Final Extraction by Julie Trettel
Silas
Chapter 13
It took an extra day to arrange transportation for everyone. We were taking them all back to headquarters. We’d managed to save almost forty shifters, far more than I even imagined they had in there.
I was struggling with the idea that these weren’t even all of them. Vada had told me there were more at other sites. In all the time we’d been chasing them, this was by far the largest Raglan facility we’d seen, and yet there were still more. It made me sick to even think about it.
We had also captured two of Trevor’s men.
Clara, Gage, Chelsea, Eddie, Grant, and Taylor would be taking the survivors back by bus while the rest of us returned by plane with the prisoners.
As were packing up to head to the airfield, Nick arrived. I walked over and shook his hand.
“They rolled out this morning,” he explained. “I’m tracking them as discussed and I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks. I owe you on this one.”
“Maybe you could give me something here. I’ve applied to the FBI Academy and closing this case could go a long way.”
“FBI, huh? We could use a good man like you over there.”
“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant.”
“Don’t worry about the case. Let me make some phone calls.”
“No, no, no, that’s not how I want to make this.”
“Oh please, it’s the least I can do. I have a few favors I can call in.”
“Silas, listen to me. No calling in favors for me. I’m going to do this on my own.”
“Why? You can just pay me back later.”
“No. I am not owing you any favors. Are we clear?”
“I understand. On your own. Got it.”
“I’m serious, Granger.”
I held my hand up in the air in surrender.
“If they’ve rolled out, do you want to come back and check the place out? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“What do you mean lucky?” he asked. I could tell his curiosity was already piqued.
“I have a few guys on the inside. Sometimes they leave us clues behind.”
“Okay, let’s go. I’ll drive,” he said sounding more excited than I expected.
“T, let Painter know I’m going back to the facility to look around and see if we have any gifts left this time.”
“Sure thing, big guy,” she yelled across the parking lot.
I got into Nick’s car and we were pretty quiet on the drive over.
My phone rang and I rolled my eyes. “Gotta take this,” I mumbled. “Hey Painter, what’s up?”
“We’re wheels up in one hour. Where the hell did you take off to?”
“Relax, I’ll be there. Nick, can you drop me off at the airport within the hour?”
“Yeah, sure. No problem.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“What are you up to?” Painter asked.
“Easter egg hunting. I’ll fill you in on the plane.”
I hung up the phone and fell quiet again. As he was pulling up to the building, I finally broke the silence.
“You know, you’re handling all of this really well. You aren’t even stuttering anymore.”
His jaw set in a tight line. “I never stutter anymore unless I’m seriously stressed. But I did have trouble with it as a kid.”
“I understand. I knock when I’m stressed, or sometimes grunt.”
“Knock?”
“Yeah.” I tapped my knuckles on the dashboard. “Like this.”
“Oh, weird.”
I laughed. “You’re weird, and far too calm for everything you’ve learned. Most humans wouldn’t handle all of this so well.”
“Pretty sure I’m in shock. I mean none of this can possibly be real. I’ll be committed with no chance of making it into the academy if I ever mention this to anyone.”
I barked a laugh. “I assure you it’s very real, but you’re refusal to tell anyone is a really good thing for us. It’s dangerous for my kind when humans discover the truth.”
“But the Verndari you told me about. They’re all humans.”
“Exactly, and because of them, the Raglan exists. My mate wouldn’t be in trouble if they didn’t.”
“Your mate? What does that mean? Like a soul mate?”
“It’s so much more than that, but basically, yes.”
“Why didn’t you rescue her with the others?”
I sighed. “Long story. She’s working on the inside.”
“But you don’t like it?”
“I hate it, but there’s nothing I can do about that. She’s made up her mind.”
He pulled the car to a stop and we got out.
It was clear he was right. There were no signs of life around.
We wandered the grounds inside and out looking for anything out of the ordinary.
“Silas, come look at this.”
I walked over to Nick. “It’s a door.”
He nodded like I was missing something. “Feel it.”
I rolled my eyes at him but obliged. Then I knocked on it. “What is this made of?”
“Honestly, I think it’s Kevlar.”
“That’s a hell of a lot of Kevlar. That can’t be right.”
He shrugged. “I could be wrong, but I doubt it.”
“Think we can get it in your car?”
He laughed. “Not a chance. Already called one of the boys over. Told him to bring the truck.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“It’s fine. You’re just going to have to trust me on this. So did you find anything?”
“No. The place isn’t entirely clean. You could definitely pull fingerprints, but there’s nothing obvious aside from that. A few of the rooms have been thoroughly cleaned recently. Most likely, one of them is where your boys were killed.”
“I’ve never walked away from a case before.”
“I hear you, but you do not want to get involved in this one.”
“They were both shifters?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I only saw them from a distance, but I can show you the path taken back here. It would link the facility to your corpses, but as you can see, they are long gone.”
