by Abby Blake
She wanted fast, she wanted loud, she wanted something, anything. She wanted different. And she wanted it now.
When she got to the parking lot exit, she turned right, heading away from her home, turning away from every sensible decision she’d ever made. She’d always wanted to go on a road trip. This time she was damn well doing it!
* * * *
Dyson James stood in the living area of the safe house where Hannah was being protected and tried to stop his jaw from dropping to the floor. Ronan had just informed the gathered agents that they believed the women they’d been searching for were actually heading to Sugarvale. Without knowing what was going on, the Oracle’s receptacles were unconsciously seeking each other out.
But the most amazing part was that sweet, quietly spoken Hannah had blushed, mentioned the others by name even though no one had told her, and then rattled off the coordinates of their current locations. Stunned silence was followed by a flurry of activity as Benjamin gave them their orders and they moved to comply.
Brody opened a dragon vortex, and Adam and Thomas stepped through. Dyson and Angus followed using individual slip paths.
“Now what?” Angus asked as they turned toward the road. If they’d calculated correctly, Kristen Haynes would be driving past this very spot in a matter of moments. The trouble was they had no idea what the woman looked like, what she was driving, or how she would react to being pulled over on a disused roadway in the middle of nowhere.
They’d tried unsuccessfully to contact Kristen Haynes at both her registered workplace and the building in which she supposedly lived. Neither place had ever heard of the woman. In fact, the owner of the transport company had been shocked to realize he had the woman on his payroll. He’d sworn he knew every one of his staff by name and not one of them was named Kristen. They’d shown him the poorly lit, out-of-focus photograph of the woman’s driver’s license, and he’d simply shaken his head, showing absolutely no hint of recognition. The doorman of her building had been the same. It was pretty obvious that neither man was trying to protect her. They truly had no idea who Kristen Haynes was.
The only good news had been that if PUP Squad Alpha couldn’t find the woman, chances were the assassins couldn’t, either.
Finally, a car—hopefully the one they were waiting for—came into sight. It was the only vehicle for miles and seemed to be puttering along, rather than driving directly to a destination. It wasn’t even doing anywhere near the speed limit. This particular road had been replaced by a highway a long time ago. If the driver was in a hurry to get to Sugarvale, she’d certainly chosen the wrong route.
“Let’s see if we can flag her down first,” Thomas said with a broad smile that usually had women falling at his feet.
“Agreed,” Brody said with a nod. “There’s no reason to frighten the driver. Especially if she’s not Kristen.”
“Are we sure we’ll even recognize Kristen? The one and only photo we have is kind of crappy,” Angus said with a short bark of laughter. Dyson tried not to react to the man’s poorly timed humor. He’d known Angus for years—he often worked with PUP Squad Alpha as a contractor—but they’d never truly been friends. The man’s jovial attitude was grating at times and certainly in stark contrast to the quiet and watchful attitude of Dyson’s usual squad partner, Jason. All those times Dyson had wished for the young warlock to be more outgoing and less shy had certainly come back to bite him on the ass. Considering how much Angus annoyed him, there was definitely an argument for being careful what you wish for. Right now he found himself hoping that whatever family issue Jason needed to take leave for would be sorted out quickly, very, very quickly.
As the car approached, Thomas and Dyson stepped onto the road to try and get the driver to pull over. Dyson saw the woman’s worried frown, but she slowed the car to a stop and rolled her window down an inch or so.
“Can I help you?” she asked with a nervous smile.
“Well, that all depends,” Thomas said with that confident grin that usually had women swooning. “Are you Kristen Haynes?”
Dyson saw panic flash across the woman’s face before she shook her head and plastered on a polite smile. “Sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “Did you need something?” The woman grimaced and appeared to silently berate herself for what seemed to be an automatic inclination to help those around her.
It was obvious that Thomas scented her fear, but he was also smart enough to realize it wasn’t just the normal fear of a woman alone on a deserted road. His next words confirmed he’d noticed the reaction the woman had tried to hide. She was Kristen Haynes. She just didn’t want to admit it. Quite frankly, it wasn’t that hard to believe that she would lie. Nobody ever expected to be pulled over in the middle of nowhere and be addressed by name.
“Sweetheart,” Thomas said with the full power of his ladies’-man personality, “Kristen is in grave danger. We need to find her quickly so that we can protect her.”
“P–Protect her? What from?”
“We have a serial killer targeting women born twelfth of January,” Dyson said, going with the cover story they’d agreed upon. All five of them on this mission looked human, so it wasn’t necessary to freak the woman out until they actually had to.
“Sweetheart,” Thomas said again. His natural charm usually had women gazing at him as if he were the last man on Earth. Not so this one. She watched him closely, her suspicion obvious, as he explained. “All of the victims were twenty-seven. We need to find Kristen Haynes before the serial killer does.”
“H–How would he find m—” She cut her words off, glancing fearfully at the men. “How would he find Kristen if she was…” She let her words trail away, perhaps realizing that she wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Kristen,” Dyson said, his concern for the woman making his voice husky, “we can protect you. I promise we’ll keep you safe.”
