Fingers started to tighten on triggers, and Caleb knew the shooting was about to start. Less than twenty feet from an atrium full of UN dignitaries. As werewolves, he and Hayley would likely survive a shootout with Harrington’s bodyguards, even at this range. But Brielle and Forrest almost certainly wouldn’t. He had to get to Brielle and protect her. He only hoped Harley was aware enough to know she had to do the same for Forrest. Misty would be devastated if anything happened to him.
Caleb extended his fangs and claws further. He was gonna kill as many people as he could on his way to Brielle.
Starting with Harrington.
“Father, what’s going on?” a soft, feminine voice interrupted just as Caleb was about to launch himself forward.
A moment later, a slender woman with long, blond hair wearing a dress so expensive it probably cost more than the last four or five cars that Caleb had stolen walked into the middle of the crowd of armed people, an irritated expression on her face. Like she was dealing with a room full of first graders arguing over a video game controller.
“You were going to start shooting people in the hallway at a United Nations humanitarian conference?” she demanded, disgust dripping off her words as she stepped in front of Harrington, pushing Uriel’s weapon aside without even looking at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Kiara, you need to leave. Now,” Harrington said, his voice a mix of exasperation and anger as he stepped forward and took her arm.
She yanked her arm free of her father’s grasp. “Don’t even try it. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I refuse to be part of it. Nor will I walk away and act like I didn’t see anything.”
Caleb was still grappling with the idea that someone like Harrington could have a daughter when the young woman suddenly stepped away from her father and looked around at his bodyguards.
“Put your weapons away, you idiots, before someone comes around the corner and sees you,” she ordered.
Caleb wasn’t sure that the woman’s angry tirade would work, but with a gesture from Harrington, the men slowly holstered their guns. Brielle was immediately at Caleb’s side. At the far end of the hallway, Harley finally dropped the man she’d been choking, blood from where her claws had dug into his skin running down his neck. Harley and Forrest took their places to either side of Caleb and Brielle, weapons still out.
Harrington obviously wasn’t happy with his daughter’s interruption, but after another gesture at his men, they began to peel off and head for the garage one by one.
“I’d like to think we won’t be seeing each other again, but we all know that’s unlikely,” he said, eyes on Caleb. “So instead, I’ll admit to looking forward to our next meeting.”
Turning on his heel, he strode down the hallway toward the garage. Caleb expected his daughter to follow, but she stayed where she was.
“I don’t know who you people are, but if you’re smart, you’ll stay away from my father,” she said to them. “He’s more dangerous than you can possibly comprehend.”
With that, she hurried to catch up to Harrington, her high heels echoing in the hallway.
“What the hell just happened?” Forrest asked as Kiara disappeared from sight. “I thought we were seconds away from starting the UN version of the O.K. Corral.”
“I don’t know,” Caleb murmured, fighting the urge to wrap his arms around Brielle and hold her close. “But we need to get the hell out of here and warn Jake and the others that Harrington knows they’re searching his offices. They could be facing an ambush there, too.”
They headed for the garage where they’d parked their SUV. Harrington’s limo was nowhere in sight. It was only after they were in the SUV and on their way back to the safe house that Caleb was finally able to breathe freely again. Brielle was safe at the moment, but he had no delusions about how close she’d come to dying. And that thought nearly crushed his soul.
Chapter 14
“I can’t come up with anything else to explain how he knew what we were planning,” Jake said, running his hand through his hair in exasperation as he sat down wearily on the big, comfortable-looking couch. “Harrington must have someone inside our organization feeding him information. There’s no other way he could have known we were both at the UN and his group offices at the same time.”
From where she was perched on the stool at the granite island dividing the living room from the kitchen in the Englewood, New Jersey, home they were using as a safe house, Brielle waited for someone to tell Jake that he was wrong, that there was no way anyone in STAT—or the CIA or NSA for that matter—had ratted them out. But nobody did.
“I’m less concerned about how Harrington knew we were in his building than how his security people seemed to know which way we were going to run during our escape,” Sawyer murmured. He was sitting beside Harley on the couch, his face grim. “Even after Misty shut down the building’s security cameras, those guards were ahead of us every step of the way. It was like they knew where we were going before we did. We’re lucky to have made it out of there alive.”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing.” Jake frowned. “Especially since it might mean we don’t just have a spy in our organization but somewhere on our team.”
As one, everyone—including Brielle—looked at Hudson, who was leaning against the island. He promptly gave them all the finger.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered. “I was nearly killed three times trying to get us out of Harrington’s offices. And it sure as hell wasn’t like I had a chance to communicate with anyone while we were running our asses off.”
Sawyer regarded him coolly. “Maybe you have a tracking device on you.”
Hudson stepped away from the island, spreading his arms. “Feel free to search me. Right here in front of everyone.”
“The tracking device could be one of those high-tech thingies that slip under your skin,” Caleb said with a low growl from the kitchen where he was searching through the mostly empty cabinets for something to eat. “I’d have to slice you apart to make sure I don’t miss it, though.” He glanced over his shoulder, eyes flashing blue for a split second. “I don’t think anyone would have a problem with that.”
Brielle was surprised by how angry Caleb was. Now that she thought about it, he’d been like that since they’d left the UN building in Midtown.
