Risk

by Jaime Johnesee

“Do you buy it?” I wasn’t sure what to think. I closed my eyes and brought Ginger into my mind’s eye. I especially recalled her horrible teeth and lovely long red hair.

  She had given us Danvers; could she really be the AWFA Killer?

  “Call her.”

  “You call her; she was acting like she wanted to get pelvic with you. You’d be the one she’d answer the phone for. Especially if she’s not all evil.”

  “If she’s not evil, she’s going to assume I’m interested in her.”

  “Just tell her you have some follow up questions and make something up. Ask her to describe Danvers’ office or something.”

  “Fine.” He dialed the number and put it on speakerphone.

  It rang.

  After four rings Quinn was going to hang up, but then she answered.

  “’lo.”

  “Ginger? Hi, it’s Agent O’Reilly from the FBI.”

  “Hey, baby. You calling to check up on me? You can always come by in person if you want.” The words were right, but her tone was off. There was none of her playfulness from the other day.

  “I just have a couple of questions about Danvers’ office. You said you’d met with him there?”

  “Yup. I met with him a lot there. He liked me to get on my knees and ply my trade. I bet you’d be tastier than he was.”

  “Why past tense?” I hadn’t caught it, but was glad Quinn had.

  “Huh?”

  “You said he liked, then you said, he was; is Mr. Danvers dead?” I texted Gerry, telling him to check on Danvers in holding.

  Hits are put out far more often than you’d believe. Especially in prison. AWFA wouldn’t want their dirty laundry aired. Prison was full of guys who’d do anything for money.

  “Well, he’s dead to me, but it’s really more just that Ginger’s sleepy, baby.”

  If Danvers died, we had nothing on the remaining members of AWFA except for a bank account, which they could come up with some reasonable excuse for.

  Sure, we had Grisly and McNamara’s statement that he trained Grisly to kill, but without any other proof a good defense lawyer would tear it up in court.

  “Right, sorry, I forgot you worked different hours than me.”

  “That’s okay. What did you want to know?” She sure didn’t sound sleepy anymore.

  “Did you ever see a file with the name AWFA, or Americans for a Were-Free America on it?”

  “No. Like I tol’ you, I don’t have nothing to do with them. They’re bad people.”

  “I think so, too.” He took it off speakerphone for a second and whispered in my ear, “Have them run a trace on this number. Let’s send people to her location ASAP.”

  “They should already have one going.” I texted Gerry again just as my cell buzzed with his response that Danvers was okay. He’d been jumped, but the guard sent to find him had interrupted the attack before too much damage had been done. He was currently locked down tight in the hospital wing.

  I whispered to Q, “Danvers was saved from a beating and is okay.”

  “Hey, hold on a second, Ginger. I’ve just been told that Danvers escaped.”

  “What!” It was more a shriek than a scream.

  I raised my hands in a questioning gesture. Quinn winked and motioned for me to wait.

  “Yeah, apparently some people tried to kill him, but he used their escape route to get out of the jail.” It hit me then what Q was trying to do.

  Quinn must believe she’s our killer. He knows she’s afraid of Danvers after ratting him out so he must be luring her to come in and talk to us. Then, once she’s here, he can tease a confession out of her.

  “Oh, dear God in heaven. He’s gon’ kill me.” She sounded terrified.

  “I can come and get you, if you like. Keep you safe.”

  “You’d do that, baby?” Ginger was attempting to flirt, but the note of terror in her voice made it seem more awkward than anything.

  “You bet. Let me know where to come and get you and I’ll see you there. Keep an eye out for Danvers and try to make sure you’re not being tailed.”

  “Yeah, okay.” She proceeded to rattle off the same damn address where I was kidnapped earlier.

  I waited until the phone beeped off and Quinn had double checked the trap and trace had gone through.

  “Well, her phone is by that building. Maybe she’ll show.” Sometimes Quinn had a lot more faith in people than I did.

