Rose Ch. 68-74

"How?" Rose looked at Josh. "What did we miss?"

"He had a suspicion that the dud was intentional, and when he dropped the bomb on me that he knew I did it, my reaction sealed it." She leaned forward on the table. "He's not saying anything, he thanked me for sparing him and told me he understood why we did it. In the end, he said we have a common enemy and with his administration compromised it was a genius move."

"So no immediate danger? We don't have to leave for the Island?" We had an evacuation plan for the Pack, including false US and Panamanian passports, if things went south.

"No, but we have a bigger problem." She detailed what she knew about the attempt, that it was the Zetas and their current leader, Trevino Morales. She "The CIA and military don't have assets; he's smart and doesn't stay in one place, making it very difficult to get a drone strike or air attack. Given the lack of relationship between us and Mexico right now, the State Department is hesitant to send anyone related to them. They can't have any fingerprints on getting this guy."

"So, he wants us to take him out." She nodded as I pulled Rose closer. "With no support, coordination or involvement with the Government so they can maintain deniability."

Rose shivered a little. "If we get caught, it could expose us, the Packs, as agents in this war. We could get dragged in. If the Gulf and Pacific cartels figure out we were behind the attacks on their assets, on setting them up for a war with the Zetas, they'll hit back hard."

"We can't get caught then." I moved Rose to her chair and stood up, going to the display screen we had. Josh changed it to a map of Mexico, and Lisa showed where Trevino was operating from. All jungle, just like I liked it.

"He's paranoid, powerful and travels with a small group of guards and tech people. Three vehicles, one of which is a mobile command center. Satellite communications so he can direct his people from anywhere. This area is huge, it's a needle in a haystack."

"He uses satellite phones and internet, right?" Josh was sitting back. "Can the government triangulate transmissions?"

"Yes, but we think he only uses them while moving, or he sends the command truck away from where he is staying. The CIA has been using this information to track him, somewhat, in this area for the last month."

The plan was coming together in my mind. "So if you hacked that, or it was just provided to us, our team could move across country to where they bed down for the night and attack."

"Hacking is fine, we can't rely on the CIA after what they did to Al and Ella. I trust them as much as I trust gas station burritos," I said.

"As much as emails from Nigerian princes?" Josh added with a smile.

"Or a drink handed to me by Bill Cosby," Rose laughed with us.

"Or financial advice from Bernie Madoff," Lisa said as we all laughed. "So, we have to do this, the question is who and how."

"Ella has done this kind of operation before, so has Al," Rose said.

"Yeah, that isn't happening. No way we send any pregnant female into harm's way. Al is former CIA, if he's caught there is no way they don't tie it back to the President." Rose was pissed as she looked at me. "Don't even think about it. I need you back here to run the Pack, and I need to know you are safe."

"You're going?"

"It makes sense. I'll take Lars, both of us have a lot of experience in ops like this. We can move in cat form, avoiding the roads, and we can stay there as long as we need to."

Lisa looked a little hesitant. "Two people isn't enough, you should have at least three if you're going to try to surprise them at night."

I thought about who could be added, it had to be a cat, one who could speak Spanish and knew how Cartels worked. "I'll bring Charlie into this as well."

"That's dangerous, if the Zetas catch him they will kill him, slowly and painfully."

"True, but he's motivated, and it would be believable that he would do this because of what they did to his family. Lars and I would be easier to trace back, but we are both retired and cats now, easier to leave a trail that we are mercenaries in the employ of one of the other Cartels. Josh can even transfer money into our accounts from theirs to make it hold up."

"I hate to admit you are right, and I don't like you going off without me, but I can't risk our babies either," Rose said. "Let's bring him in here."

"Patricia too," I said. "They are new mates, she won't leave him, and we could use someone on the outside for logistics. She speaks Spanish fluently."

Ten minutes later, we had sanitized the command center of everything except the information on Travis, and I opened the door to them. "Come on in," I said. Rose laid down the situation over ten minutes; the plan was for the four of us to travel to Panama, then up into Mexico on Panamanian passports.

