by Cara Adams
He knew roughly where the young man had been headed—straight down the middle of the road back toward town—so he started running in that direction.
There’d been so much light by the gate his night vision was totally gone, but gradually the farther away he got the more it came back to him. Jayden guessed he’d run maybe half a mile when he slowed down. Tegan was crouched in the middle of the road, clearly having stalked the young man. He feinted to the left. Tegan turned her head and watched him. He ran to the right. Tegan pounced in front of him. Then there was a standoff again.
Jayden grinned and stayed back. He was almost certain that while Tegan would know he was there, the punk likely didn’t. It was a shame he hadn’t brought one of Quinn’s pairs of handcuffs with him, but the kid was quite slender. He could frog-march him back to the gate when the time came.
Then he heard the sound of distant sirens. Well, fuck. On the one hand, it was about time they arrived. On the other, now the kid could run among the bushes and hide. Tegan couldn’t come out and catch him without giving away her shape-shifter status, and he’d never find the kid in the bushes in the dark. He was human without even her enhanced sense of smell to help him.
Well, there was only one solution. He had to catch the kid now, before he could run away again. Jayden moved as silently as possible, closer and closer to the young man. He looked just like all the others George had used. A gang wannabe, likely with a record for minor and petty crime, but not smart enough to be included in a real gang.
Jayden stood behind and to the right of the punk. He was certain Tegan smiled, then she pounced. She jumped quite high in the air and landed on the youth. He screamed hysterically as Jayden grabbed him by the arm, hauled him to his feet, and twisted his arm up his back.
Tegan licked her lips then loped away, back toward the clinic.
He wondered if she knew about the trouble by the lake, but couldn’t remember if they’d heard about it before or after she’d transformed.
Oh well, hopefully someone else was sorting that problem out. He turned the boy back toward the clinic, keeping his arm twisted high. “Let’s go, punk,” he said.
* * * *
Defeating the kid had been almost too easy. He was young, inexperienced, and frightened of dogs. She was sure he’d have wet his pants at the very least if he’d even guessed she was a wolf. He probably thought she was a trained guard dog or something. But what really worried her was what she’d heard just as she’d walked through the gate. Wynter had said there was trouble by the lake. The fact that it was Wynter calling meant that Ambrielle hadn’t taken a man with her. She’d taken Wynter. Wynter was a shape-shifter, but she’d be unable to help Ambrielle unless someone fell in the lake. She was a great white shark. If they jumped in the lake, she would be able to scare them onto dry land, but that meant two untrained women were alone with who knew how many bad guys down by the lake.
Tegan ran back to the gate as fast as she could, not even taking a moment to enjoy being in her shifted form and free to run. Usually she’d take the time to play a little bit when she was outside, as she didn’t get to run free out of doors all that much. But all she could think of right now was getting down to the lake in case she was needed there to help. Ambrielle was smart and tough but only human, and Wynter was scarcely recovered from major knee surgery.
I hope to God someone else has arrived to support them!
Tegan didn’t stop to think. She leaped onto the rear of the dump truck, pushing against the gate, then onto its roof. Another bound took her flying over the gate itself, and then she was running up the driveway at her fastest speed, stretching her body and legs right to their fullest extent, using every muscle she had to reach the women as soon as possible.
She had a fleeting impression of a scene of total chaos at the gate, but there were enough people there to deal with it, and besides, the sirens were getting louder, so the police would be there soon. The lake was a totally different situation. It was three-quarters of a mile from the gate, and by the time the police had sorted out the situation there, anything could have happened to Ambrielle and Wynter.
She raced past the clinic and across the grass heading for the lake. She couldn’t hear any noises from the lake, but there was a lot of noise from the gate behind her, so perhaps that was covering up other sounds. Once the lake came into her view, she ran a little farther right so she’d be hidden by the trees. She wanted to keep her arrival a surprise if she could.
