Knight Rescue (Rise of the Wolf Nation Book 1) Page 4

  JASMINE STOOD NEXT to the window with her arms crossed over her chest. An hour ago, darkness cloaked the forest beyond the Compound. Silas and the others took the underground tunnels into the mountains and were on a plane headed to South America.

  Silence wrapped around her shoulders as she continued to stare at the rising mists in the distance. Trees of all sizes and shapes stood resolute as sunlight tickled their peaks and filtered through their limbs. She released a long sigh. A new day had come, new possibilities, and new challenges. Moving slowly, she headed to the kitchen to prepare a quick meal. Someone knocked.

  Frowning she glanced at the early hour on the clock and sighed. Had Silas told the kids to keep an eye on her?

  She opened the door and stared at David.

  “Good morning,” he said with a slight smile.

  “Is it?” she crossed her arms and didn’t move to let him inside.

  “It’s a good morning for a home cooked breakfast.” He rubbed his stomach.

  She laughed at his antics and moved aside. “Come on, but you’re helping.”

  “Of course.” He closed the door. They hadn’t taken two steps before another knock.

  “That’s Renée,” David said as he opened the door.

  “Okay,” Jasmine said shaking her head as she pulled out ingredients. “Wash your hands and get in here.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Renée said as she entered the kitchen.

  Jasmine looked over her shoulder at her daughter and chuckled. “I like your Wonder Woman tank and shorts. Looks good on you.”

  Renée leaned forward and kissed Jasmine’s cheek. “Comfortable too.” She looked around and pointed. “Potatoes?”

  Jasmine nodded and moved aside as Renée grabbed the bowl to wash the potatoes before cutting them up. David grabbed a carton of eggs and sat them next to the pancake mix.

  “What do you want me to do?” He watched her stir her batter and toss in fresh blueberries.

  “Grab the bacon and sausage from the fridge. Pull out the griddle and get started.”

  Once everyone was busy cooking, Jasmine cleared her throat. “Why are you here so early?”

  “Food.” David didn’t look at her when he answered.

  “David thought it’d be a good idea to hang with you today, we never get you to ourselves like this. He woke up early and woke me too.”

  “Did Silas put you up to this?” she asked.

  David frowned. “Not to me. I miss when you’d fix breakfast for us and we’d come here to eat. I thought it’d be good to have it again.”

  That surprised her. “Why haven’t you said something? We can do this anytime.” She looked at him.

  “You’re busy. From morning to night you’re handling something or doing something, just never seemed the right time. I figured you’d have a couple hours first thing this morning before things heat up and you have to go work.” He shrugged.

  “I’m never that busy.” She looked at Renée who shrugged as well. “Am I?”

  “When David said we could have some alone time with you, I jumped on it. I miss this.” Renée looked around the kitchen. “We spent a lot of time here, and it just stopped.”

  Jasmine flipped the pancakes and shook her head. “I didn’t realize. You’re both busy, I hardly see either of you. I didn’t want to intrude, but... I’m glad you’re here. I miss this too.” Later she’d think deeper about their comments, right now she’d enjoy a nice quiet breakfast with her kids.

  Sitting at the table eating breakfast, talking about the art gallery where Renée worked and David spoke of his work with Angus, and his studies, Jasmine realized they’d drifted apart. How could they live in the same place and not know what was going on with each other?

  “So, are you going out with him again?” she asked Renée.

  “No. He’s boring, just talks about stuff he has, like that’s a big deal,” Renée scoffed.

  “Depending on where he’s come from, it could be a big deal,” David said. “Not everyone has rich beginnings.”

  Renée shrugged. “Good point. I just don’t like him. No chemistry. No need to waste our time.”

  “True, just be polite about it,” Jasmine said.

  “Is this the first time you’ve ever been without Daddy?” Renée asked.

  “Yes. And before you ask, it sucks. I miss him terribly.”

  “Breeders can survive the separation, right?” Renée asked, in a somber tone.

  “Maybe, physically,” Jasmine said not wanting to pursue that line of thinking. “Asia and Shyla are full-bloods though.”

