Between the Were Wars Ch. 03

If it's getting harder to face every day,
Don't let it show, don't let it show.
Though it's getting harder to take what they say,
Just let it go, just let it go...

And if it hurts when they mention my name,
Say you don't know me...
And if it helps when they say I'm to blame,
Say you don't owe me...

Even if it's taking the easy way out,
Keep it inside of you.
Don't give in.
Don't tell them anything.
Don't let it,
Don't let it show.
-Alan Parsons Project, "Don't Let It Show"

Five in the morning, and the entire Pack was assembled out in front of the main house as they waited for the FBI team to arrive. "We WILL cooperate," thundered Robert. "Do not resist and do not say anything. Use the pack bond for any communications while they are here." He shifted his voice, turning to the Alpha command. "NO ONE will provide any information or answer any questions other than their name and age without clearing it with an Alpha first. If you are arrested, we work through the human system. Keep quiet and wait for our lawyer. Understood?"

There was a chorus of "Yes Alpha!"

He then pulled Linda to the side. "Linda, I know this will be tough, but I need you to be strong for me. Call your station, let them know the FBI is arresting you and you don't know why. We need some public pressure, if this is related to Enrique we have to keep them from keeping the whole thing quiet in the name of national security. Have them send a cameraman to our Pack border to get video of them taking you out."

"I understand. I just hope I can handle this."

"You are stronger than you think, Linda. Make sure they understand you are pregnant, I will make sure you get medical care in the meantime. We will arrange a lawyer soon and get you bailed out. Be confident and defiant, even when you don't think you are." He gave her a hug as the cars approached, she was holding on to Andy's hand with a death grip. The line of black SUV's and Sherriff's Department cars rolled into the parking lot and dozens of agents poured out. Most headed for the Pack house, while the rest surrounded the Pack. Their leader, a man in his fifties with short gray hair, strode confidently to where Robert was standing in front of his people.

"Special Agent in Charge Henry Warren, FBI. I have a warrant for a search of the premises." He handed the paper to Robert and he glanced through it. They could take papers, computers, or evidence related to [redacted]. It was a National Security warrant under the Homeland Security Act.

"Alpha Robert Hastings. Why is the search warrant redacted?"

"National security, I can't stay. You need to stay out of our way and let us work, or we'll arrest you for obstruction. Are all Pack members here?"

"Yes, with a few exceptions. We have sentries stationed at each road entering the territory, there are six of them. I also have a nurse and a patient in the pack hospital." Agent Warren walked off then motioned to an agent to come over. "Have our men pick up the sentries and bring them here. Send a team to bring the patient from the hospital out as well." He ran off and grabbed some men.

"AGENT WARREN, that patient is on full bedrest, she CANNOT be moved."

"I need everyone here, that means everyone. I have medics along, they will ensure nothing happens." His orders were clear, he was to get what they needed and fast. His personal beliefs were that these wolves had been coddled too much since the war. He just didn't trust them, and he wasn't going to have any loose ones about. They were too dangerous. It was time that they learned their place. The men had been briefed and equipped on what to do in order to take down a Werewolf; their guns were loaded with wolfsbane tipped silver bullets, and each carried an autoinjector with a heavy dose of sedative. They had been issued special stun guns for non-lethal force, which had been optimized for use against them. Finally, each member of his team involved with security was wearing full body armor. No one wanted to be scratched if things got rough.

Wendy was standing at the bedside checking the monitors when she heard the men rushing in. She stood aside until one of them went to disconnect the machines from the sleeping Renee. "Don't do that, she is under observation."

The man didn't even look at her, another agent brought a wheelchair in and the machines started to alarm as they were disconnected. Renee woke up when they grabbed her arm, she didn't understand what was going on as she had slept through the morning excitement. Pulling back her arm, she punched the agent in the throat and all hell broke loose.

The four agents moved to immobilize her, leaving Wendy alone. She immediately shifted to protect her Alpha, and let out a blood-curdling howl that drew attention to her. One of the agents drew his sidearm as she approached. She knew enough to stop, leaving them in a standoff. Meanwhile, Renee stopped struggling as she felt a pain in her stomach again.

