The surveillance was spelled so it was undetectable and invisible to the naked eye—Ailin and Bas worked on those together—so I wasn’t worried about them being found. Hiro was in charge of placing those since he apparently was used to doing recon like this. It made sense since he and Bas worked for the BCA.
We rounded a corner, and Bas took us straight up the staircase. We quickly went all the way to the top floor. The plan was to work our way down. We figured the hostages were in the basement, and we needed to get a look at them and take stock of their numbers and possible injuries. But we really needed to find out who was in charge of this operation so we knew exactly what we were up against.
Because they were going down.
“Hell yeah, they are,”Oak’s voice echoed in my head. They must’ve overheard me.
The thought made me smile a little.
The closer we became, the stronger our bond grew, the more we’d be in each other’s heads. We were both still figuring out how to block one another so we could have privacy when we wanted—although I didn’t really mind them overhearing me, generally speaking—so random things were sneaking through.
But I honestly loved it. I loved hearing them, feeling them, knowing they were there, and that they were connected to me in all ways.
I hoped that feeling me, feeling my affection and love for them, was a comfort for them as well.
We made it to the top floor and quickly began clearing rooms. The building was large, but there were only five offices up here—they were huge offices, clearly for the people in charge.
I could only assume one of them belonged to the grand master.
The largest office in the building had to be it, right?
Assuming it truly was the grand master of the Emissaries of Gepisha’s Iron that was in charge of the trafficking ring. All the previous recon pointed in that direction.
After we made sure we were alone on this floor, we began searching for evidence, looking for a name, looking for anything that would help us and our investigation. The last thing we needed was for this guy to get away during our upcoming raid.We needed backup plans, we needed to know who he was and where he lived, where he hid out, where he might bolt to.
Just in case.
I said, “Search everything, but be sure you put things backexactlywhere you picked them up from. We can’t let them know we were here.” Our raid needed to be a surprise. Otherwise, those in charge would bolt before we could capture them.
Hiro grunted, Bas nodded at me, and Oakley shot me a grin, saying, “You got it, big guy.”
I shot them a grin back, double-checked that everyone had their gloves on—they were spelled to keep not only our fingerprints off everything but to make sure our scents weren’t left behind.
Like I said, we couldn’t let them know we were here, and leaving our scents behind would set off alarm bells. If this office belonged to a blood witch, he likely wouldn’t be able to smell us, but Oak confirmed that there were still dragons in the cult, and one of them certainly could. These spells would prevent that.
Hiro worked at the computer while the rest of us searched the room, and after a few minutes, he said, “It looks like most of the emails are addressed to someone named Brinik. Does that mean anything to you guys?”
Oakley grimaced. “He’s a blood witch… Master Brinik Norfiel. If this is his office, he’s likely the new grand master.”
“That’s who we saw walk out of the building yesterday?” I asked, double-checking since Oak had given me a few names.
“Yes. He was always… especially cruel. No wonder the cult got caught up in trafficking with him in charge.” They shook their head and went back to looking through a filing cabinet, but I could feel their worry.
They weren’t scared, not really. They were simply… concerned, and I knew they weren’t looking forward to seeing that man again.
Using more effort than I probably should’ve given considering our situation, I pushed as much affection and love toward them through our bond. I needed them to feel cared for, that they were in a safe place—well, not right now, literally—but generally speaking. They had a true family now, one that would do everything in their power to protect them.
I wasn’t sure if it would work, but when Oak glanced over at me with a grateful smile—and I felt the same rush of affection and what I hoped was love come right back to me—I knew it’d worked.
A few minutes later, Oak said, “I found a letter addressed to Grand Master Brinik Norfiel, so I guess that confirms our suspicions. I haven’t found anything indicating that he’s answering to anyone else. Have you guys?”
Hiro said, “Nope. He seems to be in charge from everything I’ve read.”
“Same here,” Bas added.
I grunted my agreement. “I think we’ve found him. If you come across an address or even a picture of what looks like a home or anything like that, please share it.”
Through our comms, I quickly communicated everything we’d found to the others so they had the information and could begin putting together a profile of Brinik Norfiel.
