Snake Charmer (Shifter Squad Book 6)

by J. C. Diem

  Flynn took the package the driver handed to him and tucked it under his arm. He waited for the van to drive off before triggering the remote control for the gate. Zeus bounded away, returned with a stick and shoved it into Flynn’s hand. The pair played fetch all the way back to the base. My guardian wasn’t fully healed yet, but he was feeling well enough to play.

  “What are you smiling about?” Kala asked, breaking my concentration. She put a mug on the coffee table in front of me.

  “I was just watching Zeus and Flynn.”

  The door opened and the objects of our conversation entered. “It is so freaky the way you can do that,” she complained.

  “Do what?” Flynn asked. He put the package on the dining table and joined us in the living room.

  “She was watching you through Zeus.”

  Hearing his name, Zeus trotted over and sat between us. He sniffed the couch and the rug then looked up at me. “Yeah, that used to be a cow,” I said out loud and also into his mind. His ears perked up in comical confusion as he tried to process that information. He couldn’t fathom how a cow could be turned into furniture.

  “You owe me a hundred bucks,” Flynn said to Kala.

  Her brows drew down in confusion. “Why?”

  “It hasn’t been a week yet and Zeus and I were just playing fetch.”

  Scowling, she pulled her wallet out of her pocket and handed over the cash. “Couldn’t you have waited just a few more days?” she grumbled to Zeus. Knowing he’d done something to annoy her, he trotted over and put his head on her knee. It was impossible for her to resist his soulful stare. Huffing out a sigh, she stroked his head. “I forgive you, fleabag, but you owe me one.”

  “I’ll give you a hundred bucks worth of dog biscuits on his behalf if you want,” I offered.

  She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”

  Mark descended the stairs to open the package. A drone identical to the one he’d used to spy on Nina Carter’s property was tucked inside. Painted black so it could blend into the night sky, it was roughly the shape of a plane and was about three feet long. It could fly for several hours before the battery would need to be recharged.

  “Who wants to do the honors?” he asked.

  “I do!” Kala shot to her feet and snatched the craft out of his hands. She hustled to the long corridor that led to the back of the compound while the rest of us headed upstairs.

  Mark linked the drone to the computer when Kala flicked a switch to bring it to life. Using what looked suspiciously like a computer game controller, he sent it towards the area where the snakes had disappeared. As per the last time, the device had already been charged before it had been delivered.

  Kala sprinted back to the building and clattered up the stairs to take a seat beside Flynn at the computer table. “What did I miss?” She wasn’t at all puffed from her mad dash back inside.

  “Cacti, dirt and what looked like a dead coyote,” Flynn answered.

  “Was it killed by a snake?”

  “We couldn’t tell. It was mostly bones and a few tufts of fur.” To Mark, it had been an indistinct blob. Our superior eyesight enabled us to see things that escaped his notice.

  We spied several more animal carcasses during the next few minutes of surveillance. All were in bad shape and weren’t of enough interest for us to take a closer look.

  Kala’s eyes were glazed over and I was edging towards boredom after an hour of watching the screen. We were jolted back to full alertness when something streaked towards the drone.

  Mark instinctively jerked the controls to avoid a collision with it. “What was that?” he asked in alarm.

  “I think it was a bird,” Flynn replied. It had moved so quickly that it had just been a brown blur even to us.

  Mark brought a second monitor to life with a keystroke then swiveled some of the cameras on the drone around so they were facing the rear. On the second screen, we saw a bald eagle zooming towards the device again. The bird’s eyes were focused and intent as it targeted the drone. Mark tensed, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to avoid a second collision. At the last moment, the eagle tilted its wings so it just brushed against the machine rather than crashing into it. With a last look over its shoulder, it winged away.

  “What the hell just happened?” Kala asked.

  “I think it was playing with the drone,” Flynn responded, just as bewildered as the rest of us.

  “It almost seemed like it was telling us it could have taken it down if it wanted to,” I ventured.

