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Luke gave her a reassuring look. “Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of it. Just like I’ll eventually get rid of him.”
Not if Blair did it first.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Late the following evening, Luke stood with a fairly large group in a field not far from the drop-off point, watching as Farrell swooped down in his avian form. Dark shadows stretched along the ground, giving them plenty of cover. The only source of light this far out was that of the waning moon.
His cat’s ears pricked up as he pressed against Luke’s insides, eager to hear what the Head Enforcer had learned. Luke was equally eager and raring to get moving. Adrenaline pulsed through his blood, heightening his senses and flooding his system with anticipation.
Farrell shifted shape and rolled his shoulders. The murmuring crowd went silent and joined Luke in gathering around him.
“What kind of scene are we facing?” asked Tate.
“One you’re not gonna like.” Farrell puffed out a breath. “It’s a good thing we brought extra backup on the off-chance that we’d need it.”
“Why?”
“There are four vehicles packed with humans.”
Luke felt his brows snap together. “Four?” He’d expected one, maybe two. “Why would Zayne bring such a large entourage?”
“That was my initial question,” said Farrell. “The answer? He didn’t. From what I was able to gather as I listened to various conversations, Zayne brought seven people along—three seem to be his usual bodyguards; they’re sitting with him in the first SUV. The other four are in a second SUV that’s towing a metal box which I presume is meant to contain Camden.”
Aspen spat a vicious curse.
“Maybe,” began Luke, “Zayne brought so many because he isn’t prepared to take the chance that Camden might free himself and overpower anyone close by.”
“Or the people towing the box have purchased Camden from Zayne,” suggested Havana. “After all, Zayne might have figured that it was safer for him to not have to store Camden somewhere while he arranged for a buyer to come collect him.”
Blair turned to Farrell. “Who are the people in the other two vehicles?”
The Head Enforcer rubbed the back of his head. “Well, it seems that Zayne has unexpected company in the form of anti-shifter extremists.”
Luke felt his brows fly up. The fuck?
“I recognized a few of them.” Farrell cut his gaze to Vinnie, who stood with Camden, Aspen, and Bailey. “They’ve met with you at the antique store on occasion. One is Hank Wheeler.”
Seeing his mate’s brow furrow in confusion, Luke told her, “Wheeler is pretty high up in the hierarchy of extremists.”
“He and Zayne had a brief conversation,” said Farrell. “Wheeler claimed he was just there to make sure everything ran smoothly.”
Blair pursed her lips. “In other words, like us, Wheeler doesn’t trust that Zayne doesn’t intend to kill Vinnie to hide his crime.”
That would be Luke’s guess. “Dad’s been an informant for the extremists for years—or so they believe. They wouldn’t want to lose a contact so valuable. Wheeler must figure his presence will be enough to ensure that Zayne sticks to his word.”
“I think that Zayne made the same assumption, because he seemed offended by Wheeler’s appearance,” said Farrell. “Zayne told him that his assistance wasn’t necessary, but Wheeler won’t budge.”
“Which is inconvenient for us, because it increases the number of humans that we’ll need to take out,” said Tate. “In total, how many will we be dealing with?”
“Twenty-two,” replied Farrell. “Wheeler piled quite a few into his van.”
“He likes to have a large entourage,” said Vinnie. “He may have also brought extra people as a scare tactic. After all, he’d rather discourage Zayne from doing anything stupid than actually have a shoot-out with him and his men.”
Havana twisted her mouth. “They only outnumber us by two.”
“Yeah, but we’re not armed,” the Head Enforcer pointed out. “Most of them probably are. The extremists always carry guns. At the very least, Zayne’s people will have tranqs in the event that they need to knock Camden out. Plus, Helena won’t be fighting; she’ll be on hand in case anyone needs healing—that leaves us one person down.”
“Not an ideal situation, all things considered,” said Havana. “We can still take out twenty-two, though. We’ll simply need to be careful how we proceed, because we don’t want them driving off. Have any exited the vehicles?”
“Zayne, Wheeler, and their respective bodyguards did, but they returned to their vehicles after ending their little chat,” replied Farrell.
Tate turned to Vinnie and Camden. “Lure out as many as you can. It will make it easier for the rest of us to crowd and tip over the vehicles before the humans have a chance to mow us down as they hightail it out of there.”
Pausing, Tate scanned the crowd of Olympus Pride members and their three wolverine allies—Valentina’s brothers had asked to come along, promising to eat the dead as a thank you. As you do. “You heard Farrell’s news, so you know we’ll be implementing Plan B. This will be a matter of all hands on deck. It may not be easy to get to the humans inside the vehicles. Zayne’s SUVs will no doubt have bulletproof windows and tires, given that he’s a celebrity. The extremists are known to occasionally take such measures with their own vehicles. So don’t concentrate on smashing car windows. Go for ripping off doors.”
