Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: ShadowmasterRunning with Wolves

by Susan Krinard

  The Enforcers had been trained to move quietly, if not as silently as a dhampir agent, and they’d obviously encouraged Shepherd to take equal care. Hardly a leaf rustled as they made their way through the underbrush near the landing and found a path parallel to one of the crumbling roads leading into the north Peninsular Zone.

  Though Drakon had been given heavy clothing, Phoenix had told him that the location of the laboratory complex wasn’t more than a three-hour walk from the landing. Once again they met no opposition, no sign of any hostile presence.

  After an hour, they reached the edge of one of the many towns that made up the vast sprawl of interconnected urban and suburban communities stretching south from the former Santa Rosa. As in most of the Zone, the streets were filled with the scraps and skeletons of rusted appliances, stone fallen from the abandoned buildings and near-jungles of trees that had burst up through the cracked concrete.

  Approximately a mile from their goal, they left the bound Opir spies covered with fallen branches and hidden in a wildly overgrown park. Drakon heard one of them curse him as he and the others moved on.

  After making their way through a literal maze of streets, they reached a block of industrial structures and wide parking lots. There was a distinct smell in the air, one Drakon recognized as the complex chemical combination of scents typical of a medical facility. A compound of several interconnected buildings was surrounded by a high wire fence topped with barbed coils, almost certainly electrified.

  Shepherd indicated that they’d reached their destination, and everyone found concealment among the nearest buildings, Drakon with Phoenix and Shepherd, the others scattered to various strategic positions.

  But there wasn’t so much as a single guard patrolling the fence, nor anywhere visible in or around the compound. The gate was open.

  “This can’t be right,” Drakon said to Phoenix.

  “We expected to meet guards,” Phoenix said, her body coiled with tension. “Shepherd was to get us through.”

  “Then he’s betrayed you.”

  “I didn’t do this,” Shepherd said as Drakon turned on him. “For God’s sake, I didn’t warn anyone!”

  Grabbing the mayor by his soiled collar, Drakon dragged him to his feet. “You go ahead,” he said, “and we’ll find out.”

  “Drakon!” Phoenix said. “Wait!”

  But he was already force-marching Shepherd ahead of them, and by the time they reached the gate it was evident that there would be no immediate response.

  Phoenix caught up to him, followed by Matthew and his companions, all combat-ready and on edge. They walked through the gate. Still no one met them, and there was neither sound nor movement anywhere around the partially camouflaged laboratory buildings. The rank, chemical odor was almost overpowering.

  “Go back,” Drakon said to Phoenix, who walked at Shepherd’s other side. “All of you, go. This is a trap.”

  “If it is, I’m responsible,” Phoenix said. She turned to Matthew. “I want you to keep watch outside.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Matthew said from under his visor. “I’ve already instructed six of my men to keep watch outside the gate, but the rest of us are coming. And we’re not leaving until this is finished.”

  Phoenix flashed a glance at Drakon. He nodded, and the eight of them—he, Shepherd, Phoenix and Matthew with the four remaining Enforcers—moved on. The main door of the largest building was half-open, like the gate. Drakon came to a sudden halt, and Shepherd cursed as his collar nearly strangled him.

  A woman walked out the door. Brita, dusty and alone, her expression weary and lined with defeat.

  “It’s all gone,” she said. “Every last vial.”

  * * *

  “What are you doing here?” Phoenix asked, moving in front of Drakon and Aaron. Drakon grabbed her to pull her away, but she stepped out of his reach, painfully aware that he was so much slower and weaker than he should have been.

  But he refused to stay back. He moved to stand beside her. The Enforcers’ weapons locked on Brita.

  “Brita,” Drakon growled. “What is this?”

  “I apologize,” Brita said, running her hand through her cropped hair. “I was expecting more treachery from Shepherd, so after we separated I came alone to make sure there wasn’t some kind of trap set up.” She looked at the mayor with contempt. “He’s not always as stupid as he looks.”

  Shepherd didn’t so much as sputter. He was so pale that he almost glowed like a beacon in the early-morning darkness.

