Trouble in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 1) (16 page)

Silver woke up with a start as a flood of light hit her eyes. She looked up to see Mr. Astor and Tim entering her tiny room, both of them with smirks on their faces. Silver struggled to focus as she sat up and was overcome by dizziness. She was starving and dehydrated, and she hadn’t been sleeping well on this cold, hard floor, with her hands chained in an impossibly uncomfortable position. She had lost track of exactly how long she had been here, but it had been a few days, and no one had given her anything to eat. They gave her a glass of water here and there, but only enough to keep her from literally dying of thirst. Silver suspected they were trying to make sure she was too weak to put up any kind of a fight at the safety summit.

“Good morning, Silver,” Mr. Astor said cheerily. “Today is the day! Are you ready to become a shifter.”

“More ready than you’ll ever know,” Silver spat out, glaring at Mr. Astor.

Mr. Astor just laughed. “There, there. Don’t take everything so hard. It’s all for a good cause you know,” he said, leaning in to put his face inches in front of her face as he spoke. “And you know what that good cause is? More power for me!”

Mr. Astor threw his head back and let out a long, evil laugh. Silver winced, her stomach turning at the strong smell of whiskey that seemed to be permeating his pores. Was it really morning, like he said? Because he smelled like he’d been drinking for hours.

Tim sauntered over and started removing the handcuffs from Silver’s arms. “Don’t even think about trying to make a run for it, sweetheart,” he said. “We’ve got guards stationed everywhere, and the security system is programmed to require an eye scan to leave the building. Let me just give you a little hint right now—your eyes aren’t on the approved list. If the computer scans you trying to leave, this place will go on a full-blown, red alert lockdown.”

Silver didn’t answer Tim, but she didn’t fight him as he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, then shoved her out of the cell and into Mr. Astor’s office. She blinked as she looked around, seeing the familiar walls and furniture. She’d been in here on several occasions with Joe, back when they had first started dating. Joe had been in the middle of some huge stock buyout, and had frequently come in here to ask his dad for advice. Silver had tagged along, partially because she was awed by the sheer amount of technology in Mr. Astor’s office—every possible state-of-the art office gadget you could have ever wanted was here—and partially because she had still been at that brand new stage of her relationship with Joe where you literally want to spend every second together.

She shuddered now, thinking of how she used to love Joe. He had turned out to be such a disappointing coward. Tim mistook Silver’s shudder for fear, and he laughed that evil laugh that was obnoxious and chilled you down to the bone, all at the same time.

“Don’t be afraid, Silver. I hear being a bear is a lot of fun, once you get used to being shunned by all of society,” Tim said. Then he grabbed Silver’s hands and put new handcuffs on them, these ones smaller and thinner, but still cold and uncomfortable.

“You have no idea,” Silver said, under her breath this time so Mr. Astor and Tim couldn’t hear her. She was tempted to shift right then and there, to give them both the shock of their lives. But she was pretty sure she still wouldn’t be able to escape. It didn’t matter if she was in bear form or human form—her eyes were the same. The security system would scan her eyes and set off alarms if she tried to leave.

She had to come up with a different plan. But what? She was running out of time, and she hadn’t thought of any feasible way to escape, or to stop Mr. Astor from using the eye scanner on her at the safety summit. Silver felt a slow, dreadful despair creeping through her being. Where was Jack? Surely he had realized she was missing by now. Or what about Storm, or Bash? Someone had to be worried about her by this point.

Silver had to face reality, though. Even if Jack or her other friends realized she was missing, they would have no way of knowing that she was here, trapped inside Joe’s house. And even if they somehow figured that out, getting into this place when you weren’t invited was next to impossible. The place was a fortress. If someone was going to rescue her, their best bet would be to rescue her while she was on stage at the safety summit. But for them to do that, they would have to
know
that she was going to be on stage at the safety summit. Again, not a likely possibility.

