Chapter 19

19

K ira wasn't sure what was going on. She'd woken up and was groggy, sitting in an unfamiliar car and she smelled Oscar and Reggie's scents, plus human scents. What the hell? Her heart was pounding, she felt confused and angry at the same time.

A rope tied her wrists together. Then she remembered coming out of the women's restroom at the mini mart…and having a…a cloth covering her mouth. She had felt her knees give out, her head swimming, and then nothing. Damn it! This was her case and she just screwed it up by getting kidnapped!

Her phone rang, and her heart skipped a beat, but she couldn't reach her cell in her back pocket.

Then she heard footfalls running toward the car door, and Oscar jerked it open. Reggie and Oscar stared down at her. Reggie yanked her onto her hip and grabbed her phone from her pocket.

He glanced at the caller ID. "It's from some clown called Fisher Greystoke." He answered it and put it on speakerphone. "We need to make a swap."

"Who am I speaking to?" Fisher sounded like he was ready to fight him wolf to wolf.

She wanted to shift herself and tear into both men, but she loved hearing Fisher's gruff voice.

"The guy who has got your girl, I guess. She looks pretty perturbed, but the only way this is going down is you bringing Royce to the place where we had the kid in the national park," Reggie said.

"You mean where you shot at us? I'm speaking with Reggie, the guy in charge of the kidnapping spree," Fisher said.

"Yeah. You're quick. But you can't have anyone follow you or go with you. You alone will bring Royce to the exchange site."

"No," Fisher said.

Kira wanted to clap her hands, but she couldn't with them being tied and she needed to be calm and just listen. Fisher hadn't had his training, but he was doing good on his own during this hostage negotiation. If he had said he would go along with Reggie's plan, she would have shouted, "No, don't do it!" They would both be dead, she was sure, and Reggie and Oscar would have Royce back.

"You don't have any say in this," Reggie finally said, sounding shocked.

"This isn't the offer of money for someone. We both have a lot to lose. All you would need to do is carjack us and grab Royce and then you would kill both Kira and me like you had tried to before," Fisher said.

"Okay, so what do you propose?" Reggie asked.

Kira was surprised Reggie would back down so quickly and give up control of the situation as if he was unsure of himself.

"We meet here and exchange Kira for Royce," Fisher said.

"Nah, you wouldn't let us take him. You would stop us. We wouldn't have any leverage then to guarantee our safety."

Reggie was right. The kidnapper was smarter than Kira thought he might be.

Then she heard Fisher snap his fingers and she hoped that meant he had a plan.

Fisher was so riled and worried, he was having a difficult time keeping his cool. Then Reggie ended the call.

Fisher said to Demetria, her mate, and his brothers and cousin, "Kira and I were tracking each other's phones in case we ran into trouble. I forgot about it because I've never done that with anyone before." He checked to see where her phone was located. It was about ten miles from where they were. "If Reggie thinks of it and checks her phone, he can tell where I am. I want to go there now, but?—"

"We'll go," Tanner said.

Shawn agreed.

"I'll go with you also," Everett said. "In case they separate and one of them comes here, trying to grab Royce, we need to be sure we have enough people watching him."

Then Leyton and the other CSF agents arrived.

Great! Fisher quickly told them what had happened. He was so ready to turn wolf and take these men down permanently. They better not have hurt Kira.

Jack, one of the CSF agents, got on his phone to tell Dan the news.

Fisher wanted to go with the guys who were going after Kira, but Reggie might have seen where Fisher was through her phone apps. Then the kidnappers would end the tracking and Fisher would lose their location.

Tanner, Shawn, Everett, Leyton, Chet, and Jack took off in two different vehicles so they could split up and surround them.

With a new plan initiated, Fisher called Kira's phone and Reggie answered it. "Okay, we'll meet at the mini market where there are lots of customers around who would keep us both honest."

"Who are you exactly?" Reggie asked.

"Her boyfriend. We were on a hike when the two of you came into our lives and tried to kill us."

"She was in her human form," Reggie said.

"That's how we take hikes often. Are you a newbie, or what? One person needs to stay in their human form and pretend the wolf is their pet dog." Fisher made up the story, figuring the newly turned wolf wouldn't know the truth. Fisher wanted in the worst way to reach Kira and rescue her. "We met on a hike once and recognized we were both wolf shifters and really hit it off." He hoped he was giving the other guys time to reach her while he kept Reggie occupied on the phone.

But then Reggie suddenly ended the call again.

"Crap," Fisher said.

"Are you guys close to where Kira is yet?" Brock asked Tanner on speakerphone.

"We're nearly there. We're practically flying," Tanner said.

Then Fisher got a call and he frowned. "The phone isn't Kira's. It's an unknown name."

"Hell, he might have realized we're tracking her phone and we have sent others to go after him and Oscar," Brock said.

Demetria called Everett and relayed what they were worried about.

Bridget called Leyton to let the CSF agents riding together know what was going on. "Leyton says they're at the location. Has her phone moved?"