  He didn’t know, Phoenix thought. This wasn’t what he expected.

  “They’ve evacuated,” Brita went on. “It was done very quickly, but they took everything important. They can’t have gone too far.” She clenched a fist. “Give Shepherd to me. He’ll tell me where they’ve gone.”

  “No,” Drakon said, before Phoenix could speak. “He’ll stay with us.”

  “Don’t trust me, brother?” Brita said with an ugly smile.

  “If I were anything like you,” Phoenix said, “you’d be choking on the virus.” She pulled the tube, complete with syringe, out of her inner pocket. “But I’m not, and neither is Drakon. So you can move ahead of us, and we’ll find out where they’ve gone.”

  “Not until we check inside,” Drakon said. “She could be lying. She could have found a way to get rid of the guards.”

  “Me? Alone?” Brita said. “I’m flattered, Drakon, but I’m hardly that powerful.”

  Phoenix met Drakon’s eyes. They both knew nothing was as it seemed.

  “We’re going inside,” Phoenix said, sealing the tube inside her pocket again. Without further communication amongst them, Drakon moved ahead with Shepherd while Matthew and his comrades spread out, approaching the building from both sides as well as the front. Tremblay kept the Vampire Slayer trained on Brita.

  The interior was what anyone would have expected of a medical clinic: sterile walls painted a neutral shade, a very small waiting room with simple chairs, long corridors opening onto offices and, deeper inside the apparently empty building, examination rooms, storage areas and laboratories.

  All were empty, though they showed signs of very recent evacuation. A short walkway led to another smaller building.

  Phoenix knew at once that this was the primary research area. The chemical stench was stronger than ever, mingled with the odor of many human bodies.

  And bodies that weren’t human. Bodies that lay in rows of cots, covered with sheets, surrounded by gleaming metal tables and machinery and monitors.

  Pushing Shepherd into the arms of one of the Enforcers, Drakon pulled back the sheet of the body nearest the door. The woman had the pale skin and white, flowing hair of a full Opir. She was emaciated, and there was a dark crust around her mouth.

  Drakon replaced the sheet and turned to stare at Shepherd, his breathing harsh and his eyes wild.

  “Where are they?” Phoenix shouted, snatching Shepherd and shaking him until his head snapped back and forth like a puppet’s. “Where are the people who did this?”

  But the mayor’s eyes had glazed over, as if the situation had finally become too much for him. Phoenix looked at Drakon, allowing her attention to wane for a few seconds, and Shepherd burst into sudden motion.

  Abruptly Brita slipped away from her own guard and grabbed Shepherd, holding him as a shield in front of her. She tore at his pants. His belt snapped, and Brita reached around to the front and ripped open his fly.

  “You didn’t search him very well, did you?” she asked, lifting her hand. She was holding a syringe tube exactly like Phoenix’s, and the mayor was making a vain, pathetic grab at his crotch.

  Phoenix cursed her carelessness. She hadn’t been the one to search Shepherd, but she should have taken care of it herself. The damage was done. Whatever Shepherd—and Brita�
�intended that damage to be. Tremblay took careful aim at Brita, but Drakon waved her down.

  “How did you know he had the drug, Brita?” he asked as the Opir woman dropped Shepherd and kicked him aside.

  “We had an arrangement, he and I,” she said. “A deal within a deal, you might say. I convinced him that you were going to kill him no matter what Phoenix promised him. If he got me another sample of the pathogen, I’d make sure he got away once we were across the Bay. But, as you see, he was holding out on me.”

  “He made the wrong decision,” Phoenix said, wondering how many times she could make the same mistakes and not destroy everything she cared about. “You weren’t really surprised to find the place evacuated, were you?”

  “I have no idea what happened.”

  Phoenix knew she was lying. “You aren’t going anywhere with that, you know,” she said. “Not until we have the truth from you.”

