CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ZAC

I didn’t see the woman Brook thought was her aunt, but I was suspicious.

I have Jake run up to Tennessee to get eyes on her, but she’s nowhere around. He found the scummy lawyer, though. His name is on the contracts for Brook’s house at the real estate office. He’s the facilitator for the property. If anything goes wrong, this guy is taking the fall. Will had told me there were allegations that the aunt, uncle, and lawyer had swindled other people. If they get their hands on Brook’s inheritance, they will probably disappear. I can’t let that happen.

I sit down at my desk with a legal pad and pen for a brainstorming session on where to go next. At the top I write, ‘Find Aunt Karen’. Then there’s a knock at the door. It’s Caleb. He stands in the doorway. “We have a job. A member of a Canadian shifter pack has asked for our help. Seems some rogue shifters have kidnapped a human girl. They’ve asked for a ransom.”

“Fuckin’ rogues.”

“Yeah,” Caleb says. “We’re rolling.”

“Be right with you.”

He spins and leaves and I shove things into my desk and power down my computer. Twenty minutes later, we’re in our vehicle, heading for the airport, and I’m calling Brook at work.

She answers the phone. “Hey, babe. An emergency’s come up and I have to leave with the team. I could be gone a few days.”

“What happened?”

“A girl’s been kidnapped.”

“Ahh.”

“I know. Hey, listen — I’ll have my phone on me, but if an emergency pops up and you can’t reach me, you can call Natalie.”

Caleb nods at me from the front seat.

“I’ll be fine,” she says.

“I worry about you.”

“I know you do.”

“We’re here,” Caleb says as we pull up to the hangar at a private airport.

“All right, babe, I have to go. Call you tonight.”

“Be safe.”

I click off and sit there. I should have told her I love her.

* * *

A day and a half after we touch down in Edmonton, we have a general location of the kidnappers. At least we think we do. The Canadian shifter and I follow a lead that takes us to a house on the outskirts of town, near a bluff surrounded by trees. It will be difficult getting to it without being seen. So we wait until dark so we can shift.

They aren’t in the house when we check it. But they’ve been there. I can smell them. Still in my wolf form, I grab my knapsack from the car. I’ll want my clothes and phone with me if I come upon the kidnappers and the girl, and I need to shift back to my human form.

The Canadian stays at the house to search for more clues and I take off, following the scent. I go a few miles before I lose it and then head back to the house.

“No luck?” the Canadian asks.

“No luck.”

We get a different lead the next morning that takes us to a shithole house in the seedy part of town. The only thing we find there are cockroaches and a store receipt that could lead us to something. We pile back into our vehicles.

* * *

The store owner let’s Jake and I look at old security feed. The video shows it was one man. His hood is up and his face is hidden from the camera. He’s not completely stupid.

Finding nothing else we can use, we thank the store owner and step out to the walk, scanning the street. Caleb and I look at each other. Sometimes it takes some luck. A security camera is stationed at the front of a warehouse building across the street. We charge over and are met with more good luck. The warehouse owner is there, and he allows us to study the feed. We hit pay-dirt. It shows the man leaving the store and jumping into an old, brown Bronco with a clear view of the license plates. We give the warehouse owner a handshake and our card, and hit the road.

We call Will from the car. He’s still back in New Orleans because his presence isn’t necessary–he can do anything from anywhere. We give him the plate number and tell him to run ‘em. He comes back with an address.

“Thanks, Will.”

* * *

We find the Bronco parked in front of a house and do a drive-by, then park a block away to talk it through. Next, we do some reconnaissance. It won’t be difficult penetrating the house and retrieving the girl. We call the people who have hired us to let them know that we’ve found the location of the girl and are going in. “Have the parents ready because she’ll need them.”

Our employer asks us to stand down. He owes a certain police captain a favor, and this will repay the debt.

We agree and hang back in the shadows in case there’s a glitch. The girl’s safety is more important than the repayment of a debt.

It took another hour, but the police showed up and did what they do. They carried the girl from the house and brought the perpetrators out in handcuffs. From my vantage point, the officers were more than competent.

“Good job, men,” Caleb says when we get into the car.

“We aren’t gonna get paid, are we?” Jake says.

“Let it go, Jake,” I say.

He cranes his head and looks behind us as we drive away. The parents are rushing to greet their daughter. “Yeah, I guess.”

Caleb looks in the rearview mirror. “Let’s go home.”

I call Brook before boarding the plane and it goes straight to voicemail. I leave a message that I’m on my way home and I can’t wait to see her.

I might even tell her that I love her