Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
RAJ
I check the personal shield charm, making sure the black tourmaline stone is secure on the leather cord around Bryn’s neck.
The entire team are in two unmarked black vans parked at the side of the road, waiting for the remaining supervisors to leave the Far Out Freight warehouse.
From the surveillance recordings we have going back weeks Lance is always the last out, and it’s already been more than four hours since Bryn and I left work today.
Bryn knocks my hands away. ‘It’s fine. It hasn’t changed since the previous five times you checked it.’
I still can’t quite believe he managed to persuade us all to let him join us, but when he pointed out that there are some hardcore magical protections around Lance’s office—which have increased in recent weeks—and that we’d need his ability to see exactly what was there and then explain to Ayo how to get past them, Ethan agreed.
As powerful as Ayo is, there’s too much incompatibility between earth magic and fae magic for Ayo to do much without a blueprint of the spells, as it were.
I really hope Bryn’s next job on the work programme is with nicer fae than these, and that there’s no retaliation for his involvement in this. Although, Kit’s idea of filing for an exemption has merit if we think Bryn is in any danger after he’s been reassigned.
Of course, with Bryn coming along there was no way I was letting them all do this without me, and without actually talking about Ethan’s permanent undercover idea again, we made plans that included me as part of the arresting team.
Ethan and I will discuss it at some point, but for now I’m refusing to think about it.
‘I know you and Ayo have worked hard on these charms, but they’re completely untested in a real-world scenario.’
It’s not that I’m doubting their skill or ability to work together, it’s that I really don’t like the idea of my untrained boyfriend being in the line of fire if Lance resists arrest. Yes, the tests Ayo’s done showed the charm to be effective, and sure, I’ve been wearing the prototype at work to set Bryn’s dragon at ease, but neither the one I’m wearing nor this new one have been tested against actual fae magic.
Fortunately, rather than getting irritated with me, Bryn just smirks. ‘Surely I’ve proven that I can handle Lance.’
‘That’s not funny.’ Even as I sign it, my shoulders relax slightly and my lips twitch. ‘I still want to know how you managed to injure him so badly.’
Before Bryn can reply, Ethan turns around in the driver’s seat. “Right, we’ve got Lance and two supervisors still inside. Given that it’s hours past when they usually leave, we’re going to assume they’re in there for the long haul.”
“We can handle three fae.” Jet pats his modified assault rifle loaded with heavy-duty tranquilliser bullets.
“Let’s find out.” Ethan taps his earpiece. “Charlie Tango three, let’s move.”
Skye and Cal are in the van in front of us, so they lead the way as both vans enter the Far Out Freight car park and pull up right in front of the glass doors to the reception.
The whole team is here in case Lance or the supervisors decide to use weapons—or magic—against us, and to allow us to split up and search multiple areas simultaneously.
We’re all wearing the same black uniforms Ethan only insists on for operations like this: coveralls; a body armour vest with BSG printed on the back; a balaclava covering our noses and mouths; a helmet with BSG on the front in white lettering; eye and ear protection; and a whole load of gear clipped to our thighs, belts, and vests.
As well as the usual kit, we’ve each got a handgun filled with iron bullets and an iron dagger, because if this turns into a fight we need every advantage we can get.
Ayo refused the weapons initially, although relented on the dagger after Ethan insisted.
Bryn is dressed in the same uniform, minus any weapons, because Ethan and I agreed that even in a consultant role Bryn should be identified as one of us, with the aim of providing an added layer of legal protection should it be needed.
We pile out of the vans and split up. Cal and Skye remain outside to cover the fire exits and closed loading bay doors, while the rest of us head inside.
Since I won’t be returning to Far Out Freight after today, I use Dhiren’s work pass to let us through from reception onto the warehouse floor.
We immediately pair off and spread out, weapons drawn, scouring the aisles for the three fae.
Bryn stays with me to check the canteen, the small meeting room, and the admin office as we pass them, checking the aisles as we go. The men’s toilets are empty and we’re about to check the women’s when Ember comes out, startling at the sight of us.
“What in the realm…?” She looks between us, her eyes widening in recognition before she switches to signing, a disgusted look on her face. ‘You’re with the BSG?’
I’m not sure what kind of enhanced abilities fae use to identify someone, such as scent, but as I suspected would be the case all the gear we’re wearing isn’t enough to conceal our identities. Since I need to keep my rifle raised until I establish Ember’s cooperation, I’m unable to sign.
