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“I didn’t mean to interrupt your…” Logan began only to have Brooks wave him off.
“Show me what prompted you to ask if we’d found a down shaft in the tunnels.” Brooks said, immediately pulling over a chair.
“Each of the areas circled in blue on the map contains an intricate, underground cave system,” Logan explained. “Each of the red circles shows tunnel exits…”
“On major highway systems!” Brooks replied, immediately catching on. “Son of a bitch.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Logan replied, “but it gets better. The areas circled in red are down shafts. You can see the opening to each shaft, but their mapping doesn’t go deeper than the tunnels. A few nights ago, Roark told me that there were legends about a tribe of snake men who used to live beneath Comet Lake. In my travels, I only ever encountered one snake shifter, but what I learned from him was that their people prefer the term serpenmatas, because most do not have a purely human form. They’re either snakes or have a form that is a blend of snake and human, which is what led to them fleeing beneath the earth and setting up their societies there. But like most shifters, they do hold a seat on the High Council and would have far greater ability to access and explore the tunnel systems and see that its use as part of the trafficking operation is ended permanently.”
Nodding, Brooks stroked his chin, studying the maps and everything that Logan had pulled up on the giant screen above his desk. A presence at his side alerted him that Sam had joined them. The gruff wolf wasn’t one for small talk, which Logan appreciated, but when it came to the mission they’d been tasked with, he was as shrewd and astute as they came.
“There is a sixth tunnel system,” Sam declared, nodding at Logan. “The platform you shared with us allowed me to detect it when I searched an area where more than nine wolves, bears, and eagles have gone missing over the past four years. I’ve never seen anything like that mapping system. I’m certain I’ll uncover others as I continue digging.”
The whole time he spoke, Sam’s eyes never left the screen above Logan’s desk.
“A serpenmata I worked with on a case provided me with the link as thanks for helping him retrieve one of his missing brethren. They designed it.”
“I’ll match the system you’ve devised and continue my research,” Sam declared before heading back to his seat.
“For now, let’s keep the information regarding the tunnel mapping platform in house,” Brooks declared. “Use it to help you guide your field teams into position if the need arises, but don’t share it with them. The less anyone knows about what we’ve stumbled onto, the better, especially with the next storm on the horizon.”
“Understood,” Logan and Sam replied.
Brooks turned and looked directly at Logan then, lips pressed in a grim line. “Get a message to your buddies and let them know that they have a three-day window to reach Comet Lake, or I’m afraid their next arrival window won’t be until spring when the northern pass reopens.”
Nodding, Logan sent a message, via cell phone, to the relay tower so they could get it out to the Golden Glen Parliament. “Done.”
“What about this area right here?” Brooks asked, pointing to a spot deep in the Adirondack mountains.
Logan pulled it up in the tunnel map system, but this time, the map didn’t reveal anything beneath it. Working outward, Logan searched several grids around the area Brooks indicated, while the councilman waited patiently, watching several grids come back empty before the map lit up, exposing the tunnel system underneath it.
“Bingo!” Brooks declared, rubbing his hands together as he leaned forward in his seat. “Let’s see where it leads.”
Logan ran the same procedure he did for the previous one, following the tunnels, longer ones this time, with three down shafts, one to the west, one to the east, and one to the south.
“Whose territory is this?” Brooks asked as he pointed to the eastern down shaft.
With the click of a button, Logan activated the tab labeling all the territories and their borders.
“Bear country,” Logan replied. “Arcadia Sloth.”
“They’ve sent out three distress messages over the past several months,” Brooks replied. “Each time to report missing females aging from nineteen to twenty-two.”
Logan zoomed in on the map, bringing up the interstate that ran right along the edge of the pack’s territory.
“If we’re right, and they are using the tunnels to move beneath sloth lands to reach the interstate, it would be easy for them to arrange pickup at several locations along this route here,” Logan said, using the highlighter feature to outline it on the map.
“Zoom out and show me the nearest flagged territories to those locations,” Brooks said.
Sam was back, standing behind them, watching, waiting to see where the trail led.
“Haystack Mountain Pack,” Logan declared, “we have seven open cases on them.”
“Two of their former wolves were awarded pack status here last year,” Brooks replied. “The other five cases are open pending location of the wolves. They were trafficking their own.”
“Wolves who would do that would have no qualms about doing the same thing to outsiders,” Sam grumbled as the warning alert went off on the screen, and Logan immediately switched it over.
“Command center, can you hear me clearly?” Frost asked as he appeared on the screen from the relay tower.
