by Josie Hunter
“I hear the conversation. Lucia is not too good to pry, to listen. They will go to La Passion on Cottonwood Street.” She had brightened a bit now that she’d secured his promise because she huffed into the phone. “Bah! Why French I do not understand.” He could see her rolling her eyes at the thought of French food.
“Do you know what time?”
“Siete,” she said.
“That’s seven, right?”
“Sí, seven.”
“I have a hankerin’ for a bit of French food tonight, Lucia. Know of a good place?”
“Oh, sí,” she said with a laugh. “La Passion es muy bueno. After you eat there, you come by Cattail, and old Lucia will make you a better meal as a thank-you.”
“You’ve nothing to thank me for, Lucia. I love her too.”
“Lo sé, Tomcat. I know.”
* * * *
When Robb got back to Cattail, he was practically a raging maniac. His worry for Rosa rushed through him like a tidal surge. Marcus and Steve were just as worried, and they’d discussed how they should handle the situation. Robb planned to go to La Passion regardless of what the alpha said, but all three agreed they needed to talk to Tyler Lucas about the situation. If Esteban Santos had indeed killed Rosa’s mother, they had a dangerous man coming to Catamount.
He hunted down the alpha and found him and Shane in the security hut with Cougar, getting an update on the alert from that morning. When he walked in on the briefing, Cougar was leaning back in a chair balanced on two legs, his hands behind his head, watching as his oldest brother—the alpha—paced in front of the window. Shane sprawled across the sofa, his long body stretched out comfortably, his hands tucked under his head. He looked asleep, but Robb knew differently. A quiet Shane was a thoughtful Shane. He was the perfect beta. He listened and learned and only involved himself in decision making when asked.
Robb leaned against the doorjamb to let the conversation play out.
“I’m telling you, Ty, that new protection spell is working,” Cougar said. “We wouldn’t have gotten the alert otherwise.”
Tyler stopped to stare out the window, running his hands through his hair. “How close was it?”
“About fifty yards off the perimeter.”
“That’s pretty close,” Shane said.
“Too close,” Tyler said. “I want a deeper perimeter, and I want it reading at least three hundred yards beyond that.”
“Jesus, Ty.” Cougar dropped the chair legs to the floor. “Why don’t you just ask for the moon?”
“I would if I thought I could get it.”
“You get everything else you want,” Cougar grumbled.
Shane smiled, his eyes still closed.
“Just find someone who does stronger magic.” He turned around and gave Robb a nod in acknowledgement. “I want it stronger, and I want magic that differentiates better between natural and shifter.”
“We have that now, don’t we?” Robb asked.
Shane lifted a hand, his eyes still closed. “Hey, Robb.”
“Shane.”
Tyler tossed an annoyed glance at his beta. “Care to join the meeting?”
Shane sat up and stretched. “Sure.” He glanced over at Robb. “We do have magic that differentiates natural from shifter, but it has size limitations.”
“And I want it strong enough to catch a bee,” Tyler said.
Cougar huffed and fell back into his chair. He glanced at Robb with a smirk. “Like I said, the moon.” He searched through some papers until he found his BlackBerry. “I’ll make a few calls. Hopefully we can get someone out here next week.”
“Not good enough,” Tyler said.
Cougar dropped the BlackBerry to the desk and raked the hair back from his face. “The sun, too, Ty? Give me a fucking break. People have lives. It’s summer. There are vacations. I don’t even know if I can find a sorcerer with that much power.”
“Check with Lisa Fauve,” Tyler said. “Carly said she has some magic in her family. We might have to bring someone in from another colony.”
“Sure…a supermodel with a magical family…why the fuck not?” Cougar unearthed his blotter by shoving a pile of crap off to the side. He scribbled a note onto a blotter already filled with notes. “Can I at least ask why it’s such an emergency? The alert worked, and the Tomcats deployed well.”
Robb dropped onto the sofa and leaned forward, his forearms on his thighs. He clasped his hands together because he had a feeling they were heading in the direction he wanted them to go.
“Gabe’s heard some chatter, and I need this place secure.”
