The camera focused on a woman standing in front of the Woods Church. She introduced herself. “No one will speak to us but it’s been a flurry of activity for the past hour.” The camera panned to the parking lot full of cars and then back to the reporter. “We were told by someone who wishes to remain anonymous that Pastor Woods and his son are inside the church and this has come as a total shock to the family. As everyone knows, Pastor Woods opposes New Species having civil rights. He started the church—”
Fury turned off the television and sighed. “She was engaged to the son. They were to be married in seven weeks.”
Smiley wouldn’t forget the face of the blond male any time soon. He’d appeared much smaller and shorter than himself. Their coloring was vastly different too. That was the male who had laid claim to Vanni until last night when she’d removed his ring. He clenched his jaw.
“I’m sorry.” Smiley wasn’t sure what else to say.
“For what?” Fury arched an eyebrow.
“We are to avoid news coverage and bad publicity.”
Jericho snarled. “You did nothing wrong, Smiley. It wasn’t bad for us. The Woods Church is always saying we belong in a zoo and yet that female shared sex with you. It means not everyone eats his bullshit.”
Fury nodded. “Nothing about the breeding drug has come out yet.”
Bestial cleared his throat. “Worst-case scenario, even if it does, she appeared to be the sexual aggressor. That female attacked you, not the other way around. They can’t flip this on us in a bad way.”
Tiger spoke. “I don’t understand why they used her to launch this attack in the media. It wasn’t flattering to them. The last female I’d have fuck my enemy would be the one set to marry someone so high up in their organization.”
“I can think of some good reasons they picked her.” Tim stood.
“Name them,” Fury demanded.
Tim didn’t hesitate. “They probably figured a New Species would end up killing her. She’s frail-looking, judging by that video, and has that girl-next-door look that would piss off everyone. What better way to gain public sympathy for their cause than losing someone so important to the family? They could also have sued the NSO for her death to the tune of millions. They’d assume their pockets would get lined and drain ours at the same time. It would have also kept their name in the papers and made New Species look like hell for killing that girl.”
Rage twisted inside Smiley. “You mean the son fooled Vanni into believing he loved her when he just set her up to be killed?”
Tim shrugged. “I don’t know much about him but I’ve done my research on Gregory Woods. He’s a piece of work. I wouldn’t put it past him to have chosen her out of maliciousness. He wasn’t happy when their engagement was announced. It might have been a way to just stop the wedding and get a shot in at us at the same time. Either way, I bet he’s thrilled their wedding is off.”
“Unless the son still wants to marry her.” Tiger frowned.
Tim snorted. “No guy is going to still marry her after that video went viral. He’d be a laughingstock.”
“Why?” Smiley thought that seemed insulting to Vanni.
Tim met his stare. “Pride. She was all over you. No one would ever let him forget it.”
Flame grinned. “Not to mention, would she still want to marry him after Smiley? That was one pathetic-looking human male.”
“Flame.” Fury shook his head. “This is no time for jokes.”
“I’m just saying the son looks puny.”
“What if she got pregnant?” Jericho frowned.
“She’s not. She is on birth control.” Smiley clenched his fists. “I wasn’t that out of it. I asked.”
“What kind?” Bestial peered at him.
“I’m not certain.” Smiley shrugged.
“The breeding drug can override certain contraceptives.”
Smiley felt sucker punched. “Are you certain?”
The council member nodded. “Pretty certain. Condoms work but only if they don’t break. I don’t suppose you used one?”
“No.”
“Did you release inside her?”
“Yes.”
Bestial grimaced. “Then it’s a possibility we need to be aware of and make a contingency plan for.”
Vanni pregnant with my child. Smiley bolted to his feet, unable to remain seated any longer. “We need her brought to Homeland. Where is she?”
“Calm,” Jericho ordered.“What if she’s carrying my child? She’s out there alone.” Smiley refused to back down. “Our enemies could go after her to steal my son or kill her outright to prevent his birth. Tim said she’s in danger from that church. Someone from there set her up. We need to retrieve her now to secure her safety.”
