Wolves, Witches and Bears...Oh My!

by Nicky Charles

  “Unless he thinks we don’t know it’s him. Really, if Jimmy hadn’t run those plates, I’d never have suspected the guy.”

  “True.” His cell phone vibrated, and he took it out to glance at the message. “I might have more information. I will be right back.” He walked to the back of the apartment.

  Using the opportunity to her advantage, she got some milk to wash down the cereal while debating how much she needed to tell Armand. She was all for saving Lulu but throwing around information that wasn’t needed would just make things murky, right?

  Or maybe not.

  The thing was, after living together for so long, she really liked Lulu. And it wasn’t Lulu’s fault she’d gotten entangled in this. Wrong place, wrong time and all that stuff.

  She took another mouthful of cereal and munched thoughtfully. When she’d left home, sick of trying to meet her family’s expectations of fitting into the witching world, she’d declared she was only going to look out for number one. Not that she purposely screwed people over, it was just that her own interests came first.

  But Lulu accepted her as she was.

  And Lulu had never tried to change her. Well, except for some nagging about being a slob and that was okay. She was a slob.

  Yeah, Lulu was a good friend, one of the few people she could depend on. Lulu trusted her and that had to count for something, right?

  Armand returned, his face troubled. “My friend found some information but not much. It seems Kathy Crevan and Jeffrey Tinley are both red-flagged in the Lycan Link database though he’s not sure why.”

  “I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that.”

  Armand raised his brows in query.

  About to explain, the phone rang. “Just a sec.” She pressed talk prepared to hang up if it was a telemarketer. “Hello?”

  “We have her. You know what we want. Meet us in the alley behind the diner in an hour if you don’t want her…damaged.”

  “What? Which diner? There’s lot of them in a city this size.” She tried to stall for time while signalling to Armand it was the person who’d nabbed Lulu.

  “Don’t be stupid.” The line went dead before she could say anything.

  She stared at the phone before slowly looking up at Armand. “That was…”

  “I heard.” A low rumble escaped him, and she watched in shock as the air around him began to shimmer and a bear formed right in front of her!

  Lou sat on the floor, struggling to free herself. So far, she’d managed to get the bag off her head. It had been a neat trick, even if she did say so herself. With her knees bent in front of her, she’d rested her head against them. Then, with a bit of work and good luck, she’d caught some of the material between her knee caps. After a lot more effort and a seriously kinked neck, she’d shimmied free.

  Why Kathy and Jeff had even bothered with the bag made no sense. Even if she hadn’t seen them, she could have identified them by their voices. They must watch too many crime thrillers on TV. Or maybe it was a sign they weren’t very clever. If so, it was a factor that could play in her favour. She considered the point as she breathed in the heavenly cool air. The sack had been stifling.

  After a few recuperative breaths, she’d set to work again, using the same technique to get rid of the gag.

  Her mouth felt disgusting and she didn’t even want to think of where that rag might have come from.

  “I’d kill for a toothbrush or some mouthwash.”

  Of course, no one answered which might have been a good thing since she spent the next few minutes trying to work up enough saliva so she could spit the little bits of thread and lint from her mouth. It definitely wasn’t something you wanted others to witness.

  Now with two victories to her name, she was trying to free her hands. It was proving to be a more formidable task than the previous ones. All she’d managed to accomplish was to make the skin on her wrists raw.

  “Damn, I wish I could see better!”

  Her broken glasses had miraculously remained on her face but even squinting though the one remaining lens, she couldn’t really make out much in the darkened room. She knew where she was; inside the utility room at the King’s Plate where the mops, buckets and cleaning supplies were kept. Unfortunately, none of those items were of any help.

  What she needed was a knife or something that could cut through the ties that bound her wrists and ankles. She leaned her head back against the wall and considered her options.

  The unmistakable sound of Bowlerama next door filled the room. There was a positive to being beside a bowling alley when you were kidnapped. If she managed to free herself, there were people nearby to help. The downside was that the noise ruined any chance of her cries for help being heard.

  “Damn you, Jeff Tinley!” The words echoed around her in the room. “I hope you chop off your finger next time you try one of those fancy chef tricks you’re always showing me!”

  She shook her head. He’d completely fooled her into thinking he was a nice guy. Never in a million years would she have suspected he could be involved in anything shady like this.

  This proves our judgement with regards to men still sucks, despite trying to turn our life around, the voice in her head pointed out.

  “Yeah…” She hoped that didn’t include Armand.

  He’s different.

  She rolled her eyes thinking of all the times she told herself ‘this one is different’ only to find out she’d been wrong.

  The voice in her head made no reply, a fact that wasn’t comforting at all.

  She leaned her head against the wall again. Armand must be searching for her by now, but would he think to look here? Not likely. After all, she’d been doing her best to convince him her co-workers weren’t involved. Jeff had certainly put on a good act, and Kathy…that was also a shocker.

  The woman seemed so normal, talking about her kids. She’d even had pictures of them on her phone. She must have copied them off the internet to create a fake identity. Or maybe not. Maybe stealing industrial secrets was how she was planning on funding the kids’ college educations!

