Intelligence

Chase’s POV

Oxbow Lake Pack House

We were moving as soon as we got the mental call the attack was in progress. Rori used her family bond with her aunt to warn them, and their pack implemented defense plans as well. By the time Vic joined them in front of the Oxbow Pack safe room, all of the vulnerable members were inside.

There was no attack in progress, and a few minutes later Coral sent that they had neutralized the threat. Alpha Michael approached, his protectiveness in high gear. “Is this retaliation for the deaths down in Orlando?”

“There is more to it than that, but I would like to share the details with you and your lead Betas alone.”

He looked at Rori, who just nodded. “Give is five minutes to get things settled then we will talk in my office.” He went off to speak with his Betas before using his retinal scan plus his Lead Beta’s eye scan to open the safe room. Without them both, the timer would keep the door closed for eight hours.

Luna Margaret hugged her mate to calm him down; then she hugged my mate. “The threat is over for now, and you may return to normal duties. The response time to the security alert was excellent. Security patrols will double until further notice, and we will continue patrols on the edges of Arrowhead territory.”

“What happened, Alpha?”

“Three Werejaguars came across the lake and entered our home,” I answered. “They are related to the Sons of Tezcatlipoca members who were in Florida. They snuck in, heavily armed, and ready to kill everyone they met. Beta Coral was able to trap then kill them without any deaths or injuries to our members.” There was applause and shouting at this; the packs were close allies, and Arrowhead had stayed with Oxbow while our homes were under construction. “Don’t mistake the threat as being over, and don’t minimize what they are capable of doing. They will use humans, and if you follow the news, they don’t care much if humans live or not.”

“Keep your eyes up as you go about your day. Breakfast in one hour.” The Omegas nodded in thanks to their Alpha; the kitchen would time as everything had been shut down after the security alert. Michael gestured for us to follow.

We entered his office, and I sat with Rori on my lap in one chair, as Michael pulled Margaret into his lap behind the desk. Their Beta took the other chair. Michael and I were both scenting our mate’s hair to relax our wolves. “What’s going on, Chase? If they were looking to harm your Pack, they would have brought more than three cats.”

I had gotten more details from Coral since then and congratulated them for a well-executed plan. “Do you remember when I borrowed Doc to come to Orlando?”

“Yes, you had an injured person you were bringing back.”

“We were the ones who took Harleigh Ryder from the hospital, not the Sons. Rori and I thought it was the only way to protect her from being killed; the Sons would get to her despite the police protection, and the witness protection program is compromised.”

Margaret was mentally talking with Rori while Michael thought about it. “She’s human; it’s not a good idea to have her on Pack lands. You’re on edge already with your in-laws living there and the bikers who know your secret.”

Rori flinched. “Those bikers are close friends, and they kept the secret long before they swore the oath,” I said. “Three Tequila is like a second Mom to me; Harleigh was her only living blood relative. We had to do it, and I’d do it again.”

I squeezed her back against my chest to settle her wolf; she didn’t like her decisions being challenged. “Harleigh is no longer on Pack lands. She remains under the protection of three of our Warriors. We didn’t expect them to find out so quickly about our involvement. They were after her; they went straight through our house into the tunnels, following her scent.”

“Why do all that to get to her,” Margaret asked. “Attacking a Pack could pull us into a war.”

“The Sons are already at war with us,” Rori said. “They killed your Pack members and my friends. We will try and fight this war in a way that doesn’t affect the other Packs, but we WILL fight it.”

“Jesus Correria vowed vengeance on Harleigh’s family, to exterminate his bloodline. He wants to capture her, torture her, and rape her before he shoots her in the face. I walked through the house where Jose and his men did that to her parents. They are evil, and we have vowed to protect Harleigh and avenge the attack on the Steel Brotherhood, so the Feds don’t shut them down. We appreciate all you are doing, but we will do this.”

Margaret looked at her mate before he sighed. “Someone has to keep an eye on you and your kids.”

“Thank you,” Rori said.

“So what is the plan?”

“We use the Feds. I’m already cooperating with the DEA Director, and the Brotherhood knows that using them to shut down the Sons is better than a biker war. Right now, we need security while we plot; there may be further escalation now that the attack failed.”

Michael leaned back, thinking as his hand idly caressed Margaret’s thigh. “I don’t know much about Werejaguars; they are mostly in Central and South America. I am friends with a Werecougar in California. I wonder if he would help.”

“I need to head to the Bay Area myself, so if you think he can help, see if he will meet with me,” I said as Rori looked at me. “We need to fight with superior intelligence, letting the Feds do the heavy lifting after we point them in the right direction. I only know one person who can do that, and she lives out there.”

“Spider Monkey,” Rori asked.

