KnightForce Deuces (28 page)

Hawke snorted. “That’s true. I’m glad the
bastard’s dead and left his secrets in our care.” He winked at
Asia.

“I’ll transcribe the information I received
from Lancaster this week and submit it to you, Sir. What is the
status of the KnightForce training?” Asia asked.

“Angus returns later today. He wanted to be
here when we lay Froggy and the others to rest.”

Asia and Hawke nodded.

“Chances are we’ll continue as planned but I
want to talk with him about it after the services.”

“I understand, Sir,” Asia said.

With the mention of Froggy, the mood of the
room plummeted. Hawke stopped eating and stared at the far wall.
Asia looked at her lap. And Jasmine swallowed hard a few
times.

“I look forward to learning more about
Lancaster and the Liege so that we can prepare to combat others
like them in the future,” Silas said drawing everyone’s
attention.

“Yes, that’s wise,” Hawke said. “Last night we
confiscated poisons, tranqs and drugs, all of those things are
harmful to pack and the Liege had a finger in them all.”

“Combatting those are your first challenge,
Hawke. That horrible-tasting root saved Rese and made his recovery
easy. We need to get ahead of this new drug that enhances humans.
If an old man like Lancaster can knock a full-blood on his ass long
enough to defeat him, we need something that gives our pack
leverage,” Silas said.

“I’ve been working out a couple ideas in my
head and when I return to the lab will work on it. But that poison…
that needs to be stored in a place inaccessible to anyone. The Feds
are going to want it back,” Hawke said with feeling.

“The Feds have already proven they can’t
protect their experiments, so I have it in a secure place,” Silas
said.

“Great. I like that better anyway,” Hawke said.
“We didn’t get all of the drugs, they shipped a batch the day
before. That shit’s on the street.”

Silas frowned and wished he knew about this
earlier when they first returned. But everyone had been exhausted
and agreed to meet later. “Do we know where it was shipped? I need
to alert my Alphas.”

“Ask Tyrese. He handled a lot of the data. The
location may be on one of the flash drives he found,” Hawke
said.

“Tyrese
?” Silas called.

“Sir?”

“Find out where the last few shipments of
the drug was sent and quantities
,” Silas said.

“Yes, Sir. I was going through the
flash drives and will send that information as soon as I come
across it.”

“Tyrese is searching for that information; the
last thing I want is for full-bloods to defend against amped-up
humans. It would be impossible for them not to shift if they fought
for their lives.” A full-blood’s wolf would take over before it
would allow its human part to die.

“That may be something you can announce through
the disk system as well,” Hawke said. I’m assuming it’s working so
far.”

“We can do that,” Silas said thinking how he
would word the message to keep everyone calm. “I’ll share it first
with my Alphas and then decide how to alert the rest of the
pack.”

Jasmine looked at Asia. “What happened with you
and David? I asked him and he said you needed to get to Hawke but
the look on your face when you walked out the room said
more.”

Silas frowned. He had forgotten Jasmine’s
concerns over the children being able to link but he didn’t know
she’d discussed it with Asia.

“I can’t believe I forgot to mention that to
you,” Asia said, her eyes lit with an inner light. “My wolf
demanded to see Hawke after he passed out. For some reason, I had a
hard time keeping her under control and was about to shift when
David walks in, touches me and instantly calms my wolf. Next he
told me Grandfather would help me get to Hawke.”

Silas stared, uncertain he heard correctly.
“What? Who’s Grandfather?”

“I don’t know. At the time, my beast rode me
hard, I couldn’t process much. But I remember thinking, wow.” Asia
looked at Silas. “Talk about unique, David’s unique.”

“Yes, I can see that. Sarita was with him, you
think he shared something with her?” Silas asked trying to wrap his
mind around his youngest child being a mouthpiece for someone he
didn’t know. At least Silas didn’t think he knew this Grandfather
person, yet.

“She begged me to return, I promised her I
would. But I don’t know what he told her. Those two… they are
close. If you like I can have a conversation with Sarita, see what
she knows about this Grandfather person,” Asia said.

Silas thought about it for a minute. “No. We’ll
talk to them together. That way we can put the pieces of this
puzzle together easier.” He looked at his mate, she looked
thoughtful. “
What is it?”

“We need to talk to the children, all five
of them, now
,” she said.

“Five?
” He frowned and then nodded.
“
You’re including Sarita
?”

“Yes, she’s very involved in all this. I
want to know when David started talking to this Grandfather
,”
Jasmine said.

“You think it happened after Sarita
arrived?”

“Maybe but we need to know more about what’s
going on with them before they go to school.
”

Silas agreed. “If you have a little time, I’d
like us to head to the nursery and talk with the children. I’ll
send their nurses out and we can ask a few questions. I’m curious
about this Grandfather.”

“My time is yours,” Hawke said.

Asia nodded.

“Good.” Silas stood and took Jasmine’s hand.
“Let’s have this conversation first and settle a few
things.”

Asia and Hawke followed them to the nursery.
When they entered, there was a hush and then all five voices
started talking at once.

“Mama, look at what I made,” Renee said holding
up a paper filled with bright colors. Adam ran across the floor and
grabbed Silas around his leg. “Can we go outside and
play?”

“Not right now, son.” Proud of his pups and
their excitement over his presence, he sent their nurses
instructions to leave the room. The pups didn’t notice their
departure.

Sarita’s arms were wrapped around Hawke’s neck
as she talked to Asia. David stood next to Jasmine asking why she
smelled like cookies. And Jackie stood next to Adam waiting to
speak to him.