“What kind of chatter?” Robb asked.
“He’s getting everything together for a briefing in the next few days, but he seems to think this Montgomery business isn’t over.”
“I’d be surprised if it is,” Shane said. “Viper was psychotic and a loose cannon, but someone had to be pulling his strings. At least in the beginning.”
Robb was beginning to think he knew who that might be. He had no evidence, and everything he was about to say came from the mouth of an old woman, distraught and worried about the woman she loved like a daughter. Was it enough to involve the alpha? If all roads had suddenly led back to discussion of Viper, he thought it probably was.
He realized it had suddenly gotten quiet. He must have been staring into space for too long because, when he glanced up, all three men were watching him.
“Something on your mind, Robb?” Tyler asked.
He leaned back on the sofa. “Yeah, actually there is. It’s why I came looking for you.”
Tyler nodded.
“What do you know about Esteban Santos?”
“Have you been talking to Lucia?” Tyler asked.
Robb nodded and told them of the phone call. Both Cougar’s and Shane’s gazes ticked between Robb and Tyler, obviously waiting for the inevitable explosion since Tyler had already told Lucia to stay out of it. Robb was waiting for it too, so he was surprised when Tyler sat on the only clean edge of Cougar’s desk and nodded.
“I understand your concern, but Rosa is a grown woman and can make her own choices. Besides, she has a right to see him.”
“Even if he might be a psychopath?”
“We have no valid reports of him being anything other than what he seems.” Tyler stared at him hard. Robb knew the “we” included Justice, Homeland, and anyone else involved in the paranormal council.
“Valid?”
“There are rumors about everyone, Robb,” Tyler said. “Probably even me.”
“If he were involved—” Robb started.
“If…that’s the operative word,” Tyler said.
“If he were involved, he’s a billionaire CEO with unlimited financial resources,” Robb said. “He has unlimited business connections worldwide, probably political as well. He could hide his tracks easily. He’s a powerful man.”
“More powerful than you know,” Shane said.
Robb stared between them, his brow furrowed. “How much more powerful?”
The brothers were quiet for a moment, and then Tyler spoke. “He’s on the paranormal council.”
“Jesus Christ,” Robb said quietly.
“That says it all right there.” Cougar picked up a pen and began to run it through his fingers. “He’s virtually untouchable. Game over.”
“No one’s untouchable,” Robb said.
The brothers glanced at one another again.
“Come on!” Robb said, getting to his feet. “That can’t be all there is. ‘He’s virtually untouchable’? Fuck, no, I’m not buying that.” He began to pace.
Tyler spread his hands out. “What do you want me to do here? I can’t bring charges against a man on the paranormal council because an old woman—a human woman at that—thinks he’s a bad man. What exactly would I say? ‘We think he killed a woman twenty-eight years ago. Why, no, we don’t have any evidence. Is that important?’ This colony would become a bunch of pariahs. We’ve worked too hard in
Catamount over generations and hundreds of years to obtain the power and influence we have. I can’t throw it away because Lucia is worried.”
“But Lucia truly believes he killed Rosa’s mother.”
Tyler nodded. “Like I said, we have no evidence at all.”
“So you don’t believe her? The woman who practically raised you…all of you?” He let his gaze drift over each brother.
“Don’t pull the sentiment card on me, Jackson. I can’t run my colony on sentiment.” Tyler heaved a sigh. “Look, Rosa is like a sister to me. I gladly include her as one of my own pride. I also love Lucia, and I trust her judgment.” When Robb opened his mouth, Tyler put up his hand. “In most cases. But Rosa’s mother died of cancer.”
Cougar scrubbed at his face. “Are we sure of that?”
Tyler spun around to face his brother. “Of course we’re sure! What kind of fucking question is that? The woman had cancer. Our own mother’s journals testified to that. She and Lucia took care of Adelina when she arrived and for the three years until she died. Jesus, Cougar, you might not remember that nightmare, but I do. Shane, back me up here.”
“She was a very sick woman,” Shane said, nodding slowly. His face pinched as though he were remembering something he’d rather forget.
