Pack 11 - Wolf Whisperer

by Karen Whiddon

  This time, Ian replied. “Free with regard to certain things. But this is Tearlach business. This is different.”

  She shrugged, the overblown gesture obviously meant to show that she discounted his words. “By whose law?”

  “By our law,” Danny roared back, spraying spittle. Ian walked over to him, moving him back from the microphone and speaking to him, no doubt trying to calm him.

  Rose was having none of that. Still she pressed on. “Since you have armed guards preventing us from leaving, it appears you have taken it upon yourself to act like some feudal king. By what right do you keep us here?”

  Her belligerent tone had the effect of rousing the others. Two men and another woman also stood and shouted out, demanding answers.

  Now the entire crowd appeared energized rather than just stunned. Many got to their feet, others leaned forward.

  But what was even more worrisome was that the room appeared to be splitting into sides. A growing number of people coalesced around Rose, but an even greater number gathered at the opposite side of the stage, near where Ian and his family had been sitting.

  “Some of these people knew this was going to happen,” Mac muttered to Kelly. “Danny had to have begun organizing this a long time ago.”

  Danny laughed, the sound chilling Mac to the bone. He’d heard people express amusement exactly like that during assignments as a Protector. Never good, almost always a warning of worse things to come. Danny had the laugh of a madman.

  But when he spoke, his voice calm and soothing, he sounded completely sane and rational. “We are the only ones who can keep us safe.” He gazed directly at Rose, his expression full of compassion. “You know this, Rose. Look at what happened to my brother, your beloved husband. Before he was killed, he set in motion the plan that we follow to this day.”

  Appearing convinced, Rose bowed her head. Mac’s heart sank. Then, just as he was about to tell Kelly that her mother had caved, Rose appeared to shake off Danny’s hypnotic litany. She stepped forward again, bringing her within arm’s reach of the stage.

  Two armed goons moved to block her, but Danny waved them away.

  “What about the missing girls? My daughter Bonnie and your own girl? And all the others. Do you know where they are?”

  For a moment, Danny hesitated. While he wavered, appearing to debate carefully what he would say, Ian stepped in front of him and took the microphone.

  “They are safe,” he said. Whatever else he tried to say was drowned out in the roar from the crowd. It sounded like everyone spoke at once, shouting questions, crying and even screaming.

  While the melee went on below them, Kelly jumped to her feet and grabbed his arm. “If we can, now we need to try to leave while they’re distracted.” She pointed to the armed guards. While several had abandoned their posts by the doors to move closer to the crowds, in every single exit he could see at least one man remained, assault rifle at the ready.

  “I don’t think that’s possible,” he said. But she didn’t appear to be listening, pulling him along. Instead of heading for the exits, she appeared to try to make it to the stage.

  Since he had no choice, he followed her. If need be, if she tried something crazy, he’d stop her.

  The two groups screamed at each other. Ian used the microphone to try and calm them down, but everyone ignored him. Mac and Kelly kept going. With everyone focused on the stage, no one paid them any mind.

  When they reached the railing and steps that separated the floor seats from the elevated section, she turned right. “We’ll have to climb a railing and let ourselves drop down onto concrete,” she told him. “Perfectly safe. Certainly better than this insanity.”

  From the stage, Danny’s followers had begun to get louder and ruder and more belligerent with the group of people who had doubts and questions. The yelling match raged on, and the noise level had climbed so many decibels that Mac knew Danny and Ian would have to act decisively soon if they wanted to prevent an out-and-out riot.

  A quick glance at the stage revealed that for now both of the men appeared content to let the fierce debate rage below them. They stood back watching, while the spotlight continued to make its slow sweep of the crowd. Even Ian had abandoned the microphone and appeared focused on what the searching spotlight revealed.

  Luckily, they were still in the dark. But not for long. Soon, the light would hit their section.

