Firestarter

by Jan Stryvant

  Claudia blinked. "What? How?"

  "World of Warcraft, online. Apparently Chad, Max, and even Sean here were all in the same online group."

  "Guild, it's called a guild," Sean said, trying not to laugh at the look of surprise on Claudia's face. "I think Chad figured it out almost immediately, and told her when you weren't around. So it kind of greased the skids a little."

  Claudia growled, "I knew letting her get that computer was a bad idea!"

  "Oh, I don't know, I think he would have still won her over," Roxy said, grinning. "Chad's a lot more aggressive about going after what he wants than most wolves."

  "I've noticed. I think he's starting to give my pack the eye."

  "Nah, you're his mother-in-law," Sean said. "He actually likes you, but he definitely wants to learn every last one of your secrets so he can steal 'em. He wasn't born a wolf, remember."

  "Maybe not, but he took to it like a fish to water. Boy's a natural. If it wasn't for this damn war, I bet he could have extended the western pack all the way down into Sacramento."

  They came into Claudia's office at that point, and Sean took a moment to show her the two safe houses he'd marked out for her and her pack.

  "Did you give Chad any?"

  "One, but he's got a couple of his own he's developing, too."

  "Who'd you have set these up for you?"

  Sean grinned. "If you wanted something done in secret, on the sly, and without anyone, including the authorities to know, who would you go to?"

  "Sawyer."

  "Yup, so when this is all said and done, remember to be nice to him. I gotta say, he and his family, or 'line' as they like to call it, have been lifesavers."

  "Are you going to give any of these out to any of the other lycan clans?"

  "I'm going to give Clyde some. With all the scouting work his people have been doing, I suspect they're going to need it. But I don't think the others need them. I figure they'll be in the thick of it with the army and will retreat with us when the time comes.

  "Which reminds me. Call a meeting of the fellowship. This is going to be the last one we have, because once the main gateway opens, I don't think any of us are going to have the time to get together safely again."

  Claudia nodded. "You got it, Sean." She paused then and looked around the room. "You know, I'm gonna miss this place; took me twenty years to build it."

  "You can always rebuild after the war's over," Jolene pointed out.

  Claudia shook her head. "No. No, I don't think a place like this is gonna work in the world we'll be living in then."

  Sean looked at his watch; it was getting late.

  "Well, we need to get back to the ranch. Until tomorrow, Claudia."

  "Have a good night, Sean. And ask them not to get too messy."

  Sean snorted. "Like they'd listen."

  The Formula of Fear

  "You know you did not have to come with us," Cali said to Peg, who was driving.

  "Someone had to drive. Besides, I know the systems they use around here, and I also know the city."

  "Sheila could have driven us; she knows the alarms, as well."

  Peg rolled her eyes as she turned off the highway. "Cali, I was there, I'm not letting the two of you have all of the fun by yourselves! Just because I'm not a cold-blooded killer like the two of you doesn't mean I can't help."

  "Cold-blooded killer? Really, Peg?" Estrella asked with a sharp look.

  "I meant it as a compliment," Peg said, grinning. "Me and Sheila, we've done a few things around town, but I just don't have that extra whatever-it-is you two have to put the bastards in the ground like they really deserve."

  "I do not know that it is such a bad thing," Cali said with a smile. "Sheila confided in me what you both did to that one merchant. That was far better than killing him would ever have been."

  "Oh?" Estrella looked over at Cali. "What'd they do?"

  "They turned him into a fox boy sex toy and sold him off to someone who uses them quite rudely."

  "Why'd they do that?"

  "Because he was the one who sold Sheila to my dad," Peg said with a hint of anger, "as well as bought and sold a lot of other lycans, most of them into very nasty conditions they didn't survive."

  Estrella's eyes widened slightly. "Cali, love? Perhaps we're being a bit hasty; maybe we should let Peg deal with this one."

  "Oh, no! I told the mayor and the rest he was as good as dead."