  “I need to find the antidote,” Brita said, her voice almost pleading. “I know there’s one being tested. Probably on them,” she said, jerking her head toward the bodies. “Do you know how they planned to introduce this virus into our population? Through infected serfs. The pathogen doesn’t affect humans, only those who take their blood.” She looked at Drakon. “It detroys an Opir’s ability to derive any nourishment from blood, until the body starts to devour itself. I think even the most peace-loving members of the Council will regard this as an open and vicious act of war.”

  “Like sending an assassin to kill our leader?” Phoenix asked.

  “You mean that one?” Brita said, nudging Shepherd with her boot. “One leader down, the other ruined. Who will save you now?”

  Chapter 24

  “Who will save you?” Phoenix asked, gesturing behind her at the Enforcer with the Vampire Slayer. “Right now, we still want the same thing, and Shepherd’s our only way to get it.” She helped the mayor to his feet. All his casual elegance was gone, leaving a shell of the man he’d been when she’d loved him.

  The man he’d never been at all.

  “You still have a chance,” Phoenix told him. “If you don’t take us where we have to go, there will be war. I imagine you’ll die in a pretty terrible way when Opiri get hold of you. And they will.”

  Shepherd’s throat bobbed. “Phoenix. If we ever meant anything to each other...”

  “Drakon may want to kill you,” she said, “and Brita, and every Opir on the West Coast. But I’d be fighting them for the privilege.”

  “I told you, I didn’t warn them,” he whispered. “I didn’t betray you. If they’re not here, she—” he pointed at Brita “—knows where they are.”

  “He’s right,” Drakon said. “I can smell his fear. He’d tell us if he knew.”

  Brita gripped the tube tightly in her left hand and stared at Drakon. “That’s too bad,” she said. “I’d very much enjoy seeing you pay for his betrayal of our people and for causing the torture and death of my father, but I’d prefer to spare you the kind of death you’re facing now.”

  Drakon rested his hand on Phoenix’s shoulder and squeezed. His fingers spasmed, and she flinched.

  “Haven’t you noticed, Phoenix?” Brita asked. “Drakon’s been exposed to the pathogen. They were testing a new strain on him while he was being interrogated.”

  “We know that,” Phoenix said as calmly as she could. “You already know where to find the pathogen and antidote, don’t you?” She moved toward Brita. “Why would you hide it from us? Is that syringe holding the antidote, not the pathogen?”

  “Yes,” Shepherd said. “She—”

  “Shut him up,” Phoenix snapped.

  Drakon grabbed the mayor and wrenched his arm behind his back, though his face went a little gray as he did it. Phoenix swallowed a cry of protest.

  “Again,” she said to Brita, “why keep the location from us? What could you possibly have to gain?”

  Brita refused to answer. Phoenix signaled to one of the Enforcers.

  “Shoot her,” she said. “Not to kill, of course. Just remind her that even Opiri can feel pain.”

  “I’ll drop this,” Brita said, lifting the tube, “and then there’ll be no hope for your lover.”

  “If she’s willing to drop it, she has access to another supply,” Drakon said. “We’ll find it sooner or later, Brita.”

  “And when I do,” Phoenix said, “I’ll destroy the antidote, every last drop of it. What will Erebus do then?”

  “You wouldn’t do that,” Brita said softly. “You wouldn’t allow an entire species to be slaughtered.”

  “If you take Drakon from me, I will.”

  “No,” Drakon said, his breath coming short. “We must destroy the pathogen. That’s something you can’t do alone, Brita. And once we take that syringe from you, you’ll have nothing. If the pathogen is being produced anywhere else...”

  “I’ll give Drakon the antidote if you get out,” Brita said. “All of you.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Drakon said. “None of this makes sense.”

  Phoenix was desperately tempted. But when she looked at Drakon, looked into his eyes, she could see it would never work. He would never forgive her.

  And they couldn’t leave Brita alone here. If others were inside somewhere...

  “Shoot the vial, Matthew,” Phoenix said.

  “I’ll show you where they are,” Brita said, her shoulders dropping in defeat.