She glanced from Dyson to Thomas and back again, her car window still only opened the smallest crack necessary for her to hear them. Her eyes widened when the others came up behind him and Thomas. It seemed introductions were definitely called for now.
“I’m Dyson,” he said, pressing a hand over his chest and then pointing to each of the others. “This is Thomas, Adam, Brody, and Angus. I promise, Kristen. We’re here to help you.”
“O–Okay,” she said as she wound her window down a fraction farther. “Should I…um…follow you or something?”
“How about I come with you?” Dyson suggested, wondering how they were going to explain the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere without a vehicle. Cover stories were all well and good, but the devil was in the details. “The others will meet us at the nearest safe house.”
She nodded again, hesitated one more moment, and then flipped the car locks open.
* * * *
Angus McPherson watched his temporary squad partner, Dyson James, drive away in Kristen’s car and had to admire the man’s smooth moves. It wasn’t often that Thomas didn’t get the girl, so Dyson probably had reason to be a little smug. Although, come to think of it, Thomas had been rather quiet lately, especially when it came to the ladies. In fact, he hadn’t really seemed his usual cocky self since the issue with Skye and her sister, Jennifer, several months ago.
“Who’s with me, then?” Angus asked, already knowing what the answer would be. Slip travel was uncomfortable for most creatures, except for the demons born to it, but he’d been told on numerous occasions that his particular form of travel was not only nauseating but freeze-ya-tits-off cold as well. Personally, he found the temperature quite refreshing, but judging by Thomas’s and Adam’s quick negative replies, it was too cold for pretty-boy werewolves.
“I’ll transport Adam and Thomas directly to the safe house. You follow Dyson and Kristen, and they’ll meet you there.”
“Not a problem,” he said with a wide grin. He didn’t need to ask what Brody would be doing. The man would be going back to protect Ava. It was as clear and as s
imple as that. The woman might be off the assassin’s radar thanks to the fake death they’d arranged, but she was never without at least one of her husbands.
Angus watched Kristen’s small car climb a slight rise in the distance and decided it would be best to get himself moving. He’d slip travel ahead of the vehicle, wait for Dyson and Kristen to drive past and almost out of sight and then slip travel ahead once more. It would be quite nice to be able to stop every mile or so. With slip travel taking him directly from one point to the other, it wasn’t often that he got to slow down and appreciate the scenery. This assignment might actually start out rather pleasant.
* * * *
Three days of quiet, surrounded by deliciously handsome men who not only acknowledged her existence but also cared about her comfort didn’t really prepare Kristen for the realities of being a serial killer’s target. She’d never been the center of attention before and was a little bit embarrassed by how much she liked it. Of course, that didn’t stop her imagination from taking things one step further. She was well into her latest fantasy about Angus and Dyson taking turns at making love to her when an awful screeching sound filled the air.
Dyson was beside her almost instantly, his warm arms wrapped around her, holding her close as the other three men moved to investigate.
“Damn,” Angus said in a soft whisper, “we have at least two out the front.”
“Two more out back,” Adam said as he came into the living area, Thomas right behind him. “Time to follow the ‘live to fight another day’ rule and retreat.” All four men nodded in agreement.
Kristen held her breath, panic stealing through her. If they were surrounded, how were they supposed to retreat?
“Get her to Brody. We’ll follow with Dyson,” Thomas said decisively a moment before Kristen’s understanding of the world changed forever.
* * * *
Angus held Kristen close. He knew that slip travel was very uncomfortable for humans, but he’d been hoping that Kristen wouldn’t have to learn about their unusual skills the hard way. It had seemed easier just to take things one day at a time. Learning that she was an Oracle’s receptacle and currently surrounded by paranormals was something they’d decided to ease her into. Of course, that had been when they believed the safe house to be safe.
Kristen clung to him as her knees wobbled. He held her closer with one hand as he dialed his cell phone with the other.
“Brody, emergency evac,” he said as soon as the dragon-shifter answered the phone.
“On it.” A dragon vortex appeared beside them a moment later. Brody stepped through, quickly closed that jump vortex, and opened another. Angus lifted Kristen into his arms and followed the dragon-shifter. He ground his teeth together as nausea gripped him. He might have no effects from his own type of travel, but he wasn’t immune to the side effects that a dragon vortex had on nondragons. Kristen moaned and lost consciousness as he stepped into the bright sunshine in front of the alternate safe house they had set up.
Brody left and was back a few moments later with a fire demon who was unsteady on his feet and two men who morphed into wolves as soon as they hit the ground. Adam and Thomas wriggled out of what was left of their clothes and then paced the area checking for unexpected scents.
They changed back immediately as all five men’s cell phones began ringing at the same time.
Benjamin’s news was horrifying. His orders succinct.
Go off the grid.
They had a traitor in their midst, and they had no idea who they could trust.
Chapter Two
Angus held Kristen close as he watched the four agents with them. Brody, Dyson, Thomas, and Adam had all worked with PUP Squad Alpha for the past fifty years. Surely they could trust each other. Judging by the seemingly silent communication going on, as the only Deeks Security employee here, Angus was the one they didn’t trust.
“Let’s get her inside,” Dyson said casually as he held his arms out to take Kristen from him.