“Yes. Spider Monkey is a Steel Lady out in Silicon Valley who works for Google and has a network of talented friends. She can do stuff the Feds can’t. I have to see her in person; she doesn’t trust any other communication.”

“You aren’t Club anymore, we gave that up when we left Orlando,” Rori said. That was part of the deal with the Brotherhood leadership. They couldn’t be involved in any retaliation, so we had formally resigned our memberships and turned in our Nomad cuts.

“I need her help, and I think she will do what is needed, even if she has to resign too. I’ll hire her if I have to.” She was the one who found Possum after her kidnapping. We’d rewarded her handsomely for her talents. “If she can’t do it herself, she can lead me to those who can.”

“We should be going,” Rori said. “We need to be with our Pack and Chase needs to pack for California,” she said with some annoyance.

“Be safe. We will help with your borders,” Michael said.

“If you have people you want to relocate out of the way, just let us know and we will take them in,” Margaret added.

We hugged them after they walked us to the car that Coral had sent over, and Vic opened the door for us to get in. I noticed the AR-15’s by the doors, and the escort SUV with more warriors, all armed. “Coral, are we expecting trouble?”

“Just a precaution, I don’t like my Alphas being vulnerable in transit.” I couldn’t argue, so we drove away with eight pairs of eyes watching.

Rori leaned into me as we drove through the pine forest. “I need to set up a Council meeting. What we do could affect us all.”

“We will need more warriors. Ask our allies for help, maybe a loan of warriors for sixty days. We can pick up expenses, and if they send unmated even better. An attack on this Pack that threatens you and Cheryl could end the bloodline and the blessing. No one wants that, not with a chance to rebuild numbers and find mates.”

“What if they tell us to cut ties with the Brotherhood?”

“It’s not possible, and they killed Pack members and attacked our land. We will use humans and keep our secret safe, but we have to be real. Jesus’s family lives, or ours and Heather’s does. That’s the only question because they won’t stop coming.”

She nodded and closed her eyes, resting against me as we drove through the no-man’s-land between our Packs. I checked with my twin sister Coral; she confirmed all was well at the Pack. They were pumping the water out of the tunnels now so we could recover the bodies. “Vic, you’re watching my back on this trip to the Bay,” I told him.

“Wonderful. You picked the city with the northernmost chapter of the Sons of Tezcatlipoca in California, and we’re going in without weapons or support since we’re flying commercial.”

“I’ll make it up to you by flying to Los Angeles next,” I said.

“Oh, that helps. We’ve killed Jesus Correria’s son, and we just took out three other cats including his brother. If they don’t kill us in the City, you want to head to Jesus’ backyard and offer yourself up?”

I shook my head. “Someone has to shake things up, big guy. It may as well be us.”

“I’m starting to feel like the Ensign in the red shirt who beams down on Star Trek,” he complained as he looked forward.

“You’ve already lasted longer than a minute, you’re fine.” We arrived back at our house, and we were dropped at the Pack House. The Pack was still in Condition Yellow, so our babies were in the Safe Room with their guards and nannies. We held them close, and Rori fed them while we talked to Coral and the others about what happened. We gave big hugs to Linda and Mackenzie, who had performed their jobs so well, and congratulated the Warriors as well.

I packed and said goodbye, and was back on the road by ten. One of the Omegas drove us to the Duluth airport with another warrior. The first flight connected through Minneapolis, a puddle jumper flight then business class to the City. We landed, and Vic rented a car for the drive down to Silicon Valley.

I still had her address from when we ordered her new Harley last year, so we drove there to wait for her to arrive. She lived in a townhouse near a park; I left a note on her door. “Frame needs to talk, bench by the pond on the east side, ten minutes after you get home. Confidential.”

“Let’s get some food, then you watch the house, and I’ll stay at the park,” I said.

“We passed a deli back there, that sound good?” We loaded up on sandwiches, drinks, and dessert; then he dropped me at the park before taking a spot facing me at the end of the road. It was after five, but people in the tech industry worked weird hours. It was after nine when she drove into her garage on her Harley.

Ten minutes later, Vic told me she was coming. I was sitting back, drinking a Coke, and she sat down at the other end of the park bench. “You’re not Club anymore, Frame.”

I just nodded. “It had to be that way. Sometimes, you can’t let the shit you are doing blowback on the Club. I gave up my Nomad patch after talking to the National Council.”

“I take it this is about the Sons of Tezcatlipoca.”

“It is. The Club is under pressure and needs to stay lily-white. I don’t. You know I have resources, and I play outside the system. I need your help.”

She just smiled. “I was waiting for you to call me,” she said. “I started working on this as soon as Easy and Peasy were killed.” She handed me a flash drive. “Burn these fuckers, Frame. Leave none alive.”