Tegan slowed to a walk then stopped at the edge of the bushes, poking her head out just far enough for her to see what was happening. She was panting from the run, but still full of energy and adrenaline. But first, she needed to know what was happening so she could make her entry onto the scene as effective as possible. Standing around like a cute pet puppy dog wouldn’t help anyone at all.
Four young men had apparently been trying to escape back over the wall. Oscar had hold of a rope ladder and was using it to tie up one of them. Ambrielle and Wynter were on the motorcycle, and Ambrielle was trying to herd the other three men back toward the wall and Oscar, but they’d had the sense to split up and were getting away from her. Wynter had a tree branch in her hand, which she was trying to use to trip up one of the men, but they were proving hard to catch.
Okay, that was the best use of her time then, helping herd the escaping punks.
Tegan moved a couple hundred feet to the left, then launched herself out of the bushes with a loud yowl. One of the punks skidded to a stop to stare at her. Ambrielle raced up, and Wynter whacked him over the head and shoulders with the branch. Either she wasn’t strong enough or the punk was tougher than he looked, because it didn’t drop him. Ambrielle circled around so Wynter could have another attempt at the young man, and Tegan ran after the other two who were escaping.
She put on her most ferocious face and snarled at them, making them run faster toward Oscar. Tegan leaped at the one closest to her, knocking him to the ground. Then she stood on his chest and snarled right into his face. The kid, who looked to be still a teenager, laid flat on the ground trying to get away from her. The acrid scent of urine filled the air, and Tegan knew he’d be no more trouble.
“I’ll tie him up if you go get the other one,” said Oscar.
Tegan hadn’t even realized he’d joined her, but she jumped off the kid and yipped, then looked around. Ambrielle was stripping the punk Wynter had hit and was using his clothing to tie him up. The final punk was escaping. With a loud snarl, Tegan sprang after him, barking at him as she ran. The kid looked back over his shoulders and tried to move even faster, but Tegan could tell he was tiring. She accelerated her pace, approaching in a curve to reach him from the side. As she’d anticipated, he kept turning his head to watch her and began curving himself, heading toward the lake. Tegan ran as fast as she could but he had too much of a lead and dived into the water, swimming fast for the far side.
The end of the rope ladder had been used to bind one of the young men, but Tegan guessed if this punk was desperate enough, likely he’d climb over his friend and escape. She stretched her limbs once again and turned to follow the edge of the lake, but she wasn’t confident of being able to run all the way around the lake to reach the other side before the young man swam across.
Out of nowhere a huge bird of prey dived down, skimming over the water and flapping almost in the young man’s face.
He sank to the bottom of the lake, giving Tegan valuable time to keep chasing around the edge, hoping to reach the far side before him.
Then the bird squawked and lifted up high into the sky, only to dive again before disappearing.
Tegan was now ahead of the swimmer, so she couldn’t see what was happening as she reached the far side of the property.
She stopped, panting, her lungs heaving as she watched the surface of the water to see where the young man would come ashore.
There was a pile of fabric on the edge of the lake and a large sleek form underwater. Tegan blinked. What? Had
Wynter jumped into the lake and transformed? She looked all over the area. Ambrielle had one young man slung headfirst over her motorcycle and was bringing him around the lake. A second one had been tied up by Oscar and was lying at the foot of the wall by the third one, who he’d tied up with the rope.
So there was only the fourth one left. The one in the water.
As Tegan watched, there was a flurry of splashing and screaming. The final punk swam with the speed of an Olympic gold medalist across the lake and scrambled up onto the shore, huddled on the ground, and sobbed with fear.
On the other side of the lake, a human arm reached out and grabbed a sweater, which it pulled on. The rest of Wynter appeared out of the water, and she stepped into her jeans, tugging them up over her legs. She dried her feet on her socks and put her shoes on, tucking her wet socks into the pockets of her jeans.
