“Mom,” Robert sighed, but his eyes twinkled. “Get to the point, please.”
She cleared her throat again. “They’ve offered to help and have asked what they can do. They’ve either seen what’s happened on the news or they Googled it and found out. They believe me when I say that we’ve done nothing wrong and someone is setting us up.” She lowered her voice. “I haven’t mentioned the Barotkoffs. They are going to see if they can get rid of your warrant and get any charges dropped. They’re confident they’ll be able to. Won’t that be wonderful?”
Dimitri blinked several times. He leaned forward in his chair and put his elbows on his knees. “That would be wonderful, Lila Mae. But, that only gives us a temporary fix. That doesn’t make the sheriff or his deputies, or the news media for that matter, forget about this whole fiasco.”
“One step at a time, Uncle Dimitri,” Alexander said. “We’ll do what we can and come up with what we need to as we go along.”
Granny was not to be deterred. “This is only the start of what my tribe can do, Dimitri. They are willing and able to do so much more. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll sic them on whoever!” Stanley gave a bark of confidence and stared at Dimitri. Granny patted his head. “See? Even my baby dog agrees.”
The corners of Dimitri’s mouth lifted. “I appreciate that. Like you said, it’s a start.”
DIMITRI SETTLED IN, but the tension increased. Claire had been “outed” as a girlfriend of one of the Wolff members and was harassed at work on a regular basis. Some clever female reporters, and even one male that dressed up as a female, made appointments to see her and tried interviewing her as soon as the exam room door was closed. The hospital asked her to take a leave of absence and decide what track she wanted her life to take.
Robert was exceedingly sorry to cause such chaos in her life but loved having her around full time. His motives weren’t entirely selfish; he was uncomfortable when she was on her own and vulnerable. She couldn’t go back to her apartment now that she was outed, so she vacated it and stayed at the Wolff family compound full time.
There was a buzz in the air as everyone tried to keep busy, but also tried to figure a way out of their current predicament. The answer came one night, only a few hours before daybreak.
Although several foolhardy reporters tripped their perimeter security alarms on various occasions, the family kept the alarms on. The Barotkoffs were still out there and who knew if they’d try to breach the property again. The family worked on the theory that with such a media circus surrounding their property, the Barotkoffs were not going to try an incursion because they didn’t want publicity directly on them. They most likely preferred to work behind the scenes to create the current chaos for the Wolffs. The humans were oblivious to the truth, but the family couldn’t afford to let their guard down, just in case.
So, on this night when the alarm went off, Peter glanced at the camera and frowned. He leaned closer and squinted at it. The slim shadowy figure didn’t look like one of the reporters, nor was it a Barotkoff. For one thing, she was wearing a long skirt and was alone – no cameraman trailing, no microphone gripped tightly as they slunk along the fence. The woman also didn’t look like one of the zombie-like victims that had gotten the family in their current predicament. She stood in one place, waited, and looked around and up. Her purposeful gaze landed on the camera from which Peter now stared back. Peter couldn’t make out the visitor’s face – the sliver of moonlight was to the woman’s back and it was very dark.
Peter woke Alexander to watch the monitors, then hurried to get Uncle Dimitri. He passed Kat on her way back to her tent from the bathroom.
“What’s up?” Kat rubbed her eyes.
“Someone tripped the alarm, but it’s not a reporter.” He unzipped Dimitri’s tent just enough to peek inside.
Kat was instantly alert. “Is it another victim? Or a Barotkoff?”
Peter shook his head, then leaned into the tent. Kat heard murmured voices inside. She waited until Peter pulled his head back and zipped the tent again. He faced her. “No. I don’t know who it is, but she’s alone.”
Christopher’s head poked out of the neighboring tent. “What’s going on?”
“Someone tripped the alarm,” Peter repeated. “I don’t know who it is, but they’re at the farthest point back from our property that you can go to get away from the main road, and our little Woodstock encampment out there.”
