“Here!” Tom snapped and trust the tire iron into Katie’s line of sight. She seized it as Dan kicked at his captor and tried vainly to stay within the truck. Leaning across, she brought the iron down on the goblin’s arm. It howled, releasing Dan’s gun hand, allowing him to pull back and fire into the goblin’s face. Katie flinched as hot ichor splattered into the truck. Dan closed the door and leaned back, gasping for breath.
“Damn,” he hissed. “Too close!”
“Pull the truck up so the bumper touches the patrol car,” Tom said.
“What?” Dan retorted.
“Get the vehicles close enough to touch,” Tom insisted. “One of us can go out the cab window and over the top of the truck. They won’t be able to get near the metal.”
“And what about getting into the cruiser?” Dan insisted. “I’d have to touch the ground then!”
“One of us can fire on them to drive them back until the other is inside.”
“Is the cruiser locked?” Katie asked.
“No,” Dan said. “Whose gonna steal it out here?”
“What about the keys?” she insisted.
“They’re inside.”
“Cover me,” she said and slid the back window of the truck cab open, thrusting her gun out first. Before she could wriggle out, Dan seized her belt, hauling her back.
“No!” he snapped. “I’ll go!”
“Why?”
“It’s my cruiser!” he retorted.
“I’m smaller,” she insisted. “And they’re less apt to kill me because the Erl-King needs me alive. Why else would he threaten everyone around me and kill those I care about?” She fought against the desire to choke on those last words. Inside, Lonnie’s death still hurt.
“She’s right,” Tom said.
“Right, my foot!” Dan said. “What if I can’t keep enough of them off her with the pistol?”
“I’ll use the shotgun,” Tom insisted.
“Do you know how?” Katie said, cocking an uncertain eyebrow at him.
“I never said I couldn’t fire a gun,” Tom said. “Just that I didn’t like them. Besides, we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” He gestured out towards the dark.
Beady red eyes and big bulgy ones were starting to swarm towards the truck. A rock slammed into the side of the cab, and Dan flinched. The woods appeared to be full of a variety of goblins and trolls and other unlikely fiends from Unseelie lore. All we need now if for the Erl-King to show up, she thought.
“Well?” she said to Dan.
He looked at her, then at Tom before swinging an uncertain glance at the slathering horde now tossing small stones and broken wood at the vehicles.
“Be careful,” he said and leaned over to kiss her.
They parted, and she handed the shotgun to Tom with the shells. He rolled his window down enough to thrust the barrel out without endangering himself.
“I’ll follow you out and shoot from the top of the cab,” Dan said.
She nodded, taking the tire iron and sliding herself through the small window until she was out in the bed of the truck. The poles once supporting the canvas tarp littered the bedding underfoot. She stood there, waiting until Dan was outside before clambering onto the top of the cab and sliding down the windshield to march across the hood.
Bits of wood and rocks flew at her. Katie raised her arms to protect her face, wincing when a small stone glanced off her shoulder. Dan fired on several eager goblins who broke ranks and started forward with howls. Katie leaped from the hood of the truck to the cruiser, stumbling as the softer, more modern aluminum gave ominously underfoot. She heard Dan mutter something about the State making him pay for the damage she wrought as she righted herself and crawled onto the top of the cruiser.
“This ought to be simple,” she told herself, tightly gripping the tire iron in one hand as she laid down on the roof of the cruiser and reached for the doorhandle.
A talon snagged her wrist, and the long black nails startled her into thinking it was the Erl-King at first. With a shriek, she swung down with the tire iron, slamming it into the hideous face of a cadaverous crone who came slithering out from under the cruiser. The Unseelie woman screamed and whipped away, writhing like a snake run over by a mower. Katie was too overbalanced to stay on top of the cruiser now. She slid off, and only the fact that she managed to snag the handle kept her from dumping herself on her head.
