Body Thief (16 page)
Authors: C.J. Barry
However, he’d lived his life, and far longer than he’d wanted or planned to. That made him fearless and bold enough to take on a task that no one thought possible—stop the total annihilation of the Shifter race.
Yes, he’d lived his life, but the others, the teams he’d assembled, the Shifters who shared his vision and his will, they hadn’t. They deserved better, and he couldn’t promise them that.
CHAPTER NINE
G
riffin watched Cam methodically pacing the trucking company parking lot, concentrating on the scents. He wished he could do more than just stand and watch her, although it wasn’t a bad view.
riffin watched Cam methodically pacing the trucking company parking lot, concentrating on the scents. He wished he could do more than just stand and watch her, although it wasn’t a bad view.
He rolled his shoulders. He desperately needed a workout or a battle or something equally destructive, because he’d come very close to killing Harding with his bare hands. And that wouldn’t do much to help his climb out of the trenches. If that was indeed still possible.
He didn’t trust Harding to keep his end of their deal, even if they succeeded. Harding would do whatever was necessary to make himself look good to the higher-ups, regardless of who he stepped on. Griffin had seen him do just that firsthand.
So he’d spent much of the drive between the detention center and here trying to figure out how to make sure Harding followed through. So far, he’d come up blank.
Cam had stopped in the middle of the parking lot with her hands on her hips looking discouraged, and Griffin joined her.
“It’s the second group. The ones who hit the navy yard location,” Cam said, her tone low and serious.
Mercer liked the husky quality, her certainty.
“So definitely not a random hit,” he said.
She shook her head and scanned the parking lot. “No. They knew exactly what they wanted.”
A big rig passed nearby along the road that ran the perimeter of the transportation center. Dust arose, turning the late day sky a light shade of pink. The smell of diesel fuel and trash wafted indiscriminately across acres of asphalt and stone. According to Ernest’s research, the warehouse was over sixty thousand square feet, with rows of docks around three sides. The day the tractor trailer was hit, there were over two hundred trucks in and out of this facility.
“How did they know where to look?” he asked out loud. “They couldn’t have checked every truck.”
“That’s an excellent question,” Cam said and smiled at him. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Funny,” he said and headed for the truck that the Shifters had tried to steal. It was still parked in the far back corner of the ten acres that comprised the property. He and Cam circled the truck together. They peered into the empty trailer. There was no cargo.
“Why steal an empty truck?” he said.
Cam frowned. “More importantly, how did XCEL know they were coming here and when?”
That had crossed his mind as well. Who called them in? Because no one could tell that this was a Shifter heist, and it wasn’t like everyone had XCEL’s phone number. They didn’t operate that way.
Griffin put all the pieces together and decided that Harding was a lying son of a bitch.
“You look pissed,” Cam said, eyeing him. “Anyone I know?”
“Give you one guess.”
She stopped next to him at the front of the rig, and his anger melted away just a little. Her hair caught the sun, shimmering gold and red as it fluttered in the breeze. The loose, sheer blouse pressed against her breasts. His mind went to wrestling.
A bad place to go.
“Too many questions. No answers,” he said.
Cam scanned the tractor trailer front to back. “Like who hooked the cab up to this empty trailer before we got here.”
Griffin turned to her in surprise. “What?”
She walked past him toward the back of the truck. “This is definitely the cab. Reeks of Shifters. But this isn’t the trailer. It’s clean.”
“You’re sure.”
“Positive. That’s what you pay me the big bucks for.”
That explained the empty trailer but also raised more questions. Like why switch trailers? And what had been inside the original trailer? That’s the question that really worried him.
Cam kicked the pavement with the toe of her boot. “And this isn’t the place the heist happened either. It was over there.”
He followed her to a vacant corner of a parking spot on the other side of the lot. He noted the scuffmarks and blood on the pavement when they reached the spot. Now this looked more like a crime scene.
Griffin asked her, “You didn’t find the original trailer, did you?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. But someone sure went to a lot of trouble to hide it from us.”
“We know the Shifters didn’t take it,” Griffin added.
“So who hid it?”
Damn good question. Griffin pulled out his cell phone and called Ernest. He picked up on the second ring. “Agent Vincent here.”
“Ernest, we’re at the transportation center. I need to know what that tractor trailer was hauling,” Griffin told him. “In fact, I want originating company and location, and who it was going to and where.”
Ernest replied, “Yes, sir, that should be possible.”
Griffin stilled at Ernest’s formal tone and response. Ernest was being watched. “Thank you. Would it be possible to get that information delivered to our location tonight?”
“I’ll work on it as soon as I can.”
“Thank you,” Griffin said.
“You’re welcome,” Ernest said, and hung up.
There was trouble. “We have a problem.”
“Really? Just one?” Cam said. She’d been watching him the whole time he’d been on the phone. He already knew she’d heard the exchange.
He pocketed the phone. “Ernest is definitely being watched.”