The fear and pain from his mate over the bond sent Robert over the edge. With a furious growl he tossed away the agents on each side like they weighed nothing, then he shifted and ran for the hospital. He didn't make it. Three agents got their stun guns on him, freezing his muscles and causing him to collapse to the ground in agony. He was quickly muzzled and bound as the rest of the pack looked on, their last order had been to cooperate, but they were itching for battle.

"ENOUGH!" Agent Warren roared over the radios. "Report in."

"Sir, we have a situation here. We have one wolf threatening us and one in human form in bed who resisted."

"OK, I don't know who you are down there, but we don't want to fight you. Shift back to human form and let us do our jobs so no one gets hurt." Renee looked at Wendy across the room and told her to shift back. She then linked with Robert to calm him down, but he didn't respond as the Taser jolts had left him unconscious. Expanding it to the Pack bond, she directed everyone to sit and cooperate.

Wendy was quickly handcuffed and taken from the room, while the other three surrounded Renee. "Get your supervisor in here," she said. Her command voice was unmistakable, and it wasn't long before Agent in Charge Warren was standing in front of them. "My nurse informed your people that I could not be moved, and yet they tried to. Any reason why you would try to move a woman on medically ordered bedrest out of her room when she has twins at risk?"

Henry pinched the bridge of his nose, this had gone from bad to worse. If he had known the patient was none other than Renee Hastings, he would have proceeded differently. No wonder Robert lost his shit back there. He looked at his men and motioned for them to leave. "My apologies, Alpha Hastings. We know you were not involved in what we are investigating as you were kidnapped during that time. We will leave you here, and I will send the Doctor in immediately." He was already calculating how to survive the shit storm that was coming.

"Not good enough. Release my nurse and get her back here. She was only trying to protect me, and she did nothing except growl at them. She saved you a ton of trouble, if I lose my babies because of your high handed tactics there will be hell to pay." She didn't even have to sit up to turn him white as a sheet, and she was trying not to move so as not to do any more damage.

"I'll take care of that right now." He left and a few moments later Wendy returned, a little shaken up but all right. She went right back to work, getting the monitors hooked up again and checking to make sure the babies were not under distress. Her husband walked in a few moments later and completed an exam, pronouncing her to be all right and reinforcing the direction to remain in bed and keep her blood pressure down.

He was just about done when there was a commotion in the hallway. Doc stepped out to see an FBI agent strapped to a gurney and being held down by four men. Agent-in-Charge Warren gestured to him. "Forced turn, we don't have time to get her to the hospital. I need your help."

"Any treatment so far?"

"We hit her with a high dose of sedative, but as you can see it hasn't taken her down yet." An agent showed him the packaging for the autoinjector, the dosage was enough. Going to a cabinet, he pulled out leather restraints and passed them out. Working together, they had her immobilized with a mouth guard in place a few minutes later. He went to a drawer and pulled out some heavy duty shears. "I need to cut away the body armor and clothing to treat her. Everyone out."

"Sorry, Doc, I can't leave my agent alone."

"Then send in a female agent." He nodded and left, soon to be replaced by a young woman in a gray pantsuit and badge who introduced herself as Tammy Rogers. Terry was still working on the body armor, so he linked Wendy to come in. "What is the patient's name?"

"Melody Olsen. Is she going to be all right?"

"We'll see. Right now the most important thing is to calm her down and help her through the change. The more she fights it the worse it will be. Are you two friends?" She nodded. "Good, then get up there by her head and talk to her. She can hear you, even if she doesn't respond." It took a few more minutes to get all the gear off her, and by that time the sedative had taken over so she stopped struggling. There was no ring on her finger. "Is there a significant other?" The agent shook her head no. "Does she have any friends or family? It would help when she comes out of it for there to be someone she trusts with her."

"No... not that I know of. I'm probably as close to her as anyone and I barely know her. She keeps to herself away from work." Melody ran her fingers through the hair of her friend, watching her chest rise and fall. She could feel the heat coming from her as the change swept through her system. Wendy handed her a bowl of ice water and a washcloth, and she started wiping her face and shoulders down with it. "Stay with us, Melody, it's going to be all right."

