“What will you need? How close are we to finding them?” asked Pearl.
“Close but I’ll need some trackers and some fighters to verify the location tonight. But they need to be cool headed. If we tip them off they could move our people or worse and these are government agents aware of supernaturals,” said Liesel. She handed Pearl Dixon the manila envelope. “Work together to select your team, scout the location. See if you can verify that they have our people, what their defenses and fighting capabilities might be,” said Liesel. “We have to know what we are getting into.”
Liesel turned to leave but paused and looked back at the Dixon matriarch. “We will go after them, I just want to make sure we are bringing the right weapons to the fight,” she said.
The twins and the Dixon matriarch sequestered themselves in the corner of the building most recently occupied by Pearl. Liesel glanced at the time on her smartphone and hurried to the homestead to shower and change into something more adult than the clothes she had thrown on in the pre-dawn hours that morning.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was 10 minutes before noon when Liesel heard tires skidding through the gravel outside. She went to the front of the house and saw Trish practically jumping from her Camaro and surveying the area around the house. Liesel opened the front door.
“You okay?” she asked Trish.
“Of course I am,” the therian woman replied, “what about you?”
“I’m fine but I didn’t just come riding in here like Kyle Petty,” she said to Trish. “Where is everyone else,” she asked.
Trish waved a hand vaguely in the direction of town. “They will be here at noon, just like I said. I came early to find out why Gideon was eating breakfast at your place.” She said as she walked up the steps and through the front door.
“Really, Trish?” Liesel said more than asked as she shut the front door and walked with Trish into the kitchen and sat in the very same stool she had occupied that morning.
“Well, it was pretty early and you said you were eating breakfast.” Said Trish. Then she saw the plates and skillet in the sink and her voice rose higher. “You made him breakfast! Oh my god, he didn’t wake up here did he?!” Trish nearly shrieked.
“What? No!” said Liesel. “Damn, I’ve only been in town a few days. I am not sleeping with anyone. He came over to be friendly and I offered him breakfast.”
“He sure is trying real hard to be neighborly for someone who is not your neighbor. He was asked to pick you up in Big D but going by the office, having you over for dinner, now showing up at your place first thing in the morning,” said Trish, her voice taking a suspicious tone.
“Trish, hush,” scolded Liesel. “The gauners are out there on the edge of town. The therians can’t stand to be around them much and the phereins don’t bother either. He is just happy to have someone new in town that isn’t on edge every single time he is around them.”
Trish crossed her arms over her chest and snorted.
“He hasn’t tried anything, Trish. What do you care anyway? Do you hate Gauners that much?” Liesel asked.
“I don’t hate Gauners, they just creep me out,” said Trish.
“Then why would care if I was sleeping with him?” asked Liesel.
Trish shrugged and looked uncomfortable. “It just seems sketchy. I think of Stewards as asexual and you are a Steward now,” she said.
“Well I’m not asexual but I don’t make a habit of casual sex with near strangers. I’m kind of distracted lately if you hadn’t noticed,” she said, annoyed more that Trish seemed disgusted by Gideon than she was by Trish thinking Liesel was asexual. “You need to get over it. I’m not over here critiquing your sexual practices or even asking about them,” she continued.
“Yeah, well, there isn’t much to ask about. You already know unattached Therians have sex a lot, its a biological drive, then they commit when they breed. We always stick to our own though,” she said.
Liesel found herself growing progressively more angry at her old friend. “I can’t exactly ‘stick to my own kind’ now can I, Trish?” she said coldly.
There was a loud knock on the front door that saved Trish from having to respond in the moment to Liesel, who went to answer the door. Liesel nearly stomped to answer the front door, swinging it open wildly without looking through the side lights or the peep hole.
In front of her stood Zachary Moore on the left and Lauren from the trio who visited earlier on the right, these were indeed familiar faces. Familiar faces that were all looking at her in surprise and interest at her behavior. Liesel closed her eyes very briefly and breathed in deeply and slowly released it. Then she stepped aside and gestured for the therians to enter her home. “Please, come sit, tell me everything that you learned,” she said having regained control over her actions and reactions. They entered the house and walked into the sitting room directly to Liesel’s left. Zachary sat, rather lounged, in an easy chair while Lauren took up one end of a two seater sofa. Trish emerged from the kitchen and sat to the side of Lauren of no name, probably Dixon, Liesel thought.
Liesel stood at the entrance of the room and briefly made contact with each of the two therians in turn, first Zachary and then Lauren. “So, what do we know?” she asked. “Tell me everything.”
Zachary fixed her with a lazy gaze but Liesel wasn’t fooled, she knew how quickly a feline could go from appearing bored to a killing strike. “It is most definitely a government facility and not for the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the United States Marshall Service. It’s no office, it looks like a prison or bunker,” he said.
“We couldn’t get close enough to get much information other than shift movements and delivery schedules but not very much goes in and out. Their weapons looked modified and didn’t smell like guns. We think they are high powered tranquilizers,” said Lauren. “We made maps and schedules of what we observed but we couldn’t find a weakness we could exploit.”
