AN: Ms. Teo is a character I introduced in Malediction du Loupgarou and featured in Bitten.

Brian is a character I introduced in Malediction du Loupgarou and he had a quick appearance in my last story Temper.

.

.

.

.

CHAPTER 5

The Trap of Madness

By the afternoon Hardison had tracked down enough information for Parker and Eliot to begin to form a plan.

"Okay, step one is see if we can actually get a look at these guys." Parker slid a finger across the map that they had spread out on the table in the safe house.

"They rented a skiff near downtown and they've been paying weekly so I'll start there." Eliot growled and jabbed a finger at the offending boat rental on the map.

"Hardison and I will be here." Parker pointed at the main offices for a local sand and gravel company. "This is close to where most of Griswold's cell activity is right?"

"Yah mama, I think they've been making regular trips to the island here." Hardison pointed at Hardtack Island. "They could be anywhere in this area." Hardison used a marker to circle everything from the eastern edge of Ross Island to Kenilworth Park. "But I'm pretty sure they're here." Hardison tapped the image of the gravel pits on Hardtack Island again.

"So we'll see if we can get a picture of any of Griswold's pack or if anyone from the sand and gravel place have seen anything unusual." Parker bit her bottom lip. "They meant for us to find the phone…This feels like a trap."

"Of course it is, but a trap is only a trap if you don't know about it." Eliot kissed the top of her head before grabbing his coat and heading for the stairs to the main floor of the warehouse.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Eliot had a picture of Griswold and one of PoÅomia that Hardison had printed out for him. He'd hung a police shield around his neck and tucked it in between his undershirt and his black button up. He was certain the shield was real and for a moment he wondered who Hardison had stolen it from and then on second thought he decided that Hardison had probably hacked some system and had it shipped to him. He hoped he wouldn't need it but just in case whoever was running the rental shop felt nervous about answering questions the shield would probably put them more at ease.

Pausing at the top of the ramp that connected the platform and the beach, Eliot inhaled, trying to catch all the scents that he could. The Willamette River carried a lot of the same scents that any river moving through a city might. Water, trash, mud, oil, sewage, and something that Eliot just called people. The last was such an amalgamation of scents that he couldn't really pick out a particular scent but the overall scent was something that only happened in a place that had been densely populated for a while. Closer than the river itself he could smell wood, rust, individual people, and a hint of werewolf. Unsurprisingly the scent of werewolf followed the path to the boat rental.

The office had a shingle siding, white trim, and a blue door. A little bell above the door announced his presence as he stepped inside. A woman in her forties with bleached hair and blue eyeshadow stood up from her computer at the desk.

"Hey there. What can I do for you today?" She smiled.

Her scent told Eliot she was genuinely happy to see a customer and wasn't just putting on a professional tone. "I was wondering if you could help me?" Eliot pulled the pictures out of his coat pocket. "I'm looking for this man." Eliot tapped the picture of Griswold. "Or maybe this guy?" Eliot slid the pictures across the counter so that she could pick them up if she wanted to.

"Oh sure honey. My Carl helps them when they come in. Frankly they give me the creeps." She wrinkled her nose as she looked at the pictures. "Carl? Hey Carl?!" She called at the closed door behind the desk.

A big man with a bald head and a sleeve of tattoos on his left arm stepped out of the back office. The man had a curios but pleasant smile on his face until he saw Eliot. "You Eliot Spencer?"

Eliot nodded in affirmation and shifted his weight forward onto the balls of his feet. He didn't recognize Carl but that didn't mean much and if Carl was looking for a fight Eliot didn't want to be caught by surprise.

"I told your friend that we aren't the postal service. But he was insistent that you would be by soon to pick this up. I don't want this to become a habit." Carl leaned back through the door he'd just come in through and snagged a small box off of his desk. There was a paper rubber banded around the small wooden box with Eliot's name in neat block printing.

"He's not my friend." Eliot took the little box from Carl and shoved it in his pocket. "Thanks for the help though. I appreciate it." He took the little box and headed back to his car.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Parker had decided that they would be less noticeable as tourists. They started off by pretending to be lost at the main offices for Ross Island Sand and Gravel.