Fisher looked at the tracking. "No. When Reggie switched phones, I'm afraid he knew we were tracking Kira's phone." His heart sank. "Is her phone around anywhere there?"

"Call it," Leyton said.

Fisher called her phone and Leyton answered it, "Crap, it's here. We've got it."

But that meant the kidnappers had moved her.

"Do you see anyone who looks like they could be watching you?" Fisher asked, his heart sinking.

"We're checking now. The phone was lying in the grass at the edge of the parking lot at another mini mart/service station," Leyton said.

Jack said, "Dan is sending a dozen men. We need to end this, incarcerate all of them, and get Kira back safely."

"I'm getting hold of the group from our jaguar headquarters in Houston who are supposed to meet up with us and help take Royce back also," Demetria said.

Then Fisher got another call. "It's Reggie."

Everyone got quiet.

"We need to make this exchange now," Reggie said.

Fisher was surprised Reggie wasn't just dictating the way this would all go any longer. He had to figure he was in way over his head while he was dealing with a bunch of shifters, if he realized several were working together to take him and Oscar down.

"So how do you want to work this?" Fisher knew they couldn't let these three get away.

He could hear arguing in the background and he assumed Oscar and Reggie didn't agree on what they were going to do. Finally, he heard Reggie say, "He's caught. Okay? There's nothing we can do about it now. And if we try to get him, we're going to get caught too."

Fisher agreed with that. Oscar was silent.

"You know, this could have happened to any one of us," Reggie said in the background. "And if we keep on with this, it will."

Oscar said, "He's my cousin and I got him into this. All of this."

Jack came over to speak to Fisher and pointed to his phone. Fisher put his on mute since the kidnappers weren't talking to him at the moment, still arguing with each other in the background. "Dan has triangulated the call from Reggie to you and has their location. We're going to grab them."

That was really the best situation.

"I'm going." Fisher was elated to hopefully free Kira.

"What if they notice where your phone is located through Kira's phone?" Demetria asked.

"They ditched her phone and Leyton's got it."

"Oh, good," Demetria said.

Then Fisher and the others got into their cars and headed for the location of Reggie's vehicle. He couldn't believe the kidnappers were still so close by—about ten minutes away if they drove the speed limit, which they weren't.

Hopefully, this time they could catch them.

They were driving as fast as they could to get there, multiple cars enroute, when Fisher saw two men gesticulating wildly at each other in a vacant parking lot, the clothing store there having been closed down and boarded up. Fisher drove Kira's car straight at Oscar and Reggie. He had to keep them from going after Kira if she was in the vehicle.

Reggie turned to look to see who was barreling down on him in the vacant parking lot. He quickly took off running as the others with Fisher raced their vehicles into the parking lot and cut their engines. Oscar looked so shocked that they had been discovered that he didn't react right away, but then ran off in the opposite direction from Reggie.

Fisher would have chased down the bastards, but he had to see to Kira's safety. He ran over to the car and saw her sitting in the backseat, her hands secured behind her back with rope. He tried the doors, but all of them were locked.

Jack rushed over with a tool to break into the car, then broke the lock. Fisher yanked the back door open and pulled Kira into his arms. Kira's left eye had been blackened and Fisher couldn't have been more furious. "Who did this to you?"

"Reggie," Kira said.

Fisher carefully cut the rope off Kira's wrists. Once she was free, she threw her arms around him and gave him a quick hug and kiss and he kissed her and hugged her back.

"I looked up the license plate on the car and it was stolen," Demetria said.

"That figures. Come on. We have to catch these guys. I'm turning into my wolf. You are not," Kira said to Fisher, then climbed back into the car and began stripping off her clothes.

Fisher knew it was because she worried about his shoulder after the last time he had run and swum as a wolf. But he wasn't losing her a second time and started stripping off his clothes.

"You aren't supposed to run as a wolf, doctor's orders," she reminded him.

"I'll heal up again. But I'm staying with you." He threw his clothes in the car and looked her over, making sure they hadn't hurt her anywhere else.

"We go after Reggie because he's the leader of the pack." Then she shifted, nipping his bare butt before she took off.

He smiled and knew she loved him. He shifted and tore after her.

"Come on," Demetria told Jack. "Let's disable the stolen car if Reggie or Oscar tries to return here to grab it. Then we go after them too."

Then Fisher and Kira were out of hearing of Demetria and Jack. They raced to catch up to Reggie and hoped the others would catch Oscar. At least with their wolf speed versus human speed, they were soon passing the men who were trying to locate Reggie who had run into the wooded area where the undergrowth was formidable. Which meant he would have just as difficult a time as the other humans navigating through it. But at least they could all smell his scent filled with fear. He was no longer in charge, dictating terms, but running for his life, scared witless. And he probably didn't know this area all that well.

Not that most of the people hunting him did either.

Kira was still ahead of Fisher, and he didn't like that at all. If the bastard starting shooting at them, Fisher didn't want Kira to get hit.

