate five landmarks marked on a map using only the map and a compass – no modern tech allowed. Once we found the places, we had to take a squad selfie and the first squad that returned to the starting point won.

The prize this time was an extra two hours in bed while the rest of the recruits scrubbed the building from top to bottom. It was a great prize because no one liked cleaning duty but everyone had to do it. If I hadn’t had a kidnapping, a poltergeist and an evil government organisation looming over me, I might have even given a fuck.

‘Okay, who’s the best with navigation because I’m out?’ I asked, once our group had gathered together. Navigating by map was a weakness of mine; before I’d come to Alaska, I’d been a big city girl and I only navigated via Google maps.

Jones raised his hand and the rest of us nodded. Although he was timid, he’d been the reason we’d won the last squad challenge. Besides, no one else had volunteered.

We’d been given old-school cameras for the photos, so there was no chance we could use our phones and ‘accidentally’ check the satnav. ‘I’ll take the pictures,’ I volunteered.

We sent Jones to get the map and compass. Each squad had been given a different order in which to find the landmarks so we couldn’t simply copy each other. We had ten minutes to prepare to search for our first landmark. When the whistle blew, four squads raced up the hill and into the woods then veered off in different directions. I hated letting Sidnee out of my sight.

It was autumn and the light faded early. We had head torches since it would probably be full dark before we returned, and one squad member had a large flashlight so we could take pics in the dark; even with the camera’s flash, it would be hard to get a good photo without a proper light source.

I turned on my head torch when everyone else did, even though I could see just as well without it. Appearances were important.

Unsurprisingly, Jones did exceptionally well in leading us straight to the first spot. I took our squad photo then he mapped out the second location, which we reached just as Sidnee’s team was leaving. We exchanged grins before she jogged off.

As we raced to landmark three, my anxiety started to fade. We’d hidden the papers well; our ruse would work and we’d get the evidence safely to Portlock. I kept that outcome firmly in my mind. I’d manifest it, dammit.

I checked my phone: just over an hour until Connor was back and I could slip him my duffle bag. It looked like we’d have finished the squad challenge before he arrived.

We took our photo and waited for Jones to lead us to landmark four. As we started after him, I heard someone mutter, ‘Where’s Danny?’

My heart froze as I looked around. I couldn’t see him. ‘Hey guys, hold up,’ I called. ‘We have to wait for Danny.’

I prayed with all my might that he’d stepped behind a tree for a piss, but the longer we waited the less likely that seemed. One minute passed, then three. Shit, this was bad, really bad. What if Thorsen had been heading me off the scent? What if I wasn’t the intended target but Danny was? What if they’d already secured him somewhere? ‘Danny!’ I shouted, then we all started calling.

As we retraced our steps, we met up with Sidnee’s group at landmark three. ‘Have you seen Danny?’ I panted desperately. Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

Danny was officially missing, lost in the woods on an exercise – like Petrovich.