Once the woman, Julie, had left, Nate strode over to Rudy, face drawn and grim. "Alert the others. Emergency meeting in the parade room, one hour. Call Ray and Walt in and send someone else to handle the Douglas case with Colbert." Rudy looked like he wanted to ask more but Nate's face said everything.
Shit was about to hit the fan.
Rudy nodded and Nate turned on his heels and made for the stairs, bounding up them two at a time and fast-walking until he was standing in front of Captain Wynn's office. "Mike!" He called, hoping to be heard over the country music filtering in from the computer speakers on his desk. Wynn looked up and motioned for Nate to come in.
Once Nate was inside he motioned for Wynn to keep the music slightly up. "You look like someone just stole your service weapon Nate. What's going on?" He asked and Nate came to sit in front of the desk. "I was just downstairs with a Werebear by the name of Julie Logan. She was looking for Detective Colbert. I smelled drugs on her, but she didn't act high, so I used the trick you taught me and I entered her mind. Her thoughts were going about a thousand miles an hour and I managed to catch a brief glimpse of some very bad sh-stuff coming our way."
Wynn made a motion for him to continue and Nate took a deep breath. "She's the ex-girlfriend of Detective Colbert and she was thinking something about a Jake and how Colbert left California for some piece of ass and she thought it was me. So I told her that he was out on a case and I could take a message. She wants to meet him at his house after dark to discuss something about property claims but at the same time she was thinking that she'd take him back to California and this Jake person could make Colbert behave and there was even something about a gun and drugs."
Wynn was rubbing a hand across his face. "Nate, deep breath. That's too much at once, even for me. Say real clear and slow, what you think is going to happen." He coached. Nate did as he was bade and took a few minutes to center himself. His inner self had taken control for a minute in his sudden rush of anger. "Julie Logan is a Werebear and Detective Colbert's Ex-girlfriend. She's with someone named Jake, but still wants Colbert, and thinks he left California for another person. She was drugged, but only her thoughts showed it and drugs and a gun were mentioned. She's going to meet Colbert at his house tonight and I feel that, once inside she will incapacitate and abduct Colbert by any means necessary."
"Nate these are very serious accusations. Do you want to bring this before the Council?" Nate shook his head. "No. Maybe if a few of us watch the house for a few nights, she'll think he's under protection and leave or we can get proof of what she intends. I've read his file, he lives in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors. Nobody would think twice about a few stray dogs and a cat or two. We can use Rudy, Walt and Detective Cass to cover the approach and the rest of us will the flank the house."
Wynn nodded. "Say I approve this and she comes to the house and tries something anyway. How are you going to rescue Colbert and subdue a bear?" Wynn asked, feeling out the entire mission. "Should she actually get in the house and make a move for Colbert, then all bets are off. The Council ruled that if a supernatural sees a crime being committed, then they have permission to engage full force, no matter the risk, to protect a human life. Chances are Colbert would be down and out by that point anyway." He felt kind of callous saying that, but it was true.
Wynn seemed to think about it for a minute before he nodded. "Alright. Gather who you want, I'll join you guys as well." Nate nodded. "We'll be in the parade room in forty-five minutes."
Nate waited until everyone had settled into seats before he addressed the room at large. "Alright. I know none of you were expecting a meeting so close to the Run, but something has come up." The room was silent and Nate continued. "I met a Werebear today who I believe to have plans to kidnap a human in this precinct and who also seems to have connections with drugs. Has anyone heard the name Julie Logan before? Or perhaps Jake Logan?" He asked. Ray's hand went up.
"Yes Ray?" He asked. "Brad has been bitching about his ex, Julie since day one, Apparently she wouldn't stop calling him, so he had to switch his cell number and then she wouldn't stop e-mailing him, so he had to switch that too. She wanted him to go to California for the wedding. You know the bitch of it? That disease-riddled ho-bag is marrying his best friend, Jake Logan." The room fell silent.
"You don't think the wedding invitation was a trick to get him to California, where they could catch him more easily and when he repeatedly turned down the invitation, she had to come here?" That was Lieutenant Eric Kocher of the 5-2, a Shifter and Nate's direct partner in running the Clan under Mike. "It makes sense. If Colbert had gotten on a plane willingly to California and just "decided" to stay, no-one would have said a word. Its more difficult for them now because they're going to try and take him from his home." Rudy chimed in and Nate was nodding slowly.
"She told me she was here to settle "property claims". What if he suddenly came into some money and a new house in California and he left? That must be their new cover for his disappearance. If one of us suddenly hit it rich and we had to move out of the state, the only thing the others would have done was curse him and demand to be allowed to visit whenever be wanted to." Slowly it was all falling into place and the others were beginning to bristle.
"He's just a human. He's not Tied to her that we can see. What does she want with him?" Nate shrugged and subsided for a minute. "Right now, our biggest concern is keeping Colbert out of her hands and here in New York until we can gather enough evidence to bring forth to the Council. Right now, all we have is supposition and circumstantial evidence that would never hold up. Ideally, she'd let one of us in willingly and we could hear what she was thinking, making it admissible evidence or she could leave a trail or even if she made a failed attempt on Colbert. I would prefer the last one never happened though." Wynn spoke up and they all nodded.
"This is your mission, LT. Tell them what they'll be up to." Nate nodded and reached for a planning board behind him that held a sketch of a house and the surrounding area. "Colbert lives in the middle of nowhere. Perfect for kidnapping attempts, because there's no nosy neighbors, which means we have a lot of area to cover. Our best bet is to have Cass, Reyes, Hasser and one of the shifters take on their forms, the shifter can take on whatever form they're most comfortable with, and set up a perimeter within an eighth of mile of the house. The rest of the shifters will take on the form of dogs and cats, preferably more dogs."
He received odd looks and allowed himself a brief smile. "No one is going to pay attention to a pack of stray dogs interested in a house in the middle of nowhere and cats like those kinds of places because of the copious amounts of mice. We're going for inconspicuous, so cats, dogs, hell if someone wants to be a deer, or some other adorable woodland creature, I won't stop you. But let's go with things that fit in with the scenery." He stopped and took a deep breath.
"We're going to be doing this for a few nights, so significant others need to be informed. Complaints can be directed to me, because I'm dragging you all out to do this. Are there any questions?" There was nothing but silence in the room and Nate couldn't quite gauge their reactions, but he hoped he hadn't stepped on too many toes with this assignment.