The Creature reconned. It was as if the enemy wolf had given up—wounded twice, he had lost all heart. Lupo knew silver had that effect. It ate you up from the inside, consuming your organs and your brain, tunneling through healthy tissue and leaving behind disease and death. This wolf had been around, but its heart had been ripped out.
Once inside the house, the Creature found the helpless enemy wolf and lunged, jaws closing around the muscular neck.
The black-and-gray wolf’s remaining diseased eye seemed to plead for death, and the Creature dealt it out without mercy. The wolf died, gratitude written in its last expression. The air blurred, and then a middle-aged man lay where the wolf had been, his body crisscrossed with horrific wounds and slashes.
The silver buckshot in the corpse scalded Lupo, too, and he backed off. He felt no pride at the killing.
By the time he waded back out to the boat, Jessie was visibly worried. “Nick! What happened? We heard—”
“Nothing!” he snapped. “Nothing.” Then his voice softened. “It had to be done. Just get us to the island before Sam and the others pay for our slow response.”
Heather huddled behind them in the stern. Her face was flushed.
Jessie turned away and started the motor. Dark shoreline fell astern as they ate up the miles back through the northern lobe of Catfish and then up a channel to the wider Cranberry. A night wind whipped up whitecaps. If there hadn’t been clouds, they might have seen the Northern Lights. Even so a weird glow seemed to light the water from below.
Cranberry Island was a thickly wooded pear-shaped mass bisecting the middle of Cranberry Lake, one of the larger bodies in the Chain of Lakes. The north shore flowed into an elongated spit of land like a finger. A privacy-seeking Hollywood movie star had purchased a portion of the north side and had begun to build, literally, a green mansion. Speculation had run rampant about whether the celebrity was named Pitt, Costner, or Affleck. The money just rolled in.
Heather told them she had covered the early days of the construction, which was now about half complete in the middle of a large clearing near the northern beach. The firstfloor beams and fireplace rose up from the gentle hillside, looking more like the hulk of a destroyed mansion than one on the rise.
They circled around the north side quietly, then found the pier on the southern side.
“We’d better wait for Arnow,” said Lupo.
Barely minutes later a low rumble marked the arrival of Davison and Arnow in a narrow vintage speedboat. As it nosed toward them from the darkening waters, Lupo spotted a third figure.
One of the deputies?
He took the hawser and tied up the fifties “woody” behind Jessie’s boat.
Christ, what was Mayor Malko doing here?
Arnow climbed onto the pier awkwardly, with Davison and Malko following much more gracefully.
“The mayor insisted on a ride-along. Claims he’s good with a gun. I, uh, deputized him.”
Lupo stepped back hastily, the silver in their loads scalding him. “Whatever, it’s your show.”
“That’s right, Detective. Sheriff Arnow is the ranking law enforcement official present, so he’s in charge. Dr. Hawkins, it’s nice to see you. The sheriff filled me in on what’s going on—”
“My show?” Arnow snorted. “You’re making vigilantes out of us and you give me command?”
Lupo took him aside and asked how much he had filled in the mayor. “I left out some bits he wouldn’t believe.”
Lupo rubbed his tingling arms. He quietly explained what he’d done to the wounded wolf. “Regardless of what you think, we’re in it now to the end. Or the hostages will die. And we still don’t know what the fuck they want, really. Got any better ideas?”
“No.”
Heather and Jessie’s silence was chillier than the cold night air.
This is it, Lupo thought. We’re risking it all.
They distributed their weapons, making sure all the shotguns carried silver loads. Lupo, Jessie, and Heather followed the eastern shore, while Davison led Arnow and Malko in a straight traverse of the island following a roughly overgrown ser vice road.
Sam had indicated they were inside the construction site. Arnow’s group would reach the site from the south, while Lupo’s would come in from the northern beach. They hustled over sandy dunes and piney clearings, aiming north to swing back down. Heather and Jessie tripped over exposed roots and were slashed by branches whipping them mercilessly. Lupo instinctively navigated the woods as the Creature might have. Suddenly the site was upon them, set amidst a wide clearing bordered by pines on the southern edge and beach on the northern.
