Xochitl helped Lucy sit up and examined the wound on Lucy's leg. "Doesn't look too bad. Bet it hurts like a mother though." She took a length of bandage from Lucy's utility belt and wound it around the deep scratch.
"Bob owes me a new pair of pants," Lucy said, wincing when Xochitl tied off the bandage.
Travis lay out cold where he'd fallen. Rollins stood over him, watching his breathing. "It's Azaperone mixed with Etorphine, veterinary strength." Rollins sounded like he was talking to himself. "He should be out for a while."
"Thanks and all." Lucy pulled herself to her feet, and leaned on Xochitl's shoulder. "But how're we gonna get him outta here now? Are you two gonna carry him back to the house?"
"Helicopter," Rollins said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'll go radio the house." He stepped outside.
"So, what's goin' on with the Were girl?" Xochitl gingerly stepped around Travis and got her first glimpse of Marley.
"¡Ay carajo!" She shrank back involuntarily.
"Those are the symptoms of mange," Lucy said, hobbling over to Xochitl. "The worst case of mange I've ever seen."
"She's hardly breathing," Xochitl said, trying to lean in and listen without touching the girl.
Squatting back down painfully, Lucy finally took the water from her utility belt and poured a little onto Marley's mouth. The girl's eyes flew open, the warm chocolate brown of her irises having turned glassy, her pupils unfocused. A rattle ran through her chest, and her breathing became more labored.
"She's dying," Lucy said to Xochitl, who bit her lip.
"And she's suffering." Xochitl swung the rifle back into her grip.
Lucy hated herself more than she thought possible.
"We don't know what she has, but...We can't leave her like this, and we can't take her with us," Xochitl said tonelessly. They turned from Marley and joined Simon and Rollins outside.
It took Simon and Rollins a few tries to hoist Travis from the cave. They completed their task stoically, speaking neither to Lucy and Xochitl nor to each other.
When the helicopter appeared in the sky, it didn't take the two men long to expertly strap Travis into the medevac basket and have him lifted to safety. Rollins and Simon followed Travis, leaving Lucy to struggle up the rope ladder by herself. Her leg wouldn't require a doctor, she thought, but it slowed her down and made climbing awkward. Xochitl stayed on the ground until Lucy was safe in the helicopter.
Rollins looked down at Xochitl returning to the cave and signaled the pilot to wait.
Lucy couldn't hear the shot over the whirring of the blades, but when Xochitl climbed into the helicopter, Lucy could tell by her face that she'd done what had to be done. Xochitl closed her eyes and remained silent until they landed back at Bob's helipad.
*
Forty-five minutes later, Xochitl sat on the front steps of Bob's home, scratching uncontrollably at the rash that was spreading down her arm.
"Pinche, poison oak! How come you can fall into the same pinche bush I did and not get infected?" Xochitl asked Lucy who was sitting on the cement, leaning her head against Bob's Humvee.
"Just lucky, I guess." Lucy winced and tugged her sweatpants away from her field dressing. Xochitl knew all too well how much the gash on her leg hurt.
Xochitl leaned toward Lucy and whispered, "Do you think this's gonna work?"
"No." Lucy sighed.
They were both dog-tired, and all Xochi wanted was to drink a beer while bathing in a tub of oatmeal to stop the itching that was getting worse by the minute. But instead they were headed for San Pedro in the hopes that Travis would be safe on some mythical werewolf island. "Sometimes I wonder about my life."
"Me too," Lucy agreed as she awkwardly heaved herself up from the ground. "Come on. Let's get this over with."
Xochitl got up slowly, her muscles aching from hunting Travis. Scratching her neck, she put an arm around Lucy and helped her limp toward El Gallo.
Simon and Rollins had finished latching the fifteen-foot, reinforced steel horse trailer to Xochitl's Toronado. She had been nervous about hooking something so big up to El Gallo, but they assured her the car would be just fine.
Right. But you're not the ones hauling a sedated Werebeast in a tin box, attached to a classic muscle car that only gets ten miles a gallon, to an illicit Were handoff.
"All set?" Lucy asked as she and Xochitl approached Bob's men.
"You're good to go," Simon replied.
