Justin
His long legs took him from one side of the lobby to the other. There he paused, turned on the balls of his feet, and strode back across the marble floor to the other side. His eyes continually flicked to the long, dark brown counter where the front desk agent was animatedly talking on the phone for what seemed like the tenth time.
Something was wrong. Shay was gone, and there was no trace of where she had disappeared to. A male with short-cut brown hair and dressed in black police-looking clothing had shown up at the front desk with her bags and checked out of the room. That was all he had been able to get out of the man at the front desk by being polite.
Now the harried-looking middle-aged man was frantically talking to his boss, who he had finally gotten on the phone after a lengthy delay. Apparently his permission was needed to allow access to the security tapes. Justin didn’t care as long as they let him look at the tapes, and soon. Otherwise he would take matters into his own hands if he had to. Not that breaking down a door and intimidating a few annoying stuck-up humans wasn’t something that would bring a smile to his face, but he knew it wouldn’t necessarily get him any farther. So he was playing the polite game.
For now.
“Sir,” the employee said, waving his hand to get Justin’s attention.
He walked smoothly, not stopping until he was directly in front of the man, with only the small counter between the two of them. Then he grinned, baring his teeth as much as he could.
“Yes?” he asked with false politeness.
“I-I, um,” he sputtered, forced to crane his neck way up as Justin drew himself up to his full height.
“Can I see the videos now?” he asked, taking pity on the man in hopes of hurrying things along.
“Yes, yes of course,” he said, “right this way.”
Justin had already located the security room during his pacing, and he walked there quickly, forcing the man to jog to keep up.
“Martin?” the man said, opening the door with a swipe of his keycard.
“Yes?” the bored, elderly man sitting behind a bank of video screens said.
“I need you to show this man the video logs for today. From roughly 2:20 this afternoon in the lobby, to be more specific.”
“Okay, boss,” the man said in his slow drawl, reaching forward and tapping a few keys.
Justin noted that the man spoke slow and seemed unconcerned, but the confidence with which his fingers used the system indicated that he actually knew his job quite well. In a few seconds four different feeds had appeared on the centermost screens. Another few taps synced them up, and then he hit play.
Justin watched the front desk intently, trying to spot his quarry. It was a busy hotel, and several men approached the counter as he watched, all of them in some form of black, whether a suit or a jacket.
His phone buzzed.
“There!” he said as a man walked to the counter, carrying several bags. Justin recognized the purple one. He had seen it in her room. “Can we backtrack him at all to get a better view of his face?”
The security man, intrigued now, sat forward and tapped his keys. He rewound each tape until he located the man, and then followed him until he got the best shot of his face.
“Sorry sir,” he said, still in his slow drawl. “Doesn’t seem to be much to go on. Appears he kept his head down most of the time.”
“Shit,” he swore, swatting at his pocket as it buzzed again.
This time it continued to buzz.
Phone call.
He pulled it from his pocket as he leaned in to look carefully at the screens, trying to pull any identifying features from the man, but all he got was short dark hair, medium-build, classic Agency black uniform.
“What?” he snapped into the phone, about to ask the security guard to begin rewinding video to see if they could catch the guy entering the hotel.
“Something important has come up,” Jared said into the phone.
“I don’t have time—”
“You had better make time.” The icy tone with which Jared used to interrupt him made Justin stand upright in the little room. Whatever it was, it was serious.
“What is it?” he asked, stepping away from the guard.
“We have an Agent in custody.”
“What?!” he exclaimed in surprise. No Agent had ever been taken alive.
“He showed up at one of our safe houses and asked to be taken in,” Jared said.
Dumbfounded, Justin stared at the security guard, his jaw needing to be swept from the floor.
“That’s…okay. I don’t want to know how they know of any of our new safe houses,” he said angrily. “But while that’s momentous, why do you need me?”
“He said he’s only going to speak to you. Said he owes you his life, and now he needs your help to save hers.”
Justin jerked upright, blood draining from his face.
It was Shay’s father. It had to be.
“Has he said anything else?” he asked, moving toward the door. He mouthed thanks to the guard, who only tipped his hat and then went back to watching his screens.
As soon as he was out of the security room he made a mad dash across the lobby, scattering people left and right. The hotel had two flights of stairs leading up to it, with a big landing in the middle. Justin cleared each step in a single bound, ignoring the shouts and looks of surprise from those he passed.
“No,” Jared said. “Keeps repeating that he wants to talk to you, and only you.” The Alpha paused for a moment. “Justin, who is this guy? Why did you save his life?”
“Complicated story,” he huffed, running through the valet area to the parking lot beyond. “But turns out that Shay’s father got a job here in town.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Jared asked, confused.
“He’s the guy you’re holding,” Justin explained.
“WHAT?!” Jared’s voice boomed through the phone, blasting into his ear with painful levels of noise.
“Yeah, exactly. He was one of the two guards I chased after at the warehouse.”
“When were you planning on telling the rest of this?” Jared asked in a deceptively calm voice.
“After I found Shay,” Justin said. “What safe house?” he asked, swinging one leg over the blue-and-white colored bike, his foot ready to kick it to life.
