“Sorry,” he said. “Did you have something you wanted to share?”
Stress. It didn’t exist to Smoke. It infuriated her.
“So,” he continued, “have you given any more thought to my question?”
“You aren’t serious?”
“No, I’m Smoke.”
Sid leaned forward and knocked the cap off him. It revealed a nasty wound stitched in a bare spot on the back of his head.
Oh my!
“Hey, that’s my disguise.” He put the cap back on.
“What happened to your head?”
“I got cornered by some deaders. Those things seem to be getting a lot deadlier.”
“You can say that again. There were a couple of cops I had to deal with that I think were deaders. They were looking for you.” She eased closer. Something about his presence, aggravating though it might be, drew her to him. “Look, John, we have to get you cleared. I don’t know how to do that yet, but this isn’t going to stop until we clear you. We need to think. We need to plan. You might need to leave the country.”
Smoke pulled the taxi over, and the brakes squeaked as it came to a halt.
They were parked in front of an old church. It was quaint and laid out with heavy stones. He turned and faced her. “Seriously, have you given my question any more thought?”
“About marriage?” Yes. “No. John, now’s not the time to talk about weddings.”
“I didn’t say wedding,” he said, smiling. “I was only talking about the engagement.” He bobbed his chin. “So you have been thinking about it. You know, you’re going to have to be more honest with me if we’re going to pursue a long-term relationship.”
“People are trying to kill you, and some of them are trying to kill me, and you’re worried about our courtship?”
“A good man has to have his priorities straight. And I like the sound of that.”
“The sound of what?”
“Courtship.”
She sank back into her seat, hand over her head. “Morning Glory.”
“You know I’m not getting any younger, and you aren’t either.” Smoke was staring at the church as he spoke. Rain splattered on the window. “And we might not have that much time left on this earth, you know. I mean, seeing how a bunch of people want us dead and all. At least me. I just never thought I’d die single.”
“Really? With all of the stupid risks you take, it never occurred to you that you might die single? That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.” A sliver of uncertainty slipped through her.
Geez, maybe he thinks he won’t survive this.
“Smoke, are you okay?”
“Of course. But I have pissed off a lot of people.” He caught her eyes. “Bad people.”
“I can’t even begin to imagine what you do when I’m not around. Aside from eating pancakes and taxiing people around. And being annoying.”
And charming.
She fixed her eyes on the church doors. She eyed him. “You don’t have anything set up in there, do you?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“I’m not going in there.”
“If you knew this was your last day, what would you do?”
Sid’s heart beat a little faster.
I suppose I’d marry you. But I’d prefer more sun, rice, and some church bells. Huh, Sidney Smoke. Not too bad of a ring to it.
“I’d take down the Drake.”
“I see,” he said, a little dejected. “Oh, and by the way … Sam, Guppy, and Mal are in there.”
“I thought they said meet them at the hotel.”
“No. I found some eyes there.” He got out of the cab, fished an umbrella out of the back, and slid Sidney’s door open. He stood like a gentleman, holding the umbrella for her. “Coming?”
“Fine, but this better not be a surprise wedding.”
Without a word, Smoke led her up the steps under the alcove and put the umbrella aside. He opened the door, saying, “After you.”
CHAPTER 31
Aside from the wooden pews and stained glass, the church was empty. Sid’s heart sank a little.
Smoke’s soft-strong voice echoed when he spoke. “You look disappointed.”
I guess.
Just above a whisper, Sid replied, “I thought you said we were meeting Sam and Guppy here?”
Smoke took her hand. “Come on.” Down the aisle they went together.
She glanced up at the marble arches in the ceiling. The angels carved from the stone. The podium and flowers that waited ahead. Her throat tightened.
What is he doing?
A door squealed somewhere in the church. A tall figure emerged from behind the choir chairs on the stage.
“Hey, Sid!” It was Sam, and she was waving. Her loud voice echoed everywhere. “Come on down. We’ve been waiting for you.” Her eyes widened. “Aw look, they’re holding hands. How sweet.” She stepped out of sight.
