After the train disappeared from view, but not from her acute hearing, Casey started looking around the old out buildings. The nearest structure resembled a squatty concrete box with high windows. Casey considered setting the flashlight on the ground so she could jump up and grab the sill to peer inside. She rejected that idea. Being without the light was scarier than being on this side of town alone in the middle of the night. She sauntered boldly to the front of the structure and discovered that it was unlocked.
Casey grinned and leaned around the doorframe, shining her beam everywhere. Just a bunch of old machines and junk. She frowned and checked out the other small storage structures but didn’t find anything except more stinky equipment. It didn’t take long for the excitement of attempting to solve a mystery to wear off. Casey sniffed as her nose ran from the chill. Her ears felt numb and she had to stifle a yawn. When she turned to head for home, Casey realized she was near the dirt road that looped around the back side of the business district. It ran across a small bridge that traversed the river. There weren’t any houses back here, but there was one final construct that caught her eye. She’d almost missed the deserted lumber mill because it sat in darkness beneath a couple of ancient maple trees.
“It’s the last one,” she said and then quickly stopped talking. The sound of her own voice frightened her.
Casey wanted to go home and go to sleep, but she couldn’t say she looked everywhere if she didn’t check the mill. Determined to check this last edifice as quickly as possible, Casey hurried across the city lot with her light pointed toward her destination. Twenty yards away she heard a furtive, shifting sound and stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart raced and her eyes went wide.
A possum knocked over an aluminum can and scaled the chain link fence. Beady eyes turned in her direction and the little beast hissed. Casey growled back at the creature and it scurried away.
“Yeah, you better run.” Suddenly reassured that a hatchet murderer wasn’t about to charge, Casey felt brave.
Expecting to find more of the same that she’d discovered in the other buildings, which was exactly nothing, Casey hustled up to a window. The sound of water rushing behind the building was loud. She shone the light through the glass, but couldn’t see anything with it covered in spider webs and gunk. Casey went to the front door and found a shiny new padlock holding it closed.
Casey jumped when she heard a thump from inside the building. She wondered who would be inside a locked building and decided it was probably another possum. Regardless, until she checked inside she couldn’t go home. Casey would just have to find another way in. She climbed onto the mill’s porch and then noticed that one corner of the building was raised on pillars. Casey hopped down from the platform and crouched down to walk under the building. The river ran close beside the mill and Casey had to be careful not to fall over the bank and into the water. She could hear it lapping gently. Her nose wrinkled in disgust when she ran face first into a spider web.
She wiped at the sticky strands and then noticed it was really dark under the lumber mill. Feeling strangely exposed despite being under a heavy structure, Casey thought again of changing into pelt. She almost didn’t care that she’d destroy her clothes. At least she’d have fangs and claws to fight with. But the fear of her mother’s anger outweighed her fear of the dark. Casey heard another thud and remembered why she was there.
Looking around carefully with the flashlight, Casey saw a small wooden ladder. The ladder led up to the bottom of the building. Curious, she stepped onto the bottom rung and peered upward. She smiled when her sharp eyes noticed the seam around the edge of a trapdoor. She climbed up the stairs and put a small hand against the hatch. It didn’t budge. Casey put the flashlight sideways under her chin, attempting to hold the torch while pushing on the trapdoor with both hands. The angle was impossible.
She sighed in frustration. Casey didn’t see how she had enough strength to open the door without putting down her only light source. Suddenly, she realized how she could have her light without holding onto it. She stepped off the ladder and set the base of the torch against a pillar before shoving a rock under the face cap. Perfect, the beam shone directly where she needed it.
Casey climbed back up the ladder and put both hands against the trapdoor. It moved about a half inch before banging back into place. “Crud.”
She took another step up until she was crammed with her back up against the door. Casey braced her feet, grabbed the side braces and shoved as hard as she could. Her stomach muscles burned and Casey felt the veins on her neck stand out. The hatch moved again, but it still wasn’t enough. More discouraged than ever, Casey became angry. Her lips parted as her canines erupted into long fangs. Her vision expanded until she could see every dirty corner under the lumber mill as clearly as she could have in the day. Muscles strained against the fabric of her shirt and she suddenly felt hot.
