Abandoned Treasure
Justification

Council Enforcer Vic Knightly’s POV

Great Falls Convention Center Holiday Inn, Montana

Monday, September 10th, 2007

I put SportsCenter on the television when I returned to my room. I was exhausted from my lack of sleep. In my first century, I could stay up all weekend fighting and fucking and be good with a few hours of sleep. Now? Changing sleep patterns fucked me up for days.

At least I’d gotten Housekeeping to change the sheets and clean up while I was at breakfast. The scents of sweat and sex weren’t as bad, but I wished I could open a window. I took off my shoes and slacks and settled at the little desk in the room. Opening my laptop, I got it booted up and started writing my report for my boss.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall right back asleep, so I was better off getting some work done and taking a nap after lunch.

My trainers taught me that you never knew what details might be important later. Enforcer reports were extensive and specific when it came to rogue encounters. I started at the first encounter outside Five Guys. I even used Google Maps, my phone’s call records, and the time on my Target receipt in the narration.

I bit back my frustration three pages later when describing the conversations with the Council after the rogues changed direction and headed towards the Bear Den. I kept the report factual, using the maps to discuss where I was when ordered to take the car out. I found the precise location of the eventual crash on Google Maps, taking a snip of the satellite image and adding details of where everything ended up. I marked where I stopped my SUV, where their car stopped rolling, and where Nathan Storm fell after I shot him twice.

I wrote four pages covering the pit maneuver until I drove away again. I kept it factual, hoping to keep the second-guessing to a minimum. Some senior leadership wasn’t happy that I didn’t retrieve Nathan’s wolf, and I fled the scene with Carol. I took the time to paint the picture I had. Headlights were coming, maybe Werebears, maybe humans. I laid out my decisions in clinical detail.

There wasn’t much I could add to the report without evidence from their car. Carol didn’t say much beyond asking to die, so that report section dealt with saving the baby and turning it over to Bitterroot’s people. I closed it with a quick summary of actions taken to remove evidence from my vehicle.

The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. I proofread it twice before sending it to the Council by encrypted email, then started reading the files he’d given me. Those raised more questions than answers.

Mark called me back just before noon. “Good report, Vic. All we have left to close the file is to replace out where they stayed.”

“Did you figure anything else out this morning?”

“No, and I’m flying back in a few hours with the other Enforcers. Keep looking for their hideout for the rest of the week, but be back in the office Monday.”

“It’s a needle in the haystack search without more clues, boss.”

“I know. Someone helped those two stay out of our sight for a year.”

I let out a sigh. “Maybe, maybe not. Nathan was a sharp kid, and this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing. This state is big enough to avoid detection if you don’t do something stupid. It was sheer luck I ran across them.”

“I agree with you, Vic, but we should pursue the line of inquiry.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s all I’m asking. Call me if you need anything.”

One thing was bugging me. “Mark, one last question before you go. I’m looking at the files on the Sampson family in North Dakota. I saw the original report about detecting rogues in the area and the request to investigate, but I didn’t see a kill order.” Orders to remove or eliminate rogues included their offense. Crimes like attacking or trespassing on Pack lands, threatening human exposure, or impregnating humans were typical of such an order.

Mark let out a sigh. “That’s because there wasn’t one, Vic. A college student sent in the rogue encounter report. The intelligence got sent to all the Packs, and Bitterroot decided to investigate before we could send Enforcers out. Alpha Todd hates rogues, so he went right to the elimination stage.”

“They killed all but one over nothing?”

“It doesn’t take much to justify wiping them out, Vic. No Alpha or Council member questioned their actions. You shouldn’t either.”

“Understood, sir. Have a good flight.”

I tossed my phone onto the bed and went back to reading the files. An hour later, my anger and frustration had only built.

The Sampson family had done NOTHING wrong. They kept their wolf nature secret, built a business, and raised a family hundreds of miles from the nearest Pack. The Bitterroot Beta’s report detailed executions, not investigations.

Carol’s ‘crime’ was to defend her family against an unprovoked attack, resulting in the death of a Bitterroot warrior. For that ‘offense,’ Carol was held prisoner for years. The Pack probably tortured her. What must that have been like for Nathan? No wonder he planned and carried out their escape.

