Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 62

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

CHANCE

Walking outside in the cool night air did nothing to lower my temperature. I was radiating steam. Who the hell did Mardi think he was? I mean, her commanding officer fine, but to insinuate that he and Tate?—

I couldn’t finish the thought. I unclenched my hands and tried to steady my breath. Tate was no longer my concern. She was safe. She was on her way to the EO. She wasn’t mine, not anymore. Accept it, I had to, or I’d go absolutely insane.

“Everything alright?” Holland asked, approaching me from the courtyard to my left.

“Peachy.”

“Ah.” She nodded, as if understanding. “Shae and I are ready. We’ve added Damaris to the transport manifest, and I assigned us as the night patrol squad at the border. We leave in ten.”

I nodded. I couldn’t swallow the bitter taste filling my senses.

“Also, Shae made a discovery while I was sorting through the red tape to get us assigned to patrol,” Holland spoke, but I had a hard time focusing. All I could see was red-brown eyes, blonde hair, lush hips being claimed by Mardi. That damn male.

“Dale, you with me?” Holland placed a hand on my back.

“Yes.” I exhaled and shook my head. “What did Shae find?”

Holland looked around, the courtyard was empty, but she stepped closer anyways and lowered her voice, so it was barely audible. “The footage Damaris mentioned that had been doctored, it has markers all over it. Shae traced it back to here. It was altered from here, this compound, by our mole.”

“Shit.” It was definitely an inside job. Someone here was skilled and knew about dark magic. That made them very, very dangerous.

“Shae’s waiting for us.” Holland began walking away. “Dale, on a personal note, I understand we all have our history. But I don’t want to be involved with someone who’s stuck in their past and whose history is still present.” She nodded and then strode off back through the courtyard and into the compound.

Double shit. Apparently, my internal turmoil was palpable. I ran my hand over my face and followed her inside. I needed a fucking fix.

Shae was in the rig sitting next to Damaris as Holland and I took the commanding seat. I drove, circling further out. We had just finished our first lap of the outpost’s exterior and were now headed to do the perimeter sweep of the grounds. Or at least, that’s what the outpost leadership expected from us.

“Alright, we should be out of earshot of any devices.” Shae nodded at the road behind us. “I already told Holland, but Dale, I recovered part of the deleted footage from the night of the attack.”

“You’re just now telling me this?” I nearly hit the brakes.

“We didn’t exactly have time back there.” Shae rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t show much. I see a team of three breaching the courtyard. One stalks off to the box and plugs something in while the other two stand guard. They’re gone within forty-five seconds.”

“Could you make out their face? Recognize any of them?”

“Nope. They’re wearing black masks. I am running their movements through my profiler to see if it matches any on base, but I won’t have those back for another day or so.”

I nodded. “Keep me posted,” I spoke, hands gripping the wheel. “Are we all clear on what needs to happen?” We’d been over the plan already, but I needed to make sure we were all on board.

I glanced around, everyone nodded. Focused. Good, that’s what we needed to be.

“I’ll park us out three miles from the border of the radius Shae identified. Then we hike in, and Shae will use her drone while Damaris and I sneak in closer to connect the device?—”

“The mindscrambler,” Shae clarified. Her and her stupid thing for naming her creations.

“Fine, the mindscrambler, to the server so Shae can connect.”

“I still think we should all four get in closer. At least to be within a short jog in the event you need backup,” Holland grumbled. It was unlike her to complain, but then again, we were all on edge.

“We’ve discussed this. Tactically, two is easier than four. Safer too. If we get caught and killed, you can continue the search and claim no knowledge of our actions, thereby avoiding disciplinary hearings.”

It made sense. The plan had been calculated, we just had to get there now. We could pull this off. We would survive. I continued up the road and then stopped when we reached about three and a half miles out. Time to hike.