Geek Squad 02 - Operation Foxtrot Page 4

  Even after hours of listening to Santos, the jungle shaman who was positive we were sent by his gods to save the universe, I still didn’t understand how the whole shifting thing worked. I just knew that it did.

  My view of the world changed, becoming bigger as I grew smaller. I tried not to cry out as my bones cracked and then realigned themselves, my muscles stretched and contracted, and fur grew out of my pores. It was a quick process, taking less than half a minute, and for that I was grateful, but it was still a little shocking to the system.

  By the time I stood on four paws, I was winded.

  I drew in a breath, and then wished I hadn’t. The smells natural to the city weren’t that good to begin with. With my heightened sense of smell while shifted, they were even worse. Add on the fragrant alley, and I was ready to puke.

  Did ocelots puke?

  I swallowed hard, not quite ready to find out.

  After scanning the alleyway again to make sure I was alone, I jumped up onto the large industrial Dumpster and then onto a small brick ledge. It was slow going, but I made my way across the ledge to the fire escape.

  As I started up the rusty metal steps, I heard voices below. I crouched down as close to the building as I could get, hoping I would be hidden in the shadows. I was a little bigger than your average housecat, but my coloring totally gave me away as something exotic.

  Two men in fancy suits entered the alley. I recognized one of them as the driver of the limousine. As big as he was, I assumed the other guy was another goon working for Mr. Cavetti. They had the same thug mentality about them.

  I held my breath when they started searching the alley. I knew they were looking for me. I just had no idea why. It just didn’t make sense. I barely knew Mr. Cavetti. I had never been rude to the man or anything. They had no reason to be looking for me.

  “Anything?” the driver asked.

  The other goon shook his head, which was surprising. As thick as his neck was, I wasn’t sure he could actually do that.

  “Look again, Barney,” the driver said. “If we don’t find him, the boss is going to put a bullet in our heads.”

  “Why does the boss have a hard-on for this kid, anyway?” Barney asked.

  Yeah, why?

  The driver snorted. “Money, why else?”

  My eyes narrowed. What money?

  “There’s nothing here, Curtis.”

  The driver huffed as he glanced around. “I could have sworn I saw him run down this alley.”

  When Curtis glanced up, I was positive he had seen me. He seemed to be looking directly at me. I cringed and hunkered down against the wall just a little bit more.

  “Maybe he went in one of these doors,” Barney suggested.

  “We checked,” Curtis replied. “They’re locked.”

  I swear I saw the guy roll his eyes.

  “Yes, but maybe they became locked after this kid got inside.”

  “Okay, you check the buildings to the left. I’ll go right. We meet back here in ten minutes, and if you spot him, call me. If we don’t find this kid—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Barney guy griped. “The boss will have our guts for garters.”

  “That actually might be preferable to what he’ll do to us,” Curtis said as he started back toward the entrance to the alley.

  I waited until both men disappeared from view before scurrying up the rusty metal stairs. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do once I reached the roof, but it was better than staying in the alleyway.

  Once I got to the roof, I started searching around for my next avenue of escape. The building I was on was six stories tall, so jumping to street level was out and I didn’t want to go back down the way I came up. I was too afraid I’d be spotted.

  That didn’t leave me a lot of options.

  I ran to the edge on the far side of the roof and gauged the distance between the building I was on and the one next to it. They were touching, but it wasn’t six stories tall, more like four…maybe four and a half.

  The drop could kill me.

  I wasn’t a fan of that plan.

  I checked the other sides of the building and came up empty.

  One direction faced the street and went straight down to the street. One direction went to the alley. The other two directions had significant drops.

  I was screwed.

  “Andrew? Are you up here?”

  I flipped around. If I had been in human form, my jaw would have dropped.

  What the hell was Cooper doing here?

  “Andrew?” he called out again as he climbed up onto the roof from the alley side of the building.

  I let out a meow as I moved out of the shadows. Cooper’s head whipped around. A big grin broke out across his face when he saw me.

  “Hank called and said you were in a bit of trouble, kitty.”

  That was one way of putting it.

  I was not thrilled with the kitty comment.

  I shifted as soon as I raced across the rooftop to Cooper. When the man went to reach for me, I took a hasty step back. I was glad to see him, but I wasn’t ready to have Cooper touch me. Not yet. Maybe never.

  I wanted it too much.

  I was really glad I shifted with my clothes on and that they reappeared when I shifted back. I don’t think I could have handled standing in front of Cooper in all my naked glory.

  “Your friendly neighborhood mobster seems to want to spend more time in my company than I’m comfortable with. He’s rather insistent,” I explained. “His driver tried to kidnap me, but I overheard him talking after I escaped and Cavetti is definitely looking for me.”

  Yeah, the way Cooper paled did not reassure me.

  I cocked my head curiously. “You know something about this, don’t you?”

  “I might.”

  Might? Might?

  I narrowed my eyes when the overwhelming urge to scratch Cooper swept through me. I often got aggravated with people, especially those who treated me as if I was a pretty ornament to be put on a shelf, but I didn’t get angry very often.