"We would be in cat form most of the time, but we would have packs with explosives, rifles, trackers and satellite phones," I said. "We spread out over the territory, waiting to see them, and moving to any recent sightings that Josh can text us. Once we locate him, the three of us close in and do a coordinated attack to take him and his command team out for good."

"There's one thing, though. In order for the team to function well, you need a Pack bond to communicate. Patricia, Charlie, you'll have to join our Pack until this is over."

They talked together for a few minutes before agreeing, and I performed the ceremony to accept them into our Pack. "Welcome, and thank you," I told them both.

"I needed a beach honeymoon," Patricia responded.

"We'll go back to the island afterwards," I said. "This has to be done or none of us will be safe." We left the room to get packed, there was no time to waste.

Two Weeks Later

I moved through the jungle in the darkness, towards the large tree that I was using to overwatch the roads just outside Jamauve. Josh had told us that Trevino's signal came from the valley late yesterday, and so Patricia had driven us close enough we could get out and monitor. We didn't have enough people to cover every exit from the valley, so we guessed the east end.

Patricia wasn't one to stay back in the hotel. She hid our vehicle off a jungle path and went wolf, covering one of the roads herself. For the last eight days, we had been chasing after Trevino's group, always a step behind. I got to the big tree, my small bag in my teeth, and leaped up to climb.

I hooked the strap on a branch, then laid down in a spot with good visibility. I was stuffed, having taken down a small boar earlier in the night to eat, then drank my fill at a creek. By staying in cat form, I could eat every third day or so and be fine. "I'm in place," I sent to Lars.

"I'll be set up in ten," Lars replied.

"In place," Charlie replied. Patricia was out of my range, so Charlie relayed her readiness. We used the Pack bond, avoiding use of any electronics that might be tracked. The Zetas were tech savvy, and we didn't want anyone knowing we were here. Josh could send us messages, but it was one way unless we absolutely had to respond.

The hours passed slowly until the sun started to rise behind me, casting the valley into shadows. My ears perked up at the sound of engines; most had been normal traffic, but these were powerful and close together. I looked down, seeing three SUV's speeding up the winding highway towards me. "Possible contact, three black SUV's moving my way quickly on 126, headed east to Joya Verde."

"Can you deploy a tracker," Lars responded.

"On my way." I grabbed the bag in my teeth as I went by and climbed out of the tree, running down the hill towards the roadway. I'd picked a spot where the road switched back, giving me a spot where I couldn't be seen from those approaching. Two minutes later I was shifted by the side of the road, digging in my bag for one of Josh's toys.

The tracker had GPS technology, and was a small black box with a powerful rare-earth magnet attached. It was lightweight and had a twenty-mile range, transmitting only once every fifteen minutes so it wouldn't be detected easily. I gathered some sticks, placing them in the center of the road with the tracker, magnet side up, on top. I shifted back to cat form, grabbing the bag as I reached the ditch. I bounded back up the hill, finding a tree where I could get a good look at the people inside the vehicles.

The cars were moving fast, in tight formation, and I got a decent look as they passed. I could see rifles in the hands of the guards in the first car, and despite the heavy tinting of the window, I verified Trevino was there. "Target verified, move to rally points and pick me up on the way through," I said. "Tracker is attached." The vehicles hadn't even slowed down over the branch, and it had attached itself to the first car.

It took almost two hours before our rental car stopped by the side of the road, so I could jump in. I quickly pulled on shorts and a shirt. "Everything working?"

"Perfectly," Patricia said. "They stopped about fifteen miles ahead, three miles north of the main road. They haven't moved for the past three transmissions." She was working the laptop computer in the passenger seat as Lars sat next to me in the back. She showed me the topographical map around the target. "This farmhouse is the only structure in the area."

"Pull over for a minute, Charlie." We all huddled around the map. "Let Lars and I out here," I pointed at a sharp turn in the road near the turnoff, "then Charlie here. You hide the car and cover the road here, ready to come pick us up hot if things go south at this location." I pointed to a spot on an adjacent road, about a mile east of the farmhouse.

"What's the plan?"

