Rose Ch. 06-10

Cascade Pack, Washington. Two weeks later. A mated couple were watching their children play at a lake on the Pack borders. A single shot rang out from across the lake, striking the male in the chest and his mate in the head. The shooter had fired from 887 yards; by the time the Pack could travel around the lake, he was long gone. Once again, ammonia had been used to kill the scent, and this time there were two Scrabble pieces. An 'H', four points, and an 'R', one point.

Adirondack Pack, upstate New York. A male wolf was found in a hotel room, a silver knife plunged into his chest and a scrabble 'M' chip tucked between his butt cheeks. The wolf was naked from the waist down on the bed, with no signs of a struggle. Bleach had been sprayed over the bed and the room, and given that it was a hotel, there were no leads as to who it was. I was shocked at this one, if it hadn't been for the scrabble piece I never would have tied this with the others. Like the killing at the Gila pack, this one was up close and personal.

"Why would you kill some at long range and this one with a knife," I asked him.

"Those were some difficult shots, Rose. That one in the Cascades, that was ten times as difficult a shot as the one that killed Lance."

"What do you mean?"

"Part of it is just the limitations of the equipment. A really accurate rifle shoots under a minute of angle under the best conditions, like from a bench with no wind. Roughly, at a hundred yards the shots would fall within a inch, at four hundred yards four inches, at eight hundred yards eight inches."

"All right, that's still enough to hit a werewolf-size target."

"Except that it isn't so easy. Once you fire the shot, the bullet's path depends on a number of things. The characteristics of the bullets, air pressure, temperature, relative humidity, muzzle velocity, even the rotation of the earth. In order to make shots like this, snipers have to practice a lot. You have to be as consistent as possible in how you hold the rifle, how you squeeze the trigger, how you breathe, even timing the shot to between your heart beats. You move the barrel a millimeter as you shoot, and the shot will miss by yards."

"So this person has skill."

"Yes, and there's more than just shooting. Wind, distance, elevation change, all of it is important and most of it has to be estimated. It takes a lot of time to learn how to read the wind, on a shot of this length it can change at different ranges, even die out completely. You have to figure all this out and adjust your scope accordingly, then wait for just the right conditions to shoot. You only get one shot, if this person fired again it would be easy to locate them."

I mulled this over for a moment. "So the shooter has training."

"Training, equipment and skill. A very accurate rifle and scope, quality ammunition, portable ballistics computer."

"Is he military?"

He paused. "I hate to say it, but military or prior military is my guess. The person knows about werewolves, he's taken a lot of care to keep them from learning anything about him. He's smart, he moves around knowing the Packs don't cooperate. He picks areas just outside the Pack borders where patrols won't catch him, and he can get away easily. He shoots from vehicles, or has one nearby, and he destroys scents before he goes. And, he probably has kills to his credit."

I looked over at him, his jaw was clenched as he thought about it. "Why do you say that?"

"Because killing people isn't easy if you can see their faces." He looked at me, I could see the repressed emotions inside him. He'd killed many in his career, I knew that. "Snipers are a different breed. We stalk and observe, we may sit there for days learning the habits of our target- where he goes, what he does, who he talks to. Then we pick the best time to kill them and get away. You aren't killing some nameless, faceless person. You are killing someone whose face you know well, who you see clearly through your scope as you pull the trigger. I've trained many a sniper who could hide, stalk and shoot, but couldn't handle a kill like that."

"And this person can."

"Yes, he may even get off on it. That shot across the lake, it wasn't just the shot. He watched that family, watched them play with their kids. They were in human form, so you can't just convince yourself they are just animals. No, he watched the parents until the angle was right, then fired a single shot that killed them both in front of their children. Do you know how much of a monster you have to be to do that? I couldn't." I could see him gather his emotions. "I had to kill men with families, but I would never kill their wives or do it in front of their children. This person... they don't just want to kill werewolves. They want to make werewolves suffer."

I took in everything he was telling me, but the last murder didn't make sense to me. "All right, so let's assume we have an experienced sniper who has decided to wage his own war on werewolves. Two of the kills don't match up with that. First, the two guards killed at the Gila pack. They were manning a checkpoint, killed at close range."

