Treasure
Duplicity

Beta Ron Carlson got to clean up the mess left behind by his Alpha after Sawyer and Coral left. Alpha Forrest went back to the Pack House; he would have to call the Alphas of the two dead men sent to him for rehabilitation.

Clearly, rehab hadn’t worked on them. Ron shook his head as he thought about it; the three were trouble from the beginning. They were self-centered and refused to take responsibility, always blaming others for their choices. Alpha Forrest had played on that beautifully, giving them an outlet for their violent nature, and a chance to leave. It wasn’t a well thought out plan; Coral was more than a match for them after the attack began, and Sawyer had a century of training. The three were nowhere in their class, and three on one they had lost before against just her. So why send them to certain death?

Something had been wrong since the Council first sent them after Rori, and he was going to figure out what it was. The way they charged Coral with crimes was laughable. Still, Coral wasn’t the endgame, Rori was. The Council acted to hold Coral, then Forrest acted to keep them from leaving.

He didn’t have the answers yet, but he would. He had followed his gut this afternoon. He knew something was up with the Council by their reaction to Sawyer’s demand for video. He had reached into his pocket while he was testifying, removing an electronic voice recorder, and attached it to the underside of the conference table. Whatever was said in the meeting after they had left would be on it.

The Council members were furious about the hearing, and they took it out on their staff. When the ass-chewing ended, the three Council members stayed behind.

Recording your bosses could get you fired or worse. Ron justified it in his mind because he strongly suspected they were up to no good. He was on load to Alpha Forrest, but his upbringing in the Banff Pack in Canada’s Rockies had set his character well.

IRon was a wolf who lived by a warrior’s code of honor. If Forrest was dirty, he couldn’t stay in his current position. It wouldn’t take much more for him to walk away from a man who was rapidly losing his respect. His Alpha would understand.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he reminded himself.

He used his cellphone to take pictures and videos of the scene. When done, Doc and the Enforcers loaded the three dead men into body bags, and Doc brought them to the Pack Morgue. Before each man left, the Beta directed them to provide him a written statement of what they had seen before dinnertime. He didn’t want there to be any doubt later as to what occurred.

A large grey wolf came out of the woods, running directly to him. The Beta stood as the wolf shifted. “Alpha Nygaard,” he said respectfully.

“What the hell happened here, Beta? I smell my son and daughter.”

He didn’t know if the Will Nygaard was posturing or sincere, but he doubted either would claim him as Father right now. “Three trainees attacked Beta Coral as she was leaving with her older brother,” he said. “All three trainees died, and your children continued off Pack property.”

He sniffed, looking to where the blood still stained the road. “I smell Coral’s blood.”

“She was bitten and knocked off her motorcycle. It wasn’t severe enough for hospitalization, as her riding leathers gave her some protection. Sawyer is fine.” He watched his face, noting there was some disappointment about that and not liking it. “Coral is a skilled fighter, and Sawyer was quite impressive. You should be proud of them.”

spit on the road. “They got the best training I could give them, not that it will help either of them in the end. Damn waste, I tell you.” He shifted into his wolf again and ran back towards the Pack House.

A truck arrived, and some Omegas got out carrying bleach and brooms. He left them to clean up the bloodstains and started walking back to the Pack House. Pulling out his phone, he made a call to his home Pack. “Beta Carlson? What is going on there?”

“Do you have a moment, Alpha?” Alpha John Coffey was a good man, nearing two centuries of age and most of that as Alpha. Happily married to his fate mate, Roseanne, he headed a small but fiercely loyal Pack.

“Of course, Ron. I watched the hearing; more is going on that is being openly discussed.”

“You see that too?” He filled him in on his suspicions and the events that had just transpired. “The Alpha was desperate to keep Coral or Sawyer here, and I’m sure it was to force Chase and Rori to come here to help her.”

There was a pause on the line. “I fear you are right. There is something that has bothered me ever since the news of Rori’s appearance first came out. Why wasn’t she found after the Arrowhead Pack got destroyed?”

“Humans found her,” the Beta said.

“True, but this isn’t something that isn’t in the news. The whole Pack disappears one morning, and twenty miles away, the previous night, a baby is found on the side of the road. Shouldn’t someone have at least checked into it? The Pack scent would have been on her.”

“I never thought about it,” he said. “It does seem like shoddy work when you think about it.”

“It is. Now, why would someone not look into something so suspicious, especially when the fire makes it so difficult to determine who perished in the attack?”

Beta Carlson felt a pressure in his chest; it couldn’t be. “Oh, Luna, that’s monstrous!”

“And there are some who call us monsters. Secrets and lies from seventeen years ago, secrets and lies now. Behind everything, a special girl with a blessing straight from the Gods. She has the power to change the fate of the man who controls her. My woman has been fortunate to bear me a son and a daughter. With Rori, she could have a hundred children in that same time. Less than a century and a Pack could double in size and power. It’s quite the prize, and greedy men will do anything for power and money.”

