by T Hearts
“CETUS originating Preters were dangerous. They had no empathy, no cooperation with anyone, and no understanding of risk and consequences.”
“Psychopaths then?”
“Basically. Not your intelligent master criminal kind, the crazed serial killer sort.” With a gentle gesture, she ushered San to walk with her back to their campsite. “They didn’t make many more after they discovered that fault. They did however make a recombinant mix with DRACO origins and that seemed to fix most the problems.”
Crow-hopping along beside her San looked uncomfortably concerned. The big black and vermillion wings trembled anxiously, rustling the feathers like leaves.
“So, one of those…has IO.”
Griffin’s short hens-tail twitched behind her. Obnoxious and loud and furious as San may have been, she loved her sister without a doubt. She was envious at her dedication to getting her back safely. If it were here in that position- well, she already had been, and she only wished someone cared about her enough to help.
“Yes. But now I know who they are, I know how to help IO.”
“Are you sure? But-”
“San.” She said firmly but calmly. “She will be safe, and we will help her. That is all you need to think about.”
San pouted, hugging her arms tight to her chest.
“How are you so calm?” She asked bitterly. Griffin blinked in surprise, taken aback by how young and fragile she suddenly became.
“Because I have to be.” Griffin answered plainly. “I have to try to lock my feelings into a box, and I have to carry on.”
“I…wish I could do that.”
“It doesn’t always work. Sometimes I get too angry and then I say or do stupid things.”
“Like what?”
“Well there was one time, I didn’t like what my teammate said about my hair and so I dyed it blonde. He made fun of it again and then I set his pants and tail on fire during inspection.”
“That doesn’t sound that bad.”
“Maybe not, but it was stupid.”
San chuckled, giving her wings a gentle little shake to resettle them. They were trembling less now, and the girl appeared more relaxed.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said.” Griffin announced. “About reinforcements. It’s given me a few ideas.”
San’s face lit up and she hopped closer, her wing brushing lightly across Griffin’s shoulder.
“It’s ambitious, but I think we could do it.”
“You’re going to bring in reinforcements!”
“I’m going to bring in sheep.”
San stopped and stared.
“What?”
Chapter 19
Even now, she could hear Peyton’s half hysterical laughter as she explained her several plans.
Plan one: Griffin goes in alone and does everything by herself. Everyone hated that idea. Especially San.
Plan two: The humans pretend to be buying horses. Too many variables and too much reliance on their ability to lie.
Plan three: Turtle goes in as a senior ranking official in Hasekura doing a check-up. Again. Too many variables. No suit or time to train Turtle on how to act Hasekuran.
Plan four: Wait for an opening. Could take too long.
Plan five: Take advantage of an opening.
Plan five, Griffin had to admit, was more or less an extension version of plan one, but the others didn’t need to know the details of it. Only where to be and what to do and how to do it then leaving it down to her to handle the rest.
They also didn’t need to know that she had already cleared this plan with Mykonos before she had told them about it, and that he would be bringing in several squadrons of Rubies and another Diamond to assist. Though she didn’t want their assistance in the matter, she just didn’t have the ammunition or the power to detain all of the workers on the ranch, she barely had enough rounds in her gun as it was.
However, the humans first had to play their part Griffin’s plan.
The livestock hauler loaded with sheep for the ranch drew to a steady stop as Asher and Peyton stepped out of their ranger jeep that was blocking the road at the checkpoint. Had it been any other day, this would have been a very mundane part of their jobs as rangers, but today Asher swallowed nervously, gripping his clipboard tight, wishing that he was sat in the back of the jeep instead of Turtle.
He waved for the driver’s attention.
“Could you please step outside the cab for me sir.” He called up to the driver of the hauler. They weren’t impressed by being held up.
“Why? Don’t you mall-cops-in-training have anything better to do?”
“Agricultural checks.” Asher stated firmly. “Just need to see your licence and check that it’s in date as well as that your livestock are in healthy condition.”
“Why?”
“It’s the law sir.”
“We’ve already been through one of your checkpoints already!”
Asher laughed a little and ushered Peyton forward to check into the back to pretend to examine the sheep. The drivers watched them both very closely.
“No problem, let me know which checkpoint it was so I can verify it, if not then I’ll just take your papers and licence number now and then you can be on your way.”
The driver rolled his eyes and nudged his partner to find the papers as Asher and Peyton waited. They were trying to be fast.
Passing down the papers, Peyton checked them and scanned the number of the licence into her phone. With a little beep she returned the papers back to them with a pleasant smile.
“Very good sir. Have a wonderful day.”
Returning to their jeep they began to drive away, allowing the hauler to carry onwards to its destination. They disregarded the encounter, complaining to one another about the strict rules of the park and how self-important the rangers were, and headed on up the long road into the ranch.
No sooner had they begun to slow as they pulled into the loading bay when a heavy clunk struck the roof of the cab. The driver slammed on the breaks. Another clunk followed quickly after. Piling out of the cab they began looking about the truck to find out where the source of the noise came from, a few nearby ranch hands wandering over to assist. The sheep in the back bleated loudly as a larger rock smashed through the front windscreen, and Griffin rolled out from under the back of the trailer as their heads turned and they ran towards the front of the cab.
