Page 88 of What a Wolf Wants
“We’re at a standoff with Kroner and his cronies inside a windowless warehouse, hunkered down and we’ve got them surrounded. What’s going on at your place?” He suspected everything was all right when she didn’t tell him right away that anything was wrong.
She explained everything that had happened, and he swore. He hadn’t wanted her outside running around as a wolf, trying to take these men down.
“All of us are good. All the bad guys are in custody. I just wanted you to know there are a few bad men who will no longer be causing any trouble,” she said.
“They were using police officer Baker as a hostage, not sure if he truly is at this point, since he walked inside the warehouse looking like he didn’t have a care in the world.Three law enforcement guys used as hostages will deter us from rushing the place, Kroner figures.”
“Even though we’re sure they’re involved.”
“Yeah. I doubt that anyone will take another chance of overrunning your house, but the guys are still there with you, right?” Ethan figured they would be until he returned home and they’d taken care of the men in the warehouse, even if it took a couple of days.
“Yes. Quincy and Brad are lying down while Maverick, Pierce, and I are keeping guard. After a few hours, we’ll switch off.”
“That sounds good. I love you. You stay safe.”
“You too. Let me know what’s going on when you can.”
“Call me before you lie down so I don’t wake you.”
“If you end this siege, you call me, whether I’m sleeping or not. I probably won’t be, worried about you until it’s done.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Then he pocketed his phone and Tori, Adam, Josh, and Renault were smiling at him.
“I never thought I would see the day that you would be head over heels for a woman.” Then Renault frowned. “Charlene’s okay, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. Agent Pete Cohen and some of Kroner’s men went after Charlene, but we had some other men in place to watch over her, so Kroner’s men are in custody now,” Ethan said.
“Cohen?” Renault said. “Other men were there? Good thing. I could kill Cohen myself for going after Charlene.”
Josh shook his head. “I was so intent on being there withNoah for Ethan that I didn’t think I would be needed back at the house.”
“It’s all good. They’ve caught them,” Ethan said, though he was furious that Kroner had sent the men and that one of his own fellow agents was involved in trying to break into the house. He knew they would have planned to kill both him and Charlene, had they been at the house without protection.
Renault frowned. “So who was staying with Charlene?”
“Friends.” Ethan looked at the distance between the warehouse and the auto body repair shop. He wondered… “Do you think there could be a tunnel that leads from the warehouse to maybe that body shop? Or to the woods out back?”
“Yeah, that’s a good bet,” Adam said.
Ethan asked Josh, Adam, Tori, and Noah, “How about you accompany me to see if we can hear anything belowground, in the event there are escape tunnels connected to the warehouse.” He wouldn’t put it past Kroner to have built something like that, figuring he would have a fast way out if law enforcement officials discovered he was dealing out of this warehouse. Most likely no blueprints would be available for any additions that were being used for an illegal purpose.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Noah said.
“You need ground-penetrating, tunnel-detective sonar to locate tunnels,” Renault said.
“Which they don’t have here, so we need to improvise.” Ethan knew the longer they waited, the more likely theywouldn’t catch the guys if they did escape through a tunnel into the body shop or somewhere else.
Josh and Tori said, “I’m with you.”
“Me too,” Noah said.
Renault said, “I can’t see that will do any good though. I’m going to go straight to the body shop over there.”
Ethan spoke to Ty Richardson then. “Some of my people are doing a search for tunnels leading to the auto body repair shop. Can you send some men with Renault as his backup? He’s going to the body shop. Can you get me some blueprints for that shop? And also learn who owns it?”
