Chapter 8
Hanging up on Shiloh, I immediately video call Porter. Being suspended after we raided the Silverstone black market, Creed should have returned to New York. It is troubling that he apparently never made it back.
“Ferguson.”
“We have a problem.”
“Which is?” The background noise quiets as he steps outside to give me his full attention.
“Did Peterson make it back to New York to check on Creed?”
My question catches him off guard, his lips pulling down into a frown. “He is on his way back now, but hasn’t arrived yet. Why?”
“With Creed suspended, I was going to pull him in to help us with the leads you handed off,” I admit, earning a narrow- eyed glare. “He has answered none of my calls or texts, so I had a friend stop by his place. But he isn’t there. According to his neighbor, Creed hasn’t been home in weeks.”
Porter straightens, concern crossing his expression. I watch as he steps back into their temporary headquarters and orders another agent to call the FCDA’s main building to see if Creed has been staying in his office there.
My feet carry me back and forth across the dirt behind our van as I wait.
When they confirm no one there has seen or heard from Creed either, my stomach sinks.
Ridley peeks out of the back of the van when I jerk to a stop.
He’s been going through the files Porter gave us, searching for the most likely connection between the Eternals and Doctor Harrison, but none of them are solid enough to carry more weight than the others.
Porter clears his throat. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It is unlike Creed to disappear without alerting someone at the agency. We must assume an enemy has captured him.”
“Marcus,” I growl. Of course, Creed’s asshole half-brother would target him. Jealous and vengeful are two words to describe the Eternals’ lackey well.
“I-” Porter cuts himself off, his scowl deepening. “Look through the files for one concerning the Wexern anti-designation group.”
Ridley overhears him and digs through the pile. He hands it to me as soon as he finds it, brows drawn together when he comes to read over my shoulder. Inside, we find pictures of Marcus entering the group’s compound.
“What the fuck?!” Ridley exclaims. “How haven’t you taken these assholes down yet?”
“Red tape,” Porter grunts. “As ridiculous as it is, being anti-designation isn’t against the law, so we have no probable cause to raid the compound.”
“Probable cause? You have photo evidence of their connection to a gang we know is involved in the breeding ring!” Ridley is vibrating with barely controlled rage, his Alpha pheromones leaking into the air and sparking my aggression to dangerous levels.
Taking a measured step away from him, I pinch my nose shut with a pointed look in his direction. He throws his arms up and walks away, grumbling the entire way to the tree line.
“We can argue about the bullshit system we’re forced to work around all day long, but it won’t change anything.
This is a solid lead on your girl. Follow it.
We’ll work on tracking Creed from our end, and Jericho is following your Omega’s trail from New York.
Find out what the Wexern group knows, then call me with an update. ”
He hangs up, so I toss my phone aside and stare up at the sky. Breaking into the compound will be dangerous, but it shouldn’t be unmanageable. Most of these groups comprise Betas and weaker Alphas, but they have numbers on their side.
“So?” Ridley asks, wandering back over. He looks like shit. We both do.
“We need a plan.”
After two hours of poring over all the information the FCDA and DAU have gathered on the compound’s layout and defenses, we finally have a plan.
Entering through the west side, where their guards rotate shifts every six hours, we can make our way to the main house, where the compound leader, Owen Voight, should be sleeping.
Once we’re inside, we’ll do whatever it takes to get the information we need.
Fate can damn our souls for eternity, so long as we get our Omega back safely.
Silently inching Voight’s bedroom door open, I double-check to ensure no one inside is awake. What little control I have over my Alpha instincts shatters when I see the small cage at the foot of his bed. Two naked, obviously abused children crammed inside.
A wave of Alpha pheromones sweeps from my body, hitting everyone nearby and jolting them awake.
I leap, fist slamming into Voight’s wife’s temple, knocking her unconscious before she can scream.
Ridley silences the asshole leader of this cult with a hand around his throat.
Watching purple slowly crawl up his face, I’m tempted to let this be the end of his miserable existence.
It is only the chance of having knowledge of our Omega’s whereabouts that buys him extra time.
Slapping Ridley’s biceps, I jerk my head toward the door to the en suite bathroom. Leaning closer to Voight’s face, he bares his teeth, snapping them in warning. “If you scream, I will rip your intestines out and make you jump rope with them until the life leaves your body.”
The blood drains from the weak Beta’s face, and he nods rapidly. Fucking worthless worm of a man.
Ridley follows me to the next room, dragging the cult leader along behind him. When they’re both inside, I kick the door shut. That should muffle the sound of us working inside. Hopefully. If not, overcoming trauma is what therapy is for, isn’t it?
Voight’s head bounces off the marble floor when Ridley tosses him to the ground. My partner crouches, head tilted and lips twisted into a sinister grin. “You’re going to tell us where the breeding ring’s main campground is, and who is funding them.”
Saucer-wide eyes blink between us for several long seconds before the sound of Ridley’s hand connecting with Voight’s cheek fills the small room.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!
” he cries, hands flying to his face to protect himself.
The move leaves his torso open, a fact we quickly take advantage of.
Ridley’s fist connects with one side of his chest while my foot collides with the other.
