Chapter 241 Chapter 241
“Are you serious?” Deva hissed out a long breath. “I heard about a breach at one of the safe houses I’d dropped some at, but had no idea it was because someone told that Tomas jerk.”
Jesse glanced over to see Leah sitting with Daisie and looking at a book together. “I know. I just stood there with my mouth hanging open when I was told.” Not a complete lie.
“So, are we out here chasing our tails or what?” Asher sounded groggy.
“I’m so mad,” Amari growled in a low voice.
“Do they have any idea who?” Foster’s usual jovial tone was gone.
“They don’t.” Jesse wanted to keep this as brief as possible. He still hadn’t gotten to talk to Leah about her call with the doctor.
“What do we do now? Who do we report to?” Webb demanded.
“I guess me?” Zain offered. “I know before we brought in Alpha’s and others, but maybe just me for now and I’ll run things by the boss from now on.”
Jesse nodded, “yeah find out what protocol we’re to use and let us know.”
“What about the teams we work with transporting and setting them up at new sites? Are they okay to call us in still?” Amari sounded calmer.
“Again, Zain will have to sus out the new protocols and send it to all of us.” Jesse watched Leah laugh and wondered what had been so amusing.
“This sucks so bad,” Asher mumbled.
“Yeah, it does.” Jesse agreed quickly before anyone else could interrupt. “Devin and his dad want us to keep our eyes open and if we sense anyone that doesn’t seem straight up to let them know.”
“They want us to find the traitor?” Foster sounded annoyed.
“Not necessarily, just—because we’re out there and see a lot of clans, they want us to keep our eyes open for anything odd.”
“What would be considered odd?” Webb asked.
Jesse blew out a breath, “I don’t know. Someone asking far too many questions? Or if someone that doesn’t need to be in the know is too curious, I can’t really say right now.”
“This is crazy,” Amari mumbled. “Because we don’t have enough to do now.”
Jesse shrugged, he agreed there. “I’m going to talk to Devin about adding more to our team. I think it’s needed.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t even know where I am most of the day lately.” Deva sounded tired.
“Where are you now, Jesse?” Webb wondered.
“I’m back at Blair’s they have weapons training set up here.” Jesse should have known this call wouldn’t be short. They never were when all of them were on it.
“Who’s training and for what? More guards?” Asher was sounding more awake now.
“No. A new retrieval team.”
“Oh, that sounds promising and hopefully means they’re going into more locations soon.”
“Yeah, Ash, there’s quite a few.” He didn’t want to go into too much detail, not because he didn’t trust them, but because he didn’t know how to explain his current situation.
“Anyone we know on it? Aside from you, I presume.” Foster asked.
“Yeah, I’m part of it, ah, Calum—”
“Ha, they’re toast.” Foster laughed.
Jesse grinned, “Blair from Ed’s clan…”
“Oh, damn this is a serious team. I ran against him a few years back.” Foster made a gasping sound, “hardest run of my life.”
“Are there any women on this team?” Amari of course would ask that.
Jesse smirked, “actually yes. Calum’s mate is, she’s a trained healer…”
“That’s handy and much needed.” Webb interrupted.
“Yeah. Also, Blair’s mate is on it, and I’m a bit intimidated by her tracking skills. She’s the one that figured out that tidbit I shared with the use of rubbing alcohol.” He still couldn’t believe something that simple erased any scent.
“That was brilliant.” Foster said, “I tried it, and damn it does work.”
“I’m impressed.” Deva stated, “they’re adding women to a team like that.”
He glanced back over at Leah. “There may be more, I’m not sure just yet, there’s a few more that have been added.” He didn’t want her to go, but if it was something she needed to do to heal, then he had no choice.
“Let us know if you need backup or pickup.” Foster offered.
Jesse blew out a breath, “I came across a few addresses that have checked out, so I may need to call in some of you.” He leaned against the side of the trailer and watched Leah. “I know you guys know how to get people out fast, without issue.”