“The condo on Edward Street.”
“Got it, on my way,” he said, hanging up the phone and slamming his helmet over his head.
He leaned forward, kicked the bike to life, and lifted the kickstand. The engine revved twice and then he gunned it from the parking lot in a cloud of smoke.
Normally he would enjoy flying through the city at a breakneck pace, skirting in and out of traffic at speeds that would make most men white in the face. This wasn’t any normal day, however, and every minute that passed was a minute longer that Shay was at the mercy of the Agency.
By the time he pulled up to the safe house, there were already several other trucks in the visitors’ parking that he recognized as belonging to the Underground.
Jared and the others were already here. The condo building, located in the affluent portion of the downtown core, was one of the newest of the Underground’s safe houses. Using the enormous resources of Genesis Valley and several layers of fake, or “shell” corporations, they had purchased the condo and equipped it in case any of their members needed a place to lie low for an extended period of time.
Justin hadn’t expected the Agency to know about it. He was fairly confident that there were no moles inside the Underground, but that meant they were still getting information from somewhere. Either they had spotted someone on the property, or there was a leak somewhere else.
The theme of the building was blue. The glass was blue, the metal framing was another shade of blue, and turquoise and aquamarine blues colored the lobby and exterior. It should have been ugly. Hideous even. But it actually was quite soothing on the eyes.
A doorman, clad in a navy-blue uniform, pushed a button as he approached and the double doors swung up with quick precision.
“Hello, sir. How may I help you today?”
So, security guard as well. The man was young, tall, obviously in good shape and unlikely to be intimidated by most of the people that came through the door. Justin, however, was not most people, and that was reflected in the man’s eyes.
Yet even as he evaluated him, the guard wasn’t backing down. Something flashed in his eyes. Something Justin had seen before.
Courage.
This young man knew he was highly outclassed, but he was sending Justin a sign, letting him know that he would still do his job, even if it might end up costing him. Normally the shifter would put that down to arrogance, but not with this man.
“I’m well,” he replied, deciding to treat him with the courtesy someone of his conviction deserved. “I am, to be blunt, in a bit of a rush. I believe the party upstairs is waiting for me. Seventeenth floor.”
No surprise registered on the guard’s face. He was expecting that all along. Justin’s respect for the man went up another level.
“Very well sir. Elevators are just to your right.”
“Thank you,” he said, nodding his head respectfully in the guard’s direction before his long legs powered him quickly to the indicated bank of elevators.
The guard was quickly put from his mind as an image of Shay replaced it, blueish-green eyes twinkling brightly as she laughed at one of his bad jokes, her cheeks dimpling as she did. He needed to find her, and soon.
I need to tell her how I feel.
How did he feel?
Strongly.
He snorted aloud in the enclosed space, the noise helping offset the constant ding as the metal box he was in shot up into the building.
That was an understatement. It might be too soon for him to say he was in love with Shay. But there was no doubt in Justin’s mind that he realized he was falling in love with her. It was too simple to say that they clicked, though it wasn’t an incorrect description, just incomplete. There was so much more to the bond that had formed between them over the past few days. More than he could put into words, even. It was just a gut feeling, that inner knowledge that his desire to be with her was right.
You’re going to have to do better than that when you tell her in person.
A part of him agreed, but another part of him knew that Shay would get it. He wasn’t sure how, or why, but she would. It would just make sense to her, because that’s how they were together.
The final floor chime sounded and Justin snapped back to reality. A solid handful of seconds later the doors actually opened, much to his irritation. Sound the chime once you’re actually there! He hated that, the minute inconvenience making him agitated as he strode down the hallway to the left, stopping at the third door on the same side of the hallway as the elevator. His fist rapped on the door twice, then he paused, then three more times.
He waited a half second then slammed an open palm on the door. “Let me in already,” he said as someone said something muffled back to him.
The door clicked and opened a bit.
Justin flexed his big arms and pushed. The door flew open. Kurtis, the human Underground operative who lived in the condo on a day-to-day basis stumbled back as he strode inside.
“Where is he?” he growled.
Kurtis’s eyes flicked toward the room on the right.
Justin walked into the kitchen and the others parted wordlessly as he saw her father sitting on a chair by the table.
A picture of Shay, tied up and at the mercy of the Agency appeared in his brain, and Justin’s bear went berserk.
“Where is she?” he snarled, grabbing the man by the neck and slamming him into the wall. Drywall crumpled under the blow, leaving a human-sized imprint.
The man gasped and pried at his fingers, but Justin only squeezed tighter, his grip stronger than a vise.
“Where are they keeping her?” he roared again, pulling the man forward and slamming him back into the wall.
By that time the others had recovered from their shock and worked to separate him from Shay’s father. The human fell to the ground, color returning to his face as he gasped, tenderly holding his neck. Justin could already see marks forming there where he had choked him.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jared growled, eyes blazing as he got in front of him, muscles in his neck bulging with anger as he stared down his charge.
Justin didn’t speak, but he didn’t back down from Jared’s glare either. His only concern was finding Shay as fast as possible, by whatever means necessary.
