Trouble in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 1) (20 page)

Jack hopped out of the hovercar and quickly reached to help Silver out. It was eerily quiet here in the middle of rural Michigan. The only sounds were chirping birds and the occasional rustle of the tree leaves as the wind blew through them. As the two vehicles landed next to a log cabin, a tall muscular man emerged from within. He was wearing a cowboy hat and boots, along with jeans and a flannel shirt. He wasn’t a shifter, but he carried himself like a bear. Jack had never met a full human who seemed so much like just another one of the clan. The man didn’t look at all surprised as the two hovercars came to a stop in a small clearing in front of the cabin. He had been expecting them.

“I’m Drew,” the man said, extending his hand out to shake Jack’s.

“Jack,” Jack replied. Introductions were quickly made, and then Drew glanced up at the sky with a frown, as if expecting unwanted visitors to show up at any moment.

“Were you followed at all?” Drew asked.

“I don’t think so,” Grant said as he rubbed at a large scratch on the back of his hovercar. “Everything was in so much chaos, and the police were shocked that we actually got out of a no-fly zone. I think by the time they realized we were actually escaping, it was too late to have any hope of catching up with us. These two fly faster than lightning.”

Grant clapped Sawyer affectionately on the back as he spoke, and Anderson and Sawyer high-fived each other. Drew nodded, seemingly satisfied that no one had trailed the group to the secluded cabin.

“Come on in,” Drew said. “There’s a big pot of chili on the stove. I imagine you’re all hungry, and you probably have a few things you want to discuss.”

The group started shuffling toward the door, and Jack reached out for Silver’s arm. “Let me take a look at your head,” he said. “I want to make sure there’s no really bad damage where you collided with the elevator’s roof.”

“I’m fine,” Silver protested. “It almost doesn’t even hurt anymore, now that I’m not being bounced around in a hovercar.”

“That’s good,” Jack said. “But just let me look at it, okay? It will make me feel better.”

Silver sighed but nodded, and sat down on a couch in the living room of the small cabin. Jack started looking at the spot where Silver’s head had a long gash. The wound was long, but not deep.

“Do you feel dizzy or have any ringing in your ears?” Jack asked. Silver shook her head no.

“I think you’re okay, then,” Jack said. “It doesn’t seem like you have a concussion or anything.” Jack sat down on the couch next to Silver and pulled her into his arms. She hadn’t taken a shower in days, but through the smoky smell her hair somehow still smelled faintly like her coconut shampoo. She nuzzled her head against his chest as he held her close, and it suddenly hit him just how close he had come to losing her. The adrenaline had been running through his veins so wildly until this point that he hadn’t stopped to process everything. But now, as he sat there on an unfamiliar couch in the middle of nowhere, he was flooded with a feeling of both relief and horror. If Silver hadn’t made it out of that building alive, his heart would have died in there with her, too.

“I love you, Silver,” he whispered in her ear, squeezing her tighter. He felt her nuzzle even closer against him.

“I love you, too,” she said. “All I could think about when I was trapped was how I might never get to see you again.”

Jack shuddered, and kissed the top of Silver’s head. He looked over toward the kitchen, where the rest of the group was scooping generous portions of chili into oversized bowls. Sawyer and Anderson were laughing and talking with Drew as if they’d just come back from vacation or a hunting trip. You’d never know by looking at them that they’d spent the day illegally flying a helicopter, crashing it, escaping from a burning building, and then risking their lives again to get out of a no-fly zone. Jack considered himself a smart, capable man, but he had to admit that there was a lot to be learned from men like Sawyer and Anderson. “I’m sorry I didn’t get our parents involved sooner,” Jack said to Silver. “You were right. This is too big for us to handle on our own.”

Silver pulled back and raised an eyebrow. “It takes a strong man to admit when he was wrong. I forgive you, as long as I get to say I was right.”

Jack laughed. “I guess that’s fair,” he said, pulling Silver back into his embrace. But she was only there a few moments before she pulled back again.

