Abandoned Treasure

Vic Knightly’s POV

Orlando, Florida

Friday, December 11, 2018

News of the eleven dead Sons and Mongo’s arrest for murder filled the airwaves as I drove Chase to the airport to pick up our Alpha. He was nervous, and we didn’t talk much. He’d already gotten his lawyer involved, and there wasn’t much else to do.

Rori jumped into his arms after exiting the private jet with Beta Ron. I helped Ron stow the luggage while our Alphas settled into the back seat.

Rori knew about the murders, and she wanted Mongo freed yesterday. Chase came up with an idea; after a quick stop at Wal-Mart, we drove to his neighborhood. Nobody knew my face, and Rori made a passable red-furred pet. Crime scene tape and police vehicles were all around, so we started walking a wide perimeter. That’s when we both picked up the scent of a werepanther. “Parking lot in the park on the other side,” I reported. “Rori is getting a good sniff of it. It’s a few hours old, single male. The trail goes towards the house, along with a few humans. Two males and a female.”

“All right, finish the circuit and come back here. We need to rethink security if the Sons have one of their leaders around.”

“It’s worse than that, love,” Rori sent.

“What do you mean?”

“If we can smell him, you can bet he could smell you from the time you spent in Mongo’s house. You know that scents stick around a lot longer indoors.”

“Shit! If he has my scent, he knows werewolves are involved with the Steel Brotherhood!”

“And Nate’s from northern Minnesota and ran one of the dog teams. It’s going to take them about a minute to put it all together and figure out it’s either Arrowhead or Oxbow Lake. And with how open we are about being friends of the Brotherhood, it gets narrowed down fast.”

“We can’t let them find Harleigh, and our Pack might be in danger.”

We finished our walk and got back in the SUV. “What are we going to do with Harleigh,” Chase asked his mate.

“We could send her to another Pack? Or another Chapter?”

She had to get away from both Pack and Brotherhood. “If we want her safe, there’s only one way I can think of that works. You won’t like it,” I said.

“What is that?”

“You’ve got Greg Barks watching over her already. They are close enough in age to pass for a newlywed couple. Send the two of them, alone, to find a resort or hotel or something where they can hole up until things settle down. Not many people even know Greg is in the States, much less working for us.”

“I don’t like having only one person protecting her,” Chase said.

“You can’t disappear with an eight-person security detail. A young couple will blend into any city or resort they end up at. Limit communications, let him be the only one to decide where to go and when to move on. No matter how closely they watch us, or how connected the Cartel intelligence network is, they won’t find a Canadian on his honeymoon.”

“Greg doesn’t have a foot,” Ron objected.

“Even better,” Vic added. “Give him some military shirts or a camo jacket. People will remember him, not his wife.”

“What do you think,” Chase asked his mate.

“She’s got her new identity papers prepared; they could even go into Canada with her passport. I’d prefer they didn’t leave a record of a border crossing. I trust Greg to keep her safe, and I don’t have a better idea right now. We were counting on our involvement in this staying a secret.”

Chase thought about it for a few seconds. “I agree, love. Make the call.”

She set things into motion. Soon, I was pulling up at the hotel. Ron got a room while I stayed in the suite to protect the Alpha couple.

I woke early, knowing the funeral service today would take a toll on my Alphas. The crowds would be my problem to handle. I headed to the gym while Ron watched the room. I was dressed and waiting while they finished fucking in the shower. The Alpha was in heat, and we’d see how effective her fertility blessing was.

We headed towards the clubhouse, detouring when Chase got a call from Frank Grimes. Police had matched the blood on the empty boat to Harleigh Ryder and Jose Correria; both were presumed dead, and the bodies were not likely to be recovered with all the gators around. Rori headed for Three Tequila, and I joined Chase to bring Director Grimes in the side door. I didn’t know most of the people in the room, but the grief was intense.

I couldn’t imagine losing my daughter.

The Club hid the pain while they prepared for the funeral. Chase was on stage with the other speakers, so I stayed near the back door. Ron sat behind Alpha Rori, who was with some Steel Ladies near the front. Nothing approaching a threat happened until the last of the eulogies ended. “ALERT everyone, a panther just entered.” There was a commotion as a man walked forward wearing a Sons jacket. The man looked right at me and smiled. “He knows we are here.”

“Stay on him. I doubt he’ll try anything with all these humans around,” Chase said. “Ron, watch her back. If anything happens, you get Rori out of here and back to the car.”

“I’m not leaving you in a fight,” Rori objected.

“And I’m not risking you and our children,” Chase replied.

“Fine.”

The panther got stopped by the Brotherhood leadership. The mood in the room chilled instantly when his windbreaker came off, exposing his Sons of Tezcatlipoca cut. I moved forward to protect Chase’s back as he approached. “Chase, if he starts trouble, you have to get him off-camera and out of there without shifting,” Rori said.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. He wants to speak at the service.”

“Is he the only one?”

“Yes. I think we should let him talk. Maybe we can defuse the situation before it gets out of hand. The last thing we need is a riot on national television.” Chase whispered to Crankshaft, then stayed in between Manilo and the Presidents while he spewed lies at the podium.

Rori was pissed. “Do you think he means any of this?”

