Sharkbait Down Under Ch 31 40

Colleen Underwood's POV

I texted innocent-sounding messages to Luna Adrienne while we drove northeast towards Cancun, letting her know we'd be back shortly. She promised me "Uncle Lawrence" would join us soon; last she heard, he was on vacation in Jamaica with his wife.

We had to cross two police checkpoints on the way in, and I saw first-hand how vampires worked. When the soldier came to the door, Mateo caught his eyes, and the man went into a trance. "Wave us forward and forget this happened," the vampire told him. He waved us ahead without looking in the car.

As we pulled away, he went back to work as if nothing had happened. Now THAT was a handy skill to have. Adrienne had warned me that older vampires could control or erase human minds. At least as fellow supernaturals, we weren't susceptible. "You don't worry about cops or checkpoints, do you?"

"One at a time, it isn't a problem. When surrounded by a group, things get dicey; I can't put more than one in a trance at a time. If I get the leaders and the others obey without question, I can pull it off," Mateo replied.

He did the same at the next checkpoint, and soon we were in front of the hotel. "

We're back,"

I sent to Luna Adrienne.

"

Send the others to their rooms; they can pick up the keys at the desk. I need you in the conference room."

After we stopped in front of the main entrance, Mateo got out with us. Esmerelda opened the trunk, and he handed me a gym bag. It was heavy, and I quickly used my strength to handle it. "You might need this," he whispered as he leaned in to hug me goodbye. "My contact information is inside. My instructions are to provide you any assistance you might request; as you saw, our presence can make moving around a lot easier for you."

"I'll make sure my boss expresses to yours how helpful you have been," I replied as he stepped back. The bellhop came over to take my bag, but I waved him off. Mark and Jenny headed to the front desk while I took the elevator to the second floor. I linked my Luna when I was outside, and she opened the door to the conference room for me. The room was full of people, not all of whom I recognized.

"

What is in the bag,"

Luna asked me.

"

I don't know. Mateo, the local coven leader, said we might need it."

I set the bag on the table with a clunk. One of our computer technicians took a wand, pointing to it when the light showed a transmitter. "

Bugged?"

"Apparently."

The technician pulled out a knife, removing the bug and smashing it with the handle. Attempting to listen in on our conversations wasn't neighborly.

"Open it up; let's see what the Vampires brought for us."

Unzipping the bag, we found a dozen pistols, all Glock 19's, with extra magazines and boxes of 9mm ammunition. Also in the bag were two Uzi machine pistols. I laid them out one at a time as the tech scanned them; none had transmitters. Once the tech cleared me of any bugs, people could start talking.

Adrienne went around the room, introducing me to the ones I didn't already know. I'd not met Alpha Steven, and he looked ready to kill. His mate Carolyn was just as pissed off; she just handled it better. "Tell us what you found," Luna Adrienne ordered.

"They were there for a few hours at the most," I said. One screen showed the compound's satellite view, and I used a laser pointer as I talked. "The girls were kept collared and chained in the concrete storage building here. They were loaded and unloaded from this area where the cars parked."

"Any other movement?" Alpha Steven looked about one word from exploding.

"The men took one of the women from the Three Sisters Pack to the house. I didn't recognize her scent. She was gang-raped, then returned to the building afterward. She was bleeding on the floor."

That was too much, and Alpha Steven stood up and punched the wall. "SONOFABITCH!"

Carolyn wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him back to the table. His fist was bloody, and the wooden chair rail left a few splinters in his hand. "This isn't helping anyone when you hurt yourself," she told him as she pushed him into the chair. "Get her the scent bags."

There were six plastic bags on the table, containing clothing items from each of the six missing girls. I sniffed each in turn, remembering each of their scents from the holding area. "All six were there, and this one was the one who they raped," I said as I tossed the bag over.

"Fiona," Carolyn said. "By Luna, she deserves better." I looked at her; surely, NO woman deserves rape! "Fiona waited for decades to find her mate and almost lost it all when she attacked his human wife. They were going to mate after his divorce was final, but now she'd lost her purity to these animals."

There was nothing I could do about that. "I scented six men, Linda said six men, and six men are dead."

Adrienne got my attention back. "Your impression of the killers?"

