Sage shook her head with a laugh. “No, not really. I just knew I had to find him.”
She rolled onto her side again, and they both fell silent. A little while later, Sage fell asleep, a smile still curving her lips.
Alina couldn’t help but hate the people who had hurt the fragile, vulnerable girl. Knowing Thorn was behind the hybrids, and that Dick would exterminate Sage if it proved convenient, pissed her off so badly, she wanted to hunt both men down and shoot them the same way she’d wanted to hunt Wade down and shoot him after he’d murdered her teammates.
Sage reminded her a lot of Jodi. She had the same tough outer persona wrapped around a gentle inner soul, and Alina promised herself she’d never let anyone hurt her the way Jodi had been hurt. That would almost certainly mean going up against two of the most powerful and dangerous men she’d ever met and aligning herself completely with Trevor and his friends.
Unfortunately, Trevor still didn’t seem ready to trust her. She couldn’t blame him for keeping her at arm’s length. He was playing a game of intrigue and espionage at the very highest level, personally taking on Thorn and Dick in their own backyard. One screwup on his part and not only would he be dead, but so would a lot of other people.
As far as Trevor was concerned, Alina was an outsider. He’d been wary of her from the start, and her actions since then had only confirmed his worst fears. He’d thought she was a spy, and she’d behaved like one.
Even so, it’d still hurt like hell when he’d told her he’d rather do whatever he was off doing with Tanner instead of her. She’d known he was full of crap when he’d tried to convince her it was nothing. She’d seen the look on his face when he’d gotten that phone call. Something serious was going down, but he’d decided he’d rather face the threat with Tanner than his own partner.
Damn, that stung like a bitch.
Alina sighed. She didn’t know how, but she was going to figure out a way to make Trevor trust her. Not only because he was her partner, but because he was quickly becoming something more to her.
* * *
Trevor pulled into the parking lot of the motel in Falls Church, Virginia, two hours later, then sat in his SUV for another thirty minutes to make sure he hadn’t been followed. Getting out of the vehicle, he walked across the parking lot and knocked on the door of room 105. It swung open by itself. That was when he noticed the piece of tape over the lock.
Trevor pushed it open the rest of the way, then pulled the tape off and locked it behind him. Adam was sitting at the small, round table, waiting for him. Trevor walked over and set the thumb drive on the table without a word. Adam picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of his signature duster.
“What’s on it?” he asked.
“A video of Thorn’s new hybrids,” Trevor said. “They’re completely in control of themselves and demonstrating abilities that no shifter has ever possessed. Thorn already has a plan for how he intends to use them. I have no idea what it entails, but I know he’s moving on it soon.”
Trevor expected Adam to ask for more details, but instead, he simply nodded.
“There’s something I need you to do,” Adam said. “It might not seem important given what you just told me, but trust me when I say it is.”
Trevor got a distinctly uncomfortable sensation in his stomach. Adam had asked him to do very few things directly, other than staying in the DCO and keeping an eye on Thorn and Dick.
“What is it?” he asked hesitantly.
“I need you to track down some people who have popped up on the radar. My sources say they’re planning to hit the ammunition supply point on Aberdeen Proving Ground tonight.”
Trevor frowned. Adam had his own operatives he could send out to do basic reconnaissance work like this. Why ask him to do it?
“We finally get some clue about the fucked-up game Thorn is playing, and you want me to chase ghosts around a military base in Maryland when we’re this close to nailing the son of a bitch who murdered John?” Trevor demanded.
Adam didn’t blink. Then again, the man rarely showed any outward sign of emotion. That cold, detached persona convinced Trevor that Adam might very well share his DNA with a reptile.
“John is the reason I want you to do it,” Adam said.
Trevor bit back a growl. “That makes no damn sense whatsoever.”
“John never got so focused on Thorn that he forgot the threat posed by every other asshole out there,” Adam said. “If these people are stealing military-grade weapons, John would be the first one to say they have to be stopped, even if it means putting your vengeance against Thorn on hold.”
“If you’re so worried about someone stealing weapons from the army, why don’t you just drop an anonymous tip to the base military police? Let the MPs stop the damn heist.”
“Because it’s possible some senior army personnel on the base are involved,” Adam said without missing a beat. “If we alert the army, we’ll tip our hand that we’re onto them. We need to stop these people now.”
The other shifter stood, reminding Trevor how tall he was, which was one hell of a trick, considering Trevor was six four.
“If I have to, I’ll send some of my own people, but they’re nowhere near your level of training, and they know next to nothing about the army or military munitions.” Adam’s eyes glinted. “They’ll do the best they can, but chances are they’re going to get killed. I guess you’re okay with that, though, because you have better things to do, right?”
Trevor cursed. He didn’t miss the passive-aggressive heat in Adam’s voice or the fact that the other shifter was calling him out. In the end, Trevor would never let someone else walk into a dangerous situation in his place. And Adam knew it.