“We have a warrant for Lance’s arrest. We know he’s here. Please state his location and that of the other supervisor in the building.”
She darts a glance at Lance’s office, which sits above the admin office at the top of a metal staircase. ‘Lance is up there. Aire was right behind me.’
I tap my earpiece. “Charlie one-four reporting in, we have one fae located and appearing cooperative. Ember has informed us of the locations of Lance and Aire, over.”
Ethan locks eyes with me from the far end of the warehouse, giving me a sharp nod and touching his earpiece. “This is Charlie six-two. Aisles forty-one to sixty are clear. Moving to assist, over.”
“Charlie seven-three reporting aisles one to twenty clear, over,” Kit says through the comms.
“Charlie three-one reporting no activity outside, over,” Cal says.
“Charlie one-four reporting aisles twenty-one to thirty clear,” I say. “The small meeting room, canteen, admin office, and men’s toilets are clear, over.”
“Charlie seven-three, check the remaining aisles and loading bay. We’re joining Charlie one-four, over,” Ethan says as he and Ayo jog over to join us.
“Roger that, over and out,” Kit says.
“What have we got?” Ethan asks me.
“Lance is in his office. Aire—” We turn and raise our guns as Aire appears from the door behind Ember.
Aire stiffens. “What’s going on?”
“We have a warrant for Lance’s arrest. Please step this way.” I gesture for Ember and Aire to enter the small meeting room. They go without protest, although neither look happy about it and both throw dirty looks my way.
“The rest of the warehouse is clear,” Kit says as they and Jet jog over to join us.
Ethan gives a sharp nod. “Good. Jet, guard those two.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Jet takes up position just inside the meeting room.
“Ayo and Bryn, you two get to work on taking down those protections around Lance’s office,” Ethan says, pointing.
Before I can lower my rifle and interpret that for Bryn, Ayo touches Bryn’s arm then gestures to Lance’s office as well. ‘We go.’
Bryn winks at me, then the two head off.
My tiger is uneasy at Bryn being so close to Lance when the fae is unsecured, but Lance has shown no suggestion of coming out here, and my alpha-mate is more than capable of protecting them both should the need arise.
And as Bryn reminded me, he can apparently handle Lance just fine.
“Let’s work on getting into these boxes,” Ethan says.
I retrieve one of the scanners and hand it to Kit. “This is the device I was telling you about.”
Because the scanners verify that the containment fields are intact, I speculated that they could be used to remove the containment fields as well.
We won’t get into the boxes otherwise, and if we can use a scanner instead of asking Ayo to remove every single field, this process will be significantly faster.
We did discuss getting one of the fae to input their access code and seeing if we could do it that way, but ultimately agreed they could potentially enter some sort of panic code to lock the place down, or alert someone in Realm Enterprises, depending on how much functionality the scanners actually have.
The decision was taken to let Kit do what they do best.
They take the scanner from me. “This’ll be a piece of cake.”
The remaining boxes are spread out so Ethan and I gather some from the nearest aisle to open first. It’s not long before Kit holds the scanner out to Ethan. “Next time I want a better challenge. This thing is so basic my grandmother could have built it.”
‘It’ll bring down the containment fields now?’ I ask as Ethan takes it from them.
“Yup.”
“Good work,” Ethan says. “I want Ayo here to put a shield around each box just in case, so once we have Lance in custody we’ll get started.”
“Charlie eight-niner reporting in. We’re ready, over.” Ayo always sounds excited when he gets to use a call sign over comms, although there’s a more serious edge to his voice today.
“Gather a few more of these boxes while you wait for us, but stay alert in case he resists arrest,” Ethan says to Kit as he puts the scanner on a nearby shelf.
“Yes, Alpha,” they say.
Ethan and I take the stairs two at a time to join Ayo and Bryn. I lower my balaclava so that Bryn can see my lip patterns and facial expressions as I sign, ‘Are we clear to enter?’
He lowers his balaclava as well, his bright eyes and expressive hand movements betraying his excitement. ‘Yes. Ayo got all the protections down that I can see from the outside, but Lance undoubtedly knows we’re here. Be careful going in.’
‘Do you want to join Kit?’ I ask. It would be safer for him to be out of range.