A soft voice somehow managed to make itself heard. “Wait.”
All eyes spun to focus on Shay’s father, now pushing himself up against the battered wall. “Wait,” he repeated. His voice was a little stronger this time. “I deserved that,” he said after clearing his throat with a wince. “Hell, I probably deserve a lot more than that,” he said, trying to stand, but his arms were too shaky to propel him.
Josh leaned over and helped him to his feet, then grabbed the chair and gave it back to him, but the Agent waved him off.
Agent? Former Agent?
“What are you doing here?” Justin asked, shouldering his way past Jared, but doing so calmly to show he was no longer going to beat up the man.
“They have Shay,” he said without preamble.
“Yeah, not news,” Justin said. “Try again.”
“I know where they have her.”
He stood up straight. “Better. Where?”
The man shook his head. “Not without a few promises first.”
“You want to make a deal?” Jared asked, speaking before Justin could.
The Agent nodded. “I’ll tell you all I know about the Agency—which I’m warning you now isn’t much—and in exchange you rescue Shay, and you go easy on me.”
“Done,” Justin said before anyone could say otherwise. “Where are they holding her?”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Jared asked a split second later, glaring over at him.
Justin just shrugged, but he let his leader proceed. It was a valid question.
The man swallowed, grimacing in pain as he did, but Justin didn’t feel any remorse from knowing he had caused that pain.
“After I fled the warehouse, I thought about what this one had told me,” he said with a nod in Justin’s direction. “Before I could make up my mind on where to go, one of my very few friends called me. He told me that a woman had been asking after me at one of our facilities, and that she was being held until I could come identify her. After a few questions on what she looked like, I realized it could only be Shay. So I came right here. Justin had promised money and protection if I left the Agency and kept Shay safe. It was my only option.”
“What facility?” Justin prodded once more.
The Agent looked up at him. “The Shipyard.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Connor shouted at the same time Justin spun and drove his fist into the wall.
“I’m really beginning to hate that place,” he growled, visions of Shay being tossed over the side running through his head.
“Agreed,” Jared said, leaning back. “It’s been a thorn in our sides for a long time now.”
The door opened just then to admit Madison, Arianna, and Ajax. They were quickly brought up to speed on what they had found out from the former Agent.
“What else can you tell us?” Madison asked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall, evaluating the man.
Justin turned his own gaze on him as well.
“The big boss, the guy who runs it all, he’s in town,” he said at last, having met all of their eyes first, likely trying to gauge if he should just lay all his cards on the table or not.
“We knew that already,” Justin said, banging his fist angrily onto a countertop. “We need more. What can you tell us about the Agency as a whole? How did you get recruited into it, for example? We’ve always wondered how it seems to have so many men at its disposal.”
“They aren’t as limitless as you might believe,” he replied with a ghost of a smile. “You’ve certainly put a big dent into their manpower over the past few months. But they get the majority of their new recruits—and all of the Extremis teams—from men who wash out of the military for psychological problems.”
“Great,” Jared said without hesitation. “They’re hiring the psychopaths who want to murder people. That’s just great.” He shrugged. “Makes sense though.”
Justin wandered into the common room attached to the kitchen and all but threw himself down into a spot on the couch. The metal frame creaked under his size, but it held, the dark brown leather adjusting to hold him comfortably after a few seconds.
“So, what do we do?” he asked firmly, making sure everyone knew they would be doing something.
“I say we wipe it off the map,” Madison said strongly. “We already took out their warehouse after the rescue mission. Which, Justin, since you left early, you’ll be glad to know was a success after all. With that burnt to a crisp, if we do the same to the Shipyard, we’ll have put a serious dent into the Agency’s operations here in King City.”
Shay’s father perked up at that. “This is the Agency,” he said.
“What?” No single voice spoke, it was a mixture of all of them.
“If you eliminate J and their presence here, to my knowledge you will eliminate the Agency, or at least reduce its effectiveness to zero. There are no other bastions outside of King City. That headquarters building downtown is it.”
The other people in the room stared at each other in shock. They had assumed that King City was just one of the stopping points, that they would have to eliminate cells in any number of cities. To be told that King City was it was a huge boost to morale no matter how it was looked at.
Ajax spoke at last. “The Coleforn Shipyards are built like a fortress,” he said cautiously. “Assaulting there would result in heavy casualties. We might not even be able to breach the gate. I must caution against this plan.”
“You don’t have to come,” Shay’s father said.
Justin snorted. “You aren’t coming yourself. Sorry, but you’re staying here under guard until we get back. If you lied to us, you can trust that I’ll be coming for you myself, and I’ll be putting aside any convictions I may have about killing.” His eyes narrowed into slits until the former Agent nodded and sat back quietly.
“This is a bad idea,” Connor said. “Getting in there is going to be tough.
“I have an idea,” Justin said with a smile, a plan beginning to form in his head.
“You do?” Madison asked, looking over at him.
He nodded.
“What is it?”
His grin turned almost evil. “Can your contacts that got you the minivan get you anything bigger?”