Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)

It also gave her the opportunity to use the SAU’s powerful network.

During the near collapse of society when the virus had swept around the world, the internet had been severely limited. The government claimed that they didn’t have the manpower to devote to repairing unnecessary infrastructure. Mira, however, suspected that they were intent on limiting the amount of information that could be shared.

After all, there was nothing more dangerous than the truth.

Clicking to a new screen, Mira wrinkled her nose at the hot breath that puffed against the back of her neck as George Markham, the head of the Denver division of the SAU, released an impatient curse. A large, ex-military man with short, iron-gray hair and a large body that was trending toward flab, he’d been the first one to interrogate her at the SAU headquarters.

It was the second man, however, who’d taken the lead since they’d arrived at the air base. Chief Master Sergeant Donaldson wore the crisp uniform of a man still in service. His head was shaved, and his lean face deeply tanned as if he spent a great deal of time outside. She guessed his age to be in his mid-fifties, and while he technically appeared to be beneath Markham in rank, he was clearly in charge.

“Well?” Markham demanded for the hundredth time in the past two hours.

Mira didn’t bother to glance around. She wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate her captors. They would slice her throat without a second thought. But she was convinced that she only had a few hours until she could make her escape.

“I’m close,” she promised.

“You said that three days ago,” Markham snapped.

She had, of course. She’d been playing a dangerous game. One that could end in disaster if she couldn’t keep the men distracted while she concluded her hidden search.

“It takes time to break through so many layers of security,” she smoothly lied. “Which is why I’m so convinced that the Apate Clinic must be hiding something important.” She deliberately paused. “Or someone important.”

“Like you were convinced that the Morgan Hospital had a Dr. Lowman on their staff,” Markham snapped. “And that Scotland Research facility had the original notes from the Verona Clinic.”

Mira heaved a sigh, reaching up to brush a stray curl from her cheek. Over the past two weeks, she’d been at the mercy of the base’s commissary, which meant that she didn’t have her usual toiletries. Now, her hair was a mass of corkscrew curls that tumbled down her back, and a pair of green fatigues covered her curvaceous body.

“I warned you when you first-” She bit back the word ‘kidnapped.’ She was doing her best to make the men believe she was there of her own free will. “Insisted on me joining you here, that I only had a few threads that I was trying to follow.”

Markham abruptly straightened and stepped back. “We’ve wasted too much time on this shit.”

Mira’s heart missed a beat. Her biggest danger was the moment these men decided she was no longer of use. When that happened, she didn’t doubt for a second that they would kill her.

Thankfully, Donaldson wasn’t prepared to quit.

“If Dr. Lowman is still out there, we have to find him,” Donaldson said in clipped tones. “Or do you want to wake up to discover his face plastered on the TV stations?”

“He’s had twenty-five years to expose us,” Markham groused, unaware that he was giving away vital information to Mira. “Why would he do it now?”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Donaldson snapped. “We both know the animals have become emboldened over the past few months. Plus, that damned tiger had evidence of our cover-up,” he said, referring to Jonah Wilder, the Alpha of the Golden Pack. He’d recently revealed evidence that they’d traced the original outbreak of the Verona Virus to a human lab. And that there were suspicions that a defense contractor was attempting to create a weaponized form of the Ebola virus. “If he decides to share his information, then the good doctor might be afraid of changing public opinion. It would be in his best interest to come out as a whistle-blower rather than one of the creators of a worldwide plague.”

Markham made a sound of impatience. “Have you considered the possibility that he’s dead?”

“Until I know for sure, I’m not halting our search,” Donaldson warned.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mira watched as Markham puffed out his chest. The two men were involved in a constant power struggle. Good news for her. Their need to constantly try and outbluster one another meant that she could use their distraction to accomplish her secret goals.

“I have a division to run, you know,” Markham said, deliberately reminding the other man of his position.

Donaldson’s beefy hand landed on the glossy desk where Mira was working.

“We all have our own jobs,” he snapped.

“Yeah, but mine is to make sure the animals remain in the cages we built for them,” Markham reminded his companion. “Something that’s growing more difficult every day.”