Taking the steps up onto the altar, Smoke brought her to a stop. He took both of her hands in his and faced her. It was just them and rows of empty pews. He looked deep into her eyes. “You know, we might not make it until tomorrow.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Well, then if you want to marry me, we better.”
With the side of his mouth turned up in a smile, he bent down and kissed her.
She felt her body melt in his strong arms. It was a great kiss. Soft. Sweet. Everlasting. One to live for. One worth dying for.
“Ahem,” a voice interrupted.
They broke it off. It was Sam. “Sorry, but they’re pretty eager downstairs.”
Gathering her breath, Sid rubbed the palms of her hands on her jeans, glanced at Smoke, then to Sam. “Okay.”
Behind the curtains they went, and down an old set of well-built stairs crafted from a fine dark oak. The area beneath the church was a lot of stone archways and alcoves, a little damp and musty.
Sam ducked into one of them, and they followed.
Inside was a large chamber filled with wine racks and whiskey barrels—hiding a modern lab that had been set up inside. Large computer monitors, a network server, conference table, and chairs. A coffee pot was brewing.
“Hey, Sid,” Guppy said. He sat reading a magazine at the conference table, which was piled with papers. “Nice place, huh?”
Mal Carlson was behind the monitors, pecking away. “Actually, it used to be an old speakeasy. Can you believe that? Right below a church, of all things. But it’s been a safe house for well over a century. Almost two.”
“And it stinks,” Asia said. She was propped up on an old loveseat that looked like it came out of a fraternity house. She faced a television and held a steaming mug of joe in her lap. “TV reception is crap.”
“So what’s the hurry?” Sidney said, making her way to the table and pulling up a chair behind Mal. A familiar scene was on the screens. It was live images of the battle with the giants in the garage. “Hey, how did you get that?”
“I’ve got cameras in the Hellcat,” Mal said, taking a sip of coffee. “Among other things.”
“So when I was down there fighting for my life, you sat watching?” she asked.
“We were close,” he said. His eyes drifted to Smoke. “At least he was. You’re all right, aren’t you?”
She moved her sling and elbow. She’d dislocated it before, but it still felt like hell to move. “My wing’s busted, but I can still shoot if I have to.”
“Asia!” Mal called out.
“What!” the Chinese woman yelled, still glued to her TV.
“Fix up Sid’s shoulder, will you?”
The little woman huffed, got up, and shuffled over. She eased around the table. “Which shoulder?”
“Uh, the one with the sling on it.”
Asia yanked it off.
“Ow!”
“Shut up and be still. Take your shirt off.”
“What? No!”
“Don’t be so modest. You have nice body. You can leave your bras
siere on.”
Sam and Guppy started chuckling.
“Look, I think I’ll be fine.”
A pair of scissors appeared in Asia’s hands and she began cutting Sid’s top off.
“Hey!”
Asia tossed the shirt aside. No one was looking at Sid except Sam, who walked over and handed Asia a tube filled with long needles. “You’ll love this, Sid.” She cleared the papers off the table and rolled out a sleeping bag on it. “Here, lie down and just relax. But don’t look. That makes it kinda weird.” She produced a small dowel rod. “Oh, and bite down on this. You might not need it, but every little bit helps.”
Sidney lay down on the sleeping bag. The smell of something calming filled her nostrils.
Asia’s warm hands began massaging her shoulders.
She’s got strong hands for such a little woman.
“Relax,” Asia said, but her voice was far from soothing. “You are too tight. Stiff like old woman.” She continued to rub. Her fingers dug deep into Sidney’s skin and bore into the muscle.
Sid’s forehead burst out in sweat. Something in her shoulder popped and cracked. She bit into the dowel rod hard. “Ugh!”
“Be still,” Asia ordered.
Sid saw a long sliver of silver from the corner of her eye. Something sharp pinched her skin. It pierced deeper and deeper. It burned like fire.