"Highly trained, probably ex-military, at least six people. The group got close, then opened up on a signal. Some of the men never got a shot off, and this was no spray-and-pray. Assigned targets, and bursts into the chest or headshots took them out. The whole battle was over in less than five seconds."

Alpha Steven looked concerned. "How do you know that?"

"The number of rounds fired and the location of the bodies. They never had a chance, Alpha. They were amateurs in a professional game. I figure six people because all the targets got killed at the same time."

"Humans? Wolves?"

"I don't know." I pointed at the area where the cars parked and where the attackers had set up. "They sprayed bleach on the whole area; I couldn't pick up a scent. The only other person I picked up, and this was in the cells, was Lawrence Fenwick. I've met him before, and I'm positive it was him."

"I believe you, as much as I don't want to," Adrienne said. "After getting your message, I talked to my mate. He's having Ivan send people to Lawrence's pack in New Hampshire. Leo is going to Jamaica, where we believe he's still pretending to be on vacation." Alpha Steven looked concerned. "The previous tour stop was Jamaica. Beta Lawrence was waiting for them when they arrived, with four Council enforcers. The Council was using his friendship as leverage; he gave Vicki the forms she would need to join the North American Council. The Chairman's words made it clear that the Southern Cross Pack membership was mandatory."

"I saw the videoconference, and I know enough to understand that Vicki doesn't want that," Carolyn said.

"The Council said the four enforcers were there for her protection," Adrienne said while holding up air quotes. "Those four and two more could easily have done this." Council Enforcers were experienced warriors, trained in combat in both forms, with and without weapons. Many of them had prior SWAT or military training, so they had the latest tactics. Using telepathy, they could move and act as one. It was the kind of skill that would be needed to take out six armed men in seconds. "The Council Chairman called Leo a few hours ago, offering any support we may require."

"He called me too, and I told him that he didn't have resources where I needed them," Alpha Steven said. "The bastard had the gall to say that he regretted Vicki had refused his offer for a protective detail, that with Enforcers she'd be safe. Vicki turns down his offer, and now she's missing? I'll fucking skin him alive."

It was Carolyn again who had to calm him down. "Right now, all we have is Colleen's word that she scented Lawrence."

"Not quite," I said. "There was one cellphone in the house. The last phone call came from this number." I rattled off the number I memorized.

Adrienne checked her phone. "It's Fenwick's personal cellphone number." She was shaking with rage; somehow, she pushed it back. "I've been up for too long, and there is nothing we are going to accomplish tonight. More help is arriving in the morning, and we need to be ready for them."

"Get some sleep," Alpha Steven said. "I slept on the flight, so I'll keep things going while you get your rest. You too, Colleen. You did a good job tonight, and we'll need you at your best later."

"Yes, sir," I said. "What should we do with the weapons?"

Adrienne answered that one. "Take one, make sure it is functional, and keep it where you can get it. We have to be careful, though; if the police catch you with it, we're not going to be able to stop a long prison term."

I had no desire to be stuck in a Mexican prison. "Understood, Alpha." I picked up one of the pistols and two spare magazines, tucking the gun behind my belt in the back, where my loose print blouse would cover it up. As a standard duty weapon for police for decades, I was well-practiced with its use and maintenance.

I showered and was asleep within ten minutes of getting back to my room.

Vicki Lawrence's POV

After being collared with plastic-covered silver to prevent linking and shifting, the vampires walked us across the compound to where a delivery van waited with the back doors open. "You're going to pay for this," I said as the leader dragged me along by the collar. "I have friends, and they will take your head off for touching me."

He laughed. "Do you think Master Vespucci is intimidated by that little bitch in Boston? A vampire so weak she had another kill her Master? Or do you think my Master cares what Supreme Master Pontalba, that senile old man in New Orleans, thinks?"

Oh, shit. It was worse than I thought. As I reached the van, I could see cubes set up inside. The vampires busy were stuffing Makani into one. She screamed as she grabbed onto the bar to keep it from closing. The vampires secured the cage with a silver-coated lock; she had almost no room to move, and touching the hinged top would cause a silver burn.