He nodded. “Show me anyway.”
I was certain that once the detective got a whiff of something, he was as bad as a bloodhound going after it. No doubt the little hiccup I’d thrown in his case was driving him mad.
His buddy arrived and then he took Stone’s car while leaving the truck behind for us. Never even questioned it.
Once he was gone, we loaded up the strange door, then I took him out to the trail showing him the faint marks they had tried to cover up.
He gritted his teeth. “How the hell did we miss this?”
“No offense, but you’re human. Most humans don’t pick up on those subtle changes like that. I guarantee Trevor was counting on it too.
“Before we head out, could you show me the rooms that were cleaned?”
I took him to the first. It was empty accept a bed that looked similar to one you’d see in a hospital. I sniffed the air and frowned.
“It’s not this one,” I said.
“How can you be sure.”
“It smells like Vada.”
I went to the drain in the bathroom where the smell of cleaner was the strongest and pulled up the drain cover. I felt around and pulled out some hair. I grinned when I saw short black gorilla hairs.
I showed it to Nick.
“What is it?”
“Gorilla hair. Vada must have shifted and then wiped the place clean.”
“Why?” Nick asked.
I recalled something Emma had once told me about how she had remained in her gorilla form and never showed them her human side. She had never mentioned another gorilla here, but she had mentioned Vada. “She’s hiding her spirit animal from him,” I whispered.
“Why would she do that?”
“Gorillas are exceptionally rare. As far as I know, we’re virtually extinct. That’s why the animal gorillas are dwindling in numbers. My family was in the process of repopulating our species when they were taken out by poachers. Painter and I thought we were the only ones, but then we found Emma, his mate, and now Vada.”
“Your mate.”
“Exactly.”
“How many types of shifters are there?” he asked.
“As many as there are species of animals.”
“Wow, this really is a lot to take in, I should stop asking so many questions because I don’t want to know.”
I grinned. I really liked Detective Nick Stone. I could see him being a valuable asset to me and my team. Of course, I had little use for a small-town detective, but an FBI Agent would be a whole other thing.
“You’re a really good detective. It’s in your nature to ask the hard questions. Even when you don’t want to know.”
I showed him to the other room as we took a look around. I could see the scuff marks on the floor where another bed had been. I could also see scrapes probably from a surgical cart that was moved around.
It was hard to catch a scent with so much cleaner odor in the air, but I swore I smelled the faint smell of blood.
“This is the room your victims were killed in.”
“There’s a camera,” Nick pointed out. “Think they’d be dumb enough to leave that behind?”
“No,” I said frankly. “Your best bet is to try the drain but from the smell of things they did a much more thorough job in here.”
I couldn’t risk letting him find anything that would lead back to Vada as an accessory to murder.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Nick asked watching me close.
“Nothing you need to know.”
An alarm went off on his phone. He sighed in frustration. “We need to get you to the airport.
He drove me over in silence. I would never condemn Jake or Vada. There was no way either of them murdered those people. That had to be the work of Trevor or one of his psychotic minions.
I remembered the two prisoners we had on the plane. I couldn’t wait to get ahold of them.
When the car stopped, I jumped out and waved Tarron and Ben over to take the door while I said goodbye to Stone.
“A door? You shouldn’t have,” Tarron said.
“Stone here thinks it’s made of Kevlar. See what you can dig up about that.”
Tarron’s face registered surprise. “Did you say Kevlar?”
I nodded and a smile broke out across his face.
“Will Elliot be at headquarters when we get there?”
“How the hell do I know?”
“Right. Painter. Sorry.”
“Pilot’s ready, so get a move on it,” Ben warned me.
They were both cautiously watching my new friend.
I shook Nick’s hand. “You have my number, stay in touch. And good luck on the case, and the academy.”
“Take care.”
I turned to walk away.
“Hey, Silas?”
“Yeah?”
“Do I need to worry about your kind around here?”
I shrugged. “Possibly. Should be King Lockhardt’s territory.”
He gulped. “And he is…”
“King of the black panthers. I can ask around and see what else is living in his territory if you’d like.”
“No,” he said quickly. “Well, yeah, there’s been a few strange cases around here. We’ve closed them, but I never felt right about them, like something was off. Maybe it could shed some light on things.”
“Sure. No problem. I’ll be in touch.”
I walked away without another word and headed for the plane. I knew they were waiting on me.
“Sucks to wait on someone else, doesn’t it?” I asked Baine with a wink because he was notorious for pushing my buttons, like being late.
Painter let the pilot know we were all accounted for and ready to go.
“Now where are my prisoners,” I asked.
Painter pushed me down into a seat. “Buckle up for take-off. Oh, and you’re not touching the prisoners.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said furious that he would even try to really pull rank over me or keep me from the two people who likely knew where my mate was headed.
