Trouble in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 1) (17 page)

Silver had just reached the back west corner of the condo. To her left was the bedroom which served as a closet for Mrs. Astor, who had more than enough clothes to fill the entire bedroom. To her right was a small doorway which Silver knew would lead to a small media room that had a hidden access door to the attic. Joe had loved that media room, and Silver had spent a lot of time in there with him when they were dating. Just as Silver reached to claw down the media room’s door, all of the lights in the house suddenly turned red. A loud alarm sounded, causing Silver to cringe as the noise invaded her sensitive bear ears.

“Red alert, roof breach in progress!”the computer voice of the security system urgently sounded off. “Red alert, roof breach in progress!”

Silver swung her head around in surprise. Roof breach? Had Mr. Astor somehow realized what she was doing and gotten to the roof ahead of her? No, that didn’t make sense. The computer wouldn’t be setting off an alarm, then.

Silver winced as the impossibly loud alarm continued to pierce her ears. She let out a roar of pain and then shifted back into human form, finding a little bit of relief from the volume, but not much. Even though being in human form dampened her bear senses slightly, she still heard much better than the average human. And this alarm was loud enough to cause pain to even normal human ears. Silver covered her ears with her hands, and then suddenly realized she was naked.

“Shit, I forgot about that,” she said. Growing up as a shifter, it was totally normal to see a naked person now and then, since shifting ruined clothes. But Silver couldn’t just head out into the city of Chicago with no clothes.

With a mischievous grin, Silver ducked into the bedroom-sized closet that held just a portion of Mrs. Astor’s extensive wardrobe. Quickly scanning the racks, Silver pulled out a gorgeous royal blue sheath dress. It was knee length, with soft, stretchy fabric. The tag indicated that it was from Dolce & Gabbana.

“Such a pretty little dress,” Silver said aloud. “I’m sure she won’t mind if I borrow it for a bit. She has plenty of other dresses to wear.”

Silver quickly slipped the dress over her head, shaking her head in amazement as the thought crossed her mind that this one dress probably cost more than her entire wardrobe. Silver glanced around trying to find some shoes, but she could only find heels, which didn’t seem like the best footwear for making an escape. She finally spotted a small box in the far corner labeled “Gym Shoes,” and made a beeline for it. Sneakers might not be the most fashionable choice to pair with this dress, but they would be great for running away from security guards.

But when Silver opened the box, she didn’t find any sneakers. Instead, several pairs of leather flats sat in neat rows. Most of them looked like they had barely been used.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Silver said, her eyes widening so much they felt like they might pop right out of her head. “These are her
gym
shoes? She works out in three hundred dollar pairs of flats?”

Silver shook her head as she grabbed a pair of flats made of a lovely bright yellow leather. She slipped them on, tugging a little to squeeze her feet into them. Mrs. Astor’s feet were a half-size smaller than hers, but Silver didn’t have any other options at the moment. The house lights were flashing red every few seconds, and the computer voice was still urgently warning about a security breach on the roof.

Silver quickly slipped out of Mrs. Astor’s closet-room and into the media room, pushing aside the large couch to find the secret door to the attic.

She had no idea what was setting off the security breach alarms on the roof, but staying here was a death sentence for sure. Time to take her chances outside.

“Woohoo!” Anderson yelled, whooping in excitement as Sawyer banked the helicopter sharply to the left. Sawyer actually paused to high five Anderson, seeming unfazed by the fact that there was a barrage of laser beams trying to take out the aircraft.

Jack glanced over at Bash, who was rolling his eyes at his dad and alpha, but otherwise looked unimpressed. Jack was pretty sure that his own face was an unhealthy shade of green right now. He’d had his share of wild flights before. What kid growing up in the Alaskan bush hadn’t? Blizzards and unstable weather tended to make flying around up there something of an adventure. But Jack had never experienced anything quite as intense as this helicopter ride to the roof of Mr. Astor’s condo building.

The fun had started all the way back in Naperville, a wealthy suburb of Chicago. Jack and Bash had gone out there this morning with Sawyer and Anderson to pick up this gas helicopter. They knew someone who knew someone who had the connections needed to get a gas vehicle—and to get the gas to fly it. Jack didn’t ask any questions. He didn’t really want to know who the helicopter came from. He just wanted to get Silver back.

