“That’s what Severino would like you to believe.”
Silence blanketed us while I watched the general. I wished I could glean something more about him, like his real agenda. I could see Severino calling in a favor and sending our own flesh and blood to betray us. This could be a smokescreen to finish Fonthill’s mission and kill Sasha.
Adam glanced at me, then Miller. “Thanks for the offer, but we can handle this.”
“This soldier you’re after is trained in guerilla warfare and his wolf senses are enhanced.” Pride infused the general’s voice. “He’s stronger, faster, and has more weapons training than any of you. Plus, he can shift anytime.” He opened his hand in front of us. “I’m offering to help. No strings attached.”
Adam shook his head. “If dad didn’t want anything to do with you, why would I?”
“Then you’ll get what you deserve,” the general growled as he turned to go.
I ground my teeth. “Wait.” He stopped and looked back at me. I wished I could tell him to go to hell, but as long as his whacked-out soldier was out there, Sasha and Nadya were in danger. “If you think you can stop Fonthill, I’m willing to listen.”
His eyes moved from me to my Alpha. Adam gave him a sullen nod. Good enough for now.
“I think I can get him to stand down from this mission,” Miller said, “but I need to find him in order to make that happen.”
I shook my head. “Good luck with that. So far he’s been the one finding us. He’s already shifted in broad daylight and killed one of my employees. Then he attacked a guy from a gas station. If we knew where he was we would have already ended this.”
“Nero has sent someone here to neutralize Fonthill,” Adam added. “Do they know you’re in Reno?”
“I don’t work for Nero, if that’s what you’re really asking. I work for the United States Army. Fonthill was discharged years ago, but Nero contacted me after the gas station incident. It is in the company’s and the government’s best interests to bring him back before our program is exposed.”
Miller slipped a hand in his pocket, his gray-green eyes reminding me so much of my father that my chest constricted. But even with his familiar looks, he was a stranger. How could we believe anything he had to say?
As if the distrust was written all over my face, the general sighed and went on.
“I know you don’t approve of the project.” Miller watched my brother. “But if America had a unit of highly trained Green Berets who could shift into wolves anytime, without waiting for a full moon, our country would be stronger for it.”
Adam shrugged. “Tell that to the people Fonthill’s attacked in the last few days. Having a crazed lunatic on the loose that can shift anytime seems like a bad idea to me.”
“Let’s get this back on track.” Truthfully, I wanted to get some time to digest that we had blood my father never mentioned. Getting rid of General Miller Sloan was just a perk. “Since he was caught on security cameras running from a gas station after attacking that attendant, the police are on a manhunt for him, the government wants to protect the program from exposure, and Nero also sees him as a liability. You sound like you want to take him out with a chat instead of a bullet, am I right?”
“I owe the last of my men a chance at surrender instead of assassination.”
At least he had a thread of integrity left.
“Then I suggest we come up with a plan to lure him out of hiding.” My gaze moved between Adam and Miller. “You can try to talk to Fonthill, but if he makes a move, we’ll end him.”
The general nodded. “Fair enough.”
…
Adam didn’t invite Miller inside the house. I didn’t blame him. Blood or not, General Sloan had worked with Nero and had no business being anywhere near Lana and the babies. As far as we could tell, he didn’t know the twins existed, and we were going to do our best to keep it that way for now.
We moved our planning meeting up to the general’s Hummer. He produced a legal pad and a pen and I started writing down the few things about Fonthill, adding in points he offered up.
“Even in his over-stimulated state, Fonthill won’t repeat an error.” Miller stared at me now. “You’ll need a new tactic to draw him out.”
Miller turned toward Adam. “He’ll also be able to smell a trap, so you shouldn’t bring your Pack. With some tactical planning, we could probably post three or four of your men at a distance and keep them under Fonthill’s radar.” His light eyes focused on me. “Do any of your Pack members have marksmanship training?”
The image of Sasha and all of her concealed holsters filled my head. “We do, and if she gets a clear shot, she’ll take it.”
“Fair enough, but only if my negotiations fail.”
Adam nodded, and Miller continued. “Then I’ll leave you two to put together your team and decide on the location for the operation. This is your territory. In the meantime, I’ll keep trying to make contact with Fonthill on my own.” He handed my brother a no-nonsense government-issue business card. “My contact numbers are listed here. I’ll expect to hear from you by tomorrow morning.”
I raised a brow. “That only gives us a few hours to get this together.”
“Hopefully that’s soon enough to keep him from harming more innocents. Every hour is crucial.” He walked around to the passenger door of the Hummer and stopped. “I am sorry to hear about Malcolm.” He glanced over his shoulder at us. “He was obviously a good father.”
“The best,” I said without hesitation.
He paused a moment, and I thought he was going to say something, but he shook his head and climbed into the vehicle with his driver. Adam and I took the pad and walked back toward the house. The tinted window lowered as the Hummer drove away. The general gave us a single salute, then he was gone.
Inside, Adam and I kept writing down ideas and scratching them out again. There was one plan that seemed viable, but it was risky. I closed my eyes and scrubbed my hand down my face. Sasha was never going to go for it.
“There has to be another way. We can’t dangle Nadya out in front of this freak.”
“I don’t like it either.” Adam leaned against the table. “But he won’t fall for you and Sasha walking around downtown again. We’ve given him chances, and he hasn’t shown himself.”
I set the pen down and crossed my arms over my chest. “If Nadya agrees to this, how are we going to keep her safe? Not that it really matters because Sasha is never going to agree to use her little sister as bait.”
“I’d love to hear a better idea, bro.” Adam glanced out the window toward the barn. “This is probably the only way to stop this guy before he exposes all of us.”
“Fuck.” I got up from the table, stretching my legs. “You really think we can trust Miller?”
Adam sighed, staring down at his boots, then raised his eyes to meet mine. “You remember how Dad used to just know things? How he could look at us and know if we were hiding something?”
I nodded.
“Well since I became the Alpha, I wish I could explain it, but I know things, too. Not like reading minds or anything, just a hunch that seems so real… I’m learning to let go and trust my instincts. Miller’s not being completely honest with us, but he had no idea Nero ambushed us. That part was true. The way I see it, we can move forward with this plan and if it turns out I’m wrong about the general, we’ll be in position to take Fonthill down ourselves anyway.”
I stared at my brother for a moment, wondering how my act-first-think-later brother had morphed into our Alpha so seamlessly. If we had more time I might’ve even told him I was proud of him. But right now time was a luxury.
“I’ll work on Sasha, and you pick the team to come with us.” I opened the door and glanced back at my brother again. “Don’t talk to Nadya about this yet, okay? Sasha should ask her. I don’t want Nadya to agree to this without understanding the risks.”