Xochitl opened the passenger door. Lucy plopped down on the front seat and stretched her legs out in front of her.
"Bob's coming." Lucy nodded toward the house.
Bob approached carrying his trademark black duffel bag.
"Is Helen okay?" Lucy asked.
"She's resting now," Bob replied. "The tranquilizers kicked in."
"Oh, good," Lucy said, wincing as she shifted her weight. "She should get some sleep."
"We should all get some sleep," Xochitl muttered, the incessant itching making her grumpy.
"Xoch." Lucy shot Xochitl an irritated look.
"Sorry, Bob," Xochitl said. "I'm cranky."
"That's okay." Bob gave Xochitl a tired smile and handed her the bag. "Here."
"¡Híjole! What'd you got in here, rocks?" Xochi inspected the duffel. It was stuffed with stacks of cash. "Holy shit!"
"That should get him across," Bob said.
Xochitl zipped up the bag and handed it off to Lucy.
"You take care of my boy, kiddo." Bob choked back tears.
"I will." Xochi hugged Bob tight.
"Okay, enough of that." Bob pulled away. "One more thing, girls." He nodded to Lucy. "There's been some chatter about you. Lots of interest in The Werewolf Whisperer by government types."
Xochitl halted mid-scratch and eyed Lucy. Lucy just shrugged with indifference.
"In my experience," Bob continued, "governments have a tendency to fear a power they don't understand and can't control." He placed his hand atop Xochitl's and stared at her with haunted eyes. "Watch your six."
"Okay, Bob." Lucy raked her hand through her hair. "We'll be careful."
Xochitl waited for Lucy to pull her legs inside the car before closing the door. She walked around the front of her Toronado and, pausing by the driver's side, mouthed, "I will."
Bob nodded.
Xochitl cranked the ignition, and El Gallo roared to life.
"Ready?" Lucy tossed the duffel of money in the back seat.
Xochitl pulled forward slowly, feeling the weight of the rig tugging at El Gallo. "This's gonna take forever."
Chapter 10
...This is an Emergency Alert for L.A. County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County...
The Wereflu riots that began several days ago at the Metropolitan police station in Downtown Los Angeles have finally been quelled. Arrests have been made. Police urge citizens to stay indoors and shelter in place until sunrise.
...This is an Emergency Alert for L.A. County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County...
23 months ago
Lucy drove the two and a half hours from Empyrean to L.A. on autopilot. She wondered what her reception at the station would look like.
When she'd called in to the station, Captain Burch had been short and cryptic. "Just get your ass back in here, Lowell. We'll sort it out," he'd said and hung up on her.
Approaching her exit, Lucy spotted the tall art deco building of the Los Angeles Street Metropolitan Division whose grey stone contrasted the modern L.A. skyline. Lucy sped past the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, took the North Spring exit and followed the one-way street to West 4th. Curiously, cones narrowed the road before she could make the turn into the underground parking garage.
Two guards carrying M16s and dressed in army fatigues halted her as she pulled in. They stared at her in silence.
Lucy rolled to a stop and hit the button that lowered both her Jeep's driver and passenger windows. The guards positioned themselves on either side. Lucy sensed they needed very
little encouragement to grow very unpleasant very quickly.
"Officer Lucy Lowell. Here at Captain Burch's request." Lucy kept her voice even and direct.
The man clenched his jaw as he looked over Lucy's badge and ID. A short call on the walkie confirmed her clearance.
"Pull forward. Park on level five. Get your green pass at the desk." The soldier gave her a curt nod.
Lucy had to pass a few security checkpoints on her way to the elevator. She clocked the unusual buzz of activity throughout the building and noted many officers she didn't recognize. Lucy couldn't help but notice the presence of men and women in military fatigues. She decided to forgo a stop at the ACTF desks in the basement and headed upstairs to hash things out with Burch directly.
Burch stood in the door of his office and loudly addressed someone. An unfamiliar voice bellowed in response to Burch, and Burch turned as if to storm out of his office. He stopped himself when he spotted Lucy. His eyes flew to a desk in the corner, but he remained silent, turned around and took a firm step back into his office. Deliberately, Burch shut the door.