  “Do you really believe she’s the AWFA Killer? If I were Ginger, I’d be getting the fuck out of town, baby. Lunch says she does just that.” I grinned.

  “I don’t know if she’s the killer, but she knows something. And, yeah, I’ll take that bet. If she thinks Danvers is after her, maybe she’ll want protection. Plus, I think she thinks I’m cute.”

  “Oh, you noticed that, did you?” I snorted.

  “I’m going to take Brady and meet her. You go find Alex and brief him on what’s happening. I’ll call you when I’ve either got Ginger, or proof that she’s up and left.”

  “Hey, Q, just be careful. With her complete insanity you don’t know what sort trouble you’ll have if Ginger snaps.”

  “How long have you been holding that one in?”

  “Since Heavenly.” I grinned, he knew me too well.

  “I thought I was supposed to be the one with the bad dad jokes.”

  “I’m giving you the material you’ll use on Angelique one day. Say thank you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Okay, now go get yourself a hooker!” I shoved him lightly and headed for Gerry’s office to see if he’d heard from Alex.

  Chapter 22

  WHILE I WAS in Gerry’s office with Alex, Quinn called. It turned out I owed him lunch. Ginger was indeed waiting for him. Alex told me he also thought Ginger would have cut and run. Then he made a pun about how the cookie crumbled that made me smile.

  This is exactly why I loved Alex. We were usually on the same page.

  Good for you. Glad you’re happy. One of us should be since you let my mate leave. She hissed at me, her ears laid back against her head tight as possible and showing every millimeter of fang. She’d dropped into a springing position. Not sure what she planned on attacking, exactly.

  Hey, I tried to work with this mess the best I could.

  No, you didn’t. You fought hard to hold on to your human love. But I see all your thoughts, and you said it yourself, you’re not human anymore. The sort of life and love we could have had with Ben and my mate would have been bliss.

  Bad kitty.

  I’m sure this wasn’t my brightest idea, but Ben had said I had to alpha her and I figured that meant I had to have the big fight for control. I didn’t know how it would work but it was time to do it.

  Did you just bad kitty me? I am done being nice to you, human.

  She leapt forward and I experienced a splitting headache.

  What the fuck?

  You have hurt me. Now it is my turn.

  I screamed and dropped to the floor of Gerry’s office. It felt like I was being mauled by a physical jaguar. I could feel the tearing of muscle and ligament as she bit and ripped into me.

  No wounds appeared, but I could feel them nonetheless, and it was horrifically painful. It reminded me of my childhood, which, in turn, pissed me right the hell off. Somehow, I slammed her to the ground in my mind. I could see my hands around her throat, thumbs pressing on her jugular. I could feel myself hissing and knew I was in transition.

  Gerry and Alex were up against the wall. Alex had put Gerry behind him.

  “Sam, talk to me, Love. What is happening and how can I help?”

  I ignored him and, instead, focused on Jix. She tried to growl at me and I roared back at her.

  It wasn’t like a lion or a tiger, more like a short growly bark followed by a loud noise most human—and canine—stomachs make after too many tacos.

  I roared a second time, louder than the first. It startled her and she submitted, slouching to the ground
and lowering her head.

  So, that’s what Ben meant.

  I am going away, if it is allowed. Her tone was slightly snarky, but she was acknowledging my dominance so I let it pass.

  Yes, please. I’ll call you when I need you.

  I felt her leave and enjoyed a sense of relief from the departure. Maybe my problems with her were over. At least, I hoped they were.

  “I’m okay.” I had fully shifted and my clothes were ripped to shreds.

  I changed back and Alex grabbed a blanket off the back of Gerry’s couch and used it to cover me.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Is this cashmere?” I looked at Gerry and he nodded, completely confused. “Nice!”

  I turned to look at Alex then back to Gerry. “Okay this might sound odd, but my cat was acting up and I kind of had to fight her. Good news is I won. Yay, me!”

  “I’ve never heard of that happening before.” Alex looked at me, concern etched on his face.