  “As long as they’re links are open, they’ll be okay,” David said.

  Jasmine nodded.

  “I’m off today. Is there anything I can do for you?” Renée asked.

  “In addition to cleaning the kitchen with your brother, you mean?” She pointed to the bowls in the sink.

  Renée laughed as she stood and took their plates to the kitchen. “Yes, anything you need, let me know.”

  Jasmine smiled and could only imagine what the day would bring.

  “Same here, if you need me, I’m here. Lunch? Dinner? I’m free.” David winked.

  “Thanks, I’ll let you know.” She patted his hand.

  “I’ll help Renée.” He stood, took the remaining dishes and headed into the kitchen.

  Jasmine sat at the table for a few minutes going over everything Silas laid out for her last night. Tyrese would use a chameleon bracelet to morph into Silas and Asia would morph into Hawke and Angus intermittently so that staff wouldn’t realize the three men had left. Asia would go down to Hawke’s office this morning, greet everyone, hand out assignments and tell them he was working on a project for La Patron and return to his home office. Since he worked from home three out of six days, no one would suspect he wasn’t on the grounds.

  Asia would then go to the KnightForce office, sign in as Angus and handle his daily memos to his agents. She’d work as Angus for a few hours while they put the word out that Asia was meeting with Jasmine in private, something they often did.

  Tyrese would walk all over the Compound as Silas most of the day overseeing the work Silas left for him to do. Hopefully, all of this would buy Silas the time he needed to find the Knights while the military believed he was still blissfully unaware of their transgression and still at the Compound.

  Renée placed a cup of hot tea in front of Jasmine. “Here, Mom.”

  Smiling her appreciation, Jasmine took a sip, and moaned. “Perfect, thanks, honey.”

  Renée sat across from her. “You’re welcome. Has Jackie mentioned a wedding date to you?”

  Jasmine covered her mouth to keep from spitting out her tea. “No. She promised to tell you first.”

  Renée released a long sigh. “I know. What’s taking them so long? I have so many ideas.” Her dark blue eyes lit with fevered excitement. “I started a book. A wedding book with lots of ideas.”

  “Use it for your own wedding,” David said as he sat with a glass of water. “Jackie doesn’t care about that stuff, you know that. She’s only having a wedding because of you.”

  “Weddings are civilized and sophisticated announcements to the world that a person is no longer available,” Renée said in a haughty tone.

  David snorted.

  “Mistress, the Joint Chiefs want to talk to La Patron,” Asia said. “Tyrese just left the KnightForce office and is on his way to La Patron’s office, so is Jacques. He asked me to tell you so you can meet them there.”

  “And so it begins,” Jasmine said marveling at the early hour. “Tell them do not talk to anyone until I get there. I’m finishing breakfast and need to get dressed.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “You may need to be Silas, I’ll have to think about it.”

  “Whatever you wish, Mistress,” Asia said.

  Jasmine pushed away from the table. “We should do this again; your Dad would enjoy it. This may come as a surprise, but we miss having you guys around.�
� She leaned forward, placed a kiss on each of their foreheads and turned toward her bedroom. “Lock the door on your way out, I have to get dressed for a meeting.”

  JASMINE ENTERED THE conference room. Tyrese, appearing as Silas, Jacques and Asia, appearing as Angus, sat at the table. To anyone paying attention it would appear as Silas having a meeting with his core team minus Hawke and the twins.

  “What exactly did they say?” Jasmine asked as soon as they sealed the room.

  “General Miller was asked why the Knights were leaving and he told them La Patron gave the men a vacation. That didn’t go over well, and they tried to stop the order.”

  “Stop whose order?” Jasmine asked Jacques.

  “La Patron’s order giving the Knights time off.” He looked at Jasmine.

  She nodded for him to continue.

  “When threats of courts martialling didn’t work and they couldn’t physically restrain the men, they reported it to high command. They talked to General Miller and got nowhere.”

  “So why do they want to talk? Silas gave his men a vacation,” she said.