Silas raised his hand. “Quiet, I need to talk
to you.” Five small faces stared at him with expectation. He
released a breath and waved them back, further into the room. “We
want to sit and then we’ll talk.”

“Sit with me, Mama,” Sarita said grabbing
Asia’s hand after Hawke put her down. Asia sat against Hawke’s legs
with Sarita in front of her on the floor.

David looked at Sarita for a moment and then
sat next to Adam. Renee and Jackie sat near Jasmine.

“Who’s Grandfather?” Silas asked, his gaze
touched each pup but lingered on David a little longer.

Adam’s face scrunched. “Who?”

“Grandfather,” Silas repeated noticing the
frowns on Jackie and Renee’s faces.

“What’s a Grandfather?” Adam said.

“David, what’s a Grandfather?” Jasmine
asked.

David met her gaze. “Someone who talks with you
at night when it’s dark and keeps you from being afraid or
alone.”

Silas’ heart slammed in his chest. When had the
pup ever been alone or frightened?

“He comes to you?” Jasmine asked.

“No.” He tapped his forehead. “He’s here and
here.” He touched his chest.

Jasmine smiled. “That’s good. What does
Grandfather look like?”

David frowned and then shrugged. “A big Black
Wolf.”

Silas wished Angus was there. He’d spoken of a
wolf visiting full-bloods in their dreams, Maheegan had as well.
This was the first he remembered of the wolf talking to a
half-breed.

“Do you remember the first time you talked to
him?” Jasmine asked.

Frowning, David rubbed the side of his face.
“When I couldn’t do anything. He talked to me and told me
things.”

“Like what?” Jackie asked moving closer to him
and touching his hand.

“About being a wolf.”

“Did he fix you?” Adam asked. “Is that how you
started walking?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know. But he said I would
get better and be strong.”

“Good. I’m glad you are better. You’re more fun
now,” Renee said, touching David’s arm.

He smiled and looked at Sarita.

“Sarita, have you talked to Grandfather?”
Jasmine asked.

David and Sarita stared at each other for a
long moment and Silas wondered if they were talking through a
link.

“Answer Mistress,” Asia said.

“Yes.” Sarita said in a soft voice while
looking at the floor.

“You never told me that,” Jackie said as if
Sarita committed treason.

“It’s okay, honey,” Silas said to calm
Jackie.

“When did you talk to Grandfather?” Jasmine
asked in a calm tone.

Sarita’s gaze met Jasmine’s and then she
slumped against Asia. “Before I came here.” She looked at
Jackie.

Jasmine looked at Asia and then back to Sarita.
“When you were in the… other place?”

Sarita nodded and looked at the floor but held
onto Asia’s hand so tight it would leave marks.

“Did he come to you?” Jasmine asked, clearly
trying to learn how this person, or being, contacted the
children.

“I was crying.”

“Why?” David asked.

Sarita looked up at him. “I was hungry and they
wouldn’t let me eat or leave the room.”

Silas saw the pain flash across Hawke’s face
and empathized with him. Asia held Sarita close and kissed the top
of her head.

“He talked to you while you were crying?” Asia
asked.

Sarita nodded. “He told me someone would bring
me food and that night somebody slipped meat and biscuits inside
the door.”

“Do you still talk to him?” Asia
asked.

Sarita nodded. “Sometimes he comes to talk to
me and tell me things.” She paused. “Like he talks to
David.”

David and Sarita’s gazes locked.

“I want a Grandfather,” Adam said moving closer
to David and looking in his eyes. “Take me to him.”

“When I need him I just call his name and he
comes. Try it. Say Grandfather…” David watched Adam call
out.

“Nothing happened,” Adam complained, crossed
his arms and poked out his lips.

“Why did you touch Asia the other day?” Silas
said drawing David’s attention from his brother. Adam’s tantrums
were brief but draining.

“Grandfather said she needed help and for me to
touch her. She needed to get to Hawke.” He looked at Sarita who hid
her face in Asia’s chest.

“So you went to help,” Silas said, still
unclear on this Grandfather character.

“Yes, Sir.”

Silas looked at Jasmine. “
What
now
?”

“I don’t know what to think
.” She looked
at the children again. “Why did you run to your sisters and Adam
when the bad men were here?” Jasmine asked David.

David frowned as he looked at her. “What do you
mean, Mommy?”

“You knew there were bad people near but you
didn’t tell me or anyone else. You went to your sisters and Adam.
Why?” Jasmine asked again.

David looked at her a few moments longer and
shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Chapter 26

Angus strode into Silas’ office with a troubled
frown. His gaze roamed over Silas and then settled on his face. For
a few moments neither spoke. Silas sensed his litter-mate’s concern
for him and everyone in the compound through their link.

“Glad you’re back,” Silas said motioning to an
overstuffed leather chair near his desk. “I heard from Chase, he’s
pleased with the job you completed and has been singing your
praises to other Alphas about KnightForce.”

Angus nodded as he sat down. “Rebel activity is
increasing, the sooner we get our people in place and open offices
the better.”

“There are other problems that need to be
addressed. I’ve seen what this new drug does to humans and it’s not
pretty. Whatever short-term benefits they receive is not worth the
pain and suffering on the back end. It’s just a matter of time
before the Justice Department knocks on our door about this,” Silas
said.

“So when they took my blood, that wasn’t the
beginning?”

“No. Rese, Hawke and Asia, shut down a lab
yesterday and removed valuable information that gives great insight
on numbers and distribution of the drug. Get this, the normal
formula uses canine blood, typically a Rottweiler or Doberman.
Using wolf blood was new; Lancaster probably told them about
it.”