by Tim Myers
“Where’s Bowen?” I asked Jasmine as I hurried into the diner. “I need to see him.”
“He’s not here,” she said as she slid a plate of food in front of a customer. “Give me a second and we can talk.”
“I don’t have a second,” I said, “I need him now.”
She pulled me into the kitchen. “He doesn’t want to talk to you. He’s furious with both of us.”
“This isn’t about you and me. It’s about your brother and me.”
Jasmine wiped her hands on her apron. “Would you stop a second and listen to me? You need to hear this.”
I paused and really looked at her. She was crying.
“What is it?”
“I can’t see you anymore.”
“Jasmine, I can’t talk about this right now. If Bowen thinks he can stop us from being together, he’s wrong. You’re a grown woman. You can make your own decisions.”
Her next words were like a slap to the face. “I did. This isn’t coming from Bowen, it’s from me. We’re not right for each other, I know it in my heart. I’ll be your friend, but I’m not going to be your lover, never again.”
I shook my head. “Lady, you have a rotten sense of timing. I’m trying to keep myself alive, and you’re dropping this on me.”
“I can’t help it. You had to know. It’s how I feel.”
I shook my head. “I think it’s a mistake, but I’ll respect your wishes.”
“That’s it? You’re just giving up?” Her tears were gone now, and anger had taken their place.
Keeping my voice low, I said, “We had one night together, it’s not like we were together for years. You changed your mind. I get it.”
“Bowen was right. You are a cold hearted bastard.”
I shrugged. “I’ve been called worse. Now, are you going to tell me where your brother is?”
“I’m right here,” he said as he stepped into the kitchen behind us.
Jasmine turned to him. “You were right. He doesn’t even care that I just dumped him.”
I said, “Hang on a second. That’s not fair, and you know it. I’m respecting your wishes, and you’re upset with me because of it. Jasmine, I never wanted to hurt you, but I’m not sure I can say the same thing about you.”
Jasmine looked at her brother. “Are you going to let him get away with that?”
“I haven’t heard anything he’s said that isn’t true,” Bowen said softly.
“You’re a perfect pair of assholes,” she said as she stormed out.
I looked at Bowen. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough.” He struck out his hand. “I’m sorry. I let you down. How can I make it up to you?”
I took his hand and shook it. “Don’t worry about it. We’re good. How would you like to join an army I’m putting together? I’m going after Harkins and the girl. She’s one of us too, a sport that somebody missed.”
Bowen didn’t look surprised; he only nodded at the new information. “I’m ready.”
“Good,” I said. “I can pay you now, the mother’s financing it.”
“Keep your money,” Bowen said. “This one I owe you.”
“We’ll talk about that later. Right now, we have to get everybody else together.”
“Who else do you want?”
I ticked them off on my fingers. “Let’s keep this in our circle. Belle’s chomping at the bit to do something with me, and I want to use Jim, too.”
“Are you sure about that?” Bowen asked carefully.
It was my turn to look hard at him. “Do you think he’s weak because of what happened in that abandoned house?”
“I think his body’s fine, but I’m not so sure about his heart.”
“More reason than any to include him,” I said. “I took that part of his spirit from him, and I’m going to do my best to get it back for him.”
Bowen nodded. “It’s your call. Who else?”
“I need Bailey, too.”
“I’m drawing the line there. He’ll get killed if we take him into this fight with us.”
I shook my head as I started for the back door of the diner. “He’s not going, but I need him to make up some kind of super tranquilizer so we can capture Jennifer Granger alive.”
“That’s going to make it tough, not killing her outright. How about Harkins? Are the gloves off with him, too?”
“We can handle him however we want to,” I said with a smile.
“That’s more my style,” Bowen said.
“I thought it might be.”
Bailey said, “I still don’t see why you are insistent on including me. I’m not going to go on your wolf hunt, so there’s no reason to ask.”
It had taken less than fifteen minutes for me to get my team together at Bailey’s lab. That was what I loved about my friends. They would have been there whether I was paying them or not to work under such a heavy cloud of danger.
“Would you shut up for a second and listen to me? You don’t have to come with us,” I said. “But we need some kind of tranquilizer if we’re going to get Jennifer Granger back to her mother. You can give us more for Harkins too, but I’m not sure we’ll use it on him. I’m kind of partial to a silver solution to that problem.”
Bailey asked, “What is this woman planning to do with the girl once we deliver her? She can’t keep her daughter chained up in the basement.”
Bowen asked, “Is that really our problem, Bailey? We deliver the girl, and it’s over for us. Can you make the tranquilizer or not?”
“Of course, I’ve got something you can use. I just want to be sure it’s the right thing to do.”
“Come on,” Belle snapped. “We’re wasting time.”
Jim was remarkably silent, just checking his gun again and again as the rest of us talked. I worried that maybe Bowen had been right to question how fit Jim was to go with us, but I stood by my decision. There was no way I could tell him he couldn’t go now. I’d have to keep an eye on him, though, one more worry that I didn’t need.