He tracked Reggie going off to his right and Fisher darted that way. He hoped he didn't get shot also! His shoulder was beginning to ache, and he figured his brother would give him grief about it if he learned he had run again as a wolf. Kira was still off to Fisher's left and then the scent stopped, and Fisher saw Reggie standing still, aiming his gun right at him. Talk about déjà vu. Only this time there wasn't a cliff to fall off, though there was something better. A tree to dart behind. Which he did in the nick of time. Several rounds were fired off in Fisher's direction, which would only make everyone who was after the kidnappers more determined to take the wolf down, permanently. Several of the rounds hit the trunk of the tree.

But then Fisher's heart took a dive. What if Reggie had caught sight of Kira and was shooting at her? Fisher came out from around the other side of the tree and saw Reggie reloading. Okay, so this could be a big mistake, but he had to take Reggie down now before his bullets hit anyone who was after him.

Fisher charged Reggie while he was busy reloading his gun. Fisher was nearly close enough that he could leap onto him, but not quite. If he got too close to Reggie without being able to take him down, Reggie would be able to take a direct shot and kill Fisher this time without have any shooting skill at all.

Fisher wasn't going to make it, damn it, but he had to give it his best attempt. Reggie raised his gun in a panic when he realized Fisher was practically on top of him. One shot, and Fisher would be dead. Until out of the corner of his eye, Fisher saw the wolf of his dreams, Kira, running as fast as she could to tackle Reggie. Which meant he could turn his gun on her and kill her instead.

Reggie suddenly heard her coming. He turned, forgetting about the male wolf threat in front of him, and aimed his weapon at Kira. Fisher leapt as far as he could go to jump on the man, to stop him from shooting Kira, and knocked him down with his powerful wolf's body. Reggie wasn't giving up that easily though and raised his gun to shoot Fisher, who was on top of him. Kira wasn't going to give Reggie the chance and bit into his gun hand, crushing all the bones. Fisher knew because he heard it when they snapped, and Reggie cried out in pain. Fisher flinched a little. Not that Reggie didn't deserve it and much worse, but Fisher knew how much that had to have hurt.

Fisher was still standing on top of Reggie's chest, growling, letting the man know if he moved, he would bite him. Then he lifted his chin and howled to let the others know that they had him pinned down and he wasn't going to be shooting anyone.

That's when they heard the others who had been following him quickly join them. Jack had turned into his cougar. Demetria was her jaguar. Everyone else was in their human forms, Leyton with a pair of cuffs, the others with guns drawn.

"We'll take it from here," Everett said, smiling at Fisher.

But Fisher wasn't done with being angry with Reggie. Not after he'd tried to kill them before, then taken Kira hostage, and even hit her, giving her a black eye, then tried to kill them again. He bared his teeth at Reggie in the most menacing look he possessed. He swore the guy peed his pants.

Then Fisher moved off him reluctantly. He hoped that Kira didn't believe he wasn't special agent material because he kind of held a grudge.

She nuzzled his face with her cheek and then laid down.

Bridget showed up with everyone's clothes that had shifted. "In case you want to shift back in the woods."

Everett and Leyton got Reggie to his feet, though he was crying out in pain from Kira's debilitating bite. If he expected sympathy from anyone, he wasn't getting it. But Fisher wanted to know what had happened to Oscar. He was sure he had been caught too. Hopefully, he hadn't shot anyone like Reggie had tried to do.

Everyone else escorted Reggie back to one of the vehicles while Jack, Demetria, Kira, and Fisher shifted and dressed. Frowning, Kira was eyeing Fisher. He didn't think it was because she thought he was looking hot, but because she was concerned about his shoulder. Yeah, it was aching again, but he wasn't going to say a word about it.

He didn't figure he was going to be doing any more shifting for a while anyway and then in another week or so, he would be good as new. But now he was eyeing her in a very much interested way, and when she caught his eye, she smiled. He liked seeing her smiling at him a lot better than when she was frowning at him.

Once they all finished dressing, they hurried after the others. "Tanner, Shawn, and Brock went after Oscar," Fisher said.

"Five of Dan's men stayed with Royce," Demetria said. "I think the others went after Oscar. I'll call Everett and see if he has had any word from them."

"I need to get a new phone," Kira said. "I'm lost without it. By the way, good work using the tracking app on it from your phone, Fisher. When Reggie realized that was on there, he nearly had a heart attack. He couldn't get rid of it fast enough, got pissed off at me, struck me in the face, and we had to move again. I had so hoped you would catch up to him before that."

"They nearly did, only missing you by minutes. Leyton has your phone," Fisher said.

"Oh, good," Kira said. "I've lost three on the last three missions. Martin would have a fit if he had to replace another."

Fisher smiled at her and took her hand, leaned down and kissed her, then they continued to follow the others. He figured Martin would have been concerned more about Kira being hurt.

Demetria said to Everett on her phone, "What do you mean the others lost Oscar?"