Author: J.D. Tyler

Once inside the room, A.J. closed the door quietly and waved a hand at the space, which was filled with empty boxes, crates, and palettes. "As you can see, nothing much here but junk. When I first came in and looked around, I almost left right away. But then I was struck by how orderly this junk is. Almost too neat."

"Strategically placed," Nick observed. "There's not much dirt or dust."

"Right. So I looked around a little more. And I found this." Picking his way between stacks, he left them to follow.

Single file, they did, careful not to upset any of the boxes or crates. On the far wall, in the corner, was another door. Her friend used the same key to unlock this one, and pushed it open. Well-oiled, it didn't make a sound. As she moved closer to get a good look, she blinked at the sight of a staircase on the other side, descending into nothingness, it seemed.

"The vault, and whatever is inside, is at the bottom," A.J. told them. "No regular key, just a security panel with card-key access-and sorry. I couldn't lay hands on one. There's also a number pad that I'm guessing is an override if the card doesn't work, but I was afraid to try and hack it. Might set off an alarm. Plus, I wasn't prepared to face by myself whatever I might find. I was damned glad when Kira called me and said you all were coming."

"You did the right thing," Nick assured him. "Let's move."

As they went into the bowels of the earth, Jax reached out and squeezed her hand, gave her a reassuring smile that made her heart trip. Damn, could it be love between them?

At the bottom, the group closed the remaining distance to the steel vault, which did indeed appear to be impenetrable. Aric walked right up, laid a palm on the smooth surface, and nodded.

"Piece of cake. Stand back, guys."

They gave him space and he closed his eyes, keeping his hand flat against the center of the door, leaning his body into the touch. At first nothing happened, and then after one long minute, the metal around his hand began to glow. Fascinated, she remained silent, guessing that he intended to blow up the entire barrier or perhaps make the vault slide open.

Wrong on both counts. As the metal glowed red and began to melt away from his palm, spreading outward, she stifled a gasp. She had no idea a Firestarter could use heat energy to manipulate metal-or at least this one could.

When at last he staggered backward, panting, sweat trickling down his temples, auburn hair sticking to his face, a man-sized hole had been torched in the middle. Jax caught his friend, steadied him.

"Gotcha. You okay?"

"Yeah," he said quietly, none of his usual snarky bravado in evidence. "Thanks."

"You need to stay here, catch your breath?"

"Nah, man, I'm gold. Let's do this."

"Holy shit," A.J. breathed, gingerly touching a finger to the edge of the melted steel. "Who the fuck are you people?"

"Told you explanations wouldn't do us justice," Nick said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You just have to watch and learn."

"Apparently so."

Their boss gestured to the newly made entrance. "I'll go in first. Wait for me to make sure it's clear."

Nick ducked slightly and stepped through the hole, vanishing. Tension rose as the seconds ticked by, his team antsy, not liking their boss and friend in uncharted territory without them at his back. Kira didn't blame them. As her eyes adjusted and senses heightened, she saw a dim glow in the room beyond, and smelled something really . . . putrid.

Nick appeared, his expression stony. "We have three dead and a couple of captives in bad shape. Got to free them and get out of here. Right fucking now."

As the others started after him, Jax took her arm in a gentle grip. "I don't want you in there."

"Any more than I want to go, but I'm not staying here by myself. So forget it."

Reluctantly he let her go. "All right, just stick close."

She snorted. "Like that'll be a problem."

She was practically glued to his back as they climbed through the hole and surveyed the gloomy prison.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "Jax . . ."

"Jesus Christ." He tried to block her view with his body. "Baby, don't look."

Too late. Stepping around him, she stared in horror, her brain struggling to comprehend such depraved cruelty. The stench took her breath away, a close second only to the awful sight before them.

One corner of a large chamber was taken up by what could have been nothing else but a place to torture the captives. A vinyl dentist chair was coated in dark stains and surrounded by tables of instruments-pliers, rope, saws, knives, drain cleaner, funnels, and other tools. More than she could name.

The rest of the room was filled with cages. Literally stacked with them, no more than three feet square, not nearly large enough for a full-grown human or shifter to stand, sit, or lie down in comfortably. And in those cages, the victims.

Emaciated, skin pulled taut over bones. Naked, curled into fetal positions, wasting away in their own filth, eyes devoid of hope. Eyes sunken and staring, some empty of life.

Kira's gorge rose and she spun, found the nearest corner, and dropped to her knees. She promptly lost her dinner and was vaguely aware of a large hand rubbing circles on her back. Jax, comforting her. Always there, strong and silent.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she said weakly. Using the edge of her shirt, she wiped her mouth and stood, too queasy to be embarrassed. "Or I will be, when we get the survivors home."

Something flashed in his eyes, and he nodded. "Let's see what we can do to speed things along."

There wasn't much to do but hover anxiously as Nick and Aric extracted one captive, Zan and Ryon the other. Both were males.

"They're shifters," Ryon said, studying the unconscious male in his arms. "Not sure what kind, but I don't scent a wolf."

