by Jana Leigh
Bama quickly removed the shackles from her wrists and went to work on the ones on her ankles; she was running out of time. It took fifteen agonizing minutes but she was finally able to remove them. As soon as she was free, she quickly stripped off her ruined suit. Damn, her new pair of shoes too. Good thing she was wearing her working jewelry instead of her genuine items. After she’d removed everything, she immediately shifted.
After two minutes, she shifted back, closing her wounds. She then quickly went through her clothing and jewelry; she grabbed her silver plated chain link belt and her long earrings. She quickly broke apart the earrings, revealing the two pieces of a lock pick set and went to work on the door. Then she listened carefully, she didn’t hear footsteps, or more importantly any breathing on the other side. She would have to move fast, she remembered that the door had squeaked. She opened her belt and attached her heels to either end making a crude bolas. Just in case, she grabbed her lock picks.
She took a moment to gather her courage, she sprang the door open and jumped out naked into the hall. With her hair flat against her skull and blood smeared along her arms and legs she was a true Amazonian warrior princess. She needed to run to the right but turned when she heard a sound coming from the left. It was that scar faced guard, she threw the belt and the chain and shoes wrapped around his ankles, she was already running down the hall when he hit the floor. She sprang into the air shifting as she dove and landed on his head, using her strong rear talons to break through his skull at the temples and pierce his neck at the spine. She flapped her wings once, rose up, and shifted again landing on the floor near the body. She grabbed up his keys as she’d dropped her picks during her shift.
She didn’t hear any footsteps pounding up the stairwell but she didn’t want to stick around. She ran back to the other door, limping now on her weak ankles, pushing herself. She opened the door and rushed in. Polvo! There was only one woman in this room. She could see a window on the side of the wall. There must be another room on the other side of the building backing up to these two rooms. She swiftly turned and locked the door. “Who are you?” She said to the woman.
“I am Surya, seer to the Old Council and prisoner of Braden. You are the winged bird? I have seen you in my dreams for months and knew that soon would be the day you would arrive to save me,” the woman told her.
“Yes, I am Bama, a harpy eagle. I am assuming that you are in need of help. Can you walk?”
“Yes, I understand now, a high place, Bama means a high place, silver on the mountain.
We have little time. Braden has kept me here with freedom so close but not within my ability to escape. He blinded me in such a way that it doesn’t heal. I am unable to escape by myself, but I will be able to walk. There is much I must tell the New Council Alpha, you will help me.”
“How much do you weigh?” Bama asked.
“Since I have been starved, my human form is down to less than a hundred pounds.
Shifted, I weigh even less, maybe fifty,” the old woman answered.
“Fifty is the upper range of my strength and I won’t be able to carry you far.” But the woman was already removing her clothes. “If we go east quickly, you can drop me only two blocks away. I’ll shift again and be found by humans. They’ll believe I’ve been assaulted and will take me to a hospital. I will be able to get help then. But we must leave now or the time for my rescue will pass, the humans that are supposed to save me will be past the spot and our chance will be gone. You must stay here in Denver, my child, or Hope will be lost to the New Council.”
“Alright, let me help you over to the windowsill, can you climb up in your wolf form without falling?”
“I can do almost anything if it will free me of this place,” Surya said.
Within moments both ladies had shifted, Bama grabbed onto Surya by the scruff of the neck, taking care not to crush her. Surya held her bundle of clothes in her jaws. Beating her wings, she took off and glided the two blocks. She dropped Surya and her sharp eyes already saw a car approaching in the distance. She flew up to the roof of the nearest building, watched as Surya shifted and the slowly got to her feet forgetting her clothes, and staggered into the street, an old naked woman. She watched as the car slammed to a stop and two young women jumped out and quickly put a coat around her, grabbing up her torn clothes and helped her into their car. She must have told them it wasn’t safe to linger because they quickly turned around and sped away.
She hadn’t told Surya the whole truth; her ankles were bleeding again, and she growing faint also. She needed water and food; she hadn’t told Braden where her loft was but didn’t want to take the risk of going back there, just in case. She supposed she could have shifted and stayed to be rescued with Surya, but she had said she needed to remain here for some reason. She respected the visions of seers.
Well she couldn’t sit on the rooftop all night. It was growing dark, and she knew just where to pick up an easy meal if she could get there quickly. The Denver Zoo was soon to be less one capybara. With a golf course and two lakes nearby, she could grab a meal and then find a nice tree to perch in far from prying eyes.
***
Surya was in the back of a car wrapped in the arms of a young lady. “Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll get you to a hospital right away.”
“Thank you, young lady; I have been treated rather badly, held against my will for months. Do you think I might have something to eat or drink, I haven’t had food for three days.”
“Oh Judy, did you hear that?! Swing through that drive thru up ahead.”
“Are you sure, Sarah? Maybe she needs intravenous fluids or something.” Surya spoke up again. “Sarah, Judy, you have saved my life and will be justly rewarded.