  “Come on,” Kelly urged. At the metal railing, she climbed, one leg over, then the other, teetering on the edge. Looking back over her shoulder at him, she flashed him a reassuring smile.

  “One, two, three.” She let herself drop, landing safely on both feet. Looking up at him, she motioned for him to do the same.

  Moving quickly, Mac did the same, noting with relief that no guards blocked the long tunnel under the stage.

  As they hurried along, he cast frequent looks over his shoulder. The roar of the still-unruly crowd had grown greatly diminished. He couldn’t tell if this was because Ian and Danny had finally decided to exert some crowd control or if the tunnel muffled the sound.

  “Where does this go?” he asked.

  “To the dressing room area. This is the way the main act and their entourage come when some power speaker is having a seminar.”

  “How do you know that?”

  She shot him an amused look. “I used to go to a lot of dog rescue events around the country.”

  “So you weren’t always a recluse,” he said as they slammed into double metal doors. They busted past the waiting room, and through another door, and finally found themselves in a huge underground parking garage filled with cars.

  “No. I used to be quite sociable. Now we need a getaway vehicle,” she told him, with a gleam in her eye that made him want to grab her and kiss her. He restrained himself, instead glancing around at all the cars in the garage.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “Since we can’t get to my Hummer, I want something fast. Like that.” She pointed to a black, low-slung sports car.

  “That’s a Lamborghini. No way. First, it’s too noticeable, and second, it probably belongs to Danny or Ian. And I’d definitely bet that it’s alarmed.”

  “Too bad. I bet that thing is fun to drive,” she commented, already scouting for a second choice.

  Since they didn’t have time to debate the pros and cons of various cars, he spotted a dark green vintage Corvette parked a few spots away.

  “There.” He ran to the car, tested the door and, miracle of miracles, found it unlocked. “What kind of person leaves something like this unlocked?”

  “Not that car.” Frowning, she pointed to a black BMW Roadster. “Take that one. While I love my ’Vette, that’s my mother’s ride. I don’t understand why she didn’t lock it, but I refuse to steal from her.”

  This he could well understand. However, the Beamer was locked and he had to waste valuable seconds jimmying the door. Once he had the car open, it took a few more seconds to hot-wire it, but finally the engine came to life with a satisfying roar.

  “We’re in business,” he told her, getting out and jotting down the license plate number on a slip of paper, which he tucked in his wallet. Then he hopped back in and fastened his seat belt, trying to slow his racing heart. “A little small, but I like the dark tinted windows. Let’s roll.”

  She clicked her own seat belt and nodded. “I’m ready.”

  As they pulled away, exiting the garage via a ramp and merging onto a busy side street, he grinned. “That was close.”

  “Too close,” she said, staring at him with a dazed expression. Then she blinked and smiled back. “At least we know where we stand.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not pretty.”

  “Not at all, though it eases my mind somewhat knowing my sister isn’t being tortured by some strange psychopath.”

  He clenched his jaw, refusing to state the obvious. If Danny wasn’t a psycho, he didn’t know who was.

  “Now I’ve got to figur
e out how to go up against my own cousin and uncle,” she continued, “so I can rescue her.”

  “What about the other girls?”

  “I’m sure Katie’s fine. She’s Ian’s sister, Danny’s daughter. Surely they wouldn’t hurt her. Now, the others, I don’t know.”

  “You don’t think they’re in danger?” he asked, remembering the madness he’d heard in Danny’s voice.

  She thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I would never have believed Uncle Danny and Ian could do something like this. I just want to rescue my sister.”

  “Rescue her from what? I don’t understand what he’s doing with them. His niece? Own daughter? You mentioned some sort of breeding program. What did you mean?”

  “I’m not sure.” Kelly gazed out the window, fidgeting in her seat. “That was something my mother said to me last night. I’m not certain she knows anything, either. She sounded as much in the dark as we are.”

  “Call her,” he said, adrenaline still pumping. “She called your cell phone, so you should have her number.”

