Page 22 of Blood Brother Cursed

Hours passed as she got lost in her research. Sometime after midnight, Astrid felt a little stiff. Sitting up, she pushed her shoulders back, enjoying the stretch in her spine. She let out a little groan, then decided to stand up.

Even though she had only just started her research, the cat shifter felt certain that there were many pieces of the puzzle on the base. She had always known that was the case, but with some of the information she had found, Astrid felt she was starting to get an idea of what kind of information she needed.

Once on her feet, she started to pace. Pacing turned into going outside for air. And being outside in the stillness of night, her attention was drawn in the direction of the base.

It’s a Sunday night. I’ll bet that there aren’t that many people on base, and given the time, they are probably not particularly alert. If I can just sneak on the base and find a few files on my brother, I’ll probably be able to make a lot more progress.

Even as she was convincing herself to go, Astrid knew that running off to the base was a bad idea. There was a lot of reconnaissance that needed to be done, and she had a decent plan for how to start infiltrating the place. However, it had been two decades, and now she was so close to learning more.

First, she locked the house, telling herself that she was just going for a walk. Soon, she was jogging down the road. When she reached the woods, Astrid shifted and bolted in the direction of the base. It was several miles away, but in her heightened emotional state, she didn’t notice as she kept a comfortable pace.

Eventually, she encountered some wire with some warning signs. Knowing it was better to stay in her current form, Astrid began looking at the trees. There were plenty of them on her side of the fence, but the other side seemed to be largely tree-free. She started trotting down the fence looking for ways onto the base. It could be through the trees or a hole under the fence – either one was fine by her. Although she definitely preferred to go over the fence than under it.

Eventually, she found a place with some sickly looking trees on the opposite side. Climbing up the tree closest to thin trees, Astrid wiggled her speckled body as she prepared to launch herself across the open air. Her muscles bunched, and she focused on the closest tree.

Finally, she darted forward, her paws shaking the branch, then jumped gracefully into the air.

She hit the tree hard, and the poor, spindly thing simply couldn’t take it. As the tree toppled, Astrid dugs her nails into the bark, bracing for the impact with the ground. She then jumped seconds before it hit. With her adrenaline pumping, the young shifter raced off onto the base with no idea where anything was.

That’s when she started to regret her rash decision. She had no idea where to go, let alone where the important buildings were. The only benefit she had was in the fact that she wasn’t obviously a threat—at least not to the information. If a person were to encounter her, they might shoot. Ocelots weren’t particularly big, but they were clearly larger than a house cat.

She listened for people and headed toward the place where the voices were coming from. She had no idea how long she was on the grounds when she noticed the barracks. Her shoulders relaxed a little. She had studied the layout a bit when she was younger, so she figured that she at least had an idea of where to go now that she had a point of reference.

The grey light of dawn was starting to turn the world around her a very dull color when she finally reached a place that she thought might have some relevant information. Astrid looked toward the fencing, debating if she should just go home. It was nearly 6 a.m., and she could hear the sounds of people starting to wake and get moving on their day.

You are so close. If you can just verify that it’s the right place, you can head home and come back in a few days.

Shifting into her human form, Astrid moved around the side of a long admin building. When she reached the door, she realized that there was a lot more planning required before she could find anything. The door had controls on it, and without a badge, she wouldn’t be able to enter.

“What are you doing here?” a voice suddenly said.

Chapter 6

An Honest Request

Astrid turned around and came face to face with two uniformed soldiers. They both had holsters with guns, and they were looking at her with suspicion. One had sandy brown hair cropped short and stood slightly taller than her. The other had black hair, also cropped short, but it had a clear curl to it. He was considerably taller and more intimidating.

“Oh, I’m just—"

“She’s with me.” The voice startled the three of them, and Astrid’s mouth nearly fell open as she watched Phoenix come strolling up to them with a few other soldiers.

One of the soldiers who had been giving her a dirty look relaxed. “Mr. Woodward. We didn’t realize you were coming this way.”

The other soldier spoke up. “She’s not wearing the approved uniform, and it doesn’t look like she has a badge.”

Phoenix’s eyes moved over to her. “Ashley, I told you that you needed to wait. Here’s your badge. Go back to the truck,” he turned and pointed near the gate leaving from the base. “We need to have a serious discussion about you flaunting your role. And here’s your badge, which must have fallen off on the way here.” He held out a hand with a badge.

Astrid took it and looked at the false name but very real image of her. Her eyes looked up at Phoenix. “Thank you, sir.”

The taller soldier asked, “And what is her role?”

“Miss Hargrove here is a security expert, and sometimes she gets it in her head that she needs to test security before briefings.”

One of the soldiers snorted. “She’s a little too enthusiastic for her own good.” He turned and looked at her. “This isn’t some self-important corporation that takes these things lightly. HadMr. Woodward not turned up, you could have found yourself in serious trouble.”

Astrid nodded. “Understood.” Without looking back, she strode off in the direction that Phoenix had indicated. When she reached it, Astrid was once again at a loss. She had no idea what the name of his company was, so she had no idea which truck was his. There were far too many trucks of different types for her to be able to guess.

Phoenix and his escort appeared just as she was starting to question what she should do. “Ok, Miss Hargrove, we need to head back since this breach is going to require some paperwork and explanation.”

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