Wild Country

by Anne Bishop

  “We’ll get to that.” Jana focused on Truman. “Show me.”

  Two open bottles of pills on the bedside table. Apparently more than enough to do the job.

  “We brought her in here to rest until you arrived,” Truman said. “She . . .”

  Jana picked up the note that was on the floor beside the bed. Simple. Cryptic. Chilling.

  I saw what killed my husband. It’s out there, watching us. Always watching us.

  She looked at Truman. “Did she say anything to you? Anything about what happened?”

  “Can we . . . ?” He walked out of the room. Jana and Yuri followed him back to the kitchen.

  The Simple Life woman wasn’t there, but there was a plate of biscuits on the table, along with butter and a berry jam, all under mesh covers to keep away the flies. Jana wasn’t interested in food, but she recognized the custom of providing sustenance so that survivors could continue.

  “She and her husband were trying to find a way to reach their daughter, who lives in a small town in the Southwest Region,” Truman began. “I don’t know how long they’d been traveling or where they started from, but they were at a crossroads—the one that would head up to Bennett or down to Prairie Gold—when they were forced to stop by a car blocking the road. Two men with guns. They stole the couple’s car and left them with the other car. The car had gasoline and it started, so they decided to head north to Bennett to report the incident and turn the car over to the police.

  “The attack was so sudden, the woman didn’t know what was happening. One moment they were driving along, with nothing of their own except her big purse, which the gunmen had tossed out of her car, and the next thing they knew, something knocked them off the road and they were pulled from the car. Her husband tried to tell the Others that it wasn’t their car, that they hadn’t been involved in whatever had happened, but . . .” Truman swallowed hard. “They ripped her husband apart right in front of her. Then a red-haired man riding a brown horse appeared out of nowhere. The moment he touched the car it started to burn. Once the car started burning, they let the woman go and just . . . disappeared.

  “We saw the smoke. When we drove out to investigate, we found her staggering down the middle of the road. We brought her back here, and I called you.”

  “Did she have the pills on her?” Jana asked.

  “Don’t know. She wasn’t carrying anything when we found her, so she might have found the pills in the drawer. We’re still getting everything sorted and settled. We didn’t check the drawers, didn’t think she’d . . .” Truman rubbed his face with his hands. “That woman. Her husband. They didn’t hurt anyone.”

  “You think her mate was killed by mistake,” Yuri said.

  Truman gave Jana and Yuri a bleak look and nodded. “Do you think that will be a comfort to their daughter if you can find her?”

  * * *

  * * *

  “It is regrettable, but mistakes happen,” Tolya said. Who had called Jesse to tell her about these humans, and why?

  “Mistakes happen?” Jesse’s voice held cold condemnation. “Two innocent people died, and that’s all you can say?”

  “Isn’t that what humans say when they do something similar?” Tolya snapped. “Namid’s teeth and claws have had little exposure to humans except when killing is required. The vehicle that was spotted was the same vehicle being driven by the humans who you sensed were a danger, who you hid from, who tried to burn down your store.”

  “The vehicle was the same; the people were not. They were victims, Tolya, more so than me. The Elders killed that man right in front of his wife.”

  “And humans have never done such a thing.”

  He was angry—with her, with the Elders, and especially with the men who had caused this sudden schism between human allies and the terra indigene.

  “You’re not going to see anyone’s side but your own, are you?” Jesse said.

  “I could say the same about you.” He hung up on her, partly because her naïveté annoyed him. Having lived in an isolated town her whole life, she should have a better understanding of what lived just out of sight—except for those last moments when it appeared right in front of you. But the other reason for ending the call was Jana and Virgil walking into his office, both looking grim.

  “They were innocent people,” Jana said. “Victims.”

  “An ally had been threatened,” Tolya countered. “The Elders and Elementals responded to eliminate the threat.”

  “Nobody was threatened by that man and his wife! They didn’t do anything wrong, and now they’re dead.”

  “Look around you, Deputy,” Tolya said coldly. “You live in a town that was full of people who ‘didn’t do anything wrong’ and still ended up dead.” Having used up his patience talking to Jesse, he turned on Jana. “What should the terra indigene have done? Decline to track the vehicle that held humans who posed a threat? Should Fire have stood back and watched Jesse’s store burn?”

  “No, but they didn’t have to kill those people! They could have apprehended them and waited for us to arrive.”

  “They killed an Eagle,” Virgil snarled. “They had guns.”

  “They, they, they!” Jana snarled back. “The they who killed the Eagle and tried to burn Jesse’s store were armed robbers, not two middle-aged people who were trying to find their daughter. I would think even the Elders could tell the difference.”

  “Be careful, human,” Virgil said.

  “Yes! I’m human. Sorry I don’t have fangs and fur.”

  “Not half as sorry as we are.”

  She took a step back and looked at the Wolf as if he’d just delivered a wound that would prove fatal.

