Geek Squad 02 - Operation Foxtrot Read online

  I jumped up the crates one at a time until I reached the one closest to the open window. After looking in and giving a good sniff to make sure the coast was clear, I jumped through the opening.

  I wasn’t in a corridor exactly, more like an open second-floor landing that led to several rooms along the outside wall. It gave us a good vantage point to the floor below. But it also gave those on the floor a good view of us.

  I didn’t like it.

  I glanced up. Cats didn’t smile, but if mine could have, it would. There were wide beams running the entire length of the building above me. They were wide enough to hide a cat shifter, and high enough to be in the shadows.

  I just had to figure out how to get us up there.

  “Start looking for a way up to those beams,” I told the others once they got through the open window. “I think we’ll have a better chance of getting a look from up there than we will down here.”

  It made sense in my head.

  We split up into teams. Ian went with me. The others went down the other way. I stayed as close to the wall as I could get, hoping it would hide me from anyone down on the floor who might be looking up. And if they did, and they saw one of us, I could only hope they thought we were stray cats.

  I didn’t find anything except a couple of empty room, nothing that would help us get to the rafters.

  It was very disappointing.

  When Ian and I started back in the other direction, I saw Kaito running toward us. My heart stuttered in my chest.

  “What is it?” I asked silently. “What did you find?”

  “There’s a room back the other way with a bunch of people in it,” Kaito replied, “kids really. Half of them look starved to death. The other half looks stoned.”

  Crap.

  “Take me there.” I needed to know what we were dealing with. I had a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that this rescue mission had just gone nuclear.

  I followed Kaito back down the corridor to a set of rooms at the back of the warehouse. I was kind of surprised we didn’t run across any guards. Maybe they thought having this room on the second floor with all the armed guards down below made it safe.

  They were wrong.

  When we reached the door, Ewan was waiting for us. Kaito shifted. Not knowing what he was up to, I did the same.

  “Ewan, Ian, watch the hallway,” Kaito said.

  Both ocelots ran off in different directions.

  Kaito opened the door and stepped in. I was really glad I had decided to shift once I stepped into the room behind him. The acidic stench of fear in the room would have taken my ocelot to his knees. It was bad enough as a human.

  There were seven people in the room, male and female. I judged the oldest to be about fifteen. The youngest couldn’t have been older than seven or eight. They were all terrified, malnourished, and dirty.

  “We have to get them out of here,” I whispered. “We can’t leave them here.”

  “No, I know, but how?” Kaito asked. “They can’t shift. There’s no way they can go out the way we came in.”

  Crap.

  I couldn’t leave them here. I didn’t know exactly why they were being held here, but I had a pretty good idea, and it made my stomach curdle with disgust. It was the same thing Cavetti had planned for me. Wasn’t going to happen. Not to me, and not to the people in this room.

  “Ewan, Ian, look for a back way out of here.” I knew they could all hear me. “We need to get these people out of here. And Danny, let Hank and the others know we have kidnap victims in here. They may want to call in the authorities and some medical personnel.”

  “Will do,” Danny replied. “Hank and the guys are just a few minutes out.”

  This telepathy thing we had between us was very cool. It made communications a whole hell of a lot easier.

  “Hey.” I tried to look as nonthreatening as possible as I approached the frightened people huddled together on a mattress in the corner. “My name is Andrew. My friends and I are going to get you out of here, but I need you to be really quiet. Okay?”

  None of them nodded, but they didn’t start screaming either.

  I called that a win.

  “I found a back stairwell,” Ian called out through their link.

  All of us had been astounded to discover we had a telepathic link. We had been even more astounded to discover that link worked while some of us were in shifted form and others were in human form. Santos said it was because we were ocelots. We were supposed to be solitary creatures, but we weren’t. We were more like a family.

  Or was that pride?

  Pack?

  Whatever. It didn’t matter. We just knew whatever it was, it worked for us.

  “Okay,” I sent back, “I want you to get these guys out of here.”

  “What are you going to do?” Ian asked.

  As if he didn’t know.

  “I’m going to continue to search for Cooper,” I replied. I put a smile on my face as I turned to face the people in the room. “We found a way out,” I said out loud. “You need to go with these guys. They will take you somewhere safe.”

  When they all just stood there looking at me, I rolled my eyes. “Do you want to stay here or do you want to be free?”

  Nothing.

  “Move!”

  That got a response. They scrambled to get to the door. I hated being an ass, but we were kind of on a time constraint here. Any second now we could be discovered. We needed to get these people out of the warehouse so I could continue my search for Cooper.

  As they started to file out of the room, one of the older teens stopped and turned to look at me. I had no idea what he was looking for or even if he found it, but he stepped closer to me and whispered, “There is man in basement. You rescue him, too, sí?”

  Basement?

  “Tall guy? Green eyes, sandy brown hair?”

  “Sí, yes. Green eyes, brown hair.”

  I nodded. “I’m going after him now.”

  I had no idea how I was supposed to get to the basement from the second floor, but at least I knew where Cooper was being held. That was better than searching aimlessly.