Chill wind whistled through the bare rafters and wall skeletons huddled around a massive chimney. Neither the bad guys nor the hostages were visible.
When they were in position, Lupo took Jessie’s hand and kissed it. “Watch out for her,” he said, nodding at Heather.
Before she could agree, he willed the Change and after the air blurred around him he stood as the wolf. Then he bounded toward the enemy’s camp.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jessie
When Lupo Changed, Heather’s mouth opened wide to scream, but Jessie clapped her hand over it.
“Easy,” she hissed, “he’s with us.”
Heather’s eyes bulged, and she sagged into Jessie’s embrace. “Gee, what a wimp,” Jessie muttered. But then she checked Heather’s pulse. It was racing, her skin clammy. Great time to get sick.
Jessie grabbed up both shotguns.
Arnow
The road on which Davison led them bisected the island and ended at the mansion site. They hunkered down and waited for Lupo’s group to arrive—a vibrating cell phone gave them the message.
Arnow had avoided filling in Malko on what Lupo and Jessie had shown him, but he made sure the mayor wielded a silver-loaded shotgun. He seemed to know his way around it. Now that he knew Lupo would recon the site, Arnow led Davison and Malko closer. He could see heads now, people seated on a fieldstone wall surrounding a wide patio.
The hostages.
“Let’s move up on them,” he whispered. “Lupo and his group will come around and flank them.”
“Yes, let’s move up,” Malko said, jabbing the shotgun muzzle painfully into Arnow’s back. “Drop the guns.”
Arnow whirled, but the shotgun dug into his side, throwing him off balance.
“Drop them,” Malko ordered again.
Davison looked confused, but he dropped the Remington.
“What the hell are you doing, Mayor?” Arnow lay his gun down near his feet.
“Step away from them.” They did so. “You threw a monkey wrench into my plan, Sheriff, you and that fucking city cop.” He stood up and called out, “Tannhauser, it’s XYZ coming in with prisoners.” He prodded Arnow and Davison toward the patio.
“About time, XYZ,” a whispered voice responded.
Arnow felt the rage boiling up inside. All the time the mayor gave him hell for doing his job, he was part of it. He wanted to kick himself. They approached and he recognized Sam Waters and Bill Grey Hawk and his family, but not the tall, distinguished military type called Tannhauser, who held an HK submachine gun on them.
Christ!
Lupo
Wearing the Creature’s skin, he made a half circuit of the site and caught sight of the hostages and the lone gunman. Where was the other one, the young blond guy? He hated making a move while a piece like that, a bishop at least, was invisible on the board.
Now he watched as the fucking mayor led Arnow and Davison into the camp at gunpoint, and he forced the Creature to slink closer silently. He had to hear what sort of game the mayor was playing.
The one called Tannhauser turned his nose up and sniffed the night air.
He knows I’m close.
Where was the young one?
Now the mayor conferred with the Alpha man, pointing at the opposite side of the site.
Then the underbrush broke suddenly an
d Jessie and Heather stumbled out, also at gunpoint. The blond guy, the bishop, walked behind them.
Fuck! Lupo swore and the Creature stifled a growl.
Better to hold out and wait. He was their only hope now.
He slinked even closer.
Mr. XYZ
It was exhilarating! Much more than he’d thought. He always loved control over others: his town, his cops, his women. He loved this gun pointing and having henchmen to do his bidding. Tannhauser and the weird kid. Where was the third one? Didn’t matter. He had two henchmen, hostages, the council was nearly decimated, and—he looked at Jessie Hawkins and imagined her spread out on his hand truck. The Wilson chick, too, but there was something off about her. She was green in the gills. But the doctor, she was a feisty one. She’d struggle nicely with the duct tape. She’d be worth the wait. Maybe Heather Wilson would make a good appetizer, and Jessie Hawkins could be the main meal.
