Pushing Boundaries Ch. 03

"Good work MacFarlane," Riley had said.

"Yeah, I should have been a cop. At least I wouldn't have to worry about my moral compass."

"Loosen up newbie. How old are you huh? Ten? Nobody's moral compass points directly north and then there's the problem of relativity –north of what centre?"

"Don't go all Aristotle on me. I still have to chew your hide later."

"Whatever for?"

"For kissing Marine."

Riley let out a laugh as they stepped into the elevator of the thirty floor building. "Let me guess, she told you?"

"She gives it away too easily. Blushes every time I look at her and has that guilty look on her face whenever I stare too hard. Wish all criminals were like that. It'd make working in the legal system such a breeze."

Riley didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if he ought to comment for part of him would have gone beyond words to throttle the little wolf walking beside him for insinuating that Marine was a criminal. She was such a sweet little... -No they came here to work. He'd have to put Marine aside for now.

When they reached the twenty-seventh storey, the two men stepped out of the elevator and were immediately greeted by a slim brunette dressed in a black suit. She led them straight through a door and into the private waiting room of the CEO of the firm.

"Mr. C. will see you in a while," she told them before leaving.

"Sounds enigmatic," said Alex resentfully.

"Behave," was all Riley managed to say before the door on the other side opened and a tall, powerful looking man greeted them.

"Do come in. I understand you have a few questions."

"Yes Mr. C." said Riley politely. "It seems we have some issues we need to clear before we proceed."

"Please, call me Caden. And you are Riley and this is..."

"Alex, I'm his understudy for this case."

"Alex. Good. So what are these issues?" asked Caden, turning to face Riley.

"It seems Sir that your financial accounts can be traced... though of course legally there are no footprints but even the most careful trails can be tracked."

Alex thought he saw something like anger flash across Caden's face but just for a second. It would seem that he was upset about what Riley had said about the finances but Alex had a hunch that it wasn't. Nevertheless, he chose to dismiss it.

"I won't deny that we created these bogus projects and as my lawyer, you are supposed to counsel me as to what are the best steps to take to ensure that I won't get the rap for this."

Alex didn't want to say anything but instead watched as Riley went over every single detail of the fake financial accounts, suggesting that Caden dissolve them to avoid future fraud cases. Alex was thinking that Riley had a backbone after all when he suddenly launched into possible scapegoats to take the heat of the trial. Almost immediately, Caden leaped up at him saying that as the CEO he is not responsible for the finances of his company blah blah blah.

Alex was sure that was rehearsed and Riley was merely practicing the speech with the man. Good god. Clearing his throat, Alex decided it was time he spoke up. The two men had been ignoring him for the past half an hour or so.

"Mr. C., I would like to talk to you about this investment account you set up over the Lake Tahoe region. I double-checked the trails and saw that you made extensive care not to have any prints left behind but I still managed to find the location of this 'investment' of yours."

Caden actually stopped and turned to look at Alex, clearly impressed.

"It's a legit investment my boy and I don't see why you're questioning it."

"I have to Sir because your company and by proxy, you, declared it a form of profit. However, investments don't break even until at least two or three years."

This time Caden smiled and held Alex's gaze for a long time before he spoke. "Did you know that there are wolves in Lake Tahoe, Alex?" he said slowly, waiting for Alex to catch the bait but Alex was too smart for that.

"And how is that connected to an oil company?" he replied coldly.

"Ah this is an excellent practice for the trial. He'd make a good prosecutor won't he Riley?" said Caden in a mocking tone. Riley remained stoned face and gave him a jaded look. "So my boy, see here. There is intel that there might be oil underneath all that rocky terrain but being the socially responsible company that we are, I have put aside funds to set up some sort of site to house these... wolves. I don't want any of them to be killed by accident during our dig. Surely you'd understand how precious these endangered animals are?"

Alex tried not to react and instead gave an impassive face. No one knew what he was except Marine and his family... surely she didn't tell Riley? No, she wouldn't. Loyalty was to your family first.

"Then why not put it under the company's legitimate expenditure? Why go around the bush to try and hide it if there's nothing to hide?"

Caden broke out in laughter. "Those animal rights activists... they'd have our head for sure if they knew we're trying to restrict these wild animals' rights. They'd turn violent and sabotage the project for sure. I can't have that."

Okay, the man had a point, thought Alex but it still sounded suspicious to him. However, Riley seemed to agree with Caden and decided to round up the meeting with a few more points before taking their leave.

Alex walked sourly behind Riley but as they were leaving, he caught the familiar whiff of metallic blood that signaled the presence of a Vampire. Surely not! When he turned around, there was no one in the room; Caden probably had exited by another door.

Maybe he was just imagining things.

***

The moment they exited the building and hopped into Riley's car, Alex announced, "I want to go up to the Lake. I want to see this... shelter."

"Why?"

Alex kept mum for a second. Heneededto know if those wolves up there were one ofhiskind. If they were, they'd have their own Alpha and they needed to know about this shady business going on. Tahoe could be their home and Alex was too loyal to his own kind to not give them a heads up.

"I want to see if there really is a shelter. The man's lying through his teeth."

"No." Riley started the car and began driving towards the highway heading back to L.A.

Fine then. He was going after work –even if he has to drive god knows how many hours to reach there.

"Alex, we are not cops. Our duty is to defend our clients. Not everybody gets to defend the good guys. Some of us? We learn to take the shit of society. So if you can't handle that, then this job is clearly not for you."