Hardison parked the jeep just outside the main office and hopped out. He held up his camera with the giant telescopic lens and snapped a couple of pictures back toward the jeep, capturing a shot of the top of a dirt service road that looked like it headed downhill toward the river. "Come on babe! Let's get started." Hardison waived Parker out of the jeep.

"I don't know. I think we're in the wrong place." Parker frowned at the large paper map that she had unfolded and was climbing awkwardly out of the jeep with.

"No, I followed the directions that they gave us. This has gotta be it!" Hardison spun in a slow circle clicking more shots with his camera as he did.

"Can I help you folks?" A lanky Hispanic man stepped around the side of a cement truck. His tone had been polite but not overly friendly.

"Oh, I hope so!" Parker walked up to him with her map. "We're trying to find the trail head near the art supply store, but this isn't it. Is it?" Parker looked past her map like a trail head would just show up out of nowhere.

"You're close but this is Ross Sand and Gravel You need to go about a mile down this way." He took a pen out of his shirt pocket and drew a line on Parker's map circling the parking lot they were supposedly looking for. "Best not to stay here. Ain't a great place for tourists."

"Thanks man, we appreciate that!" Hardison held open Parker's door and waited for her to get settled. With a cheerful waive he hopped back in the jeep and pulled back onto SE McLoughlin Blvd.

There was a trail head right were the man had circled a spot on Parker's map. Hardison parked the jeep and went to the back to take down the bikes that they'd brought with them. Hardison had noticed over the last year or so that his workouts with Eliot had really been paying off. He had no trouble carrying the backpack full of equipment that he and Parker had determined might be necessary along with number of things that might not be necessary.

Parker coasted on her bike down the trail until she came to a place where there was a gap in the trees on the shore that would allow them to get a clear picture of the island. She stopped and removed her helmet fluffing her hair the way that she had seen Sophie adjust her hair after removing a hat. Hardison couldn't help taking a few pictures of her before he started taking several of the shoreline on the island.

Taking a picture of the bike path Hardison pointed ahead. "Look there babe. Maybe we could get a nice picture of you near the water."

"Wouldn't that be nice." She smiled prettily and walked her bike to the partial stone walls that marked the gateway for the vehicle accessible ramp into the Willamette. She stopped to pose next to the cut stone pillar where the gate locked. Hardison made sure to get several pictures that featured how the gate would lock. It looked like a simple padlock was used to secure it and there didn't seem to be any other security on the gate. Hardison took a few more pictures that showed the dirt access way from the Ross Island Sand and Gravel parking lot, where they had been earlier, down the hill side to this gate. The gate down to the water had been left open but the fence and gate for the Sand and Gravel yard were locked.

Parker had noticed the boat house a little past the ramp and she wanted to see if there was some kind of dock to connect it to the shore. Walking carefully down the ramp she didn't see him until it was too late.

A young man scrabbled up the steep edge of the bank on all fours and darted onto the ramp. Before Parker could grab her stunner he'd pulled her right arm behind her and wrapped his other arm around her waist pulling her close. "Hello pretty girl." He sniffed and started to nuzzle at Parker's neck. Parker reacted exactly as Eliot had trained her to. She stomped on the guys left foot and spun to her left pulling her right arm free. Taking a couple of fast steps backward she bumped into Hardison.

Hardison had seen how fast the man had come up the river bank and was willing to bet that he was a werewolf. Hardison yanked open a large pocket in the backpack and pulled out a compact paintball gun. The paintballs were loaded with a liquid suspension of colloidal silver, powdered silver and tincture of hellebore. Ms. Teo's personal recipe for werewolf repellent had proven useful over the last couple of years. Hardison figured that even if he was wrong and the man wasn't a werewolf several paintballs at high power would be enough to discourage him from coming any closer.

"Didn't know you were human how interesting." He almost hissed the words as he smiled at them and tossed his grubby hair away from his face. "We have your man. You gonna come and get him?"

