by Judy Mills
"I'll lead them away," I said, setting my gun to bullets and flicking off the safety. "Count to twenty and then head for tunnel entry four. We'll meet back at the shop."
Falcon nodded and I took off across the lawn.
Just like I'd hoped, the security team immediately spotted me and gave chase. I smiled and picked up my speed enough to keep the guards focused. I was in for a long night, but Falcon would get away.
That was all that mattered.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I gave school security a good run for their money, and about twenty minutes into the chase, the police were called in. I had a few near misses, but had finally managed to draw them into the section of the city known as the Dead Zone.
Strangers to Charlotte thought we called it that because restoration of the multi-block area wasn't even a sparkle in the eyes of city officials. What they didn't understand was the real meaning was much more to the point.
Go into the old banking district without knowing your way around and die. Simple.
But, if you understood the Dead Zone's ways, there was no better place for dodging capture. I happened to know every crumbling building, every alley, and every dark corner. Tonight, I was about to put that knowledge to good use again.
From the shadows at the mouth of one of my old escape routes, I watched another police car cruise by, its search lights wiping over the pitted walls and rubble of the once beautiful skyline of Charlotte. When they moved on down the street, I stripped out of my disguise and shoved it behind the pile of trash next to me. Another quick scan of the street and I turned and bolted for the alley behind me.
Halfway down and shrouded in inky blackness, I hit my first piece of bad luck. Some enterprising citizen group had scared up the money and ambition to install a forty foot para chain link and razor wire fence, even springing for an extra topping of extra nasty barbed wire. Beyond the fence, the rest of the alley and the road that ran past it waited for me.
Behind, at the mouth of the alley, the search light flashed by. Breaking their usual pattern, the cruiser had apparently turned around and come back.
I was trapped.
* * *
When someone wanted you dead, the two most important rules to survival were to keep moving and not to be seen.
Cooper loped at a steady pace over the upper canopy of the Dead Zone jumping easily from roof to roof and shadow to shadow, Marc only a few paces behind him. When they'd first stumbled into the search area, they'd doubled back, fearing the manhunt was for them. After some cautious reconnaissance, they'd determined that someone else was the unlucky recipient of the city's sparse resources. As long as they stayed out of it, they were probably safe.
That didn't stop Cooper from maintaining a hundred yard radius sweep with his senses while his thoughts plowed through all the possibilities of who might be behind the assassin attacks. The sooner he got this resolved, the sooner things could go back to normal. The quicker that happened, the quicker he could be with Addison again.
As if his wish had called her forth, a familiar smell touched the edges of his perception and his mind jolted with awareness. Cooper skidded to a stop and pivoted in the direction of the scent. He pulled in a deep breath and tensed when he felt her fear. Deep in his core, the wolf stirred.
Marc stuttered to stop a few feet ahead of him, turned and jogged back. Lifting his nose, he tested the air and frowned. "She can take care of herself. We have to keep moving."
The wolf howled, heating through Cooper's blood, silent and compelling. A growl scratched against his throat, fighting to get out. The need to protect her was unavoidable.
Cooper ignored Marc and ran.
* * *
I pulled back into the deeper shadows near the building as the cruiser stopped at the entrance to the alley. Both cops got out, one with a flashlight, the other with his weapon drawn. They approached the trash pile cautiously. When the taller man aimed his flashlight at the ground, my stomach felt like I'd suddenly dropped three floors. They weren't supposed to find my disguise until morning.
"I knew I'd seen something," the taller cop said, zeroing his light in on the tuft of blonde hair sticking out. He reached down and pulled out the bundle.
The other officer got on his iC. "Facial ID from the photo confirmed as likely. We just found a wig and uniform matching witness descriptions."
I glanced to my right and then left, fear pressing up against my throat. If I got caught it was all over. I couldn't help Cooper, Falcon would be in danger, and the kids...I couldn't let that happen.
Fighting wasn't my first choice, after all the cops were just doing their job, but it looked like I wasn't going to have a choice. I would at least try to only disable them.
I drew my gun and braced myself.
Behind the cruiser on the other side of the street, a woman suddenly sprinted past. For a moment I thought I was hallucinating as she flashed by the ambient glare of the cruiser's search light.
Same hair, same build, even her clothes matched mine. If I hadn't already been so scared, I would've been completely freaked out.
The cops turned instinctively toward the movement and their attention hit the woman full blast. They called out for her to stop, but she either didn't hear or wasn't interested in playing by the rules. Instead she ran faster, turning down a side street and moving quickly out of sight.
The cops threw my disguise into their cruiser and jumped in. The guy with the flashlight excitedly yelled into his iC while his partner threw the cruiser into gear and squealed off after the mystery woman. A moment later, two more cruisers raced past the entrance to the alley.
When something is too good to be true, it probably is. Maybe I could make it to the street before the trap was sprung.
* * *
Cooper crouched on the edge of a building, tension pinging through him like a pinball game on speed as the threat of danger pounded in his brain. Marc squatted next to him.
