“Dean!” Steve said a little louder.
Dean seemed to startle and turned his gaze on Steve.
“We’re going back in,” Steve said.
“Why? There’s nothing left. Not a damn thing left,” he said, his eyes glassy with unshed tears, his face a mask of sadness and rage as he stared at Steve.
“We have to do one more round of searches.”
“I can’t do this. I thought I could, but I can’t. Dropping the bodies into that hole in the ground. Acting like it was the right thing to do. It’s not the fucking right thing to do. The right thing to do would have been to stay and fight for their survival. Instead, I was escorting one tiny section of our people to the Laighin’s. And now I’m back dropping the dead bodies of my friends in a fucking hole in the ground! Friends I might have been able to save had I been here! There’s nothing that can make that right!” Dean finished, his voice raw and raspy, a single tear tracking down his face.
Steve shook his head slowly as he stared directly into Dean’s eyes. “We can help search out those responsible.”
“Is that what we’re doing? Or are we just going to poke around what’s left of our lives again?” Dean demanded.
Steve shook his head. “We’re going hunting. But we have to do it the way the Variant want it done while they’re here. It’ll give us some answers, and possibly a direction to follow after they leave. Then we do it our way if we don’t think they’ve done enough. Just hang on a little longer. There’s a reason for all this — I promise. I hope they’re wrong, but if they’re not, you’re going to want to be there for this.”
Dean stared at Steve.
Steve stood up and opened the door, pulling it wide as he waited for Dean to get out.
Dean’s gaze touched on everyone waiting for him to get out and join the group. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he finally got out and accompanied Steve to stand quietly as they listened to Frenzy outline what they planned to do.
“Once more, we’re going in from the opposite direction. Approaching from across the highway. Just want to be sure we didn’t miss anything. Two groups, both from behind. Shifters go in first. Every step could be on top of the people you’re looking for. Step lightly. Assume every blade of grass, every leaf, every blow of the wind is waiting to slice you in half. No sound — at all. The Variant will follow. Everybody keep your earpieces in,” Frenzy said, as he finished typing up a quick text and made sure it was sent. He looked up and glanced around the group waiting for his next order. “Any questions?”
“This is a bit much after what we all just went through,” Hugh said.
“Has to be done. Let’s see what happens when we’re not here.” Frenzy hesitated, then looked at Storm, grinning at her before crooking his finger at her to bring her closer to him.
Storm walked over to Frenzy, who put his arm around her shoulders and walked her away from the group.
“We all know your team can read males better than any of the rest of us. What does your gut say?”
“Three going in with us are ‘sus’.”
“Three that are suspect?” Frenzy asked. “There are five.”
“Negative, sir. There are three. Steve is above suspicion, and the last one to get out and join us a couple of minutes ago… Dean? He’s above suspicion, as well.”
“How’s that?”
“Steve is mourning, but he’s doing his part. Helping us locate and lay to rest his people. Giving us insight to all we’re seeing. Knowing what to look for, etcetera. He even implicated himself as one of the Alpha’s most trusted. Dean… he’s detached, no doubt about it. No emotion. But his is a different kind of detached. He’s raging. He’s trying not to lose his shit. The other three, there is no emotion. They’re not detached. They don’t fucking care. There’s no emotion at all. But they’re anxious, edgy. They’re evasive if you try to speak to them or include them. They’re not participating, but not walking away either. Quiet, not contributing a thing. Why agree to come if you’re not planning on contributing? Wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them. So, it’s three that are ‘sus’.”
“I hear you. Very perceptive. I’ll take it under advisement.”
~~~
Valor’s phone pinged as he sat at his personal command station and watched the mission targets through a series of close up focuses he’d brought up on his computer screens while overseeing Frenzy’s ‘mission’. Was it Alliance sanctioned? No. Was it a favor to a friend? Yes. And that in and of itself waswhy this was happening. That and the fact that Frenzy’s friends believed there could be still captive Variant males involved. “Hate fucking interruptions,” he grouched as he begrudgingly snatched his phone off the desk behind himself, and swiped the screen. “Better be worth distracting me,” he muttered. He read the message, thought about it, then read the message again.
“Going back in, believe we’re being watched. Field across from the original target is the focus. Earpieces 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… wearers could be compromised.”
“And the plot thickens,” Valor said to himself, redirecting the satellite to concentrate on the area Frenzy had given him. That done, he set aside his keyboard and reached for a smaller one that sat to the far right side of his desk. He tapped in a few commands, and the twenty one blue dots on the screen changed. Five of them turned red. “Alright, let’s see what you fuckers are up to that has Frenzy worried about you.” He typed a few more commands in, and then suddenly he could hear conversation. A small box appeared in the top right corner of the monitor screen the dots and map schematics were shown on. Within that box were five volume controls, each indicative of a different ear piece, numbered one through five. Each of those controls recording whatever conversation it picked up from its wearer. Valor typed a few more commands, and another box appeared in the upper left hand corner of the monitor screen, each box was numbered, again, one through five. In each was a series of numbers. Those numbers indicated heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure. He minimized the box recording the conversations of wearers of ear pieces numbers one through five, and sat back to watch.
~~~
As quiet and stillness descended on the Gamieyon property yet again, three males continued to lie silently in their hiding spot beneath the leaves, limbs and decaying debris across the highway from the Gamieyon Pride lands. They’d been rushed to the site that morning and dug a shallow pit in the field, lying in the cool, wet clay that would disguise not only their scent, but their heat signature in the off chance anyone scanned the area — not that they expected it. No one knew they were involved.
Their orders were simple — observe, identify, to later track and destroy. They’d hesitated only once. That was when they saw others like them, but wearing a different uniform, arriving with more shifters. They’d silently made eye contact among themselves, questioning what they were seeing. They’d been told they were the only males left — all others having been disposed of due to lack of ability to follow orders. And they themselves were alive only on a probationary basis. One step out of line and they wouldn’t even be a memory. Yet here was proof they weren’t the last.
