Birds of Prey (18 page)

He went out of the door and into the hall. He called in his team’s location and the address. He also put out word that the suspect was not at the site.

Turning to head back, he paused when he saw a teenager step out of the apartment across the hall.

“Hey there,” Cody said quietly, not wanting to scare the young man. He removed the photo out of his pocket and showed it to the kid. “Have you seen him?”

The teenager looked at the open doorway behind Cody. He nodded in response to Cody’s question.

“Is he the man staying in that apartment?”

The kid nodded again.

“You see him today?”

A quick shake of the boy’s head served as his answer.

Cody patted his shoulder. “Okay, head back inside for now.”

The teenager whirled and complied quickly.

Cody had his confirmation. He was just about to head back to join his team when he heard more footsteps coming up the stairway.

Jamie and two of Jamie’s agents stepped out in the open then started towards him.

“Zak thinks he found where the car was being hidden,” Jamie told him.

“We’re closing in on him.” Cody felt relief that he could say that and know it was true.

“Yeah, man,” Jamie agreed.

“Cody,” Chloe called to him.

He turned and led the other agents into the apartment. When he entered, Chloe handed him several forms.

A rental agreement. The contract was dated eight days ago and listed Robert Dawson as the tenant.

“Gotcha,” Cody mused.

Jamie ordered his men to help search the place and huddled next to Cody. “He won’t get far. We’ve got his hidey-hole now and know who he is too.”

Cody nodded. “I want a couple agents to show Adrian’s picture around.”

Jamie pulled out his phone. “I’ll get the rest of my team on it.”

While Jamie took care of that, Cody joined the examination of the apartment.

He strolled through the small, cramped living room and into the bedroom. Byron glanced up at him.

“You find anything?”

“Check this out.” Byron motioned to the metal desk against one wall.

Cody leaned over the workspace. There were photos of him and his team. He shuffled through them, revealing more shots of members from both the Cast and the Flock.

He came to the image of Aubrey and his breath caught in fear.

Their suspect
had
known who she was.

“And,” Byron added, “we have his laptop.”

Cody glanced at the beat-up computer Byron was holding. That was a good find.

“Bag it. We’ll make it our first priority,” he ordered.

He sat at the flimsy wooden table in front of the desk and started going through it. It was obvious that Robert Dawson hadn’t been there long.

There wasn’t much for Cody to find. Dawson had apparently moved into the apartment to continue his work. The photos of the Cast and Flock members, maps of the city and other evidence were spread throughout the entire place.

After checking all the drawers, Cody pushed himself away from the desk and looked around. The team inside had completely ransacked the residence.

He slowly turned in a circle to spot anywhere they might have missed.

His agents had done a good job.

The one thing missing, however, was any connection to Adrian. His picture had been among the others they’d found, but Cody hadn’t seen anything to confirm that Dawson had been working for Adrian.

Hopefully, they would get more on the laptop.

* * * *

Aubrey shifted in her seat as Adrian’s sharp gaze bored into her. She’d returned to the Cast property with Adam just about the time that Adrian’s lawyer had brought him back to the house. Adrian had immediately ordered her into his office.

But he hadn’t followed her up right away. She’d sat there nervously waiting on him until he had joined her a good twenty minutes later, freshly showered and in a new change of clothes.

Now he scowled at her over his desk.

“I just spent too many hours locked away while your boyfriend questioned me,” he told her, crossing his arms.

She was about to correct him and tell him that Cody wasn’t actually her boyfriend, but the look on his face had her swallowing her reply.

“I think you have some decisions to make.”

“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

“Where does your loyalty stand, Aubrey?”

Shocked, she jerked back in her chair. “Excuse me?”

He dropped his arms and braced himself on the desktop. “Your Cast leader was killed, his replacement—me—arrested for his murder. You’ve supposedly been trying to find the real person responsible, but from what I’ve seen, you’ve spent most of your time bedding the agent in charge.”

