Chapter Thirteen
Harrison
“That's some serious shit, man.”
I just finished showing the guys everything that I'd seen. I had stayed on for the rest of my shift, taking pictures and finding various exits. Frank had even taken me into the control room, so I could see how everything worked with the security system. Getting in was going to be easy. Now I just needed to decide what the hell we were going to do once we got out.
We sat around the conference table in a hotel that Sarge had booked. We couldn’t risk me being seen at the precinct anymore, so this was the next best thing. I had even checked the room for bugs. We couldn’t be too careful.
“So that’s really what they think of us? That we’re just some animals?”
“I guess.” I shrugged. It was definitely the impression that they had given me. Or at least, some of them had. The receptionist honestly had no idea what they were doing, and while Frank seemed to believe in the cause, he didn't really know what shifters were like.
He was just following orders.
Doing what he was told. I wanted to shake him.
Every horrible thing he said about shifters had been fed to him. I could feel it. Everything he believed was a lie.
He told me about how shifters were going to take over the human race, how we wanted to destroy humans. None of that was true. My mom was human. Why would I want to hurt them? I'd been so disgusted and upset that I hadn't even gone back to the house yet. I couldn't face Penelope without a plan. Besides, I had to face what they wanted to do to me.
To my son.
I needed other shifters to hear me first before I went home and sounded completely insane. We needed a plan, some way to get in there to free all those people while shutting down the facility. We needed a legal way to do it first. Sarge had been clear about that. We had to attempt to do the job cleanly, and that if that didn't work out, he would turn a blind eye. And I was okay with that.
Jackson spoke, something he rarely did. “I had tech do some more digging into your mystery man. Turns out this Purest place has big money, political ties too. I don’t think we’re dealing with just some private company agenda. I think this is bigger than that.”
“You mean you think this is government funded?” I couldn’t believe it, our own government turning against us.
Gavin nodded, “No big political leaders right now are shifters, even the head of shifter rights is a human. That’s saying something. This one place can’t be it. There must be more.”
I felt sick.
Sarge looked pensive. “I feel like they need a distraction.”
Grady looked at him. “A distraction from what? Sarge, they’re out there killing people. Leaving us little gifts like they’re some psychopath. And then it turns out it's the freaking government? Funneling money through some private agency? This is insane!”
He was right, it was insane. But without a plan, it would be just as crazy to go after them. We needed some way to make sure that they didn't figure out that we were coming for them. I was just the first step.
“What about a diversion?” Gavin said. “What if we say that we've caught the murderer? Leak something to press? That way they think that there's no way we’re on their scent. Maybe they'll make a mistake. Drop a body somewhere new. Somewhere we can catch them.”
It wasn't a bad plan. We all knew that murderers made mistakes when they got too comfortable. It was something we had seen time and time again in our cases. Gavin was right. If we were lucky, this could give us a break.
Sarge spoke. “Where are we with the last victim? Has she been identified yet?”
Grady nodded. “Yeah, she's a college kid from the local medical school. Turns out her roommate went missing two weeks ago. She still hasn't been found. The families assumed that they went on a trip with the other. I guess they thought they were in a relationship, and hiding it from their family, so they didn't tell them when they were going. The family was obviously devastated. They hadn't even really been looking for her, poor girl.”
“Do you think the family would be open to a press conference? Convince the press that we found her killer and all these bodies are going to stop showing up on our doorstep? I think that's the perfect opportunity for them to try to get away with it. The perfect chance for us to stop them,” Gavin added.
Sarge spoke in his deep, gravelly voice. He always caught our attention, even when he didn't mean to. “I'll talk to them. But I'm sure they understand that if it's going to help their daughter’s case, they’ll do it. Just make sure that you do your job as the undercover agent and find something for us. I want to catch these bastards and quickly nail them.” We all nodded in agreement. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the lab than I had to. I just wanted to be home with Penelope and Camden.
Sarge turned to me. “You’re going to stay here for the next week. No more home time. Sorry, man.”
I knew it was coming, but it still hurt. I wanted to be home. I wanted to be with Penny.