Aztec Treasure

Chase Nygaard’s POV

Highway 556 West

I was kicking myself for my foolishness as our group raced west at high speed for Sault Area Hospital.

“How could I be so stupid?”

Rori tried to calm me down; she was in a group that was following at a more normal speed. Only the experienced bikers were with me. “It wasn’t just you. I’ve been with the babies the whole trip, and I picked today to go off and have fun. I should have been there to stop it.”

“I thought this trip would be safe for Maria because she was with hundreds of wolves and bikers. Then, as soon as her FBI bodyguard is out of the picture, we strip the protections away! And we do it in Canada, where we don’t have our guns!”

“Roadkill already called home and asked them to bring the hardware on the jet coming for Lana, but that means they have to land on the US side.”

I would feel better with armed wolves and bikers around. “We need to get Maria across the border by the time the plane arrives, with or without Maritza. She’s not up for a search anyway.”

I could feel Rori laughing in my head. “You can TRY telling her that she’s running away while her baby is missing. Maria will be one pissed-off werecat.” I suppose so. “When we get back there, remember this isn’t the fault of Brent, Laura, or James. Today is all on us; we were in charge. We thought it would be enough, and it wasn’t. Not after two of the men had to go inside the hospital with Maria.”

“I could never be mad at a warrior who takes a bullet to protect the vulnerable.”

“And Brent is doing all he can to hold it together.” The phone rang on my Bluetooth; it was Brent. I opened the link to all the wolves in range. “What’s going on, Brent?”

“The children are under guard inside the hospital with James and the police. Maria got a ping north of us from the tracker on Maritza’s ankle, but we think it’s been disabled now. She left with patrol officers to go to the scene.”

“You let her out of your sight?”

“Maria’s call. She figures Maritza will be afraid and needs to be the one to bring her out. We don’t want any humans to get hurt or for someone to shoot her in self-defense. Maria’s also the logical choice to try and link up with Maritza as she heads north.”

I didn’t like her being away from Pack, but it made sense. With the nearest wolves stuck on a boat on the canal, we were out of other options right now. “Make sure Maria knows to stay with the police and keep her phone on.”

“I will. We did get some good news; surveillance video had the kidnapping on tape, and we got a plate number. Sault Police, Ontario Provincial Police, and Customs/Border Patrol are all looking for this guy.”

“And so are we, Brent. If Maritza is hurt, this guy better pray that the police get him before we do.”

“He shot my Laura. Don’t kill him without me.”

“I won’t. I’m sorry this all got dumped on you, Brent. Do your best, and I’ll be back in an hour.” I hung up before we got to another set of twisting curves that forced us to slow down. We were riding hard, as were the other groups. Brent’s plan made sense, but it depended on either recognizing the car or having Maritza awake to link with us. If the guy sedated her like he did the adults, he might sneak past us.

We rode for another twenty minutes before I got an update from Brent. “Alpha, the Ontario Provincial Police are following a silver Honda with fake plates, on 17 heading towards Wawa.” That meant Maritza wasn’t coming our way since he was already north of where 556 connected.

“Have you contacted Roadkill and the northern loop riders?” Roadkill was leading the men that were racing west for 17 well north along the lake.

“Yes, but he’s still an hour away. They are balls to the wall getting there.”

If the guy got away, they’d have to chase him down from behind. “They need to keep going. Call the southern group, tell them to wait for instructions at their stop points until we know the cops have the right car. And call me when we know.”

“Yes, Alpha.” I’d opened the link to the wolves, so we were up to speed. I signaled for the column to pull over, and soon we did, and I had the Brotherhood officers around me. “It looks like he’s heading north, not this way. I’m going to take the wolves with me to the hospital. The rest of you wait for the trail group to catch up, then head back to this morning’s hotel and order enough food for everyone. I’ll call Mongo as soon as I know more.” With that, half of us took off again while the rest waited.

