Alpha Squad: Boot Camp

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Since parting with Felicity, Adam did his best to keep his head down and follow orders. After getting back to the camp, he and Eric joined forces and questioned any bear shifters they could find. It wasn't easy. A large part of the camp's residents had come here from France and not all of them could speak English. Neither Adam nor Eric had sufficient French skills to be able to hold a meaningful conversation with these people.

So their questioning had mostly consisted of broken English and hand gestures. And one name. Felicity.

A lot of the residents mentioned her, mostly in passing, some extensively. It was obvious that she was a strong and well liked presence in the park. Adam did his best to ignore the skeptical looks Eric kept giving him.

By the time Alpha Squad reached the medical examiner's office, Adam felt like a whole day had passed, not just two hours or so. He was severely distracted and could not stop thinking about his short conversation with Felicity. In fact, he was so distracted that he didn’t have time to worry about seeing the dead body up close and personal. An oversight that hit him as soon as the medical examiner opened the body bag.

Instantly, Adam and the rest of the team were hit by a wall of stench.

So this was what death smelled like.

The sights and smells in front of him turned Adam's stomach. He tried his best to keep his breakfast down. A quick glance around the room suggested that his team mates did not appreciate the experience either. Eric and Blackwood looked more nauseous than the humans in the room. Obviously; shifter senses were much more developed.

"So as you can see, the victim, a male, in his mid-forties, was attacked viciously with a sharp, claw-like object…" The medical examiner scanned the room before proceeding. "The wounds could also suggest an attack by a large predatory animal. Defensive markings on the hands and forearms are consistent with scratch marks. Cause of death: blood loss."

Adam could not bring himself to look more closely at the body. Luckily, Bentley stepped up and partially blocked his view. "A large predatory animal, like say, a bear?" Bentley asked.

The medical examiner hesitated before continuing in a sarcastic tone. "Possibly. We don't get a lot of bear attacks here in Kent, so I don't have any previous experience…"

"I don't smell any bear," Blackwood remarked, but was quickly silenced by the disapproving looks his comment had earned him from the others in the room.

Eric cleared his throat. "Was there any evidence which could have been left behind by the attacker, any DNA?"

The medical examiner shook his head. "No, the killer was careful."

Adam frowned. The only way a shifter attack could turn out this way was if the attacker had been fully transformed. For there not to be any evidence—not even a stray bit of fur or a chipped claw—was extremely suspicious. Adam, who previously had never done much hunting, had learned as much during boot camp when all three shifters had gone into the wild together.

"I hope you don't mind if we take some pictures? Just for our records," Eric asked.

The medical examiner shrugged and stepped aside. Meanwhile, Cooper volunteered to take the pictures as the rest of them stood by and watched in silence.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief when it was all done with and the medical examiner zipped the body bag up again.

Back at the police station, the team found that yesterday's welcome committee had turned up once again, albeit in smaller numbers.

This time they had less trouble getting inside. Everyone knew exactly who they were.

Of course, that did not mean they were welcomed with open arms, far from it.

Suspicious looks and muted whispers all around as the team found themselves waiting in the center of the incident room again, while Major Williams had a word with the chief inspector. It took a few minutes before the whole squad was ushered into another room, which was to be their temporary workspace here in Sevenoaks.

It was obvious that the room they had been given was not up for the job. Cramped was an understatement. Old file boxes and unused furniture cluttered the space. There was hardly enough room for all seven of them to sit and work; being able to move around freely inside the room was out of the question.

"Well. It is what it is," Major Williams said once she had shut the door behind them. "I'll have Callahan speak to the people at the inn to figure out if we can get some space over there. But for now, I would like everyone to report on their findings from the shifter camp."

Eric stepped up first and presented the information he had gathered with Adam. Bentley reported on the conversation Major Williams had had with the camp management.

Finally, Blackwood spoke about his inquiries among the camp's wolf population.

The longer Adam listened, the more obvious it became that a dangerous trend had developed in everyone's reports. Felicity's name was mentioned by every single one of them.

She was so active in the camp that everyone had latched onto her as a person of interest.

"We need to find this Felicity Weir person," Major Williams concluded. "I would love to ask her a few questions."

Adam pressed his lips together and avoided Eric's intense stare. It didn't take more than a split second for the major's eyes to be fixed on Adam as well. Indeed. No secrets.

"What do we actually know about her?" Adam asked aloud. "She's a local bear shifter who helps around the camp."

"A female bear shifter. Like the one you lot sniffed out in the woods?" Bentley said. Of course the old SAS man had connected the dots.

"She was in the woods," Adam agreed.

