Shifter's Claim (The Shadow Shifters) (13 page)

Bas wanted to shrug but he usually shied away from the callous response. “It is how I want it to be.”

Jacques nodded. “She booked a room and used her credit card to secure it. If someone begins looking for her she’ll be easy to trace here.”

Flattening one hand on the table, his other on the arm of the leather high-backed chair he sat in, Bas agreed. “Check her out of the room before noon today and book her on a flight back to D.C.”

Again, Bas looked to the window where the sun was beginning its glorious appearance. The sky was absolutely brilliant with color, gold and orange spheres spreading over the red buttes that stretched to the mountains. This moment of the day had always been Bas’s favorite. Each morning he awoke in time to sit on his deck and enjoy the solitary glory. It reenergized him, giving him purpose to continue on another day, when it would have been so easy to sleep through it all.

This morning he’d left his room earlier than was necessary, disturbed by the pure bliss he’d been experiencing in the hours before with Priya wrapped tightly in his arms. He enjoyed the feel of her softness against him, the warmth of her breath over his skin, and of course her scent. He was enjoying that way too much, he thought with finality. For a brief moment he’d thought of cancelling all his morning meetings and staying with her, keeping an eye and hopefully his hands on her. But Bas had never shirked his duty before and wasn’t about to start now. Correction, he thought glumly, he’d only shirked his duty once and had sworn to never let that happen again.

“Put a trace on her cell,” he said to Jacques as an afterthought. “I want to know who she’s calling or texting every second of the day. She has a laptop in her bag, and I want to know what she’s doing on that as well.”

Jacques didn’t flinch at the directives, but he did go a step further. “GPS?”

Bas nodded. “Yes.” Even though he didn’t plan to let Priya out of his sight until they both decided how this situation would end. His motto had always been to plan for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

“Dialing the others,” a female voice echoed through the intercom that was perched in the center of the conference table.

Within the next five minutes each FL was on the speakerphone, all of them probably sitting in a similar room in their offices across the U.S.

Bas began immediately. “It was a setup,” he announced. “By the time we arrived the bulk of the shipment had been moved. We recovered less than one hundred pounds of product and detained three men. Not. Shifters.” The last was stated with emphasis.

The collective curses throughout the line confirmed the others felt just as pissed off about this as Bas had been last night.

“The three we detained were pretty low on the totem pole and broke relatively easily,” Bas continued. “So we now have a name. Palermo Greer was the lead on this shipment. He and another they say was called Black did the initial pickup.”

“Then where the fuck are they now?” Cole was the first to interject.

“That’s how we know this was a setup,” Bas continued, trying like hell to ignore the bitter taste in his mouth after saying that particular name. The fact that he knew Palermo Greer and actually had a gruesome history with the man, was nobody’s business but his own. “Nick’s message said an eleven o’clock drop, correct?”

Nick’s voice echoed through the room. “Right. I’m looking at the e-mail now. Eleven MST.”

“We arrived around eleven ten. They weren’t out in the open so we had to find the drop spot. It was a tunnel down under the buildings. One guy was in the tunnel loading the crates, the two others were in the building taking the product and putting it in trash bags.”

“But you said it was a small score?” Jace inquired.

“Very small,” Bas said, nodding. “Last time there were thousands of pounds.”

“So what happened to the rest?” Rome asked, his voice serious and grim.

“One of the guys said the drop was scheduled for ten o’clock. The delivery was actually late so they didn’t get started until a quarter to eleven. Palermo and his guy worked them hard to hurry and get their truck loaded. Then they took off, about ten minutes before we arrived, without the complete shipment.”

“Send us a message about a drop with a time that guarantees we’ll miss them completely,” Nick was saying. “Why?”

“To let us know they’re one step ahead of us,” Jace said. “They want us to know that they’re going to keep doing what they want and we can’t stop them.”

“What kind of product was it?” Rome asked.