“Wait, where’s Juno?” she asked.

“She went in to work at the clinic today. They were supposedly making some major tweaks to the scanners and we all thought it was important for her not to miss that. Besides, we didn’t want to take a chance on her being identified as pro-shifter by being caught up in your rescue. We weren’t sure how public the rescue was going to end up being, or whether it would become obvious that any of us were shifters, and we can’t afford for Juno to be identified with a pro-shifter cause right now. She’s our main link to information on how far along the scanners are. If we lose that link it would be a big blow to us.”

Silver nodded thoughtfully. By this time, most of the others had finished getting their food and were finding seats around the small cabin so they could eat. Storm and Grant sat at the two-seater kitchen table, and Anderson sat on the couch next to Silver. Sawyer, Bash, and Drew opted to sit on the floor in the living room and lean back against the wall.

“Do you want some food?” Jack asked. “I can go grab a bowl for you.

Silver nodded. “I’m starving,” she said. “I haven’t had a proper meal in days.”

“Eat up, then, girl,” Drew said. “This chili is the heartiest thing you’ll ever taste, I guarantee it.”

Jack stood up and went to get Silver and himself some food. While he was scooping out the chili, the rest of the group started getting down to business.

“So, what exactly happened, Silver?” Grant asked. “How do you end up kidnapped by Joe’s family? Was Joe involved? And what the heck were they trying to do with you?”

“I don’t think Joe was involved,” Silver said. “I didn’t see him the whole time I was held hostage. Some guy named Tim who I don’t think I’ve ever seen before came up to me when I was taking a break from my bike ride the other day, and he put some sort of cloth over my face. I guess it had some sort of chemical on it that knocked me out, because the next thing I remember I was chained up in a secret room in the Astors’ condo.”

“Isoflurane,” Jack said, as he sat back down next to Silver and handed her one of the two bowls of chili he was holding. “We found the cloth, and it was soaked in isoflurane. That’s when we figured out for sure you’d been kidnapped.”

“We put our heads together and figured out that the mayor needed someone identified as a shifter for the safety summit. We also figured Joe’s family probably hated you and thought it would be fun to make everyone think you were a shifter.”

Silver’s eyes widened. “That’s exactly right. They didn’t actually know I was a shifter. At first I thought they did, and I couldn’t figure out how they had found out. But then, Mr. Astor started gloating and telling me his plan, and I realized that he didn’t have a clue that I was half bear. He was just going to pretend that I was to stir up drama about shifters in the press.”

“So the plan was to use the safety summit to introduce the whole ‘shifters are evil’ idea?” Grant asked.

Silver nodded. “Yeah. They basically reprogrammed one of the eye scanners to identify any female as a shifter, regardless of whether they were or not. I was going to be the only female on stage at the safety summit, so it would be a perfect way to make it look like the scanners were working. Or so they thought. It seemed a little shaky to me, but they were really excited about the idea.”

Storm chuckled, her laugh sounding somewhat bitter. “Yeah, it’s shaky, but the mayor’s office doesn’t care. A lot of their programs are shaky. It’s Chicago politics, you know?”

“Well, the bigger problem now is that Joe’s dad knows I’m a shifter. I shifted in front of him, and he and Mrs. Astor, plus Tim, plus some of the security guards, saw it. So they’re probably going to be more determined than ever to try to ruin my life.”

“Maybe,” Jack said slowly around mouthfuls of chili. “But they don’t have any proof. Their whole condo was in flames. The video footage might all be lost. Then it’s their word against yours. Unless they get the scanners working properly, or figure out another way to kidnap you again and pull some trick like having the scanner identify all females as shifters, then they’ll look like idiots just randomly claiming you’re half bear. And trust me, they’re not kidnapping you again. Not on my watch.” Jack let out a low growl as he finished speaking. He could feel the anger welling up in him just thinking about how Silver had been taken hostage.

“They probably have an offsite backup of their video footage somewhere,” Drew pointed out.