  Mark sent me a sidelong look, then concentrated on flying the drone again. He circled it around the area where we’d followed the snake’s trail, but nothing caught our attention. He widened his search and Flynn pointed when he saw a building. “What’s that?”

  “Let’s take a closer look.” With deft control, Mark guided the machine towards what turned out to be a ramshackle farmhouse and several outbuildings. There were no signs of life and he switched to thermal imaging. It didn’t work as well during the day, but there were no telltale signs that anything or anyone was inside the structures.

  “Aren’t reptiles cold blooded?” I asked. “Would they even show up on a thermal image?”

  “Not as well as warm blooded creatures,” Mark said. “It couldn’t hurt to take a look at the property in person.” He checked his watch and calculated how long it would take us to get there, to investigate the area then head back. It was nearly dinner time now and he decided to postpone the trip. “We’ll head out there first thing in the morning.”

  He swung the drone around just as I caught a glimpse of something further to the east. I couldn’t be sure, but it had looked like smoke. The drone’s battery was almost dead and it needed to return to base to be recharged. If we didn’t find anything at the farmhouse tomorrow, I’d mention the smoke.

  We spent a few hours training after dinner, taking turns sparring in the ring. I found it easier to concentrate when I made my mind as blank as possible. Kala and Flynn could still trick me by changing their tactics in mid-attack, but I avoided being hit most of the time.

  “You’re improving,” Flynn complimented me when he called a halt to our session. We were dripping with sweat, but I wasn’t exhausted. The exercise was just what I needed to take my mind off my personal problems.

  “Told ya,” Kala said to back him up. “We didn’t even break any of your bones this time.”

  That was true, but they’d still caused me some damage. Fortunately, shifters healed quickly and the bruises had already faded. “I wouldn’t put any money on myself against either of you,” I said dryly.

  “Good call,” she agreed with a smirk. “We’ve been training for years. You’ve only been at it for a few months.”

  Mark was sitting at the computer table again. We bade him goodnight on the way past and he responded absently. This mission was proving to be more of a challenge than usual. It was unnerving to be up against an opponent that we knew nothing about.

  Zeus followed me upstairs this time and lay down at the foot of my bed. I couldn’t see him when I sat with my back against the wall to read, but I could hear him breathing. Knowing I’d find it hard to sleep again, I stayed up later than usual in the hope that exhaustion would drag me under.

  Eventually, I put my ereader aside and forced myself to lie down. When I finally fell asleep, my dreams were dark and ominous. A woman was watching me from the shadows. She seemed familiar, but I wasn’t sure who she was. Her gaze was hidden, but I felt the weight of her eyes on my face. She almost seemed to be judging me.

  In the morning, I puzzled over the dream. This wasn’t the first time I’d dreamt of the strange woman. Maybe I was dreaming of my mother. If anyone was shrouded in darkness, it was her. My subconscious was probably dwelling on her, dreading the moment when we would finally meet again for our final showdown.

  The last one to breakfast again, I ate quickly then gulped down a cup of coffee before following the others to
the garage. Mark had already stocked the SUV with weapons, snacks and water. With no idea what we were up against, it made sense to be prepared for anything.

  “You drive,” Mark said to Flynn. “I’ll need my hands free to operate the tablet.” His tablet came equipped with programs and apps that had many uses, most of which were still a mystery to me.

  Kala pouted, but she didn’t complain out loud. Mark was our boss and it was up to him to choose what our tasks would be. “You can drive on the way back, Kala,” he said without needing to see her expression. He knew her well enough to know she’d sulk if she missed out.

  She brightened and buckled herself in. I wasn’t particularly offended that I wouldn’t get a turn behind the wheel. I’d no doubt get my chance to step up eventually.

  “You’d better bring your sniper rifle,” Mark told me. “The scope is far more powerful than our binoculars and it might come in handy.”

  I saluted him smartly and raced back inside and up to my room. Snatching my backpack out of the closet, I made it back to the garage just as the door was opening. Flynn barely waited for me to climb in before he took off.

