Endangered Species

I rode hard on the way back, pushing the Harley Davidson’s speed to the limits of my night vision. I took the chance that highwaymen and ambushes wouldn’t happen. Why? I was fucked if they showed up. Bruce went unconscious shortly after leaving the marina, but he was still breathing. Since the Major’s arms were tied around my waist, and I needed to keep my right hand on the handlebars, the best I could do was an off-handed pistol shot. I had a better chance to survive by evading than fighting. The less warning time the bad guys had to prepare for me, the better.

I got lucky. The roads were clear, and I made it to the gate shortly after the moon set. I locked the brakes up when someone fired a warning shot in the air. “HALT! WHO GOES THERE!”

“Midshipman Summers. I’ve got Major Perriman with me, and he’s injured.”

“Advance and be recognized.”

I put the Harley in gear, slowly pulling forward. One of the guards came out and shined a flashlight in my face, then at the Major. “Open the gate,” he ordered.

“Where should I take him?”

“Headquarters building. The hospital was too exposed and useless without power.”

I pulled through, and they closed up the gate behind me. I drove through the dark streets, finally parking in front of the building. “MEDIC! Get a stretcher!”

A dozen people came forward, helping to untie the Major and get him on the ground. Medical personnel met us and took him inside. The General watched the stretcher go by, then turned his gaze to me. “Take her inside and clean her up,” he told the Military Police at his side. “Put her back in the cell until I figure out what is going on.”

“You could ask me to give you my report, General,” I said as the detail surrounded me.

“Give me the cliff notes version.” That was something my Mom used to say, but I’d grown up with Google. I got the idea, though. The guards disarmed me and started removing my gear as I talked.

“It’s a worst case for the base. Leadership has consolidated under one hostile leader, and there could be a thousand wolves living there soon. Alpha Edward Winters killed the other leaders after I left. He is forcing their Packs to join him at Bangor. Once he has consolidated everyone into one Pack, the next step is expanding his control beyond the base’s boundary.”

“Shit.”

Yep. “The good news is that I made contact with a wolf I know, and I will have allies on the inside when I return. The bad news is that my people shot the Major.” His eyes got wide. “It was a mistake. We came upon them, and he brought his rifle up. They fired before either of us could identify the other.”

“That’s a lot of blood on him.”

“He was dying, sir. He asked me to bite him, trusting it might save his life. He’s still alive, thank God. In three days, he will change into his wolf. I need to be here to help him through it.”

“You bit him?”

I nodded. “The bullet hit an artery. Major Perriman would have died inside of ten minutes without the healing power of my werewolf bite. It was an easy choice, and it was HIS choice.”

The guards had attached the shackles by now. “I’ll have to confirm your story with Major Perriman before I believe you, Summers. I’ll send my intelligence officer to take a report in the meantime.”

“I understand, sir.” I didn’t like the confinement, but I needed the General to cooperate. If I couldn’t get his troops and equipment, everything I’d worked for would get blown up.

Literally.

We went to the Office of Special Investigations building and back down to the detention area. The guards removed my shackles after I was back in the cell. They gave me a washcloth, soap, and a water bowl to clean the blood off my body. When I was as clean as I was going to get, I dried off with a towel and put on the shower sandals and clean scrubs. I handed the things back out, and a few minutes later, the door opened again.

The woman coming in was in her early forties, with black hair in a tight bun and some graying at the edges. She was carrying a briefcase and a candle. The guard set up a chair for her outside the bars, and she sat down after giving me the ‘at ease’ order. “I’m Lieutenant Colonel Lana Pullam, First Corps G-2, Intelligence division,” she told me. “I’m here to debrief you on your mission.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She motioned for me to sit on the bed. “How familiar are you with my background?”

“I’ve spoken to the General and others who have had contact with you.”

I nodded. “So you know that I am a werewolf now.”

“I confess that I find it had to believe such creatures exist, but I trust the General.”

We couldn’t move forward until she got her head around this. I stood and began doffing my scrubs.

“What are you doing?”

“Showing you, Colonel. I’m going to challenge a lot of things you thought you knew. If you aren’t convinced I’m telling the truth in the basics, you won’t trust me for the rest. Some things you have to see to believe.” I tossed my clothes on the bed, then dropped to all fours and shifted to my silver wolf. I could hear the Colonel’s sharp breath intake and the guard’s muffled cry as I looked around. Letting out a yip, I jumped on the bed and sat down. The Colonel had her hand on his sidearm but didn’t draw. I tilted my head as I looked at her, and she finally relaxed. I crawled forward, my eyes pleading.

It took a minute, but she finally reached through the bars with her left fist. I sniffed it and gave it a lick, sneaking forward so she could scratch my ears. It felt great, and my tail started wagging fast. My wolf wanted more scritches, but I had work to do. I sat up, then shifted back to human form. “I’m the same person I used to be, Colonel. I’m just MORE now.” I told her about the physical changes I’d noticed in myself, plus what I’d learned in the informational sessions the Brinnon Pack gave their human females. “Tonight wouldn’t have been possible without the physical capabilities I’ve gained after my first shift.”

“Like what?”

“Night vision. I rode a motorcycle for three hours each way with no lights, some of it before the moonrise. I can see in those conditions better than you could with military night-vision equipment. At least, if you still had any that worked.”

“And we don’t. Electronics were especially susceptible to the initial burst.”

The Colonel was easy to talk to over the next three hours, including a dinner of warm Coke and MREs. She was a good interrogator, taking notes and repeating questions in different ways to try and trip me up. We spent a lot of time discussing the ‘float-by’ of the base. She’d found a map of the Bangor base and quizzed me endlessly on it. Who did I observe where? Were the blast doors open? For the patrols, where did I see them, what was their composition, and how did they behave? Armaments? Vehicles? Command and control?

We also spent an hour on Pack structure, rules, and werewolf society. She had a hard time accepting the idea of mates, despite my personal experience with it. “So what are werewolves loyal to, Angela?”

“Your mate is the highest; you would leave the Pack for them. The Alpha is next, and the Pack he represents. No wolf wants to be outside the Pack structure. It isn’t healthy to be outside of it for too long.”

She tapped her pen on her notebook. “What about you? Where does your military loyalty fit in with your wolf?”

That was a question I had to think about first. “I’d like to think I can be loyal to both,” I finally replied. “I only have one person in my Pack right now, but I know the others are out there. My wolf and I want to find them, bring them in, and protect them.”

“And your military oath?”

“I came here because I had orders to carry out. I knew I’d expose our kind, which is against Werewolf law and endangers us all. I had to trust that I could find a way to help us both.”

There was a knock on the door. “Colonel, please report to General Payne’s office.”

She smiled and put her notebook away. “Thank you, Midshipman Summers. It’s been enlightening.”

“Ten-HUT!” I jumped to attention as my senior officer left the room.

I was exhausted. Like any good midshipman, I caught some rack time, asleep by the time the sheet settled around me. I was in the middle of a hot dream involving Cole when the door opened again. “Let her out,” Colonel Pullam ordered. “Major Perriman is awake and corroborated your story. Get dressed, Angela. The General wants to see you immediately.”