The report of shotgun and pistol rolled through the woods. Katie jerked the cruiser door open as the hag thing righted itself and reached out again. A warm spray of blood splattered Katie when Dan’s shot caught its mark with deadly accuracy. She’d never get the stains out of her clothes, not that it should matter to her just now. Katie dove into the cruiser, closing the door on the hand of a goblin.
The keys were in the ignition. She patted the accelerator and turned the key. The cruiser whined a little before giving in to her pleas that it start. She flashed on the headlights and shoved the automatic gearshift into reverse, thinking she should move the seat up when she realized she was clinging to the steering wheel to reach the pedals. But a barrage of rocks began slamming the cruiser. One popped the glass near her head, leaving a spiderweb pattern. She turned around, looking out the rear window with a grimace. With little more than taillights to guide her, going would be treacherous.
But go she did, as quick as she dared. Hoping she wouldn’t drive rear first over one of the embankments and she made her way down the narrow trail and out of Megan’s Hollow. Something far more dangerous than the ghost of a witch and her wild pigs roamed these woods now, and Katie wanted as far away from them as possible.
She had driven a good mile out of Megan’s Hollow in that cramped position before she realized the Unseelie activity had tapered off to little more than a few humped shadows wandering from tree to tree. As soon as she reached a small clearing wide enough to back the cruiser into, she took advantage of getting the vehicle into a head first position.
When they got to the gate that marked the end of Federal property, Dan flashed the truck headlights, and Katie halted the cruiser. He pulled along side her, Tom rolling down the passenger window as Dan leaned across. “Let’s trade,” he said.
“Why?” she asked. “I’m getting the hang of this thing. Where are the sirens?”
“Could you be halfway serious for a few minutes?” Dan asked.
“Not really,” she said and grinned. “After all, I’m as crazy as old Tom here, remember?”
Dan’s head bowed for a moment, like a man holding the last vestige of patience at the end of a frayed thread. “You’re not crazy,” he said. “I know that now.”
“Took a few hundred goblins to convince you, eh?” she said.
Dan closed his eyes.
Tom cocked his head, and there was a paternal gleam in the gaze as he spoke. “Lass, you need to hold that quick tongue still for a wee bit and let the lad here have his say. He’s got a good head on his shoulders for a man of the law, and he’s got a good idea as well.”
“Thank you, Tom,” Dan said.
Katie made a face.
“Anything to oblige you both and get my weary bones into a warm bed,” Tom insisted.
Dan sighed, shaking his head. “I need to get in the cruiser and call in,” he said. “Uncle put a Highway Patrolman on your place.”
“I know,” Katie said.
“If I can convince him I’ve been sent as his relief, then you and Tom can get into your house, and we’ll all be safe for what’s left of the night.”
“Good idea,” Katie agree. “But how do Tom and I know you aren’t planning to rat on us as soon as we get inside?”
Dan’s eyes grew dark and soft. “Because I love you, Katie,” he said, “and I believe you now more than I ever did. Tom’s been telling me a lot of things, and after what I’ve been through tonight, I’ve no doubt in my mind that you’ve been telling me the truth all along. Besides, Tom says it’ll get worse, and if the dark gate isn’t closed before Fr
iday, there’ll be no power on earth to stop those things.”
“Not even the Seelie will be able to withstand the darkness the Erl-King shall call upon the land,” Tom said in a grim manner, leaving her no doubt that he had once been a true bard. “He’ll spread a night that will never end upon the longest day of the year. No man, no woman, no child, nor beast will survive.”
“Too bad we don’t have an army like the one waiting in Eildon Hills,” she said.
Tom smiled. “Aye, well, if ye can call the Seelie while there is still light on the land tomorrow, they’ll be able to drive the Erl King back.”
“So,” Katie said, “all we need to do is get back into Mercyville in broad daylight, get into the Library and ace old Durgan to reach the gates. Then give the magic back to your harp, wave the flag, and everything will be back to normal?”
“That be the gist of it,” Tom said.
“And how are we going to get into town when we’re on Sheriff Cannon’s most wanted list?” she asked, batting her eyes in mockery.