I said, “Bailey, it’s the best we can do. We need to stop Harkins before he kills again. If we can get the girl away from him, we will, but our first priority is stopping him.”
“Did you tell the girl’s mother that?”
I snapped, “This goes beyond my job. I’m worried about the safety of Dogtown. The cops can’t deal with it, so we’re going to, with or without your help. If you have reservations, fine, nobody here’s going to hold it against you. I just thought it might be neater with your help.” I turned to everyone else. “Let’s roll.”
“It’s about time,” Belle said.
“Wait a second,” Bailey snapped. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you.” He shoved a small cluster of darts in my hand. They were taped so that all the points were in the same direction, and they became one massive dose. “It’s not the most elegant delivery system I’ve ever worked out. Sorry, but it was all I could come up with on such short notice. Just jab it into her hide, and it will bring her down.”
“This should be fine,” I said, not really knowing if it would be enough or not. If Harkins had dosed Jennifer with the same go juice he’d taken, it might take a great deal more than that to knock her out, but I owed it to her mother to try, though putting another rogue wolf down might be the best solution for everyone involved. There was no doubt in my mind now that the Stockholm syndrome wasn’t at work here. Jennifer Granger-no matter what her mother might think-was as guilty as Harkins in the slaughter that had cut through our community.
Rain was falling as we went outside. It had taken less than an hour to gather the team, but a lot could have happened since I was jumped in the basement.
Belle asked, “Do you think there’s any chance they’ll still be there?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But we should be able to pick up their trail if they’re not. They haven’t been gone that long.”
Bowen said, “It’s time we finish this. I don’t like looking over my should
er all the time waiting for Harkins to make a try for me.”
I looked over at Jim, who was strangely quiet. After I moved closer, I asked softly, “It’s not too late to go back to Bailey’s and wait for us.”
He shook his head. “I’m seeing this through.”
“The three of us can handle it,” I said.
“If I’m not there with you, I won’t ever be the same,” he snapped, and I didn’t say anything else.
There was no need for stealth as we walked into the hotel and down the basement stairs. Harkins either knew we were coming for him and he’d laid a trap, or they’d be long gone. I still felt better having my friends with me as we revisited the scene of my recent route. I could have stayed and fought-and maybe I should have-but the chances were good I would have died then and there, and I wasn’t ready to check out just yet.
I led the way, turning lights on as we went. As I suspected, the place was empty, and the pallet of clothes were gone. They’d had time to pack up and go, but where?
Belle said, “Okay, this is a dead end. What now? Do we go out into Dogtown looking for them until we find them, or do we wait for their next move?”
“There’s nothing here,” Bowen said. “I say we go to the top of the building and work our way down.”
Jim asked, “Do you think they could still be in the building?”
Bowen shrugged. “Where else is Harkins going to go? With the killing spree he’s been on lately, I doubt there’s going to be too many folks willing to put him up.”
I was about to agree with Bowen when my phone rang. It was Bailey.
“Hey, I can’t really talk right now,” I said.
“You don’t have to. Just listen. Harkins is here in my lab, and he’s got Jennifer Granger with him. He says if you don’t come here right now, and alone, they’re going to kill me.”
I felt my heart nearly stop. While I’d been mounting a direct attack, Harkins had outflanked me. “Hang tight. I’ll be right there.”
“You are supposed to come in phase. He doesn’t want to see a gun, or I die.”
“Is that it?”
“No, I need to talk to Bowen, too.”
I didn’t understand that. “Why? What’s he got to do with this?”
“Jasmine’s here.”
I handed Bowen the phone, wondering what miserable alignment of the stars had put his sister at risk tonight. She’d dumped me just an hour earlier, but that didn’t mean I didn’t care about what happened to her. Last night’s memories were too fresh in my mind.
Bowen grunted a few words into the telephone, then handed it back to me. As he started for the door, I put a hand on his chest.
I asked, “What did he say?”
“They’re going to kill her, too if we try anything tricky.”
“So, what should we do?”
He faced me, anger streaming from his glare. “We try something tricky. Chances are they’re both already dead, since they’ve served their purpose, but if Jasmine’s still alive, I’m going to get her out of there.”
“Do we have a plan?” I asked softly.
“No, I’m counting on you to come up with something.”
I thought about it, weighing a dozen possibilities in less time than imaginable, then said, “I have one, but it’s going to have to work perfectly, or most of us are going to die tonight.”
Bowen nodded. “A chance is all I need.”
I turned to Belle. “How about you? There’s no shame in dropping out now. The deal has all changed.”
She laughed at me. “Have you ever known me to back down from a fight? I just hope there’s enough left of him for me after you two are finished with him.”
I looked at Jim. “Do I even need to ask?”
He looked sick, but he said in a strong voice, “I’m in.”