His attention tightened as a lean, muscled woman sprinted past them on the street below, her shoulder-length black hair streaming behind her.
"She'll get away," Marc said, relief in his voice. He stood up, anxious to go.
Cooper took a deep breath and his mood plunged deeper into the primeval shadows thickening in his soul. "That's not her."
He pivoted and raced off, only barely aware of Marc calling to him to stop.
* * *
I crept toward the entrance of the alley as the sirens screaming through the streets faded into the distance. The silhouette of a man appeared in the street and I froze. Pressing my back against the building, I leveled my gun on him.
"You're welcome, Ms. Kittner." Bellmonte's eternally bored, sultry voice drifted down the alley.
My grip tightened on my Browning as he stepped into the sliver of moonlight that had managed to slice through the clouds. Calm and elegant as always, he presented a startling contrast of rich sophistication against the filthy, ruined backdrop of the Dead Zone.
I kept a steady bead on him as I surreptitiously coded my weapon for vamp.
"I'm not here to fight, child. I'm here to help," he purred.
"You'll understand if I don't believe you." I edged along the wall toward the street. If I could get past him, I might have a chance. Trapped in a dead end, my hope of survival was sickeningly low.
"I'd be deeply disappointed if you did. At least until you've heard what I have to say."
"Start with who the hell they're chasing."
"One of my employees. She has instructions not to be caught until she reaches South Tryon. She's nearly as fast as you are. I retain high expectations for her success."
"Step back," I demanded, aiming at his head.
Bellmonte raised his hands and to my surprise, did what he was told. My suspicions exploded.
I cautiously inched past him, my gaze never leaving his face. His eyes would give away when he was about to pounce and where he planned to land. Any edge I could get, no matter how small, was one tha
t might save my life. His expression remained serene, which for a vampire his age was very, very bad.
"You'll be delighted to learn that I've concluded you have no hope of discovering who's behind the defamation of my good name. Therefore, I no longer require your loved ones as leverage." He gave me a no-teeth smile. "Unfortunately, due to your efforts, I find myself in an unenviable situation if I'm to meet the requirements of our contract."
I was almost level with him, but held back, my tension mounting. "Don't fret yourself. I'll be fine."
"The chance of that being true is shockingly slim. Should you die, the smudge on my stellar professional record would be catastrophic."
"Get to the point, Bellmonte. You might live for hundreds of years, but I'm on the clock." I stepped clear of him and was now faced with the fun of watching both the street and the vampire.
"I believe that you're up against more than you are currently equipped to handle. As a human, you can't possibly survive."
"Any day now."
"You require a bodyguard."
I sucked in a surprised breath before I could stop myself. "Are you applying for the position?"
"I realize that you prefer doggy style, but sadly yes. I am." He held up his hand when I opened my mouth to tell him where he could stick his slur against my boyfriend. "You really have no choice in the matter. Under the stringent requirements you, yourself, insisted upon, I can trust the job to no one but myself."
I glanced at the street, now only a scant few yards away and wondered if the fear and outrage surging through my blood stream would give me the speed to out run him.
"Speechless with gratitude? I shall mark my calendar," he said, his tone dry.
That did it. Cocky bastard.
"I'm trying to decide why I'm about to shoot you. For insulting a man who outclasses you in every conceivable way, or just because you're too vain to live."
Bellmonte's eyes glittered in the faint light and his features flickered toward the skeletal monstrosity of his kind before smoothing back to normal. Good. I'd gotten to him.
"An accurate assessment of one's obvious attributes is never vanity. Pride, now that is another matter entirely," Bellmonte said.
I started toward the street as he gave me a benevolent smile. "Don't let yours prevent you from taking advantage of the considerable resources at my disposal."
"It isn't the resources that worry me. It's the considerable obligations that come with them."
"No strings attached, as you humans say."
"Puppet masters always have strings." I backed into the street, turned and ran.
* * *
Above the alley, Cooper struggled to break Marc's hold on him without hurting him. His fight was not with his clansman. His fight was below.
The need to protect Addison crashed over him again, drowning him with fear, anger, and the urge to kill. He would rip the vampire to pieces for daring to threaten her.
For looking at her with an insatiable hunger and lust he would split his skull open and crush his brains, shred his muscles to tattered ribbons, and splinter his bones. He would protect her no matter the cost.
Cooper growled and Marc's grip on him tightened.
"She got away," Marc rumbled in his ear.
Below them, Lord Bellmonte strolled toward the street, stopping just short of it. He cocked his head slightly, focusing on a point somewhere behind and above him.
"Poor little wolf," he said, his voice bouncing off the buildings and rising to pierce Cooper's heart with rage. "She will be mine, Your Highness. And there is nothing you can do to prevent it."
"Let him go," Marc cautioned.
Bellmonte straightened his cuffs. There was a blur of movement and the alley was empty.
Cooper shoved Marc off of him. With a roar, he slammed his fist through the roof, crushing shingles, wood and steel.