Dirt and old cobwebs rained down upon her. Boards creaked in protest. A chunk of wood let go from directly overhead and a rusty nail caught her just below the right eye. She was so focused on the trapdoor that Casey barely felt the sting. The trapdoor lifted abruptly and shot upward, crashing onto the floor inside the lumber mill.
Casey panted for several seconds to get her thudding heart back under control. Her thighs ached and her hands trembled, but she finally had a way inside. She wiped absently at the moisture on her face and then grimaced at the sudden pain. Only then did Casey realize she’d been injured. For a moment her lower lip quivered and tears filled her eyes. The pain wasn’t that bad but she was worried about having a yucky scar. Panthera healed fast, but she was a cub. Cubs had to grow into their abilities.
A soft noise overhead distracted her and Casey blinked into the dark interior. Mounting the remaining rungs, Casey climbed high enough that she could look around. This space wasn’t as cluttered as the others, but there was still a large machine blocking her sight. Moonlight cast a limited glow through dirty windows, illuminating part of the room but leaving the rest in shadows. Nothing moved.
Disappointment caused her to slump slightly. After all the work she’d done to get into the building, there was nothing here. Casey shook her head like she’d seen her father do when he was upset about something. She bent over and started back down the steps when she heard a whimper. Standing up quickly, Casey took another slow look around. She still couldn’t see much so she climbed up higher until she stood on the main floor. Sawdust drifted upward and tickled her nose.
Standing up on tiptoe, Casey strained to see all the way to the back of the large room. Her eyes still arrested in partial shift, she clearly saw an older blonde girl against the rear wall. Gooseflesh erupted over her scalp and Casey thought she might jump out of her skin when she realized she had found Lindsay Drake. No longer worried about monsters or bad guys, Casey ran across the dilapidated boards. She leapt over a bad place on the floor and crouched down beside Lindsay.
“Hey, what are you doing here? Everybody’s looking for you.”
Lindsay’s long hair looked dank and greasy in the darkness and when she lifted her head her eyes looked like glass. Pupils wide and dilated, Lindsay seemed confused. “Wh...who’s there?”
“It’s me, Casey. What’s wrong with you?”
Lindsay shook her head and frowned. “I can’t move.”
Casey cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out why Lindsay couldn’t move. Then she saw why. “Hey, you have a chain around your waist.”
The comment made Lindsay jump. She started struggling from side to side, accomplishing very little that Casey could see. Her eyes opened wide, but still looked shiny. “Get me out of here before he comes back.” Her words slurred a little.
Suddenly realizing the urgency of the situation and that Lindsay hadn’t been “lost” at all Casey leaned behind her looking for a way to loosen the chain. The rusty links were looped around a corner pipe and tied into a heavy knot, like someone was in a tremendous hurry. Casey pulled off her mittens a
nd shoved them into a pocket. She wrestled with the heavy iron that was almost as wide as her hand.
“Be still. Every time I get it loose you yank it tight again.”
“Just hurry.”
“Why can’t you just bust out of it?” Casey asked. “All you have to do is shift.”
“I can’t. He shot me with something.”
“Whatever,” Casey mumbled, not quite understanding. The links gave way under her persistence and Casey freed Lindsay from the pipe. It was only when Lindsay leaned forward that Casey saw a piece of old wire restraining her wrists. “Here, hold on a sec.”
As soon as she was loose, Lindsay struggled to her feet. She lurched drunkenly to the side and Casey grabbed hold of her. She helped Lindsay toward the trapdoor and they had just made it to the bottom of the ladder when Casey remembered there was supposed to be a second girl.
“Where’s your friend?” Casey asked as she bent over to retrieve her flashlight.
Lindsay whimpered again. “I don’t know. She wasn’t there when I woke up.”
“Duh, I know that. I was there when you woke up, remember?”