  I was angry.

  “You might?” I snapped. “Might what?”

  “Look.” Cooper reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “This really isn’t the time or place for this.”

  Yeah, I’d heard that one before.

  I rolled my eyes as I pushed past Cooper and headed for the fire escape. I had been hesitant to go down the fire escape a few minutes ago because I was afraid I’d be spotted, but if Cooper had done it, I hoped that meant the alley was vacant.

  “Andrew.”

  I kept walking.

  “Andrew.” Cooper’s voice took on a growl.

  Mine was better.

  “Damn it, Andrew, stop.” Cooper backed up his demand by grabbing my arm and swinging me around.

  I backed up my refusal to talk by swiping at him with my claws.

  Cooper jerked his arm back, holding the spot I had scratched with his other hand. Surprised colored his face and made it ruddy. “You scratched me.”

  Two could play that game.

  “You grabbed me.”

  Cooper huffed.

  It was cute.

  “Okay, look, I won’t grab you again, but you need to listen to me.”

  No, I didn’t, but I would. Mostly because I was curious about what he had to say.

  I crossed my arms and waited.

  “Until I know what is going on with Cavetti, it’s not safe for you to be running around out here.”

  No? Really?

  “Fine.” I turned and started for the fire escape again.

  “Andrew!”

  “What?” I spun around to glare at the man. “What do you want?”

  Everything within me ached to go to Cooper when I saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. I had no idea why I felt such a need to comfort him, because seriously, I was not the comforting sort.

  “You need to go home.”

  “I’m trying to, but you keep stopping me.”

>   “I mean home, home, like to Hank and Ian’s.”

  My head snapped back.

  It kind of hurt.

  “What?”

  “It’s not safe for you here,” Cooper said, “not until Cavetti is put away. For some reason, Cavetti has fixated on you, and people don’t tend to be around long when that happens.”

  I swallowed tightly when a sliver of fear entered me. “What are you talking about?”

  Cooper stepped closer, but he seemed to make sure we didn’t touch. I wasn’t sure if I was thrilled with that or angry.

  “I was sent here by my superiors to find out what happened to a couple of servicemen who went missing after attending a party Cavetti was hosting. There’s been no sign of them since that night.”

  “None?” I asked.

  Cooper shook his head. “The last time anyone saw them was at Cavetti’s party.”

  Well…poop.

  I sighed.

  Loudly.

  “I’m not sure I can go home right now, Cooper. I have two photo shoots coming up this week.” And three the week after that. The spring fashion lines were about to come out, and everyone was scurrying around, trying to get their pictures done in time to be issued in the spring magazines.

  “Is there any way you can reschedule them?”

  I snorted. “You do not reschedule a photo shoot.”

  Not if you ever wanted to work in this business again.

  “You do if your life is in danger,” Cooper said. He waved his hand absently. “What do you think is going to happen if Cavetti gets his hands on you? He’s already searching for you.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  I hoped.

  “Look, you don’t…”

  Cooper’s voice faded away as I noticed a door opening in the building rooftop access behind him. I squinted for a moment as I peered through the darkness. My eyesight was very good. When Curtis stepped through the door, I knew trouble had found us.

  I grabbed Cooper by his shirt and shoved him toward the fire escape. The shouting started immediately, both by Cooper and the men chasing after us.

  “Go!” I shouted.

  Cooper glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened before he grabbed my arm again, turned, and then started hurrying down the rusted metal stairs. I felt something burning hot slam into my other arm as I followed Cooper. The coppery scent of blood filled the air.

  I’d been shot.

  Fuck!

  I loved this sweater, and now it had a big hole in it.

  Someone was going to die!

  We made it down to the fifth-floor landing before the bullets started flying again. I plastered myself against the side of the building and once again, hoped the shadows would hide me.

  “Shift!” Cooper ordered as he came back up toward me.

  “Are you insane?”

  He had to be.

  “You’ve been hit, Andrew. If you shift, I can carry you down.”

  Yeah, not happening.

  “Just go.” I started pushing at Cooper, trying to get him to go down the fire escape, but he just stood there and glared at me.

  I forgot I was trying to push a Marine.

  I was a dumbass.

  Chapter Five

  A loud clank above us had us both looking up.

  Crap.

  Someone was coming over the edge of the roof.

  “Fuck!” Cooper grabbed my uninjured arm and started steering me down the stairs. “Move faster, Andrew.”

  I had short legs. This was as fast as I went.

  “There’s two of them, Coop.”

  “Fuck!”

  “You already said that.”

  It was bitchy to point that out, but I was hoping he’d say something else, like how we were going to get out of this mess without gaining new bullet holes.

  I was pretty miffed about the one I already had.

  Just as I reached the third-floor landing, a bullet slammed into the brick wall next to my head. I cried out as shards of brick struck me in the face. The strong scent of copper filled the air again, which coincided with the pain on my face.

  I think I was more upset about the brick than I was about the bullet. An arm wound could be covered by a shirt. Cuts on my face meant I had a good reason for rescheduling my photo shoot.