  "You told them?"

  "Random violence doesn't inspire the same kind of fear as a good old targeted killing," Peg said. "I learned that one from Cali."

  Estrella looked at Cali, who smiled and nodded. "It is nice to be appreciated."

  "I keep forgetting you're a professional," Estrella admitted. "I'm just used to killing people because they upset me one time too many."

  "He only insulted Sean the once, you know," Cali pointed out.

  "Still one time too many," Estrella said with an evil grin.

  "Agreed."

  "Hey, got my vote!" Peg chimed in. "And is it my imagination, or are there a lot of people on the street for this time of night?"

  "Apparently they took your warning to heart," Estrella said, sliding down a little in her seat.

  "Let us turn left up ahead and see how many streets they are covering," Cali said.

  Nodding, Peg did as Cali told her. They drove down two more blocks, and suddenly the pedestrian traffic completely disappeared.

  "Go one more and turn down it," Cali directed.

  "So what's the plan?" Estrella asked.

  "We find a safe spot to park and walk."

  "There were a lot of people out there, Cali."

  Cali smiled. "Yes, there were. So we grab three, render them unconscious, and then our Peg here casts an illusion on us and we just walk on by."

  "Won't they have signs and counter-signs?"

  Peg snorted. "These are cops, Stell, not military."

  "Well, that's sloppy."

  "And we shall be grateful for it," Cali said with a smile.

  Peg parked in a driveway with another car already in it, putting a silence spell on it so no one would hear the sound of the doors opening and closing. She'd already put an illusion on the license plates back at the ranch, so the number on them wouldn't lead back to them.

  "Follow me," Cali whispered, leading them across the street and into the backyard of the house there. All three of them were wearing dark clothing, gloves, and had stocking caps to pull down if necessary. While Peg and Estrella didn't really stand out, Cali's unique looks most definitely would if they were seen.

  She then led them over a few yards to a spot where they were able to observe the next street from cover.

  "I don't see anyone," Estrella whispered.

  "Me neither," Peg agreed.

  "Okay, at a walk, we cross," Cali said.

  "Shouldn't we go one at a time?" Peg asked.

  "That would look suspicious, would it not?" Cali grinned.

  Peg had to nod in agreement as they all crossed together, and then ducked into the next backyard. Working their way through to the other side, they could see that this street was being patrolled by several men and women in plainclothes.

  "This one is going to be a bit tougher; they're too spread out to take one out without the others seeing."

  Peg looked up and down the street. There weren't any streetlights, and most of the houses had all of the lights off, considering the lateness of the hour.

  "I can put a spell on me and Estrella that'll make us look like house cats, but we'll have to shift into our animal forms."

  "I think I might be a bit big to pass for a house cat," Estrella said with a snicker.

  "Size doesn't matter."

  "Where have I heard that before?" Cali wondered.

  Peg stifled a laugh, and Estrella had to put both hands over her mouth.

  "Can you cast that on me?" Cali asked.

  Peg shook her head. "You'd look like a cat walking on its hind leg
s, and it would still walk like a human."

  Cali took a second look around. "It's okay, we'll meet behind that house with the tree in the front yard."

  "You sure?" Peg asked, worried.

  Cali smiled and nodded.

  Peg shrugged. "Shift, Stell."

  The moment Estrella shifted, Peg cast the spell on her, then cast it again on herself, shifting immediately into her fox form.

  "Good, now go," Cali said as she watched the two cats move quickly out into the front yard and across the street. Estrella, being much larger, moved faster, but the illusion made it look as if she was running and Peg was chasing her.

  Dropping down into a crouch, Cali moved quickly in a line straight towards one of the cars parked in the driveway of the house next door, as they were closest and were well hidden in shadows. The lack of light made most of the shadows fairly dark, but there was enough to keep them from being large or solid. But she knew the biggest part of not being seen was to not look like something that would catch the eye.

