Blood & Thunder (THIRDS 2)

“It’s starting to,” Sloane said. “I’m thinking kidnapping. Someone was looking for something, something they thought this guy had.”

Ash frowned. “I don’t get it. Isaac plants the bomb then sets out to frame him? But he had to know we’d come looking for the guy. If he needs this doctor, wouldn’t he want us not trying to track the guy down?”

Sloane was getting really tired of going in circles. “Whatever Isaac’s reason, it undoubtedly figures into his plan. We need to find out why Isaac would want Dr. Freedman. Goddamn it, we need to know what Isaac found at the youth center. Either Morelli was the means to finding Dr. Freedman, or Freedman has information on Morelli that Isaac wants. Either way, the two are connected. Keep digging.” He tapped his earpiece and had the switchboard patch him through to Maddock. “Sarge, we aren’t going to get anywhere if we can’t get access to the youth center files. Everything leads back to Morelli, and I have a suspicion this doctor knows something. The guy’s gone. I’m willing to bet Isaac got his hands on him, and if that’s the case, he led us here for a reason. Why are we being kept in the goddamn dark?”

“I’m working on it, but I keep getting the runaround from Lieutenant Sparks. I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

“Well someone better tell me something, because I’ve had about enough of this bullshit.”

Maddock’s voice was low, the warning subtle. “Take it easy, Sloane.”

Damn, now he was getting pissy with his sergeant. “My apologies, Sarge. You know how I feel about red tape.”

“The feeling’s mutual. All I can do is keep working on it. See what else you can find.”

“You mean other than the fact the guy seemed like a godsend for these kids?” Sloane let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose to ease the headache that was forming. “We’ll keep looking.”

“Copy that.”

“Found something!” Letty waved a sheet of paper at him.

“What is it?”

“An elementary school newsletter.” She showed it to Sloane and he gave it a quick read, stopping when he got to the captioned photograph.

“Shit. We need to go.” He tapped his earpiece. “Agent Stone, Agent Taylor, keep searching the house. We’re heading back to HQ to follow up on a lead. Let us know if you find anything.” He received a confirmation from both Team Leaders, and Sloane didn’t waste another second. He moved out with his team trailing quickly behind him.

“What’s going om?” Ash asked, as he jogged toward the driver’s side of the BearCat.

“I’m not sure, but I need to talk to Lieutenant Sparks.” If his suspicions were right, things were a whole lot worse than they could have imagined.

SLOANE TOOK a deep, fortifying breath and knocked on Lieutenant Sparks’s door. Her soft but firm voice asked him to enter. He pressed his hand to the panel on his left, entered his security pin and the door swished closed. There was no privacy mode setting for Lieutenant Sparks’s office because the whole office was created to be secure. It was spacious, but sparse with her desk in the center of the room across from the door, two chairs in front, a few filing cabinets, a digital board, and a personal bathroom off to the side. Sloane stood at attention with his hands clasped behind his back, waiting for permission to sit.

“One moment, Agent Brodie.” Lieutenant Sparks tapped away at her keyboard with her bright red, manicured nails, the scarlet matching her lips in color. Lieutenant Sonya Sparks resembled a 1940s pinup girl with fiery hair falling in soft waves over her shoulders in Veronica Lake fashion, a pristine white pantsuit accentuating her ample curves, and white, three-inch heels that had her towering over a good deal of the agents, seeing as how she was already just under six feet tall without them. Pitch-black eyeliner and thick long lashes framed her deep-blue eyes. She was quiet, observant, and the government tattoo on her neck marked her Therian form as a cougar.

Anyone who underestimated Lieutenant Sparks was in for a real eye-opener. She was a hard ass, but a fair one. Sloane had no idea how old she was, only that she’d been with the THIRDS since he’d joined when he was sixteen, and she seemed to have barely aged since. It was no secret he held a certain amount of sway with her, though he had no idea what he’d done to earn such an honor, but she looked out for him and had offered invaluable advice over the years.

“My apologies. I needed to send off a report,” she said, finally shifting her gaze to him. She motioned for him to take the seat in front of her desk and cocked her head to one side, studying him, her piercing-blue gaze intense. Sloane tried not to fidget in his seat. It was amazing how she was the only one around here who could make him feel like that uncertain teenager he’d been when he’d first joined. “What’s on your mind?”

“I think we might have a problem,” he replied, hating the rough way his voice sounded when he spoke.

“Dr. Shultzon.”

The name made Sloane tense, and he sat forward, unwilling to believe she’d kept him in the dark. “It’s true, then. And you knew?”

“That Dr. Freedman wasn’t who you believed him to be? Yes. I was notified shortly after you and your team deployed. My orders were for Destructive Delta to carry on with their investigation. It was unlikely you would find anything, as the man has been in hiding for years.” She smiled affectionately at him. “I knew if anyone would find something, it’d be you. I told them as much.”

Sloane shook himself out of it. “So you know who he is, the information he has?”

“I know Dr. Shultzon was a First Gen doctor. Yours, Ash’s, as well as dozens upon dozens of other First Gen Defense agents we employ. The Chief of Therian Defense is well aware of the danger Dr. Shultzon is in, and in turn, the danger the THIRDS is in. Isaac Pearce vowed he would destroy the THIRDS, and he’s discovered a way to do that. Well, I don’t know if it would destroy us, but it would certainly discredit us, and throw enough red tape to unleash chaos within our ranks. It seems that’s why he kidnapped Morelli.”

“What does…?” Suddenly it struck Sloane, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner. “Morelli was a First Gen recruit.” Sloane ran a hand through his hair, trying not to let his anger get the better of him. “The Chief of Therian Defense knew, didn’t he? That bastard knew from the beginning that Morelli was First Gen. And then they have the nerve to come down on us for not solving this thing fast enough when they’re holding out on information?”

“You know how it works, Sloane. Morelli’s file was doctored after his death, so as not to raise any questions on classified information, especially after learning Isaac had managed to get his hands on your file years ago. You told me so yourself, Isaac was obsessed, claiming the THIRDS was hiding information, and he was right. Isaac somehow discovered Morelli was First Gen. We know he forced Morelli to access his file in the hopes of finding something, and when he didn’t, tried to get him to access Themis. Receiving no results, he killed Morelli and followed the one lead he did have—the CDC Therian registration office.” She leaned forward, her gaze intense. “We cannot allow Isaac Pearce to get his hands on First Gen information.”

“Okay, then help me. We know Morelli’s file led Isaac to the CDC registration office, and from there, he followed the trail to the Therian Youth Center. Obviously, something there led him to Dr. Freed—I mean Dr. Shultzon. Why can’t we get access to the youth center’s files?” He watched Lieutenant Sparks rise to her feet. She paced behind her desk, her gaze on the floor, and her lips pursed. “Please, you gotta give me something, Lieutenant.”

She nodded and turned to face him. “All right. Because it’s you. That youth center is one of many belonging to the THIRDS. It’s part of a recruitment program. It has been since the First Gens program was terminated. That’s why your search for the founder has led you in circles. The THIRDS is the founder.”