“Smiley?” Fury drew his attention. “We’ll keep a surveillance team on her but we can’t send a team to pick her up. It would seem as though we’re kidnapping her. That would be bad publicity.”
“They said she was in seclusion at her home. Do we know if that’s true?” Smiley wasn’t even sure if she was okay or not.
“Yes.” Tim nodded. “I have a two-man team outside her apartment masquerading as paparazzi. We went to the wrong address last night. The one listed on her driver’s license was outdated. She moved last month. We have visual confirmation that she and her roommate, an Elisabeth Goss, are holed up inside. They are refusing to take incoming calls or answer the door. The only reason we know for sure she’s there is because someone called the cops reporting a possible suicide.”
“What?” Smiley snarled.
“She’s fine. It’s a bullshit ruse some of the paparazzi pull to draw out whomever they want to photograph. It’s standard procedure for the cops to do a wellness check and interview the residents to make sure there isn’t a real problem. My men verified the call didn’t come from inside the residence. In this case the police had Travanni and Elisabeth talk to them on the doorstep after the apartment manager unlocked the door for them. They weren’t opening it up for anyone.”
“Your team actually saw her? They are certain?” Smiley needed confirmation.
Tim nodded. “Yeah.”
That calmed Smiley a bit. “Did she look well?”
“I don’t know.” Tim frowned. “She was talking to the cops and they left without calling an ambulance so I assume so.”
Fury drew Smiley’s attention. “I can only imagine the stress you are under right now but this isn’t the time to pull her into Homeland for questioning. This is a media frenzy and all focus is on her. We need to wait for things to blow over a little before we make a move.”
“She’ll pay for what she did,” Bestial promised. “We’re good with patiently waiting when we need to.”
“Pay?” Smiley glared at him. “I’m not even sure if she did it. She denied drugging us.”
Bestial blew out a breath. “She’s associated with a group that hates us. She also escaped rather than come here.” He paused. “How many Species ate and drank in that bar when she wasn’t there, yet nothing happened? She comes in and you’re drugged. Do I need to continue? It all points to her.”
Smiley hated to admit that it did sound bad. He kept silent.
“We aren’t certain if she was aware of the danger but no good comes of dumping a drug into someone’s drink. That female had to know it was potentially harmful.” Bestial inhaled and blew out a deep breath. “She’ll be prosecuted under New Species law.”
Jericho cut Smiley off before he could speak. “Either way, she needs to be brought in for questioning at the first opportunity.” He flashed Smiley a warning look to keep him silent. “She can link this crime to the Woods Church. We have to locate that drug and make certain all of it is destroyed, otherwise none of us are safe in the out world. They could launch more attacks.”
“Agreed,” Fury stated. “We’ll wait until the media hype dies down and have Tim’s team grab her.”
Smiley stewed in anger. The meeting broke up and he stormed out, needing time to think. Jericho caught up with him and gripped his arm.
“She did drug you. Don’t forget that.”
“Vanni was frightened and she suffered. I don’t want her sent to Fuller. She paid enough even if she was the one who did it.”
“I spoke to Ned. He said the three of you entered the bar and you sat alone at the counter. No one approached you except her. That female was the only one who sat next to you. He noticed you turn in your seat a few times and it would have given her an opportunity to dope your soda.”
He couldn’t deny that. “There can be no crime if there is no victim. I’ll refuse to state otherwise.”
“You can’t deny what happened, Smiley. You weren’t hurt this time but who will be the next victim if we don’t stop this now? This concerns all Species.”
“Perhaps she was forced. Just consider that possibility.”
“Stubborn male,” Jericho grumbled under his breath. “You’re going to pull a True, aren’t you? Should I prepare for that? Will you take her from our custody when she’s brought here and make your home her sanctuary?”