Jessie and the Wilson chick stood desultorily near old Sam Waters and the sheriff. Davison and the Grey Hawk family made a tight little knot. They’d all have to die, of course.
The sheriff had a whipped look about him. He’d been shocked all right. Malko luxuriated in the way his game plan had come together. Even if the last quarter was mostly improvisation, it had worked out all right.
“So what was it, Malko? Religion? Hated the gambling? What’s your beef with the casino?” Arnow flinched when the young guy went to cuff him with a gun barrel, but Malko waved him off.
“Nothing quite so moral, I’m afraid, Sheriff.” He was turning positively garrulous now. “No, I was being preemptive. You see, if the construction continued on schedule they’d be draining the pond next to the site soon. They were supposed to leave it alone, but then they added the parking structure and that was it. When they drained that bowl full of scum, they’d find too many things that would have affected me. I couldn’t let them do it. Shutting down the project seemed the only way.”
“The disappearances!” Arnow snapped his fingers. “I should have—” His voice faded, full of failure and regret.
“I hired these highly recommended gentlemen to cause a little chaos. They were spectacular, weren’t they? Now it’s time to bring it on home. Looks like we’re only missing your cop friend. We’ll drag him in here. His lady friend, his buddy, you. He’ll have to show up, won’t he?”
“Don’t count on it,” muttered Jessie.
He stalked over, took her lovely chin in his hands and squeezed until she whimpered.
He liked that. Liked it a lot.
Tannhauser stepped up and removed his hand with a vise grip. “There’s something you don’t know about that cop,” he said.
“I don’t care. I’m in command, Tannhauser. You work for me.”
Tannhauser smiled. “Yes, we do. Did you make the last payment as agreed?”
“Of course.”
“Great,” Tef said, and he shot Malko twice in the head with his HK.
“I guess it’s a transfer of command,” Tef added.
Arnow
He hadn’t expected the quick justice. But he wasn’t all that shocked.
These fucking criminals always eat their own.
He sidled closer to Sam Waters and whispered, “What about Eagleson?”
Waters shook his head sadly. “They tortured him and then dumped him over the side in Cranberry Lake. He was dead by then.”
“Christ, it’s all on your buddy Lupo now.”
“He’ll show. He’s here already, I assume.”
“Oh yeah.” Arnow tilted his head. “Malko was an idiot. Dangerous but an idiot. I have a backup piece in an ankle rig. If I get the chance…”
“But you know they’re—”
Arnow cut him off. Tannhauser was coming closer. The air rippled around him, and he Changed.
Suddenly a black wolf leaped out of the woods with a roar and landed on the other—Tannhauser’s—wolf, jaws biting and slashing.
Lupo!
Arnow didn’t hesitate, going for the tiny Glock 26 in his ankle holster and coming up with the two black wolves in his sights. He tracked them both for a second, whispering a quick prayer to choose well, then squeezed the trigger three times quickly.
Three fountains of blood spurted from the larger wolf’s head.
It roared in pain and surprise, and Lupo’s smaller black wolf backed off a few steps.
Arnow had coated his 9mm slugs with molten silver earlier that day, and now he saw what they did to Tannhauser. The old wolf died screaming, bleeding, and smoking, and changed back to his human form.
Sam Waters pushed Bill Grey Hawk and his family over the fieldstone wall, shouting at them to run for the beach. Davison herded them, looking back in horror at what was happening before his eyes.
Where’s the young bastard? Arnow turned, gun following, but he was too late and out of balance, because a muscular gray wolf was in midleap and headed for his throat.
Sam Waters moved much faster than his years and met Tef’s wolf, knocking him aside and out of his trajectory. As he fell sideways, the gray wolf snapped and his jaws took a huge jagged bite out of Sam’s neck.
Sam staggered and fell to his knees, his hands up around his neck covered with blood. When he rose again, he scooped up the shotgun dropped by Malko, planted the stock in the sand and took a last look at his friends Jessie and Lupo, who was now circling the gray wolf. He smiled sadly at Arnow, then rested his chin on the Remington’s barrel and pushed the trigger downward with his extended hand.