"And you would know this, how?" Bentley asked.

"Uh…"

Adam needed to think of something quick if he didn't want this whole sordid affair to come crashing down on his head. Bentley was unpleasant enough when he didn't think he was being misled or lied to.

"And the medical examiner said the victim died of an apparent animal attack,” Bentley remarked.

"He also said he had never seen a bear attack victim before, so how would he know for sure?" Blackwood chimed in.

Bentley scoffed.

"Guys!" Major William raised her hand. "We are dealing with enough animosity from the locals. I will not tolerate any dissent within our own ranks. Let's keep an open mind."

Her eyes rested on Adam. "A word in private, Mr. King?"

Adam felt his heart rate increase. As soon as Eric had found out about his encounter with Felicity, this was the logical consequence. He had disobeyed a direct order.

"Yes, ma'am."

She gestured at him to follow her outside into the hallway. Luckily the local police were not using this part of the station too much, and the hallway was empty as a result.

"Speak," Major Williams said.

She knows everything, Adam told himself. There's no point in trying to deny any of it.

"I mean no disrespect, but I know about you and my brother," Adam started.

The look he received in response would have had lesser men quivering in their boots.

"The connection, between a shifter and his mate… It's not something that can be fought," Adam said. Was he waffling? He probably was.

"Your point being?"

She was getting impatient. This was not good.

"I am keen to make our first mission a success, and I'm determined to follow all lines of inquiry," Adam said. "Though I feel we might be barking up the wrong tree trying to pin this on Felicity—Ms. Weir."

"If she has nothing to do with it, then our investigation will uncover as much. But as you say, we have to run down all leads. The evidence points to her as a person of interest; at the very least, she might be an important witness. And her connections in the camp make her the ideal person to talk to with regards to any threats within the refugee community."

Adam could hardly argue with that logic. "Yes, of course. We must speak to her," he grudgingly agreed.

"As a team. Not you on your own," Major Williams insisted.

"Yes, ma'am. As a team."

"Very good. Carry on, soldier." She turned on her heel and went back inside the room where the rest of the team waited.

Adam stayed outside for a minute and tried to regain his composure. No matter how good his intentions, he would not be able to shield Felicity from Alpha Squad's investigation. And if the local police got wind of them looking at her, they would want to get in on it as well. Looking at the mood in the station, as well as the angry protesters outside, there was little hope of them being open minded and leaving their prejudices aside when speaking to her. They would be quick to point fingers, just like Bentley had done.

When Adam finally went back into the room, he found his brother staring at him already. This no secrets business was quite difficult to deal with. After living a largely independent life, Adam had never appreciated family or any authority figure looking at his choices with so much scrutiny. Alpha Squad training might be over, but he still had a lot to get used to.

"Guys, check this out," Cooper spoke up, much to everyone's surprise. The younger and least experienced human on the team had had little to contribute to the investigation so far.

Adam, as well as the rest of the team, gathered around Cooper, who held up his phone.

He pressed play on a video.

"Rachel Kinsey reporting for Sky News, here with an exclusive from Sevenoaks, Kent, where a recent string of violent attacks has left a number of livestock and three people dead so far. Protesters are gathering around the town center to voice their dissent over the government's decision of situating a shifter refugee camp here just on the outskirts of the city…"

So far, old news.

But then the camera panned off to the right, where a middle aged man stood on a small podium in front of the local supermarket they had passed by this morning on the way to the camp.

"Welcome, fellow men and women. I am Victor Domnall, and I'm here to tell you—you are not alone in your struggle."

"Oh, s**t," Blackwood blurted out.

Adam's entire body tensed up at the sight of the man. Although his organization, the Sons of Domnall, had been the shifters' mortal enemy for many generations, their illustrious leader had only popped up in the spotlight shortly after Eric and the rest of the New Alliance had orchestrated the exposure of shifterkind in the media earlier in the year.

A classic opportunist.

Now that the human population knew about shifters, he was trying to cash in on any fear and prejudice that lingered. It was no real surprise that he'd turned up here in Sevenoaks to make the most of the crime spree they had come in to investigate.

Still, that didn't pacify Adam much. Wherever Victor Domnall went, the national and sometimes international media followed. His presence here meant much more public scrutiny. The pressure was on. The local police would be in a rush to find the killer.

And if Adam had learned anything from every crime drama or TV series he'd ever watched: public pressure rarely resulted in the right decisions being made.

Alpha Squad only had one person of interest so far, Felicity.

Although Major Williams had done her best to remind him of his responsibilities to the squad, he knew that if he was made to choose, his loyalties would lie firmly with Felicity.