She made a stealthy dash for the maintenance shed as another clank of rock hit the roof of the hauler. San’s distraction was enough for her to slip behind the line of vehicles and past several ranch workers unseen. She had great aim, though it must have been the two day wait to rescue IO that had given her time to practice it.
The shed was empty and in boxes in the corner were still packaged overalls for the men to wear along with a box full of key cards that were used to open the barn doors.
Pulling on a spare pair of overalls and stuffing her hair up into the cap. Peeking out of the window, she scanned the part of the yard she could see for any signs of the preternatural. There were some of his mercenaries but no sign of him. She hoped that he was out in the main yard, looking skywards.
Making the final adjustments to allow quick access to her gun and making sure that her phone was silent and positioned to film everything, she picked up a bucket and mop and began making her way over to the barn she had heard the Avio screech from. One of the mercenaries blankly acknowledged her, though he was too busy nodding along in time to his music that was blasting away through his headphones.
Stepping inside, Griffin steeled herself. Ready for whatever she may find.
It was quiet inside, just the soft sounds of breathing and the gentle rustle of fur and scales against the walls and ground.
Down the central alleyway sat two ranch hands in the middle of lunch, talking in low voices. Walking down there testing all the doors would have drawn a lot of attention, even if she did disable and disarm them first. She looked about for ano
ther method.
Up in the rafters, there was a catwalk that looked down into all of the boxes. Perfect. Finding the stairs, she made her way quietly upwards and looked into the boxes below.
All of the critters she had already seen were present and accounted for. The Gattan, Thryn, the Xiezhi Lin, three of the remaining Raptors, and several Hasekura critters such as a strange armadillo creature as large as a cow and with a thick tail rowed with spikes, and a beast that looked like an ugly tiger-gorilla. There were far more critters than she had first anticipated.
Then she reached the middle section with the larger boxes. Her blood ran cold at the sight before her, forcing her to a dead stop.
Beneath her was the coiled form of the Quetzal. Its wings tucked over its body as much as it could with its head buried beneath. A shudder ran down her spine as she heard its quick breaths and the raspy snore. Not fully grown but close to it.
She thanked her luck that it was asleep, sedated more than likely, though if it was, she had no idea how much time she would have before it would wake up.
She had to hurry up. Fortunately, two boxes over she could see IO sat in the corner of a stall; wings wrapped around her in a feathery cocoon.
“IO.” Griffin whispered hurriedly, quietly padding across the catwalk to be above her box. “IO, eyes up.”
Her head snapped up and her red eyes grew wide in excitement. The relief at seeing her unharmed was overwhelming.
“You’re here!”
“Shh!” She gave a quick nod to the end of the alleyway pointed out the two ranch hands still eating their lunch. IO nodded.
Biting her lip, Griffin examined the box. The bars were too thick to cut through by any means, and the locks on the heavy doors were all magnetically locked. Even attempting to try and pull them open would have been a waste of time. If none of the critters had figured out how to get out already or broken through the doors, then she doubted she could.
“How do they open the boxes? Does this work?” She asked holding up the lanyard. IO shook her head.
“Only the handlers have access keys. The guys in armour.”
“Got it.” She gave IO a nod and a reassuring smile. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
“The same could be said for you.” A firm voice snapped behind her. Griffin span on her heels, handgun out and armed immediately. “You shouldn’t have pushed your luck Fae.”
Xavier stood at the other end of the walkway, net launcher in hand and with his skin changing from a shadowy grey smoothly back into warm tan, the fibres of his tactical armour mimicking the transition. Only the blue lanyard on his key card didn’t change colour.
Griffin smiled. “Adaptive SmartFabric. Cute.”
“Not as cute as how tough you think you are.” He smirked back, blowing his hair out of his eyes and looking her up and down with an impressed gaze. His eyes fell on the Fénix and he gave a little laugh. “Are you planning to shoot everyone with that little water pistol that y’ve got there?”
“That wasn’t the plan originally, but hey, it’s tempting.”
“So, what was the plan then?” He approached her, with surprising stealthies despite the armour and weight of the net launcher. Griffin shrugged, adjusting the grip on her gun.
“Oh, you know. The classic. Get in, get shit done, get out.”
“And save the girl while you’re at it?”
“Like I said, the Classic.”
Griffin took cautious steps back as he continued to approach, directing her towards the junction that spanned across the stalls for the Gattan and the Thryn.
‘You know that if that gun goes off everybody hears it and then its game over. My men outnumber you.’ His voice echoed within her mind. The feathers prickled up her spine. It wasn’t friendly and joking like how he spoke. It was anxious and echoed with caution. ‘Be smart and put it down. You don’t need to be hurt.’
“Why don’t you just shoot first then?” She said loudly and firmly. “Big old net gun like that and sneaky feet. You could have got me easily. Why the hesitation? And no back up? I thought you said you all out number me, so where are your men?”