Bas replied, “The savior drug. That same shield marking was on each of the blocks. And that’s not all we brought back. There were guns, Rome. Really sophisticated automatic weapons with some sort of heat-seeking mechanism that Jacques and my team here are still trying to identify. And…” Bas paused, looking over to Jacques who nodded in agreement while sharing this last bit of information. “There were two crates, inside were lined coolers and eighty packets of human blood.”

“What the fuck?” Nick exclaimed through the phone line.

“That’s not all,” Bas added.

“Fuck! There’s more than blood and drugs?” Jace snapped. “What the hell is going on out there?”

Bas wished he had an answer to that question, on more accounts than either of the persons in this meeting knew.

“The crates were from Comastaz Labs here in Sedona,” he said with a finality that rested on the ears of each of them.

“You’re telling me that Comastaz Labs, a United States government facility, had a shipment of blood samples mixed in with a shipment of the savior drug and this shipment was facilitated by rogues?” Rome asked in a tone that may have signaled for no one to answer for fear of not saying what the Assembly Leader really wanted to hear.

As the lab and this shipment fell squarely under Bas’s jurisdiction, he spoke first. “Yes, that’s what it looks like. We know the circle the drugs are running, there’s no big mystery there. Sabar brought this drug over from the Gungi, he put it on the streets through Athena’s with the plan to branch out. Darel Charles took over after Sabar’s untimely demise. Palermo’s most likely heading up the West Coast division of rogues while Darel takes care of the East.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“The Comastaz connection is the problem. Why blood samples and why with this shipment?” he asked.

Rome spoke up next, his tone representing the authority he held over the group. “So let’s deal with this Palermo Greer, first,” he said.

X spoke up then, no doubt he and Nick were at Rome’s side, most likely in Rome’s private conference room in his suite at Havenway. It was early so the First Female, Kalina, may not have been in on the meeting, but there was also no doubt that Rome would fill her in immediately. They were a very close couple, Bas thought, even more so than the norm for joined shifters. But it wasn’t like Bas was some type of expert on that, just something he’d observed.

“First and foremost,” X began. “Greer hasn’t been in the States for a while. Nobody’s seen him in years. Some say he was also one of Boden’s boys.”

“Boden Estevez, the first rogue who was eventually beheaded,” Cole stated.

“Allegedly beheaded,” Jace added.

Rome interjected then. “What do you mean ‘allegedly’? Is there some proof otherwise?”

“I’m sending you all a picture on your cell,” Jace told them. “It came across my desk a few weeks ago as someone seeking representation.”

Jace owned Maybon Artist Management, one of the top five talent agencies in Los Angeles. He worked with A-list actors, supermodels, and best-selling authors, both foreign and domestic. He was renowned and well known for his sharp candor and killer instinct—if the humans he worked with only knew.

There was silence as everyone checked their cell phones and then some grumbling as the picture appeared on each of their screens.

“She’s hot, but now is really not the time,” Cole replied with a chuckle.

“She’s Bianca Adani,” Jace continued seriously.

“Boden’s mate,” X added.

Silence throughout the room again.

“So now we have Palermo—one of Boden’s boys, and Bianca, Boden’s mate, here in the States,” Rome stated. “After years of both of them being away.”

“Not a coincidence,” Jace replied.

Bas was already shaking his head. “I don’t believe in coincidences.” No, there was absolutely no way Palermo Greer running around this close to Perryville was by chance. There was a reason he was here, a reason beyond the revenge Bas had vowed fourteen years ago, that one of the men that had slaughtered Mariah was neatly placed within his reach.

“Neither do I,” Rome said. “If you’ve gotten all you can out of the detainees, turn them over to the cops.”

“Whoa, the cops?” Cole questioned, something which normally wouldn’t go over well with any other leader of a tribe of shape-shifters. But Rome was different. He respected everyone’s opinions and to that end didn’t mind hearing feedback—to a certain extent.

With Cole, everyone knew he was still carrying a chip the size of Texas on his shoulder after his parents’ divorce, so that was taken into consideration whenever they had to deal with him.

“Take them to the cops and say what? We just happened to roll up on these dudes during a drug transaction? How do we explain being there in the first place without bringing heat on ourselves? The last thing we need is more exposure and possibly another reporter running some insane story about cat people.”

