Kitty Steals the Show (Kitty Norville) (31 page)

“Tell me he knows what he’s doing,” I whispered to Ben, who just shook his head.

Then Cormac nodded to Caleb and Warrick, who turned their heads, shading their eyes.

It happened quickly: Cormac kicked open the door, raised his hand, and a blinding white light flashed before him, floodlight bright, filling the room inside. The two werewolves rushed in. The sounds of fighting, a few meaty smacks, were brief. Cormac lowered his hand, closed his fist, and the light faded.

He may have picked the lock, but that spotlight spell was Amelia’s. The guards may have been waiting for someone to kick in the door, but they certainly hadn’t expected to be blinded in the next second.

“Brilliant!” Jill said. No pun intended, surely.

When Cormac looked back and waved, the three of us moved up to join him.

A single work lamp hung in the back of the room, giving off just enough light to see comfortably. The room was small, maybe the size of a garage, and might have been used for storage once. A few empty cardboard boxes lay around the periphery, along with some crumpled packing paper. Two men, hulking guard types in black fatigues, lay writhing on the ground. One of them was already tied, hand to foot, arms wrenched behind him, with what looked like nylon cord. Caleb stood on the second one’s neck while Warrick trussed him up—the cord looked like it came from the guy’s own pockets, part of his own inventory. That had to hurt.

Their guns, mean-looking assault rifles, were tossed aside, against a far wall. Cormac eyed them thoughtfully.

“Don’t even think about it,” Ben said.

Inside, the smells were clearer. People had been moving in and out of the warehouse all day. I caught a trace of lycanthrope—wild, wolfish—as well as the chill that meant vampires had been here. One of Ned’s spies? Or an enemy? The guards from the front of the warehouse must have heard us. They ought to be pounding through any minute. So where were they? Step by soft step, I moved to the next door against the opposite wall.

“Kitty!” Cormac hissed, and I held back.

“Warrick, watch them,” Caleb said, pointing to the guns. The werewolf picked one up and held it on the two mercenaries, who stopped squirming in their effort to loosen their bonds.

Cormac studied the door, its handle, and the crack of light between the frame. “It’s not locked.”

Jill came close and took another of her long, quiet breaths. “Werewolf—maybe your man. He’s not alone.”

Great. The other guards weren’t storming us—they were waiting for us to come to them. The next room was well lit—Cormac’s trick with the flare wouldn’t work again. Maybe we could rush them. Without getting shot.

This was why I preferred talking my way out of dodgy situations.

“Everyone take cover,” Cormac said, hand on the handle ready to pull it open. The rest of us stood against the walls, waiting. I watched him take a breath, then another. Counting to three. Then he swung back, pulling open the door.

Nothing happened.

Inching forward, I reached the edge of the door frame and very carefully leaned around to look. Ben held my arm, as if he could yank me back when the gunfire started.

The next room was like this one—concrete, abandoned. In the middle of it crouched Tyler, fully conscious, muscles tensed, ready to spring. Another black-garbed guard lay crumpled in the corner, knocked out, a bruise marring his slack face.

“Tyler!” I said, falling into the room.

For a short moment, his lips pulled back in a snarl, and his eyes gleamed. Then recognition flashed.

“Kitty,” he said and heaved an exhausted sigh, and I skidded to my knees on the concrete floor. I touched his arm, brushed my hand over his nearly bald head, and let him take in my scent. Anxiety eased out of him, and he leaned into me.

“They miscalculated the dose,” he said. “I don’t think I was supposed to wake up yet.”

“Do you know who did this?”

“Private security, decently trained.” Tyler nodded a greeting to Ben and Cormac. Caleb and Jill fanned through the room, standing watch, covering the doorway we’d come through, looking forward to the next one, leading to yet another room.

“The ringleaders are in there,” Tyler said, tipping his head to the door.

“How many?” Cormac asked.

“Three, I think. Human and vampire. I haven’t seen them since I woke up, and my nose isn’t working too well.”