"Me neither." Zan sniffed, and then froze. Slowly, he walked to a cage next to the one he and Ryon had pulled their victim from. Leaning close to the bars, he scented the area and shook his head. "It can't be."

Jax stalked over. "What?"

"Micah," Zan whispered. "I smell him. In that empty cage. My God, is it possible?"

The others exchanged stunned glances.

"Z-Man, Micah's dead," Jax said quietly.

"Are we sure? How do we know?" His friend's voice took on a note of desperation.

"I saw them myself. They were dead, Zan."

"How do we know?" he practically shouted. "Grant sent in a clean-up crew to take care of the bodies. We were injured, out of commission, and we never saw them afterward, dead and on a slab! And now I'm telling you, I caught Micah's scent in there."

"Which would mean our high-up government friends-the assholes who're supposed to be on our side-lied to us," Aric put in, voice cold. "Ain't like that's never happened before."

The words fell between them like stones, and Kira watched helplessly as they realized what they'd uncovered tonight was a mere thread that would unravel a much bigger scheme than they'd dreamed in their worst nightmares.

Jax's jaw worked in impotent rage. "Then what really happened that night? How did Micah end up here, and where the fuck is he now?"

"And if he's alive, or was . . ." Ryon trailed off, looking shell-shocked.

Nick finished. "Then where are the others? I don't have all the answers, but we're going to get them." A groan from one of the freed shifters brought them back to reality. "Unfortunately we won't get them tonight. We have to go."

As they made their way out and up the staircase once more, an unpleasant niggle teased Kira's mind. But fear, the urge to escape from this hellhole intact overrode the niggle before it could form into a thought. She'd have to examine it later.

They made it back to the HIGH VOLTAGE room above without incident. Luck had been with them so far, but it ran out just as they entered the bright corridor and approached the lab they'd looted earlier. Another security guard and three armed men in suits burst from the lab, apparently having discovered the intrusion. They froze, momentarily thrown by A.J.'s presence in the lead.

"Stone? What the fuck are you doing?" the other guard barked.

"What does it look like? Giving my friends a tour of the building," he sneered in return.

"They got the prisoners!" one of the suits, a fat man with a ring of hair encircling his balding pate, shouted. "Kill 'em!"

The security guard who'd spoken looked thoroughly confused, and clearly had no clue what the hell was going on. The suits did, though, and brought their guns up.

Jax shoved Kira behind him and down to the floor as shots rang out, deafening in the confined space. Aric and Ryon dropped into a crouch, shielding their charges with their bodies. Dropping to one knee, A.J. returned fire, putting a bullet in the center of one goon's forehead while Jax, Zan, and Nick shifted in midrun, going for the other two.

Bullets struck bodies, ricocheted off the walls. Sprawled on her stomach, arms over her head, Kira didn't have the best view but she saw enough. Three wolves ran right out of their pants, boots, and socks, straight for the two men who were still firing, eyes going wide at the unbelievable sight.

The black and silver wolves took down the fat man with relative ease. The black wolf-Zan-went for his throat, and his high-pitched scream was abruptly cut off, ending in a sickening gurgle. Next to them, the big white wolf had the other suit down, the body twitching underneath his bulk.

Crouching, the silver wolf raised his head and fixed his steely gaze on the security guard, who'd slid down the wall and was staring at the carnage. Fur retracted, limbs reshaped, but Jax didn't shift back all the way. Instead, he remained at half-shift, muscular body huge, long muzzle pulled back into a snarl, revealing deadly canines. A terrifying and awesome sight, especially to the blubbering guard.

"You," Jax said, his voice rough as gravel. Deliberately, he pointed one four-inch claw at the horrified young man. "Do I need to take care of you next?"

The guard was so stricken with terror, he hadn't even drawn his weapon. A dark stain spread across his crotch. "N-no! I d-don't know wh-what the fuck's g-goin' on and I d-don't care! Just don't eat me, please!"

Jax tilted his head, as though considering the request. "Then here's what you're going to do. Wait fifteen minutes after we're gone and then tell your boss you found these guys just like this. You didn't see a damned thing. Then if I were you, I'd put in my resignation and move far, far away. Got that?"

"Y-yeah! Shit, I got it!" The guard nodded emphatically, but didn't move.

Jax looked to Kira. "He telling the truth?"

For a second she was surprised, and then a little spurt of pride went through her. He was treating her like a team member, asking for her help as an Empath. Trusting her judgment, and in front of the others.

She opened her senses to the guard and was battered by waves of fear, confusion. Hope. He only wanted to make it out alive.

"Yes, he is. There's no deception in him."

"Then he lives." Jax stood and retrieved his pants, completing his shift to human form. "We're out of here."

Then he lives. Simple as that. Based on her perception of the jumble of feelings rolling off him, the guard would walk away. The power of that idea was frightening.

Jax offered her a hand up and she took it, averting her eyes while Nick and Aric yanked on their camos, shoved their feet into the discarded boots. In seconds they were ready to continue, the whole horrible episode having taken less than five minutes.

With a quick peek, she saw everyone was decent. Zan was wiping a seeping bullet wound in his side with the edge of his T-shirt, grimacing in pain.