The sound of a rib snapping is music to my ears.
Let this bastard soak in an ounce of the pain my Omega felt.
“You know.” Ridley pulls the photo of Marcus visiting the compound from his jacket pocket and shoves it in Voight’s face. “The Eternals came to you and forged some sort of deal. Tell us what it was.”
Pulling a knife from my belt, I flick the blade open and start flipping it around my fingers. Voight nearly shits his pants when his eyes dart up to me. Be afraid, asshole. I’m getting answers no matter what.
“L-look, I don’t-”
His weak lie cuts off when I drop to a crouch and jam the end of my knife into his thigh, careful to miss any major artery so he doesn’t bleed out.
He shouts in pain; the sound rattles through the small room.
Ridley steps over his sobbing body and turns the shower on, letting the sound of the water running drown out Voight’s pain.
“P-Please-”
Ripping the blade out, I slam it into his other thigh, twisting slightly. “Talk.”
He scrambles to put pressure on his bleeding wounds, crying uncontrollably.
“T-the E-Eternals, they d-did come to me, b-but I didn’t-” He wails when I pull the knife out and level it at his crotch.
Fear leaks from his body, souring his already terrible scent.
With the warmth of the water in the air, the room smells like a fucking dumpster.
I wrinkle my nose, glaring at Voight. Pressing the tip of the blade into his skin, he shouts.
“Alright!”
Easing back onto the balls of my feet, I keep my hand steady as I wait for him to explain.
“A f-few months a-ago, Senator Brown a-approached m-me. S-she wanted us to make a deal with them, t-the Eternals. S-she said the l-loss of Montgomery’s anti-designation compound in New Hampshire l-left a vacancy.
One she w-wanted us to fill. The E-Eternals were going to be in c-charge of moving the d-drugs Doctor Harrison created, and another g-group was going to g-grab Alphas and Omegas for the Doctor to experiment on.
She t-thought if we m-made it look like a breeding ring, it c-could throw the feds off our s-scent while the D-doctor worked. ”
Rage. Pure, unadulterated rage floods my veins, making my hand slip and dig my blade deeper into Voight’s skin.
A fucking senator is behind this shit? Not just funding it, but the front man for the entire operation?
What fucked-up world do we live in to have moralless elected officials running our country?
“T-they’re at an old coal mine!” he yelps, rushing his words out. “Outside of Silverstone. The owner abandoned it, so we b-bought it for them to use as their main operating ground.”
Right! Under! My! Fucking! Nose!
Bea was right there, right outside of the fucking city we were searching in, and we didn’t even know it!
Flicking my wrist, I sever Voight’s dick from his body.
He screams, scrambling to grab the detached appendage and stop the blood flowing from the wound.
Pushing to my feet, I wipe my knife on his pristine white bath towel before shoving it back into my belt.
Ridley grips the sobbing Beta by his hair and drags him into the shower, leaving him to suffer beneath the burning hot spray.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he grunts as he stalks across the floor to me, careful not to step on the trail of blood left behind.
Opening the bedroom door, I cross to the bedside table and rifle through, finding a key for the padlock on the cage hidden inside. Gripping it with my gloved fingers, I click the lock open and urge the wide-eyed, terrified children outside.
“We need you to be very quiet,” Ridley tells them, his voice soft despite the agitation still pinching his jaw. “We can get you out of here, get you somewhere safe, but you have to be quiet so the rest of the compound doesn’t realize we are here. Can you do that?”
While he coaxes them out, I rip open the closet door and find two of the smallest t-shirts to cover their bodies. I hold them out when I return, trying not to frighten the kids, but their flinching bodies tell me I’ve failed.
Controlling my rage is impossible when my very pulse beats with urgency. We need to get the fuck out of here and find our girl.
“Let’s go,” Ridley tells them, swinging both kids into his arms and nodding to me.
I lead the way, stopping at each turn through the massive house and to the exit. The cover of darkness aids our escape, as does the still-unconscious guard at the West gate. Once we’re safely inside the van, with both children tucked into the back, I take off.
“Call Donovan. Tell him to set something up for those two. I’ll call Porter and get the FCDA’s ass moving.”
Ridley nods, whipping his phone out and calling our boss. I grab mine and dial Porter’s number. He answers on the first ring. “We got it.” I relay everything Voight told us, disgust filling my voice as I admit the breeding ring was closer to us than we ever imagined.
“I’ll have a team ready when you get back,” Porter promises before he hangs up.
An hour later, we pull into the parking lot of a hotel. An ambulance is waiting for us, along with two DAU agents. I stay behind the wheel, leaving Ridley to hand off the kids we rescued.
My mind whirls, imagining all the horrible things my Omega could experience at the hands of those sick bastards.
I’ll destroy everyone who dared to touch her, starting with the fucking doctor.
He’s been a thorn in my side for months now.
Evading our attempts to capture him every time we’d get close.
It’s time to end this. To burn this breeding ring to the ground and put Harrison in a fucking jail cell where he belongs.
“We’re good,” Ridley grunts when he swings into his seat. He glances over at me, my rage and determination reflected in his eyes. Nodding sharply, I put the pedal to the floor.
“Let’s go get our girl.”