“Sure. Give me a sec.”

  Rosa tapped away at her tablet. The search was taking longer than usual.

  “Nothing.” She shook her head. “That can’t be right. I’ll run it again.”

  She tapped away, conducting another search, her frustrated huff telling him the second search had yielded the same results.

  “This isn’t possible. How can a hospital-prescribed drug not be in Themis?”

  Cael couldn’t understand it. Every legal and illegal substance known to man and Therian alike was listed in Themis. If the information was out there, Themis could find it.

  Nurse Russell returned, lingering in the doorway. “Is there anything I can help with?”

  “Perfect timing.” Cael showed Russell the prescription bottle. “Can you tell me what this medication is? What it’s used for?”

  “I’m kind of new here, so I’ll have to look that information up. I can bring you the file.” Russell took the bottle from him and motioned toward the door. “I’ll be back in a sec. Left my tablet at the nurses’ station outside.”

  “Sure.”

  The nurse left, and Cael looked around the office. Everything was so clean. If Ward had been poisoned, they’d need Hudson and Nina to get the body back to the lab to run some tests. They needed confirmation on time of death and whatever it was the Therian had been injected with. Cael couldn’t shake the feeling something was off about all this. Why were they the only ones here? Why did no one seem bothered? They were all so cold. And why the hell hadn’t Rosa been able to find any information on the drug?

  “Where did that nurse go? I thought he said he left his tablet outside at the nurses’ station?” Rosa said, standing to join Cael.

  “Let’s go find out.” Cael left the office with Rosa behind him. The nurses’ station was a short distance from Ward’s office. This time there was only one nurse behind the desk.

  “Excuse me.” Cael flashed his badge again. “Have you seen Nurse Russell? We’re waiting on some information.”

  “One second.” The Therian nurse picked up the phone, and seconds later, a young Therian female nurse with dark hair appeared.

  “Can I help you?”

  Cael frowned. “No. Sorry. We’re looking for Nurse Jude Russell.”

  “I’m Nurse Jude Russell,” she said, smiling pleasantly.

  Cael looked at her ID. It did indeed say Jude Russell. Well, that wasn’t confusing at all. What the holy hell was going on around here?

  “The nurse we’re looking for is a male Human,” Cael insisted. “Blond hair and pale-blue eyes.”

  The two nurses exchanged puzzled glances before female Nurse Russell turned back to him. “I’m sorry, Agent, but I’m the only Jude Russell in this department.”

  “Okay.” Rosa turned to the nurse behind the desk. “Is it possible the Jude we’re looking for was from a different department?”

  She tapped away at her screen. “I’m sorry, but there’s no other registered nurse under that name.”

  What the hell? They hadn’t made up the guy. Cael hurried back to the office with Rosa on his heels. “What the hell is going on?”

  “This is seriously fucked, Cael.”

  Cael rushed inside and came to an abrupt halt. No, this was seriously fucked. “Rosa, tell me I’m not going crazy. There was a body on the floor last time we were in here.”

  Rosa walked past him and stared down at the floor where Dr. Ward had been a moment ago. “What the fuck is going on?”

  There was no sign anyone had been in the room, yet the place had been swept. It was empty. All of Dr. Ward’s belongings, everything on his desk, in it, the shelves, anything that wasn’t furniture, were gone. They’d yet to hear from Hudson and Nina. Cael spun on his heels and stomped back to the nurses’ station, frowning at the male Therian sitting where the female Human nurse had been seconds ago.

  “Who are you?” Cael asked, trying not to snap at the nurse.

  The Therian blinked up at him. “Can I help you, Agent?”

  “Where’s the nurse who was here a moment ago?”

  “She had to go. Emergency.”

  “Right.” He thrust a finger in the direction of Dr. Ward’s office. “Maybe you can tell me who the hell went into that office and moved Dr. Ward’s body?”

  “I’m sorry, who?”

  Jesus. Cael pinched the bridge of his nose. This was getting absurd, and he was starting to lose his patience. “Dr. Ward. He was found dead earlier, and we’re here to investigate. Someone has moved his body.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but there’s no doctor by that name here.”