Fury rolled over her so quickly that she actually started to shift.

“Control yourself!” he snapped.

Aubrey took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down. Her vision had started to darken around the edges then sharpen. The falcon inside her wanted freedom to spread its wings.

She was going to have to shift soon, no matter what.

Breathe in. Breathe out
, she repeated mentally.

When she thought that she could speak and not jump over the desk and wrap her hands around Adrian’s throat, she blew out one last lungful of air. She felt like she was the only one who wasn’t fighting for Adrian. Sure he didn’t see that, but certainly he knew that she believed in him.

“I understand how upset you are,” she said sincerely. “However, I believe if you were thinking clearly, you’d see how wrong you are.” She was proud of herself for her sensible response to his idiotic words. Until he spoke again.

“Nice,” he mocked. “You’ve become quite the master of bullshit.”

She felt a growl forming in her chest.

“But let’s lay all our cards out. I don’t want you to see Agent Johnson again.”

She lifted a brow. “You can’t dictate who I date. It’s above your authority.”

“I can bring you in front of the inner circle and question your allegiance,” he shot back.

“You wouldn’t…”

This time it was Adrian who lifted a brow. His smug expression made her itch to scratch his eyes out.

“Do you want to find out?”

“Why? Why would you do that? You know damn well that I am completely loyal to this Cast. I never showed anything other than that.”

“Are you sure?” he questioned. His voice softened. “I’m not playing the jealous ex-lover here. As the Cast leader, I have the right to inquire into the dedication of my guards.”

Aubrey suspected that her past relationship had a hell of a lot to do with Adrian questioning her. “So if I don’t break it off with Cody, you’ll what?”

“Remove you from your position,” he told her flatly. “Which will eventually bring down your rank.”

Aubrey stood. She didn’t like to be threatened. “I’ll think about it,” she told him. “But you should also consider the backlash from this. You can remove me, but some of the Cast members will believe it’s because of our previous relationship. And you can’t really afford any more negative attention this soon.”

“I’ll have to take my chances. The Cast has no reason to question my word.”

“You’re making this personal,” she accused.

“It is. So let me ask you something. How personal is this for you? I’ve asked you to come back to me. You’ve refused. I need you by my side.”

Scoffing, she barely resisted rolling her eyes. “You think this will help?”

“Won’t hurt. You either give Cody up or suffer the consequences.”

“I’ll let you know.” She whirled and stomped to the door.

“Aubrey!” Adrian called out.

Aubrey stopped with her hand on the knob.

“I’m not doing this to hurt you,” he said.

Aubrey glanced over her shoulder. “That, Adrian, is a complete lie.”

She yanked the door open then slammed it behind her. She didn’t give a damn who heard or saw. She clomped down the back stairway to the closest exit.

The few people she passed hurried to get out of her way.

When she reached the door, she pushed it open and stepped out of the house. She took a deep breath of fresh air before she started to jog away.

She had to put some distance between her and the Cast. Her family had been members for generations. They’d been trusted with high positions and had proved time and time again that they supported the Cast.

But now it was her service being called into question.

Adrian might be bluffing, but Aubrey didn’t know for sure. Reaching the edge of the porch, she broke into a full run.

She headed for the tree line, her favourite place to shift. She needed to let her falcon free, feel the wind caress her, and remember who she was.

She slowed down to a walk as she arrived at her destination. She liked the area there. Full trees grew in a circle. There was an old branch that had fallen and provided the perfect spot to stash her clothes.

She undressed quickly, hid her clothing then moved out into the open. Aubrey rolled her neck and shook out her arms.

Closing her eyes, she opened herself to her other half.

A gradual vibrating sensation moved through her. Her body rippled as the transformation started and she began to fall.

Only a few minutes later, she was changed. She lifted her wings and stretched them out.

A bird shifter was larger than a normal animal, but not like in the movies. From a distance, she still appeared as a regular-sized flying creature.

