"Fine," Kyra conceded. "But hurry."
Max hauled the unconscious guard out of the van. The man was heavier than he looked, soft around the middle, probably from eating too much Persian rice.
The warehouse door opened to Max's palm print on the scanner, and he walked in with the prisoner draped over his shoulder.
He dropped him on the metal examination table. "Start stripping him while I call this in."
As Theo started on the guard's clothes, Max dialed Onegus's line.
"Max," the chief answered on the second ring. "I hear you had some excitement at the market."
"News travels fast," Max said. "Where did you hear that?"
"Fenella just called Din, and he panicked and right away called Kian."
"I see." Max leaned against another examination table. "We have the Revolutionary Guard who recognized Soraya and Rana at the Persian market. We are in the warehouse, checking him for trackers, and from here we are heading to the keep. Jackson will drop us off and continue with the ladies to the village."
"Hold on, I'm patching Kian in."
There was a brief silence, then Kian's voice came through the conference call. "Hello, Max. What's going on?"
Max quickly summarized the events at the market, from Soraya's recognition of the guard to the neutralization of the threat.
"That was quick thinking," Kian said when he finished. "If he'd had time to make a phone call or send a text, we could have had a serious problem on our hands."
"Actually, it was Kyra who told me to grab him," Max admitted. "I just followed her instructions."
Kian chuckled. "Her instincts are better than most. She's been dealing with those thugs for over twenty years."
Max felt a surge of pride for his mate. "That she has."
"I'll meet you at the keep," Onegus said. "This man might be here on vacation, visiting family, or he might be part of a cell. We need to find out what we are dealing with."
Max wanted to say that he didn't need Onegus's help to interrogate a human, but, of course, he didn't.
"Understood. We'll be there in about forty-five minutes."
"Take your time," Onegus said. "It will take me at least that long to get to the keep, and I don't want you rushing the search. Make sure he's clean before you bring him in."
"Yes, sir."
Max ended the call and turned to see that Theo had completely stripped the guard and was feeding his clothes into the scanner piece by piece. The machine beeped as it analyzed each item.
"Two phones," Theo reported, holding up the devices. "One in his pocket, one sewn into the lining of his jacket. Also, a smartwatch, and what looks like a GPS tracker in his shoe."
"Paranoid bastards," Max muttered. "Or maybe just well-equipped. Put everything in the signal-proof box."
"We'll need to vacate this warehouse," Theo said.
Max shrugged. "We keep moving the equipment around anyway. It's not a big deal. But we might be able to release himbefore anyone notices he's missing and bothers to check his whereabouts. Help me get him in the body scanner," he said, not because the guy was too heavy for him to carry alone but because his body was like a noodle, which was difficult to maneuver.
He was pale and soft, with a significant paunch and body hair in unfortunate places. Max was glad he'd kept Kyra in the van—not out of jealousy, but because no one needed to see this.
As they put him on the scanner platform, the device hummed to life, bathing the guard in blue light as it checked for subdermal implants or other hidden devices.
"Clean," Theo announced after several moments. "No implants."
"Good. Let's get him dressed and out of here."
