But she wasn’t there. It was only Mike. And the guy from Coffield with the bloody face and shirt, along with a knot on his forehead the size of a baseball. Even with his head as fuzzy as it was, Carter could still pick up the guy’s heartbeat, and there wasn’t a claw mark to be seen on him.
“Hadley?” he asked again, turning back to his squad leader, feeling really frigging confused.
“I lied,” Mike said softly, looking over Carter, probably checking for injuries. “Sorry about that, but it was the only way I could get you to snap out of your omega haze.”
Carter was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Hadley’s name alone was enough to get him to come back to himself when another thought struck him.
“There was another guy,” he said, pushing himself upright to look around. “He was dragging at least two people toward a van parked somewhere nearby. I’m not sure, but I think they might still be alive. And Strickland’s here, too. He’s gotta be the one telling the other two what to do. He wanted the bodies for some reason. I saw him standing in the woods over there.”
Getting to his feet, Carter turned toward the last place he’d seen the serial killer, ready to head that way. He needed to go after him before Strickland got away.
Mike jumped up, stopping him with a hand on his chest. “Hold up. Strickland is long gone, but Hale and Trey caught up with the other escapee near the edge of the woods about a hundred feet from a stolen van. The two homeless men he was dragging that way are still alive. They’re in bad shape and likely looking at a long recovery, but they’re alive. And whether you think it’s a reason to cheer or not, your omega took down that guy over there. Hale and Trey working together were barely able to take down the other one. You did it alone. Plus, you were able to pull yourself back from the edge before doing anything that couldn’t be explained. So, take the wins where you find them.”
Carter nodded in agreement, though he couldn’t help but wonder how much worse this day would have gotten if Mike hadn’t been there to whisper Hadley’s name in his ear.
“Why the hell did Strickland want those two homeless men?” he asked, glancing once more toward the section of pines where he’d seen the serial killer.
“I couldn’t even begin to guess,” Mike admitted. “Hopefully, we’ll figure out what he’s up to once we question the two guys we have in custody.”
He and Mike double-cuffed the unconscious convict and dragged him through the woods toward the parking lot where they’d left the chief. Even though Carter knew Strickland had disappeared, he still couldn’t stop looking over his shoulder at the spot where the man had been a few minutes earlier.
* * * * *
It had barely been more than twenty minutes since Carter and his pack mates had entered the woods, so he was surprised when they arrived back at the corner of the shopping center parking lot and saw Tyrell Turner and his entire team of U.S. Marshals waiting for them. Turner especially looked extremely irritated, though he wasn’t letting it show in his words as he spoke to Chief Leclair.
While Mike went over to talk to the brass, Carter got their still-unconscious prisoner into the back of a police cruiser, warning the officer that the man was extremely strong and needed to be put into high-security lock-up ASAP.
Not wanting to get involved in the conversation taking place around the front of the chief’s vehicle, Carter joined Hale and Trey over by the ambulances, watching as the paramedics loaded up the two homeless men. Even with all bandages already in place, the wounds were still disturbing, and he looked away before the images became fodder for nightmares.
After a few minutes, Carter finally decided to edge closer to the conversation going on between the chief and the Marshals so he could eavesdrop.
“Fortunately, my team and I were still in Dallas talking to one of the regional supervisors when the call came in that you’d located two of the escapees or we never would have made it here in time to see who you detained,” Turner was saying.
Mike and the chief said all the right things, about this being a short-notice operation and that they’d done everything they could to pass the message to both the Marshals and the FBI. Turner simply nodded his head, not giving any indication whether he believed them or not—or that he cared one way or another. He simply moved on, asking several questions concerning the identity of the two convicts who’d been captured, seemingly unconcerned when it was mentioned the men had torn into their victims and how difficult it had been to subdue Hale and Trey’s prisoner.
“So, Strickland wasn’t here?” Turner questioned, clearly disappointed. Maybe more than he should have been considering that they had two of the other prison escapees back in custody.
Carter glanced at Mike, waiting for his squad leader to tell the Marshal about Strickland being at the scene, but his pack mate only gave a little shake of his head, his gaze still on Turner.
“We’ll be questioning the other two prisoners soon,” Chief Leclair said. “We’ll also track their whereabouts over the past several days. Hopefully, they’ll lead us to the other escapees.”
Turner nodded. “While it’s probably worth the effort, I’m almost certain the escapees have split up by now.”
From the corner of his eye, Carter saw Mike’s head tilt slightly to the side, his eyes narrowing a little.
A few minutes later, the parking lot began to clear out. The ambulances disappeared first, soon followed by the marshals and Chief Leclair. A few of the other officers stopped by to check on Carter and his fellow werewolves, but then they were heading out too.
“Turner was lying,” Mike said the moment they were alone. “I have no idea why, but all that stuff about him and his team being in a meeting with his regional supervisor was a lie. I don’t believe his theory that Strickland and the other prisoners have split up, and neither does he.”
Carter frowned. “Why would he lie about any of that?”
He exchanged looks with his pack mates, hoping they might have some ideas.
Seemed everyone was wondering why someone they were supposed to trust was lying to them.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Are you sure you don’t need a doctor to look you over?” Hadley asked as she and Carter walked upstairs to Karissa and Hale’s apartment. Thunder sounded outside, making her flinch a little. It had just started raining as they’d stepped through the front door. It seemed they’d made it in at the perfect time.