  We followed the GPS past Northam and eventually turned off onto a road that was in dire need of maintenance. The roads became progressively worse until we entered a dirt driveway that led to the abandoned farmhouse.

  “Stop here,” Mark instructed Flynn when we were a few hundred yards away from the buildings. “Lexi?” he prompted.

  Our eyesight was excellent, but he wasn’t taking any chances and he wanted me to take a closer look. I took my rifle out of the backpack and assembled it in seconds. It was startling how fast I could move when I wanted to.

  Powering down the window, I peered through the scope at each of the buildings. As far as I could tell, the place was empty. “I don’t see anything moving.” But my rifle didn’t have x-ray vision and anything could be hiding out of sight.

  A desultory wind stirred the dirt, but there was no other movement on the long abandoned property. Mark motioned for Flynn to move closer. He parked a hundred yards from the house and we exited from the SUV.

  Kala and I drew in deep breaths through our noses while Flynn sucked in air through his mouth. Zeus sniffed the air and looked up at me, seeking permission to investigate the area. Not yet, I told him. I didn’t want him wandering off on his own until we’d determined that there weren’t any threats.

  “What can you smell?” Mark asked.

  “The scent is at least a few days old, but I smell ten different types of snakes as well as coyotes, birds and various rodents,” Kala reported. I nodded in agreement of her assessment.

  “Make that twelve species of snakes,” Flynn corrected her. Zeus concurred with his assessment. We shared a significant glance. That was the same number he’d detected in the hole where the rattlesnake had disappeared.

  Mark drew his gun and held his tablet in his free hand. Like the rest of his team, he favored a Colt .45. He held the tablet up at an angle that told me he was recording the scene. “Stay together,” he ordered then motioned for me to take the lead.

  My surprise only lasted for a moment. They might have been agents for a lot longer than I had, but I was by far the best shot out of everyone in the squad. Swinging my sniper rifle over my back, I drew my handgun. I’d come close to losing the Beretta during our last mission and I was glad to have it back. At my gesture, Zeus stayed close beside me.

  Bleached almost white by the relentless sun, the wooden farmhouse was missing part of the roof and all of its windows. The porch was sagging and probably wouldn’t hold more than one person’s weight at a time. The door hung from one hinge and gave us a clear view of the hallway beyond.

  Leaping over the stairs and the porch, I landed in the doorway with my gun held ready. Open doorways to the left and right led to empty rooms. Dirt covered the floor. There were no tracks, which meant nothing had been inside the house recently.

  Kala was right on my heels, followed by Mark as I turned left. Flynn brought up the rear and Zeus stayed outside to keep watch. His nose told him there was nothing dangerous inside the building and he wasn’t curious enough to enter.

  It didn’t take us long to search the house. The dwelling was small, with three bedrooms, a combined living and dining area, one bathroom and a tiny kitchen. All of the appliances and furniture had been taken away long ago. Apart from the dried out skeleton of a rat, the house was completely empty.

  We had three more buildings to search, so Mark split us into two teams. “Lexi, you’re with me. Stay together and be careful,” he warned Kala and Flynn.

  Kala rolled her eyes at his unnecessary caution. “We know the drill, boss.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Mark said quietly when they headed towards the barn. Zeus trotted over to meet us as we made our way towards a shed. We were roughly halfway there when he cast a look back over his shoulder. He sensed something dangerous, but he couldn’t describe it to me. His hackles rose and he looked spooked.

  “Zeus can feel something strange approaching,” I said.

  I was about to delve into his mind and see what it was when Kala shouted. “Mark!” Her tone was bordering on panicked. Our bond was faint, but I picked up on her alarm.

  I grabbed my boss and tossed him over my shoulder then sprinted towards Kala as she backed out of the barn. Dozens of snakes were wriggling towards her purposefully. Zeus confirmed that they were the creatures he’d sensed. Most were rattlesnakes, but there were others that I recognized as being venomous.

  “Where’s Flynn?” Mark asked as I put him down and pointed my gun at the reptiles.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “We were searching the barn then he suddenly went strange. His face went blank and he headed towards the side door. He didn’t react when I spoke to him. I tried to follow him, but a bunch of snakes came out of nowhere and cut me off. One of them almost bit me.”

