Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Dewi
“Why do I have to be the one to call him if we’re saying Badger’s the acting Pack Alpha?” Dewi griped. Badger had flown back to Idaho and would be there for a couple of weeks helping Trent, and would help coordinate the operation to grab Ray Dorland.
“Because you’re my little sister and a Prime, Dew. And the Head Enforcer, who is in charge of security logistics. We’ve been through this.” Peyton sounded patient, but she knew she was pushing the boundaries of that patience.
“How many others are in on this?” she asked. “The other Pack Alphas, I mean?”
“Over thirty,” he said. “The big ones who matter. The ones who were actively involved in the search for Faegan, and who’d be invited to a gathering like this one.”
“And none of them will let it slip that this is a ruse?”
“No. I’ve talked to all of them in person.
We had them here at Trevor’s. They’re all on board and will help sell it.
It’s being touted as an invitation-only event, which explains why the smaller packs are excluded.
And most of those aren’t in Europe or the Americas, either.
Or they’re not wolves, and want nothing to do with any of this. ”
She stared at her notepad, where she’d jotted salient points as he talked. “So I’m trying to find out his days of travel, how many people are coming, and get him to commit to a specific arrival flight?”
“Exactly. Couch it in terms of accommodating him and his team, and making sure they’re treated as ‘dignitaries.’”
She nearly choked on her coffee. “I don’t know if I’m that good of an actor, Peyton.”
“Just don’t do it with a video call, so he can’t see you rolling your eyes right out of your head,” he teased. “And remember to imply you’re in Idaho and will be when he arrives. Not that you’re greeting him at the airport, but that you’ll be present for the meetings.”
“So you’re still missing, Badger’s in charge, and we’re all muddling along as best we can?”
“Exactly. Stay vague on details about the search for me—he’ll buy that. He’ll think you’re trying to conceal what’s going on with the Pack Alpha situation. Don’t talk about Duncan, don’t say anything about Jake or Carl, or the search for Faegan.”
“He’ll probably ask me about that.”
“You haven’t heard anything new,” he said. “Repeat as needed.”
“Hope you know what you’re doing, big bro.”
He laughed. “Kiddo, none of us know what we’re doing at this point. There’s no playbook. We’re all faking it.”
“That provides absolutely zero comfort to me, jerk.”
“Love you, too, Dewster.”
She blew him a raspberry before ending the call and staring at her notes.
Ray Dorland already received an email with the date and time of the meet-up, and he’d RSVPed as coming.
Years ago, he’d been to the compound when her father was still alive, so he knew where it was but they wouldn’t give him the actual address now.
Instead, they’d meet him and his crew at the airport.
And if it turned out he was as guilty as they all suspected, he’d never reach the compound.
Not alive, anyway.
Taking a deep breath, she used a burner to call the number she had on record for him via the secure app she preferred.
Like hell would she make an actual phone call to him that he could trace.
“Ray Dorland.”
Even his voice skeezed her out. “Hi, this is Dewi Bleacke, the Targhee Pack Head Enforcer. I’m calling to discuss logistics for the meetup. You RSVPed as coming.”
“Ahkay?”
“I need to get your travel information,” Dewi said. “Flight numbers and arrival times.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m Head Enforcer. It’s my job to make sure you’re safely escorted and kept safe while you’re here, especially considering the recent events. It’s SOP regardless of who the dignitary is, from any pack. Everyone is being met and transported.”
He hesitated, but not long enough she could grok if it meant more, like he wasn’t used to basic human kindness.
Probably didn’t hurt that she used the word “dignitary”, except she felt he was anything but.
See? I can schmooze. When I try.
“We’re arrivin’ the day before everythin’ starts.”
“Okay. Are you flying commercial, or traveling in a private plane?”
“Nah, commercial. You meetin’ me in person?”
She’d had more fulfilling conversations with dead stumps. “Unfortunately, no. My duties will keep me at the compound. But I need to make sure to position my personnel accordingly. How many people are you bringing with you?”
“With me?”
“Yes, such as your mate, or children, or people who work for you?”
“Oh, yeah. A couple of my guys will fly with me. Enforcers.”
“How many?” Dewi asked. She made a note to have Gillian search the DHS and ICE databases to find out who, exactly, that might be. So far, their intel told them there were zero Primes in his pack.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to pass off mafia-types as Enforcers.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I haven’t decided. Is that a problem?”