I have quite a bit of wealth. My nephew has been holding me prisoner, trying to force me to sign the will he’s drawn up. My entire family knows how much he’s disliked and any will in his favor would be heavily contested.” She paused to take a breath. Sarah found a water bottle in her bag and helped her drink.
“He knows my signature would have to be proven genuine. He’s been taunting me with the false emails he’s been sending in my name, laying a trail to make the others believe I’m changing my attitude towards him.” She stopped again. Of course, she had fabricated the entire story, she knew they wouldn’t believe stories about werewolves and she couldn’t let them take her to a hospital, which was the first place Braden would look.
She needed their cooperation very badly.
“I’m deathly afraid that if you take me to a hospital he’ll find me and show some fake paperwork saying I’m senile or something. My grandson is a deputy sheriff in Milliken, would you take me there? I’d be happy to give you a reward for your help,” she said in a weak voice.
Judy looked at Sarah in the rear view mirror. Sarah nodded her head; they would be taking her to the police after all. Judy went ahead and pulled into the drive thru. She and Sarah had been at the location of a rave taking place the next night and had gotten lost; it was chance that they had stumbled across the old woman. At least they both had plenty of cash on them as they were supposed to go shopping later. She bought waters and some chicken bites. She planned on stopping at a convenience store along the way for some soup and crackers for the poor lady. She didn’t want to make her sick. And she’d also pull that stadium blanket out of the trunk and see if she could find a clothing store and grab something. The clothing she had seemed to be chewed and torn. It was also smelly and stained; the poor woman had probably been wearing it for days. She was going to have Judy throw it away and then kept it. The police would want it for evidence.
Surya leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes for a moment, though she would never see out of them again. Yes, these girls would be richly rewarded. She thought of the two young shifters in her vision, what were their names? Jean Paul and Charlie, Jean Paul was a wolf from Gevaudan and her grandson. Charlie was a cheetah from one of the prides, she wasn’t sure which. Well it didn’t ma
tter now, they would have their mates, and these girls wouldn’t need to try and meet boys in bars and clubs, they could settle down. She smiled.
***
Bama succeeded in taking a capybara without being seen as the zoo was closing. The keepers would see the blood and realize something had happened but she couldn’t help that. She took the body, made for some tall trees outside of the zoo, and landed to eat her meal. She thought of what she had to accomplish still. She hadn’t yet been able to contact her mother. There was going to be an attack on the New Council compound, she’d quickly told the salient points to Surya that she’d seen on the white board, before she’d shifted. She wasn’t going far tonight, she needed rest. She would have to perch and then in the morning, make several flyovers on her loft to see if it was safe to go in.
She also needed to get back into the warehouse. She wanted to plant surveillance there; the listening devices at the office building wouldn’t be enough. She remembered her bird spies and sent out a mental call. They were supposed to report to the loft in another day, she wanted to know what they saw now.
Two hours later she’d done all she could to heal herself and build her strength and night had fallen, she found the tallest tree and perched close to the trunk in the fork between three branches near the crown.
She had accomplished a lot in the two hours though. Too tired to fly, she planned out the movements for the following day. According to what she heard and saw, she knew that two women were in danger, it seemed like they were two of the Chosen’s mates. For this reason, she agreed with Surya she felt she must stay and help. If Braden succeeded in taking them, she would get them both out of there before she flew to Milliken herself.
It was the only thing she could do. Having seen what the men in there were like, she feared they would be hurt before someone could get to them.
Oh how she wished her mother had thought to call Quin herself. She assumed everything was good because of Braden and all they heard about him. Obviously, the lines of communication were slow to the overseas shifters. Braden had been a little crazy, and they should have caught on to that before now. No matter, she would help deal with that later, for now she had to plan.
For the next two hours she reviewed all she’d learned and created a strategy, this was one of her strengths, to be able to see a battle in her mind’s eye, anticipate outcomes to actions and then know what to do and where to be. When she was finally satisfied with her plan, she drifted into a deep healing sleep.
Chapter 7
Judy drove her car out of Denver and wondered what had happened to her life. She and her best friend, Sarah, had decided to find the rave they’d heard some cute guys talking about at the coffee house last Saturday. They were told that you had to follow the clues to find the rave and were given the first one.
The rave was somewhere in the warehouse district, so rather than looking for clues late at night tomorrow, they’d decided to come out here after work today. They’d find the spot, note it down, and then head to the mall to buy something new to wear.
There they were deciphering clues amongst the graffiti when an older lady came stumbling naked into the street. Her long hair was in a tangled mess around her face, clutching some torn clothing.
Now she was driving to a small town northeast of Denver. “Sarah,” she whispered, “Did she fall asleep?”
“Yeah, she’s passed out. I’m really worried about her. How long do you think it will take to get there?” Sarah answered back, also in a whisper. She tucked the blanket more securely around Surya.
“Normally it’s about an hour, once we clear the suburbs I’ll put my foot down. Maybe we can make it in 40 minutes. It’s good there wasn’t a game today. The Nuggets play tomorrow and the opener for the Rockies is on Monday.”
“I think that speeding up would be a good idea. You’re right about the intravenous fluids. She’s moaning a little under her breath, I think she ate too much, even though she ate so little.”
