Abandoned Treasure

Jade Robert’s POV

DEA Regional Office, Oakland, California

Wednesday, January 5, 2015

“Mrs. Roberts? Stop, please.”

I froze as I approached the exit turnstile from the office building. A chill went down my spine as I turned to face the security officer who’d called out for me. “Yes?”

“Mr. Jones needs to speak with you,” he said after listening to something on his earpiece.

Shit. Clarence Jones was the Security Manager for the office. “Of course. Is he in his office?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

I let out a breath. If someone knew I had a copy of the top-secret intelligence summary on Sinaloa Cartel activities in Texas? I’d be cuffed and stuffed by now. I walked over to the glass office door and knocked, opening it when he waved me in. “What’s going on, Clarence?”

“We’re having issues with our security cameras and security stations freezing up,” he told me. “Again.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re still running on Windows XP,” I snapped. “I told you three years ago to budget for a replacement, and have you done it?”

“Other priorities came up,” he said. “Look, can’t you do some magic and keep it going for a few more months? I’ll find the money somehow.”

The security computers were on stand-alone systems with no outside connections. “Microsoft isn’t providing updates to it anymore. Besides, it’s not just your software. Those cameras are ancient, and your hardware is obsolete. You need a full system upgrade, not a bandaid.”

“All I have money for is a bandaid. Please?”

I let out a breath. “I’ll look at it tomorrow afternoon. My daughter has a recital in the morning, so I’ll be in late.”

“Thanks, Jade. Have a good night.”

I let myself out, passing through security without incident. I walked out to my car in the secure lot under the building and got in. Tapping the hidden compartment in my badge holder, I thought about how dangerous my spying had become.

It’s not like I had a choice. The President of the Oakland Chapter of the Sons of Tezcatlipoca kidnapped Nathan and me. The Werewolf Council had a half-million-dollar reward for the hacker who compromised their systems. Nathan told them we were more valuable to them as an asset than a bounty.

To prove it, we needed to find a way to get two of their guys, caught with a kilo of cocaine, from being found guilty of drug trafficking.

Instead of joining Google or Facebook or some computer startup after graduation, I applied to the Bay Area offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Justice Department. I ended up in the Information Technology Division at DEA. The government job didn’t pay well, and I was overqualified, but it gave me insider access.

One of my first jobs involved the Laboratory Inventory Management System rollout. LIMS was a new DEA-wide program for tracking and handling drug evidence using barcodes and database technology. An unfortunate administrative error when transferring existing inventory to the new system resulted in that kilo of cocaine going to the incinerator before the trial of the Sons began.

With their only hard evidence missing? The government’s case fell apart, and the Sons went free.

Alejandro was pleased with how it came out, and the Chapter Presidents wanted more. Later, the Sinaloa Cartel began using the Oracle as well. They used us for coded message drops and gathering intelligence, for which we were well-compensated. We did a lot of work on people, identifying the bribe or blackmail methods most likely to gain the cooperation of Federal, State, and Local agents and officials. The Sons and the Cartel didn’t trust us with their list of people on their payroll, though.

The twenty-minute drive took double that with traffic. I didn’t let myself relax until I was in the garage at the house. “I’m glad you’re home,” Nathan sent to me.

“Me too. I almost had a heart attack on the way out, but I got the file.”

“We can talk after dinner. I already warned Isra we’d be tied up in the office all night. Something is going on with the Packs. Alpha Todd Blackstone and his men got arrested, and the Council is holding a trial tonight.”

“Shit.” I went inside and greeted Mom. She was ten minutes from serving dinner, so I went downstairs to the playroom to see the kiddos. It took all ten minutes to get them dressed and washed up for dinner.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said after we finished our desserts. “We’ll be in the office all night.” Nathan and I said goodnight to everyone and headed to the server room, bolting the door behind us. “What did Alpha Todd do this time?”

“He wiped out the Arrowhead Pack,” Nathan said softly.

“Holy shit! He did that while you were at Bitterroot?”

“Yeah.” We started watching the Council video feed live as the Alphas entered the room, using the still-active account for a wolf who’d died years earlier. I’d hidden our server so well that no one would ever know it was us. “Jade, you might hear some things that will upset you. Know that I love you, and I’m not the man I was back then.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see.”

I couldn’t believe what I heard over the next hour or so. In the end, with Alpha Todd Blackstone facing overwhelming evidence of guilt, he still didn’t admit fault.

He said Nathan Storm lit the fire that killed Luna Joanna before receiving the death sentence himself.

I turned down the volume while guards dragged Todd from the room. I turned and glared at my mate. “Tell me you weren’t involved in that massacre,” I said as I looked into Nathan’s eyes.

The eyes don’t lie. My stomach dropped along with Nathan’s gaze. “TELL ME!”

“I was the junior warrior at the time. It was my first time outside the Pack as a warrior, and they didn’t trust me much. I was with the wolves protecting the Alpha. My orders were to keep my mouth shut and do what he said.”

“You burned a pregnant woman alive, Nathan.”

“She was dead as soon as we crossed the border. She managed to kill two men before being disarmed. I went to get gasoline; by the time I returned, they’d broken her arms and legs. She was helpless, and Alpha Todd had to go to the safe room. He ordered me to set the house on fire.” He couldn’t even look at me. “I told Luna Joanna she shouldn’t have rejected him. She told me I shouldn’t follow an Alpha like that. She was right.”

“But you lit the match, didn’t you.” He nodded. “You MURDERED her.”

“I followed orders.”

I couldn’t believe it. “Befehl ist Befehl? Orders are orders? You gutless wonder,” I replied angrily. “Get out of my sight.”

“I’m so sorry, honey! I’ve lived with the guilt since that night!”

“You aren’t sorry enough to come clean about it before now, though. Get out of here before the claws come out, and find another place to sleep tonight.”

He looked at me, his eyes begging me, but I was too angry for words. He unbolted the door and opened it. “I’m sorry,” he said before he left.

I bolted the door shut behind him. With the bars in place, it would take explosives to get through the vault door and the foot of reinforced concrete. I’d have time to hit the kill switch and destroy any evidence well before then.

I closed off the link and turned the volume back up. The punishments wouldn’t start for a while, so I had time for research. I hacked into the medical file of Charlotte King, now known as Treasure Olson. My heart broke for the girl; she’d spent months on psychotropic drugs for schizophrenia when it was her wolf trying to come out. She was still in the human system, out of the reach of the Council.

I’d send someone to talk to her if I thought I could get away with it. Now that she was known, the Packs would be on her like stink on shit.

I turned the volume back up to watch the punishments. The floggings were bloody and brutal, while the Thunderdome battle was unbelievable.

Alpha Todd and the others responsible for killing the Arrowhead Luna were still alive. Alpha Charles claimed the right of revenge. He was taking them back to his land for what promised to be an excruciating death.

A death that Nathan deserved as well.