  Cael gaped at the guy. “Yes, there is. We were just in there with him. Look up a patient. Ash Keeler. Tell me the name of the attending doctor.”

  The nurse tapped away at his screen. “Here it is. Ash Keeler. THIRDS agent. It says here his attending doctor was Dr. Fredrickson.”

  “What? No, that’s not right. Look up a patient named Sloane Brodie. He was admitted in August.”

  More tapping. The nurse looked up at him and turned the screen so Cael could see. He pointed to the name in blue letters. Dr. Fredrickson.

  “This is bullshit,” Cael declared. He was about to chew out the nurse when his earpiece beeped. “Cael Maddock,” he growled.

  “Agent Maddock, this is Lieutenant Sparks. I want you and Agent Santiago in my office immediately.”

  “Can it wait? We have a situation.” It took a hell of a lot of patience not to spit the words out.

  “Your job isn’t to question my orders, Agent Maddock. Your job is to follow them.”

  “Yes, Lieutenant.” He tapped his earpiece and motioned for Rosa to follow him. “Come on. Sparks wants us in her office.” He pulled off his gloves and disposed of them in one of the nurses’ biohazard bins.

  “Cael, what’s going on?” Rosa asked as they hurried out to the parking lot and their Suburban. He climbed into the passenger side as his partner slid in behind the wheel. They fastened their seat belts and soon were on their way back to HQ.

  “I don’t know. But I intend to ask Sparks. This is all just… wrong. From the moment we stepped foot in there, it was wrong. Something was up with those nurses. And that guy who disappeared with the prescription? Someone went in there after us and swept the place.”

  They’d had newbies contaminate crime scenes, had to face uncooperative witnesses and all kinds of messed-up things, but this was the first time they’d had a body disappear on them. Not long after, they arrived back at HQ and the subbasement garage. They took the elevator up to Unit Alpha, and Cael couldn’t shake the feeling in his gut. If he were in his Therian form, his fur would have been bristling. He went to tap his earpiece to get a hold of Hudson, but instead he headed for his and Rosa’s office.

  “Where are you going? I thought Sparks wanted us in her office.”

  “She does. I need to make a quick call.” He put his hand to his desk’s interface and tapped Hudson’s extension into the digital keypad. Hudson answered cheerfully.

  “Cael. What can I do for you?”

  “Where were you guys?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You and Nina weren’t at the hospital.”

  “Were we supposed to be?” Hudson asked, sounding puzzled. “We’ve not had any callouts today.”

  “You weren’t requested at NY Presbyterian?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. Sorry. Must have gotten my intel wrong. Thanks, Hudson.”

  “No worries. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Will do.” Cael hung up and arched an eyebrow at Rosa. “That nurse told us they’d been detained. They hadn’t even been called out. Let’s see what Sparks has to say.”

  They’d left the office and were walking through the bullpen when he saw Ash sitting at his desk in his and Letty’s office. Taking a detour, he knocked on the glass wall. Ash looked up and smiled tentatively.

  “Hey. Everything okay?”

  “I’m not sure.” He walked in with Rosa beside him. “What was the name of the doctor who attended to you at NY Presbyterian Hospital?”

  “Dr. Ward.”

  “I knew it! That bastard.” They weren’t losing their minds. Ward had been there. Dead.

  “Who?”

  “Something really fucked-up is going on,” Rosa said, coming to sit on the edge of Ash’s desk, talking quietly. She brought Ash up to speed on everything that had happened from the moment they’d arrived at the crime scene, the puzzling game of musical chairs with various nurses, disappearing staff, vanishing bodies, and altered information. “And then Sparks orders us back here.”

  “Wait, what was the name of the drug you found?”

  “Thelxinomine,” Cael replied. “Have you heard of it? I swear I’ve seen it somewhere.”

  “I know exactly where you saw it.” Ash opened his desk drawer and straightened. “What the fuck?” He jumped to his feet, and Cael was immediately at his side.

  “What is it?”