"Snipers qualify on small arms, too. Most likely a M1911 pistol in .45 caliber, since they said it was a big bore weapon. That means it may be an older sniper, since the ones in the last twenty years or so are issued 9mm Berettas."

"Then explain the half-naked wolf in the hotel room with the silver knife in his back."

He was quiet for a minute. "I can't explain it. Gay lover? Maybe he staged it to make it look like something else? What did you think when you saw the photo?"

I had seen pictures like this before. "I thought he was lured back to the hotel room by a woman who then killed him."

I could see his jaw working. Suddenly, the car jerked and he pulled over to the side of the road. As soon as it was in park, he turned to me. "Something else has been bugging me, Rose. The getaways, they were very quick. You can't just get out of a shooting position, run around to the driver's seat, start the car and drive away in the time there was between the shot and the first people arriving at Lance's body. We would have seen the car drive away, and we didn't."

I caught on to what he was saying. "So there was a driver."

"It would make sense. The D.C. sniper, that was the same thing. One fired from the back of the car while the other drove away."

"And the driver is a woman." Shit. It was starting to make sense. "Wife or girlfriend. Someone who would risk spending the rest of her life in prison because she wants them dead too."

"And someone who has killed, or at least set a guy up to be killed." He pulled back onto the road and we drove for a while in silence. I banged my head back against the headrest, this was a nightmare of a case and I'd been tossed into it. I'm sure headquarters loved it when the Alphas demanded me; being political animals, you're always looking for the fall guy. Nothing is better than when the fall guy has already submitted her papers.

We entered the outskirts of Albuquerque, still lost in our thoughts. I had a million things to do when we arrived, and all too soon he was parking underground and we were on our way up to the floor in the Federal building the FBI used. SAIC Hernandez met us at the elevator, and he wasn't happy. "What kind of crap did you pull to get a task force set up in MY office outside of my jurisdiction?"

"Sorry sir, it wasn't my idea. Headquarters set this up, I report directly to the Deputy Director of the FBI on this one. Can you show us where we are working?"

I could see him pushing his anger back; it wasn't really at me, but I was the one here. "Follow me." He led me to a back area, it was an unused office space that could hold maybe a dozen people and had a single conference room. "Do you know how big this task force is going to be?"

"Not yet. I've got a few people picked already, they should be arriving soon. I do want a favor from you, though." He raised his eyes. "Let me take Agent Smith. He's already part of the investigation and I need someone local."

He nodded. "I'll have him report to you." I could see he was a little calmer as he turned around, I knew that having one of his men in my group would mean he could keep tabs on me. I didn't care, I needed people; hell, I needed TWO of everyone.

We moved into the conference room and set our stuff down; like most offices, it was set up with teleconference capability, a projection screen, laptops and an abundance of white boards around the walls. I went to one and grabbed a pair of dry erase markers, in black and blue. "We need to figure out what we need and what the pairings are," I said as I wrote my name in black and Gunny's in blue at the top.

"You put me with you? I don't have experience in law enforcement, Rose."

"I know, but you are an expert sniper and a Beta. I want you by my side, always." He pulled me into a hug, I could feel his relief at the pairing. Below us, I wrote Rob Smith- Lead Investigator and below his name I wrote Melody Post. "Melody used to work in this office, so they probably know each other." I wrote "US Attorney-TBD" and under that I wrote William Post's name.

"Since he is a lawyer and a Beta with the Gila Pack, that should work," Gunny said.

I wrote some more positions down; Two more investigators, Research, Crime Scene, Public Relations, Database, Office. I was just finishing up when a tired-looking Rob Smith walked in with a tray of pastries and a pot of coffee. "Morning Rose, Gunny. Thanks for requesting me."

"Welcome aboard, Rob." He looked at the board and twitched when he saw the name under his. "Melody is coming back?"

"Yes, the Alphas want transparency in this investigation and I need full access to their Packs and their information. I decided the best way to accomplish that would be to pair up humans and werewolves in each place. I already talked to the Deputy Director, they will be temporarily deputized as FBI with needed clearances and access."

He whistled. "That's never happened before."

"This is a unique case, the Alphas don't trust the FBI and this is how we are addressing it. We need to start setting up, grab a desk out there, Melody will take the one across from you when she gets here."