  Quickly moving to the side of a car in the street, she crouched down by the tire, but placed her arm on the side, bent at an odd angle with her thumb folded and fingers pointed. It wasn't much, but the jagged black shape would just make the human eye think they were seeing an odd shadow, not a person.

  Keeping her eyes moving, she waited until the two nearest people were looking away from the street before her, then she dashed across and went prone on the ground in the strip between the street and the sidewalk in the shadow of a large mailbox. If the people further back had seen anything, they discounted it because the closer ones hadn't said anything.

  She waited a moment, and then carefully moved over to the car in the driveway when no one was paying too much attention, then ducked around behind the house to meet up with Peg and Estrella.

  "How'd you do that?" Estrella asked.

  "Practice. Now, let us continue."

  They had to be a bit more careful, moving closer, because the next street had a dozen people on it. Their target lived in a house on the other side.

  "They are certainly taking this seriously," Peg said looking back and forth along the street.

  "I am surprised that I do not see any magical traps or wards," Cali said after a few minutes of scanning the street.

  "There aren't any magic users working for the city, Cali."

  "True, but they have obviously taken your threat seriously, and they know we have magic users. They know magic users exist. They most likely could have called one of the councils and hired one to help with this."

  "Which means?"

  Estrella gave Cali a thoughtful look. "Which means there is a chance he isn't even in that house. That they've moved him someplace else, and this is either a ruse or a trap."

  "If it's a trap, they'll have put something nasty in his bedroom," Peg surmised. "Let's circle the block, I have an idea."

  Cali nodded. "Lead on." Peg led them carefully from backyard to backyard, down past where the stakeout was taking place. They carefully crossed over two streets, and then started back down on the other side.

  "What are we looking for?" Estrella asked, noticing Peg was checking the streets to either side of the section of houses they were cutting through.

  "A van. Like the one John used."

  "I haven't seen any drones," Cali said, glancing upwards.

  "I haven't either," Peg said, but a few minutes later she pointed down the block. Sure enough, there was a fairly large and nondescript van. It was two blocks over from the house, so there were very few people on the street.

  "I think that's their command post. If they have a trap in the room, it'll be triggered from there."

  "Well, what do you say we go take a look?" Cali asked, grinning.

  "I have a couple of sleep wands," Peg said, "but we need to make sure we don't alert anyone on the street."

  "They parked the van on the far side, and all their watchers are on the near side. I do not think we'll have much of a problem," Cali said. Taking over, she led them back a bit away from the watchers, then crossed the street so they'd have an easier time coming up on the van.

  "It's almost three; if he's not in there, I don't know how we're going to get him tonight," Estrella grumbled in a low voice as they finally reached a spot by a house less than twenty feet from the van.

  "First things first," Cali said. "Peg, go sleep everyone in the van, then do your cat trick, go get the car, and meet us on the street behind this one."

  "Got it," Peg said, and taking a quick look to be sure the coast was clear, she ran up to the van, stuck the wand between the doors, and fired it off. She then cast her illusion spell on herself and ran off.

  "Wait here until I call you," Cali said and carefully snuck out to the van. The side door was locked, but picking it only took a minute. Stepping inside, she reached up and turned off the door light. There were two men inside, both sound asleep in their seats. Across from them were a number of monitors that showed a couple of rooms inside a house.

  It only took her a minute to figure out which one was the main bedroom. There was a large red mushroom shaped button under it, and she could easily guess what that was for. Looking back to Estrella, she waved her forward.

  "Close the door, carefully," Cali whispered. "We don't want to wake them up yet."

  "Well it looks like it is a trap," Estrella whispered back. "So now what?"

  "Look for any notes, or a logbook. Maybe they wrote down where he is? We must be quick. They'll be in a normal sleep soon; any loud noise will wake them."