It hadn’t taken long for the Naperville police to realize that there was a gas helicopter flying through their airspace. The police had tried to chase them down, screaming at them through loudspeakers to land, and that manual aircraft were prohibited. Of course, Sawyer had completely ignored them, and through some fancy flying had left the policehovers completely in the dust. Jack had expected more police to start chasing them as they entered Chicago airspace, but Sawyer had managed to evade being noticed by flying a zig-zag pattern far away from any of the flyways.

Now, Jack was simply holding on for dear life as Sawyer circled wildly around the lasers shooting up from Mr. Astor’s roof. The plan was to get close enough so that Jack and Bash could shoot out the laser guns, and then the helicopter would land. Jack really had no idea whether this would work, but Sawyer seemed confident that it would. He told Jack that laser guns guarding against aircraft were usually pretty easy to shoot out if you got close enough. The problem was that hardly any pilots were skilled enough to dodge the lasers and get close enough to shoot them out.

As the helicopter banked sharply to the right, Jack was beginning to wonder if even Sawyer was skilled enough. They were getting closer, but were still far away. And the lasers were shooting out at them with no discernible pattern.

“This is nuts,” Jack said. He bit his lip, hoping against hope that Sawyer really did have the skills to get them close enough. Silver’s life depended on it. Sawyer continued to maneuver wildly, finally getting close enough that Bash and Jack might have a slight chance at shooting out the guns.

“Alright, boys, do your thing!” Anderson yelled, his voice crackling through their headsets.

Jack pulled his gun out, along with Bash, and they started shooting. They managed to knock out two of the laser guns, but there were still four more. The wild flight pattern of the helicopter, combined with the long distance, made their task nearly impossible.

“We have to get closer,” Bash yelled.

“Alright,” Sawyer yelled. “Hang on everyone.”

Jack’s stomach dropped and flip-flopped wildly as Sawyer started descending in rapid circles. There’s no way this is going to work, Jack thought. But Sawyer didn’t slow down, he just kept spiraling downward, closer and closer to the roof, through the wild laser beams. Amazingly, they made it several more seconds without being hit.

But then, it happened.

A sharp, sizzling sound, almost like metal on metal, rang out into the air.

“Oh shit,” Anderson said. “Assume crash positions!”

Jack bent over and put his forehead on his knees. He dropped his gun on the floor of the helicopter and put his hands over the back of his neck, praying for the best.

“Woohoo!” Sawyer’s voice came through the smoky air, loud and clear and exuberant.

Jack tilted his head to the side to look at Bash. “He’s crazy!” Jack mouthed. Bash just grinned and shrugged, and Jack couldn’t help but smile.

All of them were kind of crazy. But Silver was in trouble, and it was all hands on deck to save her. That’s what you did for your clan mates. Even though Jack had wanted to leave clan life, with its rules and regulations, he had to admit that it was nice to know you had people who always had your back. The Fur Coats were his clan now. This hodgepodge group of shifters was his life. He reached out his hand long enough to fist bump Bash, who grinned and fist bumped him back right before the helicopter made impact with the roof.

If they were going down in flames, at least they were going down together.

* * *

“What the hell was that?” Silver asked, instinctively freezing in place as a loud boom, followed by what sounded like an explosion, rang through the air directly above her head. The sirens, alarms, and computer warnings were buzzing out of control. Silver felt like she was in the middle of a war zone. Smoky air started to fill the attic, where she was positioned right below the solar panels. She had been trying to figure out the best way to break them, when something had crashed right above her.

Suddenly, a laser beam shot through the solar panels and zinged the ground right next to her. With a yelp, Silver jumped aside. Thousands of shards of glass started falling around her as the solar panels shattered under repeated blasts from the laser beam. Her eyes wide and incredulous, Silver scrambled to the corner of the room and tried to stay out of the way of whoever was wildly shooting. As more panels shattered, Silver could see outside now. But she couldn’t see the sky. All that was visible was a huge cloud of smoke and a wall of orange flames. She felt her heart dropping. Whatever was going on out there didn’t look like it was very conducive to her escaping via the roof. She would have to find another way out. But how? She was running out of options, and she had a feeling that it was only a matter of moments before Mr. Astor or his security guards burst into the attic with guns blazing. Maybe it was even his security guards up on the roof, somehow trying to block her escape. Silver tried to take a deep breath to calm her nerves, but she instantly started coughing as her lungs filled with smoke.

She turned around and started to run back toward the attic’s exit. She had to get out of here. A roof escape was obviously not an option anymore. She had no idea what she was going to do, but hanging around here in this smoky room wasn’t doing her any good. Just as she reached for the door handle, though, she was stopped by a familiar voice calling out her name.

