32. Rescue Mission
Rescue Mission
" F ound it." I looked up from my laptop only see the entire room spinning. Shit. I hadn't slept since River had left with Quinn. How many days ago was that? Three, four?
"Thank God." Archer handed me a cup of coffee and I downed it in one go. "How far away?"
"Four hours. Three towns away." I frowned. "It's like they were trying to hide her from us."
"Doubtful. They just deemed her a flight risk." River rubbed his chin. "Okay, let's go."
"You good to drive?" Archer asked warily. "None of us have slept yet."
"I slept while you were all doing the heat stuff," River snapped. "I said let's go."
We followed him out to the SUV and got in. I brought my tablet along so I could try to hack the system at the new place. We didn't have any ins there, but I'd spent years hacking more sophisticated systems.
By the time we were halfway to the heat den, I was in.
Scrolling through the security feeds, I searched for our little omega.
There were three floors of "nests" that resembled comfortable prison rooms and each one had a camera.
Figuring she would be in a nest, I started on the first floor and began to flip through the feeds.
Archer leaned over to look with me. "Shit, how many omegas are there in this place?"
"From what I found, it's not a place you go in just for heats," I told him. "This is where they sent the omegas deemed useless. Ones who are too bad to find a pack, or who are infertile or otherwise hard to place."
"And who goes to this place? What kind of alphas would take advantage of omegas like this?" His face showed the storm brewing inside.
"Not nice ones." I paused on one where two alphas were railing a woman with dark hair, but the one on top shifted and the woman wasn't Quinn. This one was thinner and had wider set eyes. She was staring blankly at the ceiling, obviously checked out. "Shit. How can we just leave everyone in there?"
"We are here to get Quinn, we'll worry about the rest when we have her out," River said.
"You know, we have a lot to make up for," Archer said slowly.
"Getting all the omegas out would be a good step toward getting back in her good graces," Orion finished for him, throwing a smile over his shoulder. "We're getting them all out."
"No, no, no!" River thumped the steering wheel. "If we go in there to get everyone out, we're going to end up getting stuck and possibly not freeing Quinn at all."
"Fine. We need a plan then." Archer leaned forward between the seats. "We have to split up. Two of us go for Quinn, the others get the rest of the omegas out when they get the signal."
I nodded. "Sound plan. I volunteer to get Quinn."
"I'll go too," Archer said quickly. "We need someone to sweet talk them and heaven knows Kade can't manage that part."
"I can be charming!"
"Not really, buddy." He patted my shoulder as I contemplated how friendly I was. "Let me do the talking, you can be the muscle and carry our girl out of there."
"That leaves us to figure out how to get, what, fifty girls out?" River said, apparently on board with the idea now.
"More like two hundred," I muttered, scanning the rooms on the second floor. "This place is massive."
"Pull up the blueprints, we'll need to have some sort of distraction so they'll let everyone out and then we can sort of assist them in escaping," Archer suggested. "A fire?"
We hashed out the plan the rest of the trip and pulled over just before arrival to show River the blueprints and finalize everything. It was a last minute plan, which I hated, but it was necessary. There was no way we could leave our girl in there any longer than necessary.
River pulled into the parking lot and sat back. "Okay, go for it, you two. As soon as you have Quinn, shoot me a text and we'll start the next phase."
I left my tablet and got out of the SUV, headed for the front doors.
I'd found Quinn in nest 211, so if everything went south, we knew where to go to get her.
There were no elevators in the place, which meant everyone would be taking the stairs.
More convenient in some ways, but in an emergency, it could get clogged quickly with people.
We'd taken all that into account with our plan.
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" A pretty omega sat at the front desk, her floral scent wafting through the room.
The sight of an omega as secretary pulled me up short. Why wasn't she in the heat den? Where were the betas?
"We're here for an omega, Quinn Bianchi?" Archer smiled at her. He wasn't surprised at the sight of an omega at the front desks. Or maybe he was, but he hid it well.
I fought to control my face and stepped up beside him, smiling at the omega. She scanned me with lust in her eyes, but I turned to look around the lobby of the space.
Everything looked very high end, decorated in marble and mirrors, with a dual metal detector to get through to the back of the building. Several guards stood around, rifles in hand. They weren't taking any chances here.
"Do you have a booking with that omega?" the beta asked cheerfully.
"No, we're actually here to take her home," Archer said, matching her energy.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we don't allow our omegas to leave the premises. They're a little volatile and flight risks. You understand."
"Sorry, no, I mean she's ours and we're taking her home. There was a mixup in the paperwork and she was sent her by accident." He slid a sheet of paper across the desk.
I turned to look at the paper. I hadn't seen that before, but it was a completed pack agreement. Quinn was named our omega.
"Oh, that's unusual." She frowned at the paper. "I'll have to call my supervisor."
"Sure, go ahead." Archer smiled and she quickly picked up the phone, calling her supervisor to come down and talk to us.
Minutes later, a tall man with heavy alpha energy strode through the metal detector with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Gentlemen, the James Pack, correct? Millie here tells me you think your omega is here mistakenly?"
"Yes, Quinn Bianchi, of the James Pack," Archer said pleasantly. "It's a new alliance, but when we went to pick her up at the ORC, they told us she'd already been sent here. She was meant to be released to us this morning."
"Unusual." The man studied the paperwork Archer presented. We showed our IDs and he hummed and hawwed before stepping away to call someone else.
I tried not to fidget while we waited. My fingers itched to tap on something so I tapped my thumb against each fingertip, one after the other, to calm myself.
All I wanted to do was rush the guard at the metal detector and run up those stairs.
I knew exactly where she was. I could be in and out with her in five minutes, but we had to play nice.
"My secretary will bring down the paperwork in a minute," the supervisor told us. "We're not sure how this happened. I'm sure there will be an investigation to see how a bonded omega ended up in our facility."
"She's not bonded yet," Archer corrected him. "But she is pack."
The man nodded. "Please, have a seat while you wait."
Half an hour and plenty of red tape later, we were officially "owners" of one Quinn Bianchi. A guard was sent up to get her and I sent off a message to River, updating him.
He sent back a thumbs up, just as I heard a shuffling noise and looked up to see Quinn, dressed in an ORC uniform. She was freshly showered and glowering at the guard who dragged her along the hall.
"Here she is. As you can see, she's unharmed and in perfect condition. Please sign here to confirm you've received the asset," the supervisor held out a clipboard with a paper on it.
I grabbed the clipboard before Archer could move and quickly signed my name. Officially, she was in my possession now. Stepping forward, I scooped her up in my arms and carried her straight out the door. Archer could do the niceties.