“I’m coming with.” Kat hurried to throw on some clothes.
“I’m right behind you.” Christopher disappeared, too.
They emerged at the same time from their respective tents dressed in dark, comfortable clothing just as Dimitri pulled the zipper closed behind him. Peter briefed Dimitri as they prepared to leave.
“Any idea who it could be?” Kat asked.
Dimitri shook his head and led the group at a brisk pace toward the trees. “No idea, but that means we take no chances, either. I want the three of you to hang back and don’t let whoever it is see you until and unless I say so.”
The three murmured their agreement and picked up the pace through the trees until they were close to the woman. They all saw her waiting patiently where Peter had first discovered her.
Dimitri held his hand up in a signal for the other three to wait, then he strolled toward the woman.
“Hello? Are you lost?”
The woman chuckled and put her hands on her skinny hips. “It’s about time you showed up. I done waited long enough.”
“How can I help you?”
The woman grinned and the few teeth she had shined in the dark backdrop of her face. “Please! I’m the one goin’ help you.”
Kat frowned and cocked her head to the side. The woman’s voice was familiar.
“You’re going to help me? How is that?” Dimitri asked.
The woman crossed her arms across her flat chest. “You know who I am, but you don’t know who I am, do you?”
“I’m afraid I’m not good with riddles.”
The woman slapped her thigh and let loose a deep, throaty laugh. “Well, first of all, tell me, how is the cat girl doin’?”
Kat’s eyes bugged, and she hurried to her uncle’s side. “I remember you!”
The woman gave another throaty chuckle. “I know you do, missy. You sure loved up on my cornbread, didn’t you?”
Kat put her hand on Dimitri’s arm. “Remember? I told you there was a lady that helped me when I got lost? That’s her.”
Dimitri nodded and looked at the woman. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here or what you’re going to help me with.”
The woman rested her weight on her back leg and crossed her arms again. “I thought you’d recognize that cloth I wrapped the cornbread up in, but it has been a long time now, hasn’t it? Well, you knew my momma, Mr. Dimitri. She came to you way back many years ago. Her name was Opal.”
Dimitri sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re Opal’s daughter?”
“Who is Opal?” Kat asked.
The woman grinned again and nodded her head in wide circles. “Yessir, that’s me! I’m Pearl.”
Dimitri ran his hand over his mouth. “I’m...I’m glad to meet you. Opal was a very special woman.”
“That she was, Mr. Dimitri. That she was.” Pearl dipped her head several times. “But listen, we ain’t got time to waste. You all need to skedaddle out of here now. If you don’t leave, your family won’t make it.” She lowered her voice. “Again.”
Dimitri swallowed hard and signaled for Peter and Christopher to join them. They had heard everything.
“What does she mean?” Kat asked. “Who was Opal?”
“Never mind that now, Kat. She was someone I trusted implicitly.” Dimitri kept his eyes on Pearl. “Thank you for coming. What, ah, where are we supposed to go?”
The woman’s smile disappeared, and she approached the fence. Dimitri did the same until they were face to face. Peter, Christopher, and Kat joined them.
Pearl leaned in and even in the darkness, there was a ferocity in her expression. “You all have to leave by daybreak day after tomorrow, well today, really. You got about thirty-six hours before the window closes and it’s goin’ close on you. You pack up what you need to take with, that includes all yer family, not just blood, and skedaddle far out in the barren bits of the northwest. You’ll find it more to yer likin’ than here. People there like to keep to themselves and let things be. You let Lila Mae do her thang with her tribe, but git outta here before the sun rises, ya hear? You still got challenges, big challenges, ahead, but...” Her skinny shoulders scrunched. “You have to keep up the good fight.”
“Are you serious?” Peter asked.
The woman turned her gaze on him and walked slowly over until she stood in front of him. “I ain’t never been more serious in my life, and if you don’t go now, you’ll never be able to.”
Christopher looked at Dimitri and waited.
