Flames of Hope

by Cassandra L Shaw

  “Peter, this is Xylvar. He does some contract work for Kaid Sinclair.” She pulled out her FBPI halo badge.

  “You’re an agent?”

  “On leave, and taking a break in Katoom, but I’ve been called in on this. Ramine is also a friend.” She pointed to the bushes. “That’s where we think he fell. We found a link we think could be his under the bush.”

  “Right. Let’s get to it, then.”

  Xylvar started to do something to the link. “I’ll try and hack in, you two do the door-knocking.” They headed for the house in the yard with the bush.

  Fifteen minutes later they returned.

  Jasmine walked up beside Xylvar. “Any luck?”

  “Getting there. Won’t be long. You?”

  “Two doors up think they might have seen something. They were outside enjoying a drink in the cool of the evening, and saw a large Crea stroll around the corner. At the same time, a white van drove slowly past the lane’s entrance. Couple’s baby started to cry, so they headed inside to settle her, and didn’t see Ramine walk past their house.”

  “What sort of van?”

  “The sort that makes deliveries.”

  “Did it have blue stripe on the side?”

  “No. Just a normal, white delivery van. Sort you see all the time.”

  “Sounds like they did a pickup before they made their next delivery,” Xylvar said.

  25

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Back at their vehicle, Jasmine’s link buzzed. “This’ll be Rich.”

  When she ended the call, she turned to Xylvar. “I was wrong, it was Bliss. Two Eli on a security check of the land adjoining the wildlife reserve a couple of hours south of here think they’ve found where the kidnapped Crea and Eli are being held. Zane and Kaid are sending reinforcements now. I’m going to follow and provide backup if needed. I’ll call Peter again, get him to give Joshua a lift to clan land. Not safe to be a lone sub out on the road.”

  “Have they gone through Katoom already?”

  “No. Bliss said they left clan land about ten minutes ago. Guess we might find Ramine sooner than I thought.”

  They hurried towards their vehicle and got in as Jasmine called Peter. Xylvar’s chair docked as the first Crea vehicle zipped past. Several more drove past before Xylvar could turn their car around.

  Jasmine grabbed the side of the door as Xylvar did a fast turn. “They’re in a hurry. What weapons do we have on us?”

  “We have two blasters in the back, plus several knives. With what the guys ahead of us will have on hand, we should have a small arsenal.”

  “We’ll need the kidnappers alive for information.”

  Xylvar gave an evil smirk. “Wouldn’t want to be one of those kidnappers once Kaid and Zane get a hold of them.”

  The convoy of soldiers, Crea and Eli, drove without stopping for over two hours. At a sign indicating the turn into secured parklands, they headed left. The road remained sealed only a short time before quickly turning to dirt, and to rutted track even faster. Half an hour later, the convoy came to a halt, the lead truck’s soldiers scrambling out to speak to two Eli males who were parked to one side.

  “Tariq and Jinx,” Jasmine said.

  The go-ahead was given. The vehicles moved forward once more. Crea and Eli soldiers hung out of windows and sunroofs, blasters at the ready. At a small set of buildings, they slowed, doors flying into the air, and people tumbling out at a dead run as soon as they hit the ground.

  Concern for Xylvar’s lack of ability to dart and roll to hide from any attack made her stomach roll. She turned to Xylvar. “Stay here.”

  Blaster in hand, she darted to the back of one truck, then another, using each as a safety barrier until she could see the action ahead. Crea and Eli swarmed the old ranger’s cabins and the two trucks and the van parked beside it. The Eli peeled off, heading into a cave. Jasmine followed.

  Kaid, who led the party, turned and nodded to her. She guessed that Bliss had contacted him. Behind her, out in the compound, Zane’s authoritative voice boomed out commands. The sound of men running, shouts of “clear” filling the deep valley.

  An engine roared to life, the crunch of gravel and the schling of a blaster as someone fired.

  “Get those men, and check that cabin for any more of the bastards.”

