Chapter 11

Jaxson had gotten Alina and Sage back on the complex without being noticed, then Zarina distracted the guards while Alina slipped the girl back into her room. After that, all three of them had moved heaven and earth to get in contact with Derek’s Special Forces team down at Fort Campbell. Luckily, the sergeant and his team had just come back from a field exercise, so he’d been able to talk to Sage on the phone.

Sitting on the edge of the bed while Sage lay on her side, her pillow tucked under her head, a wistful smile on her face, Alina had to admit the effect Derek had on her was nothing short of amazing. Sage was as relaxed as if she’d taken a Xanax. Alina had never seen anything like it.

“How did you and Derek meet?” Alina asked softly.

“He saved my life in Tajikistan,” Sage said. “I didn’t know that’s where I was, of course. Actually, I was barely aware of anything. I only knew I was filled with terrible pain and rage every minute of the day. I’d been like that for so long, I wanted it all to be over with. When the building where I was kept prisoner caught on fire, I thought my prayers were going to be answered and that I would finally get some peace. Then Derek was there, risking his life to save mine, even though I didn’t want him to. I even tried to kill him, but he wouldn’t give up. He got me out and brought me here.”

Alina wanted to ask what had happened to her over there but didn’t think that’d be a good idea. Sage had been experimented on and turned into a monster. That wasn’t exactly something a person would want to talk about.

“How many times has he come to visit you since then?” she asked instead, figuring that was a safer subject.

“Twice.” Sage rolled halfway onto her back, her smile disappearing as she gazed up at Alina. “I know it’s hard for him, because he’s always working and rarely home, but he calls as much as he can. That’s almost as nice as him being here.”

Alina’s lips curved. “You like Derek a lot, don’t you?”

Sage nodded, a smile lighting up her face again. “He has the most amazing, gentle voice, and when he looks at me, I can almost believe he doesn’t see a monster. Sometimes, it seems like Derek is the only person who can save me. I ran off because I wanted to be with him.”

Alina was no expert on relationships, but investing so much of yourself in a man you’ve only met a couple of times didn’t seem healthy to her. Then again, Alina wasn’t a hybrid, so she had no idea what the girl was going through. Who the hell was she to judge?

“Do you know where Fort Campbell is?” she asked.

Sage shook her head with a laugh. “No, not really. I just knew I had to find him.”

She rolled onto her side again, and they both fell silent. A little while later, Sage fell asleep, a smile still curving her lips.

Alina couldn’t help but hate the people who had hurt the fragile, vulnerable girl. Knowing Thorn was behind the hybrids, and that Dick would exterminate Sage if it proved convenient, pissed her off so badly, she wanted to hunt both men down and shoot them the same way she’d wanted to hunt Wade down and shoot him after he’d murdered her teammates.

Sage reminded her a lot of Jodi. She had the same tough outer persona wrapped around a gentle inner soul, and Alina promised herself she’d never let anyone hurt her the way Jodi had been hurt. That would almost certainly mean going up against two of the most powerful and dangerous men she’d ever met and aligning herself completely with Trevor and his friends.

Unfortunately, Trevor still didn’t seem ready to trust her. She couldn’t blame him for keeping her at arm’s length. He was playing a game of intrigue and espionage at the very highest level, personally taking on Thorn and Dick in their own backyard. One screwup on his part and not only would he be dead, but so would a lot of other people.

As far as Trevor was concerned, Alina was an outsider. He’d been wary of her from the start, and her actions since then had only confirmed his worst fears. He’d thought she was a spy, and she’d behaved like one.

Even so, it’d still hurt like hell when he’d told her he’d rather do whatever he was off doing with Tanner instead of her. She’d known he was full of crap when he’d tried to convince her it was nothing. She’d seen the look on his face when he’d gotten that phone call. Something serious was going down, but he’d decided he’d rather face the threat with Tanner than his own partner.

Damn, that stung like a bitch.

Alina sighed. She didn’t know how, but she was going to figure out a way to make Trevor trust her. Not only because he was her partner, but because he was quickly becoming something more to her.

* * *

Trevor pulled into the parking lot of the motel in Falls Church, Virginia, two hours later, then sat in his SUV for another thirty minutes to make sure he hadn’t been followed. Getting out of the vehicle, he walked across the parking lot and knocked on the door of room 105. It swung open by itself. That was when he noticed the piece of tape over the lock.

