Wolf Pack (15 page)

The room had quieted and he glanced up to see that only he, Kendra, Luca and Jade remained.

“They headed to start the interviews,” Jade said. “We’ll take interview C3”—she waved to her and Luca. “That leaves the two of you with C4.”

“Okay.” He turned toward Kendra. “You ready?”

“Yes.” She shuffled some papers into a folder.

Cole stood and waited until she joined him. “All the interview rooms are on the same floor,” he told her. “We can take the elevator.”

“What? Too old to take the stairs?” she teased.

Luca and Jade had stepped out of the room so he swatted her. “Watch who you’re calling old,” he warned.

Kendra flushed and her eyes glazed over for an instant.

“Keep that thought for later,” he said.

She nodded. “Yeah, I will.”

Cole really wanted to hold her hand but he refrained. As many times as he’d busted the others acting way less than professional he was not going to do the same. He’d paid attention to the sexual harassment videos they’d been forced to watch.

“This floor is two above our normal office. The interview rooms and visitor center are between them,” Cole explained. He had to keep his mind on business. After Kendra’s heated look his cock had perked up and he was half hard. “There are vending machines and a break room in case we need to get anything.”

“The place is bigger than I expected,” she said.

“They added on last month and moved some of the higher-ranked agents to the new area. Commander Green told me that they hadn’t been certain how well they’d be perceived when they first started the organization. This office was the first that actually opened so it was sort of a test,” he told her. “We’re a lot bigger than what they planned. So we take up the entire building and don’t have any free space.”

“I’m glad it’s working. I’ve heard some real horror stories from some of my friends who work at other federal agencies.”

He laughed bitterly. “Remind me to tell you about my FBI days and how I ended up here.”

They reached the elevators and Luca was holding the doors from closing. Cole motioned for her to go first.

Kendra glanced up at him. “That bad?” she asked.

Luca and Jade looked over at them.

“Yes,” he answered. “But Jade and I are happy here so it all worked out.”

Luca nodded like he understood what they’d been talking about. “Cole just couldn’t be parted from me. That’s why he took the job here,” Luca said. “He fell in love with me. I kinda like the guy a little myself.”

“Right.” Cole scoffed. “I’m not the one who keeps giving presents and cakes to win affection.”

Luca beamed. Kendra looked a little confused while Jade shook her head. Seemed like he had even more stories to share with Kendra. She’d given him a lot of her own background but he hadn’t shared hardly enough. At least he had the weekend to slowly reveal his secrets.

“Maybe I love you a little back,” Luca said then blew Cole a kiss.

“Of course you do,” Cole teased. Kendra was smiling at them.

The elevator dinged before the doors opened. The four of them walked down the hall together before Cole paused in front of the interview room he’d been given. Jade passed him a binder.

“You have Jared Hagner. We think he’s pretty high up in Shawn’s pack so good luck,” Jade said.

He nodded as he looked through the papers. He’d seen the information earlier but he needed to remind himself of some of the details. Cole quickly read the highlights before he passed it to Kendra. “Thanks.”

After he motioned for Kendra to enter the room first, he glanced over his shoulder at Luca and Jade walking down the hall. They looked good together and he didn’t miss the way their hands brushed every now and then. He shook his head before he followed Kendra into the interview room. He was actually jealous of a couple not quite holding hands? He needed to get his shit under control.

The young man cuffed to the metal table had dirty, light-brown hair, a scruffy face and bloodshot eyes. He obviously wasn’t happy to be there but Cole worried about the anger and resentment in his gaze. If he was too mad Cole probably wouldn’t get anything from him. A bruise was forming on his right cheek so Cole figured he’d gotten his ass jacked as well as arrested.

“Jared Hagner?” Cole questioned.

The agents in booking hadn’t been able to verify his ID but they all knew who Jared was. His fingerprints hadn’t been in the system, but during the investigation on Shawn leading to his arrest, the detective had taken numerous photos of Shawn and Jared together.

“Yeah, so?” Jared sneered at him, showing off ugly yellow teeth.

“Attacking an Alpha at his place of residence,” Cole said. “That wasn’t very—”

“Misunderstanding,” Jared replied. “We weren’t after no Alpha.”

