Shit! Either I would be one lucky woman and land on the next building over, or I was about to be in a lot of pain. The drop was six stories. Yeah, I would survive, but it would hurt like an SOB.
I had no choice. I leaped off the building, hoping for the best, prepared for the worst. My heart was fluttering fast and my stomach was doing somersaults.
I wasn’t going to make it. The other building was too far away. I was falling fast, so I prepared for the landing. Always land in a roll, was what we were taught. I began to tuck myself into a ball when all of sudden, something grabbed the fur on my back.
I thrashed, as I was pulled upward sharply. Instead of falling, I was lifted into the air. I glanced up at my rescuer and smiled at Hawk. He squawked, and I barked out a laugh.
“My hero,” I teased at him with our mind link.
“Hi, Foxy. How’s it hangin’?”
I snarled at the nickname. “Not funny! Take us down!”
We landed behind a diner a couple of blocks away from the action. Once on the ground, Hawk let me go and stood beside me.
“Whew! That was close! Thanks, Hawk.”
“No problem. I saw the cats, what happened?”
“They snuck up on me.”
“You didn’t smell them?”
“No, I didn’t. What the hell does that mean?”
“They’re using a scent eraser like the one we have.”
“We’ve got to get to Jordan. I caught sight of someone sneaking up on him when those three got in my way.”
I started heading around the building to go help Jordan when Hawk stopped me.
“Wait, it’s too late.”
“What do you mean?”
He ruffled his feathers and shook his head. “They took him down and carried him away.”
“Why didn’t you help him?” I shouted in my head.
“Hey! I had to choose between catching you and helping him, and there is no way I could have taken on three jaguars by myself. We have to go find the rest of the team and regroup. This is a total FUBAR.”
Fucked up beyond all recognition, was right.
“It was an awful coincidence that they knew where I was. Do you think this was a trap?”
“Hell if I know, but yeah, probably. Someone had to have told them we were coming.”
“You think we’ve got a traitor?”
Hawk flew up into the air. “Yes, let’s go.”
Shit! That was screwed up. I hadn’t wanted to believe Hawk was right. Our team trusted each other more than family. To have a traitor would have been all kinds of fucked up.
My eyes narrowed. When I found out who they were, they were going to be in a world of hurt.
27
Alex
The house was quiet and dark. In fact, the whole neighborhood had a creepy kind of silence that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I shook my head and called out to Leo.
“The back is clear.”
Leo had taken the front, while I checked out the back yard. We were supposed to meet at the back door when Jordan signaled.
I didn’t want to think about what he was doing. I admitted, I was pissed when I found out I wouldn’t be helping find my father. It still burned knowing I couldn’t talk to him before we took him out, but really what was I going to say? Why? That was a stupid question.
My father did what he wanted, when he wanted, and damn the people he had to step on to do it. I was sure his answers wouldn’t have surprised me, but it would have pleased me to no end to see his face when he was caught.
The fact that Jordan would be the one to take him down, eased some of my anger. My father would know I was a part of it. It had always been a well-known fact, wherever Jordan was, I was right behind and vice versa.
“Clear! No one in sight. Where do you think they all went?” Leo replied.
“I don’t know, but keep your eyes peeled. This doesn’t feel right.”
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when I heard Leo let out a roar. I took off around the side of the house and was greeted by Leo being held down by an extremely large black jaguar. At first, I hesitated. Leo should have been more than fine handling the cat one on one, but for some reason this time was different.
Leo’s jaws opened wide, as he tried to clamp down on the jaguar’s shoulder. The jaguar took it like a love bite and continued slashing into him. They were both covered in blood, and it became pretty clear that he needed help.
I leapt towards the fight, ready to rip the asshole off of my teammate, when I was tackled midair. I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me for a second before I figured out what happened. Another jaguar had attacked me. Where in the hell had they come from?
I was able to flip over and get away, but he was still coming. We jumped at the same time and ended up locked on each other while standing on our hind legs. The sounds of roaring and growling filled the night, as we clawed and bit into one another.