“She is.” They both turned around and looked at the men there. The man who spoke, a well-dressed gentlemen, asked if they’d come out of her room. “She’s working for the US government. And we’ve been unable to contact her for some time now. Why are you here, Dr. Robinson?”
“You know me.” The man nodded. “Are you going to give me your name as well? And for that matter, let my brothers go?”
Each of them were on the floor with a gun to their head. The men standing over them were dressed for war. All but their eyes were covered, and they did not look like they’d stop at anything unless given the command.
“They’re all right where they are. And before you let that beast of yours go, you should know that each of the men behind me have silver in their rifles. And they will not hesitate to use them.” The man sat down on the couch and pointed to the chairs across from him. “This will go so much better if you cooperate, Dr. Robinson.”
Thatcher sat, but he wasn’t happy about it. “I’m assuming that you know that Rogen is in the hospital. What you might not know or care about is that she’s my mate.” That surprised the man, but if Thatcher hadn’t been looking right at him, he would have missed it. Glancing out the window, he saw something that the man might not be aware of. “If your men do not let my brothers go, then you’ll leave me no choice but to protect what is mine.”
“You think so, do you?”
The breaking of glass and screams was heard a split second later. The man, now with a large wolf at his throat, was down on the couch and his men were all down as well, each of them with a large pissed off tiger on their chest.
“While I’m sure that it will take some effort on their part, I’m positive that those cats can tear though their body armor in seconds. And they will tear their throats out with only a small signal from me. Also, the wolves have been joined by my leap, sir, and you’ll give me answers or I’ll have you in a pit so deep that you’ll never see the light of day again.”
“I had to see. If you could protect her on your own. I should have— Christ, he’s cutting into my neck.” Thatcher didn’t ask Shane to let him go; he still had no answers. “I didn’t know that she was your mate. If I had, I might—I would have done this differently. Can I be released now?”
“Not just yet. Who are you?” Agent Donaldson had bitten off a bit more than he could chew, it seemed. “And my mate, she works for you?”
“I’m her direct contact. She actually works for you and everyone else in the United States. If you’d allow me to get up, I can show you a few things.” Thatcher said that if he reached for a gun, he was personally going to rip his arm off. “You’re very violent, aren’t you? I have to say; you and Rogen will get along splendidly. By the way, you will see more staff at the hospital. They’re there for her protection as well as yours. Rogen Hall is very important to a great many people. And when she came up missing, it took us several days to find her.”
“We didn’t think it would be good for her or her brother to put out there where she was. But the paper put out an article before I could ask them not to.” Agent Donaldson sat up and reached very slowly into his jacket pocket. “Just so we’re clear on something. You come back here like this again, and I won’t wait for the wolf pack to come and distract you. I will kill you. Simple as that.”
“I was wrong about you. I know you and Rogen will get along just fine. She’s a lot like you. Strong, pig headed. A little on the scary side.” He handed him a thumb drive. “That’s the aero shot of what happened that day, if you’d like to see it. When I did, I was first sickened at her pain, and then pissed at her stupidity. But she saved them all, as you know, at the risk of getting herself killed. And you will want the pack leader to know that a man is out to kill his pack, one family at a time. Here is the plate number that we took off of Rogen’s cell phone that morning.”
“And you want me to put this in one of those computers in there, like there might not be a virus on them.” He said that he’d have to learn to trust him sooner or later. “I don’t right now. And that’s the point, I think. I don’t know you from anyone.”
Thatcher’s cell phone rang, along with all his brothers’ phones that were scattered all around the floor. He didn’t know what was going on, but he thought that the man in front of him had a great deal to do with it. When Donaldson suggested that he answer it, Thatcher did.
“Hello, Thatcher. My name is Winnie James. Mr. Donaldson works directly with me and the president. If you would be so kind as to do as he asks, I won’t have to send in the bigger boys to make you. I’ve had a really long day, and as you can imagine, you’re fucking with my day even more.” Thatcher laughed. “Yes, well, you won’t think I’m so funny if I have to come there, sir.”
“Did you catch that Rogen is my mate?” She asked him to hang on, and that’s when Donaldson’s phone rang. “I don’t think she’s going to be any happier with you than she is me at the moment.”
Thatcher could hear the woman talking to Donaldson. She wasn’t loud, but she was pissed off. And about every other word that came out of her mouth was a four letter or more word that didn’t bode well for the man. When he put the phone down, he handed him the thumb drive.
“Thatcher, could you pretty please with sugar on top put the thumb drive in?”
Thatcher laughed and could hear his brothers doing the same thing. It wasn’t until he stood up that the men on the floor were released. Taking the drive into the large room, he pushed it into one of the computers. It was Rogen, running in a bright green running suit and reflective shoes.
“As you can see, we know where she is at all times. This is routine for her, an early morning run. I can’t get her to stop it, or at least go at a different time; she refuses. Something about waking the sun up.” Thatcher looked at the man as Rogen, the one he’d never seen before, ran down the darkened street. “I suppose you understand.”
“Yes. She likes the time between the darkness and the sun rising. I don’t run, but I do watch it come up, cresting over the hill wherever I am.” He looked back at the screen. “You have a camera on her at all times? Isn’t that sort of routine for you as well?”
“I suppose. Next, you’ll see the car go by. She might not know the family, but I went back and looked. She sees them just about in this same spot every day through the week. Waving at the young man in the back seat.” He told him his name. “We knew the family only by this, but we know them all now. You can see the accident occur, but not well. We were looking at her, not the car.”
He saw it then. The smoke, the skidding car, and the other one racing off. Donaldson asked him if he knew the car. Thatcher said that he didn’t, but he might know the person if he could see him.
“You can’t. We tried to get a better shot of him, but he’s very clever. He’s the one that caused the initial accident. Watch her come up on the scene.”
The video came into crystal clear focus, like he was right there with her. Rogen ran to the car, and he could see how she got the husband out, then the wife. The point where she messaged herself the plate number. All the time she worked, Thatcher could see every pain that she had each time she was burnt again. The babies were taken out one at a time, their little bodies clinging to Rogen’s. Thatcher could almost hear them screaming, their cries breaking the morning quietness. Then when the car came back, throwing what looked like a Molotov cocktail into the burning car, Thatcher wanted to go there and grab her when she started flying backward with Levi in her arms.
“She literally did save their lives. Do you think the would-be killer would have known she was there?” Donaldson said that he didn’t think so but wasn’t going to take any chances. “Neither will I.”
“We’re playing right now on the assumption that he wanted the pack member dead, as well as his family. Since we can’t ask the ‘would-be killer,’ as you called him, yet, we have to be careful who knows the entire story here.” Thatcher asked him why the papers put out that she was a hero. “Yes, but that’s all they know. If you’ll notice, the paper doesn’t say that she lives in this town. Nor that she has any family members. She was just a person, Rogen Hall, that was out for a run and happened upon them. Basically, this is true, but we don’t want anyone to come for her.”
“Her parents.” Donaldson asked him how he knew about him. “Rogen’s brother. Jamie. I talked to him. He’s terrified of his parents that may or may not be coming for them. His words, they don’t like him.”
“Wait. Rogen has a brother?”