“This is the cool part,” Sam said, “but maybe you should close your eyes.”
“Why?” Sid mumbled with the dowel in her mouth.
Sam’s eyes were glued to Sidney’s bad shoulder.
Sid glanced at it. The skin began to poke out. Her head broke out in a cold sweat just as the long needle poked clean through the skin. Sid’s first instinct was to jump away. Her courage held. It was rewarded. The throbbing pain in her shoulder was replaced with pure euphoria. The dowel rod dropped from her mouth. “Morning Glory! How did you do that?”
“Ancient Chinese secret,” Asia said. “Just stay still. I’m not finished yet.” She poked more needles into Sid’s back.
Sid didn’t feel a one of them. She said, “Again, what’s the rush?”
“Well,” Mal stated, “We’ve come to a conclusion about this fine mess we’re in.”
“And that is?”
Mal rubbed his temples, shook his head. “We need to close in on them before they close in on us. If we don’t pull this off now, Sid, I’m afraid it’s all over.”
CHAPTER 32
“Over?” Sid glanced at Smoke, whose dark eyes were fixed on Mal. “I don’t follow.”
“We’ve got a pretty big mess on our hands. They want Smoke gone. They want the Black Slate team defunded, and they’re getting pretty close to pulling it off. The main concern is Smoke’s safety, and they’ve gone to an awful lot of trouble to get him out of the picture.” Mal sighed. “An awful lot.”
“What did you do to piss them off so bad?” Sid said to Smoke.
Smoke shrugged.
“It’s not what he did; it’s what he didn’t do,” Mal said. “Well, that’s not entirely true. Smoke’s been throwing wrenches into their missions right and left. It really gets them bent out of shape. Of course you know that. But in this case, they made him an offer and he refused. Actually, they’ve made him several offers.”
“Like they did me?” Sid said. She turned to face Smoke. “And why are they so interested in you anyway? You aren’t a shifter, are you?”
Taken aback, Smoke said, “Me? No.”
Sid’s eyes narrowed on him. There were plenty of things Smoke did that were hard to understand. Being a shifter would explain a lot of them.
“You say they made you an offer?” Mal asked Sid.
“Wilhelm did. He said they needed a replacement for Deanne Drukker.” She squirmed a little. Asia was still over her, doing some insane method of acupuncture. There was a little biting here and there, but the sensation still felt good. “Basically he says they’ll keep asking until I say yes.”
Mal pulled more video up on the screen. It wasn’t the best picture, and the angle was bad. “I can’t read lips as well as I used to, but it seems what you said was truth. I need to get that microphone on the Hellcat fixed. It should have been working. Then we would have had Wilhelm talking.”
It was a little bit surreal watching herself having a conversation with Wilhelm and Reggie. She was transfixed. She felt violated. “Wait? Microphone? You can record me inside the car?”
Sam leaned over Sidney’s shoulder and said into her ear, “Just because we can doesn’t mean we are.”
“I only activate the surveillance systems when needed,” Mal said, “so you have your privacy most of the time.”
“Where is the Hellcat?” she asked.
“We got it back,” Guppy said. “It was a heck of a thing getting it flipped back over.”
“Yeah, play that giant thing again,” Sam said, twirling her finger, “the part when they flip Sid over and spin her around like a carnival top.”
Mal pulled it up. The two giants’ strength was freakish. Everything about them was. The one that Sid could see didn’t even strain when he helped flip the car over.
Hanging by Sid’s shoulder, Sam said, “Those guys are awesome. And really gruesome.”
Sid eyed her.
“But evil, of course.”
“I’m sure an exploding bullet will take care of them,” Sid replied.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Mal said. He zoomed the screen in on another image of the giants. “Based off our analysis, the bigger these shifters are, the tougher their bones and skin. It might take more than an exploding bullet to upend them. But those giants aren’t the mission; Reggie the Doppelganger is. We need him to turn himself in, for Smoke’s benefit.” He removed a jump drive. “So the goal is to blackmail them. After all, we have Wilhelm on video, alive and well. With giants. It might be enough to call this manhunt off Smoke. Call it an ace in the hole.”
