Hey peoples! Look at me, updating so quickly! Kidding. Anyway, thanks to Kogasha, I-Love-Moony, Alanna99, Katie, and Pharoseer for all their reviews! Anyway, I realize that my writing has taken a bit of a dip lately and I'm trying to get back on track! I hope this chapter makes up slightly for how poorly written the last couple have been. I think it's not quite as well-written near the end of the chapter, but you be the judge. Hope you like it and please review!

Polished Gem

Chapter 34

Doug turned the truck down an alley, spitting up gravel beneath the tires. He turned a small bend, narrowly missing a jagged and broken bottle. The alley was littered with all kinds of odds and ends, but mostly old beer bottles. The fences hiding the alley from view of the houses were old and rotting with more than a few missing posts. Doug brought the vehicle to a halt in a little nook. The car would not be seen from either side of the streets.

He took a glance over at Leigh, who was biting her lip nervously. Something was bothering her. He'd seen enough of her mind to read her expressions well. He would almost say that the look in her eyes was…guilty.

He cleared his throat slowly and her shoulders jumped edgily at the sound. They'd been driving in silence from the grocery store. The silence had been mostly imposed by Leigh, who only answered with vague "mm hmms" whenever he made a comment. Eventually he had given up on conversation altogether. Something was definitely on her mind.

She was looking at him expectantly now.

He cleared his throat again and spoke. "Is everything all right?" He asked, sending her a searching look.

"Of course!" Her tone came out a little sharper than she probably intended. A little defensive, Doug's mind supplied, whirring suspiciously.

He became preoccupied with the wheel for a moment. He wasn't going to push her if she refused to tell him what was up. He trusted her. She wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his life or the mission—at least not intentionally.

Leigh appeared to grow agitated as the silence lengthened. "I—yes. No. Oh, I don't know! Yes, there is something wrong with me."

Doug glanced up through half-lidded eyes. He didn't want his gaze to be too imposing. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Leigh shrugged helplessly, her hair bouncing off her shoulders as she did so. She looked up at him every so often, but her eyes always returned to the dashboard. She admitted finally, "I lied to you."

Doug's brow furrowed. "Lied to me?"

"Yes," Leigh replied miserably. "I didn't tell the police officer that I was pregnant. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't think about much more than pain at the moment. And well…"

Doug took off his seatbelt and turned in his seat so that he could face her directly. "But why did you lie to me?" He asked, wishing he could penetrate through that wall that she kept over her emotions. He could still feel the faint buzz that indicated her presence to his wolf senses—or what was left of them.

"And did we get a ticket?" He asked as his thoughts took hold of another train. He continued almost frantically. "Did he find out what's in the back seat? Why did he leave? What does he know? Leigh, tell me."

When she didn't reply right away, he said. "Leigh, please. I won't be angry with you. Just tell me the truth."

"Tross took over. He told the other cop that this was his case." Leigh spoke with a wince of expectation. She seemed to be waiting for Doug's reaction. When he didn't reply immediately, she cut the silence with a quick plea. "I know you don't like him. I don't really like him either. But Doug, he's actually trying to help us. And he feels sorry for blackmailing me."

Doug raised his half-lidded eyes to take in her frantic appearance. She looked almost fragile, bundled up in the passenger's seat with her knees folded up to her chest. She looked so tiny and vulnerable, like the day he had laid eyes on her—when she had been standing in front of her house, chewing her lip.

"And Doug, I don't think we can do this on our own! I'm scared."

"You shouldn't have come," Doug replied bluntly.

Leigh's vulnerable and pleading mouth turned down in a scowl. "Yes, I should have," she said stoutly. "Someone had to make sure you didn't kill yourself."

"So you want me to end up killing you and me in the process?" Doug argued. "Is that any better, Leigh?"

Leigh's feet dropped from their vulnerable position to land on the truck's carpet. She turned in her seat so that she was facing him too. Their knees were touching, with the stick shift jammed between them.

"I have as much right to fight this war as you do," she countered, her face flushed with exasperation. "That was my uncle that died back there, Doug. If Rollson thinks he can get away with hurting an innocent wolf, then he's got another thing coming."

