While the cops continued to investigate the scene, Adam pulled Trevor and the others into a back room so they could make plans. Except now, they’d split up and hit both the farm and the DCO complex.
“We didn’t have enough people to hit the hybrids to begin with,” Clayne pointed out. “If we split up, I don’t think we’re going to be able to do it.”
“Then we don’t split up,” Jayson said. The former Special Forces lieutenant gave them a fierce look. “We get Boo back first, and we worry about stopping the hybrids second. Because I sure as hell don’t like the idea of leaving John’s kid in the hands of Thorn’s wacko doctors. Not to mention Frasier.”
While Trevor agreed, it would be like sending up a flare. Any chance of catching the hybrids by surprise would be gone. He opened his mouth to say just that when his damn phone rang. Cursing, he dug it out of his pocket. Evan’s number flashed on the screen.
“The frigging hybrids are here!” Evan said the moment Trevor answered.
“What are you talking about?” Trevor asked, holding the phone a little away from his ear so Alina could hear.
“The hybrids we saw on the video during the briefing. They’re here at the DCO complex. I just saw them heading into the gym.”
“Are you sure?”
Evan cursed. “Of course I’m sure. Fourteen of them are frigging impossible to miss. Thorn, Dick, and those asshole doctors are here, too.”
It was Trevor’s turn to let out an expletive. “What are they doing?”
“I don’t know for sure. I got close enough to see them setting up map boards, projectors, and big terrain planning tables. I tried to see what was on the maps, but Dick intercepted me.”
Sounded like they were doing some last-minute planning. “Are you still at the complex? Is Jaxson there with you?”
“Yeah. Jaxson is keeping an eye on Sage. She started flipping out the moment she smelled the hybrids. I’m watching the gym to see if I can figure out what’s going on. I’ve been trying to reach Jake, but he’s not answering his phone. Do you know where he is?”
Trevor glanced at Alina. She shook her head. Yeah, too complicated to get into over the phone.
“Don’t worry about Jake right now,” he told Evan. “Do me a favor? If you see Frasier show up with a little girl, give me a call ASAP, okay?”
“Um…yeah, okay.”
Trevor hung up. “It looks like our issue resolved itself,” he said to his friends. “We don’t have to split up, because everything is going down at the DCO complex.”
Chapter 17
As Alina moved slowly toward the DCO medical lab on the back side of the complex, she attempted to mimic Trevor, Milan, Adam, and Morgan, hoping to tread as quietly as they did. They were like ghosts compared to her. She didn’t feel so badly about not being able to move as gracefully as Milan. The tall shifter was all legs and looked like she was made for this stealthy stuff. But it turned out that Morgan—who was six five and probably weighed close to three hundred pounds—was a frigging ballerina compared to Alina.
Sometimes, the world was so unfair.
Evan had called while they were on the way to the complex to tell them Frasier and two other men just arrived, an unconscious little girl slung over Frasier’s shoulder. Frasier had headed straight for the medical labs. Alina shuddered at the thought of what they were doing to Boo. If what Trevor said was true, it didn’t bode well for her.
Alina would have liked to bring more people with them, but since the other DCO agents had to deal with the majority of the hybrids as well as Thorn’s men, it had made sense for more of them to go to the gym. She only hoped her team could get in the lab and grab the girl without much of a fight. If it turned into a shoot-out, the numbers weren’t on their side.
So far, their luck was holding.
Just before they reached the double glass doors of the lab, Trevor held up his hand, stopping them.
“We might have a problem,” he whispered. “I just picked up Frasier’s scent heading that way.” He pointed toward the main admin building several hundred yards away. “Thorn and at least one hybrid are with him.”
Getting Thorn and Frasier out of the picture was a good thing, wasn’t it? Unless…
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Are you saying you don’t know if Frasier still had Boo with him?”
Trevor shook his head. “I can’t explain it, but the moment that little girl went through her shift, her scent changed so completely, I can’t recognize it.”
Alina looked at Adam, then Milan, and finally Morgan. “None of you can pick up her scent?”