“Good. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Ten minutes later, I stood in front of Bailey’s lab. It was time to let the Beast out, as much as I dared, anyway. I had two jobs to do, and I had to focus on them with all my might if we had the slightest chance of living through this. There’s an otherworldly shift that takes place when I become a werewolf, and my cognizant and reasonable self is buried under a yearning for blood and an instinct for killing. Most werewolves fight these primal urges, but it appeared that Harkins had given into them, body and soul. But what about Jennifer? Was there enough humanity left in her to hold back the beast within, or had Harkins taught her to disregard it? We’d find out soon enough.
Jim was behind me, just out of sight. The others were deployed elsewhere, but I was glad my friend literally had my back.
“I’m going in,” I said.
“I’ll be here,” he replied.
I dove inside my soul, found the place where the beast was chained, then started throwing aside the restraints. He was hungry to be free, but I kept a few chains in place, enough to give me at least some control over my own actions.
The door was standing open, and I shoved it aside, waiting for a trap.
Harkins was there, already phased into wolf form.
“Where are they?” I asked. The words hurt my mouth in its muzzle form, and I doubted a norm would have understood them.
Harkins didn’t have any trouble.
“She’s got them.”
That explained her absence, something I’d been concerned about from the second I slipped through the doorway.
“Why me? Why are you doing this?”
“You ruined our plan,” Harkins said. “You die for that.”
Without another word, he leapt for my throat.
I was ready for him. I held the cluster of darts meant for Jennifer and waited for him to get close enough to strike. Everything depended on my ability to hit Harkins before he realized what I was doing. No ordinary werewolf could have done it, but I’d managed to keep one hand as my own, and a part of my mind clearly focused on the attack.
At the last second, I lifted my hand toward him, ready to plunge the darts into his heart. I wasn’t sure if it would knock him out, but it was all I had.
It would have worked, I know that in my heart, on an ordinary werewolf, but I hadn’t fully realized just how fast Harkins’ reactions had become under Bailey’s serum.
Turning in midair, he shifted position somehow and drove a back leg into my arm, causing the dart cluster to fall harmlessly to the floor.
So much for plan A.
I quickly shifted my hand to wolf form, and took a swipe at him as he passed by.
For once, I got lucky and caught him above the right eye, or in it, I couldn’t tell which. It was bleeding profusely in seconds, and I had high hopes I’d blinded him, at least partially.
It didn’t matter.
He was on me in seconds, and I felt his bared teeth come closer and closer to my throat, despite my best efforts to stop him. His strength was incredible.
I might die, but I wasn’t going to give up. I gave a final lunge and managed to dislodge him, but he was back on me in seconds. I felt his teeth grab hold of my throat, but I managed to pull back enough so he only got the top layer of skin. Pain shot through me as he ripped out a patch of fur and skin as big as a dollar bill. I managed to take a shot at his one good eye, but I didn’t do much damage.
I was losing blood from the wound and weakening. I’d told Bowen of a way to get through the back door, and I kept waiting for him and Belle to help, but so far, I was all alone.
It was going to be a bad way to die.
Harkins moved in for the kill, and then I felt his weight come off me in an instant.
Someone else was getting into the fight, and it wasn’t a second too soon.
I expected to see Belle or Bowen, but instead, it appeared that Jim had left his post and had come to my aid. He wasn’t backing down either, and Harkins swatted at him with an errant paw, sending Jim into a heap against one wall.
It wasn’t much of a distraction, but it was all I needed. Before Harkins could turn back to me, I g
rabbed the dart cluster with my newly shifted human hand and drove the tranquilizers into his shoulder.
At first, I didn’t think it worked. Harkins turned to me, roaring with anger as he fought to dig the dart cluster out of his shoulder. He was still fumbling with the darts when he finally collapsed.
As Harkins shifted back into his human form, the cluster fell harmlessly to the floor, its purpose served and its package spent.
“Is he dead?” Jim asked. The impact of Harkins’ blow had shifted him back to human form, but I was still in full wolf phase.
“Don’t care. Watch him. You okay?”
Jim nodded, and I went in search of Jennifer and my hostages. What had happened to them? Were my friends all dead? If not, what was keeping them? Without Jim, I wouldn’t have made it, and I was very glad he’d insisted on coming with us.
When I finally found her, Jennifer was in human form, a gun in each hand. She turned them on me, and I ducked back as bullets ripped into the doorframe.
It was time to shift back. I caged the beast, forced it back into its chains, then called out, “He’s finished, Jennifer. It’s time to go home.”
“I am home,” she said. “You didn’t kill him. You couldn’t have.”
“He’s not dead. I knocked him out with a tranquilizer.”
I heard something behind me, a noise away from Jennifer. Had Harkins managed to drag himself out of the fog of the heavy dose I’d given him? I turned back and saw Bowen round the corner. He was in human phase, and he didn’t look happy.
“Where’s Belle?” I asked softly.
“She’s getting ready to create a diversion. That bitch pinned us in back there. She was waiting for us.”
“What’s the diversion?”
When the last syllable left my mouth, I felt the building shudder. I ducked my head through the doorway and saw my car was now sitting inside Bailey’s apartment where Jennifer was entrenched.
Without thinking, I shifted into wolf form and leapt for her while her back was turned.