Chapter 11
September 2006

Derek was sitting in History, which meant he was staring aimlessly out the window as the teacher repeated what he had learned last semester in New York. He noticed Allison out in the car park heading for her car, he figured she must have accidentally left something in her car.

He sat up as he saw a blonde approach from the far side of her car and he saw Allison stiffen in shock. He tried to stretch his hearing but she was too far away to be overheard. He stood with a shout as an older man moved behind Allison and stuck a syringe in her neck.

The teacher yelled at him to sit down but Derek ignored them and he called Noah.

"Sheriff!", he yelled, "Kate and an old man just took Allison from the school parking lot."

Derek saw a van barrel out of the parking lot and he quickly wrote the plate down before he passed the information to the sheriff.

He could hear Noah barking out orders as he left the building, he was sending the deputies out to find the van and hopefully Allison as he took Tara and they were heading to the school. Once he was in the car Noah asked, "Can you send a pack alert out to everyone but Allison. We don't want Kate realizing she's a wolf."

Derek paled at the thought. He knew from their research that Kate was ruthless and she wouldn't care about the fact that Allison was her niece if she was a wolf she was as good as dead in Kate's eyes. He confirmed, "I am on it, I can see Stiles and Boyd outside the classroom already, we'll wait for you at the main doors. Are you going to let the FBI know?"

"Tara is already contacting Charlie." Noah replied, "They've moved quicker than we expected which is something Charlie will have to investigate. Stay with the pack, stay together at all times."

Derek agreed and he hung up. The teacher who had overheard motioned for him to leave the room with him and when Derek joined Stiles and Boyd in the hallway with his bag the teacher demanded to know, "What's going on?"

Stiles explained, "Allison's Aunt and Grandfather are currently wanted by the FBI for serial murders and we all saw Kate kidnap Allison. Boyd and I were in math two classrooms down."

The teacher nodded in acceptance, "Ok. I'll let the teachers know that you'll be busy for the rest of the day. Good luck."

They all yelled their thanks as they took off for the main doors.

Derek and Boyd approached the spot she was taken from. Boyd asked, "Anything?"

Derek shook his head, he was grateful his best friends had switched schools when he decided to go to Beacon Hills High with his sister, "No, but that's not a bad thing, it means they haven't used wolfsbane in the syringe."

Boyd rumbled, "Whatever it was had to be strong to knock her out."

Derek looked over and saw everyone else congregated on the steps with Noah, Chris, and Peter. "Let's go see if they have an update."

Noah was on his phone when they walked over. "Fuck, ok, send forensics in to get prints from the van. We need confirmation of who took her."

Noah hung up and he said for the benefit of the humans in the group and the two who just joined them, "They ditched the van a few blocks away. Danny have you had any luck tracking her?"

Danny shook his head, "No Sir. It looks like the phone is still in the van over on 4th and the tracker is in her bag, which is in her locker."

Peter pulled Chris into a hug and murmured, "She will be fine, she has the best control of all of them and she will keep her wolf hidden."

Charlie spoke up from where he was standing with Bryant near the group, "Let's go back to the house to regroup."

Chris said, "Sounds good, we'll just go get the kids signed out for the day and we'll meet you there."

Charlie sent Bryant with the Sheriff to help coordinate the search and to send out the amber alert.

When Chris and Peter finally arrived back at the house Charlie pulled them aside and he said, "Word that Laura Hale is no longer the Hale Alpha has reached the Hunter's Council. We were notified by our contact on the council and it's entirely likely that the same information has made it to Gerard and Kate."

Chris frowned and he asked, "So why take Allison?"

Charlie shrugged, "Honestly, I think it was opportunistic. We know Kate's usual MO is to set up at the local school to groom a beta. Agent Townsend is taking one of Noah's deputies to Devonford Prep to see if she visited this morning."

Peter scowled, "So you think it was just bad timing?"

Charlie nodded, "Unfortunately, yes. Look, you've both trained her well, hopefully, they'll underestimate her and she can escape or at least give us some sign of where she is."

Peter asked, "Do they have any bolt holes in Beacon County?"

Chris shrugged, "They kept me out of the hunting thing but I have a list of our property holdings that I haven't had a chance to go through yet."