“Nooooooooooooo!” screamed Jessie, as the blast destroyed the top of his head in a bloody cloud. She turned and hugged a shell-shocked Heather, desperate with grief and disbelief.
Arnow wanted to repeat his trick-shooting, but by now Tef and Lupo were snarling and snapping at each other, both their fur blood streaked. It seemed the gray wolf was getting the worst of it, but the black wolf wasn’t making enough headway. Suddenly Lupo yelped and fell aside, his side badly slashed.
The gray wolf headed for Jessie and Heather, and Arnow brought up the Glock again, but before he could take a shot the air rippled and now it was Tef, the blond guy, grabbing Jessie by the hair and pulling her out of the clearing and into the woods.
“Goddammit!” he shouted, starting to give chase.
“Hold it, Arnow!”
It was Lupo, standing next to him and holding him back, his side bleeding profusely.
“That’s one crafty fucker,” he said, breathlessly. “Let him go.”
“He’s got Jessie!”
“He won’t hurt her—yet. She’s his ticket out of this. There’s no boat left. Davison got the Grey Hawks to the beach. There aren’t many moves he can make.”
Lupo turned and saw Sam Waters lying in the sand. His dark eyes filled with hurt and sadness.
“He saved my life,” Arnow said.
“I know,” Lupo snarled. “He didn’t want to be like me.” His eyes were wild, nearly no longer human. “Look, we have to finish this.” He nodded at Heather Wilson. “She can help us.”
He told Arnow what she’d told him about Tef.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lupo
They tracked Tef and Jessie down to the beach, where they now stood at the end of the pier. The boat was gone.
Lupo held his sadness at Sam’s death off with his fear for Jessie’s life. If he’d managed to neutralize the gray wolf, she’d be safe now. But he wasn’t prepared for the kid’s toughness and tenacity. Now he would have to outplay him.
Heather Wilson had agreed to help, though her hooded eyes showed clearly that she’d been damaged by this night. But she’d been fucking this Tef character, and there was no other option to play. Jessie was his human shield, and trying to shoot Tef would kill her, too.
“Ahoy there, Tef!” he said. Arnow was armed with a riot gun, and Heather was down to bra and panties. She should have been shivering, but her skin seemed inflamed, and she was sweating. “Want to propose a trade.”
“Speak up,” said Tef from behind Jessie at the end of the pier. “You’ve got a lot to learn about your wolfskin.”
“That may be. But if you want to get past us, we want Dr. Hawkins. Your girlfriend here wants to join you. She says she’s attached to you. We’re willing to make a trade. You give us the doctor, and we’ll give you Heather. We don’t want either of them dead. They die, you die. Simple as that.”
Tef worked it out in his head, the thoughts written on his face. There weren’t many choices with his back to the water. Even if he leaped in, they’d pick him off from shore.
Lupo knew well enough Tef would think he had the queen in his hands. But there was a chance he’d make his play during the trade. Tef had to kill them all, or they’d track him down now that they knew everything about him. And he wanted to live to spend his money.
“Are you set?” Lupo whispered to Heather.
“I’m set,” she said, grimacing.
“He’s going for it. He’ll make a move during the trade, but he thinks he has to.”
“Send her across to me. I’ll send the doctor.”
Jessie’s eyes said it all.
Tef
He’d grab them both. They were naïve if they thought he’d go so easily. But he did feel a weird kinship with Heather Wilson. He’d ridden her so much, so well, and she’d been so giving…it was fitting that he use her to his advantage now that options were few. These humans weren’t thinking like an Alpha male, and now he was Alpha. He would use Tannhauser’s contacts to build his own pack, and he’d return here and make this backwater his own private kingdom.
The bastards had done him a favor, ridding him of Tannhauser. He had the bank codes, he had the hostages, he would maneuver his way past these hicks. He’d eat their guts before this cold night was over.
Heather was almost naked. He felt a boner coming on.
The doctor felt it too, through her clothes. She squealed, and he ground himself into her, enjoying her disgust.
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