33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Connor wasn’t there when I returned and my internal sense of time told me he was about five minutes away. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I go into the academy and retrieve my rucksack or wait until we’d found Danny? I refused to consider that Danny would have any other fate than being safely found. I was not prepared for Petrovich Part Two.

Recruits were coming back into the academy. By now all of the officers must have been informed about Danny’s disappearance so the search for the attaché case had to be over. I wondered if the decoy would be missing from the break-room cupboard; if so, would my rucksack be missing, too? I hoped that all of the commotion would keep them from looking too closely at the attaché case’s contents.

Just as I was about to make a decision, Connor’s small white truck turned into the drive and started up the slight incline. I gestured for him to park and raced over to meet him. He got out and Fluffy and Shadow followed.

I scooped up the kitten, who was easily nine or ten kilos now, and he rubbed his furry face against mine. A raspy purr filled my ear. ‘What’s this?’ I said, noticing his adorable Nomo vest. It was identical to Fluffy’s, though it said ‘Nomo Feline’ instead of ‘Nomo K-9’.

Connor winked. ‘I thought he should have something since he’s part of the team.’

I hugged Shadow again; I hadn’t realised how much I’d needed to see him. ‘You are so handsome in your vest.’ I kissed his head before he started wriggling to get down, then he rubbed against my legs.

‘So what’s up?’ Connor could read the tension in my body.

‘Danny was kidnapped during an exercise.’ I looked around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear, but we seemed to be alone. ‘There was a surprise exercise so that Lieutenant Fischer and whoever is working for him could search the building for the documents we stole.’

‘Did they get them?’ His brow wrinkled with concern.

‘I don’t know and I can’t check right now. Can I borrow your phone?’ Connor passed it over and I texted Sidnee. ‘Sidnee is going to text us her coordinates and we’ll join them in the search for Danny. Whoever took him has drugged him and hauled him off in a four-wheeler. We need your truck.’

‘You got it,’ Connor assured me. ‘I’m sorry about your friend. We’ll find him.’

I gave him a hurried kiss. Thirty seconds later, the coordinates appeared and I ruffled Fluffy’s ears. ‘We’re gonna need your help, boy. Are you up for it?’ He gave a determined bark and his ears pricked forward; he was ready and eager.

I looked at the map on Connor’s phone; Sidnee and the others were back on a paved road. ‘Let’s take the truck,’ I said, showing Connor the location.

Fluffy jumped onto the seat and I held Shadow on my lap. Connor shut the door then climbed into the driver’s seat; it was a tight squeeze with all of us in the cab.

As we pulled onto the main road, Connor put the pedal to the metal and soon we were back with my three friends. They looked dispirited, stumped about where to go next. Connor found a safe place to park off the road and he, Fluffy and I got out. I made sure Shadow stayed in the cab; the last thing I needed was to lose my intrepid cat as well.

George was staring into the distance and I wondered if he’d lost the scent. ‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘We don’t know which way they went after they left this trail,’ Sidnee told me.

‘George? Anything?’ I pressed him.

‘I think they went this way.’ He pointed to the right. ‘But the vehicle scents are overwhelming so I’m not sure.’

It was time for Fluffy to shine. I pulled out the handkerchief Danny had lent me after Thorsen had punched me. ‘I know it smells of my blood,’ I told Fluffy, ‘but it should have Danny’s scent on it, too. Can you decide which way we should go?’

He sniffed the handkerchief and the trail George had been following, then gave a happy bark and a wag as he snuffled this way and that across the grass. Finally he trotted forward, lifted his nose in the air and sniffed pointedly. He looked to the right and moved into his pointing stance.

I looked down the road; it went along the coast. ‘Anyone know anywhere they could go down there?’ No one did; none of us were local and we hadn’t had a chance to explore the area. I sighed – I should have got Jones to help. Unless we saw the four-wheeler, there was no way of knowing where it was because there was a row of buildings along the road. It could be hidden in any one of them.

We piled into the truck. Sidnee, George, Harry and Fluffy got in the back and my dog stood in the corner against the cab with his nose in the wind. Shadow climbed into my lap to look out of the window.

