by Dani Harper
“You’re not getting away that easy.” It was Gessler. His words sounded slow, as if played on low-speed, but there was no doubt he was still dangerous.
“ Shit,” hissed Nikki. “I knew I should have given him the full dose.”
“Either the kid starts walking toward me or I start shooting,” he shouted.
A muzzle flash blossomed in the darkness as Gessler fired another shot. Josh’s NVGs didn’t seem to be affected by the sudden brief light, and Gessler couldn’t have found his own goggles or that last shot wouldn’t have been so high. Kenzie figured that until Josh got a decisive shot, he probably wouldn’t fire so as not to give away their position.
Suddenly the hallway echoed with the loud snarling of a massive animal. Despite her sensitive hearing, Kenzie couldn’t pinpoint the source of the sound—it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Gessler exposed a little more of himself as he looked frantically around for this new threat and Josh trained his revolver. Before he could fire, however, a shape that was blacker than black sailed out of the shadows and knocked Gessler down. The man screamed but the sound ended abruptly as a monstrous wolf closed its massive jaws around his throat and dragged him out of sight behind the stairs.
“What was that?” whispered Nikki, clutching Kenzie’s arm as they sat up cautiously.
“It was Roy,” she said quietly as she hugged Anya, who was staring wide-eyed at the spot where Gessler had been a moment ago. Was it worse for the child to see someone killed by tooth and claw than by a bullet? Did it make a difference if she was Changeling rather than human? “And I think that was for Dempsey.”
They made their way to the south end of the building, where both rescuers and the rescued had holed up in the main office. Metal desks were upended in front of narrow windows, and everyone was crouched or sitting on the floor. Kenzie, Nikki, and Josh automatically dropped to the floor too, pulling Anya with them.
James was back in human form, holding a rifle and peering carefully through a corner of a window. Only James, thought Kenzie, could look completely normal surrounded by an entire pack of wolves. As soon as he saw her, though, he made his way over to give her a quick hug before resuming his post. All of her fellow prisoners were gathered in a far corner. Beau and Rico appeared to be unconscious still. Dan was clutching the makeshift bandages that covered his shoulder. Shaggy Sam spotted Kenzie and grinned, touching his wild brow in salute.
She had only to follow a string of curses to find Culley and Devlin. The twins were crammed into a closet on the far side of the room that housed a large electrical panel and a great deal of electronic equipment.
“Try this sequence,” said Devlin, holding some tiny device in his hand.
Culley’s fingers flew, then he banged his fist on the doorframe. “Man it was so close. I got five characters in before it shut down this time.” He looked over at Josh and Kenzie in exasperation. “But it changes the goddamn password every time I fail. I can do this, but it’s going to take time.”
“If anyone can do it, you can,” said Kenzie, and it was true. Devlin’s field was physics, but Culley could work miracles with computers. Usually, she amended as he cursed again. Miracles took time and they didn’t have much.
Josh donned the radio headset that Devlin tossed him. “You there, Stanton?”
“Hey, Tark. We’re working on the problem.”
He snorted. “Which one?”
“Can’t fix the gate for you, but Birkie’s been working on the guards in the ATV shed. She says another couple minutes and we should have some results.”
“Good. Keep me posted.” Josh couldn’t imagine what was going to help the situation unless the woman came up with a machine gun–wielding moose, but decided it was better not to ask. Instead, he focused on other problems. “James, do you think that Humvee could take out the gate?”
“Hard to say. It’s a civilian version and not nearly as tough as military issue.” He continued to watch out the window.
“Tougher than a pickup truck?”
“Maybe. Heavier than those ones over by the ATVs at least. Might work if we got it going fast enough, took a run at it.”
“Birkie’s doing something about the guards,” said Josh. He noted that James merely nodded as if the older woman took out nests of guards with guns every day. “As soon as it’s clear, send a couple of guys to rig the Humvee.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll keep my eyes open for something to jam the accelerator with.” Suddenly a grin crossed the big Viking’s face, changing his entire demeanor. “Will you look at that.”