Dimitri shook his head. It was more like a shiver. “We are leaving then.”
Christopher’s eyes bugged, and he glanced between Dimitri and this woman. “Are you sure?”
Dimitri looked at him. “Absolutely.” He turned to Pearl. “Thank you. Thank you so much. Your family has done so much for us over the years.”
“Well, Mr. Dimitri, you paid my momma double the goin’ wages back in the day and always treated her like a person.” Pearl grinned again. “That’s cuz us star sickness children gotta stick together, eh?” She glanced up at the moon. “You got a few more hours until daybreak, and there’s a whole mess of work to be done. Best get started.” She turned to walk away.
“Pearl?” Dimitri called after her. She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Is there anything else you can tell us? Please?”
Pearl turned around. She stared at Dimitri for a long moment. She slowly shook her head. “No. There’s nothing else I need to share. You have to go now.”
“Would you consider coming with us?”
The other three members looked at him.
Her shoulders shook with laughter. “No, sir. I ain’t leavin’. You don’t need me no more. Keep fightin’ the good fight and all.” She turned and walked away, whistling as she went.
Dimitri drew a deep lungful of air, spun on his heels, and took off into the trees while the others followed behind. Nobody asked the questions that were firing in their minds. Kat and Peter trusted Dimitri, and Christopher had grown to trust him, too, but this? This was something else entirely.
There was no time to waste – they had thirty-six hours, according to Pearl, and there was much to be done. The entire family was mobilized to start the arduous process of packing up only what was absolutely necessary before the sun even poked its shining orb above the horizon. Oksana made plenty of strong coffee and tea, plus a portable breakfast of egg and sausage biscuits. Dimitri directed Granny to tell her gamer friends to start doing whatever they could do now.
“I’m on it.” Granny’s face was intense as she hobbled to her gaming corner with Stanley and Sweetie in tow.
The family expected the authorities to return at any time to resume their excavation of the property, so the pace was frenetic.
Rebecca’s eyes shone as she stuffed her clothing into bags. “Exciting adventure, isn’t it? I wonder where we’ll go camping next.” She smiled at Kat.
Kat forced a smile. “Yes, it’s an adventure.” She handed a biscuit to Rebecca and sought out Alexander. He was helping Robert and Dimitri clear out the remains of the office in the house. There were boxes everywhere and the room looked to be in complete disarray.
She sidled up to her brother. “I need to talk to you. Now.”
Alexander looked at her. “Okay.” He put the sheaf of papers into a folder and placed the folder on top of a pile in the box. He followed Kat outside.
Kat whirled around to face him. “You have got to tell Anna to stop shifting Rebecca before we leave.”
Alexander shook his head. “I can’t do that. Not now!”
“You have to do it now! Otherwise, you are kidnapping her, Alexander!”
“I am not kidnapping her, Kat. This is for her own safety. She has to come with us.”
“That’s not fair, Alexander. How do you know she would leave unless you made her do it?”
“What’s not fair is that she could be killed if she stays, Kat. You know that.”
Kat shook her head. “You have to give her the choice. It’s the right thing to do.”
Alexander’s mouth became a thin line. “She would choose to leave with us. I know she would.”
Kat’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, do you? You’re so secure in your love and relationship with her that you’re not even going to let her make the choice for herself? What kind of love is that?”
“Kat, we don’t have time for this.” Alexander turned away, but Kat grabbed his arm and held him still.
“Alexander, she’s my best friend. I love her, too. But this is wrong.”
Alexander looked at his sister. “I don’t see it that way. It would be wrong to leave her here to die at the hands of those monsters. You saw what they did to Mariya, and to Christopher. They wouldn’t kill her quickly, I bet. I can’t leave her here. That would be wrong.” He pulled his arm out of her grasp and returned to the office.
“Kat! We need you!” Christopher’s head poked around the side of the house.