“Guess I’m gonna have to be my own damn knight in shining armor,” Silver whispered to herself between gritted teeth.

“What’s that, sweetheart?” Tim asked, sticking his face in hers. He smelled faintly of whiskey, too. Mr. Astor must have been having a party with him this morning.

“Nothing,” Silver muttered, as they came to a stop in the hallway just outside of the library. Silver glanced inside, remembering the evening this nightmare had all begun. It hadn’t been that long ago that she had been crouched down on the floor in there, overhearing Mr. Astor discuss how shifters needed to be eliminated. It felt like another lifetime, though. Silver felt the taste of bile in her mouth as she looked over the books, whose spines she had reverently touched so many times before. Suddenly, something inside of her rebelled.

What was she doing, standing here in chains like a coward? Sure, if she shifted, she might not be able to get out of the building. But, then again, she might find a way. And wasn’t it better to go down fighting than to just be led around in chains like a meek little lamb on its way to the slaughterhouse? Silver felt her heart starting to pound with excitement. This might actually be kind of fun.

She glanced down at her hands, trying to see how thick the metal on the handcuffs was. These ones were much thinner than the ones that had chained her to the wall in the secret room. The energy from shifting was probably enough to break them. Silver looked around for a moment, assessing the situation and trying to decide whether she really wanted to do this. She glanced toward the ceiling, quickly finding the hidden video camera. There were cameras everywhere in this hallway. If Silver shifted, there would likely be video footage of it, which she had no doubt Mr. Astor would love to use to prove she was a shifter. Her career as a dancer in Chicago was likely over.

But if she waited until the safety summit to try to do something, she might not be able to escape. There would be too many law enforcement agents around, and she’d never get away. Then her career was really over. Silver took a deep breath, and decided that being forced to escape the city wouldn’t be the worst possible thing. Maybe she could convince Jack to come with her, and set up a life somewhere in Montana. Surely, they needed anesthesiologists in the hospitals out there? And life on a ranch away from a big city was sounding more appealing to Silver by the moment.

“Why are we stopping here?” Silver asked, looking over at Mr. Astor and Tim with defiant eyes.

Tim looked at her like she was the most annoying person in existence. “We’re waiting for Mrs. Astor to clear out some visitors from the main hall. We’d prefer to keep your location a secret until we arrive at the safety summit. I’m sure you understand.”

Silver bit her lip, refraining from the urge to spit in Tim’s face. Then she stood to her full height and looked first Mr. Astor, and then Tim, directly in the eyes.

“Let me go,” she said, trying to sound as authoritative as possible. She knew that they were probably going to laugh at her, but she felt she at least had to say her piece before shifting.

Mr. Astor looked at her with a slightly incredulous expression on his face. “Look who finally had the balls to speak up for herself,” he said. “Starting to get a little scared, are you? Well, sorry sweetheart, but I’m not going to be letting you go. Everything is already all planned out, and you’re going to be the one to take the fall. You should have thought about the consequences of crossing me before you eavesdropped on me and then broke up with my son.”

“I’m warning you,” Silver said. “Let me go right now. Otherwise, you’re going to find out just how real shifters are.”

Tim laughed. “Oh, what? Do you have shifter buddies now who are going to come to your rescue?”

“Something like that,” Silver said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Mr. Astor snorted. “Warn me about what?” he asked.

Silver smirked at him, then borrowed Jack’s affectionate nickname for her. “That I’m Trouble in a fur coat,” she said.

Before Mr. Astor or Tim could answer, she threw back her head and let out a loud, primal roar. The men both looked startled that a sound like that could come out of Silver’s tiny body, but the surprises had only just begun.

With another roar, and a burst of energy and power, Silver started to shift. The thin metal handcuffs on her wrists easily snapped in two as her slender human arms grew into large bear legs. Her clothes tore to shreds as her body expanded and was quickly covered in dark brown fur. Her hands became giant paws ending in sharp claws, and her head morphed into the fearsome face of a grizzly bear.

