Page 51 of The Enforcers: KANE

“What the hell happened to him?” he asked. The kid had been a good Marine, a good Enforcer. No one should be able to do this to him. He couldn’t imagine what that would be like—to look at yourself doing something horrible you didn’t remember.

The medic shook her head, her eyes dark with worry. “I have no idea,” she said.

* * *

Rachelle made her way through the near-empty hallways, keeping her cloak of invisibility wrapped tight around her.

She was going to pay for this later with complete exhaustion, she knew. The cloaking power was meant for short-term use—like sneaking through a door—and she was likely to have to keep it up for a good half-hour or forty-five minutes. But she had to stay off all the security cameras. It would be too suspicious if anyone saw her sneaking around the casino so soon after the robbery.

The hallways were bare and echoing, lit with fluorescent lights. This was the nuts-and-bolts side of the resort, populated by staff, performers, and lower management. The glittering opulence the guests saw stopped at the edge of the public areas.

Rachelle headed for the offices. The vault had been Selina’s goal, and so it was the focus of her psychological and emotional energy. The trail would start there. Once Rachelle picked up that signature and memorized it, she could track Selina.

The problem was, the vault room was off the manager’s office, which was still going to be a hub of activity. Guests were probably being questioned in the larger rooms before being released, but the manager’s office would be the command center.

She just hoped she could get in and out without encountering Kane.

When she got to the executive offices, she was back to glittering opulence. The thick carpet muffled the sound of her footsteps, and she walked silently toward Mr. Owen’s office.

When she passed by the conference room, she glanced through the window set in the wooden door. Kane was standing over someone who was seated at the table, his back to the door. And he was—holy crap, did Kane have him chained to the table?

The man started jerking on the chains, banging them rhythmically. Rachelle forced herself to move on. If they’d captured one of Selina’s gang, she’d learn about it soon enough. She had another job to do.

The sound of banging turned to snarls, and Kane yelled for a medic. A woman in a white coat burst out of the next door down the hallway—the one leading to Owen’s office—leaving it open in her hurry.

Rachelle dodged out of her way and slipped through the open door of the manager’s office, flattening herself against the wall just before someone came over and closed it.

She was standing in Owen’s outer office. There were half a dozen people in the room. A couple of them were at the secretary’s desk, working feverishly on computers. More were at the observation window, watching what was going on in the conference room.

There was a forensic team going in and out of Mr. Owen’s private office, collecting evidence. The door to the vault room was open, but crisscrossed with crime scene tape to keep people out.

No one seemed to notice her presence. They wouldn’t see her unless they were really looking, or she ran into them. They could scent her, of course, but with so many people coming and going, no one would be paying attention to individual scents.

Only Kane would recognize her scent immediately. She just had to hope he stayed out of the room until she had done her thing and left again.

She made her way cautiously to the door to the vault room and ducked under the yellow tape. There was no one inside, thank goodness, so she was free to concentrate as long as she didn’t let the light-bending cloak lapse.

Rachelle paced slowly around the center of the room, trying to hone in on Selina’s energy residue. She sensed low-level energy that clearly belonged to several sets of guards—the last few shifts. Closer to the vault door, she picked up another signature residue. Male, wolf, at a high level of excitement and agitation. His energy felt off-kilter; he had almost certainly been under Selina’s influence.

And there—there was Selina’s signature. The thrill of power—and the anticipation of how this money would bring her more power than she’d ever dreamed of.

Rachelle moved towards the vault, following the emotion, gathering it inside her. Selina’s delight in causing pain, and her sick excitement over her secret project. Rachelle only wished her own power would give her details, but she read emotions, not thoughts.

She stepped closer to the vault door. Taking in Selina’s emotions made her feel slimy and dirty. This was the part of the job she hated—she felt like a piece of her remained permanently grimy every time she took on a piece of a criminal’s dark soul.

But she had to lock down on Selina, and the more of the other woman’s energy residue she took inside herself, the longer she would be able to follow the trail. She just hoped she didn’t vomit before she was through—that would be impossible to hide.

She closed her eyes and submerged herself in the energy, blocking out all sounds and sensory input. Come on, Selina, she thought. Show me how to find you.

* * *

Kane watched the med team wheel away the gurney that held the unconscious Noah. They’d keep him restrained and sedated in the medical center until the Shifter Council took charge of his treatment.

Shifters couldn’t go to ordinary hospitals, for obvious reasons. Accelerated healing, blood and DNA tests, the risk of involuntary shifts—there were too many ways they could be outed. Besides, shifters didn’t get sick, and most of their injuries healed quickly with minimal intervention.

But the Council did keep medical facilities for the few shifters that needed ongoing care. Nash Jenkins, the former Nashville alpha, had been moved to one after his refusal to submit to Jesse’s dominance caused a permanent brain injury.

Kane hoped to hell Noah’s condition wasn’t one of the permanent ones—that it was a result of some kind of shifter-specific drug. Although that was enough to worry about. The idea of criminals wielding a drug that could make shifters into mindless minions and then wipe their memories was terrifying.