Lucy walked to the corner desk, nodding a greeting to several fellow officers who were gathering around a large board by the window. Lucy slid into the chair and turned on the computer. The Lady and the Tramp screen saver Gabe had loaded as a joke flashed on.
What's my computer doing up here?
Lucy noticed the contents of the boxes at her feet, all personal items that had decorated the walls of her ACTF cubicle. There were pictures of dogs and newspaper clippings from past cases, both successes and failures. Lucy remembered each one of them vividly.
Who packed up my stuff?
"Hey, Dawn," she called over to the nearest desk where her ACTF teammate was engrossed in a phone conversation. "What's going on with our ACTF space? Where's Lieutenant Heckman?"
"Just a minute." Dawn pressed a button on her phone. "Heckman's on leave. Something happened to her husband. McNeal and Tolbert are assisting the National Guard for the duration of the crisis." She shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry. Talk to Burch." She mouthed the last part, looked around and went back to her call.
What now?
Lucy had to remind herself to close her mouth. She slowly turned her chair away from Dawn. Glancing at her keyboard, Lucy noticed the edge of a paper sticking out from underneath.
Whoever brought my stuff here left a message. Burch?
She slid the small note into the open, reading the hurried scrawl with growing trepidation.
Miguel's missing. Going back to the
neighborhood. I think Memo's got him.
Need backup. YOU OWE ME. — X
Lucy shoved Xochitl's note into her back pocket. She looked around the room for the other members of the Animal Cruelty Task Force but saw only military personnel busying themselves at desks. Instead of returning to Burch, she walked to the group of officers gathered around the big board. Sergeant Hawkins, a lean man in his fifties and a respected veteran of the force, held his yellow notepad and pointed to various photos tacked to the corkboard.
"We haven't been able to handle the volume of missing persons calls for a few weeks now. Other divisions are in the same boat. Word from above is to shut down searches. The people in our neighborhoods are calling it "levantón" — a mass kidnapping. Some of the kidnappers seem to pose as police, so people are beside themselves, especially the moms. I call on anyone willing and able to dedicate their time off to pursuing these leads. Our folks are desperate and see the police as helpless. Are we defending our neighborhoods or not?" Sergeant Hawkins looked into the faces of the officers surrounding him.
"Upstairs is telling us what we can't do. I'm telling you what we can do." He looked back down at his notepad. "That's all, you guys. Get out there. And don't give big brother any lip."
Lucy moved forward to speak to Hawkins, but her eyes stopped on the missing persons board. A few of the photos looked very familiar. She noticed Hawkins turn away from her but didn't care when he left without a word.
The gap-toothed face of Flaco, the East Los Locos teen from the pit bull raid, grinned back at her from his mug shot.
That little shit took a shot at Gabe. How's he missing and not in jail?
"Karin." Lucy stopped a plainclothes detective from heading back to her desk. "Isn't that Manny, El Gallo's little bitch lookout?" She pointed to another mug shot on the wall.
Karin Snyder nodded grimly. She crossed her arms and studied the board as Lucy pointed to a number of photos.
"And that's Guapa Agueda, the tranny street walker. And that's his sister Yasmina, Tuti's girl."
The detective stepped closer, suddenly interested.
"Hell, that's Lenore from the Cabra Blanca food truck. Eddie's daughter." Lucy scanned the photos rapidly. "These missing kids are all from Los Locos territory."
Karin tightened her blond ponytail, while deliberately stepping closer to the picture wall. "Tell Burch, Luce," Karin said quietly. "On the QT. Don't tell anyone else. I'll meet you in the break room in five. I've got a prozzy to process."
Karin waved to a slip of a girl handcuffed to a desk. The girl looked young and scared under her layers of caked on drugstore makeup. She pulled a ratty burgundy lace coat around her and twisted her frizzy bleached out hair with her free hand.
Detective Snyder liked to "scare them straight," as if this child could have thought of another way to survive in the neighborhood if her life depended on it, which of course it did. Karin Snyder's tough, Master's in Criminal Psychology methods would do nothing to help this girl.