  But what had Kathy been rambling about? Make who listen? Bring who down? It didn’t sound like the conversation had been about the latest electronic gadget. And it also didn’t seem like her own chances of getting out of this were very good. She could identify them, and even if Kathy hadn’t made it obvious, she’d watched enough crime drama to realize if you could point out your kidnappers, it was time to start ordering your tombstone.

  That would be the second tombstone. How funny was that? One in Stump River, one in Chicago… Her inner voice tried to find some humour in the situation.

  “Yep, some women collected diamonds or salt and pepper shakers, but not me. I have to be different!” She gave a dark laugh that threatened to turn into a sob.

  No crying. We survived last time and we will again. There has to be something we can do.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried yelling. “Help! Hello? Anyone? Can anybody hear me?”

  The sound of loud rock music and crashing pins continued.

  “Yep, that was as pointless as I thought it would be.” She took a deep breath and then began to wiggle around so she could brace herself against the wall and try to get to her feet. “Oh good heavens, I need to start working out.”

  Finally standing, she caught her breath while reviewing the contents of the room as she remembered it; two mops and buckets in the corner, a metal shelving unit along the one wall with bottles of cleaning products, a stack of cloths for wiping down tables—

  A memory flashed through her mind; reaching for a cleaning cloth, catching her arm on the edge of the metal shelf…blood… That was it!

  She carefully slid along the wall, only able to take the tiniest shuffling steps and not wanting to risk falling. When she encountered the edge of the shelf, she turned her back to it and raised her arms until she felt the rough metal corner.

  “Thank you, Mr. Henderson, for not maintaining you
r property!”

  Moving her arms up and down, she sawed away. Her efforts weren’t without incident, but a few nicks were a small price to pay for the feeling of freedom when the tie finally gave way.

  Her arms dropped to her side, shoulders aching and hands numb. She leaned her head back against the shelves giving herself a minute to savour the success while wiggling her fingers to regain feeling. Having no idea how long it would be before someone returned, she set about freeing her legs and then checked the door to see if it was locked.

  Interestingly enough, it wasn’t.

  Either the kidnappers were incompetent, or they think we are!

  Whatever the case, she cracked the door open and peered out. The diner was empty.

  This was too easy.

  She’d like to think she was an amazingly capable woman, the next superhero even, but she knew she wasn’t.

  A trap?

  Perhaps. But why? What would be the point? She stepped into the small hallway beside the kitchen. Did she go left towards the front door or right and out into the alley?

  A sound coming from the rear door had her freezing in place, watching as the handle moved one way and then the other. Oh damn, Jeff and Kathy were back!

  She sprinted towards the front door, the sound of splintering wood and screeching metal behind her spurring her on to greater speed. If the front door was locked, she’d grab a chair and break the window to get out. A few cuts were preferable to what was waiting for her if she was caught.

  Grabbing the door handle, she gave it a mighty tug and, quite surprisingly it flew open. She burst through the opening and stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

  As great escapes went, it had an anti-climactic ending. Not that she expected triumphant music or anything, but no one seemed to notice her. Instead, cars continued to zoom past. Pedestrians walked by. One slowed and gave her a wary look.

  “Hi, I know this sounds weird—” She stopped mid-sentence, her euphoria at having escaped sucked from her faster than a vacuum could suck up a sock.

  Jeff and Kathy were only half a block away and headed towards her!

  Chapter 19

  Armand and Roxi circled the block around the diner. He’d hauled ass and used satellite imagery of the area to find some vantage points that would help him gain an upper hand against Lucy’s kidnappers. Next, he contacted his cousin Rudi and, after explaining the scenario, the man had gladly agreed to help. Given the number of humans around, they’d not be able to rely on their inner animals for help, but both had other skills that were still useful. Rudi was now on top of a building with a rifle to provide cover fire if needed. As for himself, he had his preferred weapon, throwing knives, at the ready.

  In a perfect scenario they would do a straight exchange—Lucy for the USB drive—however, given they could identify the kidnappers it was likely the only way out of this would be the death of one side or the other.

  He took out his phone and double-checked his backup was in position. “Rudi?”

  “I’m ready, Reggie.” The man’s voice came over the airwaves. “No sign of movement in the alley, nothing that looks like a trap.”

  “Remember, don’t act unless I give the signal. We hope to get out of this without attracting attention.” He tucked his phone away, then noticed Roxi staring at him.

  “Did he just call you ‘Reggie’? Like in Reginald?”

  “It’s a nickname.” He made a face.

  “Is there a juicy story behind it?”

  “No. Reggie is short for Regulus; it’s an…er….Ursa term.”

  “Ursa’s a fancy word for bear, isn’t it? Sort of like the one you turned into in the apartment?” She rocked back and forth on her heels as she smugly delivered the teasing comment.

  “Oui.” He scowled at the reminder of his loss of control and turned the conversation back to the matter at hand. “Do you remember what you need to do?”

  She nodded and cracked her ever-present gum. “Sure. It’s simple. I’m the distraction. My job is to talk, keep them off balance—something I’m good at already—while you try to grab Lulu.”

  “And soon as anything resembling action happens, you take cover.”