After a couple of miles Fluffy barked once and pointed his nose at a warehouse on the water. Connor stopped and turned around; although there was almost no parking, he found a spot. As we climbed out of the cab I tried to shut the door on Shadow but he was having none of it and he followed us out. Connor attached a lead to his harness and handed it to me. I looked at him questioningly. Since when did Shadow have a lead?

Connor flashed me an exasperated look. ‘Later. It’s a whole story.’

O-kay, then. Fluffy barked and raced ahead, and we followed. Sure enough, behind the building was a camouflage-coloured four-wheeler. Connor put his hand on the side of the vehicle. ‘It’s still warm,’ he murmured. ‘This is it.’

I gave Fluffy a pat and a ‘good boy’. He licked my hand then pointed towards the four-wheeler. Shadow went up to it, sniffed then hissed.

‘What’s the plan?’ Sidnee asked as we all stared at the back of the warehouse. I looked at Connor.

‘We go in, but we do it smart,’ Connor said. ‘Bunny and I will go first. Sidnee, wait three minutes before you and the others come in. Are any of you shifters beside Sidnee?’ he asked. Harry and George nodded. ‘Predators?’

Harry shook his head. ‘Caribou.’

‘All right. That’s not very discreet, so stay on two. And you?’ he asked George.

‘Wolverine.’

‘Great! Shift before you come in. Fluffy will stay with you.’

Fluffy whined and gave me puppy-dog eyes. ‘Sorry, boy,’ I told him. ‘We need you to help Sidnee and the others.’ His tail dropped and he looked at Shadow.

‘I should put Shadow in the cab first,’ I said to Connor, but the second I tried to pick him up my lynx went wild, flipping and jumping to try to escape me. I sighed. ‘He won’t go.’

‘He has a mind of his own.’ Connor’s tone was dry. My curiosity was piqued again about this ‘whole story’ he hadn’t yet told me, but now was not the time.

I handed Shadow’s lead to Sidnee and he stood quietly next to Fluffy as Connor and I approached the door. Connor gestured for me to get behind him. In the weak light from the streetlamps, I could see that his fangs were down and I wished mine were smarter and would also drop. I had more control over them than I’d had before but they still didn’t always appear when I wanted them too. Now, you stupid teeth. Now, I thought. Nothing.

Connor counted down on his fingers, one, two, three, then twisted the doorknob. It opened.

The warehouse was brightly lit and we blinked as our eyes adjusted to the brightness. Danny was sprawled on the ground. I started to rush forward but Connor caught my arm. ‘Wait,’ he hissed.

I looked up. Oops. We were surrounded by five men dressed in fatigues and holding rifles and sidearms. We’d startled them but they quickly levelled their guns at us.

‘Who are you and what are you doing in here?’ the tall red-headed man on the left demanded.

Connor and I looked at each other and then, as though we’d planned it, he went left and I went right, both of us travelling at full vamp speed. Connor had his knife out and slit two throats before I hit my first guy. I didn’t have a weapon but I ripped away his rifle and hit him over the head. Connor knocked out a third soldier and I took down the last one with the butt of the gun.

I stared at the blood then up at Connor; he looked like an avenging god. His hair was dishevelled and his fangs were in full view as he snarled.

I didn’t know who these men were or if they’d deserved to die, but it felt like they did. Set aside your personal feelings, Bunny, Gunnar’s voice echoed from my memory. He was right – he was always right. These guys were doing their job, and right now their job was war on me and mine. They knew the risks.

Now wasn’t the time for a treatise on morality. I wanted Connor, my friends, my pets and myself to live more than the kidnappers and I was ready to do anything to make that happen, to get us all out alive.

Just as the last guy fell, Sidnee and the others ran in. ‘Check the rest of the warehouse,’ I bellowed and we spread out. There were two more men in a back room with a speaker blasting rap tunes. Sidnee sneaked up on them, banged their heads together and they went down. In wolverine form, George streaked past us to an open door and I heard a shout from inside.

George had the man down. He slashed his legs then worked his way up the man’s body until he was nothing but bloody pulp. Now I understood more about wolverines – cute, my ass!

‘Bunny!’ I heard Connor yell, panic in his voice.

My heart gave a firm thump and I ran out to the main room of the warehouse.