  Jasmine followed the Eli into the cave. Kaid turned, saw, and nodded at her. Zane’s deep voice commanded the soldiers, both Eli and Crea to storm the cabins in the small rotunda area. Men yelled, screamed abuse, and swore as they were dragged out of the cabins and disarmed. One man had, according to his screams, been framed. Jasmine grinned. Yeah sure. Just like everyone in prison was innocent. She’d like to be in on his confession, hear the story of how such a framing occurred.

  The cave was long and thin, and after a hundred feet it opened into a larger, wider cavern. The stink of full toilet buckets ripened the air to a nauseating, gut-churning stench. The soft thrum of a machine coming from the back indicated a small hydrogen generator powering the few lights.

  A long row of animal cages or steel-barred, enclosed cells, held Crea and Eli. All the captives were in various degrees of gold and silver. Hers, held so carefully in check, released in a flash flood of silver so potent she could taste and smell the metal.

  “I’m not fond of zoos, but I’ve never seen one that housed its animals in cells as filthy and inhumane as these.” She spoke to everyone and no one.

  A Crea ahead of her turned, gold like a bright sun in his eyes. “But then the captors of these males and females obviously saw their captives as less than an animal.”

  Four Crea males and one female, and a male and female Eli, were locked inside separate cells, each barely long and wide enough to allow them to lie down. One Crea male and the Eli male had turned beast. Two of the other Crea males were extremely thin, with open sores pockmarking their gold dusted skin.

  Jasmine couldn’t imagine how long they had been held prisoner to be in such a state. A strong Eli male, fully turned beast, strode three paces back and forth behind his bars.

  Her heart thudding, worry and fear starting a slow boil, she walked over to the cells holding the Crea and took in the beast-turned features of his face.

  Not Ramine. “None of them are my missing agent.” Now they had three missing FBPI agents. Obviously, there were more than this one holding area. A horrid thought considering there could be one more milking prison or hundreds. Who knew how far and how quickly the movement, and its vile rhetoric, the hatred it caused, had spread?

  “With all the subs we know are missing, how many haven’t been reported?”

  A Eli in front of her grunted. “We have to count on disappearances being reported.”

  “And those that don’t have people or clans who know they are missing and in possible danger? She was glad Peter would be driving Joshua straight to clan land and safety. How many monsters are out there, using another human species as a source of income?”

  “Too many.” That said, he headed toward the end cells and the two Eli.

  She studied the Crea males, their bones protruding and sores weeping. How many of those taken were even still alive?

  The two males who’d gone to beast, Crea and Eli, were left locked up while the other captives were released. Jasmine and the others got to work talking the beasts down so they might undergo the painful process of returning to their human body. Minutes later, she heard the arrival of a medical unit. Everyone, including herself, sighed with relief.

  Jasmine headed out of the cave, marching to a man held in handcuffs, blood trickling from his mouth, his right eye so swollen it was shut, the bruising surrounding it deep purple and black.

  She ran her hand over the knife she’d sheathed before she dressed. She wanted to punch his other eye, stick her blade into his throat, but no matter how satisfying, it would be pointless. In every way, she needed to remain in control. Control was her strength, after all. The reason she could hold her silver in check, f
ake being pure human. And her skill kept her alive, and her emotions hidden, private…except when it came to Xylvar.

  Around him, her steely control turned to saturated paper.

  She walked until she could put her face just a couple of inches from the guy with the swollen eye. “Where’re the others held?”

  The man eyeballed her with his one open eye, turned his head a fraction, and spat, just missing her shoulder. Jasmin refrained from rolling her eyes at the pointless action.

  “If I was in your position—with blasters, knives, and angry Eli and Crea surrounding you—I’d think more about saving my life.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Awwww, trying to make nice?”

  Xylvar arrived, grabbed the man’s hand, and started to bend three fingers back. “Didn’t your whore momma teach you manners?”

  The man grimaced in pain, swallowed. “You don’t scare me. You’re in a chair.”

  Xylvar stared into the man’s good eye. “I see only this cave. This man knows nothing more than what is here.”

  “Fuck.” Man was nothing more than a pawn.