“And if we deliver it to them and they don’t bite?”
“Then you and Smoke will have to bring Reggie in yourselves.” He handed Smoke the jump drive. “Like I said, the walls are closing in. This needs to be done, now.”
Sidney winced. Asia was taking the needles out of her shoulder one by one. “So, who are we supposed to take this to?”
“We were able to track that limousine. There’s an estate several miles out of town. It parked there. It’s all loaded in the Hellcat’s GPS now.” Mal turned and faced her. “Since they’re recruiting you, I think you should deliver the package. We’ll stay close by in case things get too scary.”
“Can’t we just call them out and meet them on neutral ground?” Smoke said.
“I don’t think they’ll hurt Sid.” Mal looked up at her. “Do you?”
“No, I don’t guess.”
“Look, we can’t talk all day. At first I wanted to hit them hard and heavy. Rattle things. But I think this tactic is better. It will at least get them off our backs for a while. Give us some time to figure out who Kane Lancaster is.”
“Don’t they have a bounty on me and Smoke?” Sid said. “Do you think this is enough to settle them down?”
“I think you can convince them of that,” Mal said, “but just in case there’s going to be a fight on your hands, you might want to take a super vitamin and suit up before you go.” He handed them each a sweetheart suit.
Sid made her way into the next alcove and put hers on.
“Shoulder feel better now?” Asia asked her, suddenly right there.
Sid rolled her shoulder. “I can’t remember the last time it felt this good.”
“Good, then don’t screw it up again.”
Sam was there too, holding out a long-sleeved T-shirt.
Sid put it on and smiled gratefully at Sam.
“Um, you guys?” Guppy interjected. “You might want to take a look at the breaking news on the television channels.”
“What? Why?” Sam said, making her way to Guppy’s side. “Oh crap. It’s a con
ference at the hospital. It’s Wilhelm.”
Sid ran over to the television.
Guppy turned up the volume.
Wilhelm was speaking to a host of reporters from a hospital bed. “I pulled through. Thank the Almighty, I pulled through.” He shifted in his bed and grimaced. “But I think it was the good news that woke me up. A little bird whispered in my ear telling me that they caught my so-called assassin. Well, looks like I fooled him, didn’t I?”
The captivated reporters chuckled.
Wilhelm started coughing. “Anyway, I want to thank the fine men and women of so many law enforcement agencies that came together to bring this man to justice, though I am sad that he won’t see a day in court. Death seems like an easy way out to a menace like him.”
Sid stood staring at the screen with her mouth half open. She wasn’t the only one either. “They’re covering the entire hoax up. I can’t believe it.”
CHAPTER 33
Wilhelm dropped a name: Reginald Baker. There were pictures too. A dead man on the streets who looked a little like Smoke, but his face was bloated.
“I don’t suppose that video is going to do us a lot of good now,” Sid said to Mal, “but does this mean Smoke’s off the hook?”
Mal rubbed his chin. “I’ve still got a bad feeling that the walls are closing in.” He started pulling up images from the cameras on the streets around the church they were in. It was pouring rain so hard you couldn’t make out anything. “You know, it wasn’t supposed to rain today.”
Sid hadn’t been paying attention, but of course strange weather patterns often happened when you lived near the coast. She pointed at one of the smaller camera views on the screen. A tight knot of men were rushing up the church steps through the pouring rain.
“We’ve been breached.” Mal pecked away on the keyboard. “We need to get out of here.”
“Too late,” Smoke said. He started loading clips of ammo into guns. “Did you say you had some more of those vitamins?”
“Yeah, why?” Mal said.
Smoke pointed at the screen. Two monstrous men strode up the outside stairs, great arms swinging five steps at a time. “That’s why.”
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files Collector's Set: Books 1-10: Urban Fantasy Shifter Series Page 65