“You know you can always count on us, Jesse, especially if it’s getting our kind away from that lunatic,” Asher said in a cold tone.
“I know and thanks. I’ll get in touch when I know more and see who is where at that point.”
“I will probably still be in the middle of nowhere,” Deva said sounded bored, “I still have many to check at the top of the map.”
Jesse smirked, she always said on the right of the map or lower left, or something like that. “Who are you meeting up with?” He felt so out of the loop, normally he knew where the rest of the team were and what they were doing.
“A few from Liz’s clan to help scout the area.”
“Oh, you get overwatch, excellent. I love when I have eyes in the sky.” Foster chuckled.
Jesse ran through the clans in his head. Liz, if he wasn’t mistaken was Alpha of the crowned eagle clan. “Watch your back up there.” He cautioned, “it’s a lot of open space.”
“I will, Jesse.”
“Set up check-in times with Zain before you set out.” He made it sound like a suggestion, but he was technically in charge of this team.
“I’ll send you call-in codes,” Zain said quickly. “It’s a new thing, so you automatically get patched through to me.”
“Is this part of the containing information getting to the wrong people?” Asher asked.
“I had no idea, but now that I know what’s going on, that would explain it.”
“So, Jesse, where did you find a real leopard?” Webb asked with a quiet chuckle.
“Michigan.” Jesse shrugged, “the woman, the last of her clan had rescued her from some zoo or animal park.” He realized he’d never asked more about that. Deciding almost immediately that it might bring up the wrong memories and he’d better not.
“Kudos to her. I want to set them all free anytime I’m near one.” Amari huffed out a breath.
“What’s she like? The leopard.” Webb asked.
Jesse looked to his left to where Thera was laying. “She’s pretty cool, calm for the most part, I swear she understands every word I say.”
“Leave it up to you to come across a real leopard.”
Jesse grinned.
“You came across those minxes that time.” Asher reminded him.
“Ugh, don’t even go there. Those things were rabid and crazy.”
Jesse laughed at Foster’s tone. “Could have been worse. They could have followed you home.”
“Shush.” Foster hissed out an annoyed breath, “I have to get moving. I want to get a few more hours in before I crash for the night.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Let’s put it this way, if Deva runs into trouble at the top of the map, I’ll be nearby.” He didn’t sound impressed.
“Sorry about that, Foster, I have to go with the transport of this group,” Webb said.
“It’s fine. It will be totally worth it if I find some clans along the way.”
“Maybe a few more members in our little group would be good,” Zain said. “Since I’ve been stuck here on office detail, you guys could need a few more out there.”
“You were handpicked by the king to work at the Alliance headquarters with him.” Asher said, “I don’t see that as a hardship.”
“Yeah. Still a few more out there helping would save you guys the crazy long drives.”
Jesse nodded to Zain’s words, “I’ll talk to Devin, he’ll probably have a few in mind.”
“They just need to like being alone, but sociable and lethal,” Deva said in a serious tone.
“You make us sound terrible,” Asher complained.
“None of it is wrong though,” Amari added.
“I need to drive, people, we can have one of our three-hour talks later.” Foster sounded like he’d just yawned.
“Eyes open, Wile E,” Amari said.
Jesse grinned at her nickname for him, “Be careful. All of you.” He looked toward the trailer. “I need to go now anyway.” He literally couldn’t stand being this far away from Leah any longer. He started walking in that direction.
“I’ll be sending out emails with the list of new supplies. Let me know which drop site you want yours sent to.” Zain said hurriedly.
“Yup,” Webb said.
“Will do.”
“Talk soon.”
“Send me details of those rescue ops, Jesse.”
He just kept nodding; it wasn’t even registering who was speaking. Leah was watching him walk toward her and, at this moment, that smile on her face was all that mattered to him. The line went quiet and he realized everyone was gone. Hanging up, he stuffed the phone in his back pocket and headed toward his mate with longer strides.