Pushed out of the way, they opened up a cube for me. Knowing resistance was futile, I cooperated as they shoved me down into the cage and locked it up. Once we were all in place, they moved boxes and blankets around, hiding us from view and blocking out all light. The doors slammed, and we drove off.

"Fucking vampires all along," Amy said.

I'd trusted them, and now we were all paying the price.

Ch. 32

Colleen Underwood's POV

I bolted upright in bed

,

shocked as my sleeping brain had put together for me what had been bothering me. "SHIT!" Jumping up, I went to the bathroom as I used the link to warn my Luna.

"LUNA ADRIENNE! WAKE UP!"

A Pack member could send, but an Alpha didn't always receive routine sends, or they might never get anything done, including sleep. Our wolves were smart, though; when it was Pack safety, her wolf would feel my wolf's intent and make sure the warning got through. "

Huh? Colleen?"

"I figured out what was missing at the crime scene. I'm getting dressed; we need to talk to the others in the conference room right away."

"It's four-thirty in the morning, give me ten minutes,"

she said. "

Make sure they have coffee."

I quickly dressed and headed down the hall to the elevator, arriving at the conference room. After knocking, the door opened to someone I hadn't seen before. She was a small woman with long black hair; behind her, a taller white male stood protectively. "You must be Colleen," she said as she looked me over and stepped aside for me to come in.

"Yes, Colleen Underwood, warrior of the Miesville Pack," I said with a slight bow of my head. They were Beta rank, and I could feel the power.

"I wanted to hear your story myself," she said. "I am Kaia, and this is my mate, Jack Steele, Beta of the Three Sisters Pack. Amy is our daughter-in-law."

"I wish we were meeting under more pleasant circumstances," I said as Jack ushered me to an empty chair. Only the new couple and Alpha Steele were in the room this late at night.

"Time is of the essence," Alpha Steele said. "The Steeles just arrived with another ten of my Pack; they had to fly into Cozumel and take a shuttle to here."

"

I'm approaching,"

Luna Adrienne said to me. I got up and opened the door for her; she swept into the room, and I could see all of them deferring to her, even Alpha Steven. She greeted the Steeles as old friends, then sat down. "What's going on, Colleen?"

"Something was bothering me about the crime scene, but I didn't put it together until I was asleep," I said. "I think it was a setup."

Eyes got wide, and Steven leaned forward. "A setup for what?"

"To blame Lawrence Fenwick and the Council for the abductions." I had their attention. Standing, I went to the big monitor displaying the satellite view of the compound. This screen was touch-sensitive, so I took the digital pen and started marking things up. "In law enforcement, you sometimes run across a crime scene where the bad guys have changed things around to meet the story they want you to believe. Changing what really happened into something else isn't easy, though. There can be dozens of little things that can give away how the crime scene changed. Moving a body means blood evidence doesn't match up; there might be scuff marks where they dragged it, or the positioning might be wrong. Most of the time, the changes happen quickly and without thinking everything through. It all looks right at first until you start thinking about what isn't there. And that brings us to this."

I circled the area around the parking, where bleach had wiped out the scents. "This is the area where bleach wiped out scents, and it worked. I smelled nothing except the other vampires here. Now, I'll use white to show where I found the bad guy scents." I marked the dead men and the trails that led between the two buildings and the parking area. Switching to red, I continued. "These are the scents of the six women." The lines went from the bleached area to the cells, with one line to the house. I switched to blue. "And this is where I found Lawrence's scent." This time, the marks were all inside the small building.

"Fuck," Steven said as he picked it up. "Why isn't Lawrence's scent going back and forth to the parking area like the others?"

"Exactly. It's the one thing missing, and I didn't figure that out until a few minutes ago. Lawrence's scent appeared on the doorway and the collars, nowhere else. That doesn't make sense either; the only way to leave a scent on the collar is to touch it with bare hands, but that would leave fingerprints for the police to find. Sloppy and unthinking, and Lawrence is neither."

"How would they get his scent there if he's not involved," Jack asked.

I picked up one of the ziplock bags on the table that had Makani's shirt with her scent on it. "The same way you have her scent here. Wipe the collars with his shirt, and transfer the scent but not the fingerprints." I thought about it a little more. "We didn't burn the small building. If the Mexican police don't find prints on the collars, we know it was a setup."