"Fuck you Riley!"

Riley didn't even bat an eye. After ten minutes of no response, Alex leaned back in his seat, clearly frustrated. Only then did Riley speak.

"Okay, we'll take a look. But it's not going to change a thing."

No, Riley was wrong. It would change a lot of things if those wolves out there were really Werewolves.

***

"Right, this seems to be the place," said Riley about three hours later. They hadn't really seen any shelters yet but Alex had seen enough of the natural landscape to know that wolves would love to live here. He could see himself weaving through the tree trunks or rolling in the snow during winter...

Lake Tahoe reminded him of home.

"I'm guessing that whatever plans for the shelter if it even exists would be in the state park," said Riley looking at the map on his android. Leaning over, Alex squinted at some of the words and clicked on the western side of the lake to enlarge the view.

"No, I think it'd be somewhere here. Higher elevation means more predatory animals. Bird's eye view you know? And it has to be away from any human settlement so it must be somewhere here," said Alex, circling around the snowy areas on the map. It was approaching May but there might still be snow if they're lucky.

"I didn't know you're an animal lover," Riley commented dryly.

"Lot's of things you don't know mate."

Riley stiffened slightly at the word 'mate' although he knew perfectly well Alex wasn't referring tothatkind of mate but still...

They drove on for about half an hour when Alex decided it was time to put his nose to much better use. This place was nature at its best and Alex was a born tracker. He'd track down another pack mate within minutes. Lowering down his window, he made a pretense of taking in a deep breath and immediately picked up faint traces of wolf scent –except that they're not all wolves. His nose twitched a little as though confused at the scents but he conveyed his 'gut feeling' directions to Riley.

Eventually they made it to a small makeshift shelter and parked the car outside the gates. Alex was frowning. His client was pouring money into this place and it looked like a shack? And... there were wolves and dogs caged up! Just who the hell was in charge?

Anger consumed him and he pushed the gates open, marching up towards the front door of the shelter.

"Alex, wait!" called Riley but Alex was too deaf from his own fury to hear him. He covered the distance between the gate and the door in less than five steps and literally kicked it open to reveal two women bent over a wolf with syringes in their hands.

"Get your filthy hands away from that animal you bastards!" he shouted, storming up to push them away from the animal.

"Just what the fu... Alex?" said one of the women who tried to fight him off.

"Alex!" Riley had caught up and was pulling Alex away with guilt written all over his face. "I'm so sorry ladies. He's really emotional about animal rights..."

"You're killing him you bastards!" Alex shouted, kicking against the ground in agony.

"Shut the fuck up or I swear Alex... I swear I will pump you so full of tranquilizer your dick's going to fall off."

Riley frowned and stared at the woman who just dressed his colleague down. "You know him?"

"Unfortunately. Could you please just get him out of here?" she ordered before hesitating a little bit. "No wait. He'll just scare the others. Just settle him on the chair over there and get him to relax –I don't give a damn how but just get him to shut up."

"Yes Ma'am," grinned Riley, moving Alex away from the women. "I'm Riley by the way."

"Sure," she replied, turning on her heel and ignoring his invitation for an introduction.

"Okay..." he whistled instead and tried to settle Alex onto the seat. Alex was looking like he was in a state of shock; his body unresponsive and his pupils dilated.

"Damn it Alex... you snap out of this right now!" he shook Alex by the shoulders, looking straight into his eyes. Alex was just staring into space, almost in a daze.

"He's in a state of shock," the woman said from a distance before coming over towards them. "Just let him rest for a minute."

"So... this is a shelter for...?" prompted Riley.

"We found injured wolves and wolfdogs left abandoned; some were seriously starved and others needed serious medical care. Rina here called me to help out. I'm what you call them... consultant."

"British right?"

"I'm the best, that's why she called me."

"Evading the question," he mused. "Let me get this straight... if you're the best, then how is she going to afford to pay for your consultation fees when this place doesn't even look like it's worth five bucks?"

"Oh no, she's not paying for it..."

"Key..." warned Rina.

"I'm going to find out who's responsible for hurting those animals out there and then I'm going to sue their sorry asses. And then, I'm going to win," she said with a smile. "And Rina here has no debt to pay."

"You'd make a good lawyer, Miss...?"

"It's Doctor and I share my last name with him," she said, angling her head in Alex's direction. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I have lives to save," she turned haughtily and walked out the front door with Rina following after her.

Riley's mouth twisted in a wry smile as he looked at Alex. "Geez little guy, you sure have interesting women in your family."

***

"Madam, it has been confirmed that the rejects have been discovered and being salvaged."

"They're just animals. Get down there and get rid of them."

"Madam, we have to have a proper system of disposal."

"No! Just which part do you not understand? I don't give a damn!"

One of the men in the room cleared his throat slightly and spoke up. "Now, there's no need to get angry. The sooner we get the bait, the sooner we can release all the other untested specimens. That way, we won't attract too much attention."

The messenger gulped, flicking a grateful look at the man who had just spoken.

"Madam, the rejects have already attracted attention from some animal rights advocates..."

"Then terminate those advocates. I'll authorize the vanguards."

"No Madam... I cannot do that."

"I do not tolerate insolence. Terminate them now!" she bellowed.

"There is no 'them' Madam. It is a 'she' and our particular subject of enquiry."

Silence ensued in the room.

Then everyone broke out in rushed movements; shouting orders and literally running out of the conference room.

***