“Silver! Silver, wait!”

Silver turned around, and saw a dark shadow falling through the smoky air from above, landing on the attic floor with a thud.

“Jack?” she asked, tears suddenly springing to her eyes. He had come after her. Somehow, he had found her and come after her. It seemed impossible, but there he was, his silhouette running toward her through the smoke. As soon as he reached her he threw his arms around her and started kissing her face over and over.

“Oh my god, thank god you’re okay,” he said, planting kisses on her forehead, her cheeks, her lips, and even her nose.

“Jack, you came for me! How did you find me? And how did you get onto the roof? And-oh my god your forehead is gushing blood,” Silver said, noticing for the first time through the thick, smoky air that Jack had a large gash across the left side of his forehead.

“It’s okay. Just a scratch,” he said. “Could have been a lot worse, trust me. Of course I came for you! We all came for you, actually. And wow, look at that dress! You’re looking quite fancy for being a kidnapped prisoner.”

Silver couldn’t stop herself from chuckling. “I ‘borrowed’ it from Mrs. Astor after I shifted and lost my own clothes.”

“You shifted?” Jack asked, looking concerned. “Did Mr. Astor see you?”

Silver nodded. “Yeah. Long story, though. We should probably get out of here and save story time for later.

Suddenly, there was another thud as another large silhouette fell from above and landed in the room. Then another, then another. Silver tensed up for a moment, unsure of whether these newcomers were friends or foes. But she soon felt both relief and disbelief flooding through her as she realized who had joined them.

“Sawyer? Bash? Daddy!” Silver screeched out and ran into her father’s arms.

“How did you get here? It’s so good to see you! What are you doing here?”

Anderson laughed as the words tumbled out of Silver’s mouth. “I’m rescuing you, along with these three boys. I must say, you’ve caused us quite a lot of trouble today.”

Silver didn’t respond. Tears were really running down her face now. “I can’t believe all of you came to rescue me. I thought I was done for!”

“Well, let’s not get too excited yet,” Sawyer said. “We aren’t out of trouble yet. We can’t leave the way we came. Our helicopter’s up in flames out there, and we had to saw Bash out of it with our bear claws. Got him out just in time before it really started burning. Jack here came ahead to start looking for you, but it seems you didn’t take long to find.”

“I was already here, trying to escape through the roof,” Silver said.

“We’re going to have to find another way,” Anderson said. “Any ideas, Silver?”

“Well, I know all the exits very well. But this place has eye scanners at every exit, and it’s on lockdown right now. If your eye scan doesn’t match an approved list, the doors won’t let you out. It’s a freaking fortress.”

“Who is on the approved list?” Jack asked. “Joe’s family?”

Silver nodded. “I would think everyone in his family is on the list. Probably all of the security guards, too.”

“So we just need to grab one of them and force them to scan their eyes. Then we can all escape. Easy. Boom. Done,” Jack said.

Silver felt a little silly as she realized that Jack was right. “Why didn’t I think of that?” she said. “Although, I’m not sure how easy it’s going to be to capture someone. I’m pretty sure this place is swarming with heavily armed security guards. They’re probably all surrounding Mr. Astor like bees.”

“It’s our only shot,” Bash said. “We don’t have a choice except to make it work.”

Sawyer nodded. “Don’t worry. There are five of us. We can shift if necessary to give ourselves an extra edge, but let’s try to avoid doing that if we can. And let’s all stick together. I’ll lead the way, Anderson, you take up the rear. No one gets left behind, no matter what. Silver, you know this place pretty well, right?”

Silver nodded.

“Good. Stay up front with me to help navigate. Let’s go.”

Silver pointed to the attic’s exit, and the group started making their way out. Just as they left the room, a huge crash sounded behind them. A huge hunk of burning metal had just fallen into the attic, quickly igniting several nearby boxes.

“Let’s move,” Jack yelled, giving Silver a gentle push and a tap on her ass. “That helicopter is gas. It might blow at any moment.”

Silver quickened her pace, coughing to try to clear her lungs of the smoky air that filled them. She could hardly believe that her dad was here, too. Jack had been so dead-set against involving any of the elders, but he must have changed his mind when he couldn’t find her. Silver was touched that he had obviously put her well-being ahead of his own fears about talking to the old folks. Silver had a lot of questions about what had happened and how Jack had even known where she was, but she would have to save those for later. Her top priority right now was still getting out of here alive.