  Clearly torn, Kelly turned to gaze at him. “She’s probably still trapped in the meeting.” She sounded less than enthusiastic. “I don’t want to draw attention to her.”

  “Then text her.”

  “Pushy, aren’t you?” she grumbled, taking her phone out and staring at it, but not actually dialing anything.

  “At least now I understand why he took my children,” he said. “What I don’t get is why so many of you seem to just go along with him. It’s a disturbing look at the herd mentality.”

  She met his gaze, her own stricken. “You’re right. And I don’t have a good answer for you. Everything seemed perfectly reasonable. Protecting our own, and no one actually got hurt—”

  “I did.” Cutting her off, he let the full weight of his bitterness show in the roughness of his voice. “How can you say that? When you take children away from their own father? Of course people got hurt. And not just me, but my twins.”

  At his words, she bowed her head, her shoulders hunched. When she looked up again, tears streamed a silver path down her creamy cheeks.

  “You’re right and I’m so sorry,” she told him, her voice breaking. “Though I wasn’t directly involved, when you first told me about them being taken, I found nothing wrong with the idea. That was just the way things were. Tearlachs raised Tearlachs. That’s how it’s always been and I never questioned that. I honestly believed that children should be raised around their own kind.”

  “Children should be raised by someone who loves them,”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “And that’s where Uncle Danny and my father were wrong.”

  Swallowing hard, staring blankly, her gaze appeared to turn inward. “When I was sixteen and forced to live with complete strangers, I would have given anything for my mother and sister. Instead, I had to learn to deal with my grief alone. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening right now with your kids.”

  “Does that mean you know where they are?” he asked.

  “Yes. And no.”

  Almost afraid to breathe, he held himself absolutely still, alternating between watching the road and her face. “What do you mean?” he asked, his voice deceptively casual.

  Lost in her own memories, she didn’t even notice. “They’re doing to your children what they did to me. It’s a horrible, rootless sort of existence. While I don’t know their exact location, I can tell you that they’re being shunted around in a sort of Tearlach-only foster-family system. They won’t be allowed to live too long in any one place, so it’ll be hard to form friendships or ties. Just when they start to feel comfortable, they’ll be moved.”

  She sounded so desolate, he used the overwhelming rush of sympathy he felt for her to push back the instinctive rage at the thought that they dared do this to his boy and his girl. His children. His babies. The only beings he loved in the entire world.

  “Why?” he managed, aware his attempt to come off as unaffected failed. “That’s no kind of life for anyone, especially toddlers. They lost their mother and then got yanked away from their daddy. Most of all, they need security, a feeling of permanence. Instead, they’re being shuttled around like unwanted pets. What’s the logic in that?”

  She grimaced, reminding him that he’d just described her exact situation twelve years earlier.

  “Doing that makes it a lot more difficult to find them. That’s the intention. And I guess it works, because no one ever found me as a child.” Her voice was so full of loss and regret it made his chest ache.

  “Where do you think the kids are being kept, then, if all the Tearlachs in the world are here?” Holding his breath, he waited for her response.

  When she raised her head, the hope shining in her eyes took his breath away. “You’re right,” she whispered. “For a meeting of this size and scope, they must have all the children in one location.”

  “With non-Tearlachs guarding them, since they wanted all Tearlachs at the meeting.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Then all we need to do is figure out where they’re keeping them.” Almost afraid to hope, he kept his voice steady.

  She covered his hand with hers. “We’ll find them. Somehow.”

  Exiting the freeway, he took a side road.

  At the first red light they came to, the second the car had come to a complete stop, he leaned over and kissed her. Hard, lingering and hopefully full of promise.

  When they broke apart again, she was breathless. “What’d you do that for?”

  Wondering about that himself, he focused again on driving. The light had changed to green. As they pulled forward, he told her the truth. “I don’t know. I’ve been wanting to do that ever since we escaped the convention center.”