He went to the file cabinet and pulled out a folder he had received from his lawyer before the move. He took half the papers and passed them to Peter, "See if you can find anything nearby and we can check them out."

Charlie raised an eyebrow, "That's all in the Argent name?"

Chris shook his head, "No, some are under the business and some are under various shell companies."

He and Peter both put a few papers into a pile between them.

Chris looked through the different properties they had close to or in Beacon Hills. He placed two in the middle of the table side by side as he said, "I completely forgot about the armory." He tapped on the sheet on the left as he said, "I think they would have taken her there, which could be a problem. The walls are lined with mountain ash."

Charlie picked up the sheet and he asked, "Where is it exactly?"

Chris grinned, "Technically, that's the details for the land above it, which is an empty lot, the armory itself is off one of the underground tunnels under Beacon Hills. The entrance is accessed from another property we own," He tapped the sheet still sitting on the table which contained the details for the small house on the edge of the preserve. "There is a manhole in the basement that leads to the tunnels."

Charlie asked, "Stiles? Can you nullify the mountain ash in the walls?"

Stiles walked over and he asked, "How is it in the walls? Painted on or part of the masonry?"

Chris concentrated as he hadn't been there in years and he said, "I think it was painted on the skirting boards laid around the room itself. I know the ash line only works when the door is closed."

Peter smirked, "He was able to sneak me in there ok."

Jackson approached the group and he asked, "Is there just one entrance to the armory? Do you have any blueprints for the tunnels?"

Chris shook his head, "I don't, but the Sheriff department probably will as people often get lost exploring down in the tunnels."

Charlie called Noah who confirmed he had copies of the tunnel maps and he was sent a deputy over with them.

Jackson asked, "Alpha, are there multiple entrances to the armory?"

Chris nodded hesitantly, "I think so. I know the tunnels are like a rabbit warren, they branch out under the whole town."

Peter grinned, "The tunnels were originally built by my pack as a way to keep us safe." His expression darkened, "Until they were used to trap us in the basement of the house as it burned."

Chris pulled Peter in for a hug as he whispered, "We'll stop them this time. If the legal system doesn't stop them, we will."

Peter pulled him out of the room, "Let's go wait for the deputy, the sooner we have the maps the sooner we can plan."

Charlie picked up the other datasheets from the table and he asked, "Who is confident they can scope out a house without being spotted by the hunters?"

Isaac, Boyd, Erica, and Cora all raised their hands. Charlie considered them all carefully and he said, "There are two other houses on the list that need to be checked. I want you to approach and see if any of the houses are being used."

Erika raised her hand and at a chuckle from Charlie she asked, "Do you want us to get photos of anyone in the houses?"

Charlie held up a finger and he said, "Hold that thought," as he answered his phone, "Duthie."

The teens watched the short phone call as his eyes lit up in anger. He hung up the phone and he snarled, "Derek, she's looking for you. She went to Devonford Prep and she was asking if you had returned to the school. On a hunch, they went to Beacon Hills High and asked there and she had visited the office to see if you had transferred in. It's a good thing you're registered under Derek Lowell."

Derek slumped into the sofa and he said, "She must have seen Allison as she was leaving the school. I noticed Allison out the window as she reached her car but I didn't notice Kate until she grabbed Allison."

Charlie narrowed his eyes at Derek and he said plainly, "Whatever you're thinking, stop it. This is in no way your fault. We knew they would head to town. They just happened to arrive earlier than expected."

He turned to the four wolves who volunteered, he handed them the two property sheets and he said, "Can you go grab camera's from Agent Townsend and scope out the houses. If you see anyone take photos so we can try to identify them. Try and get a count for how many are at the houses and then head back here."

Cora saluted and led the other three out the door down to the house the FBI were working from.

Derek watched them go before he said earnestly, "If she is fixated on me, then use me as bait. She might visit the diner I used to spend time at when I needed quiet to do my homework, so let her find me there."

Stiles scowled and he yelled, "Hell no. They already have Allison, we aren't giving them more hostages."

The alphas entered the room with a few cardboard cylinders and Peter asked, "What are you yelling about, Stiles?"

Stiles snarled, "Your nephew wants to play bait."

Derek hurriedly said, "Think about it logically. She will think I am still a naive kid and she will underestimate me. I am sure Stiles can create something to protect me from wolfsbane bullets and the FBI agents will be around to follow her if she kidnaps me."

