Wolf Untamed (SWAT - Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) - Paige Tyler Page 0,68
sure of that but didn’t say anything.
It seemed to take forever to find the right date and time frame for the video footage they were looking for. Diego tuned out as Rich began explaining about the hundreds of cameras positioned around the mall, how they were all constantly downloading to a centralized server, and how difficult it would be to find a particular group of people when you didn’t know which entrance they’d come in or which stores they visited.
After what felt like a lifetime of scanning through footage, they finally picked up the three men Diego recognized from the bank robbery coming in one of the mall’s side doors.
“That’s them,” he told Rich.
They were forced to jump from view to view and monitor to monitor, following the trio all over the place when it was clear they had no real destination in mind. The guys looked nothing like the three he and his pack mates had gone up against in the bank. They were laughing and joking, obviously having a good time. Nothing like the nearly catatonic men they’d been only a short time later.
“If you guys could tell me what you’re looking for, I might be able to help,” Rich said, glancing over his shoulder at Diego.
“Unfortunately, we’re not sure,” Diego admitted. “We’re hoping watching them in the hours and minutes right before they tried to rob the bank might help us understand why they did it.”
The three college kids stopped by a bakery to get some muffins and coffee, then sat at a table for almost an hour talking. When they were done eating, they tossed their trash, then disappeared down a long hallway.
“What’s down there?” Trey asked, sitting up in his seat.
“The restrooms,” Rich said. “We don’t have any cameras in that hallway.”
Diego cursed silently.
The clock on the bottom of the video continued to run until even Rich frowned.
“They’ve been in there a long time,” he said.
“Tell me about it,” Diego muttered.
When the three guys finally emerged from the hallway, what Diego saw on the screen sent a shiver down his back. The demeanor of the men had changed. Instead of being relaxed and chill, talking and laughing like before, they walked through the mall like robots, devoid of expression. Like the life had been sucked out of them.
“Is there anything else down that hallway?” Diego asked, looking from one monitor to the next as the three college kids headed for the nearest exit. The time stamp on the video showed that they’d left the mall twenty minutes before the bank job.
Rich shook his head. “Just the restrooms. Do you think they were taking that delirium drug in there? Is that why they looked so spaced out?”
Diego exchanged looks with Trey and knew his pack mate was wondering the same thing. “I don’t know.”
He looked at the monitor that covered the entrance to the restrooms again, wishing they’d been able to see what those three guys had been up to, when he caught a glimpse of a man who’d just walked out of the hallway.
“Rewind the video of the restroom area,” he said, then waiting impatiently while Rich did as he asked. “Stop there.”
Diego stared at the image of the tall man in a dark suit. Unlike the three college kids who’d walked out of the hallway a few moments before him, the guy was grinning like he’d won the lottery.
Son of a bitch.
Beside him, Trey leaned forward in his chair. “Is that Bree’s ex-husband?”
“Yeah.”
Diego’s inner wolf stirred, telling him something seriously weird was going on and that Dave was involved. He just wasn’t quite sure how yet.
He looked at Rich. “Can we get a copy of the video footage from the time those guys walked down that hallway until this guy came out?”
“Sure.”
Opening a drawer, Rich grabbed a CD, then copied the footage. Promising they’d write letters of recommendation to the police academy, Diego thanked the kid, then he and Trey were out the door.
“Do you think Dave put those guys up to robbing the bank?” Trey asked as they headed toward their SUV.
“I don’t know. He might be prone to violence, but this seems totally out of his wheelhouse. Bree told me he already has money, so why have a bunch of amateurs rob a bank for him? And how does the delirium drug fit in? Is he a dealer?”
Diego was starting the engine of the SUV when his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and immediately put it on speaker