Chapter 42: Blowback

Alpha Rori King’s POV

Arrowhead Pack Pool

I sat in the shallow kid’s play area of the pool, taking a quick break from the shitstorm that the attack had become. I’d given my statement, all of us had, and the FBI now had the case. I was glad we had Frank and Colletta running interference for us with the Feds, or I’d STILL be trying to explain what happened. As it was, we couldn’t leave because of the crime scenes and the press.

Chase came over, Mark hanging from his hands as he kicked the surface of the water. Cheryl squealed as she got splashed, and retaliated by smacking her hands down on the water to get him back. “Should we get Daddy wet,” I asked her.

“YAHHH!!! DADDY WET!” We splashed their way as he sat down, and soon the toddlers tired of splashing and went over to play with the fountain jet.

“The press keeps calling to get an interview,” he said. “I’ve said no.”

“Nothing good can come of it,” I answered. “Anything from our neighbors?”

“Mixed. Mrs. Johnson was on television, and she said we were ‘good people who should be left alone.’ A few others didn’t like the violence we bring. It wouldn’t shock me if someone tried to force us out of here when this is all done.”

I looked at everyone who was relaxing in the pool after dinner, and leaving was the last thing I wanted. “We’re growing,” I said. “We could keep buying up homes around the lake.”

“I think the surge is over, and we will lose some of those who joined us from those Packs. Why give up everything and move here, when you just got yourself a new Alpha Pair? Monongahela is going to thrive under Ron and Teri, and Katahdin will be much improved.” I thought about it for a bit. “I wish there was a way to get Packs to vote their bad leaders off the island or something. Too many people suffer and die because of Alpha commands that force them to follow.”

“You’ll have to take that up with Luna. I don’t set the rules.”

We’d talked about this; we would never run our Pack by decree. It wasn’t that we didn’t have alpha commands, because they were good for things like keeping secrets, but never as a means to keep people under our thumb. Half of our Pack consisted of abused former Omegas, who didn’t respond well to command like that anyway. “It was more than just the bad Packs that caused the problem,” I said. “Our rules required a Pack transfer to get his Alpha’s permission FIRST, and only then could the other Pack Alpha be contacted. Then the Alphas refused to approve the request. At that point, the only way out would be to go rogue and leave with nothing.”

“And rogue meant no other Alpha would take you because ‘they wouldn’t boot you out of your pack without a good reason.’ It was only after we had said we’d take transfers or rogues that we saw movement.” He thought about it for a reason. “As word gets around, we’ll see more and more rogues asking to join.”

It was something I hadn’t considered; I had thought the only werewolves were in Packs. “How many rogues are out there?”

“No one knows. If you fell in love with a human, you couldn’t bring her to the Pack without killing her. I imagine there are dozens, maybe hundreds of lone wolves out there with their families. No one bothered to recruit them because they thought their offspring would be weak Omegas, hardly the thing to build a strong Pack with.”

“If they are good people, we’ll take them,” I said. “I don’t care if our Pack ends up ninety percent Omegas.” I raised my voice a little and raised my fist at the others in the pool. “Omegas kicked some ASS today.”

“YEAH!!”

“WE DID!”

“It was the first time in the history of our kind that Omegas defeated enemy Warriors and Betas,” Chase said. “And I’m pretty sure it was the first time an Omega had taken out an Alpha in battle.”

The Monongahela Alpha had been outspokenly sexist, and the women of his Pack were good only for breeding. The irony of his death coming at the hands of a female with a gun was sweet. “The Alpha recognition won’t happen for a week, and the new Council elections won’t be until a week after that. Councilman Baronsky is taking over as interim Chair; he and Councilman Nemmers are going to be very busy with all the changes.”

“Alpha, the new FBI Agent-in-Charge requests to speak with you both,” Vic sent over the bond.

“Ten minutes, bring him to my office,” I replied. “Damn. Business calls again. Let them play for a while, then get them ready for bed.” I handed Cheryl over to the nanny as Chase handed over Mark. Standing, I walked out of the pool and took Chase’s hand as we walked naked towards the lockers. I showered then pulled on my clothes from my cubby before we all met at our office. An older man in a suit was waiting for me, a woman Chase’s age with him. “Welcome to Arrowhead, I’m Rori King, and this is my husband Chase,” I said as I greeted them.