“But your phone’s secure,” she said, turning her attention to the empty field that bordered the facility.
“Mine is. Not sure about his end. We need to meet him tonight at Lyle’s.” Griffin stood next to her and followed her line of sight. “What have you got?”
She nodded toward the field. “I found the trail they took.”
In her mind’s eye, Cam saw them running for their lives through the field. Over sturdy tufts of grass, shape shifting into their faster, Primary Shifter forms to escape XCEL agents and dodge bullets. The captive dropped behind and was hit with anti-Shifter ammo and a tranquilizer.
She found the spot where he went down, but not without a fight. There was human blood in the grass. XCEL blood. Good.
The other two had leaped over the chain-link fence that ran next to the highway, crossed the lanes, and jumped down into a narrow culvert on the other side. She scrambled down to where a thin ribbon of water flowed along the culvert floor. Tree branches and shrubs crowded the edges and fought for sunlight.
She was so focused on the Shifter scents and the scenario, she barely noticed Mercer behind her as she pushed her way between the branches and sloshed through water. After two hundred yards or so, the scent of human ended where the culvert disappeared into darkness under a highway.
“The XCEL agent stopped here,” she said.
Mercer seemed surprised. “Just one?”
“There were only two agents. One followed these two Shifters. The other one took down the captive.” She noted his shock. “That’s not normal?”
“For three Shifters, there would have been more agents,” Mercer said, frowning. “At least a half a dozen.”
Cam blinked. “So what does that mean?”
Mercer turned to her. His eyes settled on her for a moment before he spoke. In the sunlight, they were dark brown, not the black, menacing shade they donned in the shadows. He was looking damn good in a navy T-shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. Her acute senses smelled his scent, and her belly fluttered just a bit. She was sweating, and really, it wasn’t
that
hot. Just when Mercer was around.
that
hot. Just when Mercer was around.
“Maybe they didn’t know how many Shifters there were,” he said.
It didn’t make sense, although so far, nothing about this entire mission made sense. “Or maybe they were riding shotgun.”
Mercer’s expression turned thoughtful. “If they were, why didn’t they tell us that?”
She stated the obvious. “Because they didn’t want us to know they were here all along.”
“Why?” he added.
Jesus, once she got him asking questions, he didn’t stop. Was she this annoying? “Because then we’d know that they weren’t just protecting an empty trailer.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
Oh, crap. “Is it me, or is it one hell of a coincidence that XCEL was protecting a shipment that Shifters had targeted?”
“It’s not just you,” he said, sounding bitter.
She eyed him. “It makes me nervous when we agree.”
“Scares the shit out of me,” he replied with a slight smile. “Let’s see where our Shifters went.”
They walked through the culvert tunnel under the highway and emerged on the other side. Cam followed the trail up a steep embankment to a gravel pullover off the exit ramp.
Then it went cold. Cars whizzed around the exit ramp.
She said, “Trail ends here. This is where they were picked up.”
Mercer nodded quietly, taking in all the details. “No surveillance equipment. Not sure we’ll be able to find witnesses.”
She rubbed her forehead where a killer headache was forming. “How are we going to do this, Mercer? How are we going to find these guys?” She dropped her hand. “And what if the prisoner talks? Tells Harding everything he needs to know?”
Mercer met her eyes. “He won’t talk.”
She laughed. “You’re sure about that?”
“He knew what he was doing when he gave himself up.”
Cam considered that. “He must have had a good reason for stealing the truck and whatever was in it. For taking that risk.”
They walked back more slowly, and this time Mercer was in the lead. She watched him move easily through the tree branches and trash in the culvert. He was quiet and efficient in everything he did. Sure about his body. Sure about his movements. It made her feel safe, and she hadn’t felt like that in a very long time. Usually, she was the one who kept others safe. The only other time she’d felt this was when her brother was with her.
Mercer helped her out of the culvert, and she stopped in front of him, catching his gaze. “I didn’t thank you.”
He narrowed his eyes warily. “For what?”
“For sticking up for me to Harding.”
“Harding might screw me, but I deserve it. You don’t.”
Cam frowned. “How do you deserve it?”
Mercer turned and started across the field back to the warehouse. Cam walked beside him. He stared into the distance for a long time before he started talking again.
“My Shifter ex-partner killed one of our agents. As me.”
“Bastard.” Cam closed her eyes for a moment. And that’s why they put him in prison. “I still don’t understand why that’s your fault.”
Mercer stared straight ahead. “XCEL doesn’t quite see it the way you do.”
“No, Harding wouldn’t see it that way,” she corrected. “But he’s a dickhead.”
That got a quick smile out of Mercer.
“What about you?” she asked. “How do you see it?”
“Happened on my watch,” he said, looking at her then.
She blinked a few times. He blamed himself for something that clearly wasn’t his fault, that he’d had no control over. It made her wonder what else he carried.
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