Karin walked away, leaving Lucy irked. She loathed the oblique machinations of any political machine, and saw how her usually straightforward department had turned into a place of whispers and hidden agendas. Karin was mostly misguided, but she'd never been surreptitious.
How does that happen so fast? What's wrong with these people?
Lucy headed to Burch's office and knocked despite the loud voices that still rang from inside.
"Come in!" the two voices barked in unison.
"Hey, boss. Got a minute?" Lucy stuck her head through the door and smiled at Burch.
Burch and a man in fatigues stood across from each other as if they'd been about to come to blows. Both turned to face Lucy.
"This Lowell?" The other man glowered at Burch. Lucy recognized his golden oak leaf as that of an army major.
"Officer Lucy Lowell, reporting for duty, sir." Lucy stood tall and met the major's penetrating look.
"Can you give me one good reason I shouldn't kick your ass out on the curb for the stunt you pulled in Echo Park?" The major looked Lucy up and down.
"Disgraceful, leaving your fellow officers in the lurch while you run home to your momma. You were ordered to stay in town."
Lucy didn't flinch. She turned her head and looked at Burch with a raised eyebrow.
"I was sus—" Lucy said, but Burch cut her off.
"Major Rice is in charge now, Lucy." Burch spat the words out as if they were thumbtacks caught in his mouth.
"I know how we can bring in Memo Morales." Lucy flung the statement out to Rice. "I think we can go into the neighborhood and get cooperation now. I think his people will want to talk to us. They're scared."
"The investigation of Guillermo Morales has been halted." Rice trumped her challenge.
"All investigations have been halted." Burch's shoulders slumped. "We are here to assist the National Guard in quelling the violence due to...due to..."
"The Wereflu riots," Major Rice finished Burch's sentence. "All you need to know is that we are all that stands between the citizens of Los Angeles and chaos. All other concerns are above your pay grade."
"Lowell, you are assigned to the Catchers Unit as of right now," Rice continued. "The ACTF has been suspended until further notice. And believe me, if I didn't need bodies, I would terminate you. You are a coward and a troublemaker." Rice turned back to his desk.
Lucy felt like she had been kicked in the stomach.
Screams from the outer office took her attention before she could respond and sent all three of them running toward the tumult.
In the middle of the room, closed in by men and women with guns drawn, a fur-covered Beast girl in stretch burgundy lace held Karin Snyder up by the shoulder at an awkward angle. Still alive but bleeding from deep scratch wounds to her stomach, Karin screamed and screamed from a torn face. The Werebeast drew her close, jaws unhinging for a fatal bite.
"Stop! Drop it!" Lucy yelled and jumped into the center of the room.
The Beast cocked her head, flinging her curly, white blond mane to the side — revealing perfect wolf ears. She raised Karin higher while staring directly at Lucy. The Beast girl's eyes gleamed a fierce yellow. Then she let go of Karin as if in an act of defiance. Karin's body dropped on the floor, and she let out a groan before passing out.
"Down." Lucy pointed to the floor.
The Werebeast complied reluctantly, whining and snarling while scooting down on her belly and stretching out her arms. She still wore the handcuffs Karin had put on her right wrist earlier, but the chain had snapped when she'd torn free from the desk, and the cuffs themselves had cracked from the force of the transformation.
Rice gaped at Lucy — his bluster and confidence gone.
"Well, I'll be damned," Rice said. "Lowell, get that thing locked up." He paused for a second, considering his options.
Burch stepped close to him. "Major Rice, sir, I believe you now understand the scope of Officer Lowell's value to this department. I have recommendations I think you should consider. We face a threat none of us understand. She can control these people. You can't, but she can."
Rice breathed with forced calm, and he studied Lucy with interest. "Burch, help her...with...whatever she needs. Dismissed, both of you."
Rice turned to the onlookers. "Officer Ramos, my office. I have a report to prepare."
Lucy shot Ignacio Ramos a quick wink as he passed her to follow Rice. She'd need to know what was in that incident report and to whom Rice was sending it.
*
Xochitl groaned through her gag as she squeezed her eyes, attempting to open them. The throbbing in the back of her skull intensified with each tiny movement. She was hog-tied and, judging from the smell of oil and the cramped space, stuffed in the trunk of a car.
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