Doug opened his mouth to reply but ended up closing it as she anticipated his reaction with. "Stop being so stubborn! I'm not going to leave you!" Suddenly her eyes were shining. "Do you think I could live with myself if you went to fight Rollson by yourself and never came back?"

In an instinctive reaction, he reached out and gathered her into his lap. He knew from earlier experience that she wasn't as light as she looked. Her small frame was weighted by compact muscle mass that barely showed, giving her more of a feminine, voluptuous appearance with a hidden and steel strength.

Leigh allowed him to pull her in and rested her face in his shirt. "I understand," he said with a sigh. "I just don't want to lose you."

"If you die, you will lose me," she mumbled into his gray sweater. Then she pulled back and looked up at him. "You're not mad at me, for lying? Tross didn't want you to know that he was here. He knew that you'd tell him to go away. But Doug, I think we need him."

Doug sighed and tucked her hair behind her ears. "No," he said, feeling resigned and more than a little weary. Today had been a long enough day without all that was to come. "I'm not mad at you. I suppose you're right about Tross—and about me being stubborn. I just—I've been so furious lately that I haven't been able to think straight." He added in a murmur. "You do odd things to me."

She smacked him lightly in the shoulder, but she was grinning. Then she got this look like she was remembering something. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a small vial. TryptoKeri. She grinned barbarically and downed the substance.

"Now I'll be nearly indestructible," she informed him with a crafty grin.

"Aw, screw the raw meat," Doug muttered and planted a kiss on her lips. This could very well be his last opportunity. Leigh had a higher chance of getting out of the compound alive than he did. She kissed him back, her lips warm and soft under his.

He pulled back, thinking of something. He swore under his breath. "I don't have Tross' number," he announced. "There's no way we can coordinate any kind of plan if we can't talk to him."

Leigh shrugged, but he could sense some tenseness in her shoulders. "He's resourceful. Hopefully we'll be able to work together anyway—if we can find him."

Doug nodded. "Probably too late. I'm not willing to give Rollson any more chances to formulate plans. If we don't go now, we might never get a chance."

Leigh nodded, hopping out of his lap with one final quick kiss. "We should get moving. We're heading to the center of the building, right? Then we can do a lot more damage with the bomb."

Doug nodded. "Yes. Or as far as we can get without a whole army chasing us. We're going to have to destroy all the cameras we see. We'll hide the explosives in one of the vents that run along the hallway. We need to set it to go off in no more than ten minutes. Preferably less, so that they don't get the chance to find it and disarm it. Then we're going to have to book it, or we'll be dead meat."

"Or," Doug added, sending an acknowledging nod in Leigh's direction. "I'll be dead meat. You might not with that TryptoKeri."

Leigh shrugged. "Even wolves aren't indestructible. If I'm close enough to that bomb, I'll be dead meat too."

Without the need to talk about it, they both hopped out of the truck, shutting their doors behind them. The doors made two, nearly inaudible clicks as they closed. Their feet whispered across the gravel until they reached the truck bed and began to roll up the tarp slowly.

He pulled out the two rubber suits. He handed one to Leigh and took another for himself. He then took out the bullet proof vests. It's heavier than it looks, Doug thought. But then, he would have expected that with the hard metal fibers interwoven into the fabric. He fitted himself into the rubber suit also. It was more than a little uncomfortable and it inhibited his movement more than he would have like. But it was doable.

He nodded to Leigh and then put the explosives in a backpack which he strapped to his back. She replied by chewing her lip and sending out a furtive glance in all directions. Then they pulled out the guns and ammunition and made sure the guns were stocked.

Too bad it's not an automatic, Doug thought wistfully as he cocked back the revolver and let it swing at his side. If there were any passerby's, it would have looked like Doug was being careless with the gun through their eyes. But his shoulder was tensed, and his arm was ready to take aim at the slightest disturbance.

The apartment complex was only two blocks walk from here. He took one last wistful glance at his truck before he jutted his chin in the direction that he and Leigh should follow. In this neighborhood, he might very well come back to find his car stolen or messed with. That is, if he came back at all.

Leigh moved to his side, bumping him lightly in the shoulder in an encouraging gesture. She smiled grimly, but there was a grim determination in her eyes that no teenager should know. But he himself had known it at her age.

He nodded back his encouragement and said on a whisper of breath. "How about if we tackle that big security guard?"