Page 61 of Broken Wolf Heart
Dutch takes it, shooting me a glance with brows raised. I shrug and look over at Crow again. His brow furrows, and he turns pages with a slow intensity that feels personal. Something’s off, but I have no idea what.
My eyes drift back to Dutch as he speeds through security footage Crow pulled from the lab’s camera feed. “There’s not much recent footage here,” he says.
I glance over to see grainy images flickering across his screen, distorted angles of sterile hallways and darkened labs.
Suddenly, Dutch pauses abruptly, fingers tightening over the mouse, his knuckles white.
“What?” My voice comes out sharper than intended.
“I don’t fucking believe it.” Dutch shakes his head slowly. “Fucker got there before us.”
“Who?” I ask.
He turns the screen so I can see. “Look.”
Crow sets the binder aside. We all lean closer to the grainy image. Dutch hits play, and the video resumes. The figure onscreen moves quickly, face hidden beneath a hood. But even with the bad angle and grainy darkness, there’s something distinctly familiar about the way the figure moves.
My gut tightens.
Dutch’s jaw works silently; then he lets out a breath. “That gait. Look how he favors the left side. Fuck. It’s Ramsey.”
“How the hell did he get past their security?” I wonder.
“Umm. Guys, look at the date.” Crow’s voice is quiet but weighted.
“Fuck,” Dutch says as I squint to make it out in the bottom left.
“Yesterday?” I snarl.
The knowledge hits like a fist to the gut.
“He must be the one who took the missing files,” Dutch growls, voice dark with barely-contained violence.
“I don’t think so,” Crow says. Dutch looks ready to argue, but Crow adds, “I’m not saying he wouldn’t try, but I’ve seen him around tech, and there’s no way he’d be able to get all the way inside the lab with all that security they’ve got and access their files. I watched Davina, and she entered two encrypted passwords to get passed all their firewalls.”
“Okay, but then what the hell was he doing there?” Dutch asks, frustration etched in every tense line of his face.
“Play the rest of the video,” I say. “See where he goes.”
“It ends there,” Dutch says.
Crow leans in and types a few commands.
We wait in silence to see what he can pull up. But a moment later, he scowls and shoves away from the computer. “No, it’s fucking deleted. Just like the other files. And I can’t retrieve it.”
Crow’s gaze flicks to mine, dark eyes blazing. “I think it’s safe to say the Ramsey we thought we knew doesn’t exist. Which means we need to consider heiscapable of accessing those files.”
Dutch is right, and we all know it.
An uneasy silence settles around us. My chest burns with rage, thick and suffocating. Ramsey has haunted our every step since his betrayal. Knowing he’s back, stealing the research we desperately need—it’s too much.
I clench my fists, the wolf inside me howling for violence. “We need to find out what he took.”
“Maybe we should interrogate the doc and the hex witch,” Dutch says. “Instead of just putting them on house arrest.”
“As much as Lexi hates the guy, I don’t think she’ll green light torturing him.” Dutch scowls. “Crow, look deeper. Find out who the subjects were.”
Crow hesitates.