"I didn't want to believe Lawrence could do this to us," Adrienne said. "How did they do this?"

"It wouldn't be hard to sneak a maid into their room in Jamaica and swipe a dirty t-shirt," I said. "Far easier for vampires, who could compel the cleaning staff. If someone DID steal it with the intent to set Lawrence up, we have a much bigger problem."

"What?"

"The girls met Lawrence when they arrived in Jamaica. They had one day of appearances and one day of diving, then a travel day where Vicki went to Los Angeles, finally a day of shooting in Cancun before the diving day. That means the vampires have been planning this for at least five days."

Adrienne caught what I meant. "They would have hired the gang to take them, then killed them to hide their involvement," she said. "To the police, it would be slave trading or kidnapping."

"Yes. I'm convinced that the vampires wiped the humans out." Going back to the screen, I picked green for the vampires. "All the brass was found here, in the bleached area. As I said, it was a professional job. The vamps want us to believe it was a Cartel team, but what scents are missing?"

Adrienne picked it up. "You never mentioned any human scents other than the six kidnappers."

"Exactly. There never was a Cartel hit team; I would have picked their scents up near the gangsters when they checked to make sure they were dead or in the house or holding room. I never smelled anything except vampires. There would be no reason for a Cartel hit team to use bleach at all! The only people who would do that would be the vampires, knowing I was coming and wanting to erase evidence before I arrived. The simple explanation is that there was never a Cartel hit team, and it was the Vampires all along."

No one said anything for a moment, then Adrienne's eyes got big. "LAWRENCE!" She grabbed her phone, calling a number, but it didn't answer. I could see her frustration as it went to voice mail. "Baby, it's me. Our friend from New Hampshire may be innocent after all. Call me." She called two more numbers, leaving the same message. Tossing her phone onto the table, she leaned back and let out a sigh. "Leo should arrive later today in Jamaica, but he sent some of our people to grab Lawrence and his mate if they are still in town. Hopefully, they didn't rough him up."

"His framing is a theory, Luna. Lawrence still might be in on it, and we don't know about the Council's potential involvement," Alpha Steven said. "Best to keep all options on the table until we get more information. There are too many suspects with too many reasons to want Vicki out of the way. We can't focus on only one right now."

"We don't have enough to go after the Council OR the vampires right now," Adrienne said. "Colleen, is it possible you are wrong? Could Lawrence be working with the vampires?"

"It's possible," I said. "The evidence neither convicts nor clears him. If the Council is involved, they could have hired the Vampires to take her, and they used a local gang to lead the authorities astray. The Mexican covens are well known for their illicit activities."

I hadn't convinced Jack about my theories yet. "If the Vampires are involved, why the whole charade with you at the compound? Why not simply pile the bodies and torch the whole place after they take the girls?"

"The tracking necklaces," Alpha Steven concluded. "The kidnappers didn't remove them, and we had the track of their progress to their hideout. That place is so remote they could have left the girls there for weeks. Giving over the tracking data forced their hand; they knew we'd be going there with or without them. They had to wipe out the kidnappers and stage things before we arrived. By picking Colleen up from the airport, they controlled how Colleen would see the scene."

"While the rest of the coven escaped with our girls," Adrienne concluded. "Who could be anywhere now."

"Better with the vampires than on a container ship or private jet heading to the Mideast," I said. "If Master Vespucci has them, they will stay in Mexico."

"If the vampires have them, they will wish they were slaves to Arab sheiks," Adrienne said. "It makes things much more complicated, and a wrong move could mean war."

"Who can we trust," Alpha Steven asked.

"No one who isn't family," Adrienne replied. "Master Vespucci is involved somehow, and Master Cyprian gave us his name. I don't trust the Werewolf Council, and we can't trust Lawrence Fenwick. At this point, I don't trust Linda either. Her story is that the kidnappers didn't see her, but it's also possible that she was working with them. The last dive site was on private property, known only to the dive guides." She tapped a finger on the table as she thought. "As far as anyone knows, we suspect the Cartel took them, and the Vampires are helping us find them. The only people who can know of our suspicions are the mates of the girls, their parents, and their Alphas. If it gets out that we suspect the Mexico City Coven, they might decide to kill and bury them before we can get them back."