Tooth and Nail (A Shifter's Claim #3) - L.B. Gilbert

Prologue

Just put it in.

Jackson Buchanan fiddled with the thumb drive in his hand. The LED surrounding the empty USB socket of his tower mocked him.

All the answers you’ve ever had about your old pals might be on that drive. That—or he’d just be scanning lab reports detailing illegal animal experimentation. Either way, he was in for a fun night. The kind that required vodka.

The data on the drive had come from an animal research facility in Wisconsin. He’d been hired by Douglas Maitland to steal it. Actually, the exact terms of his agreement with Douglas had been to break into the Reliance Research with one of his people. They were to copy all the data on their servers before planting a virus that would corrupt all their systems. Not a single byte of data was to remain.

His agreement had stipulated that he make a single copy of the Reliance data and then turn it over to the Maitlands. But Jack had made two.

Douglas had hired him directly instead of going through Cassandra, the woman who booked his jobs and handled payments from his clients. Normally, Jack didn’t do jobs where the clients could identify him, but the Maitlands were a special case. Jack had served with several of them, and he considered Connell Maitland one of his closest friends. When Connell’s father, Douglas, had contacted Jack about a job requiring he work with one of his people, Jack had immediately agreed.

Admit it, it’s because you were hoping your partner on the job would be Mara Maitland. Jack had only met Connell’s sister once, but she had made an impression.

But his partner hadn’t been Mara. Instead, Jack had infiltrated with Yogi Kane and the man’s girlfriend, Denise.

Denise Hammond was an animal activist with a vested interest in taking Reliance down. It was the kind of job he could do with one hand tied behind his back, and the paycheck had been substantial. He should have had no complaints.

He fingered the thumb drive, turning it over in his hand. The Maitlands will have my ass if they find out I looked.

His client had been clear. Looking at the data was a violation of his unspoken working agreement, one the Maitland family expected him to uphold despite the fact they hadn’t signed a contract.

Jack never wrote any. Leaving a paper trail was verboten in his line of work.

He’d wanted to ask what was so important about a single animal research lab. After all, Jack had broken into more secure places and been privy to some highly sensitive data in his day, the kind that toppled governments. But when Jack agreed to a job, he did it, no questions asked.

The mission had gone off without a hitch. Well, almost none. There had been the matter of the chimpanzee, but he’d resolved that this morning.

Jack pursed his lips and slipped the drive into the computer port. What the hell? It was only his reputation and livelihood on the line…

Chapter One

Ten Months Later

Jack held his breath, crawling on his belly through the underbrush. He suppressed a gag as the wind changed, and the scent of old skunk urine hit him full in the face.

Maybe covering myself in it wasn’t my best idea, he silently acknowledged.

He hadn’t been excessive, applying just a few diluted drops of it to his carbon clothing—the best scent-eliminating hunting outfit money could buy. But a little bit of skunk piss went a long way.

His longing for a shower was visceral, something he craved on a cellular level, but there was no going back now.

Jack had spent over a week planning this surveillance op. He had intended to do at least as much research as he normally did for a six-figure corporate job.

Unfortunately, he’d soon learned there were few public resources he could use to determine the Maitland family compound’s layout. No building plans had ever been filed with the local government. Despite their modern look, the buildings dated from the turn of the century. There were no architectural blueprints to be had for love or money.

He’d hit a wall searching for power or sewage line schematics. Even Google Earth had failed him. Whenever he’d input the address, the image redirected to an unbroken canopy of virgin forest as if the dozen or so buildings simply weren’t there.

Jack had been forced to rely on his memory of his single visit to the Maitlands to make his plans. That long-ago visit had lasted two days. It had been smack dab in the middle of his