43: Suspicion

A/N: This one changes perspective a couple times. I let Xander talk again, so there's a fair bit of profanity. I apologize if that's an issue for you. Happy Reading!

To: [email protected]

Subject: Routine Inspektion

Commander Baryshnikov,

Please expect a small group of inspectors to arrive in your territory in the next 24 hours. They have a dragon problem of their own and wish to learn from you how they might best deal with it, given your recent success in handling Svartheron. One of their vehicles has become disabled in transit and, while they are successfully towing it, they may require assistance. They fear ravens and vultures may be circling. Protect our objectives. Justice must be served, and the law must be enforced.

Sincerely,

R.Chernikova

***~O~***

XANDER POV

“Where the hell are we?” I grumble as sunlight pierces my eyelids. I was really enjoying that dream, dammit.

“Wisconsin,” Zoe replies. “We’re making good time. You guys doing all right back there?”

“Sure,” Callum answers, glaring out the window.

“Any chance of a piss break soon?” I ask.

“Yeah, when the tank’s a little lower. No more than an hour,” Zoe responds. “Can you handle that?”

“I guess.”

“How’s the patient, Drake?” Rika questions. She’s got at least four different devices with screens around her in the passenger seat. I don’t remember when she and Zoe switched places.

“Sleeping,” Drake says. “Gave her more water and painkiller last time she woke up. Tried to get her to eat but she didn’t want anything.”

“I’ll handle it when we stop next. Thanks.”

“She didn’t stir at all when we went through all that gravel and the back and forth over the rumble strips a bit ago. Is that normal?”

“She’s a sound sleeper even when she isn’t recovering from a rough fight. She’s probably fine. Any fever or breathing issues or anything?”

“Not as far as I can tell.”

“Good.”

“Any chance the WASP folks she pissed off are after us?” Callum wonders aloud.

“Not likely,” Zoe replies quickly, with a brightness that feels forced. Don’t like the sound of that. I liked her better in that warehouse, when she was out for blood.

“I hacked the tracking devices in this vehicle. WASP should think it’s still in Columbus,” Rika informs us. “I also turned off location on all of our mobile devices except the vehicle GPS—”

“You can access our phones like that?!” I demand.

“Xander, if it’s an electronic device that connects to the internet, I can access it. Sorry I didn’t tell you, but I’ve been trying to keep all of us safe. I haven’t snooped in your files or anything like that.” She seems sincere, but I’m still livid. I get she’s protecting us or whatever, but what the fuck happened to consent and privacy? “I also activated VPNs on all of our devices. WASP shouldn’t have any way of tracking us electronically.”

This bitch is fucking asking for trouble. Drake’s no help, though, with Sasha’s head in his lap, and Callum looks more pensive than pissed off.

“Anyone else in WASP got yo’ skills with tech?” Callum asks.

“A couple come close, but I am WASP’s authority on surveillance and spying technology.”

“Damn glad you’re with us and not the higher-ups.”

“Try to relax. If we’d had any intention of hurting you, we wouldn’t be dragging you across the country to do it. And I’ve got special gear monitoring the area around us as we drive. We should have advanced warning of any trouble that might come our way.”

“Man, these bitches are outta their minds if they think we ain’t gonna flip our shit over all this fuckery,” I gripe privately to Callum and Drake. Far as I know, that bloodsucker hasn’t figured out how to hack our thoughts yet.

“And what good’s flippin’ out gon’ do?” Callum snarks back. “If they’s stringin’ us along, we as good as dead, and if they’s not, they’s savin’ our asses. Just fuckin’ keep your mouths shut and keep your hoods up and heads low whenever we get out the car, in case WASP be tappin’ CCTV footage or some shit.”

“Piss off.” I hate that he’s right.

“Drake, you had a chance to talk with Sasha yet, or she been out this whole time?”

“She was awake early this morning, and we talked some.”

“Get any answers?”

“I think so. Seemed like she was too worn out to lie to me. Slight Russian accent.”

“Probably legit, then. Though I don’t know how you could ever trust her as your mate, after all this,” I remark. “You thought about rejecting her?”

“She and Elder Eric both suggested it.”