Josh crawled over and peered through the bottom of the window. Six men spilled out of the ATV shed, slapping and swatting furiously at themselves. Guns tumbled to the ground, the fight forgotten. Two men threw themselves down and rolled, batting at their faces and yelling. Josh shook his head in amazement. Obviously Birkie had found herself an army of very small allies. “I’m going to kiss that woman.”
“Get in line,” said James, rising and shouldering his rifle. The wolves sprang to their feet around him. “I’ll go round up the idiots, including that roomful upstairs. Then I’m sending my buddies here through the hole in the fence so they can go home.”
“Thank them for me, will you?”
James nodded, then called over to the newly rescued Changelings. “Hey guys, I need a couple of volunteers to help with prisoners and a couple more to crash the gate.” Four men scrambled to follow him and Josh handed his rifle to them as they passed. The pack of wolves trotted after the group.
Another volley of curses flew from the closet. “Forget the password, guys,” said Josh, leaning back against the wall. Christ, he was tired. “Now that the guards have been neutralized, we’re going to take out the gate the old-fashioned way, using that piss-yellow Humvee out there.”
Culley held out his hands as if weighing something. “Computer finesse or wanton destruction, hmmm... .”
“Wanton destruction gets my vote,” said Devlin.
“Hell, yeah.” Culley looked at Josh. “We’ll get started on the cleanup then.”
On the way out, the twins passed Kenzie, Nikki and Anya, who had their arms piled high with what looked like first-aid supplies. Josh kicked himself mentally—he hadn’t even seen them leave. “Dammit, the situation wasn’t secure yet, Kenzie. You shouldn’t have been wandering around.”
“Hey, not dumb here. We raided a couple of the labs on the east side of the building,” explained Kenzie. “We stayed low and we had at least three concrete walls between us and the shooters outside, which, let me point out, is more than we have here.”
“Just the same, I’d like to get used to you not being in danger for a while.”
“Nikki said we needed to get you some more bandages,” added Anya.
Josh looked down at his leg. He’d left a wide smear of blood as he’d made his way over to the window. “Guess she was right.”
“You bet I am,” said Nikki. “From the looks of it, what you need is a hospital, but you’ll have to make do with me because you can’t keep bleeding like this. I’ve got everything from scissors and sutures to butterfly bandages and pressure pads, so let’s get at it.”
Kenzie helped Josh prop his leg up on a chair so Nikki could access it. He hissed a breath through his teeth as she began unwrapping the wound, releasing the pressure that had held it intact and kept some of the pain at bay. Anya laid out a couple of towels on the floor under the leg, while Kenzie used the scissors to take the pant leg off.
Jesus H. Christ. Josh had seen battlefield injuries that looked better. The wolf’s fangs and scissor-like teeth had punctured flesh and muscle on both sides of his thigh, then torn it at an angle. The bleeding was profuse, although the vet agreed with Kenzie that the femoral artery had been missed.
Thirty minutes later—a damn long half hour filled with peroxide and sutures—Josh was surveying his neatly bandaged thigh. His T-shirt was soaked in sweat, but he was grateful for the doctoring, even from a veterinari
an. All he needed now was some calories and fluid to compensate for blood loss, and Anya had gone to raid a vending machine for him. Nikki was already working on her next patient, one of the Changelings who’d caught a bullet in the top of his shoulder.
Taking advantage of a moment alone, Kenzie leaned in and kissed Josh soundly. “Thanks,” she murmured as she nuzzled his face and planted delicate kisses on his eyes and brow. “Thanks for coming back for me.”
He cupped his hand behind her neck and directed her lips back to his. Feasted on her luscious mouth. There were a few whistles from the Changeling posse but he ignored them and took his time. “I would never have left you here. Never.” Not while I was breathing. She was straddling his lap and it was a damn shame that his leg was in such tough shape.... As part of his anatomy began to rise to meet her just the same, he decided he needed to move that tempting ass of hers to a less distracting location. “Come sit beside me,” he suggested.
“Sorry, too close to your leg, aren’t I?” She snuggled in under his arm.