  Cooper would be thrilled.

  I jumped when glass shattered behind me. I held my breath as I turned, afraid I would find Cooper with a bullet in him. Watching him kick in a window was not what I expected. He used his boot to make sure there were no large shards of glass before climbing through the window.

  He held his hand out to me. “Come on, Andrew.”

  I wasn’t stupid. I took his hand and climbed through the window. The second I had both feet on the floor, Cooper started pulling me away from the window.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Anywhere but here.”

  I was good with that.

  As we raced out of the room and then down a short hallway, I realized we were in someone’s apartment. I really hoped they weren’t home. It would be totally embarrassing trying to explain to them why we were running through their home. I didn’t even want to think about explaining the broken window.

  When he reached the front door, Cooper pulled it open and peeked out into the stairwell. I laid my hand on the middle of his back, needing some sort of connection to someone to keep me ground.

  I wanted to scream.

  My arm felt as if it was being held over an open flame. I was scared out of mind because I was being chased by a mobster’s thugs, said mobster wanting me for who knew what, and I was with the one man I had sworn I would have nothing to do with ever again.

  How did I get into these messes?

  “Come on,” Cooper said as he pulled me into the staircase. “I think the way is clear.”

  “It won’t be for long,” I pointed out. “They’ll be coming in just as soon as they figure out where we went.”

  “I know. I’m working on it.”

  I really hoped “it” was an escape plan. I think I used up my quota.

  I followed Cooper down the stairs, moving as fast as I could. Not only were my legs short, but the staircase was steep. The building was older, so it kind of made sense, but I was really glad I didn’t live here. There was no elevator.

  Could you imagine the blood, sweat, and tears if you lived on the top floor?

  I shivered just thinking about it.

  My wardrobe would never survive it.

  Getting down to the first floor seemed easy enough. Getting out of the building unseen, not so much. As soon as Cooper went to open the door, my inner cat went haywire, screeching and hissing.

  “Coop, no.” I didn’t know what was up, but the creature inside of me was freaked enough that I felt I had to pay attention. I grabbed Cooper’s arm and pulled him back away from the door even as I started scanning the lobby area for another escape route.

  I didn’t see one.

  Cooper’s forehead wrinkled as he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  I shook my head, because I really didn’t know. “My cat is going crazy.”

  We couldn’t go through that main door.

  Okay, hiding was next. There had to be a place here where we could conceal ourselves. I tried a couple of doors, but they were all locked. I assumed they were people’s apartments, but what did I know? I didn’t live here.

  “Over here,” Cooper called out.

  I raced over to the door Cooper was holding open. The stale, slightly moldy smell was not an inducement to go through the doorway.

  “I think it’s the basement.”

  I glanced at Cooper. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to trap ourselves down in the basement?”

  “It’s either that or the front door.”

  Why in the hell didn’t this place have a back door?

  “Fine.” I started down the steps. I wasn’t thrilled with how dark and dank the narrow passage way was. It was hitting an all-ti
me high on my creepy meter. Any minute now some guy with a machete and a clown mask was going to jump out at me. I just knew it.

  That was how my luck ran.

  I tried to breathe through my mouth when we reached the basement. The stench was stronger down here. Mold, mildew, dust. It was disgusting.

  That was one thing about this shifter stuff I both hated and loved. My sense of smell was so much stronger. I could smell Cooper’s natural musky scent, and I wanted to curl up in it and never leave. I could also smell Cooper’s natural musky scent and knew I could never touch.

  It was killing me.

  “Start looking for a place to hide,” Cooper directed as he started moving.

  I did not roll my eyes.

  I was rather proud of myself.

  Since Cooper went to the right, I went to the left. There was a lot of faded brick walls and cement floor. There was also a lot of crap.

  Well, what I considered crap. Who knew what someone else might think.

  Stacks of cardboard boxes and newspapers. Wooden crates. An old bicycle. Some tools. A metal barrel of something nasty smelling. I knew there was probably a reason someone put all of this stuff down here, but damned if I knew what it was.

  “Over here, Andrew.”

  I hurried over to the far side of the room where Cooper stood. He’d found a door. I was really hoping it led out of this place.

  “We can hide in here.”

  Damn.

  “There’s no way out?” I asked, hoping.

  Cooper shook his head.

  Double damn.

  My heart lurched when I heard the door to the basement open. I gave Cooper a shove into the room.

  “Hey!” Cooper snapped as I pushed the door closed.

  “Quiet!” I whispered loudly when he started banging on the door.

  The noise stopped.

  As quickly as I could, and before Cooper could open the door again, I grabbed the stacks of boxes and pulled them over in front of the door. As soon as the door was hidden from view, I shifted and ran to hide behind the stacks of boxes. I couldn’t say if the door would stay hidden if someone really started looking hard, but it would for a quick pass.

  The steps coming down the stairs were ominous. I held my breath when they reached the bottom and stopped. It sounded like more than one person had come down the stairs. I wanted to look, but I was afraid to look. When the footsteps started moving around the room, I couldn’t stand it anymore.