“Yeah…well, a newer version,” Riley added.
Glancing over at the humans, now struggling against their ropes, Ghost asked, “Can you disable the bombs?”
“From here? Maybe but there’s no way I can tell for sure it’d work…”
“Fucking hell!” Ghost spat. Running his hand through his hair, he began to pace, trying to come up with a solution that would allow him to keep the humans alive while keeping him and his men safe. “What if I removed one? Would that help?”
“Maybe…it depends on what was used as the triggering device,” Riley replied. “But…and it’s a big but…there’s no guarantee you can do it without it exploding.”
“I don’t see much of a choice,” Ghost growled. “I can’t leave them here or let ‘em go since they’ve seen too much of our world. The only other option would be to kill them…and that would be the end of any leads as to who’s behind this.”
“Gimme a minute,” Riley murmured. “Maybe there is a way to defuse the shit from here.”
~/~/~/~/~
Pulling over to the side of the highway, Sgt. Elliot Farren looked in his rear view mirror to make sure no one was behind him. Seeing the coast was clear, he made a U-turn, heading to the location the dispatcher gave him. The report of an explosion on one of the mountains in his district was unusual; in fact, it was a first in the history of his department according to his supervisor. Given that, he figured it was a prank call, but that was quickly rejected when his boss forwarded the cell phone video received from the person who reported it.
Flipping on his blue lights, Elliot sped towards the dirt access road that would get him close to the GPS coordinates of the explosion. As a game warden with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, he’d run across some strange things, but after a thorough investigation, the truth was usually uncovered. He quickly went through possible explanations of what could have caused it, but just as quickly eliminated each one. The only possibility he couldn’t reject was it must be a new way of illegal hunting.
The more Elliot turned it over in his mind, the more sense it made. An explosion would stun any deer, moose, bear, or other large animal making it easy for a hunter to finish them off.Fucking hell!The thought alone made his blood boil at the image, not to mention the laws that were broken. Mentally ticking them off in his head, he began with the most obvious one—hunting season was closed, so killing any animal was guaranteed to get the hunter a thousand dollar fine. That alone was bad enough, but when it also included the loss of their hunting license for five years, well, suffice to say, in all his years as a game warden, he’d yet to write out that particular ticket.
Spying the turnoff for the dirt road, Elliot slowed down, signaling his intent to turn. At the sound of a honking horn, he glanced out his window, only to find a boy waving at him as he and his father drove past. Returning the smile and wave, he then focused on navigating the dirt road, groaning as his truck bottomed out in one of its many ruts. Slowing to a crawl, his eyes searched the forest on either side, looking for a hunter who might be responsible for the explosion.
At times like these, Elliot was grateful for his immortality; the likelihood of getting shot by a hunter who’d already broken the law was high, but as had happened a few times in the past, he’d escaped without even a scar to show for it. But it also meant making a trip home to face his father—and that was something he wanted to avoid, if possible.
Coming over a small rise in the road, Elliot spied a group of men standing next to an SUV parked on the soft shoulder of the road. If his gut was right, these were the men responsible for the explosion, but it appeared they weren’t hunting wildlife. Slowing down until his truck was just inching along, his eyes then focused on a group of men tied to a tree on the other side of the road. Frowning, he began to roll down his window.What the fuck!
“Boss, we got a visitor,” Hawkeye murmured, glancing over his shoulder.
Snapping his head around, Ghost’s eyes narrowed at the sight of a green pickup truck slowly making its way towards him. “I gotta go Riley…call you back shortly.” Slipping the phone into his pocket, he walked into the middle of the road, forcing the driver to stop. It was just his luck a fucking game warden would be patrolling this particular road today.
Shifting his truck into park, Elliot stared at the man blocking him. His eyes shifted over to the other men, examining each one before returning to Ghost, who appeared to be their leader.What the hell was a tiger along with other shifters doing in his district?Whatever they were up to, he figured it wasn’t something he was going to be happy about. Finally opening the door, he slowly got out, keeping a friendly face as he approached Ghost. “Everything okay?”
Ghost didn’t believe in coincidences; the sudden appearance of a game warden on this particular road and at this particular time rang every one of his alarm bells.Who the fuck is he?Seeking an answer to that question, he sniffed discretely, discovering the man didn’t have a scent.Not human then…but what is he?The best course of action, he decided, was to answer the game warden’s questions in order to get rid of him as quickly as possible. “Everything’s good,” Ghost said, smiling.
Elliot’s gaze slowly panned the faces of Ghost’s men, locking eyes with them while mentally recording which type of shifter each was. “Good to know. Do you have any ID?”
Slowly pulling out his wallet, Ghost removed his driver’s license, handing it over to the game warden.
“Thanks…I’ll be right back…don’t leave.” Elliot headed to his truck and climbed in. Calling his dispatcher, he gave him the name and asked if there were any violations. Not surprisingly, there weren’t any. Tapping the driver’s license against his pants, he sneaked another glance at the tiger shifter, before snapping a picture of the driver’s license with his cell phone camera. Then getting out, he returned to the group of men, handing the ID back to Ghost.
“Anything else, officer?”
Elliot’s eyes shifted over to the humans. “Yeah…what about those fellas tied up? They good, too?”
Ghost glanced over his shoulder briefly before returning his gaze to the game warden. “Yup…they’re good, too.”
Snorting, Elliot’s eyes narrowed. “They don’t look fine to me…if you don’t mind, I’ll just see for myself.” Before he could take a step, the tiger shifter blocked his path.
“I said they’re fine.”
Watching as the other shifters form a barrier behind Ghost, Elliot assessed the situation, inwardly smiling to himself. He was impressed with their loyalty, a rarity according to what he’d experienced. Even though they were no match for him, he decided on a different approach. No sense in alerting anyone to his existence on earth—at least not until he was ready to. “Can I talk to you alone?” he asked Ghost.
Studying the man’s face, Ghost was satisfied the game warden wasn’t going to challenge him. So after giving a brief nod, he followed him to the back of the pickup truck, before saying, “Talk.”
“Those are humans you got tied up.”
Ghost nodded.