Cole nodded in false understanding. “Why don’t we clear it all up then? Why did you try to break into the house tonight?”

“We didn’t.” Jared leaned forward. “Me and a couple of buddies were out for a run. An old companion lives in the area so we decided to stop by. I had no idea that house belonged to the Alpha of the local pack.”

This guy was lying through his teeth. Cole snorted. “You were visiting a friend but instead of going to the front door, you and your group split up and approached on all four sides?” he asked. The more Jared spoke and spun a tale the better chance Cole had at tripping him up.

“As we were approaching I got a bad feeling. I sent the others to look around to see if they could find anything out of the ordinary. I was worried for my friend,” Jared said.

“Tell me about this friend,” Cole demanded.

Jared pressed his lips together. Cole had no problem waiting him out.

“I’m a little uncomfortable,” he said when he finally spoke. “Can you loosen these?” Jared rattled the cuffs.

“No,” Cole replied coldly. “Now talk.”

As Jared continued to tell his lies, Cole sat back and peered over at Kendra. She was taking notes, looking up occasionally at Jared. Her face was clear of any emotion and Cole found that odd. He hadn’t seen her in work mode before and he was fascinated.

It was obvious to him that Jared was enjoying having their attention. Jared actually preened as he spoke. He was laying it on pretty thick but Cole let him go on until Jared sat back and smiled.

“See, Agent,” Jared stated, “this is obviously a misunderstanding, like I said.”

Cole lifted an eyebrow but didn’t respond. He glanced over at Kendra and nodded.

She closed the notebook she’d been writing in then set it on the table. “Now we all know you’re full of crap,” she said.

Jared scowled back at her. “Whatever, bitch.”

Cole growled. “Watch it. I won’t put up with your disrespect to her.” He breathed deeply and pulled his wolf close to the surface. He wouldn’t shift but he sure as hell could intimidate the guy.

To Cole’s surprise, Jared dropped his gaze.

“As I was saying,” Kendra said, “you’re full of crap. We know that you were looking for Trent Compton.”

“Don’t know who that is,” Jared mumbled.

Kendra reached into a file and pulled out a picture. She slid it over the table to land in front of Jared. Even though Cole was looking at it upside down, he could see that it was a photo of Shawn, Trent and Jared standing outside an old warehouse and Jared holding onto Trent’s arm.

“That’s my boss and his kid. I don’t have anything to do with them,” Jared told her.

“First you didn’t know him and now he’s just your boss’s kid,” Kendra said. “You need to get your story straight, Jared.”

“I don’t have a story,” Jared yelled.

“You went to Taylor Rosas’ house looking for Trent. He was your target but Taylor was prepared for that,” Kendra told him. “Someone wasn’t doing their research since Trent wasn’t even staying there any longer.”

Jared’s head snapped up.

Gotcha.
Jared apparently hadn’t considered that Trent had been moved.

“In addition, if you were going to commit kidnapping you should have used more loyal people. The others are rolling over like a young pup caught by his Alpha,” Kendra continued.

“My people are loyal.” Jared raised his chin in challenge.

Cole shifted in his chair so he was in Jared’s eyeline. He’d meet any challenge directly.

“Your people were scared and mistreated,” Kendra argued, ignoring both men’s show of dominance.

Jared scoffed but didn’t respond.

“Think,” Kendra urged. “Are you one-hundred percent positive that every single person with you is completely loyal? Not one of them has any reason to want to tell the truth and get away from you?”

“If anyone says anything different than me they’re lying. It’s my word against theirs,” Jared said.

“You can argue that,” Kendra told him. “But as more and more people continue to talk to us they’re going to fill in the holes we have. Your best bet is to start telling the truth and see if you can save yourself.”

Jared stared at her.

“You’re not only facing the charge for tonight. You have to know that we’ve already saved two dozen people from being chained and held against their will. They’ve been debriefed and are telling their own stories. How many are going to point the finger at you for being responsible?”

Jared was clenching his teeth while sweat gathered on his forehead. Jared smiled as he glanced between Cole and Kendra. “I want my lawyer.”