  The man pulled his head back, his eyes widening. “What the fuck you doing to me, freak?”

  “Looking for humanity, finding nothing.”

  Jasmine poked the man in the chest. “Any more of your gang anywhere other than this compound?”

  Xylvar shook his head. “He’s a minion. Too low on the scum scale to be told anything more.”

  Jasmine spun, started to march toward a van that wasn’t part of the Crea or Eli fleet. “Anything in the van?”

  Zane shook his head. “Empty. Just some DNA samples taken.”

  “There’s another Crea male missing as of last night.” She cast a malevolent glare at the men in cuffs, narrowing her eyes at them one by one in a death-ray squint. Stepped closer to Zane, so the humans couldn’t hear her. “A friend.” She dropped her voice lower. “FBPI agent.”

  Zane ran fingers through his pale blond hair, the gold and amber of his eyes a flare of his beast. “I sent a search party to check out the rest of the park. This cave doesn’t come close to finding the numbers who are missing.”

  “I know of at least three more agents.”

  Kaid joined them as Xylvar rolled up. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

  She exchanged a concerned looked with Kaid. “Wouldn’t think so. When you consider agent to population ratios.”

  Zane grunted. “Bears some consideration, along with finding where the others are held. There are more compounds.”

  “I’ve had word from other Eli leaders, and the word around is join a local clan or disappear. Some Eli feel it’s the local clans being paranoid. But it tells me more are missing than we know.” Kaid’s silver rose and receded and rose, a tide of emotions showing on his skin, in his eyes, and the deep rumble of his voice.

  “Crea, too. At least now even the loners know about the kidnappings, they might be more vigilant, or seek help from a clan, even if they don’t want to join.” Zane nodded at one of his soldiers to indicate they could start loading the captured. “They take them from their homes, off the streets. That’s elephant tranquilizer they’re using.”

  “That could kill them.” Jasmine’s throat tightened at the thought.

  Xylvar gave her a dark, amused glance. “Guess that’s not a problem when a body can be burned and rendered down for its metal.”

  Kaid nodded. “The Pures are starting a war, and we and all clans and subs need to be prepared to fight.”

  Xylvar watched one man get loaded into the captive van. “You see that watch? I bet there are some who aren’t funding the Pures, but their own bank accounts. I’d get that one alone. He’ll have other contacts.”

  “Can’t work out which sort is the most evil.” Zane smiled as the man stumbled, hitting his knees painfully on the rocky ground.

  “Guess there is no levels of, just evil.” Xylvar said, his eyes and the scar marring his face, wild silver.

  #

  Back in Katoom, Jasmine and Xylvar took a seat in Peter’s office at the Katoom sheriff’s tiny office.

  “You got that lone Eli, Joshua, safe?”

  “I did.”

  “Thank you.”

  Peter pressed a button and a halo shimmered to life. “All part of the being sheriff. Check this out. CCTV Footage from the main street and several shops. Had a spate of problems in town lately, so several of the vid cams are new.” From the mix of shimmering feeds, he clicked so all five feeds would play at once. He fast forwarded through several hours of feed until he hit he approximate time Ramine entered Bourke’s bar.

  From three of the angles, they saw Ramine enter the bar as a white van slowed down to well below the speed limit, and turned down a nearby side street. A minute later, Ramine now inside, two men strolled around the same corner the van had disappeared into, and entered the bar.

  “No feed from inside the bar?”

  “They only have one working. Since the second vid cam is broken, all we get to see is the back of the bar and the till areas, and our suspects don’t go that far down the bar.”

  Jasmine peered closely at the vid feed of the guys entering the bar, but it was too far away, and they only saw the side of their faces. “Damn, be good to get a good visual of these guys, spin their images through a few government facial recognition programs, see who we come up with.”

  “Too easy. Besides, they’d have to have a record.”

  An hour later, they watched Ramine, hands casually in his trouser pockets, leave the bar. A minute later the two men followed him out, their profiles visible when they turned toward a street light and hurried off. Not a minute later, the white van turned into the street, following the route Ramine had taken back to the motel.

