by Tim Myers
“Thanks, I’ll let them know. One more thing, Trask.”
“What is it?”
“Watch your back,” he said. “I’ll get the word out, but you know how jumpy some of my guys are when there’s a bloodthirsty wolf on the loose.”
“Just make sure they know I’m not the one they’re after,” I said as I hung up. I had considered telling Dalton about Harkins, but decided to keep the fact that there might be a real rogue wolf on the loose to myself. I wasn’t milking my clients for a fee I wasn’t going to earn, and I wasn’t trying to grab the glory of bringing him down for myself, but no matter how I felt about Harkins, all I had was the girl’s parents’ word that he’d taken her, and I wasn’t about to turn him over to the cops until I knew that for sure. Blood is thicker than water, and that’s even truer when the blood has our shared mutation. Not that I wouldn’t hang him high myself if it turned out that what the Grangers had told me was true, but I’d learned long ago that clients never told me the entire truth, at least not up front.
I had to find Harkins and young Jennifer and find out what was going on myself before I dragged Dalton into it.
It was time to start digging a little digger into Harkins and his life. I had a feeling that at least that much of what the parents had told me was true; if I turned up the werewolf, I had a feeling that the girl wouldn’t be far off.
Chapter 3
“I need to find Harkins,” I told Fox when I walked back into the Wolfbane half an hour later. It was just after ten in the morning, and as hard as it was for me to believe, there were already a few patrons there having their first drink of the day.
He backed up against the mirror behind the bar and stared at me carefully. “Listen, about last night. I didn’t mean anything by what I said to you. I just didn’t want the place busted up again.”
I saw Fox’s hand go under the bar, and I had a feeling he wasn’t reaching for a baseball bat this time. There were residents of Dogtown who dealt in the black-market trade of silver bullets, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Fox was one of them. I wasn’t even sure I blamed him. Werewolves, just like everyone else, could turn mean when they were drunk, and the threat of being put down might be enough, or the application of threat, if the implication didn’t work. I had a handful of silver bullets myself. It would take something pretty bad to make me use them, but it would have been foolish not to cover my bases and protect myself any way I could.
“I’m not here for payback,” I said as I put my hand in my pocket, lightly touching my own piece. There weren’t any silver bullets in it, but I was a good enough shot to put somebody down, at least long enough to get them to pay attention to what I was saying.
“Then why are you reaching for your gun?”
“I just didn’t want you to think I was going to stand here and let you shoot me.” I put my hands out where he could see them. “Now it’s you’re your turn.”
He stared at me a few seconds, then put both hands on the bar in front of him. Good. It looked like we were going to trust each other, at least for now.
“Do you know where Matthew Harkins might be?”
Fox shot his gaze down to the bar. “I don’t need trouble from him any more than I do from you.”
“If you help me, it won’t get back to him,” I said. I was used to the rampant paranoia in Dogtown. A lot of times it felt like the old Wild West must have, with every man for himself and death always a heartbeat away. “Not unless you cross me.”
Fox looked like he wanted to throw me out, but he knew-rightly so-that he couldn’t do it without an armed squad. “Listen,” I said, trying a little charm instead of brawn. “Point me in the right direction, and I’m out of here. It’s as easy as that.”
Fox shook his head. “It’s never as easy as that.”
I pulled out the piece of paper I’d recovered from Jennifer Granger’s bedroom and waved it in the air at him.
He asked, “What’s that?”
“I found your phone number in a norm girl’s bedroom. You mind telling me how she came to get it? Or should I turn it over to Dalton and let him ask you?”
Fox bit his lip. “I heard you two weren’t on the best of terms at the moment.”
“We made up.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
I took my cell phone out of my pocket slowly. “Why don’t I call him and we’ll find out.”
“Put that away,” he said without a hint of anger in his voice. “She called here a few times for him. I didn’t think anything about it, you know? I’m not involved in whatever he’s up to, and that’s the truth.”
“Yeah, you’re as innocent as a spring lamb. Come on, point me in the right direction, Fox. Let’s just keep this between the two of us.”
He stared at the bar for a few seconds longer, then reluctantly said, “Try Sue Ellen Logan. She’s been going out with him lately.”
I knew Sue Ellen. We’d gone to school together, and she was probably more than even Harkins could handle.
“Thanks. That wasn’t so tough, was it?”
“I kept my part of the deal, now it’s time for you to keep yours and get the hell out of my bar.”
I smiled at him, then walked out into the morning air. It was time to visit Sue Ellen and see what she knew about Harkins and the norm girl.
Sue Ellen Logan was working at a bail bondsman’s office, though they didn’t have any customers when I walked in. A cigarette hung off one lip, and it was pretty clear someone had given her a pretty purple bruise under one eye. Sue Ellen had been pleasantly curved in high school, but too many fast food meals and not enough exercise had turned it into flab. Her faded blonde hair reminded me of spent hay, brittle and old.
“Get out,” she said the second I came in through the door.
“Be nice. Is that any way to treat an old friend?” I asked. “How do you know I’m not here to see your boss?”