DEA Office

Albuquerque, NM

Agent-in-Charge Kim Corrigan looked at the number in her hand. It was time to earn money from her new bosses. Using the burner cellphone she was given, she dialed the number and waited for them to pick up. "There was a raid this morning on the Gila pack. It's not out of the DEA side, the FBI is running this along with Homeland Security. Even the search warrant is out of a classified courtroom. There are four arrest warrants, three John Does and one for Linda Remington."

There was a pause. "Call us when you have more. We need to know who is arrested and why. There may be a drug tie, use that to get in. Don't fail us."

Gila Pack House

New Mexico

The prisoner transport van was starting to fill up. In addition to Linda Remington, they had arrested Andy, Anna, Caleb, and Maria after their fingerprints matched the warrants. Maria was trembling, she was not far recovered yet and being shackled and chained in a closed van was not helping her. The door opened once more, this time a shackled Robert Hastings was hauled in and attached to tie points on the bench. The others looked at him in shock before Andy spoke up. "Alpha, why are you here?"

"I've been placed under arrest for assault of a Federal agent and causing a forced turn." They looked at him in shock, the latter could carry a death sentence. He stared back at them. "This doesn't change a thing. Keep your mouths shut, bide the time and the Pack will get you out. We need to stick together on this, and help each other out." He was looking at Maria as he said that, and they all knew what he meant. This was going to be tough. She leaned into Caleb, drawing strength from their bond as she fought to keep her breathing under control.

The raid was coming to an end. Agents had removed every computer they could find, along with accounting files and bank records. They had also taken every weapon and explosive in the Pack armory; this could be a problem, as some of them were not legal for civilian use. They would have to bring BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) in to figure it all out. All in all, thought Agent Warren, they had found enough to provide him cover. There were enough charges available to justify their tactics now without having to rely on the secret portions of the warrant, and they could certainly paint them as a threat. If Agent Olsen hadn't been injured, it would have been worth celebrating. Instead, he was leaving another agent and a medic to watch over her. She was probably gone for good. The FBI wasn't going to be keen on leaving a Werewolf as an active agent.

Terry came out and asked to speak to Agent Warren. After updating him on Agent Olsen's condition, he had one more request. "Sir, one of the pack members you are taking has suffered severe emotional trauma. Maria spent years locked up in a basement cell and subject to horrific abuse. If you don't handle her with care, you could permanently damage her, even push her to commit suicide."

Henry shook his head. "She's a prisoner, she gets the same treatment everyone else does."

Doc shook his head. "You have no idea how unstable she is or what jail could do to her. If you don't believe me, talk to the DEA. The Albuquerque field office raided the house where she was kept. The can confirm what happened.

"I'll do that, but no promises. I'm in the arresting business, not the jailing business." Walking away, he surveyed his agents who were standing by their vehicles. "MOVE OUT." The agents jumped into their vehicles and the caravan moved off. The Pack members started to move around again, watching as their Alpha and other Pack members were hauled away. A howl started in the back, quickly picked up by the others until they sang as one. Robert thanked them over the pack link, reminding them to be strong. He listened to the howls until they faded in the distance, then he sat back for the long ride.

Rick, the senior Gila Pack Beta left, went immediately to the hospital to get orders from his Alpha. It was short and sweet. Renee looked over at him, he could see the pain in her face from the removal of her mate. "Put the Pack to work cleaning up from the raid, and make sure we get a good meal going to call people down. As soon as you have given the orders, call our allies. We can't trust the phones, so talk only to the Alphas."

"Of course, Alpha. The message?"

"Send lawyers, guns and money. The shit has hit the fan."

DEA Office

Albuquerque, NM

Kim Corrigan paced her office, she didn't like it when other agencies were in her area and she wasn't briefed. When her phone rang, she ran and picked it up. "Agent in Charge Corrigan, DEA."

"Hi Kim, this is Henry with the FBI offices in Dallas. We just raided the Gila pack, and I need some information confirmed."

Kim smiled, she had met Henry several times on regional task forces and he would play ball with her. "Sure, Henry, what can I help with?"

"Well, one of the people arrested was Maria Gomez. The Pack doctor claimed she was mentally unstable due to abuse and said you would be able to confirm it."

