Chapter 817 Chapter 817
Jake looked around the shop. He didn’t know where Gary had taken the trainees, but they’d cleared out so the group call could happen here. It had been the only place where kids weren’t running around.
“We’re waiting on Fallan to get the others connected.” Devin’s voice was loud from the speaker.
“Calum?” Rayne’s voice was soft, and even over a phone call, Jake felt calm emanate from her.
“We’re here.”
“Are you still with your clan?”
“Yeah. We decided to stay a bit until plans were formed.”
“That’s nice. How’s your mom?”
Calum chuckled. “She’s got the house and several others whipped into shape now.”
Jake watched Gage grin. He didn’t know the woman, but she’d survived captivity for a long time and was back with her family. Griffin’s mother had been found too. It must be amazing for them to have their mothers again. Jake knew there wasn’t going to be any returning mother in his life. The amount of blood they’d found when they’d gone looking, he was sure his family hadn’t survived.
“I imagine it’s nice for her to have a roof over her head again. I saw pictures from the Island.”
Jake pictured Rayne sitting there, giving her full attention to the phone. She was good that way. She always paused and looked at you when you spoke.
“Yes. She’s very happy.” Calum sounded distracted.
“How are Dale and Marc doing?” Gage asked, a serious look on his face.
It still blew Jake away that they had been held captive by Shaelan’s clan to breed. Sadly, that wasn’t the craziest thing taking place in the shifter world.
“They’re doing good.” A soft voice was in the background. “Brooke is staying with Gene’s family permanently. She had a healthy baby boy.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m glad she’s settling in there.”
“We’re going to swing by and visit with Shae’s clan when we head out again. Check-in on Dale and Billie. How’s Mari doing?”
Gage grinned again. “She has a distillery in the driving shed but hasn’t stabbed anyone yet.”
“Mom said it’s so quiet around the village without her and Brock stirring things up.” Shaelan laughed. “Brock is still in Chicago, checking out city life.”
“Buying enough clothes for a village,” Calum added.
“They deserve some fun,” Rayne said quietly.
Jake moved closer to the phone.
Gage looked at him curiously. “While we have you, Dev, Jake wants to talk to you about something.”
Jake gave him a surprised look but should have known Cooper, or Blair would tell him about it.
“What is it, Jake?”
Jake cleared his throat. “I was thinking I could go to the US headquarters for vehicle maintenance down there.” He looked to see Noah’s eyebrows go up, but his expression was still as always, blank.
“We were just talking to Raymond about that yesterday. He thinks the back of the building could be turned into a shop. It would save a lot of driving if we had some vehicles down there.”
Blair nodded to him.
“Ed will manage without him, Gage?” Devin asked.
Gage nodded. “We’ve got several training now to work in the shop.” He smiled at Kelsey. “Two of them are women, so soon we’ll have more Kelsey’s running circles around us. I don’t see a problem if Jake goes down South.”
“Okay. Jake will be part of the US HQ team as the garage supervisor. Let me know when you can get down there, Jake, so you can have the shop done the way you’d prefer.”
Jake gave the phone a shocked look. Did he get to design the shop? Damn, he had ideas to spare. “I’ll let you know.” He nodded. He wanted to say he’d be bringing Rory with him, but he still hadn’t spoken to her about it.
“Looks like we plugged in at the right moment.” A woman with a Southern twang spoke.
“Hello, Oaklyn,” Rayne said softly.
“Rayne, it is so good to hear your voice. I’m sorry we missed the last call. Things have been busier than a church fan in August around here.”
Gage grinned and shook his head but didn’t say anything.
“So, we’ll have vehicles down here? I’ve been pulling some from pickup locations, but then the list has to be changed every time.”
“Yes, Zain. You’ll have your own automotive shop, and Dad is working on acquiring more vehicles. It’s going to get busy down there.”
“Devin, I have Raymond, Uri, Kenzo, and Wynter ready to patch in.” He recognized Fallan’s voice.
“Go ahead.”
“Sorry, it took a beat. I had to track down Uri and Kenzo.”
“No problem, Fallan.” Rayne said.
“And everyone is on board now. Taggart isn’t able to be on this call. He’s apparently unreachable right now, according to Deva.”
“I know where he is right now,” Raymond said, “It’s too risky to use any cell phones. He’s heading to Panama to meet up with an ally there. Deva is in a safe house with Lars, so he has someone to exfil if needed.”
Gage exchanged a questioning look with Blair, who shrugged.
“I know there’s a lot to cover, but I’d like an update on Aiden.” Rayne didn’t sound as calm now.
“He has been moved to a second undisclosed location,” Raymond said. “Only myself, Konner Flores, and Barrack are aware of where it is and for everyone’s safety, it will have to stay that way. We fly the guards in blindfolded.”
“Understandable, Raymond. How’s he doing?” Devin’s tone was low.
“He’s, uh, a very unhappy man, sir. I believe it finally sunk in that his life of privilege and freedom is gone for the rest of his days.”
Devin snorted. “Good. What’s your status, Uri?”
Jake liked how he moved on from Aiden Tomas without pause. That man didn’t deserve more than a moment of anyone’s time.
“I’ll be in B.C. tomorrow, Devin. I’ll update when I know more.”
“Sound’s good. While you’re there, you’ll be meeting with Malik and Struan. The alphas from West Sea clan and South Sea clan, to see what can be done about them being hunted. Konner will let you know when that’s set up.”
“I’ll check in when I can, Devin. If I’m in the sky, though, I can’t answer my phone.”
Devin chuckled. “I’ll tell him to text you, and you can call him back.”
“That would work.”