  “At the same time?” Tyrese asked.

  “Yeah, he can do that. And when you speak with them, that’s the attitude you should have.”

  Tyrese nodded.

  Jasmine snapped her fingers. “Jacques, what about that time off clause in the agreement? Silas wanted to make sure the Knights didn’t get burned out.”

  He pulled out a key-board and typed. “They’ve been on assignments, and most haven’t had anywhere near the required 90 days in a calendar year.” He smiled when he looked over his shoulder. “Oops, looks like the military overlooked an important rule in our agreement.”

  “That’s the angle you take, Rese. Mention the contractual agreement and that you’re pulling all Knights for a mandatory, what?” she looked at Jacques, then Asia and then Tyrese. “Two weeks? A month? How long should we say?”

  “Start with a month, they’ll want to negotiate,” Jacques said. “Two weeks is reasonable.”

  Jasmine agreed. “Start with a month, and you can consider two weeks. Don’t agree, just say you’ll get back with them.” She thought a few moments. “This may be a smoke screen, they may just want to be sure he’s here and not after them.” She shook her head to stop second guessing. “No matter.” She looked at Tyrese. “Can you give them a hard time like Silas would?”

  “I’ve sat in several meetings when he’s talked to them, I can do it. I’ll need Angus and Jacques, they’re usually with him. Hawke sometimes too.”

  “We don’t have any more chameleons, so we’ll make do. This isn’t a planned meeting, so it should be fine.” She looked around the room, making sure everything was in place before opening the door.

  “Have you contacted them, Jacques?” she asked.

  “Yes, the Admiral is on stand-by.”

  She nodded and stepped out the office into the outer office where she placed her hand on a security scanner and entered a small room. Inside she could see and hear what went on in the office.

  Silas had created this room for her several years back to sit in on meetings when he didn’t want others to know she listened. Afterward, they’d discuss her thoughts and make decisions on how to proceed.

  Jacques went through the protocols and finally Admiral Bent and two other high ranking officers were seated at a conference table speaking from a similar secure room. After formal greetings, in which Tyrese did a great job imitating Silas, the Admiral asked why had the Knights been removed from base.

  “I’ve waited to see if anyone in the military would honor our agreement and when that didn’t happen, I handled it myself,” Silas - Tyrese, said.

  “What do you mean? We’ve honored the agreement.” The Admiral looked at the other two who nodded.

  “Knights are supposed to have, at a minimum, 90 days off a calendar year. There are six months left in this year and after an audit was completed yesterday, none have had 30 days.”

  The Admiral opened his mouth and snapped it shut.

  “So I pulled them, sent them on a well-deserved vacation.”

  “For 90 days?” the Admiral sounded apoplectic.

  “No, just 30,” Tyrese said in a cavalier tone that sounded so much like Silas, Jasmine smiled.

  The Admiral’s cheeks reddened as he drew himself up. “Thirty days? All of them? Can’t you stagger them out, work up a rotation?”

  “Why didn’t your department do that?” Silas countered.

  “I assure you I, we, had no idea this happened. But I will look into it. Can you leave a team for emergencies?”

  “No. I’ve given everyone vacation, they’ve earned it and I won’t go back on my word.” Tyrese hardened his voice. “I never should’ve had to get involved, but if I want to make sure my men are taken care of, seems I’ll have to keep a closer eye on them.”

  “Is there a way to have a team or two return in a few weeks, then start a rotation roster? There are assignments ...”

  “Use your own men, mine are on vacation. They need a break, as their Alpha, I’m giving them one,” Tyrese said mimicking Silas to perfection.

  “Please reconsider the 30 days and allow a team or two to return in a few weeks? I’ll submit a rotation roster for you, Generals Crall and Miller as well as your handlers here at the Pentagon, that way you’ll be able to monitor the vacation status of your Knights.”

  Tyrese paused in apparent thought. “I’ll get back to you within the week on that. Submit the roster to the Generals. Good bye, Gentlemen.”

  “Good bye, La Patron,” the Admiral said in a deflated tone.