Kendra bared her teeth. “You’re going to need one.”

Chapter Ten

Kendra had the stack of statements from the arrests in front of her and was painstakingly going through each one. Cole had been issuing orders to the other Coalition agents since they’d returned from interviewing Jared. Zak had taken over the second interrogation that she and Cole should have been doing so that they could concentrate on all the information coming in.

Brady, Adam and Mitch were all on research and fact-checking. If any deals were going to be made, no one wanted to let the wrong person go.

“How’s it going?” Cole stopped behind her chair and placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of her.

Oh, more caffeine.
She needed it. “Pretty good,” she replied as she shook her hands out. Between the writing and typing, Kendra’s fingers were cramping. “A little longer and I should have enough to put together for your meeting with your commander. There’s something else I noticed also.”

“We got it!” Zak hollered as he threw open the conference room door.

All movement in the office stopped and Cole’s hand came down on her shoulder. “What?”

“Rebecca Villa,” Zak said, waving a couple pieces of paper. “She gave us the locations of the remaining rogues. She circled them on a map for us.”

“Can you get a hold of Taylor?” Cole looked down at Kendra.

“Yes, but listen.” She grabbed his arm to keep him from walking away.

“Sorry,” he said, stopping.

“Spencer Core and Julian Costanzo have not been located yet. They weren’t arrested today.”

“Those are Shawn’s guys?” Cole questioned.

“His Beta and Head Enforcer,” she answered. “If they’re still out there Trent is not safe.”

“Gotcha.” Cole looked at Jamie. “We need to re-interview and see if anyone knows where they are.”

“On it.” Jamie stood.

Cole turned back to Kendra. “Can you help Zak set up some more search parties? If we can get the rogues out of harm’s way they’ll be safer as we track down Core and Costanzo.”

“Sure,” she agreed. She grabbed her phone and stood as Zak set the map he’d been holding down on the table.

“Rebecca says there’re three more caves,” Zak said. “Here, here and here.” He pointed out the spots circled on the map.

“The higher site will be quite a hike. The paths there were washed out after the last storm and we haven’t cleaned up the debris yet,” she told him.

“If anyone is injured we’ll have problems getting them out?” Zak asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “This would actually be a very good spot to hide since Taylor cautioned the pack to stay away until it’s stable.”

“Okay, I’ll double the agents there if Taylor can spare someone to show us the best way to get up there.”

She nodded. “I know a couple of guards that will be perfect. They were up there to check out the damage so they have a better idea of how it looks.”

“What about here?” Zak tapped his finger on the location closest to the safe zone.

“Easy access from the safe zone and you should be able to almost drive right up to it,” she said. “I don’t see them hiding many people there, though. The caves are smaller and hikers stumble across them quite often.”

“Got it, and the last?”

The third site was as far away from the safe zone as possible, on the far side of the pack territory. “I haven’t been there in years. I don’t really know what is around it. Taylor would, he runs in every part of the territory,” she confessed. “It’s several miles from the main house.”

“Thanks.” Zak patted her shoulder. “I’m going to round up some field agents for the searches. Do you want to ride with me?”

“Sure. Let me tell Cole,” she agreed.

Cole was on the other side of the table, standing beside Jade and Abilene.

“I’m going with Zak,” she told him.

“Do you mind Abilene taking over the interview reports?”

“That would be great. I’ve got three more to go through,” she responded. Kendra hated not being able to finish a project, but she really wanted to be close to Taylor. He’d need help with all the rogues who were supposedly in the area.

“Okay.” He nodded to Abilene before he closed his fingers over Kendra’s. “If you want to grab your stuff I’d like to speak with you in the hallway for a second.”

“Give me a minute.” Kendra hurried to her desk with Abilene behind her. She stuck a memory stick into her laptop, saved her work to it then pulled it out and handed it to Abilene. “If you can email me a copy I’d really appreciate it.”

“Of course.” Abilene smiled. “I’ll add any new information from what Zak got from Rebecca too.”

She packed her bag before she slung it over her shoulder. The early morning hours were catching up with her and she was tired. Cole was already in the hall leaning against the door across from the one she exited by.