Chapter 38 War Is Come
Jax's POV
I headed out toward the docks with four of our best scouts just after the sun went down, because Grayson wanted a full report on exactly how far the Iron Fangs had moved into our territory while we were busy getting Aria settled.
The air was thick with the smell of salt and rotting fish, and the rain had turned into a heavy mist that made it hard to see more than ten feet in front of the bikes, so we kept our headlights off and relied on our own eyes to find the way.
We parked the bikes behind an old shipping crate about three blocks away from the main pier, then we started moving on foot because we didn't want the sound of the engines to give us away before we could see what Darius was up to.
"Keep your voices down and stay off the main path, because Miller said he saw a patrol of three bikes near the warehouse an hour ago," I whispered to the guys, and they all nodded as they fanned out into the darkness.
We crawled along the side of a rusted fence that bordered the shipyard, and I could hear the sound of voices coming from a small shack where the Iron Fangs usually kept their lookouts. One of my guys, a young scout named Leo, tapped me on the shoulder and pointed toward the far end of the pier where a large freighter was being unloaded by men who weren't wearing any union uniforms. They were all wearing the Iron Fang colors, but there was something weird about the way they were moving, because they looked stiff and fast, like they were being pushed by something other than their own muscles.
"Look at the crates they're carrying, Jax, because those don't look like drug shipments or weapons," Leo whispered, and I looked through my binoculars to see that the boxes were made of a strange, dark metal that seemed to hum even from this distance.
"I see it, and I don't like it one bit, so stay here and cover me while I get a closer look at what's inside those things," I told him, and then I slipped through a hole in the fence and moved toward a stack of pallets near the ship.
I managed to get within twenty feet of the loading zone, and I could hear two men talking near the gangplank, but they didn't sound like bikers from the street. They sounded like they belonged in a lab or a corporate office, which made me think that Jess and the Syndicate were even more involved in this mess than Grayson had originally suspected. One of the men held up a small device that looked like a phone, but it was glowing with a weird green light that didn't look like any LED I had ever seen before.
"The resonance is holding at ninety percent, so the tracking should be active once we get the pulse units installed on the perimeter bikes," the man in the lab coat said, and his partner just nodded while he checked a tablet.
"As long as the Alpha doesn't catch on to the frequency change, we can walk right through their front gate without anyone being the wiser," the other one replied, and they both laughed as they started walking toward the back of the ship.
I felt a chill go down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold wind, because if they had tech that could mess with our senses or bypass our security, then the clubhouse wasn't the fortress we thought it was. I waited until they were gone before I crept up to one of the crates that had been left on the ground, and I saw a label on the side that had the Syndicate logo right next to a series of symbols that looked like old-world runes. It was a mix of high-end electronics and something much older, and when I touched the metal, it felt like a small electric shock went through my arm that made my wolf growl in discomfort.
"Jax, we've got company, so you need to move right now," Leo hissed into my earpiece, and I looked up to see a group of five Iron Fangs heading my way with flashlights.
I didn't have time to be subtle, so I grabbed a small handheld scanner from my belt and took a quick reading of the crate's energy signature before I turned and ran back toward the fence. I could hear them shouting behind me and the sound of heavy boots hitting the gravel, but I was faster and I knew the layout of these docks better than they did. I scrambled through the hole in the fence and met up with the rest of my team, and we didn't waste any time getting back to our bikes and tearing out of there.
"Did you get what we came for?" Leo asked as we sped back toward the clubhouse, and I just nodded because I was too busy thinking about what that tech could do to our pack.
"I got enough to know that we're in a lot more trouble than Grayson thinks, because the Iron Fangs aren't just selling drugs anymore," I yelled over the wind.
"They're using Syndicate gear to hunt us, and they’re probably using it to find the girl right now."
We pulled into the clubhouse courtyard twenty minutes later, and I didn't even bother parking my bike properly before I headed inside to find Grayson. I found him in the main hall talking to some of the senior members, but I walked right up to him and interrupted the conversation because this couldn't wait until morning.
"We have a problem, and it's not just the Iron Fangs encroaching on the docks," I said, catching my breath while I handed him the scanner. "They’re unloading crates of Syndicate tech, but it’s been modified with some kind of pulse energy that messes with our shift. I saw it myself, Grayson, and they were talking about walking right through our gates."
Grayson took the scanner and looked at the data, and his face went from annoyed to stone-cold in about three seconds. "If they can hide their scent and bypass the electronic sensors, then Aria and her Nana aren't safe here for long."
"That's not even the worst part, because I think they've already started the pulse, and it’s going to make everyone in the pack feel sick and sluggish if we don't find a way to block it," I added, and I could see the worry in his eyes even though he was trying to stay calm for the guys.
"Get the tech team on this right away, and tell them I want a shield up by midnight, even if they have to tear the whole building apart to do it," Grayson ordered, and I headed off to the back rooms to start the work.
I knew we were in for a long night, and as I walked past the room where Aria was staying, I hoped that whatever she was doing in that engine room had given her enough strength to handle what was coming. The Syndicate didn't play fair, and if they were giving their best toys to a maniac like Darius, then the war for Silverfang City was about to get a whole lot uglier.