Smiley Read online

  “We leaked the video of the bartender to the press. It hit every broadcast about twenty minutes ago. We need everyone here because shit is hitting the fan faster than we believed it would.”

  Smiley clenched his fists. He didn’t like hearing that. He preferred operations that ran smoothly. Justice seemed angry and frustrated, never a good sign.

  “Trey Roberts!”

  A male standing in the corner responded, “Here.”

  Justice pinned him with a stare. “You are in charge of the two teams tracking Gregory and Carl Woods. Report.”

  “Gregory is freaking out. He screwed up by using one of the phones we cloned instead of a new disposable one to call our pilot. He ordered him to prepare the plane and to be on standby. He also called his attorney. He’s going to make a run for it.”

  “His son?”

  Trey nodded. “Carl Woods is packing right now. He’s at his home. We’ll grab them after they land. You wanted records of him flying away from the airport for the authorities. Our pilot will fly low under the radar to make tracking the small plane difficult. We cleared a remote road near Reservation for him to land. Crews are still there in preparation of giving him some light if it happens after dark. The pilot is planning on telling his passengers they are having engine trouble and need to make an emergency landing. New Species will be waiting to take them into custody.”

  “Good.” Justice turned, pointing at Tim. “Report.”

  “We have small teams at each residence and at the church with a few of your canine males to help them execute a search. They are on standby to toss each location. Say the word and they go in.”

  Justice nodded. “I think Gregory will want to travel with the drug so we’ll wait until they are in custody. I don’t want to invade human places unless we need to. It could draw too much attention. We want to appear as if we had nothing to do with their disappearance, if possible.” Justice swept his gaze around the room. “We’re on high alert. Is that clear? The church may stage a distraction to keep us busy. We have no idea of their exact numbers since he televises his show. Keep in close contact with your teams. Move out!”

  The room cleared of all nonessential officers. Justice jumped down and approached Darkness. He stopped in front of him.

  “We have four prisoners from Fuller. I want to know everything they know about this drug and how much of it was sold. I want verification of the numbers we were told. I hate surprises. Make certain there was only one purchaser. We need to make sure we go after every dose.”

  Darkness nodded. “Whatever it takes.”

  Justice turned toward Jericho and Smiley. “Thank you for coming. Help Darkness. Don’t kill them but I want answers. Medical is on standby if they are needed.”

  “Understood.” Jericho cracked his knuckles. “Intimidate first then break bones if that doesn’t work.”

  “Whatever it takes,” Justice repeated Darkness’ words. “I’ll be here. We’re keeping in constant contact with Reservation. They are on high alert too. Gregory Woods has a lot of supporters. They aren’t going to be happy that their leader is about to flee the country. They’ll blame us.” A cold smile curved his lips. “They would be correct, for once.” He spun away, moving toward the males and females monitoring the cameras.

  Jericho jerked his head, motioning for them to move out, and Smiley followed Darkness. They entered the back part of the building where the interrogation rooms were. A male was assigned to each door. The mood was forbidding. Darkness turned. “I’ll take room one. You two team up for room two.”

  “I can handle a prisoner myself.” Smiley held Darkness’ gaze. “I won’t lose my temper.”

  The male frowned. “You’re not known for being overly aggressive, Smiley, but under the circumstances you might be. I’d rather not have to patch them up and keep them in the basement until they are cleared for return to Fuller. Intimidation is far better than violence.”

  “I can be intimidating.” He allowed his anger to show. “I won’t lose control and damage anyone.”

  Darkness blew out a breath. “Take room three but I’ll be in to monitor you shortly. I’ll scare the shit out of this one and give him a little time to think I’m about to kill him.”

  Smiley paused outside room three and allowed his emotions to surface. Just thinking about the night he and Vanni had been drugged and all the things that could have gone wrong enraged him. He threw open the door and stomped inside. The human male handcuffed to a chair that was bolted to the floor jumped, his complexion already pale from living at Fuller Prison.

  “Hello, human.” He slammed the door behind him and cracked his knuckles, making a show of it. “You can call me Pure Hell. That’s what you’re going to experience if you don’t tell me exactly what I want to know.” He approached the prisoner, keeping that anger alive inside. “I know we tend to be less violent than the felines and canines but don’t relax because I’m a primate. That would be a mistake.” He paused in front of the male and bent a little, glaring at him. “I have a mate. That makes me the most dangerous Species you’ve ever come into contact with. She was drugged.”

  “I had nothing to do with that.” The male had an annoying whine to his voice.

  “Drackwood created a version of the breeding drug for humans. She’s human. You’re guilty. You sold that shit to other humans.”

  “It was Dean. He’s the one who sold it. It was his brainchild to weaken the dosages until it wouldn’t kill women.”

  Smiley moved fast, grabbing the guy’s jaw. He applied enough pressure to bruise. “What did you do at Drackwood?”

  “I’m Dr. Kent Berter. I ran research trials.”

  “So you were the one who hurt Jeanie Shiver?”

  His eyes widened. “No. That was Dr. Brask. I was animal research only. I refused to do human trials. Dean asked me first but I said no way. It’s one thing to kill a rat but something else entirely to watch a person suffer.”

  “You worked for Mercile.”

  “Drackwood. I never worked for Mercile Industries. We had nothing to do with New Species until some of them were transferred to our facility after they were shut down. We only had some mutual shareholders. I told all this to the men who interviewed me after I was arrested.”

  “Who was the drug sold to?”

  “I don’t know. That was above my pay grade.”

  “What can you tell me?”

  “I know two hundred doses of it were synthesized. I already told your people what I know. Dean authorized it. It happened a week before we were raided. Chris bitched about the mass order and the overtime he had to put in to make it happen. He was our chemist. He’s here. He was brought with me. You’ll have to ask him if any more of it was made. He was the only one qualified to do it.”

  Smiley wasn’t willing to call it quits. “You know more.”

  “I saw a guy there around that time. I thought he was the buyer. He looked like a professional wrestler or something but he wore a suit. All muscle and kind of scary. He was kind of a dick. I ran into him in the break room and he glared at me. I was afraid of him. He bitched about our shitty coffee, as if it were my fault. I was afraid he was going to punch me out. He wasn’t in a good mood.”

  “Did he tell you his name?” Smiley released his face.

  The prisoner shook his head. “Dean came in though, and I think he called him Bruce. I remembered it because I have a brother-in-law with that same name and they are polar opposites. I tend to take an interest in traits of people with the same names. I remember thinking he had nothing in common with my sister’s husband.”

  Smiley flashed his fangs. It was probably the same male who’d abused Vanni. It was the same description. “What else can you tell me?”

  “I got the hell out of there because he complained to Dean the second he walked in that he thought his boss was being robbed. I got the impression he didn’t like the price he was paying. Dean came in carrying one of the freezer cases we use to transport liquid drugs. That’s a