“But you ain’t done it,” Callum guesses. Drake turns away, deliberately shutting us out. If we weren’t strapped into this damn SUV, I’d be beating his ass. “And what’s your holdup? On top of the lies and the fact that she and your dad said you should, she livin’ on borrowed time once WASP catches up to her.both”

“WASP catches up to her.If ”

“She killed her boss and is set to take his place! Them fae s’posedly went back to HQ to get shit ready for her. She ain’t gon’ stay in hiding forever, once she’s recovered, and—”

“If it’d be easier, I can end her for you,” I offer. Bitch fucking deserves it. “It’d probably be more merciful than whatever WASP’s got planned—”

“Don’t you fucking dare.” There’s fire in Drake’s eyes I didn’t expect, under these circumstances. “She feels bad for what she’s done. And she’s the key, or at least a key, to changing WASP for the better. If we throw this key away, no guarantee we get another one.”

Well, shit. Callum and I exchange glances. There’s no argument to make that he’ll buy. Changing WASP, or getting rid of it entirely, has been his dream since WASP executed his uncle. No way he’s letting go of any chance he sees to achieve that dream.

So I guess, like Callum said before, we’re just stuck.

***~O~***

RIKA POV

“You think Samson’s read your email?” Zoe whispers to me, barely audible. Night has blanketed the Montana landscape around us in darkness. We’re the only vehicle on this road at the moment. Behind us, from the looks and sounds of things, the lycans and Sasha are all sleeping.

“I hope so,” I answer, matching her volume. “When we came up with that coded language, so that we could reach out to him if we needed anything, I didn’t think we’d be using it so soon. Or for something so urgent.”

“How likely do you think it is that anyone else in WASP has access to that call Drake made to Elder Eric?”

“I haven’t found any evidence that the line he called is wiretapped, or that anyone other than me has access to the information my little bug provides from Drake’s phone. I’m still working on other avenues that could be used to spy on Drake’s family, and I haven’t ruled out any possibilities.”

“Will you ever be completely sure one way or the other?”

“If my snooping yields anything, or if I get a chance to investigate the room Elder Eric’s land line is in myself.” My paranoia has served us well in the past. I’m confident in my skills, and the odds that we’re headed into an ambush are very slim.

But not zero.

One of my tablets starts to beep and flash, as if triggered by my thoughts.

“What the hell?!” Zoe and I exclaim simultaneously. I tap the alert icon. Someone’s stirring behind us.

“We’ve got WASP stealth craft coming, on the road and in the air,” I hiss, biting back curses.

“Any way to tell whether it’s Samson’s welcome crew or hostile entities?” Zoe demands.

“Not until we talk to them. At which point, if they’re hostile, it’s too late.” Sheer cliffs rise up on both sides of the road, which has been cut through a mountain. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

“Sonuvabitch,” Callum growls behind me as helicopters slightly blacker than the sky above come into our sight lines. “Brought us straight into a fucking trap—”

“Just as surprised as you are,” Zoe snaps. Big black Humvees have come out of nowhere, closing in behind us and in front of us. One comes alongside on the left, edging closer and closer, trying to drive us off the road.

“Zoe. Anything you can—” I start.

“Mountain beside us has an opening a little ahead. Going for it.”

“That’s exactly what they fucking want!” Xander yells. Sasha groans in the back. Not like this. It can’t end like this. Unless these lycans are a lot better fighters than I think they are, we can’t even put up a decent fight, with her down.

“Don’t have another choice that’s not splattering all of us against a cliff!” Zoe shouts. “I’m doing everything I can to keep us alive, all right?!”

She whips the SUV into the hole in the mountain, and then we’re racing down an underground slope. I bite my lip to keep from screaming. There’s light up ahead. Are they trying to boil us in the center of the earth?

“Let us out!” Xander demands. “Just cuz you’re bent on some kamikaze mission—”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Zoe’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel as she navigates the narrow, sloping road. Of all of us, her dark vision is the worst. She’s totally reliant on what her headlights show her and can’t afford distractions.

I hope I’m the only one who’s noticed that the Humvees followed us in here.

Suddenly the road flattens out and we’re in a large cavern lit by what look like construction lamps. Zoe screeches to a sideways stop near one of the cavern walls. The Humvees that were following us park a short distance away.

To my surprise and relief, Commander Samson Baryshnikov steps out of one of them and starts walking towards us.

“Who the fuck is that?!” Callum snarls.

“That fucker’s huge!” Xander yelps.

“Welcome to the Underground,” Baryshnikov smiles, his booming voice echoing around us.