“How are we with those locations from Leon’s group?” There was a growl in Devin’s voice, and Jake didn’t blame him for that. A traitor in the family was as low as it got. He looked at Blair and then Noah. They were his family. If either of them betrayed him, he wouldn’t know what to do. It would crack his world into a million pieces.
“Nicklaus and Kesler are heading to the Yellowknife location.”
Jake looked at Blair and gave him a questioning look. Blair mouthed, ‘surveillance team.’ Jake nodded. He needed a list of the teams. Keeping them straight was not easy.
“Jesse, Leah, and Foster are heading down to the US HQ, sir; once there, Foster is proceeding to Minnesota to meet up with a contact down there.” Raymond continued. “Demir and Sydney are going to Maine to see if they can locate the safe house the Tomas family has reportedly used in the past.”
Jake didn’t know who Sydney was, but he’d only met about forty Alliance team members and knew there were at least that number more or that he hadn’t. He wanted to grin but knew the moment was serious. He was part of it now.
“Make sure you send as much backup as they need, Raymond.”
“All teams are on standby, waiting for directions, sir.”
Jake wondered how the king was doing, but now probably wasn’t the time for questions like that. He’d been kidnapped, held, and rescued, and his nephew was a traitor. He imagined that would affect anyone, even the king of all shifters.
“We have several shipments coming into the factory, so make sure everyone comes for extra supplies. Zain, shipments to you will begin next week.” Rayne informed him.
“Good. We’re low on everything down here.”
“Are Jesse and Leah going to be staying down there, Zain?”
“They’re just coming down to help locate clans. Amari, Tripp, Deacon, and Gia will be helping too.”
“Do we have a rough number of clans?” Kobie asked and then looked at Blair.
“No idea. Records are so out of date; we may not find a trace of them.” Rayne said.
“We have Kellan and Templeton from a Nebraska clan on the way to you, Zain, to help. As well as Duane and Vernon from a Colorado clan. All four will be permanent members of the US HQ team. They know of more clans down there than we do.”
“We met them while transporting those from the Island. They seem like good people,” Calum added.
“Jorja and Alandra have also requested to go to you, Oaklyn. They are still adapting but feel they may be of use to you down there.” Rayne’s calm tone was back.
“They are more than welcome,” Oaklyn replied. “I hear we’re getting a few for the young ones training down here soon.”
“Yes. McKenna has volunteered to come help get that started.” Calum said. “She’s young, but she has skills.”
Blair grinned.
“Good to know.” Zain sounded tense.
“Walker, Gia’s brother, is coming to you too, Zain. He’ll be a great help in the organization and operations.”
“I heard that.” Zain scoffed. “Starting from scratch has been a challenge.”
“Asher and Journey will be there in the next few days, Zain. His grandmother has taken Journee’s niece in so they can come help out.”
Jake had no idea how Rayne or the others kept all of this information straight. There were a lot of moving parts.
“I just got word that we’ve found the two men that were involved with the death of Miss Bishop’s friend.” Raymond’s tone gave Jake chills down his spine. He hadn’t met him in person yet but he was fairly certain he didn’t want to.
He looked at the phone.
“Slater and Graham will have them in custody by the end of the day.”
“Keep Gage and I updated on that, Raymond,” Devin said.
“Wynter, your team has been checking locations from the records found in Chicago?”
“Yes, sir. Eaton and Luka just arrived, so we’ll be going in by dark.”
“You’re going in the daylight?”
“We are, Kenzo. Just means we’ll be kicking them in the head when they’re awake and see it coming.” Wynter laughed.
Someone snorted. “Just send Eaton in first.”
Wynter chuckled. “Then my guys wouldn’t get to have any fun.”
Jake sent Blair a look, asking what that was about. Blair shrugged.
“How are you doing, Kenzo?” Devin asked.
“Xia and I haven’t found a trace of anything connected to shifters, sir, but it’s difficult here.”
“Keep looking. New Orleans has been mentioned in too many records for it to be a dead end.” Devin said. “We’re going to need you when we find those locations. We’re sending Eren from Kaid’s team down to help Xia.”
Kenzo chuckled. “I’m sure Xia will be happy to have someone else other than her team leader down here.”
“Eren will blend in there. He’s originally from a clan that lived nearby. They moved to Canada about ten years ago.” Devin must have so much information at his fingertips; Jake didn’t know how they kept it all straight.
“I can’t say I’m upset about leaving. It’s hot and muggy here, and I’m more of a snow person.”
Winter laughed. “I hear that. I’m sorry to see the snow melting.”
“Is there anything else? I think we’ve taken enough of everyone’s time.” Devin probably had stacks of papers on his desk again, Jake figured. He didn’t strike him as an office kind of man. He had said something to Fallan about it and she told him that Devin was an artist. Jake’s mind was blown when he had looked him up. The only question he had was when did he have time to paint?
“Gage, make sure we get a list of who is training at your shop or relocating to train elsewhere.” Rayne sighed. “Records are going to be meticulous from now on.”
“She’s not joking.” Devin sounded amused. “Keep us up to date.”
“Will do. I have to go now.” Kenzo said.
“Okay,” Devin answered.
“Torin has those cameras ready if you want live video when we kick the doors down, sir.”
“That’s great, Wynter. Contact Fallan; she’ll set it up for us.” Devin sounded like he’d moved away from the phone. “We’ll talk to you shortly, Uri. I just got a message from Konner.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be by the phone. I’m just getting ready to get back on the road now.”
Blair jerked his chin toward the door when Jake looked at him.
Glancing at the phone, Jake decided he had enough catch-up to last him a while. Shifters all over were kicking ass from the sound of it. He may not be one of them, but he’d soon be helping get them where they needed to go.