She was loading one of the rifles when Alexis and Victor came storming into the room.
“Victor got him on video,” Alexis announced. “It was Nick Jameson.” She looked at Rose. “He used to be a Tracker back when I was one. We had a…falling out. He’s been retired for about fifteen years now. When he left the Trackers, he went to work for Elder Zhang Lei. Jameson doesn’t come to the compound anymore, though, not in years. He’s rarely even in the US. His scent would be difficult for most of the active Trackers here to identify. Though I can and so can Victor. He hasn’t actually been inside the compound or Victor would have picked it up. They never really got along.”
Victor signed something to Alexis. She nodded, and said, “He didn’t know about the video surveillance on the window so we got him on tape. Victor hadn’t told anyone outside a few trusted members of his team that he’d set that up in here. Obviously, whoever arranged this with Jameson didn’t know either.” She nodded to the window. “Lei’s assistant unlocked it just after the meeting was adjourned, during the chaos of dismissal. None of the security team noticed at the time as they were watching too many corridors and monitoring too many possible problems in those seconds.”
Victor made a few hard hand gestures, which Rose didn’t understand, but from the look on his face, he was pissed about that breach.
“Lei,” Elizaveta said, her voice low and without any sign of emotion. “Lei is responsible for this?”
Rose’s voice was not so emotionless when she said, “Where is he?” She wasn’t even sure which one Lei was, but that didn’t matter. She was going to kill him.
“Trackers have gone to his apartment. He’s not there. They’re searching the compound now while Victor’s team combs through the video feeds. We’ll find something.”
Rose was about to say more when a tiger leapt back into the room through the window. She spun to face it, rifle raised and poised to fire. Vlad put a hand on her arm. “That’s the Tracker who just jumped out.”
The tiger started to shift, a process Rose was still bothered by, but after days of watching Zoe shift, she didn’t feel the need to look away. She waited with barely held patience and as soon as the man’s head and mouth settled into human lines, she said, “What did you find? Where did they go?”
When he looked at her, his eyes were pinched at the corners and his brow creased. “They left through the west gate. A car was waiting.” He looked at Alexis and Elizaveta. “I got a strong scent of Lei.”
Elizaveta growled, a sound unlike anything Rose had heard a human make. The hair along her arms and on her nape rose in reaction to the threat in that growl.
“Which direction?” Alexis asked.
“They turned off the west road, heading toward the highway. Two from my unit are following. I came back to report.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Rose said, very quietly. Every tiger in the room turned to look at her. She was staring out the window. “He’s a dead man.”
“We need to concentrate on getting Zoe back first,” Alexis said. “Then we can kill him.”
“Not we. Me. I am going to destroy the men who took her. And if she’s hurt, in any way at all, I’m going to kill them slowly.”
She barely recognized her own voice—deep, gravelly, harsh. She was so angry, so outraged, and so scared. Her every instinct screamed to follow the bastards and get her daughter back.
She returned to her dresser and pulled out her backpack, stuffing it with clothes, some things for Zoe, and a few of the snacks left over from their journey here. “I need water.” She finished filling the backpack with all the ammunition she had for the three guns. She set her gear on her bed and went to the closet for her and Zoe’s coats.
When she faced the room full of people again, she was mildly surprised to see bottles of water by her pack. And Vlad already in his coat, car keys in hand.
To Alexis, he said, “You have my cell number. Keep us updated. We’ll take the same direction, but I’ll need you to relay any changes the Trackers pick up.”
She nodded. “You want me to send a few more with you?”
“Send whoever you can spare. No idea how many he’s got with him.” He glanced at Rose as she slipped on her coat and pulled the backpack over her shoulders, then asked Alexis, “Are my brothers involved? I just found out my people lost track of them earlier today. Do you still have them under surveillance?”
Alexis glanced away, frowning when she said, “They ditched the people we had tailing them, too. We haven’t seen them since you arrived at the compound. We don’t know where they are, or what they’re doing right now.”