It’s not the leg that’s the problem. Josh pulled her tight against him and reveled in the feel of her. The unusual warmth of her body seeped into his. He wanted to kiss her again, long and slow, wanted to feel the weight of her full breasts in his hands ... but he needed to let his body cool down. They were in the middle of a rescue operation after all. Not to mention how awkward it would be if her brothers walked in and found him with a hard-on ... “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. You know, you called in my family,” Kenzie said, pressing an accusing finger to his chest. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
He grabbed the finger and kissed it. “I would have taken on IBC alone if I had to. But the chances of successfully getting you out of here were a helluva lot greater if I had some backup.”
“I guess I can’t argue with your reasoning. But you better stick up for me when they chew me out for getting myself captured.”
“Hell with that, I’m on their side. You went off on your own because you were pissed at me.”
She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. “You’re right and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken off and I especially shouldn’t have been angry with you. It was a knee-jerk reaction and a crummy one. I’m pretty ashamed of myself for it.”
“That’s okay. You can make it up to me with sexual favors later. And believe me, I have a list.” She laughed, no doubt knowing he was only half-joking.
“So what was the cleanup that Culley was talking about?”
“We came here to spring you, but while we were waiting for full dark, we decided that we needed to eliminate as much information on Changelings as possible. IBC has a ton of data we don’t want them to have.”
“How much of that information has already gone to their headquarters?”
The million dollar question. “No way of knowing. Maybe all, maybe some, maybe none. Culley talked about sending a computer virus to IBC, maybe even uploading one to the satellite, just to try to take out their existing data. Talented fellow, that brother of yours.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” said Kenzie.“I have Culley to thank for all the IDs in my passport pouch.” She explained how difficult it had become for Changelings to hide their longevity—and of course, telling her actual birth date to the government was out of the question. Culley manufactured identification for the entire family, and his formidable hacking skills allowed him to manipulate official records to reflect the facts he’d created. “So I guess now you know enough to put us all in jail.”
“Are you kidding? I just got you out.” Josh realized there was nothing criminal intended by Culley or the rest of the Macleods, only survival. Just like what they were doing right now in rescuing one of their own. But how much longer could they keep this up?
Sooner or later, the existence of Changelings would be revealed. And what would happen to them then?
Chapter Twenty-three
The massive gate gave way with a satisfying crash before the bull-like onslaught of the speeding Humvee. Surprisingly, the driverless vehicle continued to run, leaving a trail of parts and pieces, including the hood, the grill, the front bumper, and both front quarter panels. The heavily potholed road eventually slowed it down and changed its trajectory so it meandered into a steep ravine and turned turtle in a creek, its tires still spinning.
Stanton and Birkie had rushed into the main building as soon as the gate was down. The old vet had approved heartily of Nikki’s treatment of Josh’s leg and Dan’s shoulder. Birkie had hugged Kenzie hard, then sat down and taught Anya how to make origami ducks using office paper. Meanwhile, the others had performed a building-by-building search and rounded up the rest of the IBC staff without any resistance. Culley and Devlin had gone along behind them through the bunkhouses and snatched up any computers, cell phones, flashdrives, and so forth. All of the staff, including those held in the cage runs, were transferred to the end bunkhouse and guarded there. The confiscated technology was piled in the main building’s office.
“We’ve got hair and tissue samples, slides, photographs, security cameras, and all kinds of data in every lab in this building,” Devlin reported to Josh. “We’ve got seven bodies—”
“Seven?” exclaimed Kenzie, glancing quickly to make sure that Anya was out of earshot. “Where the hell did we get seven?”
“There were three more bagged in a freezer in a storage room,” he said grimly. “That’s six Changelings altogether and the remains of one of the human guards. What I’m saying is that there’s so much evidence here that I think the only sure way to destroy it all is to torch this building.”
Josh glanced around the room. “It’s a steel-clad concrete building—how the hell are we going to get it to burn?”
“Culley and I have put together some chemicals that’ll act as an accelerant. And Birkie says she can take care of the rest. Don’t ask me what that means, but if she says she can do it, I believe her.”