Tegan walked toward Oscar, about to indicate to him she needed to go back to the gatehouse and get dressed again, when the huge bird, a hawk she thought, flew back over the wall. A minute or two later a naked man ran across to Oscar, said something, then ran back into the bushes. Tegan just stared. Was that man a hawk? Surely not. It had to be a coincidence. He must be one of the wolves just reporting back to Oscar. She padded across to Oscar and he smiled at her. “Thanks for your help, Tegan. You came just at the right time. Don’t go back to the gate. The police are everywhere there. Get changed in the clinic then go back to the gate. Also, make sure someone has told the police about the yellow SUV which was used as a getaway vehicle. It was heading back to town, traveling very fast. Likely it’s stolen, but there was at least one more of them who got away.
Tegan yipped at him and loped back to the clinic. It was damn annoying that one of them had gotten away. Hopefully one of the punks they’d caught would talk to the police and tell on him though.
Tegan walked fast back to the clinic. She’d need to transform back to a human to punch her code in the staff door to get inside. I hope like hell I don’t meet a patient while I’m walking up the stairs naked! I wonder if George was driving the yellow SUV? Dammit, have we missed our opportunity to catch him in the act of attacking us? And what am I supposed to say about where I’ve been? Out by the lake all the time or what?
* * * *
Harry hated having to boost Jayden over the gate to catch the escaping bad guys instead of going after them himself. Fuck it. I’m the team leader. I should be the one tackling the dangerous tasks!
But the facts were that he was too heavy for Jayden to lift. Likely Jayden would manage it, but there was some stupid rule about only carrying one-third of your own body weight, and he was likely one-third more than Jayden’s entire body weight. So the job was Jayden’s.
Then to top that off, he had to let Tegan go out there as well. Tegan! A fucking female!
It was all he could do to concentrate on watching everyone and everything, making sure no one else ran off and no one attacked them from farther along the wall while all the drama was going on with the dump truck.
His excellent shape-shifter hearing had only just picked up the sound of distant police sirens over the grinding of the gate and the roaring of the construction vehicle’s engine, when out of nowhere Tegan came flying over the dump truck’s roof, clearing the top of the heavy iron fence by several inches, and racing up the driveway.
Well! It was good to know she was all right, and because she was here that implied Jayden was fine, too, but he would have liked to know what was going on. Harry was tempted to go climb the lookout tree again, but he dared not leave his post at the gate. With Oscar gone up to the lake, he was in charge here, and he needed to stay alert.
The punks in the stolen vehicle seemed to have spent most of the past five minutes fighting among themselves. Two of them had constantly tried to pull the steering wheel out of each other’s hands, and the third one had grabbed the door handle several times and been dragged back by one of the others. Shit for brains! None of them with the sense of a flea. If they had any sense at all they’d run a mile like their friend.
Quinn had moved Danny’s truck so it completely blocked the driveway. If the construction vehicle did smash the gate down, it would then have to push the truck out of its way before the punks could exit the cab. Although God only knew what their plans had been. If they even had plans. If the attack had been intended as a surprise, that idea was dead and gone long since. If it was meant as a diversion for what was going to happen at the lake, the clinic might still have a problem. Although the police were very close now.
And where was Danny? He’d arrived with Oscar and had not gone up to the lake, but Harry hadn’t seen him pretty much since they’d arrived. Harry turned and squinted into the bushes. His night vision was long gone thanks to the headlamps on the construction vehicle and on Oscar’s truck.
He turned and cast a professional glance over the scene at the gate. It was a total fuck-up, but the bad guys were still on the outside and the good guys on the inside. Quinn was ready to act if there was any trouble, so Harry decided he could safely look for Danny. It’d be a nightmare if he’d been taken down by another bad guy or something.
The thought of another punk running loose on the property had Harry moving swiftly and silently into the trees where he’d last seen Danny.