Liesel finally sat in an empty wingback chair that formed a visual pair with Zachary’s. “So we still have no clue who they really are but they are for sure feds. And we could not identify our missing people but it is clearly some kind of lock down site that wants their guests alive but unable to fight back. Do I have that right?” she asked.
“Yep,” said Zachary.
“So our people are fucked if we cannot break them out and might already be dead or tortured,” she continued.
“Yep,” said Zachary again.
Liesel looked around the room, making eye contact with each again. “I need a meeting with everyone who is a decision maker in town. We have to decide if we risk more lives to potentially save those three or if we build our defenses and prepare for more kidnappings. Whoever these humans are, they clearly know too much and want to know even more, this won’t be an isolated incident but it won’t be an easy intimidation or buy off like it usually is,” she said. Lauren and Zachary both nodded and stood. “We will coordinate through Bianca King. Take stock of your people, who and what they can do,” she said as she ushered them out the front door of the homestead.
Liesel turned to Trish who was lingering in the foyer.
“I can’t breed,” said Trish.
“What?” said Liesel, her voice rising on the end of the word in confusion.
“I am extra bitchy about fucking and breeding because I can’t get pregnant. Everyone thinks I am just a bitch, well, a super bitch but I know when word gets out, no one will be my mate,” said Trish, looking at her feet.
“Oh, honey,” said Liesel softly, wrapping her arms around her friend. “When we figure out this kidnapping shit, I will find you a therian-friendly specialist and no one will know, I will make sure of it, I swear to you,” she promised Trish.
Trish made a choking sob and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and hugged her back for minutes before releasing her and backing up a few steps. Then she playfully and lightly punched Liesel in the arm. “I promise to not say rude shit if you end up bumping uglie
s with the gauner,” said Trish.
“Ugh!” exclaimed Liesel. “Nice euphemism, furball.”
Trish snorted. “It was a lie anyway, I will say stuff, just not in front of anyone else,” she retorted.
“Alright, alright, get out. We have a big day tomorrow,” said Liesel opening the front door again.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Liesel tossed and turned in the night, haunted by visions of failure, the details of which eluded her waking mind but the fear and grief lingered all the same, unhindered by the light of day. The sun was just cresting the horizon when she started her run. She was wearing her smartphone in a sleeve on her arm and headphones to listen to loud thumping music in an attempt to allow the pace of her run or the drum beat to clear her mind of the ghosts that plagued it.
She was half way through her chosen route when she answered a call from Gideon.
“Are you okay?” he asked, no doubt referencing her heavy breathing.
“I’m running,” she said, thankful that ear buds now came with built in microphones for just such an occasion as this one. “I was not expecting any calls this early.”
“Well, I did discover your morning habit with my last visit so I figured you would be awake. I did think you would still be preparing for your run though,” said Gideon.
“Bad night, needed to run,” she panted as she reached a small elevated area and had to put more force into her stride.
“I don’t feel bad telling you I decided to come over then before the meeting today. Amber slept poorly as well, said there was an overwhelming sense of something looming,” said Gideon. As he paused, she crested the hill and went now put more effort into not skidding down the other side with no control. “It brought to mind worry.”
“Worry for me?” asked Liesel, regaining some of the breath she lost earlier. “What for?”
“I still think the homestead is not secure enough, hell, it isn’t secure at all,” said Gideon, Liesel could hear him starting up his old pickup truck. “Do you have any security measures at all?” he asked.
“Sure I do. There’s not a house in this part of the state without a couple guns and I can throw a mean kitchen knife.” Liesel answered.
“Very funny,” said Gideon.
“I’m not kidding. I really can throw knives, small hatchets for that matter as well,” said Liesel.
“Color me impressed,” said Gideon, his tone indicating he really was impressed. “Not a skill many women employ these days, not many men either.”
Liesel cleared a copse of trees at the edge of the maintained part of the property that could sort of be called the yard or garden of the house, as opposed to the just open land around it, and something seemed disturbed. Was the gravel pattern strange? Was something behind the house? Instead of continuing her witty repartee with Gideon, Liesel began to sing the words to a pop song she knew in hopes of fooling anyone watching into thinking she was still listening to music on her run and not talking on the phone with someone who could come to her aid or call others in to assist.
“Liesel, I am talking hands free. I sent a text to the Dixons that you are in danger and I am already on my way. Just hang in there and play along.” Said Gideon, then he went silent so as not to give away her ruse if they were close enough to here a man’s speaking voice come through the speakers when it should have been music if anything.
United States Marshall Service impostors Grimsley and Martinez stepped out into the yard in front of her as she slowed to a walk.
“Marshals, I did not see your car. What are you doing here? Did you find the suspicious person you were looking for?” asked Liesel. She didn’t bother to disguise the unease or distrust in her voice, those had been clear on their last visit and sounding too friendly would give her away worse than an honest reaction at this point.