“Her stomach is really shrunken right now; she won’t be able to eat very much at a time for awhile. My aunt Mary was like that when she was sick.” About twenty minutes later, they’d cleared the last of the suburbs and had entered open country. Judy immediately sped up. “Keep an eye out for police; we don’t want to get pulled over.” Unfortunately, just as they were reaching the outskirts of Milliken that’s exactly what happened.
Lev Adler an officer with the state police was headed home to Milliken after a long shift.
He’d started work at six this morning and here it was almost seven thirty in the evening.
But before he could go home, put up his feet and pop open a beer, he’d deal with these yahoos speeding into his town. He flashed his lights, pulled up behind and prepared to do his job. After running the plates on his dashboard computer, he saw that the car was registered to a Judith Levison from Greenwood Village. Now what was a nice girl from the southern burbs doing this far north on a Thursday night, he wondered as he stepped out of his cruiser.
As he approached the driver’s side, he could see the heads of two women in the back seat then he saw that the driver was a woman also. So it looked like Judy was driving her car and it hadn’t been stolen.
“Drivers license and registration please,” he asked the standard phrase and she burst into tears. He waited, as this was actually not an uncommon occurrence when young ladies were pulled over.
Judy pulled herself together. “Officer, you’re going to give me a ticket, that’s fine. But before you do, we need help. This lady in the back has been attacked. We need to get her to a doctor. We thought she’d fallen asleep, but she was moaning and now we think she’s passed out. Does Milliken have a hospital?”
He drew up at her words, no time for question’s now. “I’m going to pull out in front of you. Follow me in. If I see you pull a u-turn and take off, you’re in a world of trouble, got me?”
Judy nodded quickly with a serious look on her face. “No problem officer, we’ll follow you in.”
There were no hospitals or urgent care facilities in Milliken. He used his radio to contact the 24 hour emergency number for Cloe’s clinic. There were five doctors; two would be on call, one for humans, and one for shifters. He put on lights and sirens and led the way into town. Within five minutes, they were pulling up in front of the clinic. It wasn’t until he’d gone around to the rear passenger side to help with the victim that he realized she was naked under the blanket. He gave a sharp look to the girl sitting next to her. “Explanations later, we promise, help now, please.” Just then, another car came up and stopped. Then another car came in from another direction and pulled in across the street. The doctors strode over. “Do we need to get a gurney?” one asked.
Lev looked at Sarah, “She was walking around, she said she’d been starved. She didn’t say anything about injuries, so it should be okay to carry her. Would you hurry please?” He bent in and picked her up; making sure the blanket was wrapped around her. The doctors were both humans, so until they performed a quick shifter test, they didn’t know who should treat her. They lead the way into the clinic, opening doors and turning on lights as they went.
“Her name is Surya,” Judy called out as Lev followed the first doctor into an examination room and laid her down. The second doctor turned to the girls. “What can you tell me about her? Her age, any medications she might be taking?”
“I’m sorry, we don’t know anything. She stepped in front of our car and collapsed. She said her nephew had been starving her for some time. She begged us to bring her here,” said Judy.
“Wait, she said her grandson was a deputy here in town, what was his name, Judy, do you remember what she said?” Sarah added.
“No, she didn’t say his name just that he was a deputy.” This last was heard by Lev as he re-entered the room.
“What deputy?” He asked the girls.
“Surya, that’s why we drove here, she begged us to bring her here, to Milliken. She said her grandson was a deput
y here. Oh and she speaks with a heavy French accent, will that help?” Judy explained.
“I’ll see what I can do to track him down. You two sit over there. Doc, I think you’re needed in the examination room.” The doctor took off down the hall and Lev pulled out his cell and dialed a number. “Where did you pick her up?”
“In Denver, in the warehouse district, I can’t tell you the street, we were looking at graffiti, not street signs.” He lifted a brow at that and would get the full story soon.
Right now, someone was answering the phone.
Back in the examination room, Dr. Ellen Walker took a lancelet and pricked the index finger of the woman on the table. A drop of blood welled up she wiped it away with a sterile cloth and then pinched the finger again. No second drop, the small pinprick had already closed, the woman was a shifter and not her patient. She looked up at Lev. “Not my patient, Lev, she’s shifter, get Rod in here would you?” Lev nodded and left the room. He entered the waiting room in time to hear Judy say ‘he was a deputy’.
Lev watched the two girls as he called the Enforcer’s barracks at the New Council compound. If Surya’s grandson was a Milliken ‘deputy’ and she had a French accent, which meant she was connected to the former Denver Pack Enforcers that had become the New Council Pack.
“Barracks, Luc speaking, what do you need?”
“Luc, this is Lev, I’m in town at the clinic. About half an hour ago, two young ladies from Denver brought in an older woman. The woman has been held prisoner and starved for some months. She was found in the warehouse district stumbling around naked. She’s unconscious now, but earlier she said her ‘grandson’ was a deputy in Milliken. And Judy, one of the girls, says she has a heavy French accent.”