"We move in cat form to spots on three sides of the house. Once it gets dark, Lars will take the charges and rig each of the vehicles, bombs set with motion sensors in case they make a run for it. We wait until after they turn in, sneak in and take out the sentries, then attack the house from these spots. If they escape, we let them get to the vehicles and that takes them out."

"Simple and effective," Lars said. "Cat or human? No prisoners, right?"

"They don't deserve to live, and we don't want any forced turns, so kill them. We go cat for the sentries, then use suppressed pistols for the rest. If we can capture any intelligence, we do it. We torch the place then run overland to the rally point and get the hell out of here."

It was now approaching midnight, and we had been in place for almost twelve hours. I liked the scout part of the job a lot better in cat form, I was more comfortable, and it was easy to get up in the trees and blend in. The three vehicles contained twelve people; six were guards, of which two were outside the house on patrol at all times and one remained just inside the front door. Trevino was in an upstairs room with two deputies and two tech guys, they had turned the bedroom into a command post. The last person was a young woman, evidently his mistress.

We waited until Trevino and his woman were asleep, and the others were downstairs. Lars moved to the edge of the clearing, timing his run for when the outside guards were not looking at the vehicles. He moved between them, setting the charges underneath the driver's seat and arming each. He snuck back out when I told him it was clear.

We needed to take the sentries out quietly, and we waited until they had only ten minutes left before they would be relieved. The guards were ex-military, but they had become complacent; their patrols were always the same, and their replacements always came out the front door. The three of us moved into position, and Lars and Charlie each took a man out on my signal. Both attacked from behind, their big jaws crushing their throats before breaking their necks and dragging them into the trees.

I shifted and waited by the front steps until the replacement guards came out, with the other two poised to go in. Lars had moved onto the roof just above the balcony on Trevino's room, while Lars was poised by the back door where the other staff members were. All of us had our silenced pistols in hand. When the door opened, I was ready. "Unleash hell on my mark," I said. "Standby... GO!"

I put two rounds into the back of each sentry's heads, then sprinted up the stairs and through the front door. I could hear the shouts as the other two broke in, but I was busy myself. I took out three in the front room, meeting Charlie as he came out of the back bedroom. He nodded and we both rushed upstairs, just in case Lars needed help.

He didn't. "All clear, grabbing what we can," I sent to Patricia.

We quickly verified the count of people, then set about collecting. Lars and I took the house, while Charlie went to the vehicles. We grabbed three laptops and four cellphones, plus two satellite phones. We removed all their batteries and put them in a carry bag. We also found coded notebooks and a phone list. It took us thirty minutes to clear the house, by which time Charlie was bringing the dead guards back into the front room. "Car bombs are on a five-minute timer, and the vehicles are set to burn," he said as he handed me a petrol container.

"Lars, take the bag and head out. Charlie, set the upstairs ablaze then come down here." We both stripped and gave Lars our clothes before he left. I went around the main floor, spilling gasoline on the floor in the other rooms until Charlie raced down. I followed him out the door, tossing the rest of the can onto the floor, then tossed a lighter in.

The fires in the night sky backlit our escape as we raced through the night together. A day later, we were back home and Josh and Carl were cracking the codes.

Lisa gave most of the data to the President; the books and laptops had a complete list of Cartel associates, safe houses and assets. He used it over the next few weeks to deal a killing blow to the Zeta Cartel.

Lisa returned to her Pack along with Charlie and Patricia two weeks later. The Alpha Council trial was short; given that he was under duress and had provided so much help to our Packs, they agreed he was not to be punished. He became the first feline member of the Thurmont Pack.

And Josh? Well, he cracked the banking codes and 'liberated' another couple of billion dollars from the Cartel accounts.

Just another day at the office.

Ch. 72

White House, Two Weeks Later

President Kemper's POV

I had a massive headache, and my wolf wasn't helping. "We need to run, to be with our Pack," he said.

I had been working non-stop since the last assassination attempt, and I was out of energy. The crash-course in being a werewolf we did back at Camp David had helped a little, helping me to get past the initial rage of the attack and the loss of my wife. Eight hours working with Alphas Ross and Lisa weren't enough to settle me in, though, and my wolf didn't like being this far from others. I got up from the Oval Office, telling my secretary I was done for the day. My Chief of Staff walked with me to my private quarters. "Mike, clear my calendar for this weekend," I said. "I need to go to Camp David again."

