Page 140 of Alpha Awakened

Just as Colonel Gibbs finished speaking, there was a sharp knock on the door. A second later it opened and an officer from the intelligence team came in.

“Colonel Gibbs, sir. This message arrived from Western Union. It’s addressed to you and the 448.”

“Thank you,” Gibbs said as he held a hand out to accept the message.

The soldier passed it over, saluted, and left, closing the door behind him.

Gibbs ripped open the envelope. He scanned the missive inside before he began to read it aloud.

The current shifter council does not represent all shifters. And they have done harm to those they were supposed to protect. Due to their leadership failure, they will be eliminated and a new council will take their place. Unfortunately for them, to truly begin anew, the old must be cleansed by fire. And that fire will bring their deaths. However, I’m a fair man. I’ll give you a chance to save them. The councilors and a bomb are somewhere in this country. The bomb detonates at precisely ten-thirty a.m. If you find them before then, I will allow them to keep their lives. But their time as councilors has come to an end. Buen suerte.

Finished reading the message, Gibbs tossed it on the table.

“That’s in less than four hours.” Hazard frowned. “Not much time when we don’t even know where they are.”

“Did he give any hints on their location?” Ortiz asked.

Gibbs shook his head. “No.”

“Odds are he’s got them in Minnesota, since that’s where he plans to establish his pack majora,” Jax said.

“Yeah,” Hazard agreed. But Minnesota is a big state. They could be anywhere. Maybe we should at least fly that way while we wait on an exact location to save some of that limited time.”

Ortiz shot down that plan.

“Negative. Minnesota is likely, but not guaranteed. If it turns out he’s stashed the councilors somewhere else, on one of the shadow pack lands for instance, we’ll waste time turning back from Minnesota to head that way. I know you want to get out there, but we’re not flying off half-cocked. We’ll wait until we know exactly where they are.”

Both Hazard and Jax growled with frustration, but they knew their CO was right. With no idea where to go, all they could do was wait for recon to report in.

They sat there waiting, twitching with impatience for close to ten minutes. The tension had Hazard ready to jump up and punch a wall. Finally, the door opened again. This time, an officer from recon stepped inside.

“Colonel Gibbs, sir. We tracked them down. They’re in a hotel in Wilmington, Delaware. It’s been cleared for demolition next week. Cortez must have saw it and decided it was the perfect set up for his plan.”

Ortiz was up and out of her seat before the officer was finished talking.

“That’s a two-and-a-half-hour flight.” She looked at Jax and Hazard, her face hard with determination. “We’ve got people to rescue. Wheels up in twenty.”

* * *

They geared up fast and made their way to the tarmac even faster. Their transport plane was gassed up and waiting for them. The three of them rushed up the cargo ramp, boots heavy and loud on the metal. Inside the passenger bay, Hazard took a seat next to Jax and strapped in. Ortiz sat opposite them.

Not wasting any time, the pilot had them cleared for takeoff. The ramp had just started to raise when Ortiz huffed a laugh.

“I knew it,” she said, looking out the back of the plane.

Hazard turned to see what she was looking at. To his shock, Ice was on the tarmac, fully geared up, sprinting toward the plane. Joy rushed through him at the sight of the captain, conflicting with the pain from their breakup. He was still hurt and angry, but it would have felt wrong to go on this mission without Ice. He was glad the alpha had decided to join them.

“Hold the ramp!” Ortiz shouted into her headset.

“Roger that,” the pilot replied.

The ramp stopped moving. When Ice reached it, he didn’t bother to wait for it to be lowered. He simply jumped aboard with one powerful leap.

“What are you doing here?” Ortiz called out to him with a hint of amusement coloring her tone.

“We see it through to the end,” Ice brusquely replied as he swiftly strode over to their seats.

Their squad motto.