The last was obviously directed at Bas, but he wasn’t biting, especially since he had his own little reporter lying upstairs in his bed.

“None of my team shifted. We all remained in human form throughout the entire exchange. But I have to agree with Cole, here,” Bas admitted, albeit reluctantly. “If I take them in, the question is going to be what we were doing all the way in Nogales in the middle of the night at a deserted strip mall.”

Rome was quiet for a moment. “Then what do you suggest?”

“Well, I’m guessing they’re illegals so we can always turn them over to border control. They won’t ask questions because they don’t give a damn why they were here, they’ll just ship them back to Mexico.” He told Rome what he and Jacques had already discussed.

“Fine,” Rome replied after some contemplation. “X will gather more intel on Darel and Palermo. Bas, you work on those weapons, find out what they are, who made them, and how these low-level dealers got their hands on them. I’m meeting with the president’s advisors this week to talk about their position on the war on drugs and gun control so all the information you can get me on this new drug and these guns will help.”

“He’s running for a second term, Rome, and I know you want to stay in his corner, but do you really think he gives a crap about what’s going on in the streets when he’s got all that international bullshit to deal with?” Cole inquired.

“I think it’s important that I build a relationship with the highest political party in the United States, especially since I am the highest party in the Stateside Assembly.” Nobody commented on the fact that the president of the United States had no idea he was taking personal meetings, in addition to monetary campaign donations, from the leader of a shape-shifter tribe that had planted roots on U.S. soil.

“Wilson Reed and I have known each other since the days when he and his wife hung out with my parents. He was a highly respected attorney in D.C. before I even passed the bar and I consider him a good family friend. So the answer to your question, Cole, is yes. I believe he cares very deeply about what’s going on in the streets of the city he grew up in as well as across the world,” Rome stated firmly. “Jace, you follow up on Bianca. Find out what’s she’s doing here and who she’s hooking up with. And Cole, I want you to keep an eye on your borders too. This is the second takedown in your zone, Bas. They may not try to go in there again. Nick’s got eyes down in Florida, so I want you to be on alert as well. Finally, Bas, I want you to find out what the hell is going on at Comastaz and do it fast!”

After their leader had spoken, none of the other FLs dared speak again, except to say good-bye.

Chapter 12

“I just need you to keep an eye on my mother for me,” Priya said to Lolo as she sat on the couch in Bas’s suite.

“Where are you?” Lolo asked. He was outside, she could hear the cars going by and the noise of the streets. A brief glance at her watch and she figured he was on his way to lunch. He’d most likely go to the Subway on the corner three blocks down and order the teriyaki chicken with spinach, pickles, and mozzarella cheese. Her stomach churned at the thought, just as it did each time she was with him and he made the order. Man, she wished she were there.

“I’m following up on a lead,” she said, taking a deep breath and focusing on speaking like she was normal, like all was well, even though it wasn’t.

Her lead had led her right into a wall—a very sexy and very perplexing wall. Sebastian Perry wanted to sleep with her, there was no doubt about that, but he didn’t want to tell her his secrets. Could she blame him? She wasn’t about to tell him hers.

“Dammit, Priya, tell me you’re not still on this Roman Reynolds trip,” Lolo argued. “I don’t think there’s anything there. And Maury was not pleased that you weren’t in this morning. He’s going to go ape-shit when he finds out you’re working on something behind his back.”

She shook her head, even though she knew Lolo couldn’t see her. “He’s not going to find out because you’re not going to tell him.”

“I’m not going to tell him that you’re following up on leads to prove something that nobody is going to believe and I’m definitely not going to tell him that you’re staking out Roman Reynolds. But I’ll tell you what
is
going to happen, Priya. Reynolds is going to have you arrested, or worse. His friend Xavier still has connections to the FBI even though he’s no longer working there. You know the Feds can make people disappear faster than the Mob.”

“Melodramatic much?” she quipped. “Look, I have some leave time. I’ll e-mail Maury this afternoon and tell him I’m taking a vacation. I just need you to watch my mom until I return.”