“I’m not doubting she was sick,” Cougar said.
“Then what are you implying?” Tyler snapped.
“Poisons, Ty. The man owns the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world.”
“His son had access to poisons no one has ever seen,” Robb said. “Members of Project Shimmer have been dying of exotic poisons for years now.”
Tyler shook his head. “Not possible. You actually believe a renowned Nobel Prize–winning chemist, the founder of a Fortune 500 company, one of the wealthiest men in the world, and, by all accounts, an extremely generous philanthropist, is responsible for all of these deaths?”
“You have to admit it’s a great cover,” Cougar said.
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. “You fuckers are giving me a headache.”
“Rosa is genetically linked to both Viper and Santos,” Robb said, “and Esteban Santos seems to want some of her blood. I seriously doubt his claims of being sick, so I can’t help wonder why else he might need Rosa’s blood.”
“If Viper’s blood is no longer accessible…” Cougar let the words hang in the air.
Tyler took a deep breath. “Shane?”
“I don’t know, Ty. It makes a twisted sort of sense.”
“Fuck.” Tyler headed for the door. “I’ve got to get a hold of Gabe and see if we can get that briefing moved up.”
“Ty.” Tyler stopped in the doorframe and turned back. “We might not be able to stop Rosa from meeting with Santos, but I’m going to La Passion tonight.”
Tyler nodded. “Then you better bring Bobby to Cattail tonight. Just in case.”
* * * *
“Do I have ta spend the night?” Bobby asked in a borderline whine.
Robb met his son’s eyes in the mirror. He ran the razor up his neck then rinsed it. “Yes, it’s important.” He turned around and leaned against the sink. “I thought you liked going to Cattail.”
Bobby kicked the towel on the floor with the toe of his high-top sneaker. “Yeah, I like it there.”
“I thought you and Suzie had fun together.”
“Well, yeah…” He glanced up, hiding behind the shaggy hair on his forehead.
Robb leaned down to meet his eyes. “I sense a but in there.”
He hesitated for just a moment before the words spilled out. “She’s kinda bossy, Dad.”
My son the diplomat. Kinda doesn’t begin to describe it.
Robb smiled and wiped a bit of shaving cream running down his neck. “She’s the alpha’s daughter, kid. They tend to be that way.”
“Why aren’t you the alpha?” Bobby asked. “Then I could be the bossy one.”
This time Robb laughed. He turned back to the mirror and ran the razor up his neck again. “I’m not the alpha because we live in Catamount, and Tyler Lucas is the alpha here.”
“I have an idea!” Bobby said, his eyes shining.
“You do, huh?” He met Bobby’s eyes in the mirror again. He couldn’t wait to hear this. “What’s this idea?”
“We could move and make our own town. Just panthers and serpents. Wouldn’t that be cool, Dad?”
“And who would be in charge, the panthers or the serpents?”
“You, then me.”
“Ah, I see. You just want to be boss.”
Bobby’s face fell, that bright smile and enthusiasm simply evaporating. Busted. He kicked at the towel again. “Maybe.” He glanced up a bit shyly. “I guess I shouldn’t think like that, huh?”
Robb rinsed his face then turned around and hunkered down. “It’s good to have ambition, Bobby. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.”
“But…” He scratched at his head. “You don’t have any ambition.” He drew back a bit as though he realized he might have said the wrong thing. “Do you?”
“I have more than you think, kiddo, and I’ve done more than you can imagine.” He rubbed his hand over Bobby’s hair. “Some day you’ll understand. I’ve achieved lots here in Catamount, and hopefully I’ll continue to do so, but I can never be alpha. The thing is, though, I have a very good job, a good boss, and a good alpha.”
“Who gives you orders,” Bobby said with disgust.
