A video replaced the latest still picture on the screen. It was of a crowd of people milling around some shops while merchants hawked their wares and customers looked through the mishmash collection of leather goods and metal wall art. The sounds of people haggling over prices and city noises filled the air. The clip played for a good thirty seconds before coming to an end.
“Focus on the background,” Harley murmured as Misty played the video again. “Behind the racks of carpets.”
Sawyer did as she suggested, looking more closely this time. That was when he saw the guy in a dark jacket and jeans with long, perfectly straight hair. Right before disappearing through an open doorway behind the racks of carpets, he briefly turned to survey the crowd, like he was looking for a tail. If the hair hadn’t been a dead giveaway, the face was. It was the man from the nightclub. The one who could disappear whenever he wanted to. The one who’d nearly killed Harley.
“We pulled back the moment Harley IDed him, so they wouldn’t spot us,” Jake said as the video played one more time. “I’ve got half our support team sitting on the place and the other half digging up floor plans for that building and the ones on either side. They’re also going over satellite footage so they can tell us how long the bad guys have spent there, how many people there are, and whether there’s any indication the kidnapping victims are in there. We should have something useful in a few hours.”
Sawyer tried to remember the last time his team had gotten access to satellite footage. Oh yeah, that would be never. Americans always got the cool toys.
“When do we go in?” he asked.
“Tonight, as the shops are closing up,” Jake said. “There’ll be enough people around to cover our movements, but the area should be mostly empty, which is good if it ends up being a gun battle.”
They talked about tactics for a little while, discussing how MI6 and STAT would work together during the raid before deciding which half of the joint team would focus on getting the weapons and transportation while the other half went over whatever intel the support team was lucky enough to gather.
Before Harley followed her team out, she threw a curious look his way, like she sensed the tension between him and his teammates. A moment later, Sawyer found himself alone with Erin, Rory, and Elliott. They were all looking at him expectantly.
He was tempted to say the hell with it and shift right there in front of his friends, so he could get it over with and they could walk out the door.
He wasn’t quite that stupid.
Or brave.
“So, the Americans are running this operation, I guess?” Erin asked, looking at him from where she sat on the other side of the table.
Sawyer’s inner wolf didn’t like the idea of letting someone else call the shots for his team, but he was smart enough to admit Jake had more experience with this supernatural crap and he was willing to let the American werewolf take the lead.
“Looks that way,” he said bluntly. “As for what we talked about before, I’m going to need that answer sooner than I thought. We’ll have to come up with a new plan for the raid if the three of you aren’t in.”
Without waiting for a reply, he got to his feet and headed for the door, keenly aware of their gazes on his back. The urge to turn around was difficult to resist, but he didn’t give in. Looking sure as hell wouldn’t make this whole thing any easier.
Chapter 6
Sawyer casually made his way through the darkened streets, moving like he had somewhere to be, but not so fast he’d draw anyone’s attention. Not that it mattered since there were few people out at this time of night to notice him. To the rest, he was one more foreigner in a city full of them. In some ways, it was almost like he was invisible.
He’d spent a little time in Tangier and Marrakesh, but his job had never brought him to Casablanca. The city was a unique mix of old and new, with five-hundred-year-old buildings beside towering skyscrapers. Inhaling slowly through his nose, his senses were flooded by the scents of dust, spices, gas fumes, and sweaty humanity. It should have been a nauseating mix, but somehow this place made it work. Suddenly, Sawyer found himself wishing he had time to sightsee with Harley, like they’d done in Paris. He got the feeling she’d find this city fascinating.
Sawyer pulled his duster a little tighter around him as a man walked past, instinct urging him to make sure his tactical vest and weapons were completely covered. Fortunately, it hadn’t been especially hot today, and now that the sun had gone down and the ocean breeze was sweeping ashore, it had cooled drastically. His long coat didn’t garner a second look even with the excessive amounts of gear he had strapped to his body. Going into this raid with all of it might have been a little overkill for a normal MI6 mission, but after the debacle in Paris, he wasn’t taking chances. If they were walking into a shootout with supernaturals, he was going to be ready.
As he got closer to the building, familiar scents reached his nose. Harley’s was the most obvious, but he could pick up Erin’s as well. Rory and Elliott were somewhere nearby, too. It felt good knowing his team was out there. That they stuck with him.
Outside the office they were using as an operations center, his teammates had caught up to him before he’d made it halfway to the line of rental vehicles on the far side of the parking lot. They’d told him there was no way in hell they were letting him walk into a dangerous situation on his own. They weren’t thrilled to be working with werewolves, but they’d put up with it for him.
It wasn’t the ringing endorsement he’d hoped for and he doubted they’d be nearly as willing if they knew he was a werewolf, but it was enough for now. He only prayed they got more comfortable with fangs and claws soon because he couldn’t imagine making it through this situation without his secret slipping out.
Sawyer slowed a block from the building the guy with the long hair had disappeared into earlier that day, making a production of checking his cell for a message.
“I’m in position,” he murmured into his throat mic as he glanced around, looking for anything that might make him think the traffickers were aware of his presence. “We’re all clear here.”
“Copy that.” Jake’s voice came back slow and steady. “Stand by until everyone else is ready to move.”
While he waited, Sawyer played with his phone like he was sending a text. But really, he was mentally shuffling through the floor plans of the building the STAT support team had come up with. It turned out the shop Long Hair had gone into was an entry point to a complex rabbit warren of interconnected rooms, tunnels, and storage spaces. While there’d only been one sublevel shown on the city drawings, the analysts were quick to point out there could be more that no one had ever bothered adding to the drawings.
The satellite footage they’d gotten hadn’t made him feel any better. There weren’t any images of the bad guys dragging their captives off any of the numerous ships that had docked recently or leading them through back alleys. In fact, there’d been nothing interesting to see around this particular part of the city.