"She's safe," Marc said, his tone calm, reasonable and designed to force Cooper to recognize that he was being neither.
"For how long?" he growled.
"She can handle him."
"She's mine!" He spun around and snarled at Marc, letting the frustration and blood lust surging through him spill onto his face. His Beta paled and backed away, dropping his gaze as he raised his hands, palms out.
"What does Lord Bellmonte know that we don't?" Marc asked.
Damn it, he didn't care. But Marc was right, and the truth of it seeped through the instinctive madness drowning him and pushed it down.
Cooper struggled to get his emotions under control. He knew he was being unreasonable, but he couldn't seem to let it go, which frightened him. "I'll kill him before I let him touch her."
"With Bellmonte involved, the importance of discovering who's behind the VR is more crucial than ever," Marc said, careful to keep from meeting his gaze. "We have to choose."
Cooper knew he had to focus. If only he could get her scent out of his blood.
Fighting millions of years of instinct, he paced away from Marc, struggling to control the howling need to go to her that burned inside him. Slowly, he pushed down the urgency vibrating into his very bones. After a moment, he turned back, determination settling over him. His Beta risked a glance up and relaxed.
"Your orders, sir?" he asked, giving Cooper a slight bow.
"We hunt both."
CHAPTER EIGHT
I pushed against the trap door until the blasted crate of books slid off far enough to allow me to squeeze through. I found Falcon standing in the doorway, arms crossed and glaring at me. Relief went through me at the sight of him. Until that moment, I hadn't allowed myself to think that he might not have gotten away.
"Still with the books. You're killin' me." I closed the trapdoor and pushed the crate back into place.
"Where have you been?" He shoved his hand through his hair, making it stick up like a porcupine. "I thought—"
"Takes more than a few cops and a ridiculous vampire to end me." For a moment it looked like Falcon might fling himself across the storage room and hug me. Concern and embarrassment heated my face. "Um...I'm sorry you were worried?"
He got himself under control and managed a short guy-to-guy kind of nod though his eyes looked suspiciously wet. "I have the pictures I took at the school up on the computer," he muttered. He turned away and stalked back into the main part of the shop.
I followed him, not sure how I could make him feel better. We were here and we were safe. That was what mattered.
Still, I was relieved to see that he'd drawn the shades over the windows and had only a few low lights on in the back. No reason to push our luck if the police cruised by.
We crowded around his laptop at the counter and I watched him pull up a series of photographs.
"Looks like mostly utility bills and supply receipts," I said. "Why stuff junk like that in a hidden safe?" I got out my iC and aimed the front of it at the screen of his laptop. Falcon pushed a couple of keys and a beam of light connected the two devices. A second later, the photos from my unit uploaded across the datastream and appeared on the computer.
"Two pages of a student roster. Two electric bills, one water, three receipts from supplies," Falcon said, looking at the pictures. "Huh. They're being way overcharged for frankincense tears."
"Some of the names on the roster are bolded."
Falcon pointed at the screen. "That's Chiwa's friend who got transferred. Maybe these other names are also kids who got the fake scholarships." He scrolled down. "Uh oh."
"That's Chiwa's name," I said, my stomach dropping. "This page must be a list of kids they plan to move over."
"We can't prove that. For all we know these are kids who are failing." He knew that wasn't true and I could hear the fear in his voice. Now that I understood what he was really doing for Chiwa, I knew where that fear was coming from.
By stepping up as her guardian, he'd promised to look out for her and he wanted to keep her safe. I got that. And I had no idea how to make that happen short of locking her up.
"There's one other thing I grabbed before we left," I said, remembering what I'd found in the safe.
I pulled the business card from my front pocket and handed it to Falcon. "The only reason I can think of to keep a business card in a wall safe is if it's your emergency contact. One you don't want anybody to know about."
Falcon read the card. "Jacob Laswell? The most prominent practitioner in the city?"
"Inventor of the hoverbus. Grand poo-bah of all the Charlotte covens. And I finally remembered where I'd seen Danny's attack dog before. Coming out of Bellmonte's office last summer. He was one of Laswell's body guards."
"I don't like that look you're getting. What are you planning to do?" His eyes widened with sudden understanding. "No, no, no. We are not going to break into Laswell's house. He will have more magical crap strung around that place ready to fry uninvited guests than you could shake a wand at. There has to be another way."
"He has a reputation for keeping meticulous records. One canceled check and we have our secret sponsor. After that, we'll let the authorities connect the dots to the drug manufacturer."
"It's suicide."
"Chiwa's on the list, Falcon. How much time do you think she has?"
"Uncle Ben can send her to public school."
"You know she won't go for that." I kept a steady, censured gaze on him.
After a moment, he heaved a resigned sigh. "Fine. I'll put together what we might need. And I want some of your special para juice for another Browning I've been building."
"I go alone this time," I said in a firm tone. Not only might the mission be suicide, it would be genius-cide if he went.
"You need someone to watch your back," Falcon insisted, though his voice shook a bit at the edges.