Annnd he was a shitty liar. “It’s not a problem, but I don’t want to make you stand there waiting at the airport while we scramble to arrange alternate transportation because we didn’t plan for enough people.
And we want to make sure we have the proper accommodations ready.
I’m not sticking you and your people in tents in the campground, you know.
So I need to know how many to plan for, and what kind of sleeping arrangements, like rooming together, bed configurations and such. ”
“Oh. Yeah, guess that is somethin’. I’ll have my people email ya.”
“All right.”
It galled Dewi to be nice to the asshole when all she wanted to do was squeeze him like one of those stretchy stress toys until his eyes popped out like ping-pong balls and his asshole turned inside out, but she understood the greater picture and kept her cool.
Somehow.
And it also struck her as utter bullshit that he wouldn’t already know the number of how many people were coming with him when it wasn’t exactly easy to arrange an overnight commercial flight from Australia to Washington State.
Until a Prime put hands on Dorland, they wouldn’t know the full extent of his participation in the fuckery.
It was vital they get him in their territory, where they had the upper paw.
He likely wouldn’t suspect a trap because never in modern history had any pack attacked a visiting Pack Alpha, especially when they were invited, and doubly especially when it was supposed to be a meeting of Pack Alphas.
It was unheard of, and everyone knew the Targhee Pack played by the rules.
What Dorland wouldn’t know—until it was too late—was that the Targhees would now be making the rules going forward.
All of them.
Any packs who didn’t want to play by their rules—or at least peacefully co-exist without starting shit with anyone else—would find themselves in a very precarious position. It would likely only take making an example out of one troublemaker to cause mass defections to the Targhees.
“So how are yer people doin’?” he asked. “Heard Peyton’s missin’. Somethin’ about an incident during the search for Faegan Lewis?”
Dewi gritted her teeth and took a breath. “We’re getting along,” she said.
He cackled. “And that cunt’s still in the wind, eh?”
“You mean Faegan? Yes. We’re still searching for him.”
“And Badger’s the actin’ Pack Alpha, huh? How’s that then? How come it’s not you? Ain’t he pretty old fer that?”
“Because I have a lot of responsibilities that I can’t hand off,” she said, which was completely honest. “And it’s only temporary. I’m certain Peyton will return and the situation will be resolved. He may even return before the meeting.”
“What, exactly, is the agenda fer this meetin’?” he asked. “Why can’t we do it over video chat?”
“Because it’s secure, and everyone has asked to hold it in person for logistical reasons. It’s been decades since we’ve had an assembly like this, and everyone feels it’s long overdue, given recent events. We’re entering a new era. I mean, if you prefer not to come, we can tell everyone you’ve—”
“Nah, I didn’t say that, now, did I? I’m comin’.”
Bingo. Peyton called that one right.
She plowed ahead. “Well then, I’ve also been asked to find out if you have any dietary restrictions, or preferences, all of that. And if there are any particular beverages you’d like us to have on hand.”
He laughed, and the sound sharply jangled at wrong angles against Dewi’s eardrums. “Meat, and lots of it. As long as the booze isn’t crap, I’ll drink just about anythin’.”
Not that she had any intentions to get anything for the fucker, but she had to admit Peyton and Trent—and everyone else—were right that she needed to pretend to be nice to the guy until he was in their paws.
In fact, she doodled his ugly face, with daggers stabbing him while she suffered her way through the interaction.
After a few more minutes of verbally jousting with him, where he persistently tried to pry information from her, she finally ended the call and dropped the burner onto the desk with a shudder. She felt like she needed a full-body shower just from talking to the asshole.
She called Peyton back. “Okay, it’s done. He said he’ll email me the flight info.”
“Good. Soon as you know that pass it to Gillian so she can try to figure out who’s coming with him.”
“Right. Do you think he’ll try something?” she asked.
“Oh, absolutely. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t have something planned. Meaning we need to be ready for anything. I haven’t heard any reports of Primes working with him, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. I suspect he’ll try to enlist some of his mafia buddies.”
“But that would be really stupid, knowing that there will be Primes at the meeting, right?”
“Except he’s killed two Primes already, that we know of,” Peyton said. “He thinks he’s smarter than everyone else and invincible. Just like most narcissistic idiots.”
“True.”
“Keep me posted, kiddo.”
“Will do.”
She leaned back in her office chair and closed her eyes. It was good to be home, but with the shadow of the lab raid hanging over her head, it was nearly impossible for her to relax.
Will I ever get to relax again?
Then she snorted.
Hell, I need to learn how to do that in the first place.