“No, earlier. I haven’t seen her since someone shot us.”
Casey thought that was really cool, but she didn’t see any holes in Lindsay and didn’t smell any blood. All she could smell was the bitter scent of oil and iron. “You were shot?”
“Tranquilizer, I think.”
Lindsay crouched down to slip out from under the lumber mill and hit her head on a support joist. Casey smelled blood now. She took Lindsay’s hand and assisted her out from under the building. In the attempt to get Lindsay out into the open, Casey wasn’t paying attention and stepped off the edge of the embankment. Her foot went into the river and she jerked it back in aggravation. When she did, Casey dropped the flashlight and it rolled a few feet away.
“I’m fine. Get your light.”
Lindsay bent over with her hands on her knees. Casey gave Lindsay a minute to catch her breath while she went after the Maglite. If she lost it, her father would be mad. Later, when asked, Casey couldn’t have said what caught her attention. She looked up and saw something white against the river’s edge. Whatever it was, it seemed out of place. As she stared at the object, she slowly realized she was seeing Mira. She rested in the water, her arms floating with the small current. Mira’s head lay in the mud near the bank.
“Oh man, I wish I had some Scooby Snacks.” Casey had a feeling she would need some to get her courage up. She knew Lindsay wasn’t in any shape to help her friend so she would have to.
Swallowing hard, Casey wended her way along the grassy riverbank. She leaned down and put her hand into the icy water to grab the back of Mira’s jacket. Casey tried to pull the dark-haired girl farther up onto dry land but her limited human strength wouldn’t cooperate.
“Help me.” She glanced back and saw that Lindsay was only just coming to understand what was happening.
Even in the darkness, Casey noticed how green Lindsay’s face appeared. Still, Lindsay staggered toward her and dropped to her knees. Together they managed to pull Mira out of the water. The girl remained unconscious. Lindsay held Mira against her chest, unmindful of the wetness.
“Go get help.”
“Why me?”
“Because I still can’t see straight and I’m not leaving her.”
Casey wanted to argue the point. Now that she knew there was a bad guy out there and it wasn’t just a cartoon fantasy, she just wanted to go home. Unfortunately, she knew Lindsay was right. There wasn’t any point in replying so she jumped up and grabbed the flashlight. She handed it to Lindsay and then took off at a jog toward the main road. Casey could see her breath in the air and her sneakers crunched against the gravel. It seemed like it took forever to get back to the square, but she knew it wasn’t that far. She forgot to check for traffic and lunged right across the road and into the path of an oncoming car. The headlights made her freeze and she turned in disbelief to look at the approaching vehicle.
The driver slammed the brakes on and Casey heard the squeal of rubber against pavement. Casey thought she heard a muffled curse. Her fingertips stung with the surge of adrenaline and she thought she’d just run right out in front of Lindsay’s kidnapper. The car door opened and still she stood rooted in place. Casey snapped out of her daze when the car’s suspension squeaked as the driver exited the vehicle. She took a single running step before a familiar voice stopped her.
“Casey North, what are you doing out at this time of night?”
Casey spun around and ran toward Deputy Gomez. She flung her arms around his waist. “I found Lindsay and her friend. They need help.”
Gomez crushed his cigarette under his boot and then grasped Casey by the upper arms. He pushed her away enough to kneel down. “Are you sure it’s them?”
Who else would it be? Casey frowned. “Of course I’m sure.”
“Where are they?”
“At the river beside the lumber mill.”
Gomez glanced worriedly in the direction of the river before standing up. “Get in.”
He flipped on the light bar and stepped on the accelerator as he settled into the driver’s seat. When the headlights illuminated the girls, Gomez reached for his radio. “Gomez to dispatch, I have the girls. They’re next to the river beside the lumber mill. Notify the sheriff and send an ambulance.”
Casey felt insulted that the deputy waited until he saw the girls for himself before calling anyone. Why couldn’t adults ever believe her without seeing it with their own eyes?