Just a little way into the shrubs was a neat pile of clothes left at the base of a tree. But they didn’t look like what Danny had been wearing to him. Danny’d had a light-colored top on and this was a dark red long-sleeved shirt. And Oscar’d been wearing a T-shirt. Ah, this’d be from Quinn’s wolf friend. He’d have run off to help at the lake with Oscar. Harry stood still and looked all around. The best hiding place is always “up” because people never look up, he reminded himself, tilting his head back and checking the trees around him. He walked a little way forward and looked some more, both on the ground and up in the trees. And there they were. One hastily dropped puddle of clothing under a bush, and one very neat pile of clothing hard against the trunk of a tree, but half-hidden by a branch and leaves.
So that was the three wolves shifted and about their business. But where was Danny?
Harry walked toward the wall. He was maybe thirty feet from the gate now, and the police sirens were very loud, possibly even passing the wall right by him. But there was no sign of Danny. He glanced along the wall each way, but there was no hint anyone had tried to breach it.
Harry sensed someone behind him and whirled around, his hands up ready to attack.
But it was only Danny. “I was wondering where you’d gotten to,” he said.
“Oscar wanted me to guard the wall along here in case they were trying to come over, while everyone’s attention was at the gate. Looks like I missed all the fun though. Oscar’s sorted out the people by the lake, and you’ve dealt with the ones at the gate.”
“Have you spoken to Oscar then? Everything’s okay out back?”
Danny’s lips twitched. “I’ve had a message from him. They caught the four people trying to break in, but the person driving the getaway truck got away. We need to tell the police about that. Likely it was stolen, but perhaps they were stupid enough to use a vehicle the police can trace.”
The noise from the gate suddenly became much louder. Harry turned and raced for the gate. Danny disappeared among the shrubs, likely to get dressed.
Four police cars had blocked the road. Officers were all over the construction vehicle hauling the three young men out and handcuffing them, then pushing them into the back of the police van. Quinn moved Oscar’s truck and opened one of the gates for the police to walk through.
Harry arrived just as an officer said, “Who’s in charge here?”
“I am, and there’s more attackers out back by the lake and someone in a car getting away.”
“Give the details of the getaway vehicle to the dispatcher.” The officer waved to one of the police cars and Harry looked around for Danny, but it was Quinn’s friend who came forward and said, “It’s a yellow SU
V.” He rattled off the license plate and the direction of travel.
“How do you know?” asked the officer suspiciously.
“I was up a tree and saw the car but couldn’t do anything about it.”
The officer-in-charge nodded and turned back to his staff. “You three go out back and tell me what’s going on. Bring everyone back here.”
“I’ll take them,” said Quinn’s friend, and they all started up the driveway at a run.
“What’s his name?” asked Harry to Danny, who’d silently appeared at his side.
“Toby.”
“Seems a good man. We must get to know him better.”
“He’s quite shy,” warned Danny.
Harry just stared at him. He hadn’t seemed shy tonight. In fact, he’d been very helpful. Well, he didn’t have time to waste thinking about Toby. He needed to get this mess under control. Harry was pleased to see Quinn standing in the gap where the gate was open so no one could come in or out without him knowing. That was very helpful. As he looked out toward the road he saw Jayden approaching, pushing a kid ahead of him. “Oh yes, the runaway.”
A policeman directed Jayden to put the punk in the van with the other kids then started interviewing Jayden. Harry sighed. Oh yes, the interviews. Likely that would take until dawn. Now all he needed was to know Tegan was safe and that everything at the lake was under control. At least Oscar was there, so hopefully things would be good. Although the getaway vehicle was interesting. Who’d run out on them and left them to their fate? Not Adam Roth this time. Harry knew he was safely locked up in jail. Could it have been George Thorne himself? Or did he have an endless supply of idiot punks willing to do whatever he asked them to do? And who would use a yellow SUV as a getaway vehicle. Yellow was not exactly an inconspicuous color. Which made him think it was stolen. But why hadn’t they stolen something a little less likely to be noticed? Because they were stupid? Or inept? Or just plain useless?