“He’s not here,” she said.
I stared past her. “The light’s on in his office.”
“Don’t bother, that’s strictly for show. He sleeping one off in bed,” she said.
“Yours, no doubt.”
That shot struck home, I could tell by the way her nostrils flared. “You always were a charmer, Sue Ellen. Who laid the bruise on you?”
Her hand went to the spot. “Clumsy me, I walked into a door.”
“Was Harkins holding it at the time, by any chance?”
She shook her head. “I know you think you’re bad, Trask, but he’s the real thing. Drop this.”
“I don’t know, I’m pretty tough, too. What does Harkins think about you sleeping with your boss?”
She finished the cigarette and lit another off the stub. “He threw me out, so I doubt he cares much one way or the other.”
“I’ll give you this, it didn’t take you long to bounce back, did it?”
“Bite my tail,” she said, but there was no sting in the insult. “You’re not getting anything out of me, so there’s no use trying.”
“Gee, and to think we used to be such good friends,” I said.
“Funny, that’s not how I remember it at all. You always thought you were too good for me in school.”
“I never said that, Sue Ellen. I just never thought we’d be a good match. What do you know, it turns out I was right. Where’s Harkins?”
“I’m not telling you anything. Now get out.”
“I’m not going anywhere to find out where he is.”
She reached a hand into the top drawer of her desk, but I’d been waiting for it since I’d walked in. I pulled my gun out in one fluid motion and had it pointing at her nose before she could blink.
“That might not be the best idea you’ve ever had in your life,” I said. “Let’s see your hands.”
She put one of them on the desk, but not the one going for the gun.
I gestured with my gun. “Now let’s see the other one.”
I saw her tense for just a second, so I dove
to one side as a bullet screamed through the air where I’d just been standing. She tried to get the gun out of the drawer for another shot, but my hand was on hers by then, and she couldn’t move.
“Let go of the gun, or I’ll break your hand,” I said.
She reluctantly did as I ordered, and I pulled the gun out of the drawer. “Sue Ellen, that was probably the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in your life, and I’m willing to bet you had to go pretty far to top some of the stunts you’ve pulled in the past.”
The cigarette had dropped out of her mouth when I’d grabbed her, and it was smoldering in the folds of her dress. “You might want to put yourself out.”
She started beating the material of her dress with her hands, so I reached over and grabbed a glass of water, then poured it in her lap. “That ought to cool you off.”
I’ll give her credit, she didn’t say a word.
I had both guns out, one in each hand, and I felt like a real gunslinger as I stared down at her.
“Tell me where Harkins is.”
“What are you going to do, shoot me?”
“If you piss me off enough. After all, you tried to shoot me first.”
She smiled, and it had a feral look to it. “I know better. You would have done it when I tried to shoot you if you were going to do it at all.”
I sighed as I slipped both guns back, mine in its holster and hers in my pocket. “I always was a softie. It’ll probably be my downfall someday. Just not today.”
“Are you going to keep my gun? Give it back?”
“Why, so you can try again? Forget it.”
“I need it for protection. It was Marty’s idea, and it’s his piece.”
“You’ll just have to tell him how you lost it.” Had she lost her mind? She might take another shot at me someday, it might even be today, but it wasn’t going to be with the gun in my pocket.
I put a hand on her shoulder, and let loose a little of the beast. My hand converted into a razor-tipped paw, and the nails dug through her dress into her shoulder. “Why did you try to kill me?”
“I wasn’t aiming for you. I was just trying to scare you off.”
There was an edge to her voice, and I could sense that she was dancing on the edge of hysteria. I didn’t feel all that big and brave intimidating her with force, but I didn’t have much choice. She was lucky she wasn’t dead. I knew too many brothers of the Wolf who would have ripped out her throat for what she’d done, or at least tried to do.
“I don’t scare that easily,” I said softly.
“Go ahead, kill me. You’ll just save Harkins the trouble.”
“Is he really worth dying for?” I said as I dug my claws in deeper.
“There’s dying, and then there’s dying,” she said, the resignation heavy in her voice. “You both might kill me, but at least I know it will be clean with you. Harkins will make it last a long time.”
I felt her shudder under my touch, and I pulled my claws back and changed my hand to human form. It was tough controlling bits and pieces of me like that, but I’d been practicing, and I was finally starting to get pretty good at it. Most of my kind don’t bother, but I found it useful in my line of work when I needed to remind someone that I wasn’t always the sweet guy I seemed to be on the outside.
She felt the pressure ease, and I saw her tense again. “If you’re going to do it, get it over with, would you? All I ask is that you make it a clean kill.”
I walked to the door. “The way I see it, we’re even. You took a shot at me, and I scratched you a little. You might want to have somebody take a look at that.” The shoulder of her dress was quickly clotting with blood. My claws must have gone in a little deeper than I’d meant. That was thing about control. There was always a little room for improvement.
