Alpha Shield

Stranger - Killian

"She found it." James' voice sounded tinny over the speaker from his cell phone, but the menace in his voice came through loud and clear, "Emily found the missing correspondence between Sanctuary and OSF. They also found the digital files with the missing notes to Abby."

The growl that burst from handheld device from Malcolm's side of the conference call echoed his own as it bounced off the walls of his hotel room across from Sanctuary. The generic picture mounted on the wall above the desk where his phone sat rattled with the vibration of anger coming from his chest.

Silence filled the room for a few seconds after the angry rumble finally died down, but Killian could almost feel the fury coming from Malcolm's side of the call. Startlingly enough, it was the anger from James' side that made him take a deep breath and wrestle his own desire to kidnap Abby and lock her away somewhere safe.

Commander James had been an OSF officer long enough and had seen enough shit that he rarely lost control according to Malcolm's stories. That he could practically feel the other Alpha's rage feather along his skin let Killian know how much deeper this shit was going to get.

"Emily pulled some fairly illegal tricks to find the information, which shouldn't really surprise any of us, but she showed up at my house last night with some kind of computer-nerd speak that nearly put me in coma. End result... she found the correspondence and files hidden in Baranov Sr.'s drives. Once she found it, it opened without a problem. No "trojan horse" viruses or anything. From her tech work with Baranov, she says it doesn't fit his skill level. He's far from tech savvy, and the hidden files were just deep enough that it took some more than basic level tech skills to find which, according to Emily, is more than what he's capable of. She's pissed. She's kept the rest of the geek squad out of it so far, but she doesn't think it was one of her people. In her words, 'It was a shoddy job even for something quick, and my geeks are far better than that. If they'd done it, I'd still be looking for it.' She traced some of the changes to an IP address that points to Sanctuary itself. So, per Emily, we've got more than one traitor in OSF and another at Sanctuary."

Traitor.

The word hung in a moment of silence between the three Alphas as they each absorbed the weight of that word. For James and Malcolm, it meant a viper in their trusted space. Someone they may work with on a daily basis. Baranov Sr. works in an administrative capacity that touches the two Alphas only on a paperwork level, but this other traitor could be anyone. Someone with access to vulnerable Omegas in crisis. Someone who had access to their own Omegas.

Killian didn't share their sense of betrayal. He didn't work for OSF. His only point of contact with the Omega agency being Malcolm and sometimes James, but the missing Omegas from Sanctuary, Tobias' successful breach of the security, and the Beta's filthy hand on Abby's arm caused a spike of something he'd never felt before in his chest. A traitor on the staff at Sanctuary. Someone with intimate knowledge of the Omegas under their care. Someone with access. Access to Blossom. The unknown stab of ice caused his breath to catch in his lungs, and his heart started pounding out of control.

What the fuck? Killian concentrated on his breathing as his vision grayed out briefly before oxygen started flooding his brain again. Deep breath in. Hold. Exhale. His lungs struggled to expand with tightening invisible bands wrapping around his chest, but he forced air past the constriction to provide oxygen to his starving cells.

Barely registering the conversation continuing on the device sitting on his hotel desk, Killian stretched his arms to reach the ends of the cheap, laminate covered piece of furniture. Wrapping his fingers around the edges, he vaguely registered the sound of cracking wood, but his reflection in the round mirror mounted above the desk trapped his attention.