“Miss Bohm, you wouldn’t be holding out on us would you?” asked Martinez as they approached her. Liesel stopped walking. Martinez continued directly toward her but Grimsley began to fan out and around toward her side no doubt to divert her focus and it was working.
“You searched the place. I am not hiding anyone and I don’t know about any criminals. I am sure there is bound to be someone hiding out in a rural place like this but I haven’t been to visit in a solid decade. I don’t really know anyone here.” She said.
“You don’t know anyone?” asked Grimsley, his intense eyes boring into her as she turned slightly, trying her best to keep both men in her line of sight.
“Well, I know a girl from when we were little kids and several folks have introduced themselves or invited me over since I am staying at my grandmother’s place and all but I would hardly say that I am one with the community or even know more than a handful of names in passing,” she replied. “Why? What are you accusing me of?” she asked.
It was Martinez that spoke again. “We just think that perhaps you should come in to our field office for some questioning. You might know more than you think,” he said.
She heard movement behind her and spun around to see Grimsley moving to grab her. She ducked under his arms and tried to bolt in the direction that she had just come from but his height gave him a distinct reach advantage and he still succeeded in grabbing her from behind. Liesel’s arms were trapped but she got some satisfaction out of kicking the hell out of the man’s shins and struggling enough to make him work to hold her, even if it did mean extra bruises from his crushing grip.
“Who the fuck are you people?” she yelled. “Let me go!” Instead of letting her go, he turned, swinging her around with him, to face Martinez and head back toward the house. Martinez was reaching into his jacket pocket as Gideon’s battered truck came skidding into the yard. Gideon was out of the truck before it had even completely came to a stop. Yips and howls sounded from the prairie around them, the open land making the direction they were coming from hard to pin down.
Martinez pulled a gun out of a holster hidden by his suit jacket and aimed it directly at Gideon. “We have plenty of damn werewolves. This is not loaded with tranqs you freak, stay back!” he yelled as Gideon approached. Gideon slowed only for a moment, looking over at Liesel, whose vision was getting gray around the edges from the tight squeezing hold Grimsley was using, then rushed Martinez. The federal agent, no doubt believing he was facing a therian, shot three times without hesitation, hitting Gideon in the core each time. Liesel screamed his name with the last of the air in her lungs. Her vision went black and she was slipping into unconsciousness when she was carefully laid down on the ground. As her vision cleared she saw Martinez leaning over Gideon’s body, which was bleeding profusely, checking for a pulse. Grimsley came up behind Martinez, pulled a weapon from his own shoulder holster, and shot Martinez in the back of the head. Liesel’s eyes were bugging out of her head and she was coughing and gasping as she stared at Grimsley, unable to look away. He knelt down in front of her and looked her directly in the eyes.
“Are you okay little Steward?” he asked in his unmistakably gravelly voice but a rhythm and intonation and phrasing he had not used before. Liesel’s eyes narrowed, focused on his, and then she saw it, that something she had come to think of as Gideon’s soul staring out from behind eyes that moments ago had been the hard eyes of one Malachi Grimsley.
“Gideon?” she whispered.
The werewolves crested the small hill and descended on the scene, frothing with anger. Liesel threw herself in front of Grimsley now Gideon. “I’m okay, I’m okay. The agents are dead,” she said. The werewolf closest to her took a deep hard breath in and out close enough to her face that she could smell what he had eaten for breakfast. He made a strange higher pitched sound she did not know the meaning of and jerked his head at Gideon’s new body. The group looked at the scene before them of Martinez’s dead body, what they thought of as Gideon’s dead body, and Liesel worse for wear but attempting to shield a stranger dressed like the enemy but… a there it was, that sensation they always got around the Gauners, that the mind and the body
didn’t match.
“I am Gideon.” Grimsley’s voice said. “I took the agent’s body as his partner killed the one you knew me in. I released Liesel,” he cleared his throat, “I released the Steward and killed the agent that shot my previous body.”
Liesel stared, it was all she could do at the time. Intellectually knowing what a Gauner was and did was different than experiencing someone you knew suddenly inhabit the body of your most terrifying enemy and speak to you with their voice was something else entirely. The rending and squelching and cracking sounds of werewolves becoming men and women again filled the air around them. The ground was now coated with even more blood and now had a layer of viscous fluids and fur like hair and bits of nail and tooth on top. The five werewolves that had come to her immediate aid had dressed for transitions, clothing that was large enough to only stretch or tear slightly as a werewolf hung loosely on their human frames but could be tightened with drawstrings.
“Steward?” one of them said, Liesel realizing it was young Tyler.
“Yes, Tyler?” she responded, then she looked around and saw they were all looking at her. Right, she was the Steward now, at least until she rescued her Grams.
She slowly got to her feet with Grimsley’s, er, Gideon’s help, and looked down at Martinez’s body. “We need to make Martinez disappear, not a trace anywhere of any part of him. If I have to make a fake paper trail later, I will do that but we can’t have a body turning up to prove us wrong,” she said. The therians all nodded seriously. “Um… Gideon?”
Welcome to Zell Page 7