She pressed her hand to her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” There was a look on her face that was tough for me to figure at first, but then I recognized it as relief. Sue Ellen really had thought I was going to kill her. That’s probably why she’d been willing to take a shot at me. She’d been pushed around by too many men too many times, and it was just my dumb luck to come along when she’d finally reached her limit.
I started to walk out when she said, “Trask, if you tell Harkins how you heard about this place, he’ll kill me, but I might know where he is.”
“Are you sure you want to risk it?”
She managed a slight smile. “Hey, life’s a crapshoot anyway, isn’t it? He’s got a hideout over on Jagged Road. It’s an abandoned house, but he’s fixed up a place in the basement. Don’t go there by yourself, though. He’ll kill you if you walk in there alone.”
“Don’t forget, I’m as strong as three ordinary werewolves,” I said, trying out a smile of my own.
“Then you’d better take four of your friends. Harkins isn’t anybody you want to mess with, not anymore.”
“Why? What’s changed?”
“Ask your friend Bailey.”
That surprised me. “What’s Bailey got to do with any of this?”
“I’ve said too much already. Just talk to him before you tackle Harkins.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I said.
Once I was outside, I called Bailey on my cell phone. “Hey, I need to talk to you.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing.”
“Enough chatter. I need some information.”
“Jacob, you know me. I’ll tell you what I can.”
I paused, wondering how to word it. “Is there something you didn’t mention to me this morning when we were talking about Harkins?”
“Why? What have you heard?”
Enough of dodging the question. “Bailey, you’re my best friend. I expect to have to strong-arm witnesses to get the truth, but not you.”
He sighed, then said, “It’s too complicated to discuss over the telephone. Maybe you’d better come back to my lab.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
As I drove back to Bailey’s, I wondered what he hadn’t told me over breakfast. He’d reacted when I’d mentioned Harkins’ name, but I’d assumed it was because he’d heard of the man. Was there more to it than that, though? Was he somehow tied in with the man I was hunting? If he was, why had he kept information to himself? It wasn’t like him. Normally I couldn’t get him to shut up.
He met me at the door. “I’m sorry, Jacob. I should have said something earlier this morning.”
“You think?” I asked as I brushed in past him.
“I just didn’t want you to think badly of me. I never dreamed you’d find out, especially not so quickly. Who told you what happened?”
“I keep my sources confidential.”
He looked startled. “Even from me?”
“Especially from you, at least right now. Talk to me.”
Bailey frowned and rubbed his chin. “I didn’t think it would matter. I told him no, and that should have been that. I still can’t believe it.”
“Gee, I feel a lot better now. That explains everything.”
He looked at me with hope clearly displayed in his gaze. “It does?”
“Of course not, you jackass. All I know is that you’ve got some kind of tie to Harkins that you didn’t want me to know about. Start from the beginning, and tell me everything you know, no matter how trivial it might seem to you.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry, Jacob, I should have told you everything when it happened.”
I was getting tired of this dance. “You’re right, you should have, but this is your second chance.”
“Come into my lab. There’s something I need to show you first.” I knew better than to push him. Bailey would have to tell me in his own sweet time, or I’d never get it all out of him, no matter how hard I pressed.
We walked back to his workspace, and Bailey pointed to his desk. “I got my files out after you called. You know I’ve been working on a blocking agent for lycanthropy, right?”
“All of Dogtown
knows that,” I said, impatient for a lecture, but realizing it was the only way Bailey was going to tell me anything.
“I thought I was onto something, but I wasn’t ready to run any trials until I’d done more testing. Harkins heard about it from my loudmouthed lab assistant, and he showed up on my doorstep one night last week demanding a sample.”
“Hang on a second,” I said as I paced the room. “He wanted you to kill the werewolf in him?” From everything I knew of the man, that just didn’t make sense.
“No, I’m afraid that’s not what the blockers I developed did. I did some work with blood samples, and it turned out to enhance the mutation instead of quell it.”
It took me a second to grasp what Bailey was saying. “Are you telling me you turned him into some kind of superwolf?” I couldn’t imagine Harkins being any more dangerous than he already was, but I was starting to see how wrong I could be.
“Yes, I know, it was a wrong turn. I refused his request when he came to the lab, and honestly, I was expecting violence, but he just smiled and left. The next day, I realized why. My assistant, Kyle Porter, was gone, and so was the entire vial of the serum. I’ve been trying to find Kyle, to stop him from doing anything foolish, but I haven’t had any luck so far. I’m afraid he might have already sold it to Harkins.” He paused, bit his lip, then said, “There’s something else, too.”
“This just keeps getting better and better. What is it?”
Bailey looked as though he wanted to cry as he admitted, “The concoction you were hit with probably came from my lab. I don’t doubt that Kyle made it up from some of my testing samples, so in a way, I’m responsible for you being poisoned. I’m so sorry, Jacob.”
If he was expecting a free pass, he’d come to the wrong man. “Bailey, did you ever think to come to me with this? I might have been able to stop this before it turned bad. For a smart guy, sometimes you can be a real idiot.”
“I know,” he said, hanging his head low. “I thought I could handle it on my own.”