“That’s where I and my cruiser come in,” Dan said with a sneer. “As long as Uncle doesn’t know I’ve found you, I can drive the two of you into town in the back, but you’ll have to sit in the floor and keep your heads down.”
“Can’t I ride in the front?” Tom asked. “The back seat of a constable’s vehicle has never set well with me...”
“I’ll be with you,” Katie insisted.
“A blessed thought, to be sure.” Tom said and rolled his eyes.
“Let’s go,” Dan said. He reached for the door of the truck, casting a wary eye out at the dark. Katie crawled out of the cruiser, meeting him in front of the truck where he slipped arms around her and kissed her.
“You’re a tough woman,” he said.
“You’re no wimp yourself,” she said.
He grinned.
SEVENTEEN
There were still a few splotches of dirt clinging to the cruiser as Katie watched Dan disappear around the bend. She sat in the driver’s seat of her truck, anxiously casting a glance out at the dark now and again, wondering if the Host were anywhere about. An eerie mist hovered over the ground. She had the truck headlights and the engine off, but now and again, she passed the beam of a flashlight out of the truck at their surroundings. This fog looked too much like the amorphous matter that had accompanied the Erl-King on the previous night.
After a time, Dan came driving back. He pulled up beside the truck, rolling down a window. Tom did the same.
“All clear,” Dan said with a grin. “The guy was more than happy to trade. Said this was the weirdest shift he’d ever pulled.”
“Has he seen anything?” Katie asked.
“He didn’t want to talk about it, but he did mention something about several naked women with blue and green skin and a hairy fellow who looked like he was half goat,” Dan said.
“Satyr,” Tom muttered.
“I thought those were Greek,” Katie said.
“Lecherous beastmen abound in many cultures.” Tom said.
“So do lecherous old men,” she said, grinning.
Tom frowned as though taking the insult personally. “I wasn’t aware that I was being lecherous.”
“Present company excepted,” she assured him. “Besides, if I thought you were a lecherous old man, I would never have let you in my house.”
“I’ll take that as an apology,” Tom said.
“I got the impression the guy was afraid I’d squeal to his buddies back at the station, and they’d never let him live it down,” Dan said.
“Would you?” Katie asked.
Dan shrugged. “Only if I want to listen to Uncle gripe when we call on the State Troopers and they take their time helping us out in the future. Which reminds me. I called in and Uncle is not in the best of moods. He said I’d damn well better call him the moment you showed up, and I told him for all I knew, you were probably camped out in one of your favorite spots in the woods. When he asked which one, I named several for him. He said he’d probably ask the park service to help look for you.”
“Swell,” Katie said. “The State Troopers, the County Sheriff’s Department and the Park Service are going to be hunting for me.”
“Not here, they won’t,” Dan said.
Katie nodded. “Then I’ll meet you up at the house,” she said and started the truck, inching forward. Tom rolled up the window, and she watched Dan back the cruiser around in her rearview mirror as she drove through her gate. This time, she drove behind the house to park.
The house itself possessed an eerie silence. Dan insisted on stationing himself in the living room for the night, leaving Tom to Adam’s bed and Katie to her own. She had hardly crawled under the covers before her eyes closed. The next time she opened them, light was streaming through the windows and the house smelled of food and fresh coffee.
She crawled out of bed, dressing quickly in jeans and a flannel shirt. Downstairs, Dan lay on the couch under an old afghan, sound asleep. Tom had taken the helm in the kitchen, brewing up the caffeine Katie craved. He was also preparing what looked like griddle cakes.
“Hope you don’t mind,” he said as she came into the kitchen, pushing her hair from her eyes. “Your young lad must have stayed awake most the night because I found him asleep on the couch and covered him. Then I thought it might be a fine thing to have a good breakfast waiting for us...”
“Just give me coffee and I’ll forgive you for the mess,” Katie replied, glancing at the kitchen’s disarray.