"The Secret Service won't be happy about that," he said.

"That's their problem. Mark is enough personal security when I'm with the Pack, they can secure the Pack borders and observe." Mark, the lead Secret Service agent who had pulled me out of the Rose Garden following the drone attack, had been with me when I visited the Thurmont Pack to thank the eight women who had pulled survivors out of Marine One. I'd barely gotten out of the limousine when I heard a high-pitched growl. Two agents shoved me back inside as a young woman rushed forward, tackling Mark to the ground and kissing the hell out of him. It turned out Melanie, one of the eight, found her mate in him. It took a few minutes to clear things up, get the limousine to turn around and go back, and get Melanie uncuffed before we could truly relax again. Mark was changed that night, becoming the first Werewolf Secret Service agent since the war started almost seven years ago.

Since I was a wolf, they had asked for volunteers to be turned, and two more had stepped up, a single woman and single man. Ross had turned them last week, but they were still training in their wolf forms. "I need to run, Mike, my wolf is restless and I'm having trouble keeping my temper in check."

"It's not like there isn't everything else in the world to deal with. You should have taken a leave of absence after the crash, no one would have thought badly of it after losing your wife." He and several other staffers had pressed me to step aside voluntarily, invoking Article Three of the 25^th Amendment, and allowing the Vice President to discharge my duties until I notified Congress I was able to resume them.

"People die in wars, Mike. It wasn't the first time I had to set my own grief aside and get the job done." I mourned the loss of my wife at her funeral, then I showed up in the Oval Office the next morning. I had a war to fight, and until it was done, I wasn't relaxing. "At least now the Zetas are gone."

"Do you know what you want to say to the joint session of Congress tomorrow night?" I had requested the address this morning, and the networks had cleared their Tuesday night schedules for me.

"Have the speechwriters work in segments. We need to show them the Zeta threat is gone, reassure our allies, thank the brave people who won this war, and talk about how we have rid our government of its infestation. Have multiple options for each ready by noon, and I'll work with the staff to weave them together after lunch." We stopped outside the door to my residence, I nodded to the Secret Service agent as he opened the door. "Now, I've got to get some sleep or I'm going to look like shit tomorrow night."

"Goodnight, Mr. President."

"Goodnight, Mike." I turned to the agent. "Please have the senior agent stop by in ten minutes, I'm taking a quick shower," I said. He was talking into his microphone as I walked in.

My valet, was waiting for me and took my jacket. "I'm heading for the shower, Jeremiah. Can you have the kitchen send up a piece of that apple pie, and pour me a Bailey's?"

"Yes Mr. President. Take your time, sir."

I went into the shower, quickly taking care of things and getting out. One advantage of an Academy education, I could get ready for most anything in ten minutes. When I walked out in my robe, Theo was waiting for me. "You wanted to see me, Mr. President?"

"Yes." I had made my decision already, I just hadn't told anyone. "Make plans to take me to Camp David two hours after the speech ends. Plan for at least three days."

"Are you going to the Pack, sir?"

"Yes. Send an agent to arrange things with them in person, I don't want word getting out. No one is to know of this except my detail and those involved in my protection, not my staff, not Congress. I don't want anyone to figure out what is going on until I'm in the air."

"Good idea, sir, I will make it happen."

"Thanks, Theo. I appreciate your work, I know I don't make it easy."

"It's an honor to serve you, sir. The men and their families know that, even more now." I had not been able to make it to the funerals of those killed in the crash, but I made sure to meet privately with their families and let them know how I felt. "Goodnight, sir."

Wednesday, Eight PM

Joint Session of Congress

"MR. SPEAKER, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES."

I walked in to a rousing ovation, my first time in front of the Legislative and Judicial Branches since the second attempt on my life. Even the opposition party was welcoming; it was amazing what a little war could do. I shook hands as I walked in, finally making it to the podium. The Vice President, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader sat in the chairs behind me, the Supreme Court justices and Congress in front behind the banks of cameras.