44. Chase
Chase
T his is fucking stupid. Madden was right, the police are taking fucking forever to figure out a plan for this rescue mission.
I have no clue what they’re doing, but I do know they’re taking too god damn long.
“How’re you doing, big guy?” I ask Madden, who’s finally able to walk steadily across the room without all of us thinking he’s going to keel over.
“You know, it’s kind of a miracle, how quickly you’ve been able to recover,” Charlotte says to Madden, walking into the room. Dawson, one of her mates is behind her, carrying a platter of different foods from his dive bar.
“Oh my god, are those buffalo wings?” I say, jumping up from my chair. “My hero.”
“Yup,” he nods, setting them down at the table.
“How’re you feeling?” Charlotte asks Madden.
“Better,” he nods. “Obviously not great, but I don’t want to stab my eyes out whenever I look at any light.”
“That’s a lot of improvement,” She nods. “You know, I should totally use you as a guinea pig in some sort of study on alpha and omega recovery times. There’s not a lot of information about that.”
“I don’t know if I like the language of ‘should’ when it comes to you experimenting on my packmate,” Archer says casually.
We all start crowding around the small table with the platter of food.
“This shit is phenomenal,” I groan. “So much better than hospital food.”
“Anytime,” Dawson nods.
I look at my four packmates, all standing around the small table with grim looks on their faces. Pretty sure all of us have had the same facial expressions for the past three days.
“Guys, what if we take one of the company cars and go in ourselves? We know exactly where Luna is right now and we have no clue how long she’ll be there for.”
“I’m going,” Madden grunts, wiping his hands on a napkin.
“Hey, wait, I know you’re a speedy healer but that’s a horrible idea,” Charlotte chips in. “Especially for a rescue mission like this.”
“I’ll be fine,” he growls.
“I think Charlotte’s right,” Archer says softly. “It may be for the best if he hangs back for this.”
“What about me?” Charlotte asks, making both Madden and Dawson huff, though for different reasons.
“No way in hell you’re doing anything strenuous, not when you’re so far along in your pregnancy,” Dawson growls.
“Why’re you asking if you get to go when you say I can’t? She’s my mate.”
Charlotte crosses her arms over her chest.
“But Luna’s definitely hurt. A gunshot wound, minimum. She’ll need a doctor, and we all know she prefers me to a beta or alpha doctor.”
“We can use the bar as a base for the operation,” Dawson suggests. “That way, Madden can still be close to the action since we’re closer to the Southside and if anything goes wrong, we can all go in. Once you’ve rescued Luna, you can bring her back there too so Charlotte can check her out.”
“Using your bar as a base is a good idea and a generous offer,” Archer nods. “Thank you.”
“It’s a good plan, but I’m still going,” Madden insists. “I can be the getaway driver or some shit if you don’t want me to see action, but I’m not letting you rescue Luna alone.”
The look in his eyes is haunted. As if he’s still beating himself up internally for letting them take Luna. I totally get where he’s coming from.
I glance at Archer and Kane and we all share the same look.
“Okay man, we have a plan,” I say, nodding to Madden. I pull out my phone. “I think we should call Officer Stone and just let him know what we’re doing. Out of respect.”
“We’re going in regardless of what he says, though,” Kane mutters under his breath.
“Totally,” I say.
“Wow, look at you being proactive,” Charlotte teases.
I purse my lips. “Guess I’m a changed man now.”
Luna changed me. For the better. She saved me. And now we’re gonna save her.
Stone picks up on the third ring and I put him on speaker. “Hey, Stone, just wanted to let you know out of respect, but we can’t sit here and wait anymore.”
“Shit,” Stone sighs, “I thought you guys would do something like this. Fine, fine. The basement stairs are found past the custodian’s closet, which is down the hall opposite of the private rooms.”
“And how would you know this?” Archer growls, his eyes narrowing.
“Just ‘cause we haven’t given the go-ahead to go in guns blazing, especially after you guys insisted that we not blow up their entire operation, doesn’t mean we haven’t been doing work.”
“Thanks for the info, Stone,” I say.
“We’ll have a few unmarked cars ready to come in and make official arrests if you find the councilman in the act of anything illegal, so if you need anything, make sure to call us.”
“Got it, talk soon.” Hopefully so we can make a full report on Luna’s successful rescue.
“I called Casey to pack some of our gear into an unmarked car and drive it over to us. He’ll be here in 10,” Kane says, referring to one of the company’s employees.
“Great, let’s work on getting me out of here,” Madden mutters, probably antsy as fuck to get out of the hospital.