“You would think they would,” Silver said slowly. “But it’s actually possible that they don’t. Mr. Astor was so sure that his little fortress was invincible that it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t prepare for a scenario where his whole condo was destroyed in a fire.”

Jack snapped his fingers. “You might be right, Silver. We might be lucky. Remember how Mr. Astor’s office was a mess, like someone was desperately trying to get something from it? That means there was something in there that wasn’t backed up. Remember that data drive you took from Mrs. Astor that she freaked out about? She was so protective of it. Maybe that doesn’t just mean there’s something on it she doesn’t want you to see—maybe it also means there’s information on it she won’t be able to recover any other way.”

“I forgot about that drive,” Silver said, and started digging into the small pocket on her dress. “Oh, good, it’s still there. Drew, can we borrow a laptop or tablet to see what’s on here?”

“Sorry, you’ll have to wait until you get back to Chicago,” Drew said. “I don’t keep any computers around here.”

Jack’s eyes widened. He had noticed that Drew’s cabin seemed very basic, without the usual excess of computer screens and gadgets on every surface. But he hadn’t noticed until just that moment that there literally were no screens in the cabin. Not even an old school television screen. “None at all?” Jack asked, incredulous.

“None,” Drew said. “I try to stay off the grid. I don’t normally like visitors, either. But you all are an exception. I could never say no to a request for help from the alpha of the Frost Peak Grizzlies.”

“We appreciate your help,” Sawyer said. “Sorry we crashed your helicopter.”

Drew laughed. “It’s okay. I expected it when I let you fly it. I’ve got plenty more birds, and I know where to get more.”

Jack took everything in with a sudden feeling of hope. He should have called the old folks long ago. They knew how to help, and they knew people who knew how to get things done. When Anderson said Drew lived off the grid, Jack hadn’t realized just how far off the grid that meant. But if things kept going the way they had been, it might not be a bad idea to have somewhere to escape to that couldn’t be found by its electronic computer signals.

“Speaking of Chicago,” Sawyer said, “I think you kids should all go back as soon as possible. By tonight, even.”

“What? Tonight? Are you crazy?” Bash asked. “Things are probably in an uproar right now, with police trying to figure out who is behind the helicopter crash and fire in downtown Chicago. We’d be putting ourselves right back in the danger zone.”

“Look, guys, Sawyer is right,” Drew said. “The police are looking for people, sure. But they likely don’t know who they’re looking for. Everything was in chaos when you left. The only witnesses who know you were in that building probably don’t want to accuse you and risk exposing themselves as kidnappers. The best thing you can do for yourselves is go back and act normal. All of you disappearing at once is going to look suspicious.”

“You might be right,” Jack said. “But what about the hovercars we used to escape? They can easily trace those back to us.”

“Nope,” Grant said. “We covered the license plate, and made sure the electronic identifying signals from the hovercar were scrambled. No one should be able to identify them and trace them back to us.”

Storm’s eyes widened. “Do you guys really think we just got away with all of this with no one noticing who we were? That seems really implausible.”

Jack frowned. “Well, someone does know who we are: the Astors. At least they know that some of Silver’s friends were behind the rescue, even if they don’t know exactly who we are. But they aren’t likely to speak up if it’s going to shine a light on their little kidnapping stunt.”

“So…we’re safe, it seems,” Silver said.

“Well, for the moment,” Grant cautioned. “You know, Silver, that even as we speak, the Astors are working on a way to expose you as a shifter.”

“I know. That’s why I’m glad to have more help. Thanks for coming out, Daddy and Uncle Sawyer,” Silver said.

Jack felt another guilty pang thinking of how he had resisted telling the older clan members for so long. Even though they were overbearing sometimes, they knew how to help. “Yeah, thank you so much. I’m so glad you’re here now.”

“Well,” Anderson said, standing up and heading toward the kitchen to deposit his empty chili bowl in the sink. “You’re all very welcome. And I’ll show up anytime to help save any of you, not just my daughter. You’re all like family to me. But, for now, you’re on your own.”