Kim laughed. "It wasn't abuse. She was the Cartel leader's girlfriend. She made all that up so she wouldn't get arrested when we took down the safe house. She is a dangerous little bitch, though. I'd keep her in solitary, and keep her shackled. She's a good actress, she'll fake symptoms to get someone close enough and then you'll have another forced turn on your hands."

Henry gritted his teeth, he hated being played. "All right then, I'll pass that along. Anything new on your end?"

"We've been investigating the Gila pack for a few days now. The previous Agent in Charge was killed by a car bomb, you know. What we didn't tell the public was that his last visit was to visit Alpha Robert Hastings on Pack lands. We've confirmed he was there, but not why. I'd like to have access to the evidence you've seized and to be able to interrogate your prisoners about this."

"You'll have to get in line, especially for Alpha Hastings. He's in a world of shit, he shifted and forced turned one of my agents during the raid. The Federal prosecutor is out for blood, he's already told me he will seek the death penalty."

"Can I and a couple of my investigators join your team, make it an inter-agency task force? I know they are involved with the Cartels, but I don't know to what extent yet."

"I'll bring it up with my bosses. Meanwhile, we are taking them to Dallas for questioning. I'll have some information to you today."

"Thanks Henry, I'm looking forward to working with your team again. Say hi to Vicki for me."

"I will, thanks." The line went dead. A few minutes later she had the files on the six werewolves arrested and the charge sheets. It was time to take a walk. She slipped the burner phone into her jacket pocket and headed out to the parking garage.

El Paso Pack House

Texas

Alpha Merino was getting dressed, his wife still sleeping, when there was a knock on his door. "Alpha, it's Joe. I need to talk to you."

"Meet me down in the dining hall, I'll be along in a few minutes." While dressing, he linked with the Betas he had watching Joe and his torture of the captured Beta. He was shocked to find out the man was still alive, and that Joe had been calm and professional the entire night. One was going to get the doctor to patch him up while the other watched him. It was a good sign that he was maintaining his sanity, but in some ways it would be better if he had released his fury.

When he arrived at the dining hall, he found Joe calmly talking with other pack members. Grabbing his breakfast, he joined them. "So, how is our guest doing?"

"He's alive and he wants a deal." Joe looked him in the eyes and continued. "He wants to live, and he's willing to tell us what he knows but he is under Alpha command not to and he can't get past that." That would be the case for any Pack wolf. "I'm willing to let him live; he was involved but he wasn't the one who actually killed her. He told me what he did and I believe him. Killing him won't satisfy me. I want the guy who shot her, and I want the guys up the line who gave the orders." He paused and looked around at his pack mates, most of whom were shocked the guy still lived. He raised his voice a little. "This guy just did as he was told to do, he has suffered enough."

"So what do you need from me, Joe?"

"I need you to make him a member of our Pack." It wasn't just the Alpha, it was a number of others in the dining hall who were shocked by this request. "By making him a member, it breaks the previous Alpha command. It also makes it so you can Alpha command him if you feel he isn't cooperating." He could tell he was wrestling with it. "He can't go back to his old pack, they already tried to kill him when he was captured and they will know he talked. He is asking to be allowed to go rogue after he has answered all our questions."

Alpha Merino was sitting back thinking when his Beta linked him. "Alpha, we need you and Joe down here in medical immediately. Doc has found her mate."

Tahoe Pack Alpha Office

Lake Tahoe, NV

Alpha Diggs was sitting back in the chair in his office, a smile on his face and a young woman between his legs. He smirked, she was just another pack slut looking to work her way up the chain, but at least she could suck a dick with some competence. He was looking forward to the release so he could tell her to leave. The men had work to do.

His phone rang, and he had told his assistant to hold all calls. Angrily, he answered. "This better be good."

"Yes sir, you need to take this one." Her voice left and he heard the click as he was connected. "Alpha Diggs, who is this?"

"I have information on the Gila pack. The FBI raided their land this morning. They confiscated all their records and computers, and arrested a half dozen people. One of them was Alpha Robert Hastings. He's facing the death penalty for causing a forced turn of a Federal agent."