Eye of the Tiger Read Free Page A

took in Luca’s bright eyes and smile. He wanted to snarl at his friend for not feeling as bad as him but Zak knew it was his own damn fault.
    “What are you doing?” Zak asked as Luca reached him.
    “Come on.” Luca motioned back the way he’d come. He led Zak along the side of the house, keeping them out of sight from others.
    Following behind, Zak glanced around, making sure all was quiet. Being just inside the city limits, there wasn’t much around the property, making it the ideal place for training. A shooting range, obstacle course and even a medical lab had all been set up as soon as they’d arrived. Small groups from all over Arizona had been brought down to the farm to settle as a large troop.
    While the larger numbers of the SIP were good for his mission, Zak couldn’t help but worry about what was being planned. Why did they need more members of the terrorist group when no moves had been happening?
    “Look.” Luca stopped just around the last corner of the house. A line of trees separated the newer main residence from the rundown building that had been turned into the sleeping quarters for the lower shifters, Zak included. An overhang had fallen against the back railing, giving them privacy from prying eyes. They had the perfect view of the small main house that the inner circle stayed in. An expensive black BMW was parked out front.
    Narrowing his eyes, Zak tried to make out more detail about the vehicle. If he could get a license plate, he could pass on that information to Calvin at the bar later.
    “We need to run into town to get supplies,” Luca told him. “They want to barbeque tonight to welcome whoever our guest is.”
    At least Zak would get to find out who drove the fancy car. He didn’t want to put too much hope on it being the mysterious Mike Timmons who the Coalition had been looking for. Zak had given Cody Mike’s name a month ago, but so far Timmons had remained hidden. Could this be the exclusive Mike Timmons?
    “Guess we should be going then,” Zak told him.
    They made their way to the same red truck they’d driven the night before. Luca pulled the keys out of his pocket and tossed them over. “Your turn.”
    Nodding, he jerked open the driver door. It took three attempts to get the old pickup to start up but finally they were off to the closest grocery store.
    Before he’d been moved to the farm, Zak hadn’t actually ever been in this area. It was so rural and remote that he’d never had any case that had brought him out so far. There was a small mom and pop shop about fifteen miles from where they stayed. Zak actually liked the older couple that ran the place and hoped to keep them out of harm’s way when the bust came down.
    “Did you hear anything about who that might be?” Zak asked, once they were far enough away from the farm that he felt comfortable discussing their business.
    “No, as soon as they gave me the shopping list, I was escorted back out,” Luca replied.
    “We haven’t had a big cookout since we’ve arrived. I wonder just what’s going on,” Zak commented.
    “The group’s been gearing up. I have a feeling this is going to be it,” Luca said as he turned his head toward the side window.
    If he didn’t trust Luca, Zak would be concerned with the apparent excitement in his tone. He needed to figure out what Luca’s agenda was. Maybe the two of them needed to have a little heart-to-heart. This trip to the store may be the right time to push Luca on his way of thinking.
    Before he could start asking Luca more questions that he probably wouldn’t get answers to, a red and blue flash in his rear-view mirror stole his attention.
    “Fuck,” he cursed at getting pulled over. Glancing down, he saw he wasn’t speeding, so why in the hell was he getting pulled over?
    “What’d you do?” Luca asked while checking over his shoulder.
    “I didn’t do anything,” Zak growled.
    “Just pull over,” Luca advised. “It’ll be better to get this over