“I’m a Preternatural and you’re just one little bird who can’t even fly. Why kick up a fuss over you?” He joked, but he was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, and though he was grinning playfully, his eyebrows betrayed a look of apprehension.
The terrifying CETUS preternatural, known for being bloodthirsty and ruthless, didn’t want to fight? Was he really a CETUS? If he was, he could have easily incapacitated her already with his muser talents. Had she made a mistake?
Griffin smiled sweetly and lowered her gun. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Making my job easier. I really don’t need the drama of other people getting involved.” She shrugged and took a step back. As she did, he took a big stride forward to close the gap. The back of her head tingled. It must have been more to get her within his muser range than to prevent her from escaping. Nothing in his body language suggested that he was eager to give chase, yet he didn’t want to give her a head start.
She quickly shut his musing down. Picturing herself in the centre of a pyramid made of mirrors and visualising herself from all angles and the reflections of reflections, as well as recalling the most grating and irritating song she could think of. Years of practice with keeping Nico out of her head had taught her well enough on what to do, and it worked just as well with Xavier.
‘Stop it!’ He mused loudly, frustrated, but in person he kept a calm demeanour.
“Keep moving and I will shoot you.” He warned gently, aware that he couldn’t mentally reach her with her internal defences up.
“No you won’t.”
“I will.”
“If that’s the truth, then do it.” Her back pressed against part of the walkway fencing as he continued to advance on her. She had reached the end of the junction. There was only two ways out. Forward or down, and down held a box-stall full of Gattan teeth, and she couldn’t rescue IO if she was cat food.
“Are you really that incompetent here that you’re willing to let me walk about like this?” She swallowed slightly, watching how he moved to try and discover a weakness she could exploit that didn’t require her shooting him.
He had a better stance than most Rubies had, there was no way she could kick him over, and he was likely three times her weight. No way she could move him without having a running start. Disarming him was a maybe, but she’d have to put her own weapon away first, and she had no idea if he’d shoot as soon as she did or not.
“Hardly.” Xavier smiled, adjusting his grip steady his aim the net launcher. A gentle and confirming warning that he was still listening in on her thoughts, even if they were clouded. “Gotta admit. Letting you walk in the other day was funny. Really wound up all these idiots after you left, I would pay to see the look on their faces again.”
“Excuse me?” Griffin scowled, “Let me walk in?”
“You were pretty obvious. If I weren’t there you’d have been shot immediately. What the hell do you call that?”
‘A good reason why I’m not a Sapphire.’ She thought to herself. The Preternatural gave a little honk of laughter, before quickly stifling it with his fist and a cough.
“Is that really a good idea? Antagonising your bosses like that?”
“It helps being the only one who knows how to work with them.” He laughed curtly, “I mean, if it weren’t for the fact that I’m here, they would never have any of this to begin with.”
“Oh, so you’re the one who stole the Quetzal.” She couldn’t help but be impressed, if not a little terrified of how in the hell he managed to do it.
“You’re quick. I like you.” He winked. “You’ve got a choice. Leave now or end up in down there in the box with your friend. Either way, I won’t hurt you.”
“Or you could let my friend out and we can both leave.”
“Not an option.”
Griffin
snorted and put her gun away. A relieved smile spread across his face, only for it to be immediately to be transformed into a confused look as she walked towards him and held her hand out in front of him.
“What are you doing?”
“Yeah, I’m not fighting or arguing with a little boy who needs to feel special in front of big manly men.” She said flatly. “You can hand over the key to the box down there or I can just take it from you, but I will be leaving with the girl.”
Xavier spluttered with laughter, shaking his head in disbelief, skin turning briefly tortoise shelled with discrete cream-oranges and browns.
“So confident. You’re in no position to order me to do anything.”
“Last chance.”
“You can walk out of here on your own right now, but I am not giving you it.”
With a sigh and a smile she put her hand on his shoulder. With quick hands, she picked the key card from his pocket, spinning away from under his arm as he tried to snatch at her wrist only snagging hold of the overalls instead which she wriggled out of like a snake sheading its skin. The warmly mottled skin pulsed briefly marbled-white and he froze.
“Told you.” She sang, waggling the key-card in front of him.
“Fae, you need to stop.” His hands trembled as he gripped the overalls. He was trying so hard to keep calm and composed, but the angry flushing of his skin from warm tones to ochres-grey stripes gave his frustration away. “Give it back. You’re going to ruin everything.”
“I know.” She beamed at him, a “But if you really want it back, then you’re going to have to come and get it.”
With a furious scoff, Xavier dropped the overalls and the netgun to one side. His skin pulsed an array of colours, dazzling Griffin for a moment and then he lunged at her.
Chapter 20
Xavier was fast, with strength and weigh on his side, but not so quick that Griffin couldn’t block and deflect him each time. Each time she tried to dart past, he struck out at her. Every time was an attempt to grab and subdue her, not to harm, and every time she twisted and broke free of his grip.