“He’s right. Besides, I’d be shocked if they didn’t have full intel on all of us by now,” Silas pointed out.
“We really need an inside man,” Painter agreed.
“I know a guy,” Ben said.
“I’m sure we all know a guy, Shay, but they aren’t as stupid as we’d like to believe. I’m sure they have found the genetic differences by now and would test for that,” Silas pointed out.
“That’s the great thing about my guy. He’s human.”
Silas snorted. “What good is a human to us? He’ll just freak out when he finds out what’s in there.”
“Nah. That’s the thing. He already knows about shifters.”
“Verndari?” Painter asked. “We can’t even trust the Verndari right now.”
“Nope, not Verndari. He’s a Ghost.”
“No human would ever be recruited into the Ghosts,” Silas pointed out.
I knew the Ghosts were an elite military unit. We’d recruited Ben from there.
“You’re telling us they let a human into the Ghosts?” I asked.
“Yeah. It was on accident. I trained him myself. He’s one of the best conmen you’ll ever find. No offense, T.”
“None taken.”
“He’s perfect. He’s human. He’s pro-shifter. Hell, he’s my brother.”
We all knew Ben didn’t mean his actual brother. He had a couple of those, but they were all much younger. Twins, maybe? I couldn’t remember for sure. It wasn’t my job to keep up with everyone else’s family. Sometimes I had a hard enough time just keeping up with my own, and until today, I’d thought that consisted of one—me.
“I say go for it,” I said. “What do we have to lose?”
“How soon can he get here? We’re blind, guys. I’m willing to try almost anything,” Silas admitted.
“Anything?” I asked. I was so ready to blow something up.
“We’re not blowing shit up right now,” he grumbled. “We at least need to identify Pike Murphy. If our intel is off and he’s not here then it’s a pointless mission and we’re back to the drawing board.”
“Guys, I have Jake on the phone. He’s interested,” Ben said.
Grant looked at him like he was insane. “We can’t just pull someone in like this. He needs to be properly vetted. You don’t know what he’s been up to since your discharge.”
“Dude, we talk nearly every day. Would you just trust me on this? He’s the best there is.”
I shrugged. I knew there wasn’t going to be a vote on the issue so my opinion didn’t matter. Silas would make up his mind one way or another. He’d run it by Patrick O’Connell and have Archie clear him first. Or so I assumed.
“Do it,” Silas said.
“What?” I asked. “You’re for real?”
“They wouldn’t just let anyone into the Ghosts. He’s already been cleared even more than we go through,” he admitted.
“They don’t just let humans into the Ghosts either,” I pointed out.
“He has skills. He got mistaken. I’m telling you, I trained him myself. He’s legit,” Ben insisted.
“We could use all the help we can get on this one. We have to confirm they have Pike and that this is even a Raglan center.”
“Why are we suddenly so concerned with this guy? I mean I know we came to help, but it feels like there’s an urgency here now too.” Rarely did Painter ever challenge or even question Silas’s orders.
“Dumbass here was kicked out of the Clan. We return and suddenly he has a true mate which happens to be the daughter of the Alpha and the sole reason he got expelled to begin with. That’s going to raise some concerns and cause potential problems for all of us. Getting their Alpha back quickly and in one piece will go a long way towards goodwill and not having to blaze a trail out of there when the time comes.”
“It doesn’t matter. Kano already assumed Alpha. Pike can’t take that back. Kano is younger and stronger. His father will most definitely know that. Kano’s okay. I mean I still haven’t forgiven them, but I’m not dumb enough to stir up shit now.”
“You mean like taking your mate and your freaking daughter back to San Marco?” Silas asked.
I started to speak and then shut my mouth. There was no way in hell I was going home without Olivia and Macie. It wasn’t gonna happen.
“And that’s what I thought,” he said smugly.
Times like this I wanted to smack that smirk right off his face, but I heard him loud and clear. This mission had become personal to lessen the blow of my departure with my family. Essentially, he was covering my ass and the rest of the team’s by default.
“We’ve got movement,” Grant announced. “While you guys argue, I’ve actually been doing my job.”
“Technically that’s Ben and Tarron’s job, babe,” T said sweetly.
“Whatever, give me those.” Tarron grabbed the binoculars away from Grant. “He’s right. And bingo. Someone confirm, because I do believe that’s not only our guy, but Trevor Daniels himself has him.”
“No way.” I grabbed the binoculars from Tarron. There was Pike being dragged by two large men out of the building and into a maroon SUV. Trevor Daniels calmly walked beside them talking away. “He’s hurt,” I observed. “Badly from the looks of it. That’s definitely Pike. We’re going to have to step in and do something quickly.”
“Not so fast,” Silas said. “They’re on the move. We need to know where and maybe we can determine why.”
“You think they know we’re here?” Grant asked.
Silas shrugged. “It’s possible. We can’t be too cautious when it comes to Trevor Daniels, or his father. Keep your distance.”
Grant fired up the vehicle and waited until they were nearly out of sight before slowly following behind. They didn’t go far though, just around the corner to another building in the same fenced in complex. We watched as they dragged him out of the car and into the new building.
My bear roared in my head. My mind understood he was no longer my Alpha and hadn’t been for a very long time, but my heart didn’t seem to get that point at all.
“It’s okay. We’ll get him,” Silas said. “Shay, I need you to get your guy here asap. I’ll get on the line with Jacob Winthrop to get him a cover.”
“Winthrop?” Painter sounded alarmed. “I’m not sure we can really trust him.”
“I’m aware, but he’s the best chance we’ve got at this. Your guy better be as good as you say, Ben. In the meantime, we have the evidence we need. Pike’s alive and in the hands of the Raglan. We’ll head back and wait for our next move.”
“What? That’s it? He could barely walk. You saw them dragging him. We need to get in there and get him out before they kill him,” I demanded.
Silas shook his head. “I know this is hard on you, but you’re being emotional.”
“Damn right I am.”
“Emotions will only get us all killed, and you know it. We need to be methodical about this. Getting Pike back isn’t our only goal here.”