“No,” Angus said, tightening his grip on Kristen. She was shivering from the cold of traveling through his slip path, but was thankfully still unconscious. “You heard Benjamin. We need to go off the grid. Brody, you need to get back to Ava. We’ll protect Kristen, but if there is a traitor in our ranks, he’ll know that Ava isn’t dead.”
Brody glanced at the other three men, nodded once, and was gone.
“The pixies can’t follow the dragon vortex path,” Dyson said, “so we should be safe for a few minutes. Give me your cell phone.”
Angus complied, wincing as Dyson melted the plastic and metal into a gooey mess. It was obvious that Dyson didn’t trust him, but they were also evenly matched. If Angus stepped through a slip path, Dyson would be able to follow easily. If Dyson attacked with fire, Angus could counter with ice and vice versa. If nothing else, it meant that neither of them would have the upper hand and Kristen would be safe as long as the three of them were together.
Dyson melted all of the phones, and Adam dug a hole under the tree, buried the mess and covered it over with dead leaves. If pixies or the traitor did visit this particular safe house, they wouldn’t find any evidence that Kristen had been there.
“We don’t want to leave a traceable slip path,” Thomas said. “We’ll get to a heavily populated area before the next slip. That’ll make our trail harder for anyone to find.” He glanced at his fellow werewolf. “Adam is going to go borrow a vehicle, but in the meanwhile, we should probably put as much distance between us and this ‘safe’ house as possible.”
Angus nodded, lifted Kristen higher against his chest and started walking toward the highway. Dyson looked ready to wrestle the unconscious woman from Angus’s arms, but Thomas gave him a small shake of his head, and the man backed down. Fifteen minutes later, the five of them climbed into a car that seemed to have more rust than actual metal and headed toward the nearest town.
* * * *
Dyson sat in the backseat with Angus. Kristen was strapped into the seat belt between them, but they both held on to her. It was obvious that the combination of slip travel followed quickly by a trip through a dragon vortex had seriously upset the woman’s equilibrium. He was actually considering finding a human doctor for her when she finally woke up.
“Welcome back, sleepyhead,” Angus said affectionately. He touched her face with his fingertips and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Either the woman had become important to the ice demon in the past three days or Angus was the world’s best actor. Dyson grimaced at that thought. In some ways, he was glad that Jason was on leave. To have the same suspicions about his usual mission partner—a man he’d worked closely with for fifty years—just seemed wrong.
But Angus seemed to genuinely care for the woman between them, and it went a long way to calming the suspicion that Benjamin’s announcement had evoked. Dyson knew that part of his conclusion was coming from wishful thinking. He didn’t want to believe that any of the men he’d worked with were capable of betraying the very ideals they’d sworn to protect, but it truly didn’t seem possible that Angus was trying to hurt Kristen. Of course, that didn’t mean Dyson was going to give the ice demon, or anyone else, the chance to hurt her.
“Kristen, are you okay, sweetheart?”
“Terrific.” Her tone of voice sounded mildly sarcastic, but in a humorous sort of way. Dyson laughed softly as he entwined their fingers together. It wasn’t really necessary to hold her while the car was moving, but just like Angus, Dyson seemed to have fallen for the woman’s sweet personality. “What happened?” she asked quietly.
“That’s probably an explanation that can wait until after you recover from the headache,” Angus said with a worried glance at Dyson. Maybe they should have gotten around to explaining the whole paranormal thing sooner.
She cracked open one eye and peered at Angus tiredly. “How did I end up with a headache? Am I sick?”
“No, sweetheart. It’s a side effect. Kind of like travel sickness.”
S
he opened her mouth as if she planned to say something else, but closed it as the small amount of color she’d had in her face drained away once more. It was obvious that the woman was suffering, but it was also obvious that she didn’t want to bother anyone by pointing it out.
“Look for a motel,” Angus said, apparently noticing the same things that Dyson did. There was no way Kristen would be up to another slip travel today. She needed rest. She needed food. And she needed explanations. They should have told her who they were from the beginning, but now they would just have to deal with the situation and explain as best as possible.
A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking space out front of a cheap motel. It wasn’t classy by any means, but it was off the main road and backed onto a woodland area thick with trees. It was a viable escape route if they needed it. Thomas nodded to Adam, who quickly disappeared into the brush. A few moments later, a soft wolf’s howl filled the air as he reported the all clear to the occupants of the car.
Thomas turned to peer at them from the driver’s seat. “Get her settled. I want both of you to stay with her at all times. Understood?”
Dyson and Angus nodded and then turned to help Kristen from her seat belt. It was clear that none of them knew who to trust, but as long as they only had one traitor, then protecting the Oracle’s receptacles in pairs was the wisest choice. The idea of there being more than one teammate betraying them wasn’t something Dyson wanted to think about. Not knowing who he could trust left him feeling ill in ways he couldn’t describe. He’d worked with the men in PUP Squad Alpha for five decades and for years on and off with many of the operatives from Deeks Security. They’d survived countless dangerous missions together and had always watched each other’s backs. Learning that there was one among them he could no longer trust was damn near soul destroying.