  Estrella nodded and went up to the driver's compartment to see what was there, while Cali looked through the notebook one of them had been writing things in. She found a number of notes on how they'd set up the cameras inside and the sleeping gas pacification bombs they'd put in the main bedroom, as well as several more in the rest of the home. There were more notes, mostly just a log of what they'd seen on the cameras outside the house, and a status written down every half hour.

  Setting it down in disgust, she turned to Estrella in the front.

  "Find anything?"

  "A bunch of those little yellow sticky papers with numbers scrawled on them."

  "Really?" Cali said looking interesting. "Any of them have the name Justin on them?"

  "One of them."

  "Great, grab it and let's get out of here."

  "What is it?" Estrella asked Cali as they got out and she carefully closed the door, then knocked on it once as they ran back into the shadows. It wouldn't do for someone to find the two guys sleeping inside. Hopefully one of them would wake up at her knock and they'd just be embarrassed and not tell anyone.

  Cali glanced at the note. "It's a phone number."

  "What good is that?"

  "I know someone we can call who can tell us where it is."

  "You do?"

  Cali nodde., "John's girlfriend, Cenna. If she can't find it, I'm sure she knows someone who can."

  "He's where?" Peg asked as she drove off with the other two.

  "Cenna told me his cellphone appears to be at a hotel over on Stardust and Elgin."

  Peg nodded. "I know where that is."

  "You do?"

  Peg grinned. "Let's just say it's a popular place for guys to take their girlfriends, and back before I met Sean, I was a very rebellious little girl."

  "Now we just need to figure out what room he's in," Estrella said. "Any ideas?"

  "Let me think about it after I've seen what the place looks like," Cali said, her brows furrowed as she considered this new problem.

  "Just find out which room the police are in, and he'll be next door, I bet," Peg said. "I'm just surprised they're investing this much money and effort in protecting him."

  "They are most likely afraid they may be next."

  "All the more reason to make him first then, isn't it?" Estrella said with a snicker, "Fear always keeps the lesser races in line."

  "Lesser races?" Peg asked, looking at her.
r />   Estrella had the good graces to look embarrassed. "In my defense, I did just spend a millennium trapped in the Onderwereld."

  "And the First is your father," Peg added with a grin.

  "Yeah, that too."

  It didn't take them much longer to get to the hotel. Peg did a slow circuit in the car, while Cali and Estrella looked out the windows.

  "I'm surprised they didn't put him in a casino," Peg observed as she finally found a place to park on the next street over.

  "From what I have learned from Claudia about casinos," Cali said as they all got out of the car, "they do not like having the police around."

  "What? Are they afraid of getting caught cheating or something?"

  Cali shook her head. "Casinos are in business to make money. They don't want anything getting in the way of that. Like, say, the police arresting people for things their own security would simply take them back to their rooms for."

  Peg nodded. "Makes sense I guess."

  "That and they don't want people getting killed in their hotels. It is, as Claudia says, 'Bad for Business"."

  Both Peg and Estrella snickered at that.

  Cali stopped as she had a thought, then turned to Peg, who was looking at her.

  "Yes?" Peg asked.

  "Do you think you could still cast an illusion on us to make us look like police officers?"

  Peg nodded. "Sure, easily. Why?"

  Cali smiled. "We just walk in the front door, and as we walk by the desk, we ask what room are the other officers are in."

  "And our target is right next door." Peg grinned. "I like it. Give me a moment, stand still, both of you."

  Estrella and Cali waited patiently as Peg closed her eyes and made some motions with her arms while mumbling something softly. Then she did a twirl on one foot, and when she stopped, there was a much older man standing there in a cheap suit, with a badge on a cord around his neck. Cali and Estrella were both also men now, but they were dressed in regular patrol uniforms for the Reno Police Department.

  "Now, let's go inside," Peg said, in a much different voice.

  "Lead on," Estrella said, noticing that her voice was much different now as well.

  With a nod of her head, Peg led them inside the lobby for the hotel. Except for the young man behind the counter, there was no one else there.