Trevor pushed it open the rest of the way, then pulled the tape off and locked it behind him. Adam was sitting at the small, round table, waiting for him. Trevor walked over and set the thumb drive on the table without a word. Adam picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of his signature duster.

“What’s on it?” he asked.

“A video of Thorn’s new hybrids,” Trevor said. “They’re completely in control of themselves and demonstrating abilities that no shifter has ever possessed. Thorn already has a plan for how he intends to use them. I have no idea what it entails, but I know he’s moving on it soon.”

Trevor expected Adam to ask for more details, but instead, he simply nodded.

“There’s something I need you to do,” Adam said. “It might not seem important given what you just told me, but trust me when I say it is.”

Trevor got a distinctly uncomfortable sensation in his stomach. Adam had asked him to do very few things directly, other than staying in the DCO and keeping an eye on Thorn and Dick.

“What is it?” he asked hesitantly.

“I need you to track down some people who have popped up on the radar. My sources say they’re planning to hit the ammunition supply point on Aberdeen Proving Ground tonight.”

Trevor frowned. Adam had his own operatives he could send out to do basic reconnaissance work like this. Why ask him to do it?

“We finally get at least some clue about the fucked-up game Thorn is playing, and you want me to chase ghosts around a military base in Maryland when we’re this close to nailing the son of a bitch who murdered John?” Trevor demanded.

Adam didn’t blink. Then again, the man rarely showed any outward sign of emotion. That cold, detached persona convinced Trevor that Adam might very well share his DNA with a reptile.

“John is the reason I want you to do it,” Adam said.

Trevor bit back a growl. “That makes no damn sense whatsoever.”

“John never got so focused on Thorn that he forgot the threat posed by every other asshole out there,” Adam said. “If these people are stealing military-grade weapons, John would be the first one to say they have to be stopped, even if it means putting your vengeance against Thorn on hold.”

“If you’re so worried about someone stealing weapons from the army, why don’t you just drop an anonymous tip to the base military police? Let the MPs stop the damn heist.”

“Because it’s possible some senior army personnel on the base are involved,” Adam said without missing a beat. “If we alert the army, we’ll tip our hand that we’re onto them. We need to stop these people now.”

The other shifter stood, reminding Trevor how tall he was, which was one hell of a trick, considering Trevor was six four.

“If I have to, I’ll send some of my own people, but they’re nowhere near your level of training, and they know next to nothing about the army or military munitions.” Adam’s eyes glinted. “They’ll do the best they can, but chances are they’re going to get killed. I guess you’re okay with that, though, because you have better things to do, right?”

Trevor cursed. He didn’t miss the passive-aggressive heat in Adam’s voice or the fact that the other shifter was calling him out. In the end, Trevor would never let someone else walk into a dangerous situation in his place. And Adam knew it.

“Okay, I’ll check it out,” Trevor said. “You do realize I probably won’t be able to do more than a little recon, maybe identify these people if I’m lucky.”

Adam nodded. “Identifying them and figuring out what they’re up to will be more information than we currently have. Since you spoke in the singular, I assume that means you won’t be taking Alina with you?”

“I thought you didn’t trust her,” Trevor pointed out.

Adam’s face was as unreadable as ever. “I never said I didn’t trust her. I simply told you there was good reason to protect yourself until you knew if she had your back or not. I’m asking you to sneak onto a military base and do something that might involve you getting shot at by a lot of people. It would be good to have someone you trust backing you up.”

Trevor didn’t say anything.

Adam reached inside his coat and pulled out a large envelope. “Everything you need to get onto the base is in here.”

With that, Adam walked out of the hotel room, closing the door behind him. Trevor opened the envelope, dumping two military ID cards, travel orders putting them on temporary assignment to Aberdeen, and a collection of pictures and maps of the base’s ammunition supply point.

He picked up the green ID card with Alina’s picture on it. It was a good photo, way better than you typically saw on military identification. Then again, Alina was very photogenic. Where the hell had Adam gotten this picture anyway? It definitely didn’t look like a driver’s license photo. More like something you’d see on a Facebook page.

Trevor stared at the photo, wondering what to do about his partner. Did he trust her enough to take her with him on a mission like this?