Once again, we braced for the inevitable battle that would come swarming through the door any moment. It didn’t happen. It kept not happening. I couldn’t even hear anything in the next room.

They, whoever had taken Tyler, knew they were busted. They were fleeing, and if we waited, we’d lose them. I walked straight for the door, stalking like Wolf had cornered her prey.

“Kitty—” Cormac called after me.

“At least stand back when you open the door,” Ben said, rushing to join me. He got to the door first, gripping the handle ahead of me. “Ready?”

I stood on the other side of the door frame and nodded. He turned the handle, yanked open the door, and got out of the way.

We waited for a few breaths, a handful of heartbeats, and I tried to catch a scent of what was waiting for us inside. No gunfire responded, so Ben and I eased around the door frame.

Dr. Paul Flemming stood against the far wall, looking just like he did four years ago: thin, mousy, bureaucratic, with a well-worn jacket over nondescript shirt and trousers.

“
You,
” I hissed, and lunged.

Ben grabbed my arm, and I nearly wrenched it out of the socket trying to pull away. I didn’t care. Snarling, I charged again, flopping to try and break free from his grip. He used both hands and might have yelled at me to calm down, but I wasn’t listening. My vision, all my senses, had narrowed to a tunnel that focused on Flemming, and my mouth watered at the thought of putting my teeth around his throat. I had him, if my too-cautious mate would just let me go, I’d
kill
him—

“Look at that, she’s gone nonverbal. What the bloody hell did you do to her?” The British alpha stood at my other shoulder, and I growled at him, too.

Flemming had flattened himself against the steel wall and stared at me with white-rimmed eyes. Wasn’t so calculating now, was he? See how he did when I ran claws down his face—

Ben got in front of me and pressed. “Kitty, you’re not helping. Snap out of it before you lose it.” He put his face in front of mine, catching my gaze and projecting calm. I gave another halfhearted lurch to break out of his grip, but he was a wall. Settling slowly, I tried to unclench my hands. He moved aside, but kept his arm across me—just in case.

Finally, I looked at Flemming without losing my temper entirely.

“So,” I said, flatly as I could, to keep from yelling. “What’s your story this time? Got another silver-lined cell all set up? What were you going to do to him?”

His chin tipped up, an effort to stay calm. “I—I wasn’t going to hurt him.”

“Like you weren’t going to hurt me?”

“You weren’t hurt—”

I growled and lunged again—Ben caught me, like I knew he would. His voice in my ear was calm. “I’m going to call the police,” he said. “He’ll be extradited to the U.S. He’ll get what’s coming, okay?”

“Don’t,” Caleb said. “Don’t call them just yet. Not ’til we get what we need.” He had a curl to his lip.

Caleb and Cormac were in the room; Tyler was with Jill, who was helping him to his feet; Warrick stood guard behind us. We were three rooms in, and based on the size of the warehouse we had to be nearly at the other side. The next door should have been the last. It was open, just a crack.

Flemming eyed the cracked door, as if he thought he could make a run for it. He’d spent half his career studying werewolves; he had to know better than that. We fanned around him, wolves on the hunt. His breathing had become rapid.

“Where are the rest of the guards?” I asked.

“I—I don’t know. They’re supposed to be here—”

“Who’s really behind this, Flemming?” I said. “You didn’t get these resources on your own.”

The detritus here was different than in the other rooms. Instead of empty cardboard boxes, a couple of plastic crates were stacked in corners. A card table with several chairs around it showed the remains of an Indian takeout meal, wrapped in a plastic bag. I paced, to investigate. Flipping back the lid of one of the crates, I found coils of nylon cord, vials of clear liquid and tranquilizer darts, handcuffs that gleamed silver. Everything you’d need to catch and hold a werewolf. I shook my head at it all.

A black leather attaché case was shoved under the table. “Yours?” I said to him, kicking it. He’d taken on the aspect of a prisoner of war, his jaw clenched, silent.

