far side of the parking lot, closest to the hospital entrance. She moved farther away, positioning herself where she could watch the critical areas in the building where the MRSA samples would be taken.
She sensed additional movement on the fringes of the parking lot. She lifted her nose into the air. Kristine was there, with Bailey. Ruby, Autumn’s backup, was there as well.
Grace wasn’t alone, although her path to resolve this would be different from theirs.
She crept forward once more, keeping herself far from visibility from the building—and inhaled another scent. She stopped. Growled softly not in anger, but in frustration.
She smelled Simon. At least it was his human scent, but he had gone back on his promise.
She could do nothing about it, but would have to be careful not to let his presence distract her. She had to concentrate on what was bound to occur—
There. It was beginning. Like the last time, when she had watched in human form, two humans wearing sterile clothing exited the tunnel from the hospital, each carrying large containers of what must be biohazard samples. Others were with them—two men in camo uniforms, wielding weapons, plus a third who also appeared wary but did not aim any gun. Was that Major Dryson?
The door to the room where the building’s security staff was stationed opened, and the five walked in. The door closed behind them.
Only…she suddenly smelled the terrible yet light chemical stench she had experienced before from that office, when the biohazardous materials were stolen. The door opened once more.
The two men in uniforms dashed out. They carried the containers of hazard samples, strapped somehow around their necks so they could still aim their weapons. They slammed the door shut behind them and started to run.
The guards…they were the thieves!
She looked up to see the hawk circling. The tangos’ whereabouts would at least be observed.
But it was time also for her to act.
She was not the only one to hurry forward, dashing through the parking lot among the cars. The other Alpha Force members—those who were not shifters—were to her right, ducking from one area of concealment to the next, as she was doing.
Kristine and Ruby, weapons drawn and ready to fire, followed the thieves, saying nothing yet but ready to take them down. Bailey, his leash attached to a belt at Kristine’s waist, loped at her side.
The two men ran toward the back of the storage building, through that portion of the parking lot, and up to the fence that separated the hospital property from the air-force base. The gate there should be locked. They would be trapped.
As they reached it, they turned as if to ensure that no one followed—and one of them spotted the humans behind them.
With no warning, he aimed his weapon and fired.
Kristine fell to the ground.
Damn! Kristine Norwood was shot. Simon watched as the woman with her grabbed the dog’s leash while kneeling beside the fallen woman.
Simon hadn’t been at all happy about Grace’s demands that he stay out of their operation to trap the biohazards thieves.
That was why he partially ignored what he had promised her. He hadn’t shifted…yet. He had understood her concern about two roaming wolves being in the area at the same time, and whether that would be more obvious than one. Just because they had both shifted previously at the same time didn’t mean they could easily get by with it again.
He’d decided to observe what occurred as a human—unless shifting became, in his estimation, necessary.
He wasn’t military. Didn’t want to be military. But as a doctor, he knew well what a disaster caused by loosing biological weapons could do.
Was the MRSA virus capable of being used that way? Just because it hadn’t been officially recognized as an item of warfare didn’t mean it couldn’t be weaponized and used to infect masses of people. With its resistance to most antibiotics, it might do a lot of damage.
Had those trying to catch the thieves filled the containers with something benign instead of MRSA materials? Maybe, but no one had known who the bad guys were. They might have been aware of any switch.
Now it seemed apparent that the men they were after were part of the military security team. They would know the capabilities of the others after them.
Most of the others.
Could Simon do something more to help in wolf form now that a member of Grace’s team assigned to stop the thefts had been shot? He didn’t know if Kristine was still alive,