The relief was dramatic when we heard from Brent that Maritza had been found safe. “I’m still racing for the hospital. Tell the other groups to slow down and regroup with the RVs at the hotel and arrange for food.”

“I know a barbecue place,” Brent said.

“Make it happen. I’ll be there in thirty-two minutes.”

We arrived in twenty-eight, and the parking lot still looked like a cop convention. Shootings and child kidnappings were rare up here, after all. I sent half the wolves to Brent at the crime scene while I ran into the Emergency Room entrance. The wolves with me took over watching the young ones from James, who I sent to watch over his mate upstairs. “Doctor Chance Nygaard,” I said as I showed my identification to the woman at the desk. “I’m here to check on my people.”

She made a call, and a doctor came out in surgical scrubs a few minutes later. “Dr. Nygaard, I’m Doctor Tom Clarkson. I operated on your wolf.”

“How is she?”

“Stable now. The slug was a through-and-through on Laura’s left shoulder. It missed the joint but shattered her scapula before exiting. I had to reinflate her left lung and repair the damage, but it was surprisingly like operating on a human.”

“The greater size helps, I’ve found,” I said.

“The kidnapper sedated her, so getting her intubated was a challenge. Lance had Doctor Olson from Oxbow Lake do a video call into the operating room, and he helped with my questions. In addition to the gunshot wound, the kidnapper landed on her. She has three broken ribs and one cracked rib, but none punctured her lung.”

“She’s lucky you were here for her, Doc.”

“It’s been interesting, that’s for sure. Laura should wake up in an hour or two. Doc Olsen said she shouldn’t change back to her human form for a few days.”

I was about to tell him that. “When we shift, things move around. We don’t want to tear any stitches or cause bones to shift until they’ve healed a bit more. What about the other women?”

“Sleeping it off in exam rooms. The dosage wasn’t excessive; the autoinjectors would be good for three to five hours depending on the weight of the person injected. They’ll be fine.”

There was one other problem, a mate problem. “Laura’s husband is still with the police, but he’ll want to see her as soon as they let him go.”

“I’ll be moving her from recovery to a hospital room after she wakes up. He can visit her there.”

“Put her in the same room as Lana Black, her FBI bodyguard who was injured last night in a motorcycle accident. It will make security easier for all of us.”

“I’ll let the administrator know.” He waved me through the double doors. “You can wait in the exam room with the two women who were drugged if you want. Let the nurses know when they wake up.”

The local police had posted an officer at the exam room door. It took a minute for her to get permission from her supervisors to let me in since I wasn’t a hospital employee. She looked closely at my ID when she got the callback. “I heard the Prime Minister got a call from your President when they found out who the guy was that took Maritza,” she said. “The Mounties are watching the recovery room and your friend upstairs.” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were a Federal agency, not as active in this province as others.

“Really?”

“Richard Todd was a CIA man stationed in Ottawa. Todd’s wanted in the conspiracy against the President. Our government pledged full cooperation with the investigation.”

“Good. I’m sorry this landed on your doorstep, officer, but everyone should live except Richard.”

“We don’t have the death penalty in Canada, and we won’t extradite unless it is off the table,” the officer replied.

I just smiled at her. “Richard is a dead man; he doesn’t know it just yet. He’ll be dead soon.”

“If that’s a threat against him, I have to report it.”

“It’s a statement of fact, Officer. There isn’t a thing anyone can do to stop it now.” She still had her mouth open when I walked past her into the room. Possum was on the exam table, while Three Tequila was on the gurney. I checked their vitals and their charts, agreeing with the doctor they would both be fine.

One of my Omegas volunteered to go back to the hotel and drive an RV back so we could get the kids out of the waiting room. Brent said he might be stuck out there for hours, so I agreed with her but sent two warriors along for protection. I would move them out but not send the RV to the hotel until the others arrived.

I’d been in there for ten minutes when the officer stuck her head in and got my attention. “Sir, there are people here who wish to speak to you,” she said. She looked a little guilty. “I had to report what you said about Mr. Todd.”