  Matthew grabbed the tube and secured it in one of his uniform pockets. Glancing contemptuously at the Enforcers who surrounded her, Brita pointed toward the end of the corridor, which ended in a bank of elevators. “They’re all underground, in the bunker,” she said. “The pathogen, the antidote and the staff.”

  “How did they get there?” Phoenix demanded.

  “I made them think an army of Opiri was on its way,” Brita said.

  “To trap them,” Drakon said. “Why? How would that serve your purpose?”

  “I blocked all the exits to this building,” Brita said with a hard smile. “Easier to get to them when they aren’t scattered all over the compound and might escape. I didn’t know they’d go underground.”

  “Can you get in?” Phoenix asked.

  “There’s a key to getting down there,” Brita said, “and I persuaded one of the guards to share it with me before I—” She broke off, but Phoenix understood perfectly. “I’m the only one who knows it now.”

  “Phoenix,” Drakon said with an ominous shiver, “I believe she has summoned Opiri. She’s stalling for time. We must go down now if we want to save the lives of the people here and get what we came to find.” He glanced at Matthew. “You’ll need to come with us, as will the mayor. You’ll have to play hostage again.”

  “I figured,” Matthew said with a crooked smile.

  “We’ll also require weapons. One of your men should stay with us. The rest of your comrades can stand guard outside.”

  Matthew looked at Phoenix, who nodded. “If Opiri are coming,” she said, “we have to have warning.”

  The young Enforcer instructed the others, who reluctantly returned the way they had come. A short and stocky young woman called Yeshevsky remained behind, clearly ready to fight.

  “I hope they don’t have too many guards down there,” Matthew said.

  “Less than there were,” Brita said.

  Phoenix clenched her teeth and took one of the submachine guns the Enforcers had left behind. Matthew readied his own weapon, and Drakon took another with his free hand while he held on to Shepherd with the other.

  “We can’t kill you with these,” Phoenix said to Brita, “but we can incapacitate you. Keep that in mind.” She nodded to Yeshevsky, who pointed her weapon at Brita. “Go.” When they reached the elevator, Phoenix tapped Brita in the back with the butt of he
r rifle. Brita’s fingers danced over the keypad that locked the elevator, and the doors slid open.

  “Drakon,” Phoenix whispered. “This may be...”

  He smiled warmly, though he was unable to touch her. “I know,” he said. “Let me go first, with the mayor. That may be enough to persuade them to cooperate. If we don’t return in twenty minutes, come down with Matthew and Brita.”

  “Out of the question,” she said, hovering on the verge of panic.

  “You asked me to believe in you before,” he said. “I did. I still do. Now you have to believe in me.”

  “Then there’s something you have to do for me first,” she said, barely keeping her trembling in check.

  “Whatever is within my power.”

  “Take my blood.” She shook her head at his expression of alarm. “You know you can’t infect me. You have to do it, Drakon, or you might not make it another ten feet.”

  “It may do no good,” he said. “The virus prevents—”

  “I know. But we have to try it.”

  Closing his eyes, Drakon nodded and set his weapon down. While Shepherd slumped to the ground, his collar still gripped in Drakon’s fist, Phoenix offered her neck. Quickly and efficiently and without any trace of emotion, Drakon brought her close and bit her. He finished in a minute and pulled back.

  Resting her forehead against his chest, Phoenix swallowed thickly. No tears, she thought. Not now. We’re fellow soldiers. We always knew the risks.

  “You’re coming back,” she said, smiling up at him.

  “I’ll come back,” he said.

  He pulled her against him with one arm and kissed her, hard and fast. And then he and the mayor, staggering with exhaustion, were inside the elevator. Drakon released Shepherd just long enough to punch the door button.

  No one expected Shepherd to move as fast as he did. He darted out of the elevator, caught Brita in the face with his left elbow and snatched the tube from her hand with the other. He ran, and Brita bolted after him. Phoenix caught up and grabbed her.

  Brita whirled about and struck hard at Phoenix’s face. Phoenix ducked, and Shepherd’s head appeared behind Brita’s shoulder. A bare needle plunged into the Opir woman’s neck.