Peter growled, "Only as a last resort. I have lost enough family, I'm not putting you or Cora at risk. If Cora was here she would knock you flat for that. You know damn well "

Chris laid out the tunnel maps and brandishing a highlighter he stole from Stiles' pile he said, "The deputy confirmed these are copies so we can mark them up."

He carefully marked the armory and the tunnel they used as the main entrance. Peter stole a second highlighter and he added estimations for tunnels that were never put on the city plans. He had a fair idea where most of them were from exploring them all as a child.

Jackson pointed at one of the tunnels Peter had added and he asked, "Is that from the school? How do we access it?"

"From the locker rooms," Peter explained, "There is a vault under the school that's been there since the Hale's settled in the area." He flicked out his claws and he said, "It's only accessible by those in the Hale Pack via their claws."

Jackson asked, "Can someone mark known entrances to the tunnels on a street map, and then Peter can you mark the ones only the pack know about?"

Stiles and Peter nodded and they got to work with pens marking the various entrances. As they were marking the map Cora entered with the other beta's and she handed the cameras to Charlie and Chris. She reported, "They have a few hunters at the second house we tried, we got their photos and made sure we weren't spotted."

Stiles held his hand out for the sheet with the info of the property the hunters were seen at so he could mark it down on the map. He knew their priority was getting Allison out alive before they went in to take down Kate and Gerard and the hunters following their orders.

Jackson studied the map and the tunnels before he outlaid a plan for Chris, Peter, and Charlie. It involved the pack going in for recon and recovery of Allison with help from Stiles to keep them hidden. The pack would enter via the vault under the school and they would make their way across to the armory via tunnels that were not listed on the city plans. They would be able to avoid the main entrance to the armory and they were hopeful they could sneak in the back door.

Charlie commented to Chris, "I need to call in reinforcements, especially if they have hunters guarding the tunnels. My team isn't big enough and the deputies won't be trained in dealing with hunters who will shoot first."

Jackson suggested, "Technically they are a paramilitary organization. Why not use that to call in backup? The first hunter who claims they are hunting werewolves or monsters is going to get thrown into Eichen House on a psych hold so fast."

Chris agreed, "You should be able to book them for the kidnap of a minor to start with. Also, talk to my lawyers back in DC. I know they were filing restraining orders for us once Kate and Gerard could be found and notified."

Charlie grinned, "If we can get them under domestic terrorist rules we should be able to hold them indefinitely while we investigate further. I need to call my section chief to request backup, I'll see what he says about having them labeled as domestic terrorists."

Charlie left the house to make the call to his section chief and to brief his team as to what is going on. He also called Noah to let him know they had an idea where Allison would be and they planned a two-pronged attack to take out the Argent hunters.

Noah promised to head over with the more experienced of his deputies while they waited on the reinforcements to arrive from Sacramento.

Jackson was busy inside with Stiles as they debated where the hunters would likely be stationed as guards with input from Chris and Peter.

Derek was working quietly to get the rest of the pack ready for the assault on the armory. Chris had been building up a smaller armory for the pack in the basement, complete with body armor that is usually sold to law enforcement that Stiles had been working on so they were more resistant to bullets and knives. He knew Charlie would want them gone from the house before reinforcements showed up.

Chris went through the pack checking they were geared up, armed with at least two knives and the ones who were proficient had their guns ready and spare clips in their pockets. He and Noah were staying back with Charlie at the sheriff's station where the raid would be managed. Because his family was involved he couldn't be part of either of the raiding parties. Danny had set each of the pack members up with hidden trackers and they were hooked into a private communications network that he and Lydia would be monitoring from the secret basement room. They had promised the pack they would stay locked in the panic room until Kate and Gerard were arrested.

The rest of the teens and Peter loaded up into the two SUV's that were parked in the garage, everyone was wearing Beacon High Lacrosse jerseys over their vests so anyone watching would think they were going to practice Lacrosse at the school. They had a few gear bags in the trunk just in case anyone was watching the school.

Peter led them into the locker room and he found the back entrance to the vault and opened it quickly so they could all tumble in. As soon as they were inside they dumped the gear bags on the floor by the door and they all dropped their jerseys on top. Peter let Lydia and Danny know they were in the vault and ready to move in on the armory.