"I'm here," a female voice said as she came into the room. Melody was an energetic woman, with glossy black hair going down to her shoulders that set off her light complexion. William was behind her, he was a tall black man with broad shoulders and the build of an athlete. "ROB!" she said as she ran over and hugged him.

"You look great, Melody! Welcome back." I did introductions before I asked SAIC Luis to stop in again. I showed him the organization chart I was working on and asked him if he had any people that could help. He agreed to send me Nora Walters, she was an administrative wizard and had experience with relational databases so she would be in the office.

All too soon I got another call from the Deputy Director. I sent him the photo of my organization and he said he would find people by the end of the day. It was late afternoon already, the additional people wouldn't be here until the morning and we had work to do. "All right, guys, I think we need to go to the Gila Pack first. I want to see the scene of the murders there."

William made a phone call, and when he hung up he was smiling. "The Alphas want us to join them for dinner, and after that there will be a video conference with the other Alphas. They will want an update on the investigation."

"And I want volunteers," I said. We packed up and headed for the parking lot.

Task Force Alpha was in business.

Ch. 10

We didn't know the way, so we had Melody drive us while William took his car. I sent a few emails, updating our Alphas on the people we needed, then I was about to nap when my phone started to ring. I looked down, it was Ella. "Hello Alpha," I answered.

"I have some more people for you," she said. "The first one is a close friend from the Fort Berthold Pack in North Dakota, Nadine Anderson. She's a former policeman and private investigator, and she helped me when I was getting my revenge on the Minnesota Alphas." I shuddered a little, Gunny had told me her story and no person should have to endure what she did.

"Good, I need another investigator," I said.

"She's getting a flight, should arrive tonight and will be staying with us since she used to be in our Pack before she found her mate. The next one I'll need to help you with, because the government won't like it a bit."

"Ella, I can only do so much here."

"You need him, no one can search metadata like he can. His name is Enrique Mendez, he's with the Gila Pack and he's..."

"He's the former National Security Agency analyst who used his position to steal intelligence on the Mexican cartels and then used it to bring one down. He also hacked the NSA servers, faked his death, and became a werewolf when he found his mate. He got a Presidential pardon, but there are still a lot of people who want to see him busting rocks in a Federal prison." I shook my head, this wasn't going to be an easy sell.

"We want him there, though. Look, we've got almost no clues as to who is doing this. We need someone who can mine the phone intercepts, emails and social media; someone who hates Werewolves this much probably left a trail," she said.

"I'll talk to my boss, it might take a while to get approval."

She laughed. "Don't worry about that, Robert's already chewing the ear of the White House and Justice over this. We expected no less from them."

I wrote their names in on the organization chart in my notebook. "Thanks for the help, Ella."

"There's one more," she said. "You have a spot open in public relations; on our side, you need someone who is a Werewolf, but can go on television and talk to humans, plus someone who is known and respected to other Packs. Robert is sending Linda Remington." I smiled, Linda was the reporter who had interviewed Ella in hiding during the war, who had covered Derek and Amanda's pack, the one whose turning was broadcast live when she found her mate. She had been very involved in Wolfstock and was universally respected by the Packs.

"That's wonderful," I said. We talked of a few more things, and before I knew it we had arrived at the scene of the double homicide at their border checkpoint. Melody pulled the SUV to the side of the road, and we got out and waited as William and Rob caught up to us. I followed William as he walked to the small shack by the side of the road.

"This was a simple checkpoint, designed to keep the humans out of the remote regions of our territory," he said. "There are only a few roads here." I looked around, it was labeled with signs including PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO TRESSPASSING and my favorite, BLASTING ZONE with sticks of dynamite underneath it. There was a gate across the road with a big STOP sign on it.

"Do you get much traffic here?"

"No, not legal traffic anyway. The Cartels used to try and move things through here, but since our truce with them they don't go across our lands any more. This isn't on the way to the city, our Pack doesn't use it often. We guard it because we want to keep the area free to roam." He walked over to the outgoing lane of the road opposite the shack. "We found Krista Connors here, she had been shot a point-blank range. From the blood patterns, she was standing on the center line, probably talking to the driver. Seth must have been coming to assist, he was killed right in front of the gate."

"That must have been a hell of a shot if he was running towards the car," I said.