“Fuck!” He stopped walking, unsure of what to do. “Alpha, what should I do now? I’m still sworn to this man.”

“Keep doing your job, Ron. We don’t know who is involved or how high this goes, so trust no one without reason.”

“Who can I trust?”

“Me, I will support you and the truth, you know this. If you can reach out to Rori or Chase, even Coral, trust them as they are the ones with the most to lose here.”

“Rori’s grandfather is arriving tonight. He’s meeting with the Council in the morning.”

“Charles should be brought up to speed as well. If the Council is compromised, he needs to know before they meet. Trust him, too. He never gave up hope of finding his granddaughter.”

It was a lot to take in. “I will take time to talk to him as soon as I can,” Ron said. “I have to retrieve the bug and find out what was said after I left.”

“Email me the file immediately, before you do anything else. Use cellular data, not the Pack internet, even if you have to drive somewhere to access it. You need to be careful of what you do and say, Ron. If they were willing to kill a Pack, killing you is nothing.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Good. Stay and gather whatever evidence you can. Make arrangements to disappear if you need to. Don’t come back here, as they’ll be looking for that. Go to Rori or Charles with the evidence.”

He took a deep breath, realizing how right he was. “I will, sir. Thank you.”

“May Luna keep you safe, Ron.” He hung up and put his phone away before finishing the walk back. He was almost afraid of what the recording would show.

--

Chase held Rori in his arms as they tried to make sense of everything that had happened. They had talked to Sawyer, sending him to Two Harbors along with Connie and his Mom. “We can’t stay here,” he told her. “My father knows that bikers from this Club were at the house, and the Council knows they are helping us. They might have people watching every chapter; maybe they even saw us arriving.”

“Where would we go?”

“Minnesota, of course. We have a lot of work to do there.”

She tried moving her leg up his body; she still couldn’t bend her hip or knee that much without pulling at her wounds. “I can’t ride yet.”

“You’ll be better in the morning. Let me talk to the Club; I need to find something comfortable for your travel that can bring the motorcycles too.” He could see she was fading. “You get some sleep. I’m going to talk to Thor.”

“All right.”

Ten minutes later, he had Rori tucked into bed, and was back down at the bar with the Club leadership. He explained what he needed. “You don’t want the Club to escort her,” Thor asked.

“At this point, it will attract more attention than it is worth. What I want to do is be able to hide our motorcycles in a trailer, have a bed for Rori to rest in, then just drive away while no one is looking. I don’t know, maybe an SUV with an enclosed trailer. I could buy something; I have plenty of cash to cover it.”

Switch just smiled. “Come on, let me show you something.” They got up from the table and walked outside, going across towards the garage. Like many motorcycle clubs, they had a fully-equipped garage. Their compound had a large lot, on which they had long-term storage of boats and RV’s as well. What was more secure than a lot guarded by a feared motorcycle gang?

They came to a long Class C recreational vehicle. “This belongs to my cousin. He’s going jail for two years, and his old lady needs the cash. He asked me to fix it up and sell it for him. It’s a toy hauler,” he explained as he went around to the back. He pressed a remote, and the back panel lowered down on a winch until it formed a ramp. The last eight feet of the RV was diamond-plate with lots of tie-downs. “You can easily fit two motorcycles in here.” They walked up the ramp, going through the door. “It doesn’t have the big bedroom of other types, but that dining table converts into a queen-sized bed. Lots of storage underneath and over the cab, and I got it tuned up and ready.”

“It’s perfect,” Chase said. They quickly agreed on a price, and Thor got a few of the Old Ladies to clean and prep everything while the men loaded the motorcycles into the back. He paid by check after getting a full rundown on how everything worked. Switch pulled it next to the Clubhouse while Chase went inside and packed. One of the prospects took their stuff out while Chase carried Rori down the stairs to the side door, which was hidden by an overhang. Once he had Rori settled on the bed, he sat in the chair across from her.

“You ready?” Switch got in the driver’s seat; he would drive out while they remained hidden. The Club had an old lady put on a red wig, and they loaded her stretcher into the van in full view of the street. They left, surrounded by Club members. Ten minutes later, the gate opened again, and they pulled the RV through.

Switch drove through the night, finding an empty road outside town. He pulled over, letting Chase take the driver’s seat as he got out. “The Prospect will be along shortly,” he said. “Take care of her.”

“I will,” Chase said before he pulled back onto the road. Chase headed south, listening to Rori’s gentle snores as she rested. He drove on highways for a few hours, finding a Wal-Mart in Bend where he could rest. Parking at the back of the lot, he stripped to his boxers and tucked in next to her. In the morning, they’d continue the trip, heading east towards Boise, where they would pick up the interstate. He fell asleep with her snuggled in his arms. It was the way he wanted to fall asleep every night of his life.

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