I pulled it into the open and started digging.

Flemming actually had the nerve to reach. “You can’t—”

“We can make you disappear, if we like,” Caleb said cheerfully. Flemming slumped back to his place on the wall.

In the case’s outside pocket I found a bundle of standard-looking documents, forms with boxes to fill in with names, addresses, dates. Customs declarations, shipping manifests. Buried in the bottom of the pocket, I found a bundle of passports. I flipped through them quickly—three, including one for the U.S., were for Flemming alone. A British one had Tyler’s picture in it, but a different name. Probably to help smuggle him out of the country, and get him into another.

A name appeared over and over again on the paperwork—as a contact person, the owner of goods to be shipped, the authority by which money changed hands. I assumed it was Flemming’s alias. Except …

“Who is G. White?” I asked Flemming.

He swallowed hard, moving his lips as if preparing to speak. For all the good it would do him, surrounded by werewolves as he was. We could smell the lies.

Hand on chin, gaze thoughtful, Ben said, “Cormac … Amelia … check something for me: What’s the Latin word for
white
?”

“Albus,” Cormac said.

Couldn’t possibly be a coincidence … “Albus. Albinus. Gaius Albinus?” I murmured. “G. White, is that who you’re working for?”

Flemming said, “He’s a foreign investor, heads a private security firm. It’s perfectly normal—”

I said, “Have you met him? What’s he look like?”

“I don’t know why you’re asking—”

“Tell her,” Ben said.

“He … he’s about my height. Lean. Dark hair, close-cropped. He always wears a long dark coat—”

“Oh, my God,” Ben murmured.

It was Roman. I showed Flemming a mix of emotions, from rage to despair. “Do you have any idea who you’re working for?”

“I told you, a foreign investor—”

He had no idea.

“What would Roman want with Tyler?” Ben said.

“Ready-made werewolf soldier, trained in the American Special Forces. He’d be priceless,” I said. Gravity must have suddenly doubled, I felt so tired, so slow.

“Who’s Roman?” Tyler said. He’d come to stand in the doorway. “And why would he think I’d work for him?”

“He’s a vampire, a very old one,” I answered. “He wouldn’t need your cooperation, he’d just need you.” We hadn’t called the police yet. Surely Ben would let me at Flemming now. I said to him, “He conned you into recruiting for him—”

“He funded my research, that’s all—” Flemming said.

“And you still think it’s okay to kidnap werewolves for that research? Have you learned
anything
?”

“It’s necessary—”

“Bah.” I flung a hand at him and turned away. “You’d better call the cops in before I have a go at him.”

Ben already had his phone in his hand, but Caleb put his hand over it, lowering it from his ear.

“Give us a chance to get out,” Caleb said. “I don’t want to have to explain our handiwork to them. Not to mention Ned’s.”

“Ned probably owns the cops,” I muttered.

“Kitty?” Tyler said. “What’s it mean? What were they planning to do with me?”

I couldn’t even look at Flemming again, however much I wanted to scrutinize him, to get
him
to tell Tyler exactly what he’d planned. I’d lose my temper for sure. I said, “Use you, control you, throw you into battle. Make you train others. The same damn thing.”

“It’s an awful lot of trouble to go through,” Caleb said.

Maybe. But with Tyler’s training and expertise? He wasn’t just werewolf cannon fodder. In a fight, he was worth ten of the rest of us.

“Doesn’t matter now,” I said. “He’s in a lot of trouble back home.”

Flemming quailed, his voice trembling. “You won’t get away with this. I have friends—” The cliché must have come instinctively.

“Your G. White isn’t going to come save you,” I said. “Whoever your allies were in this, they’ve left you.”

Caleb went to the crate of equipment and drew out a pair of handcuffs. “I’ll truss him up a bit, so he doesn’t get the idea he can just walk out. Jill, we’ll go back and get Michael and bring the car ’round.
Then
we can call the cops.”