“Let me get out of the way then.” Josh let Devlin and Kenzie help him to his feet. It didn’t hurt quite so much to put weight on his leg now. He was weak from loss of blood, but he wasn’t about to complain. At least he still had his leg, which was more than one of his buddies from his unit had.
“Will you take Anya and Nikki outside?” Kenzie whispered in his ear. “We have some Changeling business to attend to in here before we bring the place down.”
He nodded his understanding. “Sure,” he said and kissed her forehead.
It was a relief to get outside. Anya was restless and Nikki volunteered to take her for a walk, along with Guillermo and Shaggy Sam. Josh leaned against the building, not quite ready to sit down, although his leg was throbbing. Daybreak was still a couple hours away, but the breeze was cool and fresh. The heavy night clouds had cleared away, leaving a few bright stars pinning the dark blue sky and the declining moon was still visible behind the far mountains. Suddenly Josh heard wolves off in the distance and realized it was the pack they’d freed. He noticed several of the Changelings paused to listen—and smile. He smiled too.
So did a tiny figure over by the helicopter. Josh sucked in a breath but let it out easy. He waved his hand at the little dark-haired girl, and whispered thank you. Vision or spirit or creation of his own mind, she’d helped him. She laughed, a sound like tinkling bells, waved her red scarf over her head and danced as she vanished into the night air.
A firm hand on his shoulder made him jump. “Who the hell are you waving at?” It was Stanton. “You’re awake, aren’t you, Tark? Because we need to talk.” Birkie was with him, and she wasn’t smiling.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
“A Changeling bit your leg. Not just a scratch but bit it deep.”
“Richardson gave me a souvenir. So?”
“You have a decision to make, Josh,” said Birkie.
He sighed. “I know, I know, but I can’t figure out how the hell to report that I shot him. He’s still got
a wolf body and—”
Birkie put her hand on his arm. Her voice was quiet and kind. “No, honey, you don’t have to worry about that. But you do have to decide whether to stay completely human or become Changeling.”
Josh stared at her, then looked at Stanton. The old vet’s face was as solemn as a funeral and his eyes were troubled. “What, you mean like a goddamn werewolf movie? I get bit by a werewolf, so I turn into one?”
“Only if you want to,” said Stanton, clearing his throat. “If you want to be a Changeling, we don’t have to do anything. The first Change will happen involuntarily at the next full moon, and then whenever you want it to after that.”
Birkie nodded. “But if you wish to remain as you are, son, we have to treat you, and we have to do it soon.”
He wasn’t sure if his wounded leg gave out or his knees, but he sat down hard on the ground. “Jesus H. Christ.”
Stanton crouched down beside him. “Silver nitrate has to be administered within twelve hours of the bite, or it won’t work. So you have a little time to think about it, Tark, but not much.”
“Does Kenzie know about this?”
“Every Changeling knows about this. Our most basic law is never to harm a human. And the second law is never to turn a human without consent. So yes, she’s very aware of your situation.”
My situation. Pretty mild terminology for having to choose what species you wanted to be. And what would Kenzie want? If he decided to be like her, then she’d have no reason not to accept him and all their problems would be solved, right?
“Fine then, I’ve made my decision.” He told them. Birkie nodded as if he’d chosen exactly what she expected but Stanton’s wild eyebrows went up.
“Tark, are you sure about this?” he asked Josh.
“Dead certain.”
Kenzie stood with the others on the far side of the compound. Nikki was watching over Beau and Rico, who were slowly coming out of their drug-induced stupor. The young veterinarian had asked to go with the Macleods when they left, saying she wanted a new start. Kenzie knew that James’s wife, Jillian, would love to have Nikki’s help at her wildlife rehab center. She’d have to thumb-wrestle Connor for her, though. He wanted Dr. Yeung at his chronically understaffed animal clinic. The real winner might be Devlin, however. Kenzie had caught him looking in Nikki’s direction several times. Wouldn’t it be great if they hit it off?