“Let me help with that,” Charlotte says. “They’re gonna push pretty hard to keep you here, but if you really want to go, I’m not going to be the one to stop you.”
“Thanks, Charlotte,” Madden says.
About 30 minutes later, the four of us are all piling into one of the company’s unmarked, blacked-out SUVs and headed towards Charlotte and her pack’s dive bar, The Last Spot. I’ve definitely gotten drunk there a few too many times, it’s a fun spot.
“Hey guys,” Nolan, one of Charlotte’s other mates says, opening the door for us. “Give us the rundown.”
“Do you need any more gear?” Carter, my sister’s last bonded mate asks.
“We should be good,” Archer says. “Though, if a couple of you guys got ready in case things get hairy down there and we need backup, that’d be appreciated.”
“We got you,” Nolan says, nodding to Dawson. “Carter can stay back and watch Char.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Charlotte rolls her eyes. “I’ll be fine on my own.”
“You don’t want to spend time with me?” Carter pouts playfully.
“Hush, this is serious,” Charlotte scolds, though she does lean into Carter’s touch.
I won’t lie, I’m jealous. I want our omega back here. But that’s what this whole rescue is for .
Kane hands each of us a case with all of our preferred gear. We all put on our encrypted radio earpieces and strap on our holsters and guns. I also tuck a pack of zip ties in one of my cargo pant’s pockets just in case we run into anyone we want the police to take into custody.
“We want to get in and out.” Archer looks at all of us, his expression serious. Time to go into work mode. “Our priority is finding Luna and getting her back here safely. We don’t know what state she’ll be in.”
“We have the old apartment upstairs that you guys can use, too,” Carter suggests.
“Thanks guys,” I say. Having brothers-in-law can be pretty cool.
“No need to thank us, we never spend any time here anymore,” Charlotte says.
“Yeah, ‘cause you bought us a house,” Carter mutters.
“Hush, it’s a beautiful house.” My sister flips some of her hair over her shoulder.
I want Luna to be able to live a life of luxury, hardly a care in the world like my sister does. She’s definitely worked her ass off to become a doctor, but there’s a sort of freedom that comes from her being able to make that choice in the first place.
We’re gonna get Luna back and give her everything she could ever want.
“Madden, you’ll be driving,” Archer continues. “We’ll all have our radios on, so you’ll be the one calling the police to come in if necessary, that okay with you?”
“Yeah.” He nods his head quickly. “I’m just glad you guys are letting me come.”
“If it weren’t for your crazy Frankenstein regeneration speed, we wouldn’t be, so count yourself lucky,” I say, nudging him in the shoulder. “Let’s get fucking going, then. Let’s get our mate back.”
We’re silent on the drive over, all lost in our own thoughts.
Madden parks the car in the big parking lot and nods to us .
“I’ll be here. Keep me updated. If you need me, I’m coming in.”
“We’ll make sure to let you know, big guy,” I say, patting him on the back before checking all my guns again.
“Let’s head in,” Archer nods.
The building is inconspicuous, if not a little worn down.
There aren’t any signs outside but with the way an older, tired-looking beta with engine grease on his hands makes his way into the building like he’s got a one-track mind, it’s obvious that the clientele aren’t just stumbling into this place.
We’re dressed in plain clothes that hide all of our weapons, but it seems like alpha packs coming into a place like this is pretty rare because we get some stares.
It’s surprisingly busy for lunchtime on a weekday, but maybe now is the best time for some of these guys to come here if they’ve got wives at home.
There are quite a few scantily clad women scattered throughout the room.
Some of them are dancing on stage, spinning around on the poles, others are mingling with customers.
From the brief hints of their scents I can smell from all the way over here, it smells like a mix of omegas and betas that drown themselves in perfumes that try to mimic the natural sweetness of an omega.
There’re also a decent crowd of men, a mix of betas and alphas, soliciting their time.
At first glance, it just looks like a normal strip club. Well, a “normal” strip club where the workers seem to bring the guys back for something more, based on the heavy smell of sex as we make our way further into the club and towards the back hallways.
“Ooo, what a delicious trio you guys make,” One beta says, coming over to the three of us, balancing expertly in her tall heels. “What’re you looking for today?”
I flash her a polite smile.
“Nothing from any of you ladies. I’d recommend you forgot you saw us. ”
She tilts her head, her gaze growing sharp and assessing. I don’t know the things she’s seen working in places like these, but her eyes immediately hone in on where we have our weapons concealed before she nods.