  “Flynn!” Mark shouted. “Can you hear me?” If he was anywhere within a one mile radius, he would have heard him. Either he was gone, or he’d been rendered unconscious. I didn’t want to think of a third and far more permanent alternative.

  Zeus barked in warning and I turned to see more snakes coming towards us from behind. We didn’t have enough bullets to shoot them all and it would be far too dangerous for us to stay. “What’s the plan?” I asked Mark, trying to remain calm.

  Calculating our chances of being able to take them all down, Mark turned towards our vehicle. “We retreat, for now.”

  Kala scooped our boss over her shoulder and we sprinted for our car. Zeus’ eyes were a bit wild as he leaped into the back of the SUV. The snakes could move far more rapidly than I’d believed and they’d nearly reached us when Mark took off. They continued to wriggle after us and we had little choice but to leave the property.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirteen

  “You’re sure you didn’t see anything at all?” Mark asked Kala when we were a couple of miles away from the farmhouse. He took binoculars out of the glove box and examined the now distant buildings.

  She shook her head in bafflement. “The barn was empty. I didn’t see or smell anything unusual until the snakes suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.”

  Mark handed her the binoculars so she could see if he’d missed anything. Searching in desperation, she made a frustrated sound that was close to tears. I tapped her on the shoulder and she handed the binoculars to me.

  Remembering what I’d glimpsed on the monitor last night, I panned towards the east. Smoke trailed into the air, just as I’d suspected. “I think someone is camping a few miles away. Maybe Flynn is heading towards there.” There was nothing else out here according to what we’d seen through our surveillance with the drone.

  Mark followed where I was pointing and took the binoculars again. “It can’t hurt to check it out,” he decided without much hope. Kala wasn’t happy to be leaving the farmstead without Flynn, but she didn’t protest as Mark put the
SUV into motion. Our teammate was gone and staying here wasn’t going to help us find him.

  We followed the directions the GPS gave us back to the highway. It couldn’t direct us to the campsite, which meant it wasn’t registered. Kala and I kept our eyes peeled for a path that would take us to the remote location.

  “I see a track ahead,” Kala said and pointed after we’d been searching for a few minutes. Mark squinted through the windscreen and slowed down. The track wasn’t an official road and seemed to have been made fairly recently. A hill rose ahead roughly a mile away. Smoke drifted from the top of it.

  Nudging the SUV onto the path, Mark carefully drove over rocks, an occasional dead cactus and several gentle mounds. He parked at the base of the much larger hill and we climbed out. A breeze stirred from behind us and I impatiently tossed my hair back over my shoulder. I now wished I’d put it up into a ponytail.

  “What’s wrong?” Mark asked and I turned to him.

  “What do you mean?” Everything was wrong at the moment. A little clarification would be helpful.

  “You’re frowning.”

  Zeus crowded in next to me and even Kala was looking around suspiciously. Something familiar nudged my senses and I frowned harder. “I can sense something dangerous, but I’m not sure what it is,” I said.

  Mark looked at Kala and she shook her head. “I’m not picking up anything.”

  “Be on full alert,” he said and motioned for us to start climbing.

  An instinct to protect my boss made me take the lead. Kala had the same thought and brought up the rear. I was nearly at the top of the hill when the breeze abruptly changed direction and a familiar scent was blown to me. Now I knew what I’d subconsciously been sensing. “Werewolves,” I warned my companions as four men appeared at the top of the mound. The wind had been blowing our scent right to them and had helped mask them from us.

  “I don’t recall you asking permission to enter my territory,” one of the men said to me coldly. He ignored Mark and Kala as if they didn’t exist. Around five foot ten and in his early thirties, he was lean and wiry and wore a sleeveless t-shirt. Stubble covered his face and his arms were heavily tattooed. His companions had modelled themselves after their alpha. All were unshaven and wore jeans and sleeveless shirts.