Chapter 7
August 17, 1982
22:00
Northern Illinois
“So, Ice. Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
Hazard adjusted his position before answering. He lay prone on a bed of leaves, night vision goggles trained on a large, Tudor style estate out in the boonies of northern Illinois. It was surrounded on three sides by a large field and fronted by the densely wooded area where the 448 hid in wait. They were there based on a tip that Brian Lewis, the owner of the house and a shady character in the shifter underworld, could shed some light on the kidnapping plot of the councilwoman’s daughter.
Intel had Lewis leaving for his weekly spa appointment within the hour. They were waiting for him to come out of the house to make their move. It should be soon. Earlier a guard had come out to start one of the cars waiting in the drive, a big Cardinal red Toyota Land Cruiser. It was warm, even at night, and apparently Lewis didn’t like to ride in a hot car. The Cruiser sat idling in the driveway while the guard walked a few paces away to grab a smoke.
To kill time, Hazard had decided to chat with Ice over the squad’s communication link. Ever since the Minnesota op, Ice had been more receptive to his social overtures, so he no longer had any hesitance in pulling the captain into a conversation.
“Why do you wear the mask?” he asked.
There was a moment of quiet static in his ear piece before Ice answered.
“Because I like it.”
“Why do you like it?”
Silence was his answer to that question. Undeterred, Hazard tried again.
“Is it your way of making sure people know up front that you’re a wolf shifter?”
For humans, it wasn’t always easy to tell if someone was a shifter. They were generally bigger than regular humans and the color of their eyes could be more intense or sometimes unusual. And their irises glowed when experiencing strong emotions. But if a shifter was calm and not showing their fangs, humans wouldn’t know they were a wolf since they couldn’t scent their pheromones.
“No.”
“Are you hiding an ugly mug under there?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I wouldn’t be this curious if you’d take it off every once and awhile.”
“Like I said. I like having it on.”
Hazard made a noise of frustration at the answer that did nothing to appease his curiosity. “Anybody ever tell you getting information from you is like talking to a brick wall?”
“Yeah.”
“Who?”
“The last guy that tried to interrogate me.”
“What happened to him?” Hazard asked in genuine curiosity.
“Keep asking me questions and I’ll take you out and show you.”
Hazard let out a gasp of mock delight. “Take me out? Like on a date? Hell, Captain, I didn’t expect things to move that fast between us, but I’m in.”
To his surprise, a huff of a laugh came over the comms before the captain spoke again.
“Shut it, Hazard. And look alive. Our target is on the move.”
Hazard had noticed. The front door opened and a guard stepped out. Behind him was a blond man in a color block Polo, followed by three more guards. Ortiz’s voice came over the comms.
“That’s him. On my count we move. Three. Two. One. Go!”
At Ortiz’s signal, Hazard pushed up to his feet and took off running toward the house in one fluid move.
Jax, who’d been stationed behind the topiary at the side of the house, reached the group first.
“US Legion! Down on the ground!” he shouted.
The guards didn’t listen of course. And they were good, well trained. They grabbed Lewis, took cover behind the vehicles in the driveway, and opened fire. The 448 returned it without hesitation. But they had to be careful. They could take out the guards, but their goal was to capture Lewis not kill him, as he had valuable intel.
While they were engaged in a fire fight with the guards, their target made an attempt to run back into the house. Hazard shot at the ground in front of his feet, deterring him from going that way. Lewis came to an abrupt halt to avoid the bullets, arms pinwheeling to keep his balance. He spun away and raced to the Cruiser instead, the only vehicle that was already running. Jumping in, Lewis floored it, tires digging in and kicking back smoke as he peeled off.
“Hazard, don’t let him leave!” Ortiz ordered.
“On it!” he shouted back.
Running full out to catch up with the speeding vehicle, he leaped, catching hold of the roof rack and hanging off the driver’s side. Luckily, the window was down. He reached in and grabbed the steering wheel, yanking it to the side so that they swerved off the driveway into the field.
“Stop the truck! You’ve got nowhere to go!” Hazard shouted.
“Fuck you!” Lewis spat before he shoved his foot down on the gas.
Unfortunately for him, the grass was tall and thick and the ground soft from a recent rain, which prevented him from going as fast as he had on the road. The truck bumped along at a slower pace as they fought for control of the steering wheel.
Suddenly, there was a thump, and the vehicle rocked to the right. When Hazard looked up, a grin split his face. Ice was there, hanging from the other side of the roof rack. His wolf mask, painted in stripes of black, green, and brown tonight for camouflage, was a menacing visage on the other side of the passenger window.
“You’re in trouble now,” Hazard said in a sing-song voice.
Ice raised the butt of his gun and slammed it against the window, instantly shattering it.