"It was," Melody said. "William and I did some simulations with Airsoft guns. I'm pretty good, but I could only hit him three out of five times with a single shot, and only once in ten tries did I get a head shot. The shooter was either lucky or good, but I lean towards good," she said.

"You didn't recover the bullets?"

"No, but we did recover one shell casing. It was turned in yesterday, it's on the way to the FBI labs. Forty-five ACP." I nodded, looking over at Gunny who had that look like he knew, but didn't want to believe he knew. We walked around the site, even parking a car in front of the gate and walking through the scenario as we went between it and the photos they had taken. "Like we said, we figured it was part of the Cartel wars, a test of our security, even a warning."

"Anything else out of place?"

"Pepper," Melody said. "The guy tossed black pepper around, it kept us from picking up scents."

"So, whoever it was, they knew about werewolves and were prepared," I said. We looked around for a bit longer, then Melody unlocked the gate and we all drove through. I gave up the driver's seat and went in back with Gunny again as we drove the long way to the Gila Pack house.

Robert, Renee and a few others were waiting for us at the front steps of the large house. I could see how they had hidden in plain sight during the war, it looked like a timeshare resort with the fountains and the gardens. "Thank you for joining us, Rose, Beta Gunny," she said as she gave us a hug.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I responded. "Your home is beautiful." She introduced two people I hadn't met before, Beta Enrique Mendez and his mate Anna. Enrique didn't look like the other Betas I had met, he wasn't big or muscular; he got his position based on brain, not brawn. Anna was shy, a little intimidated by my hulking mate. "Don't mind him, he's a big softy," I said.

"I'll show you soft," he whispered in my ear.

I pushed away from him and continued down the reception line. The next couple I recognized from television. "Hello Linda, Andy," I said. "I loved your work with the Johnson Pack."

"Thank you," she said. She was a little intimidating for me, she was strikingly beautiful, the change had filled her out a little. HD television didn't do her justice. Her mate was friendly, he was not as big as Gunny but he had a 'don't mess with me' vibe I had seen from many Betas so far. "I'm looking forward to working with you. Congratulations on finding your mate, and you daughter as well? You are so blessed."

"Thank you, it's been a whirlwind for us," I said. "I want to find this guy so we can have some time to relax, I was supposed to be on leave!" I was also introduced to the other Betas and their mates; Gunny had explained it was protocol for high ranking visitors. From the line, our bags were taken to our room as dinner was waiting on us.

The Pack House dining room was full, and it became instantly quiet when the Alphas came in, as guests we were right behind them. They led us to the head table, where the Betas took the remaining spots at the table. "We welcome tonight Beta 'Gunny' Rodriguez of the Belden Pack, and his mate Rose Conspiell. Rose and Gunny are heading up the task force for the FBI that is seeking the killer of Seth and Krista. Please give them a warm welcome." The Pack gave us a round of applause as we looked at the hundreds of people, I was a little taken aback at the size of this Pack. When the Alphas sat, the rest of us followed. Moments later, carts were being wheeled out with the food.

Lots of food.

By the end of the meal, I was thoroughly impressed with the Pack and its leadership; they were a big family, and I could sense how much they loved each other. All too soon, it was time for the video conference.

We followed the Alphas into a large conference room, where a huge TV dominated one end of the room. The left side was set up for the person holding the floor at the time, while the smaller boxes showed each of the Alphas as they came into the conference. I glanced through the names and the faces, not recognizing many as this world was new to me. A clock in the corner ticked over to 20:00:00, and Renee opened the meeting. "Good evening, Alphas. Thank you for attending this conference to discuss the threat to our Packs posed by the sniper who has already killed seven of us, in apparent random fashion. In our last meeting, we discussed the attacks we know. Tonight, we are going to talk about the task force. To my left is FBI Senior Agent Rose Conspiell and her mate, Beta 'Gunny' Rodriguez. They are the human and Were in charge. On my mate's right are my Betas who have been loaned to Task Force Alpha; William and Melody Post, and Enrique Mendez. Next to Enrique is Linda Remington." She changed the screen and the organizational chart I had sent her was displayed, showing the spots I still needed Pack help. "Now, I'll ask Rose to cover what we know thus far."