“I shall see to the dishes as well,” Tom assured her, pouring her a cup of coffee and offering it to her. “Oh, the bannocks...”
She barely caught the cup as he sprinted back to the stove. With a sigh, she claimed her chair at the table. The coffee was rather strong, but she felt like she needed it anyway.
Dan rose at length, stretching and yawning as he stumbled into the kitchen. By then, Katie was starting her second helping of the bannocks at Tom’s insistence. Two cups of coffee were required to get Dan into mental gear. “Are there rocks in that couch?” he asked.
“Might be,” Katie agreed. “Mom was into natural fibers. She probably did that just to keep Dad from sacking out on it like he used to.”
Dan scratched the shadow of stubble that now adorned his cheeks. “I need to shave,” he said. “And then I’ll have to report in to Uncle.”
“So when will we head for town?”
“As soon as you’re ready,” Dan said.
“We should have a plan, children,” Tom insisted, “just in case something goes awry.”
“Well, if Dan can get us to the back of the library, the alley there is quiet enough that we could slip out of the cruiser unnoticed.,” Katie said.
“No such thing as slipping out of the back of a cruiser,” Dan said. “The doors can only be locked and unlocked from the outside. But the alley is a good idea, since I’m going in with you.”
“I don’t think leaving the cruiser parked in the alley would be wise,” Tom said, claiming a seat at the table. “Better that you let us out in the alley, park the cruiser elsewhere, then join us in the graveyard at the retaining wall.”
“The graveyard?” Dan said, frowning.
“Secret passage,” Katie said, wagging her eyebrows and popping a bit of bannock into her mouth.
“I’m not even going to say, ’why am I not surprised,’ ” Dan said.
“But you just did,” Katie insisted.
Dan made a face.
Tom rose and seized Katie’s plate. “Then I’d best see to the clearing up so we can be on our way,” he insisted. “We’ve all slept well past dawn, and by the time I clean up this mess, ’twill be nearly noon afore we get into Mercyville to awaken the Seelie.”
“Will Micheil be there?” Katie asked.
“Who’s Micheil?” Dan said with a suspicious look.
“A clan lord of the Sidhe,” Tom explained. “ ’Twas he what came to aid the first settlers of Mercyville when
innocent blood nearly opened the dark gate then.”
“Then the angels MacGreeley saw...” Dan began.
“Were the Seelie Lord and his host. ’Tis his army Katie must summon with the Faery Flag of Dunvegan.”
“Anything else I need to know?” Dan asked.
“Have your gun ready,” Tom replied. “The steel of a barrel is just as good against the Unseelie Host as a sword.”
Dan nodded. Tom continued towards the sink as Dan glanced at Katie.
“Should we help him?” Dan asked.
“If it’ll get this over with sooner... I think so,” she agreed.
They rose in concert, seizing plates and heading for the sink. Washing up was divided, passing the time more quickly, and leaving the kitchen respectable enough to please Sally. Katie thought about calling the hospital to check on the old woman, but Dan pointed out there was likely to be an officer in her room now just waiting for such a call. He promised to call in on the radio and request a status report.
It was an hour before noon when Katie and Tom crawled into the back of the cruiser, crouching down behind the seat. She laid the shotgun and her flashlight in the back, hoping no one took a moment to look in while Dan was passing through town. Radio calls filled the vehicle. She heard complaints about what a rough night some of the officers on duty suffered. Dan reported in, saying Katie had not shown up at the house last night, and the dispatcher said a replacement would head that way just in case she was bold enough to come in broad daylight.
The hospital reported that Sally was fine, though the officer there said there’s been several frights that put some patients—and nurses—into cardiac arrest. Katie cringed to think that Sally could have suffered again. She listened to the road noise of the tires passing over the pavement, and could tell when they switched onto the main road into town. A matter of time, she told herself, and this would be nothing more than a bad dream.
“The library still has a closed sign on the door,” Dan said. “There are people standing around the square. Whatever you do, don’t raise your heads.”
Angels of Mercy Page 17