  And Tolya, too angry at her species to deny his predatory instinct, went in for the verbal kill. “Do you know why the Sanguinati don’t mind living around humans? Because you’re our preferred prey. But the Elders look at you and see a blight, a disease that spoils the world. They consider proximity to humans as a contamination, but some of them have to be contaminated now because too many of the shifters that used to watch your kind were killed by the Humans First and Last movement, so the choice, as the Elders see it, is to be close enough for some forced interaction or to eliminate all of you.”

  “The only good human is a dead human,” Virgil growled.

  “The Elders did what they understood to be right. But perhaps you have a point, Deputy Paniccia, and only humans should deal with human-against-human conflicts in whatever way you see fit, and the terra indigene will deal with anything that is a threat to us.”

  “But . . . ,” Jana began.

  “Works for me,” Virgil said.

  “And me.” Tolya stared at Jana. “That will be all, Deputy.”

  He watched her stagger out of his office. Then he looked at Virgil.

  “What about the prophet pup?” Virgil asked. “She can be used against us. If we don’t protect her, we have to destroy her.”

  “She’s Namid’s creation, both wondrous and terrible. We’ll protect her.”

  “She’s still a human.”

  “She’s not like the rest of them.” He heard the relief in Virgil’s sigh. “What are you going to do about Jana?”

  “She is still a deputy working for the town, but she and the pup will have to be their own pack. As you said, she has to deal with human troubles and we will deal with the rest.”

  Now that his anger had faded, Tolya considered the strangers who had arrived recently. Too many of them were coming into town since Parlan Blackstone showed up, and none of them seemed interested in finding work. Which meant they were here for another reason. “If she’s killed by a human? What then?”

  Virgil stared at him with those amber eyes. “Then we go back to killing all the problems without anyone whining about us making mistakes. Truth, Tolya? It’s never a mistake to bring down an enemy�
��or bring down prey. If we had killed more of the humans when they were talking about causing trouble instead of waiting until they did cause trouble, there would have been a lot less humans in this part of Thaisia and more of the shifters would have survived.”

  Tolya studied the Wolf. “You don’t believe the story. That’s why you’re angry with Jana. You don’t believe those humans were innocent.”

  “They weren’t the ones who stole from Jesse Walker or tried to burn her store, but the Elders wouldn’t have killed the human male the way we were told they did unless they had smelled something on him or heard something that wasn’t right.”

  “And the female?”

  “You know what form of Elder she saw.”

  “Yes, I know.” He’d seen it the night the Elders had set the final boundaries for the town. It was a very old form—a nightmare that walked on two legs.

  “Did she choose to kill herself just because she saw that form of terra indigene? Or did she choose a human way to die because she knew the Elders would have a reason to come hunting for her and now had her scent?”

  “Are you going to say that to Jana?”

  Virgil smiled grimly. “What for? Until she accepts what it means to live in this part of Thaisia, she won’t listen.”

  * * *

  * * *

  “Darlin’, I don’t want to argue with you,” Tobias said.

  Jana held the phone so hard her hand hurt. “You’re agreeing with Virgil and Tolya?”

  Silence.

  “Tobias?”

  “I’ve already done this dance with my mother, who was shaken up enough that she isn’t thinking straight. And neither are you.”

  “So it’s all right for the Elders to kill someone because that person was in the wrong car?”

  “Jana, the Elders kill humans all the time.” Tobias’s voice was ripe with impatience. “They went to war against the humans and eliminated the population of entire towns. They and the Elementals have flung passenger trains off the tracks and killed anyone who survived the crash. People get in a car and head out for another town and are never heard from again. Maybe it’s different in towns back East where you don’t have to look the truth in the eyes every day, or maybe I learned a lot from Joe Wolfgard in the short time I knew him. Bottom line? They killed those people, and maybe that’s a sorrow.”

  “Maybe? How can it be anything but a tragedy?”

  “You find any identification?”

  “The woman’s purse was still in the car when it burned. But she and her husband were forced to change cars with the robbers!”

  “That’s the story she told.” Tobias huffed out a breath. “You’re a cop, darlin’. I know this hit you hard, but you need to start thinking like a cop who works out here.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Truman told you the story as it was told to him before that woman took her own life. Right?”

  “Right,” Jana snapped.

  “Who was with you when you went to the ranch?”

  “Yuri Sanguinati and one of the Hawks. I can’t tell them apart.” She could almost feel Tobias wince. Obviously an Intuit with a feel for animals knew the feathered Others all by name, along with the names of their mates and the chicks still in the shell.

  And I’m being a bitch because I’m tired and scared and feeling very alone right now.

  “Did you ask any of the terra indigene if any of them saw the exchange of cars? They might not have understood everything they were seeing, but they would know the difference between an aggressive act and cooperation.”

  Exchange of cars. The words made her think of a handoff.

  “You think it could have been a staged meeting?” she asked.

  “They were in the wild country, Jana. Believe me when I tell you that when you’re out there, there is nothing a human does that isn’t observed by someone. Not anymore. My guess? The Elders watched whatever happened between the two men who robbed my mother’s store and the middle-aged couple who died and concluded they were a single pack. And having decided that, they attacked the stationary target.”