Silver let out a long, low growl as her transformation completed, then shook her head back and forth and bared her teeth for emphasis. Mr. Astor and Tim were sitting with their backs flat against the wall of the hallway, knocked over by the force from Silver’s rapid transformation. The expressions on their faces were of sheer terror, and Silver paused for a beat to enjoy the moment. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Mr. Astor looking anything but smug, and it was strangely satisfying to see him sitting there fearing for his very life.

“Silver, listen, we don’t want any trouble. Just, uh, calm down. I’m sure we can work this out.”

Silver responded by growling again, louder this time. Mr. Astor and Tim both instinctively tried to crawl backwards, but they were already plastered as far back against the wall as they could possibly be. Tim started to slowly reach for the phone on his hip, probably to call for help. Silver growled and swatted the phone away, causing it to shatter into thousands of little pieces as it hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Angry red streaks of blood appeared on Tim’s hand where Silver’s claws had grazed against his skin, and he yelped in pain as he looked up at Silver in horror.

Silver was enjoying this show, but now she had to figure out how to get out of here. Playtime was over. She quickly tried to think of all of the exits she knew in this house. Since the eye scanners would put her on lockdown if she tried to escape through the doors, she’d have to find another way. The condo was at the very top of this high rise building, so it was too high for her to just crash through a window and escape.

She could try the roof. She knew the solar panels were a weak spot in the security system. She’d heard Mr. Astor discussing them before, complaining that he didn’t understand why someone couldn’t design solar panels that were thicker and stronger while still being functional. At the time, Silver had thought he was being ridiculous. He acted like his condo was going to be invaded by enemy forces at any moment. But now, Silver was glad that he had given such a detailed description of the solar panels’ faults. She was pretty confident that she could get out on the roof.

Of course, what she was going to do once she got to the roof was another story. She was pretty sure there was no escape ladder or chute of any sort to get her fifty stories down to the ground. But at least she would be outside. She’d make the rest up as she went along. She had already shifted, so she was already committed to an attempted escape.

Here goes nothing
, she thought to herself, starting to turn around to head back toward the rear of the house, where she knew there was an attic type room directly below the solar panels. Before she could fully turn, though, Mrs. Astor appeared in the hallway.

“Dear? Dear where are you? I’ve been trying to find you to tell you that my guests are gone so you can get on with your silly—”

Silver watched as Mrs. Astor made eye contact with her and abruptly stopped talking. The startled woman’s face turned as white as freshly fallen snow, and she was silent for a few beats before letting out a long, loud scream.

Silver knew she was wasting precious time and needed to start heading for the roof, but she couldn’t help herself. She looked directly at the woman whose obsession with high heels had caused her so many headaches, and she growled as loudly as she possibly could. Mrs. Astor screamed again, and then fainted. Luckily for Mrs. Astor, Tim’s reflexes took over and he caught the terrified woman before her head hit the wall next to where the two men were sitting.

Just then, a man dressed in all black with the word “Security” emblazoned across his shirt came running in.

“What’s going on in here?” the guard asked.

“We’ve got a problem,” Tim squeaked out, gesturing toward Silver.

“Shoot her! Shoot her,” yelled Mr. Astor, seeming overwhelmingly relieved that a man with a gun had just shown up.

The security guard quickly reached for the laser gun holstered to his side, and Silver turned to start running. She had to get moving. Who knew how many more guards there were lurking around? The security guard shot off a laser beam, but it went over Silver’s shoulder. He tried again and still missed, apparently not very skilled at hitting moving targets.

Silver turned a corner in the hallway, and breathed a little easier. This condo was something of a maze, but it was a maze she knew well. She could easily lose the security guard. She just hoped she didn’t run into any more of them before making it to the roof. She knocked paintings off the wall and decorations off of shelves as she tried to fit her grizzly form through the human sized hallway, and she couldn’t help feeling smug about how upset Mrs. Astor would be when she saw the damage.