Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)

Without warning, the man’s eyes filled with tears. “I arrived just in time to witness Ranney’s personal henchmen putting a bullet in my father’s head.”

Mira sucked in a stunned breath. Sinclair wasn’t nearly so shocked. He was acutely aware of the depths that the SAU would sink to hide their dirty secrets.

“And the Director of Homeland Security?” he demanded.

“He was already dead.” The doctor’s face twisted into an expression of profound sadness. “I turned around and ran.”

Jessica glared at Sinclair, presumably angered that they were forced to recall things in the past they’d hoped to keep buried.

“When I found him, he was suffering from a nervous breakdown,” she said in accusing tones. “He barely ate, he couldn’t sleep. He wouldn’t even speak. All he could tell me was that there were men that were coming to kill us. I packed a few belongings, and we disappeared.”

Sinclair couldn’t deny a small flare of admiration for Jessica. There were many women who would have abandoned her husbands rather than go on the run, always knowing that they would be killed if they were found by the SAU.

Mira had the same loyalty.

It was something he never intended to take for granted again.

“Was Ranney afraid you were going to reveal the truth?” he asked.

“It was more than that,” the doctor told him, turning away from his wife to walk toward the hospital bed.

“Gerald, no,” the woman breathed.

“The time has come, Jessica,” he said, moving like a man twice his age as he bent over and reached beneath the mattress to pull out a small object. “The truth needs to be told,” he said, as much to himself as to his wife.

Sinclair remained perfectly still as the man shuffled toward him. He understood that this was an important moment in his people’s lives.

Perhaps the most important moment since the virus had exploded through the humans.

“What is this?” he asked as the doctor handed him a small flash drive.

“I recorded the conversations between Ranney and Dr. Pallen,” Lowman said.

Sinclair frowned. “Dr. Pallen?”

The doctor stepped back. “The head of the Verona Clinic.”

“What sort of conversations?” he asked.

The man shrugged. “Everything.”

“Everything?”

“I set up a hidden recorder to capture the secret meetings where they discussed the plans to weaponize the Ebola virus. How they picked the poor patient they wanted to infect.” Lowman grimaced. “And whether or not to accept the shifters that offered to use their blood to create a vaccine.”

Hope spread through Sinclair as he glanced down at the black device in the palm of his hand.

“This is a tape of all of them?” he demanded.

“Not just audio. There’s video,” the doctor said, nodding toward the flash drive. “That’s what I was taking to Homeland Security.”

Sinclair released a soft whistle. God. Damn. This was like finding the Holy Grail.

“So Ranney can’t deny he was the mastermind behind the virus,” he rasped, already imagining the impact when Bree exposed the private conversations to the media.

“Exactly,” the doctor said. “He knows that I have them, and he’ll kill me to get his hands on them.”

Sinclair held up his hand, holding the man’s gaze. “I intend to share these with the world,” he warned.

The doctor gave a firm nod. “Good,” he said, his tone surprisingly fierce. “It’s past time.”

Jessica made a sound of distress, her hand raising to her lips.

“But, Gerald,” she breathed. “Those tapes are your only insurance-”

Her words were broken off as a shrill sound sliced through the room. With a wince, Sinclair reached into his pocket to pull out Jessica’s beeper.

“What’s that sound?” he demanded, tossing the device toward her. The thing was about to bust his eardrums.

“The alarm was tripped,” she said, catching the beeper and thankfully shutting it off.

“A patient?” he demanded.

“No.” Her face was pale. “An intruder.”

“Shit,” he growled. “Time to go.” Holding Jessica’s gaze, he nodded toward the doctor. She was the type of woman who’d kept one of the most wanted men in America hidden from the authorities. He was confident that she always had a backup plan. “Do you have a way to get him someplace safe?”

The woman didn’t disappoint him as she efficiently moved to the dresser, shoving it aside to grab a suitcase that was already packed.

“Yes.”

“Go,” Sinclair commanded.

The doctor sent him a worried glance. “What about you?”

“I have to get these tapes to my people,” he said, holding up the flash drive. “But if I don’t make it, then it will be up to you to reveal the truth.”

The man squared his shoulders. “I won’t fail you,” he swore. “Not again.”

Jessica grasped her husband’s arm, tugging him through the hidden door.

Sinclair took Mira’s arm, pulling her back out the way they’d come in.

“Let’s get out of here.”

****

Sinclair was thankful that Mira didn’t protest as he half drug her out of the room and back into the stairwell. She clearly understood that it was too much of a coincidence that an intruder would break into the hospital just when they’d at last found Dr. Lowman.