  With a half smile, she dipped her head, clearly pleased. “We’ll get your children back.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt about that. And when we do, Danny—or whoever is responsible—will pay,” he vowed.

  She nodded. “I’m feeling kind of bloodthirsty myself.”

  On the outskirts of Fort Worth, on I-35W, they found a motel in a place called Burleson.

  “Kelly Clarkson’s from here,” she said.

  At his quizzical look, she elaborated, “You know, the first American Idol?”

  He didn’t know, nor did he care. “Let’s check in to that motel and use this as our home base. We’ve got to figure out some kind of plan that doesn’t involve us turning you over to them. First, we need to find out where they’re keeping your sister.”

  “The only way to do that is to spy on them,” she mused.

  “Exactly.”

  As he was about to elaborate, her cell phone rang.

  Glancing at the caller ID, she nearly dropped the phone. “It’s Ian,” she said, sounding horrified.

  “Perfect timing. Answer it and see what he wants.”

  Swallowing hard, she opened the phone, pushing the button so the sound was on speaker. “Hello?”

  “Kelly, it’s Ian. Where are you?”

  “Not at your meeting,” she replied.

  “That’s obvious. We kept everyone here until we could screen them, one by one. When we finished—no you.” He sounded peeved.

  “Sorry.” She couldn’t resist taunting him.

  “Our security cameras showed how you got away,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “By the way, we have reported the black BMW stolen, so the police are on the lookout, as well. Sooner or later, we’re going to find you,” he said.

  “Maybe not.”

  “Oh, we will,” he said. “Because if you don’t turn yourself in, your mother and sister will die.”

  And he hung up with a sharp click.

  Kelly sat frozen, staring at her phone. Finally, she closed it and looked at Mac. He could see the sheer terror in her expression, along with a hopelessness that broke his heart.

  “Deep breaths,” he advised, keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel to
stop himself from touching her. “Keep taking nice deep breaths.”

  She nodded, doing as he asked. When she’d taken three or four, she lifted her head and looked at him. The haunted look in her eyes was enough to make him pull the BMW over to the shoulder of the road and take her in his arms.

  “What am I going to do?” she asked, face pressed up against his chest. “If he touches one hair on their heads, I’ll…”

  Smoothing her hair back from her face, he kissed the top of her head. “We’ll save them, somehow.”

  Lifting her head, she nodded. “We need to ditch this car.”

  Relieved that she hadn’t lost her focus, he kissed her cheek. “Agreed. But not here. Not yet. Someplace where we haven’t been, where we have no connection. Someplace where we can’t be traced.”

  Moving out of his arms, she pulled down the visor and busied herself fixing her mussed hair. “I’m okay,” she said. He wasn’t sure if that was for his benefit or hers.

  Again he ached to touch her, to offer comfort. Instead, he forced himself to sound upbeat and optimistic. “I know you are. We’ll be fine.”

  “But will they?” She turned a tortured gaze to him. “My mother, my sister, my cousin? Your children?”

  “He’s not going to kill anyone. I have to believe that and so do you.”

  Still, she looked unconvinced, so he pressed on. “Ian’s making empty threats. Remember, they want to keep the Tearlach race pure. Therefore, they need all the females they can get.”

  Expression finally relieved, she managed a slight smile. “You’re probably right. At least, I hope you are.”

  His stomach growled loudly, making her smile widen, for which he was grateful. “You know, I could eat. Maybe we should stop and get lunch or dinner or whatever. We’ve got to keep up our strength.”

  “Okay.” She glanced around them at the plethora of fast-food places and casual restaurants. “I feel sick to my stomach. Maybe food will help.” She sighed. “What are you in the mood for?”

  Unbidden, he almost said the first thing he thought of, which was you. I’m in the mood for you. But, since he wasn’t in the habit of making corny remarks that sounded like a bad pickup line, he forced himself to focus on their choices. “Let’s just grab something at the first fast-food place we pass.”