Chapter Eleven
LEE GROWLED LOW, the sound barely disturbing the night. Still, Jamison heard and loped over to where her mate’s white coat stood out against the inky blackness of shadows. The sound carried a mixture of feline fascination with a hint of disgust. She’d never heard Lee make that particular vocalization before and it understandably roused Jamison’s curiosity. Padding across the hiking trail, Jamison’s black pelt all but disappeared beneath the darkness cast by the huge tree. She scented blood on the back of her tongue before arriving next to Lee. As a jungle cat, she could discern that the blood belonged to a human. Judging from the sheer volume, the human would not have survived the loss.
The prey?
Jamison captured the impression from Lee’s mental projection that she asked if the blood belonged to the two murder victims. In their animal forms, Lee would instinctively phrase any inquiries from that mindset. Prey naturally referred to any creature hunted and killed. Jamison wrinkled her nose and then sneezed in disgust.
Yes, one of them.
Sniffing around, Jamison found a cigarette butt. She coughed when she detected the stench of burnt tobacco, nicotine and saliva. The smoke stick lay atop the blood, dried into the pool. The positioning of the cigarette told Jamison it was deposited there while the blood was fresh. Their predator had made a mistake. Not quite the skilled killer they had assumed.
Something crashed through the underbrush and Jamison swung around with her tail toward the tree trunk. She felt Lee take up a similar stance with their rumps together so that they faced outward. Jamison raised her head and scented the air, but couldn’t detect whoever approached. There wasn’t enough wind to carry the information she needed. Crouching low so that her chest brushed the grass, she peered into the night.
Long moments later, a lean, tawny jaguar with a white muzzle sauntered down the trail. Jamison spotted the gleam of metal from his left ear. Travis Rooker, Andy’s younger brother. Jamison chuffed from her place of concealment and his head turned sharply. Instinctively, Travis tucked his body in and hissed a warning. Jamison growled, but only to announce her presence. Travis immediately relaxed, but dropped his eyes to the turf to show deference.
The cubs are found, he informed her without preamble. Healer treating.
Jamison felt triumphant at the news and roared, uncaring of the fright she might cause in any park visitors. The sound carried joy that the cubs lived, but also a warning
to anyone who might injure Panthera young. Jamison felt Lee urge caution, yet her mate couldn’t refrain from growling her support. Travis added his own deep rumble. Jamison’s roar would carry or a mile or two in the darkness, but the growls would not. Had she been in her alternate form, Jamison might have cared.
Others?
Elder released.
Annoyed, Jamison’s ears flattened against her skull. That she would have sent the hunters home herself made little difference. Jamison didn’t like it that Elder Tristan had made that decision in her absence. Higher reasoning held little sway at this juncture. This was Jamison’s territory.
Issuing a threatening growl, Jamison turned and loped back toward her vehicle. Lee followed closely and Jamison felt the panting breath on her tail. She heard Travis depart in the opposite direction and assumed he intended to engage in a more satisfying pursuit while darkness remained. He’d earned it.
By the time they reached the Chevy, Jamison had all but forgotten Marie’s transgression. She felt good running free under the night sky, full of hope for the future that their young were safe. Threats would always exist, that was the way of the world. But right now, life was good. Reluctant to convert back to her human form, Jamison nevertheless felt the overwhelming desire to see the children. She couldn’t wander into a hospital in her current state.
Jamison lay in front of the pickup, feeling Lee hover protectively over her. Green eyes closed and she willed the transition. Bones realigned quickly, sliding and reforming. Her thick tail shrank until it disappeared into her spine. Jamison’s teeth and claws retracted. While painless, the transformation back to her humanoid form brought none of the joy she felt when shifting into a jaguar. The world seemed to shrink in on itself, narrowing down to only what she could see with her reduced visual acuity. Scents faded until all she could smell was the cold night air and the dirt on which she lay.
Shivering, Jamison stood up and slid her fingers into the fur on Lee’s head. “I’ll be right with you, baby. I’m freezing.”
Under Devil's Snare (Under Series Book 2) Page 12
