Jace (River Pack Wolves 2)(15)

Access denied.

She typed it again hoping she had simply mistyped the first time.

Access denied.

Shit. Third time was either the charm… or the thing that would set off all the alarm bells. She stood up, ready to make a run for her car, as she carefully typed the string of letters and numbers one more time.

She didn’t even finish typing before a shuffle of boots and a click sound made her look up. Standing at the entrance to her cubicle was a burly man in camouflage with an M-16 pointed at her head.

Her hands whipped up into the air. “Hey, no need to get excited! I just was checking my email.”

He didn’t move. Half a breath and a flurry of stomping boots later, four more rifles appeared over the top of the short cubicle walls, all pointed at her head.

“Hey, now, come on,” she said quickly, forcing a smile on her face. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Down on your knees,” the first one said in a low command that brooked no dissent.

She dissented anyway. “But, I swear, I didn’t—”

“Not going to ask you again, Ma’am.”

The military politeness sent a shiver through her. The boy was serious. He was prepared to shoot her dead right here in the cubicle.

“Yeah, okay, sure. Just don’t… don’t shoot, okay?” Piper kept her voice light and scared, like an innocent person would have, even though she was far from that. She slowly sank to her knees, hands behind her head.

The soldiers rushed in and shoved her to the ground.

Somehow, she’d really fucked this up.





Daniel was convinced Piper would come straight to the Joint Base, and Jace could understand why: she had stolen his ID. Which was why they were sitting in the security office of Lewis-McChord, getting Daniel’s fingerprints and retina scans recorded and cleared through the system. They’d been there for over an hour, and the sun was halfway up the sky. Finally, after a hell of a lot of paperwork even for the military, Daniel scored a new ID, and they were released. Jace had a restricted-access visitor’s pass, but Daniel had his full security clearance key card enabled.

Jace glanced at his phone: nearly ten o’clock.

As the two of them strode out of the brick-and-concrete security office near the front gate, Jace asked, “Your dad’s a Colonel here, right?” He hadn’t wanted to mention it earlier, while they were inside, especially given how it seemed a sensitive issue between Daniel and Piper. But it was pretty relevant to their objectives, given the Colonel surely could have vouched for his son and expedited getting a new ID.

“Yeah.” Daniel’s face pinched in. “Trust me, the Colonel’s not the kind to easily forgive something like losing your ID. It was easier and less painful this way. Plus, I didn’t want to explain that Piper was the one who stole it.”

Jace looked askance at him. “But if Piper came here directly, wouldn’t he already know? Especially if she used your ID to get in? I mean, would that even work? You two look alike, but trust me, no one’s going to think she’s male.”

Daniel grimaced. “She probably altered the ID. And she’s probably sneaking around the base without setting off any alarms. It’s the kind of thing she’s good at.” He scowled like there was a history behind that statement. “Believe me, she doesn’t want my father to know she’s here. I’m sure she’s using all her shiny new spy skills to avoid that.”

“So, then, what’s our next move?” Jace wasn’t familiar with the base. During his time in the Army as a medic he was stationed at Fort Drum in New York, the First Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. The 1st BCT deployed to Afghanistan, like Noah Wilding’s troop, but Jace discharged over a year ago now, and there had been thousands of soldiers rotating through Afghanistan since then. Still… some of his contacts in the Division might know if soldiers had started to go missing. Jace had already put some feelers out before they left the safehouse.

Daniel gestured to his car. “Next, we go to my office and try to figure out where Piper might be.” They hopped in and drove to a large brick-and-white stone building near the center of the base that looked brand-spanking new. Its towering glass and steel architecture was straight out of a design catalog. The sign out front identified it as the Theater Aviation Command (TAC) Readiness Center.

“Your buildings are like flipping cathedrals here,” Jace said, with a smirk as they climbed out of the car. “Knew I should’ve tried to get stationed in Washington.”

“It’s not all sunshine and sparkly granite,” Daniel said, with a grimace. “Working in the same building as your father has drawbacks.”