“Yeah, sometimes he does.” Robb thought back to earlier in the day when Tyler Lucas had been at his best alpha self—logical and firm, but also willing to listen. “But giving orders is part of his position, and it’s a big responsibility. Tyler Lucas is responsible for the well-being and security of everyone in Catamount, not to mention shifters in general. He keeps us safe and happy, and that’s a lot of lives to protect. He’s in charge of our town and our county, and he keeps the peace between dozens of kinds of shifters. Believe me, Bobby, I wouldn’t want his job for anything. He keeps things running smoothly by making tough decisions and knowing what’s right and wrong. It’s worked this way for generations. He’s a well-respected alpha, and Catamount is a well-respected colony.”
Bobby’s forehead scrunched. “And it can never be changed?”
“Never’s a long time. I guess there’s always a chance, but people seem to like having a cougar alpha, and they seem to like Tyler Lucas.”
“He’s still bossy, just like Suzie.”
“Alphas are bossy people. That’s the nature of the game. A good alpha, though, can accomplish his job without resentment and will admit when he’s been wrong. And when it’s really important, he listens to his people.”
“Does he listen to you, Dad?”
“Yes, he does. Which is why I have some business to take care of tonight and why you have to go to Cattail.”
“Okay, Dad.” Bobby rolled his eyes. “But do I have to play in that stupid little house?”
“No, I talked with Mrs. Lucas. She said you could swim for a while then watch movies until bed.” All good stuff, but he’d saved the best for last. He waited a beat, and then said, “David Littlefox is going to give you a riding lesson in the morning.”
“Woo hoo!” Bobby pumped his fist in the air. “Okay, I’ll go get packed, but I’m taking my iPod. I hate Suzie’s music.”
As Bobby left the bathroom, Robb’s phone rang. “Jackson.”
“Robb, it’s Javier Santiago.”
“Javi!” He’d kept up with both Javier and his brother, Cruz, since their time in the Rangers. They were experts in tracking and keeping under the radar, but if Javier was calling him, there was a problem. He never called to chitchat. “Great to hear from you, man. How’ve you been?”
“Wet, tired, and itchy.”
Robb laughed. “Just another day in paradise then?”
“You know it, but I’m pressed for time here, Robb.”
That meant they were in deep shit and running for their lives. Not a good day to be
Javier or Cruz Santiago. “Shoot.”
“I’ve got a package to deliver to you.”
“Witness protection?”
“Sí, amigo, we’re doing an extraction of a CIA agent here in the sweltering jungles of Panama.”
“Who’s got the guy in their sights?”
“No idea,” Javier said. “We got the call, and we took the meeting. It could be any one of a number of cartels down here. We just need to get the guy to safety until the shit stops flying. Don’t know his old name and don’t care. There’s a new passport in the name of Dylan Winston, hailing from Ogden, Utah. Wolf-shifter. We’ll be at the egress point in a few hours, and you can expect him when I find a flight.”
“I’ll alert the alpha and Gabe. We’ll work it out on our end. What about you and Cruz?”
“We’re cool.”
“Watch your backs.”
“Will do. One more thing, Jackson.”
“What’s that?”
“This CIA guy’s been here for over a year in deep cover. He’s heard some rumblings about some serious connections between the drug lords here and some serpent-shifters in the US. One of them is rumored to be involved with Diego Garcia. Ever heard of a guy named Esteban Santos?”
Robb’s stomach lurched. “I’m having dinner with him tonight.”
“Sucks to be you, bro. If he’s anything like Garcia, he’s a hell of a nasty guy. One sack of slithering shit usually leads to another, so keep your head down. Well, now that I’ve dumped that load on you, I’ve got to sign off. Keep cool, amigo.”
Click.
Robb laid his phone down then flipped on the shower.
Garcia and Santos? Not good at all. Javier was right. Garcia was a hell of a nasty guy.
He phoned the security hut and filled in Cougar and Shane about his conversation with Javier Santiago. He wanted to head Rosa off at the pass and forget this entire meeting, but Shane encouraged him to keep to the plan, saying it might be the closest they got to Santos before the shit really hit the fan. When Shane left the call, Robb said to Cougar, “I’m not happy about any of this. The whole idea sucks.”
“Just feel him out. See what you can trip him on.”
“More than likely, I’ll be the one who trips and falls on my ass.”