  “Me, neither, but it just happened. Do you think you could get my go-bag and bring it to me? I kinda need a change of clothes.”

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” Alex left to go grab them.

  Gerry looked at me with a mixture of fear and pity.

  “Jesus, kid. I had no clue what hell you went through.” He walked around his desk and sat behind it.

  “Most people don’t. I’m sorry, Gerry. I didn’t expect that from her. She’s never attacked me before.”

  “Could she do it again?”

  “Yeah, I suppose she could. Luckily, I know how to beat her at that game now.”

  “Do I need to worry about you in the field?” The fear and pity had been replaced with concern.

  “No, I think I’ll be okay. I don’t think she’ll try it again anytime soon.”

  “You sure?” He kept eye contact and seemed to be waiting for something. Maybe me to flinch?

  “Yeah.”

  “You tell me if it gets worse, Reece. I don’t want to put you in the field if this could happen again. For your safety as well as that of the other agents.”

  “Understood. Gerry, you know I wouldn’t do anything to put my coworkers in danger, right?”

  “Promise me, Sam.” His voice was a little less gruff as he asked for confirmation.

  “I promise. If she starts acting up, I’ll take a sick day or vacation time.”

  “I’m sorry you have to go through all this crap.”

  “Thanks, Ger.”

  I startled when the door opened. It was just Alex with my bag. He handed it to me, then he and Gerry just stared at me for a moment.

  “Can you guys wait outside?”

  “Right, yeah.” Alex grinned.

  “Sure, absolutely.” Gerry looked flustered and it made me smile.

  “I promise to be quick.” I shut the door behind them, stood in front of it, and then pulled off the blanket and the remains of my outfit.

  I pulled on my emergency outfit which was an extra-large tee shirt with my buddy Bob’s face on it and a pair of jeans. Nothing like a goofy zombie tee shirt to make you look like a real, professional FBI agent.

  Oh, well, it was better than going around looking like a stand in for a mop. Besides, Bob’s undead mug was pretty adorable. Rotting flesh and all. I’d won it as a white elephant gift at his horde’s Christmas party. It made Bob blush. His girlfriend, Lilly, had done it.

  I finished dressing, zipped up my jeans, and opened the door.

  “Thanks, guys.”

  “Nice shirt, Reece. Considering you’re going to be talking to a bunch of AWFA members, I’m not sure it’s a wise choice.”

  “Hey, they don’t believe in zombies. Unless you want to buy me another or let me go home to get changed, this is all I’ve got.”

  “Go on home, make it quick. Alex, go with her; I don’t want any of our supers alone right now. I’m putting an order out to that effect right now.” Gerry hunt and pecked for about a minute then looked back up at us. “Well, go! What are you waiting for?” We hustled out of his office and into the hallway.

  “Do you want to go home or should I take you over to The Summit and you can pick up a new outfit?”

  “Home. I don’t need a new outfit and I hate clothes shopping. Somehow, it’s even worse when a gruesome serial killer is at large.”

  “I understand. Harshes the mellow, eh?”

  “Um, sure. We’ll go with that and not the fact that I hate clothes shopping, mass murderer or not.” I was preoccupied by someone walking past that looked a lot like Ben.

  The elevator was taking forever.

  “You want to drive or do you want me to?”

  “You just want to drive my baby.” I wasn’t completely joking.

  “Hey, I’ve got my own baby.” A ’71 Mustang Fastback had recently acquired Alex. It was his dream car.

  He was able to buy it fully restored so he didn’t know his car as well as I knew mine.

  “That you do. She’s a beauty, too.” She was. Black on black.

  The soft black leather interior would’ve been hell on a hot Birmingham summer day, but he kept her in a temperature controlled garage for the most part.

  “I had one like her in high school. She wasn’t as pretty as this one.” He smiled and motioned to the car requisition window.

  “Nah, you can drive my car. It just rained, so I was thinking it might be fun to take some of the back roads.” I tossed him the keys.

  I like riding in my car as much as I like driving her.