  “Aye, aye captain!” She gave him a salute.

  He could sense a combination of nerves and excitement coming from her. She looked on this as an adventure and it concerned him. “Remember, Lucy’s life is at stake as well as our own. They won’t allow us to get away.”

  “I know.” She nodded. “These guys mean business. Like I told you, rumour has it they’re part of a subversive movement willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. That’s probably why their names were flagged.”

  He drew his brows together, recalling Roxi’s revelation about a group that was purportedly planning on overthrowing Lycan Link, using security codes to infiltrate the organization. Exactly why they wanted to bring about the downfall of Lycan Link, Roxi was unsure, and he didn’t really care. It only mattered to him in so far as it affected Lucy’s safety. He’d relayed the news to Ryne, who was going to bring it to the attention of his contact at the Lycan headquarters. Beyond that, he washed his hands of it.

  Perhaps he appeared concerned, for Roxi gave him a nudge in the side with her elbow.

  “Don’t worry. I was born under a good sign. My mother says I’ll live to be old and grey. I’ll extend my good vibes to cover you and Lulu.”

  “Merci, but I don’t believe in such things.”

  “Yeah, well some people don’t believe in bear shifters either.”

  He slid her a sideways look. She was grinning up at him and, unwillingly, he felt the corner of his mouth curve upward.

  The moment of levity was short-lived when he detected Lucy’s scent. His step slowed, his muscles tensed and he narrowed his eyes before heading towards the alley.

  “What’s up?” Roxi trotted at his side.

  “Lucy is nearby.”

  “So you’re thinking maybe they stashed her somewhere and we can find her first?”

  He nodded and followed the scent trail down the alley to the back entrance of a building. A light over the exit illuminated the sign on the door, declaring it to be the King’s Plate.

  Roxi cracked her gum. “Well, at least they weren’t lying about where the exchange would take place.”

  He tested the door which was, of course, locked.

  “You can probably break that down,” Roxi suggested, peering around. “The coast is clear.”

  “That’s my plan.” He rammed his shoulder into the door, the action creating a dent.

  “C’mon, put some muscle into it.”

  He shot Roxi a look of annoyance, was about to hit the door again when his phone rang. It was Rudi.

  “I think I spotted them. A man and a woman approaching from the front look like the images your friend forwarded to you from Lycan Link. They’ll be at your location in a couple of minutes.”

  “Damn. Keep me posted.” He tossed the phone to Roxi, called upon his inner animal and began to destroy the door.

  Lou gasped at the sight of her kidnappers. Perhaps the sound was louder than she thought or maybe Kathy had amazing hearing. Whatever the case, Kathy looked up, gave a shout and began to run towards her, Jeff hot on her heels.

  Her gaze swung from her approaching captors, to the diner where a crashing sound of unknown origin had just erupted.

  Run! Hide!

  The words had barely formed in her brain when the door to the Bowlerama opened right beside her like an unexpected invitation. Shoving her way through the group that had been leaving, she dove inside.

  The place was packed. Music blared from all sides and the disco strobe lights gave the space a weird surrealistic appearance. A large group of people surrounded the front desk, the small snack area was crowded with customers ordering hotdogs, popcorn and beverages and, everywhere she looked there were people with blood smeared on their clothing, damaged limbs and gaping wounds. Oh great, it was the zombie party!

&
nbsp; Horror was not her thing but fear of those following her had her plunging into the crowd anyway.

  “Excuse me, pardon me…”

  She pushed and shoved her way between the groups of revellers, the zombies more intent on enjoying their party than taking notice of her. A glance over her shoulder showed Kathy and Jeff were now in the building and searching for her.

  She hunched down, trying to hide and wishing she had her phone so she could call the police. There was a young woman near her and she tugged on her arm.

  “Excuse me, I need help! I—”

  “Yeah, that’s a pretty lame costume.” The girl glanced at her with a bored expression.

  “No, I mean—”

  “Gotcha!” Suddenly Jeff appeared at her side and grabbed her arm.

  She screamed, trying to pull free. “No! Let me go!”

  Jeff started to drag her away, cussing as she kicked and struggled.

  “Hey, you bastard, she said no!” The bored girl suddenly came to life, leaping to her feet and pummeling Jeff as if beating on someone gave her immense joy.

  Jeff loosened his grip and Lou broke free then took off running. Dodging left and right, she was intent on putting as much distance between herself and Jeff as possible except she suddenly saw Kathy in front of her and skidded to a halt.

  Oh damn. One in front of her and one behind. With no other option, she turned and began to run down and across the bowling lanes, slipping and sliding on the oiled surface, hopping over the balls that were careening down the length. The bowlers weren’t amused.

  “Hey!”

  “Get out of the way!”

  “What’s she doing?

  “Look there’s another one chasing her!”

  “Is this part of the entertainment?”

  “Yeah, maybe they’re zombie hunters!”

  Protests and questions from the bowlers intermixed with the thumping music. She had no idea how far ahead of her pursuers she was. Her gaze was fixed on the small walkway that led to the service area behind the pinsetters; there were emergency exit doors located there. Just two more lanes to go...