Hardison tapped his earbud. "Eliot?"

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Eliot got in his car and immediately drove away. More than once in his past experience he'd used just such a piece of bait to catch his target. Give them something to distract them and then attack. Eliot drove toward the pub then wound his way back across the river and headed vaguely toward Gresham. He found a super store parking lot and parked toward the back of the lot. Unwrapping the rubber bands Eliot pulled the folded paper loose and set the little box to the side.

At first glance he thought the letter had been written in Russian but after a moment he realized it was Polish. He had learned Russian during his second PMC and Polish was closely related enough that he had a very good idea about what it said. He'd have Hardison run a translation on it later just to be sure, but he didn't feel like there was any doubt about the message.

Looking at the box he had to relax his grip on the steering wheel before he bent it until it snapped. He had a very good idea of what was in the small rectangular box. He supposed that a norm wouldn't pick up on the scent but he could certainly pick up the tang of human blood.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

"Eliot?" Hardison's voice came over Eliot's earbud and he sounded stressed.

"Yah? Everything okay?" Eliot tuned in on the pack bonds and could feel a hum of tension in his bonds to Hardison and Parker.

Hardison didn't answer Eliot and his next few words made it clear that he was talking to someone else. "We know you don't have Eliot. So who do you have?"

"Well if you don't want him that's fine Manuel's already laid claim to the tasty bits. But me, I don't mind a little gristle, so that's okay."

Eliot heard the voice of the man that Hardison was talking to but he didn't recognize him. "Just get out of there Hardison. If you've got your paintball gun use it and get out of there." Eliot started driving toward the sand and gravel company that Hardison and Parker were supposed to be visiting.

"You should leave now." Parker's voice came across the earbuds but Eliot couldn't tell if she was only talking to the guy they were facing or if she was trying to send him a message as well.

"I'm on my way." Eliot sped through a yellow light knowing it would be red before he made it through the intersection.

Eliot heard the pfftt sound of a paintball being fired and then the electric zap of Parker's stunner. "Parker what have I told you about zapping werewolves?"

"Don't." Parker sounded out of breath.

"Don't worry El I got him in the throat with the paintball before Parker got him with the stunner." Hardison had the same distinctive breathing pattern as Parker that told Eliot they were both on bicycles.

"That doesn't make things better!" Eliot growled as he slid through a corner.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Eliot had planned on going straight to them but Parker had insisted that they were safe when they made it back to the jeep and that they didn't need him to join them. It didn't take long for them to regroup at the safe house.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Eliot pulled them both into a very brief fierce hug.

"Yah, we're good." Hardison pressed the fob on his key ring that closed the warehouse garage door.

"Did you get a name for the wolf you ran into?" Eliot herded them to the lift that would take them to the second level of the warehouse where the living quarters were at.

"No. I didn't get a good picture either. I dropped the camera when I went for the paintball gun." Hardison shrugged the camera bag a little farther onto his shoulder.

"You said that you know who they have?" Parker looked at Eliot while she leaned against Hardison as they rode the lift.

"They have Brian." Eliot clutched the little wooden box in his coat pocket and had to relax his hand when he felt the wood start to crack.

"How?" Hardison asked.

"I don't know how they got him but Griswold sent a message." Eliot led the way out of the lift and to the living room. Eliot set the wooden box on the coffee table and the folded note on top of it.

Hardison took the note and unfolded it. "Russian?"

"Polish." Eliot saw Parker reaching for the box. "Parker don't open that."

"Why?"

"Because you don't want to see what's in there." Eliot turned his attention back to Hardison. "Can you put that through a translator or something?" Eliot nodded at the letter Hardison was still holding. "I'm pretty sure about what it says but I don't want to miss anything."

"Eww!" Parker snapped the lid closed on the box.

"Told you." Eliot rolled his eyes at her.

"So when that guy talked about the 'tasty bits' he was serious? Did they actually eat him?" Parker shivered in revulsion.

"The letter says that they are holding Brian until I come to them." Eliot glared at the box that Parker had put back on the coffee table.