“Their Club doesn’t forgive or forget. If he’s saying anything, it’s for public consumption. He’s here to divert attention and gain intelligence, and now he knows the Brotherhood has werewolves in it.”

“It won’t take long for them to track us back home. Ron, get word back to Teri. The Pack goes on lockdown immediately, full patrols. Have them run defensive drills and inform Oxbow of the threat.”

“On it, Alpha,” he said.

Manilo left without incident in the company of the DEA, and I stayed in the background at the funerals my Alphas attended. Dozens of Brotherhood motorcycles escorted us to the airport, honoring him as we loaded his casket into the cargo hold of the executive jet.

I didn’t have to protect Chase among our Oxbow Lake allies, so I watched my granddaughter while her parents participated in the Pack Run. I had a quiet night at home.

Then, at six in the morning, Beta Coral informed us that Arrowhead was under attack. I responded to the Oxbow Lake safe room as the Pack locked down. The attack was over shortly after it started; the three Werepanthers drowned in the tunnels by remote control. One of them was Manilo’s mate.

Open warfare was on the table now.

I wasn’t part of the Alpha talks in Michael’s office after the Pack stood down. I was busy arranging security with Coral to return the Alphas to Arrowhead. She sent two SUVs for us with plenty of guns.

Rori would run the Pack and deal with the Council while Chase flew out again. There was a Steel Lady hacker out there he needed in the war. “Vic, you’re watching my back on this trip to the Bay.”

“Wonderful. You picked the city with the northernmost chapter of the Sons of Tezcatlipoca in California, and we’re going in without weapons or support since we’re flying commercial.”

“I’ll make it up to you by flying to Los Angeles next,” he said.

“Oh, that helps. We’ve killed Jesus Correria’s son, and we just took out three other cats, including his brother’s mate. If they don’t kill us in the City, you want to head to Jesus’ backyard and offer yourself up?”

“Someone has to shake things up, big guy. It may as well be us.”

Great idea, boss. “I’m starting to feel like the Ensign in the red shirt who beams down on Star Trek,” I snarked.

“You’ve already lasted longer than a minute. You’re fine.”

We weren’t home long enough to do more than swap clothes in my suitcase before Chase and I were on a plane. We landed in San Jose after connecting in Minneapolis. I rented a car and set the navigation for the address Chase had. She lived in a townhouse near a park but wasn’t home. Chase left a note for her. “Can you trust her?”

“With my life,” Chase replied. “Spider Monkey found Possum last year after the kidnapping. She’s been a Steel Lady for decades.”

We had to wait for hours, eating sandwiches and watching the house. It was after nine when Spider Monkey arrived on her Harley. Chase waited on a park bench while I watched from the car. The tiny Japanese woman sat next to him as I used my hearing to listen in. “You’re not Club anymore, Frame.”

“It had to be that way. Sometimes, you can’t let the shit you are doing blowback on the Club. I gave up my Nomad patch after talking to the National Council.”

“I take it this is about the Sons of Tezcatlipoca.”

“It is. The Club is under pressure and needs to stay lily-white. I don’t. You know I have resources, and I play outside the system. I need your help.”

The green-and-black-haired biker chick grinned, and I liked what I saw. “I was waiting for you to call me,” she said. “I started working on this as soon as Easy and Peasy were killed.” She handed Chase something. “Burn these fuckers, Frame. Leave none alive.”

“What have you been up to?”

“I told you, at Google, we know everything. I put out the call to the hackers in my group, none of whom like the idea of torturing women. We grabbed everything we could find on the Sons of Tezcatlipoca, and I’ve taken a few days off as I was putting the information together. What I didn’t find, I had people get.”

“Just how much do you have?”

“Everything the task force has in on this drive.” Spider handed him another object. “What? Their data security is a joke. The hacker who got that is fourteen years old.”

I just shook my head. “You’ve been looking at this. What do you think we should do?”

“This gang is into drug distribution, big time. There are some things I’ve figured out that we could feed the Feds to shut that down, but I think the Club deserves a little first. I want to empty their bank accounts before the Feds seize them.”

“Wait a minute… you can steal their money?”

“Click-click. I was waiting to hear from you. I didn’t want to do anything unless someone high up in the Club said it was all right. I know, you’re not Club, but you’re the one the National Council turned loose to get these fuckers. Do you want to do this or not?”

“Hell, yes, I do,” I said.

“Then come on. Bring your buddy with. No point in him sitting outside all night.” Spider looked right at me before she got up and walked off.

“Vic, meet me at her door. She made you, said you should come inside with her.”

“I’ve been laying low for hours, how the hell did she pick me up?”

“She’s good; you’ll have to ask her how she did it.” We met her by her front door. “Spider Monkey, this is Vic. He’s my backup.”

“Nice to meet you, handsome.” She looked me up and down, licking her lips. “I’m Spider Monkey. Come on in.”

“Where did you get your riding name from,” I asked.

“It’s how I like to have sex. I’m small and light, so I like to hang like a spider monkey from my man’s neck while he pounds the shit out of me standing up or pressed against the wall. I get the best orgasms from a strong man just taking me like I’m his fuck doll.”

Fuck me sideways.I think I’m in love.