  I followed everyone down the hallway to the stairs. When we reached the first floor, I kept going, heading down to the basement. I shuddered to think why I hadn’t encountered any guards yet. They seemed to be everywhere outside, but there was hardly anyone inside the warehouse.

  In my mind, that just didn’t make sense. Maybe they thought no one would get past the armed patrols outside. Or maybe they thought no one would be stupid enough to try and break into a warehouse owned by the mob.

  I had no idea, and truthfully, I didn’t really care. I was just glad I was able to make it all the way to the basement without being seen.

  That didn’t last.

  I heard someone call out as I stepped off the cement stairs. I turned just in time to see a man raise a gun and aim it at me from the top of the stairs.

  I wasn’t stupid.

  I took off running.

  I passed several doors before my brain kicked in and I tried to open one. I was lucky. The door was unlocked. I yanked it open and stepped inside, spinning immediately to close the door lean against it. I doubted I was strong enough to keep someone out of they really wanted in, but I’d damn sure try.

  “Andrew?”

  Chapter Ten

  I spun around to stare at the man who had spoken. “Cooper?”

  While I had been looking for Cooper, there was a part of me that never actually thought I’d find him. I certainly didn’t expect to find him tied to a chair.

  “What in the hell are you doing here?” he nearly shouted.

  “Asks the man tied to a chair,” I snipped.

  “Yeah, well…” Cooper’s eyes slid away. “I can’t get out of these ropes. They took my knife.”

  I flicked out my claws. “Luckily, I came equipped with one of my own.”

  It was kind of attached.

  I walked ove
r behind Cooper. With a couple swipes of my claws, the ropes fell free. Cooper jumped up, rubbing his wrists.

  “Thanks.”

  “I’d say anytime,” I replied, “but I’m really hoping you don’t get kidnapped again.”

  Cooper chuckled. “I’ll try not to make a habit of it.”

  “Yeah, that’d be good.” I cocked my head when I heard a noise out in the corridor. “Someone’s coming,” I whispered as I hurried over to the door.

  I pressed my ear against the solid wood door and listened. I could hear footsteps, but there didn’t seem to be more than one set. From the sounds of things, whoever was coming down the corridor was stopping every few feet and opening doors.

  I rushed back to Cooper’s side and gestured to the chair. “Sit down so I can put these ropes back on you.”

  “What?”

  I huffed. “Someone is coming. If he thinks you’re still tied up, he might go away.”

  Cooper stared for a moment—a very brief moment—before sitting down in the chair. I quickly wrapped the ropes around him again. I tucked the ends into the strands of the rope, hoping none of them fell out. I didn’t want to actually tie Cooper up again in case we had to run, but it had to look good.

  I dropped behind Cooper’s chair when I heard someone at the door, shifting a mere second before the door opened. I scooted up behind Cooper’s legs, nudging him with my nose so he would know I was there. Cooper pressed his legs together, giving me something to hide behind, but leaving a small space so I could see.

  The guard paused in the doorway, scanning the room. I don’t know what he saw on Cooper’s face, but the guard sneered at him. My furry little jaw dropped when Cooper leapt to his feet and took the guard down. Shaking my shock off, I ran to the door and pushed it closed with my head.

  No sense alerting anyone else where we were.

  Cooper’s moves were impressive. He swung his leg out, taking the guard’s legs out from underneath him. I winced when the guy crashed to the floor.

  That had to hurt.

  Cooper’s leg shot out again. One kick to the head and the guard was out. Cooper crouched down next to him and started rifling through the guy’s pockets. He stuffed several items into his pockets. I didn’t see what all they were, but there was no missing the large-as-fuck gun Cooper grabbed off the floor.

  “We should go,” Cooper said after checking the magazine.

  I nodded as I shifted.

  Before I could open the door, Cooper’s arm went around my waist, and he pulled me flush with his body. His lips slammed down on mine, stealing my breath. I moaned as Cooper’s tongue pushed between my lips, the man licking at me.

  God, I loved the taste of this sexy man.

  “When this is all over,” Cooper said as he raised his head, “you and I are going to talk.”

  “Okay.” I frowned. There was a light in Cooper’s eyes that was at odds with what I knew of the man. “Talk about what?”

  “Us.”

  There was an us?

  Since when?

  Cooper moved toward the door. He cracked the door open and then peeked out. He must have liked what he saw because he stepped out into the hallway. He glanced back at me.

  “Stay close,” he said before walking out the door.

  Close wasn’t a problem. I’d follow that gorgeous ass anywhere.

  We moved down the hallway quickly. Every few feet, I lifted my nose in the air and sniffed. I knew my ability to smell was stronger than Cooper’s, but it would have been even better if I was still in ocelot form.

  I thought about it, but a rare breed of cat, no matter how big or little, walking down the corridor would be just too odd. We were trying not to draw attention, not gain it.

  “Where’s the exit out of this hellhole?” Cooper whispered.

  My eyebrows shot up. “You don’t know?”

  Cooper shook his head. “I was unconscious when they brought me in here.”

  Oh.