  “My prescription. It’s gone.”

  “Are you sure you left it in there?” Rosa asked.

  “Yes. I took one at lunch and put the bottle in this drawer. And now it’s fucking gone.”

  Ash searched through the rest of his desk drawers, coming up empty every time. Ash’s side of the office was impeccable. It would be hard to believe the guy could lose anything there. Letty’s side was less organized but still tidy enough not to drive Ash mad. Cael knew what a neat freak Ash could be.

  “Where’s Letty?” Rosa asked.

  “She’s with the sarge, taking inventory on the last shipment of ammunition.”

  “Did you leave your office recently?” Cael looked around the office, not that he’d be able to spot if something was out of place. If Ash hadn’t noticed, it was likely whoever had come in and taken the pills had done so discreetly. Someone had to have seen something. They were in the freakin’ bullpen, for crying out loud.

  Ash narrowed his eyes at his desk, as if doing so might make the pills reappear. “About twenty minutes ago. I went to the bathroom.”

  Rosa walked to the door and discreetly peeked outside. “You can get a new one, right?”

  “I suppose, but the doctor who prescribed it for me is dead. It was Thelxinomine. Dr. Ward signed off on it. I had two weeks’ worth of doses left.”

  “There’s no way this is a coincidence.” Cael tapped his earpiece. “Dex?”

  “Hey, bro. What’s up?”

  “Are you around?”

  “Yeah, in the office with Sloane.”

  “Stay there.”

  “Sure.”

  The three of them left Ash’s office and found Dex sitting behind his desk. His brother quickly tapped his desk, as if they hadn’t noticed the brightly lit neon table hockey he’d been playing on his desk’s interface. Ash entered his badge number into the security panel and initiated the office’s privacy mode. The walls went white, and he turned to Sloane.

  “Your doctor at the hospital was Dr. Ward, right?”

  Sloane nodded. “Yeah, why?”

  “Was he the one who prescribed your meds?”

  “Yeah, Thelxinomine. I’ve still got another few weeks left. What’s going on?”

  Ash walked over to Sloane’s side. “Where’s the bottle?”

  “In my desk.” Sloane opened his drawer and frowned. He tried the other drawers. “At least it was in my desk.” He looked up at Dex in question. “Have you seen my meds?”

  “Not since this morning when you took your last dose, but I saw you put them back in the top right-hand drawer.”

  Cael turned to Sloane. “Were you and Dex out of your office recently?”

  Sloane nodded. “Sparks called us into her office about twenty minutes ago. She wanted to know how I was doing and if Dex was up for some extra training.”

  “How long did the meeting take?” Cael asked.

  Dex shrugged. “Maybe ten minutes at most.”

  “Guys? What’s going on?”

  “We’ll let you know as soon as we get some answers. Until then, don’t let anyone know your prescription has gone missing.”

  Cael entered his badge number into the security panel, and the office went back to normal. He left with Rosa and Ash in tow. As they left the bullpen and headed for Sparks’s office, Ash took hold of Cael’s arm and pulled him to one side.

  “Before you go in there, connect to my com and leave your line open.”

  Cael stared at him, his voice low when he spoke in case anyone was close by. “You want to listen in. Why?”

  “Trust me. I’ll explain later.”

  “Okay.” He had no idea why Ash was asking him, but there had to be a good reason for it. He tapped his earpiece and connected to Ash, then pressed the button in farther until it clicked, putting it on covert mode with no green light to give him away. Ash would be able to hear whatever Cael heard. They walked into Sparks’s office.

  “Close the door behind you,” Sparks said from behind her desk in her usual no-nonsense tone.

  Cael obliged, pressing his hand to the security panel. The door closed, and he joined his partner, taking a seat in the empty chair.

  “Why the detour?” Sparks asked.

  Shit. How the hell did she know? “Sorry. Dex had asked me to pick up some ibuprofen from the hospital while I was there. For Sloane.”

  “It could have waited.”

  Cael cleared his throat and tried his best not to fidget under her penetrating stare. “My apologies.”