Lewis screamed, arms flying up to protect himself from the flying shards of glass. Ice reached across the cabin and grabbed the target, yanking him half way into the passenger seat so that his foot left the accelerator. Without a foot on the gas, the vehicle slowed to a crawl. Hazard opened the door and swung in to sit in the driver’s seat. After stopping the truck and shifting into Park, he grinned at Ice.
“Excellent teamwork, Captain,” he said happily.
Ice didn’t answer. He opened the passenger door and dragged Lewis out, dumping him on the ground at his feet.
Hazard got out of the truck and went around to the other side to join them. Lewis sat upright in the grass, a defiant sneer on his face.
“I’m not talking!” he shouted. “You’ll have to cut out my tongue.”
Hazard crossed his arms over his chest. “Now why would we cut out your tongue? Can’t get info out of you like that.”
Ice withdrew a big knife from the sheath he wore on his hip. Squatting down in front of Lewis, he waved the knife in front of his face. Without saying a word, he trailed the knife from Lewis’ lips down his throat, over his shirt, stopping when the point of the blade dug into the denim over his crotch.
“Don’t want your tongue,” he finally said. “But there’s other parts of you I can cut off.”
Lewis’ eyes went wide. A full body shudder went through him, face blanching white as the moon above. “I can give you whatever you want to know! Locations, names. Just please, don’t cut off my dick.”
Hazard had to admire the direct simplicity of Ice’s intimidation technique. “That’s more like it,” he said to Lewis. “I love a cooperative citizen.”
Jax and Ortiz strolled up.
“So do I.” Ortiz said. “Mr. Lewis, we’ll be happy to hear everything you have to say back on base.”
Jax reached down and hauled Lewis to his feet. He used FlexiCuffs to restrain his hands behind his back then lead him off to the transport they had waiting. Ortiz followed directly behind him, leaving Hazard and Ice to walk together.
Hazard knocked his shoulder against Ice’s arm since he couldn’t reach his shoulder. “You have to admit it was bad ass the way I jumped on the truck to force him to slow him down.”
“You were effective.”
Hazard pretended to stumble, as if Ice’s dryly uttered words had knocked him off his feet.
“Effective! High praise indeed. Gonna hold that one close to my heart, Captain.”
For the second time that night, he heard that low, rough laugh from Ice. Hazard smiled to himself as he walked along at Ice’s side, trying not to show how happy it made him to have earned that sign of amusement from his superior.
* * *
The plane rumbled loudly as they flew across Illinois returning to Oklahoma. Their target sat strapped into his seat, hands bound, sulking. He’d be turned over for interrogation once they arrived back to base.
With nothing to do for the long ride, Ice thought about Hazard’s question. Why did he wear the mask? He’d worn it for so long, it was a part of him now. His reason for wearing the wolf mask no longer mattered. It served its purpose, which was to scare the daylights out of anyone he was up against. But he understood Hazard’s curiosity. It had to be odd for him to never see his teammate’s face.
Ortiz had seen him. She’d known him before he started wearing the mask and she was one of the few people he currently allowed to see him without it. Jax hadn’t seen his face. But the other alpha had never asked him to take off the mask or balaclava. He seemed to understand that Ice would show him when he was ready. Or he was too chill to care either way.
But Hazard. The little playful, impatient firecracker wanted to see his face now . That wasn’t going to happen, but he found he didn’t mind Hazard’s light hearted attempts to get him to explain why he wore it. There’d been no malice or derision behind the request, only teasing and genuine curiosity.
Maybe one day he’d show his face to his teammates, but for now he was content to deflect Hazard’s teasing questions with non-answers that he knew frustrated the corporal. In fact, he was amused by Hazard’s attempts to get him to remove the mask. But he’d never admit it to anyone other than himself.
Over the past few weeks, he’d learned a lot about Hazard. He’d thought that he would find Hazard annoying at best and infuriating at worst. The omega wolf talked more than anyone Ice had ever been partnered with, he continued to be relaxed, as he called it, in his relationship with rank and authority, and he had a playful air that had changed the vibe of their team both in the field and at home in their barracks.
Those were all traits that should have set Ice’s teeth on edge and have him demanding that Ortiz give the corporal the boot. But they didn’t. Hazard was a wolf with charm and charisma, and apparently Ice wasn’t immune to them.
However, that charm wouldn’t have mattered if Hazard couldn’t keep up in training or in the field. But the corporal more than held his own. He was skilled, fast, followed Ice’s orders like he was connected to him through a mind link, and he was smart. When Hazard had taken out the gunman hiding in the wall with minimal fuss and maximum accuracy, Ice had been impressed enough to fully accept him onto the team.
Jax already liked Hazard. Ortiz obviously did or she wouldn’t have recruited him. And with Ice’s acceptance, it was settled that Hazard was there to stay.
Still, Ice wouldn’t go so far as to say that he liked Hazard. They weren’t there to be friends with each other after all. He did like Hazard’s presence on the team. But no matter how many times Hazard asked him to take it off, the mask was staying on.