  “We don’t have time—” I cut him off.

  “It’ll save us five minutes.”

  “Sold.” He grinned and hit the unlock button on the key fob.

  I’d added a few modern conveniences to my car when I restored her. The radio still works, but it plays Mp3s, and even CDs, too. Along with the remote locks, I also sprang for the remote start. It’s nice on super-hot days to be able to cool the car down and turn on the cooled seats.

  So sue me for adding so much after-market stuff. My baby still looks good and now she works just as good as any new car. Also the computer system only runs the upgrades. My engine was still mostly computer free.

  This means if she were zapped with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), I could get her going again. Today’s cars are heavily reliant on computer systems; an EMP renders so many of them useless. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my car? Cause, I do. So much.

  I climbed in the passenger seat and buckled as Al started my baby.

  Chapter 23

  AFTER RUNNING TO my house for an outfit, we met up with Quinn at his house. We were about to track down a lead on some glass shards found on the doormats at both scenes when my cellphone rang and I saw Grace’s number.

  Al held up his phone to let us know he was going to make a call and he walked outside.

  “One sec, guys.” I walked away from Quinn and Al—who walked away in the other direction—to speak with Grace, “What’s up?”

  “Sam, have you seen the news?” Her voice held more than a hint of rage.

  “No, I’m not near a TV, what’s going on?”

  “They’ve introduced a law that would force vampires to register. They’re saying it’s for our benefit.”

  “No fucking way. This is happening much faster than I expected. What does Von Karolinas say about this?”

  “What’s going on, Sam?” Quinn looked concerned.

  I held up a hand to let him know I’d catch him up in just a moment, then I turned my full attention back to Grace.

  “He’s still pulling his vanishing act. The entire community is up in arms. Nobody knows what the hell to do. We just have to hope there are enough supers in our government to shoot the bill down.”

  “Damn, I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m just so angry right now that I can’t even put it into words adequately.”

  “I don’t blame you. I’d be pissed, too.”

  “Hey, thanks for letting me vent. I’ll talk to you later. I’m wai
ting on some calls and, until they come in, I’m heading down to the gym to do some kickboxing.”

  “Yeah, no, I understand. Kick some ass and call me if you need—or find out—anything.” I hung up the phone and sat staring off into space a moment, letting the enormity of what was happening sink in.

  If vamps were forced to register, then surely no other race of supers would come forward. What would be the point, besides being mocked and reviled?

  “Sam?” Quinn was looking at me impatiently, gesturing for me to spill what I knew.

  “They’ve introduced a bill that would force vampires to register. They’re claiming it’s for the patient’s welfare, but I smell bullshit.”

  “I’m sure you do. This is a bad, bad thing. If they force vamps to register, no other species will come out from under the bed, not willingly, anyway. My fear is, with groups like AWFA around, vamps will be hunted down and killed as monsters and nobody will complain.”

  “Damn. This is exactly what we didn’t want to see. Worse is Von Karolinas is being silent. He hasn’t said a damn word to the vamp community. I know most of them are trying to keep from being outed and if this bill is passed that will be impossible.”

  “It’s been my experience that Wilhelm doesn’t stay mute for very long. I’ll bet the second he has a good grip on the situation he will be off and running on some way to salvage this whole mess. If the humans try to take out supers, they will be starting a war they can never possibly win.”

  “You and I both know that, Wilhelm knows it, but humans have no idea how many supers there are out there. They have no idea they’ve been interacting with them every day. This could be just the thing several of those species would love to use to wipe you all out.”

  “That’s the most terrifying thing I’ve heard all day.”

  “Thank you.” I curtsied. “It’s why they pay me the big bucks.”

  “What will the vamps do if this bill passes?” Quinn tapped a finger to his chin. A nervous gesture of his from way back.

  “My guess, register and scare the fuck out of the humans.”

  It would cause a lot of chaos and paperwork for damn sure.

  “How many are there?”

  “There’s a one to one ratio here in Birmingham.” I looked it up to double-check.