Page 41 of Sergi
Remus laughed. “You know we’re going to do more than take the evidence we need. Our plan is to dismantle their entire infrastructure. Besides, if the heat is on us, Venizi won’t suspect you have the information he’s been hiding from the Council, assuming they don’t already know about it.”
“No shifter will be safe.”
Remus’s laugh was filled with contempt. “No shifter is safe. This is how we live our lives each day. But I’ve put all the packs on high alert. They know we’re in Romania and they know why.”He gave Devon a rueful smile. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we need a win against vampires. The shifters I sent need a win.”
Devon considered the statement and the ramifications. Shifters were smart. They knew there was a divide among the vampires—those willing to work with shifters and those who hunted them. Trust had to be shared on both sides. There would always be shifters with a distaste for vampires. Cato, the recluse shifter who’d been a slave to Venizi for most of his life, was one of those, though he had provided critical information toward the successful raid of Shadow Island. Minds could be swayed through success. And that built trust.
Devon held out his hand, and Remus took it. “This mission will be a success, and the credit will fall to you. You have my word.”
Devon followedRemus out of the van and surveyed the area. Rafael had found a quiet location at an isolated, run-down inn on the far edge of the village. It was run by an older couple who were barely scraping by, and currently, the motel had no other guests.
Rafael had been getting by with English, but the couple was more comfortable with Romanian, and Remus was fluent enough to ease the couple’s minds. He advised them they were on a mission to find a friend lost in the Carpathian Mountains. They became more helpful when Remus handed them a couple stacks of Romanian leu that would last them for some time.
Before he walked the property, he found Rafael, who was carrying gear from the van to the inn.
He shook the male’s hand. “Thank you for following orders and escaping. I know it feels as if you failed the team, but your ability to get word to us gives us the upper hand in this mission.”
Rafael ducked his head. “It wasn’t easy to run away.”
Devon nodded. “It never is, but there are times when it’s the only solution. And I’ve had to do it more than once in my life. This was necessary.”
Rafael lifted his head to give Devon his eyes. “We’ll get them back.”
Devon grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Yes, we will. And you’ve done a great deal toward that success.”
Rafael walked away with a confident stride. Satisfied, Devon strolled the inn with Remus.
The inn had twelve rooms. There was a bungalow next door that Devon assumed belonged to the older couple. The closest buildings were a block away and hidden behind trees.
The rooms barely fit a bed, shower, and sink, but there was running water. A single meeting room had been turned into a spacious storage closet. There was enough room to use it as a dual command center and extra sleeping area. Their equipment had been brought in, and the weapons and ammunition were being divided among the defined teams.
When it was time to settle into their planning session, four of Remus’s team members shifted into wolves to secure the area.
The older couple, who cooked a meal for them even after being told it wasn’t necessary, became a wealth of information. They reviewed the team’s map and advised on which areas to avoid. Of course, the area where the lab was situated was one of those places.
“Many go missing in that area,” the old man told Remus, who then translated to Devon. The problem wasn’t the mountain but the wild creatures. The old man wasn’t stupid. He glancedat the duffels, and his last words before leaving the room were succinct. “You’ll need decent weapons to survive.”
Remus agreed there were an equal amount of wild wolves to wild shifters in the area, but the team determined most of the disappearances were more likely from those who wandered too close to the lab. But the warnings about wild shifters weren’t taken lightly. They were intelligent and ruthless and would have to be taken down if they got too close.
The plan for their attack on the facility was simple.
Team One, which consisted of one male vampire and one female shifter, would be stationed in the village as a couple preparing for a three-day hike into the mountains. They would monitor the dirt road that led to the labs. The road was concealed behind a warehouse, but Rafael had found a tiny cafe with a clear view of the area. They would remain in contact with Teams Two and Four.
Team Two, a three-member team of two shifters and one vampire, would travel up the mountain on dirt bikes. Their task was to prevent traffic from leaving or entering the area. They carried C4 with remote detonators and would set the trap a mile from the facility before Teams Three and Four reached their destination on foot.
Team Three had the most dangerous part of the mission. They would be the bait. It would be a four-member team with two shifters and two vampires. The team would wear mesh diving suits over their clothing so they could be removed once the darts were no longer a threat. The suits were too bulky to wear for the entire mission. Their goal was to trigger the alarm to open the blinds, allowing Team Four, the remaining twelve members, to overtake the guards, gain computer access, and take out the exterior security cameras, leaving the interior security teams blind to the size of their force.
Once the security team in the blinds was eliminated, and assuming there was a tunnel to the main lab, Teams Three and Four would reorganize into the preplanned eight-member teams. Team Three would enter the lab through the tunnel, and since they would be blind to what might be waiting for them, they would take most of the smoke grenades Devon was able to procure.
Team Four would blast the exterior doors with C4. Once inside, communication via wireless earbuds would be critical as the teams located and seized the command center, giving them control of communications and security.
Only then would the team move through the lab. Scientists and lab assistants would be safely secured so long as they didn’t pose a threat; otherwise, they would be eliminated. It was harsh, but Devon knew all too well how much damage a single individual could create, especially if they were able to send information out of the mountain.
They reviewed the plan three times before the members were divided into their initial teams to go over their gear. Then they slept, waking early to find a large breakfast waiting for them. The four wolves returned to their human forms, ate heartily, then crashed in the van for the ride to the village.
Devon glanced out the window as they left Deva. Old passions stirred. At one point in his long life, he’d wondered if the call of his ancestors and the excitement of battle would dull with time. He’d heard the roar of his blood and sensed the rise of the beast during the raid at Shadow Island and when they’d infiltrated Underwood’s home to retrieve Cressa’s mother and sister.
Remus nudged his shoulder. His grin was wide. “Do you feel it? The promise of victory.”