  One of these days I might try and figure out why the thought of Cooper being unconscious pissed me off so much. I dug my fingernails into the palms of my hand. I had an overwhelming urge to kill something.

  “There’s a set of stairs down the hallway to the right.”

  I followed close behind Cooper as he headed in that direction. Claws clenched in my gut, telling me my cat was anxious and on edge. At the first sign of danger—or at least more danger than we were already in—I had no doubt my cat would come out.

  My hold on him was tenuous at best.

  Cooper stopped suddenly. His hand went up then fisted. I really hoped that meant don’t move.

  I wasn’t moving.

  When Cooper flattened himself against the wall, I moved, doing the same. I sniffed the air then held up two fingers to Cooper. I assumed he knew I was telling him that there were two men coming because he nodded.

  When the two armed guards stepped around the corner, I got a good idea why Cooper was Marine Force Recon. The man moved as if liquid ran through his limbs. Swift, but sure. Not a single move wasted. He took down the two guards and rendered them unconscious in mere moments.

  I was astounded that he did it without a single sound. If I hadn’t seen him do it, I doubted I would have believed it had happened.

  He handed me the rifles the guards had been carrying then dragged their bodies into the room where the other guard was. When he came back, I looked at him curiously. “Why did you do that?”

  “The longer we can go without detection, the better. Unconscious men lying around in the hallway tends to send up red flags.”

  “But won’t they know you’ve escaped once they go into that room?”

  “Yes,” Cooper agreed, “but that’s assuming they check the room. I’ve been down here for hours without a single person coming in to see me. It could be hours still before someone comes down here.”

  Huh. Checking my hostages would have been the first thing I would have done if I had been in charge, but what did I know?

  There was a reason I wasn’t a mobster.

  When Cooper started moving again, I clutched the rifle in my hands and followed. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it. I had never shot a gun in my life. But Cooper had handed it to me so I would hang onto it until he wanted it back. Maybe he needed it as a backup weapon and didn’t have enough hands to carry a third gun?

  That actually kind of made sense to me.

  God, this was weird. I was in a life-or-death situation, and I was trying to rationalize what I thought was common sense with what was totally uncommon.

  Obviously, I needed my head examined.

  We moved up the stairs quickly. When we reached the top, Cooper raised his hand again. My heart thundered in my chest, aching, anxious.

  This made modeling seem like a cake walk.

  When Cooper glanced at me, his eyebrow was raised.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “Where’s the door?” Cooper whispered back.

  “I have no idea. I came in through a window on the second floor.”

  Cooper’s huff was cute.

  I wanted to chuckle as I followed after Cooper again, except I was too worried I would be overheard. We were on the main floor of the warehouse now. There were guards everywhere. I had no idea how we were going to get out of here.

  Maybe we needed a distraction.

  “Danny, can you hear me?” I asked through that freaky mental bond we had.

  “Yep.”

  “I have Cooper and we’re on our way out, but we need some sort of distraction. This place is crawling with armed guards.”

  “Hank and the others are here,” Danny replied. “I’m sure they can come up with something.”

  “Well, just tell them not to shoot us when we come out.”

  I didn’t look good with holes.

  “Give us five minutes. Hank and the guys are going to start a fight on the opposite side of the building from where you went in. Hide until then.”

  “Go
t it.” I tapped Cooper on the back. The man instantly stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “Hank and the others are going to create a distraction on the far side of the building from us,” I whispered as low as I could and still have Cooper hear me. “We just need to hide until then.”

  Cooper immediately started looking around. I don’t know what he saw, but he grabbed my arm and started dragging me across the room. He pulled me behind a stack of crates and then hunched down behind them.

  The waiting was excruciating.

  And so was the smell.

  I sniffed the air, then wrinkled my nose in disgust. I wasn’t sure what I was smelling, but it had a sort of sour powdery scent to it that made my nose itch.

  I wanted to sneeze.

  I needed to find the source of that horrible scent and get away from it. I leaned closer to the crates we were hiding behind and took a sniff. I was instantly assailed with that same sour powdery scent.

  I reared back and pinched my nose. If I sneezed, it was all over. After several deep breaths through my mouth, I dropped my hand.

  If curiosity killed the cat, I was in deep shit because my curiosity was eating away at me. I flicked out my claws. The term “hot knife through butter” came instantly to mind as my claws sank into the side of the wooden crate.

  It was almost too easy.

  Once my claws were dug in, I pulled until the corner of the crate came loose. I saw a brick-looking package slide toward the opening. I wasn’t positive of what I was seeing, but considering where we were, I had a pretty good idea.

  I pulled one of the bricks out and held it up. “Is this cocaine?”

  I figured Cooper would know more than I did.

  “Fuck, Andrew, where’d you find that?”

  I pointed to the crate.

  “Shit.” Cooper grimaced. “Do you have your phone on you?”

  “Of course.”

  Cooper held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

  I handed my phone over then watched Cooper take a picture of the brick of cocaine and the crate it had come from.

  “Put it back,” he ordered after handing my phone back.

  I shoved the brick back into the crate.