  “They were driving to Bennett,” Jana argued, but there was no longer any conviction in her words.

  “Did you go out to look at the car?”

  “Yes. It was . . . at the crossroads.” She’d heard the words when Truman told the story but hadn’t absorbed the meaning at the time. “If they’d been stopped at the crossroads by the robbers and were driving to Bennett when the Elders attacked, why were they still at the crossroads?” And what had been said when they thought no one was around to listen?

  Exhausted, Jana sank into a chair. “They weren’t innocent.”

  “If there really are outlaws gathering in Bennett, I think it’s more important to make amends with Virgil than to argue the guilt or innocence of people who are already gone.”

  Later that evening, as Jana heard the Wolves howling, she wondered how a female Wolf apologized to a pack leader and how much groveling a human female would have to do to be accepted back into the police pack.

  CHAPTER 31

  Thaisday, Messis 30

  “Bennett is Virgil’s territory.” Morgan Wolfgard glanced at the small cooler tucked behind the seats. “Why do I have to come with you?”

  “I need to get this meat to Jana before she goes to work, which means being on the road before daylight,” Tobias replied. “You’re here to tell the Elders why I’m bending the rule about only traveling during daylight.”

  “Why does she need meat from you? Don’t they have meat in Bennett?”

  “She and Virgil had a fight. This fresh meat is her way of saying she’s sorry.”

  “Huh.” Another glance at the cooler. “So you risk being eaten in order to bring Virgil some meat so he won’t eat the human female?”

  “She works for him, so he won’t eat her.” Gods, I hope he’s not angry enough to start thinking that way.

  “Is it good meat?”

  “A cow’s liver and a good-size roast.” Seeing the wistful look, Tobias fought to keep a straight face. “I wrapped up the heart for you as a thank-you for coming with me.”

  Morgan licked his lips and turned back to watch the road.

  I guess he doesn’t need to watch the cooler now that he knows he’ll get his share of the meat. Which was good because Tobias really wanted Morgan’s attention on whatever might be watching the car and deciding to attack them.

  They passed the crossroads. The burned-out car was two car lengths away from the road. Most likely, that was where it had landed when it had been struck by whatever Elder had first attacked the vehicle.

  Morgan sat up straighter. “These humans, the outers.”

  “Outlaws,” Tobias corrected.

  “They are a breed of human, like Cyrus humans?”

  The question chilled him. “I don’t rightly know. What did the Cyrus human do?” He’d heard what had happened to the man in Bennett, but he still didn’t know exactly what the first “Cyrus human” had done to deserve being killed that way.

  “He stole Broomstick Girl—and he hurt her,” Morgan replied. “Cyrus humans are enemies of the cassandra sangue and the terra indigene. The teaching story hasn’t traveled this far yet, so that is all I know.” The Wolf stared at Tobias and added softly, “That is all we need to know.”

  Tobias drove for a few minutes, thinking it over. “Why is this girl so important?” When Morgan growled, he said hastily, “I’m not saying she shouldn’t be, I’m asking why. I’d like to understand.”

  “She saw the danger. She tried to warn all the Wolfgard. Many didn’t hear the warning in time and were killed, but many escaped the HFL humans because she bled . . . and she saw.”

  Blood prophet. Through his mother, and because of some things Jesse had told him in strictest confidence, he knew the locations of the two c
assandra sangue whose vision had saved not only some of the Wolfgard but Prairie Gold as well. “Does Broomstick Girl live in Sweetwater or Lakeside?”

  A soft growl of warning before Morgan said, “Lakeside.”

  Gods, what had the terra indigene heard? “Would it be permitted for a human to hear the teaching story about the Cyrus human?”

  Morgan cocked his head. “Why would you need to hear our story? Don’t you have teaching stories of your own?”

  “We do, but I’m not sure our teaching story about Broomstick Girl and the Cyrus human would travel this far from Lakeside.”

  “It is an important story.”

  He didn’t dare tell Morgan that a young woman being abducted might not be considered important news if the abduction took place in another region.

  “It’s a very important story for my people as well as yours. But news doesn’t always travel between regions anymore.” Not quite true, since the Elders hadn’t eliminated the means for radio and television programs to span the continent of Thaisia. But lately there had been too much—and nothing—to say, especially when humans finally understood that the Others also listened to what was said on the radio and television.

  “When I have learned the story, I will tell you,” Morgan said.

  “Thank you.” Thinking it would be easier to walk through a nest of rattlesnakes, Tobias answered Morgan’s first question—and hoped he wasn’t simplifying things too much. “When someone talks about outlaws, I think of the frontier stories. Outlaws were the humans who robbed banks or stores. They stole cattle and horses. And the sheriff and deputies would catch those humans and put them in jail because they broke human law.” He thought for a moment. “If the terra indigene see someone they think is an outlaw, they should capture him and howl for the sheriff and let the sheriff take that human to jail.”

  Morgan nodded. “Outlaws we capture.” He thought for a moment before adding, “But if they attack us, we will eat them.”