“Senior Agent-in-Charge Lucas Smallwood,” he said as I suppressed a laugh. Poor guy must have been teased mercilessly in his life, especially if it was true. “My assistant, Special Agent Lana Black. We’re taking over the investigation on orders of the Director.”

I nodded and sat down at my desk, inviting them to take the chairs in front of it. Chase went over to the minibar, offering water and coffee, then sitting by my side. “How may I help you?”

“You can quit pretending you don’t know who these people are,” he said. “And you can tell us why they are here.”

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Agent Smallwood,” I said. “We’re the victims here. We did nothing, yet they attack my home in broad daylight. I expected you would be telling ME who they were and why.”

The junior agent handed over a folder; he opened it and put the photographs on the table. “These are the men we’ve recovered who were part of the attack. All were either killed or already dead when we stopped them; those that had identification, they were fraudulent. We’re still running fingerprint and DNA evidence.” He laid out the faces on the table, most were unrecognizable. “The last attack was related to the Sons of Tezcatlipoca. These guys aren’t Latino, and they aren’t gang bangers. No tattoos, no priors, clean as the driven snow.”

“Are these all of them,” I said as I looked them over.

“No. From the video evidence, we think at least nine and as many as twelve are at large. All were from the group that attacked the rear entrance.” He set another paper down with more faces. They looked like screen captures from our low-resolution security cameras and weren’t very useful in identification. “We’re hoping the fingerprints left on the weapons and the vehicles will identify the missing. We’ve got roadblocks up in the area, but we think they may have had another vehicle the missing men took to evade capture.”

“So they could be anywhere now,” I said. “We’ll be keeping our security posture elevated until you capture all of the attackers. We’ll keep our weapons hidden from sight, but we’ll be watching.” The rifles that we fired were taken into evidence, but we had plenty more available.

“Surely that isn’t necessary when law enforcement is still in place at the entrances,” he said.

“I trust no one outside my family and friends to protect my children. We will cooperate with your investigation, but we will never rely on you for protection.”

There was something else. “It would be advisable,” Lucas said with disdain, “to keep your biker friends out of this situation. The last thing we need to see up here is more guns.”

“I can’t help it if my friends want to visit, especially when they see we are still endangered by people you can't find. I’m sure all of them will be law-abiding citizens exercising their rights. I would be rather upset if you harassed them for coming to our aid again.” I pointed at the photographs. “I cannot help you with this. I can only speculate that the remaining Sons, or the Cartel that backed them, still want to see me and my family dead.” I pushed the paper back to them. “How else may we help?”

He put the papers back in the folder and handed them off. “We will be in touch,” he said as he got up. “The investigation will be run out of our Minneapolis Field Office. Agent Black will be remaining in Two Harbors as a liaison with local law enforcement. She should be your first contact if you have any questions.”

And with that, the brushoff. We wouldn’t play ball, so he was heading back to Minneapolis and leaving a rookie agent to handle us. “My card,” Agent Lana said as she handed it to me. “If you recall anything that will help the investigation, please contact me.”

“If anyone wishes to update their sworn statement, I will have our lawyer contact you.” Ralph Emerson, who had remained our primary lawyer since he handled the Arrowhead estate, had brought in five of his colleagues to represent us. The FBI and Sheriff weren’t happy with that, but they helped draft the sworn testimony and sat in on all the witness interviews. We weren’t about to let them push us into anything. “Thank you for updating us.”

My secretary escorted them to the door, and I closed the office door after they were gone. “That could have gone better,” I said.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be able to hold the lid on this,” Chase said as he sat down. “When the Sons attacked, we were able to collapse the organization and give them a target they wanted. This? What do you think happens when they trace these men back to West Virginia and Maine?”

“They will find the Packs,” I said as I sat in his lap. “Who’d have thought the men who were so adamant that the humans not know of our existence could be the ones who lead them straight to us?”