  Ten minutes later, the van reappeared on the main road, gunning it north toward Bozeman.

  Jasmine pulled out her link, hit the speed dial for her boss. “Ramine might be in a van. 8.45 p.m. last night, white van leaving Katoom headed north. See if you can find satellite footage.” She hung up, met Peter’s concerned scowl. “Where are the scum found this morning being held?”

  “They were taken into custody, in lockdown as we speak.”

  “I want this footage and the profiles of these men’s faces shown to them, see if anyone recognizes them.” She hoped they used force. A little manual coercion.

  After their meeting with Peter, she and Xylvar headed back for the duplex. He drove down the street and nodded to a car parked six houses down from their duplex.

  “Our churchgoing couple.”

  Jasmine stared at the car Xylvar pointed to. “You think they live there?”

  “Place is for sale, I think they’re parking in a vacant house to spy on us. They’re just not very good at saying out of sight. So, no more CeeCee from this house. When you have to use her persona, you dress and leave from elsewhere.”

  “Great, but yeah, I get it.”

  They pulled into their driveway just as their neighbors slammed their front door and ran for their vehicle. They didn’t acknowledge Jasmine or Xylvar, just threw in a couple of bags, got into the car and drove off—fast.

  Jasmine and Xylvar watched them leave.

  “In a hurry. Running late for a plane or train, big sale on surveillance equipment?” Jasmine mused.

  “They live in a duplex in this suburb. If they’re not affiliated with some rich group, there is no way they could afford flights.”

  She nodded. Air travel was very expensive. The worldwide taxes on it made it a travel option only for the well off.

  Xylvar headed for the bathroom. At the sound of the shower running, Jasmine made a coffee and called her boss for any updates. She disconnected just as Xylvar returned to the living room, his hair wet and slicked back, showcasing his bone structure. He grabbed a nutrient water from the cooler, cracking it open and paused with it half way to his mouth when someone knocked on the door.

  They exchanged looks. Wasn’t their neighbors.
They hadn’t returned. Jasmine shrugged, stood, and blew out a breath, easing into Storm mode.

  She peered through the peephole, turned and gave Xylvar a surprised look, and cracked open the door. “Father Morgan, you’re a long way from your parish.” The unexpected visit curled around Jasmin’s senses, sliding into her uneasy place. She locked down her silver just as it started to swirl. Xylvar wheeled closer.

  “Father.”

  Jasmine hid a smile. Xylvar said it in a way she imagined he considered friendly, but sounded more like someone poking a sharp stick at a bear.

  Father Morgan cast Xylvar such a calculating look it sent tingles racing up and down Jasmine’s spine. “Afternoon. Sorry for the surprise visit. I consider all the region my parish. My congregation is spread out, and you two are not the only couple living a distance away. Of course, once you are in your new premises, you will be much closer.”

  “Yes, true, but our architect hasn’t started the design yet. Have to build the house to suit Todd.”

  “Oh, course, of course. All takes time.”

  She sidled closer and put her hand on Xylvar’s shoulder, as she vaguely remembered doing when she was once part of a true couple. It had been so long since she’d been in a relationship, the natural behaviors were rusty. And the emotions? Well with Xylvar they were the same as always, erratic, irrational, hopeless.

  “Would you like to come in and have some tea or coffee, Father?” She’d never been of any faith, so had no idea of protocols above what one would normally do to be polite.

  “Tea would be most welcome. Thank you.”

  Xylvar guided his chair backward and around, waving the father inside.

  The father gave him a flat-lipped smile which didn’t reach his eyes, or even his face, beyond the very edges of his pale mouth. Yeah, she totally understood why Xylvar had his eye on the Father as a blood leach. Maybe even a leader of other leaches.

  The man oozed something shady, covetous, even malevolent. The man of her thoughts pulled out a dining chair and sat, taking in the room, the few devices of aid Xylvar would allow, the fake halos of their relationship and wedding. Kaid and his clan were good at setting up fake lives. The rooms were exactly as a couple’s new home should be.