Trevor’s mouth tightened. “Trust me, if I could, I would. But I can’t do that without causing a scene. One wrong move on my part, and we could be risking that shifter’s life.”
Brooklyn didn’t look like she was fond of that idea, but she nodded. “So what’s the plan then?”
Ivy had been going to ask the same question. Maybe they should just let the girl run the mission.
“It’s simple.” Trevor grinned. “I make sure Mahsood’s research is destroyed and get the shifter out, then all three of us meet up with Ivy and Landon in the woods. Something tells me the moment Ian gets a whiff of you, he’ll come running. Then we all get the hell out of here.”
Brooklyn smiled, too, her blue eyes sparkling. “That’s a good plan. I like it.”
“What if something goes wrong between now and then?” Ivy asked. “What if you run into trouble? With Landon and me outside, there’s no way for us to communicate with you.”
Trevor thought about that. After a moment, the coyote shifter jerked his head toward the far side of the room “See that window on the far left over there?”
Ivy glanced at the window in question. It had bars on it like all the others and sheer curtains pulled back to either side. “What about it?”
“It’s not in the view of any of the cameras,” Trevor said. “By the time you leave, there will be a small piece of surgical tape stuck in the bottom left of the window. Four hours later, Brooklyn or I will move the tape to the right bottom corner to let you know that everything is fine. Four hours later, it goes to the left again. If you check and the tape isn’t where it should be, that means we’re in trouble.”
“Every four hours?” Ivy frowned. “If there’s a problem, that could leave you two in trouble on your own for a long time before we even know something has gone wrong.”
“Nurse Ratched and the orderlies watch everyone like hawks. It will be tough enough for Brooklyn or me to get to that window every four hours,” Trevor said. “Any more often than that, and it’s bound to draw someone’s attention. If we run into trouble, we’ll make do until the cavalry comes.”
Ivy didn’t like it, but for now, it was the best plan they had.
As she got up to give her “brother” a hug just in case Brand was watching them on a camera somewhere, Trevor reminded her of something else.
“If things turn out the way we planned, we’re going to have a shifter on our hands who’s probably been experimented on for months, plus two teenagers fresh out of a mental institution, one of whom happens to be a hybrid. They can’t go to the DCO with us, so I think John might want to call Adam and get him to send some of his people up here.”
Ivy blinked in surprise. “You know about Adam?”
Trevor chuckled. “I’m a spy, remember? You and Landon dropped enough hints here and there along the way for me to realize that John has someone with a lot of pull helping him deal with Thorn. I sniffed around and figured out that the DCO’s very first shifter probably didn’t die like everyone said. I get the feeling the guy is hard to kill. It wasn’t difficult figuring out what was going on after that.”
Wow. Just how much did Trevor know about Adam and the shadowy organization he’d created for no other purpose than to keep the bad guys in the DCO in check? Adam and his collection of hidden shifters had been working completely off the grid for over a decade while collaborating with John the entire time. The fact that Trevor had learned about it after he’d done some digging was alarming but not surprising. Underneath all that dry wit, the coyote shifter was extremely good at his job. Ivy only hoped no one else in the DCO or on the Committee had someone as smart as Trevor digging around, or the dangerous game being played by the factions within the agency could get a lot more perilous.
* * *
Dreya frowned at the silhouette targets set up in front of her on the DCO shooting range, only partially satisfied with all the holes in them. Instead of her bullets finding the center of each, most were on the shoulders and arms. A few even took out an ear or two. If they’d been real bad guys, she would have scared the hell out of them, but she probably wouldn’t have killed very many.
She was just picking up her Glock to try again when she felt a tingling along the nape of her neck, telling her someone was behind her. It wasn’t the guy who ran the range, because he was still moving around in the supply building, getting more ammo, and it wasn’t Braden, because he’d left a few minutes ago to grab some takeout from the cafeteria for them.
Setting her gun on the table, she turned to see John standing there. With the wind in her face, she hadn’t smelled him. How long had he been standing there? More importantly, had he seen what an incredibly average shot she was?
He smiled. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
She laughed as she took off her protective hearing muffs and placed them next to her gun. “That’s okay. I should take a break anyhow. Braden keeps telling me I can’t do it all in one day.”
John’s smile disappeared to be replaced by a frown. “Have you been shooting all morning?”
She nodded. Braden had told her repeatedly that she’d done a good job in Miami, but she knew she needed to get better with her weapon. She hadn’t been able to take a shot at Cabo for fear of hitting the woman he’d been holding hostage, and she didn’t ever want to find herself in that situation again. She could do better—shewoulddo better. She simply needed more practice.
“I’m just trying to learn as much as I can, as fast as I can,” she said.
“I have no doubt you’re up for the challenge,” he told her. “I can’t believe how fast you and Braden are melding as a team as it is. You’re up there with some of the best I’ve ever seen.”
She did a double take, as stunned by the compliment as she was about how good it made her feel. “Seriously? Wow. Thanks.”
“Speaking of Braden, I ran into him on the way here,” John continued. “He said that if he didn’t go up to the cafeteria to get you something for lunch that you wouldn’t have stopped to eat at all.”
She boosted herself up with her hands to sit on the table. “We’re going to run through the shoot house again this afternoon, and I wanted to make sure I got in enough practice out here before then.”