She took a few steps and she was off.

There was no feeling like the first pump of her wings and the rise above the ground.

Shifters kept their human intelligence in their animal form, so she was able to truly enjoy the experience of flying.

She dipped and wove her way around the high treetops. A quick pass above the Cast grounds, then she was away.

Lake Worth was a large man-made body of water. While it took a good twenty minutes to reach in a car, Aubrey was able to make it there in no time.

The crystal-blue water flowed under her as she continued to soar. Sometimes she liked to catch fish, but she wasn’t interested in that today. She just wanted to be free.

She rose, letting the wind ruffle her feathers, and felt marvellous.

Up and down, back and forth, Aubrey flew until she had exhausted herself. She turned back towards the Cast property to land.

The long escape had relaxed her more than anything else could have.

She returned to her spot and started the process back into human form. It was later than she had thought. She must have really lost track of time as her falcon.

She shivered a little, padding her way back to her clothing.

Mike sat on the fallen limb, holding her clothes. She didn’t say anything, just accepted the bundle and dressed quickly.

Once she was back to normal, she faced him.

“What the hell is going on?” he asked angrily.

Adrian must have spoken with him too.

“What do you want me to say?” she questioned with a small shrug.

“I want you to say that you told Adrian to go to hell!”

She grinned at her best friend. “I thought about choking the life out of him.”

Mike laughed. “Fuck! What are we going to do?”

She wished she had an answer for him. She patted his leg before dropping to sit at his feet. She leant back against him and sighed. They had a decision to make.

Chapter Fifteen

Aubrey woke with her stomach in knots and a sick feeling. After she’d spoken to Mike, she’d called her brother. Adam had helped her go through her options in dealing with Adrian. He was furious with Adrian, but Aubrey had convinced him to let her handle their Cast leader on her own. She knew what she had to do, even if just thinking about it made her want to vomit.

It didn’t matter how she felt about Cody. The issue wasn’t her current relationship. She had to stand up for herself and show Adrian that he couldn’t dictate how she was going to live. He might lead the Cast, but he had no right to take his anger out on her. They were over, she had moved on, and Adrian needed to accept that fact.

It could end badly. There was still the huge chance that he would follow through and have her called up for an enquiry. Even if the others didn’t agree with Adrian, no one in the Cast would want to go against him.

She would have to accept the consequences of what she was going to do. Adrian would be able to rip her entire world apart.

Unable to sleep, she’d tossed and turned all night. Finally, she’d climbed out of bed two hours early. After a steaming hot shower, she’d dressed and had her coffee.

Despite it being barely seven a.m., she’d put off leaving for as long as she could.

She rinsed her mug out and placed it on the towel next to the sink. She gripped the counter, breathing deeply. Her hands shook as fear threatened to suffocate her. What she did today would change her entire life. She wasn’t sure where that would leave her.

She didn’t want to lose her Cast. Never in a million years had she thought she would be going through something like this.

Neither Mike nor Adam had been able to come up with a better plan either. While Mike was part of the inner circle and had promised to do what he could to help her, he had his own threat to worry about.

Adrian had told him that if Mike tried in any way to interfere Mike would face his own enquiry.

Luckily her brother didn’t have to worry about that. Since he’d given up his rank when he moved away, there wasn’t much that Adrian could do to him. But Adam had sworn that he would make sure their parents knew the truth if Aubrey was banned from the Cast.

That was the worst case scenario. She could be kicked out of her own dynasty.

Of course, Adrian might just remove her from her post and she would have to find a new job. But he was right. If he replaced her, it wouldn’t be long before she started to drop in rank.

Bird shifters followed a very strict power standing. One’s rank wasn’t just determined by strength. He or she also had to have experience, and promotion ability. To be demoted would hurt any future position a person might hold with the Cast.

Her entire future rested on her early morning meeting with Adrian.