Killing a Pack guard during the escape sealed their fate with the Council. I didn’t feel guilty about killing Nathan because he earned his kill order. Carol was his accomplice, so her death was inevitable.

What SHOULD have happened was for them to be taken into custody, stand trial, and face their execution AFTER the child was born. The death of an innocent weighed on me, just like the knowledge that it was all unnecessary. If the Council had sent me to investigate the Sampson clan, Carol would still be in college, and her family would be alive. I’d have reported they were not a threat to us. They’d go on a list for us to monitor periodically.

I grabbed my phone and headed to Five Guys. Maybe a gut bomb would help me sleep.

Sitting at a table with a loaded double-patty Bacon Cheeseburger and a mess of fries, I thought about my next move. Driving around with the windows down was a loser of an idea. I needed an idea of where to look.

As I polished off the fries and started on my bowl of peanuts, I realized where the gap was in my thinking.

The Bears. They’d been the ones coming my direction on that back road. They scared me off and were first on the scene, but what were they doing out there in the first place? The Council was so happy they helped clean up that they didn’t ask WHY they showed up.

We’d assumed the rogues were using the bears to shake my tail. Maybe they even lived nearby, using the bears to keep us away. That would make their appearance coincidental, especially considering the time of night. What if Stanley and his family were working WITH the rogues? What if they called asking for help?

The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I thought about calling Mark with my suspicions, then quickly dismissed that. If I went to him without solid information, the Council was liable to wipe out the Den based on just that. I couldn’t put other innocents at risk; I’d have to do this myself.

There was only one way to replace out. I tossed the trash and headed back to the hotel.

I pulled up the Google Maps view of the roads I’d followed them on, then called a lady friend I’d banged to nirvana a few times. “Technical support, this is Diane.”

“Diane, it’s Vic Knightly. Can you talk?”

“For you? Absolutely.”

“I need some help tracking down a lead. I need some tower data.”

She let out a huff. “Sprint only releases that kind of information in response to a warrant, and bounty hunters don’t have that kind of pull.” I was a registered bounty hunter; it was cover for my activities as a Council Enforcer. Diane loved to fuck a man with a badge and a gun.

“I don’t need the whole thing, Diane. I need to know if a cell number got a phone call during a specific time, and what number they were called by. The caller is the fugitive I’m looking for.”

“I don’t know, Vic.”

“I’ll make it up to you next time I’m in town. Dinner, dancing, and a nice hotel.”

She didn’t answer for a few seconds. “We can skip the dancing and get an early dinner, Vic. What area are you looking at?”

I gave her the GPS coordinates, the date and time range, and Stanley Diggs’ cellphone number. I heard her typing away. “He got a call from 407-555-8787 that lasted for four minutes. The caller was on a tower to the southwest, then passed to another tower farther east, so it was in a car.”

“That’s my guy. Can you do a reverse lookup of his number?”

More clicking. “Burner phone.”

“I hate to ask you, but can you look up the history of that cellphone tower pinging? I’m trying to replace where he’s hiding out.”

“You owe me, Vic.”

“You know I’ll take care of you all night, baby. I’ll make you cum until you pass out from the pleasure. Please?”

“Fine.” Back to the clicking. “I’ve got one possible for you, near the air base on the east side of Great Falls.” She gave me the tower’s location, and I wrote it down. “When can you make an appointment to pay this debt off?”

“I’m busy all week, but maybe over the weekend? I’ll call you when this job is over. You’re the best, Diane.”

“I can’t wait, Vic. Take your vitamins.” She ended the call, and I entered the coordinates into my cellphone.

Thirty minutes later, I’d found the hideout. There was a strong scent of bears around, mixed with the older wolf scents. It was a small home with a “FOR RENT” sign in the yard. A quick peek inside showed it empty. It smelled of bleach and cleaning products.

I had to make a phone call. I returned to my car, parked just down the street, and dialed. “Stanley, it’s Vic Knightly. We need to meet up and talk.”

“I told your bosses everything, Enforcer. I don’t have anything more to say.”

“This is off the record, Stanley.” I told him where I was parked. “Meet me here, alone, or I go to the Council with what I know.”