Smoke & Mirrors Read Online Free PDF Page B

from the surrounding woods where Dex had been held. Destructive Delta was swiftly transported to a secure TIN location via a windowless emergency vehicle. Unfortunately, that meant handing over the keys to Dex’s Challenger. Sparks assured Sloane it would be in safe hands. He’d been hesitant. Dex loved that damn car. But if he wanted to join Dex wherever they were taking him, he had no choice. Within minutes half the team had been escorted home, leaving just Sloane, Ash, and Cael. Sparks promised their friends would be safe, and a cover had already been implemented to explain the team’s absence at work and Dex’s injuries.
    Sloane moved toward the steel door, only to have his path blocked by three TIN operatives, all jaguar Therians.
    “I need to see him.”
    “I’m getting pretty fucking tired of this shit,” Ash growled, coming to stand beside Sloane. “Two days you assholes had us locked up in Dex’s house with your flying monkeys keeping guard. You tranqed Sloane.”
    Sloane’s jaw muscles tightened, and he rubbed the side of his neck where one of Sparks’s goons had stuck a jet injector before pulling the trigger and knocking Sloane out. Had she really expected him to sit back and do nothing while TIN searched for Dex? In the end Sparks had given in and allowed them to join the search, and despite her insistence that Sloane not be out looking for Dex in the bright orange muscle car, Sloane needed it. He needed to feel as close to Dex as possible. The car and—heaven help him—that damned Retro Radio kept him from losing his mind.
    The tallest of the three Therians stepped forward, his attention on Sloane. The guy had been at Dex’s house.
    “I’m sorry, but you refused to cooperate. We couldn’t have you running around the city looking for Agent Daley. We needed more intel on who or what we were up against. If they couldn’t get what they wanted from him, you three would most likely be targeted.”
    “What about my dad?” Cael asked worriedly. He drew himself up against Ash, who pulled him in close. Cael looked exhausted, his hair sticking up and his boyish face paler than usual. His eyes were red and his voice hoarse. Cael had a panic attack when they were shown into the so-called waiting room, when the reality of what happened to Dex finally sank in. It had been too much. It wasn’t like they had been on the job. When something happened to your teammate or someone you cared about while on the job, there were ways to rationalize it, to understand, but when they had no clue as to who was responsible for Dex’s abduction or why, it was a different story. Lucky for them, Ash managed to calm Cael down, and an operative swiftly materialized with Cael’s favorite tea. Sloane didn’t like how much TIN knew about them, which according to Sparks’s cryptic intimations, was everything.
    “There are operatives guarding Sergeant Maddock. No one will get near his home without us knowing.”
    “What do they want?” Ash asked, giving Cael a squeeze. “Fuck. Do you even know who they are?”
    “We’re working on that.”
    Sloane had heard enough. “So you don’t know who they are, where they are, or what they want from Dex? Is there anything you do fucking know? I thought TIN was supposed to be fucking Intelligence? How about finding some goddamn intel on why they took my mate!”
    “Sloane,” Ash warned quietly. “Calm down.”
    “I swear if one more person tells me to fucking calm down I will take them out.” Sloane turned to his best friend, unable to hide the fear that came through in his voice. “They hurt him, Ash. They made him suffer. I can feel it down to my soul.” It twisted him up inside, tearing, pulling, burning. Someone had hurt Dex, and Sloane had been helpless to stop it. If Dex hadn’t gotten himself free…. He couldn’t think about that. Sloane was having trouble controlling his feral half as it was.
    Ash opened his mouth to speak when the door buzzed and the operatives