“Just what I said. Panther’s target is a dragon.”
“No, not that crap…the other part. If he’s a dragon, he has to be listed somewhere…did you look in the Dragon Master Files? What about the High Council? Did you search all the files, even the confidential ones? Are you sure this isn’t a ruse, just in case his phone was hacked?”
Turning around, Riley glared at Glenn. “Yes, mother, I looked there, and here and everywhere. Do you want to check my work to see if I did it correctly?”
Hearing the biting sarcasm in Riley’s voice caused Glenn to snap his mouth closed. He was out of line and if he hadn’t known it, his friend made damn well sure he knew it now. Dropping down in a side chair, Glenn took a moment to get himself under control. “Sorry, Riley…no excuse for my behavior.”
Peering closely at his friend, Riley noticed the tension in Glenn’s face and body. After working with him for many years, it was a sign Glenn was dealing with something more. “Forget it. Now, why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you because while I get it that you don’t want The Collector to get his hands on another shifter, it doesn’t explain your reaction when I mentioned Fouché.”
Staring at Riley, Glenn couldn’t explain it to himself, much less to anyone else. It had never happened to him before on any assignment, which is why he was so good at what he did. Cool, detached, always keeping his witsabout him, never losing control—but for some fucking reason, his tiger had reacted badly to Riley’s news, warning Glenn of impending danger to the dragon. So where did that leave him? Royally fucked. Finally, rubbing a hand over his face in frustration, Glenn said, “Can’t help you cause I don’t have a fucking clue. My tiger is not happy…seems to feel Fouché is in danger and is demanding I either go or let him free so he can go.”
“O-o-okay, that’s normal, right? Fouché’s in danger so your tiger isn’t telling you anything you don’t already know.”
“Yes…no. This is different. When I’m on a job, my tiger alerts me when I’m in danger. And if I don’t pay attention to him, he’ll force a shift to get me out of a potentially life-threatening situation. But, this time, he’s trying to do that for someone else…someone I don’t even know.”
“Does your tiger know Fouché? I mean, I’m not sure how that could happen without you knowing about it but it’s possible, right?”
“No, it can’t happen. I think my tiger’s behavior has to do with my mate, but I haven’t figured out why, yet. Let’s get back to work. Okay, so The Collector is after Fouché and not Kevin. That gives us more time to get his parents to safety and find him. In the meantime, do you know where Panther is?”
“Yeah, according to his phone records, he’s down in Mexico, at a villa overlooking the ocean.” Swiveling to his computer, Riley clicked on the print icon. “It’s owned by a shell corporation whose single stockholder is Panther.” Passing the documents to Glenn, he said, “I’ve included a topographical map. The villa is at the top of a cliff that juts out into the ocean…meaning there’s only one way in by road and that doesn’t provide any cover. The other choice is to scale one of the cliffsides…I marked the one that would be the most difficult…the one nobody would expect anyone to scale. It should be the least protected.”
Studying the map Riley marked, Glenn snorted softly to himself. It was a sheer rock face and, while both Ghost and Smokey were expert climbers, this one would be a challenge, even for them. “They’re gonna love you for this. Okay, what else do you have on this fucker?”
“There’re a number of phone calls…the last one was a day ago…that I believe are from The Collector, but I can’t be sure because the caller is listed as unknown…a sign someone wants his number kept secret. However, I’m slowly going through the numbers Panther called, on the off-chance he called The Collector at some point. That’s gonna take some time.”
“Do you know how long Panther intends to be in Mexico?”
“Nope…so Ghost and Smokey should head out asap. I have a tracker on his phone so if he moves, I can give them a heads up.”
“Good. What about Fouché…do you know where he is?”
“Maybe. He isn’t in the database of any of the governing bodies, but my search did turn up the sale of a condo in New York City last year and a trust fund. And, get this, the trust fund is at a bank owned by humans. According to the bank records, this dude is one very rich dragon. Here, see for yourself,” Riley said, handing over more documents he’d printed.
“So what? All dragons are rich. That still doesn’t explain why The Collector is after him. What’s so unique about Fouché that would attract his attention?” Glenn asked.
“Maybe it’s connected to why he isn’t listed anywhere.”
“Wait…The Collector’s latest post said something about him looking for an Omega Dragon, right?”
“Yup,” Riley said, “it did, but as you said, an Omega Dragon isn’t that rare…at least not according to the Dragon Council.”
“True, but what if Fouché is a special kind of Omega Dragon? That would explain The Collector’s interest.”
Shrugging, Riley said, “It would, but as far as I know, there are only female and male Omega Dragons…neither are that rare…at least rare enough to attract The Collector’s attention. From everything we know, The Collector wants one-of-a-kind shifters…like your mother. A male Omega Dragon isn’t that rare.”
“Well, there has to besomethingunique about Fouché that makes him a target.” insisted Glenn. “Keep looking for him. I’m gonna talk to Smokey and Ghost about getting Panther.” After getting a nod from Riley, Glenn left, heading towards the conference room where his friends were sorting through the information Smokey had gathered on Kevin. At least he now knew the unicorn wasn’t The Collector’s target, and that gave him the freedom to redo the plan without jeopardizing Kevin or his parents—at least for the time being. Opening the door, he found Ghost and Smokey in a standoff. Taking a seat at the table, he turned, watching his friends growling at each other. “Hey, assholes, can I play too? What are we comparing today? Cocks? Balls? BecauseI’m telling you right now, I’m the winner in both of those categories.”
“This jackass insulted Kevin,” Smokey snarled.
“I did not. All I said is…”
“You better not say it again or you’re gonna be sorry.”
“Cut it out…both of you. We don’t have time for this shit. Riley found out Panther isn’t searching for Kevin…”
Dropping his fighting stance, Smokey turned to Glenn. “What the fuck? Then who’s he tracking and why is he after me?”
“Let me ask you this…when you were searching for Kevin, did you ever mention his name?” asked Glenn.