  Before she left the hidden area, Jasmine reviewed everything that was said in her mind. Tyrese tapped on the door.

  She opened it and stepped out. No one spoke.

  “What do you think?” Jasmine asked the other three.

  Jacques shrugged. “I didn’t pick up anything.” He looked at the others. “Did you?”

  Tyrese released a breath. “Seemed okay, but I’m not sure.”

  “Who else was in the room with them?” Asia asked.

  Jasmine looked at Tyrese. “I didn’t see anyone, did you?”

  He shook his head slowly. “The camera was tight, just on the three.”

  “Now that you mention it, we couldn’t see who else was there or even what room they were in. Normally we see the crest, the flag, something showing their authority.” Jacques sounded puzzled. “I don’t recall seeing any of that.”

  “Me neither,” Asia said.

  “Which could mean there were others in the room they didn’t want Silas to see,” Jasmine said, thinking it through.

  “Or, they were someplace and didn’t want him to know where,” Asia said.

  “Good point,” Jasmine said. “Did the Admiral seem really alarmed when he learned how long the men would be gone?”

  “He did,” Jacques said. “I don’t think they expected La Patron to hit from the contract angle, which was genius by the way.”

  “What did they have planned for our Knights?” Asia asked sitting on the corner of Silas’ sofa in the outer office.

  “Something Silas wouldn’t agree to. Which means we need to get those four away from them before they decide to keep them for more tests,” Jasmine said.

  “Have you heard from La Patron?” Jacques asked.

  “No. He’ll let me know when they reach Central America, or when they arrive in Honduras. In the mean-time, in addition to keeping the Compound safe, we need to make sure everyone believes Silas, Angus and Hawke are here.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Tyrese and Asia said.

  “Yes, agreed,” Jacques said.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ADMIRAL BENTS SAT QUIETLY at the conference table as the monitor went dark. He glanced at the other two officers who sat beside him during the call. Silas Knight was an arrogant prick. Son of a bitch found a loop hole in the contract and pulled all his men. How long before they realized four were missing?

 
“Well, that’s done.” He looked at the others. “Seems we have to wait for him to get back to us or the month. Reassign what you can, and hold the rest.” The two men sitting next to him nodded, pushed back and stood.

  “Don’t know how we missed not giving them their vacations,” one of the men said as he headed toward the door. “Should’ve been on top of that.”

  “We’ll get it fixed, won’t happen again,” Bents said wanting them to leave so he and General Lee could talk.

  “Is he planning to pull the program?”

  That surprised Bents. “I don’t think so. What makes you ask that?”

  “Seems he’s becoming less and less tolerant of mistakes. Our mistakes. To pull everybody at once, he’s got to know it’s going to cause a problem. There are certain jobs only his people can do.”

  Bents bit back a caustic remark and nodded. “I’m sure he’s aware of that.”

  “You think he’ll change it to two or three weeks?” the hopeful sound in the General’s voice irritated Bents. As the most powerful Army in the world, they shouldn’t depend on anyone.

  “Possibly. I’ll send a message to his office in a week to see if he’s changed his mind,” Bents lied. It wasn’t that he hated the dual-natureds, he appreciated what they’d done for the country. And if a war broke out, La Patron and his people would defend this country with their dying breath. They all knew and accepted that.

  But the idea that no one could control La Patron or the Wolf Nation, that they operated as a separate Nation within the United States bothered him and a few others. The new President had been fascinated when he learned of the wolves. He’d spent hours watching tapes of their fighting abilities and all but drooled over the prime real estate they owned. Bents had answered every question but realized there would be more.

  When the call came, the President asked about offensive measures to protect humans from the wolves, Bents mentioned some ideas he and a few others wanted to pursue. Once he received the green light from the Oval Office, they’d been anxious to start testing.

  Most of the members of the Joint Chiefs voted against offensive testing against the Wolf Nation and had no idea of the clandestine research project General Lee headed. Past experience with a pissed off Silas Knight made it imperative to keep the project secret.