  “I apologize as well.”

  Wait, what now? Cael was flabbergasted. Since when did their lieutenant apologize for anything? Before he could ask, she elaborated.

  “You and Agent Santiago weren’t supposed to have been called out to NY Presbyterian Hospital. Dispatch was misinformed. They were under the impression you were taking calls. They were meant to have put the call through to another Recon team. That’s why Dr. Colbourn and Dr. Bishop weren’t on scene when you arrived. The CSIs had already been there and processed the body.”

  “You mean Dr. Ward.”

  “I’m afraid that information is classified.”

  Cael frowned. “It’s not classified if we’ve already seen it. We saw the body. It was Dr. Ward.” And since when was a regular homicide classified? The information was most likely already public knowledge.

  “You must be confused, Agent Maddock. The wolf Therian brought in was a Dr. Fredrickson. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some important matters to attend to. You may return to your duties.”

  What the hell? “With all due respect, Lieutenant, what’s going on? The body we saw belonged to Dr. Ward, but then the nurse at the station—who wasn’t the first nurse we spoke to—told us the guy didn’t exist. The information on Agent Keeler and Agent Brodie’s files had been altered, and then the bottle—”

  “Lieutenant,” Ash interrupted. “Damn. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in a meeting.”

  Sparks didn’t look pleased by the disturbance. “The status on the door hasn’t glitched again, has it, Agent Keeler? It does say ‘Engaged’ in English and not Japanese, correct?”

  Ash cringed. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. Have a lot on my mind.”

  Sparks seemed to consider that before giving him a smile. “Understandable. What did you need, Agent Keeler?”

  “Am I cleared for authorization on advanced CQC training for Agents Daley and Maddock?”

  “Your request has been accepted. I’d like an eighteen-week training schedule submitted to me by the end of the week, detailing what you hope to accomplish and the expected results.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Sparks gave him a nod and turned her attention back to Cael and Rosa.

  “You’re dismissed, Agents.”

  “But—”

  “There’s nothing further to discuss. Get back to your training. In light of recent events, we need Destructive Delta to be in top form. I’m expecting to see results, Agent Maddock.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” There was something about the way she said it that had Cael wondering if she was hinting at knowing more than they believed she knew. With Sparks, there was no way to tell. The female Therian was impossible to read. But if she knew about the unsanctioned mission, why hadn’t they heard anything about it? Surely they would have heard something from Seb, who’d been permanently assigned the position of team leader for Theta Destructive.

  They silently left and headed back to the bullpen. Cael tapped his earpiece and shut it off before leaning into Ash. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you want me to tell her about the drug?”

  “Tell your brother to put in a call to Bradley and ask if we can borrow the second floor of Dekatria before it opens. We’re having a team meeting. I want everyone there. This is off the books, so no one says a word. You inform Dex and Sloane. I’ll inform the others. Something fucked-up is going on around here, and it’s time we get to the bottom of it.”

  “Thanks for letting us use your bar.”

  Ash would never have thought they’d be using Dekatria as a base of operations, but the place was secure enough for them to have a meeting without having to worry someone was listening. Ash was comfortable here, which was saying something. He was always alert and on edge when hanging around someplace new, but he’d quickly acclimated himself to Dekatria. The retro décor didn’t even bug him anymore.

  “No problem. If you need anything, let me know.” Bradley leaned over Ash to pass Cael a soda, his tattooed arm in front of them.

  Bradley gave them a cheerful salute and headed toward the door. Ash excused himself to use the bathroom. On the stairs, he caught up to Bradley and took hold of his left arm. Puzzled, Bradley’s smile dimmed. Recognition came into his eyes as Ash tightened his grip and turned his arm.

  “Tell me this isn’t a problem anymore and it’s the last time I’ll be bringing it up. I won’t let you endanger my team.”

  Bradley’s amber eyes glowed with a familiar fire, his reply grave. “It’s not a problem anymore.”

  Ash nodded. “Does Lou know?”

  The anger in Bradley’s eyes dimmed. “No. It’s in the past.”