Kat huffed at her brother’s back and hurried toward Christopher. She would approach her uncle when she found the time, but right now the clock ticked like a guillotine over all their heads.
When the authorities didn’t show up by ten o’clock that morning, Dimitri began to worry.
Anastasia glanced around nervously. “Where do you think they are? They’ve been here every day, but suddenly they decide to take today off? What gives?”
Granny’s hobble was more hurried than usual as she approached the pair.
“Good news!” She waved her free hand at them while the other gripped her cane. “My tribe has done it. The police aren’t coming today. They’ve been sent on a little detour.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
Dimitri’s eyebrows rose. “What sort of detour?”
Granny waved her free hand again. “There’s some other more pressing issues to be dealt with, that’s all. That will keep them out of our hair while we get ready to go. And!” She jabbed her index finger in the air. “There’s a sensational new story that’s hitting the wires as we speak, so the media should be leaving, too.”
Anastasia smiled broadly. “Well, all right then. I think I like your gamer buddies more and more.”
Dimitri allowed a small smile to lift the corners of his mouth. “Okay. Let’s keep working. I want to be on the road by two in the morning.”
“I’ll take the first shift of driving,” Anastasia offered.
Dimitri nodded. “All right. Since we have six vehicles, everyone will have to take a turn. We will alternate taking some naps this afternoon and evening, and we can stop and rest somewhere once we’ve covered enough ground out of this state. I need you to keep packing. Oksana got two of the undamaged bedrooms in the house ready for those who need to nap. It will be quiet, so we can rest well.”
Anastasia nodded and clapped her hands together. “I’m off to finish my list of things to do.” She reached up and pecked her dad on the cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”
Dimitri cupped her cheek. “I love you, too.”
Anastasia passed Kat, who was on her hands and knees in front of one of the tents.
“Looking good!” Anastasia quipped over her shoulder before she disappeared inside the garage.
Kat rolled the bedding up with extra force and tied it with a grunt. She stood up and hoisted the bundle onto her shoulders, muttering to herself.
Christopher stopped his work dismantling another tent and stepped in front of her. He tipped her chin up with his finger and forced her to look him in the eye. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Kat’s stomach flipped a
s it always did when she looked at him. She swallowed. “Rebecca.”
Christopher frowned. “That really bothers you, doesn’t it?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
Christopher pulled the bundle from her shoulder and dropped it to the ground, then enveloped her in his arms. He pulled one of her hands to his mouth and kissed her palm. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say because he understood both sides, and if truth be told, he erred on Alexander’s side for Rebecca’s safety. He wasn’t stupid enough to admit it out loud, though.
“He’s basically kidnapping her, Christopher. Taking her with us against her will!”
Christopher tipped her face up to his again. “How do you know it’s against her will?”
“Because your sister has taken Rebecca’s will! Don’t you see that?”
“I understand that’s how it looks. I’m sorry.”
“Why...” Kat started, but Christopher covered her mouth with his own. He kissed her long and he kissed her hard. When he pulled back, she would have been hard pressed to recite her own name.
“It’s going to be okay, my Kat. Let’s finish packing.”
Christopher stayed by her side the rest of the day and through the evening, except when he took a nap to prepare for his first shift of driving. Peter stayed busy making counterfeit license plates for their vehicles as well as alternate identification documents for everyone. He also made sure all cell phones were fully charged and, thanks to his and Anna’s hard work, they were untraceable by anyone. He announced over dinner that he was injecting everyone with a tracking device like what they had used on Christopher, but these were much more powerful. Thanks to Granny’s gamers, they could track everyone via satellite and therefore each person could be pinpointed around the globe within a twelve-foot radius, if need be. Granny insisted Sweetie and Stanley McBarker receive trackers, too. For his trouble, Peter got a round barking out from Stanley, both before and after the incident, and a heartfelt hiss followed by a nasty slash across his hand from Sweetie’s swift claws.
Revelations: The Shifter Series: Volume Three Page 9
