Demon Accords 10: Rogues

by John Conroe

  “My aunt works for the hospital administrator. Maybe she can help. You aren’t telling your friend about our case, are you?” Hampton asked.

  “No, but he already figured out why I’m here,” she said. “He’s gifted with computers. Actually, he could probably find out the answer to our question for us… if he hasn’t already,” she said wryly.

  “That’s why he prompted you? He, what, hacked the hospital already? That’s criminal,” Buck said.

  She gave him a level look that he returned. Seeing that he was maintaining the straight and narrow, she shrugged. “Don’t know that he did anything. It’s just an idea he suggested.”

  “If I find out he’s been illegally hacking private medical information…” Buck said, leaving the threat open-ended.

  “One, you’d never find a trace of evidence. Two, he’s several states away. Three, you’ve got enough on your plate with a potential pack of rogue werewolves,” she said, meeting his stare.

  “Let’s approach your aunt or whoever. Let them know why we’re looking for what we’re looking for. Story’s already broken. Scared people might cooperate?” Devany suggested, trying to break the stare down that was suddenly occurring.

  “No. I’ll contact the hospital administrator directly. Scared people on a witch hunt is exactly what we don’t need,” Thompson said. “And if he breaks the law here, however remotely, I’ll see him in jail.”

  Her phone buzzed again in her hand. Gotta run. I’ll check in later. I wonder if hospitals and doctors are part of the pattern DOAA looks for?

  She was a little disappointed that he had to go so fast. Thanks for the idea. We’ll chat later.

  “He had to run. Never mentioned hacking anything. He did wonder if the feds look through local medical records for just this kind of thing,” she said.

  Before anyone could comment, her phone buzzed again, this time with a call.

  She read the name on the screen, then hurriedly accepted the call. “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey yourself. Got your text. Loki’s Spawn? Seriously? I thought I was done with those guys,” Chris Gordon said.

  “Well, the one werewolf we grabbed admitted to a pack alpha who insisted he be called Loki’s First,” she said.

  “Egomaniac much? Listen, it’s easily possible that a few slipped away from us, especially at the end in Mexico,” he said.

  “What were they doing down there?” she asked.

  “Some weird kind of breeding program. Trying to mix were and witch genetics. Build a super army, you know, standard evil villain take-over-the-world stuff,” he said.

  “Can that happen? Weres and witches interbreeding?” she asked, suddenly intensely interested.

  “Doc Singh says yes, but it’s iffy. An LV-infected man and a normal woman seem to have low odds of producing a were offspring. Most witches are women and most of the Lokis were male, so they were facing an uphill battle,” he said.

  “What about a female were and a male witch?” she asked, then suddenly realized what she had said, immediately glad he couldn’t see her face flush through the phone.

  “I don’t know. Female weres having kids with regular males tend to have a higher number of were kids. Not sure about the witch genetics, though. I’ll ask. Speaking of male witches, is yours up there yet?” he asked.

  “Mine? You mean ours? No, he’s not,” she said.

  “Hmmpf. Give him time. He won’t like DOAA being up there, eyeing you as a target. I know that I’m not crazy about it,” he said.

  “I just texted with him. He suggested looking at the medical community for any miracle cures,” she said.

  “That’s pretty slick. I could run it through Omega and see what it comes up with,” he suggested.

  “What would it do? Hack the records?” she asked, watching Buck’s attention perk up at the work hack.

  “I’m not sure hack is a word that applies to Omega. Near as we can tell, it just sorta owns any other computer it comes in contact with. I’m telling you, this thing is kinda spooky. Chet is, of course, in love with it, and Tanya thinks it’s awesome, but sometimes I feel like it has a mind of its own,” he said.

  “Really? Why?” she asked.

  “Nothing I can put a finger on. Just a lot of little observations that are kinda hard to put into words,” he said.

  “How much contact does Declan have with it?” she asked.

  “Declan? I don’t know if he has any with it,” he said, sounding puzzled.

  “Really? The kid is the whole reason it exists in the first place. He’s a comp sci student, and he got that whole freaky talks-to-computers thing,” she said, turning away from the others and lowering her voice at the end of her sentence.

  “Um, I hadn’t thought too much about it. I mean, he’s at school and it’s here, right?” Chris asked, not sounding very sure.

  “Wow, really? You think he needs a keypad and monitor to get in touch with the computer that owns other computers? You don’t think his cell phone is enough?”

  “Well, when you put it that way, then yes, I’m sure he can contact Omega. I could ask it.”

  “Yeah, well I wouldn’t hold my breath. He’s like the closest thing to its creator other than that creepy computer genius you had working there till he sold you out and ran off,” she said.

  “That guy’s not a problem anymore. But listen, speaking of Declan, he’s eventually going to show up. I’d bet a lot of money on it. So if I could give you a piece of advice, it would be to stay low key, especially around DOAA. If they got stupid, we would use every channel we have to get you safe. Declan… well, I think he’s a bit sensitive where you’re concerned and I think his response would be… rash,” Chris said, trying to sound diplomatic.

  She sighed. “Burn the town down rash? I know. I’m staying low key. But on a side note, the local sheriff and his people definitely have my back,” she said, meeting the deputies’ eyes as they heard her say it.

  “Damn right,” Devany said before flushing slightly and looking back down at his files.

  “Sounds like you have at least one admirer on staff,” Chris said, somehow expressing both amusement and concern in one sentence.

  “Relax, I can manage,” she said.

  “Yes, I know you’ve dealt with admirers before. Most of them can’t rearrange the local geography with a thought and a wave of the hand, though,” he said.

  “He’s very… controlled. I think that scary aunt of his drummed it into him,” she said.

  “So here’s another thing. When a wolf comes into the Pack’s territory, what happens?” he asked in a teaching voice.

  “Well, they have two days to present themselves to the Alpha to declare their intentions. Why?” she asked.

  “What do witches do?” he asked her back.

  “I don’t… oh. Oh, you think I should alert the local circle or practitioners if Declan shows up?” she asked.

  “Not sure. Just wondering. A local witch might also have an idea or two about your rogues as well. But think about the introduction part, especially if Declan shows up. If you’re sensitive to these things, that kid glows like a nuclear power plant,” he said.

  She laughed.

  “What?” he asked.

  “It’s nothing. He just said the same thing about you once. I’ll check into it. Listen, if you want to ask your Skynet about the medical thing, be my guest,” she said.

  “Okay, will do,” he said, sounding distracted. “Got to go. Tanya’s up. The babies move around inside a lot and make her really uncomfortable. Bye,” and he hung up.

  Babies? As in more than one?

  “That your brother?” Buck asked.

  “What? Brother? No, it was Chris,” she said, confused.

  “Chris Gordon?” Buck asked, eyes wide. “You sounded like my wife when she talks to her brother, but her brother isn’t the Hammer of God.”

  “You know I’m part of his team; you said you watched some of the Washington stuff,” she said, annoyed by the br
other comparison.

  “Yeah, but I guess I didn’t realize that he’d call to check up on you like, well…” he trailed off.

  “Like a brother,” Hampton said without looking up from the file he was reading.

  “So what did he say?” Devany asked.

  She realized that they couldn’t hear both sides of her conversation with Chris like most of her team and coworkers could have.

  “Well, it’s certainly possible a survivor of Loki’s Spawn got away and went into hiding way up here. He also wondered about checking with any local… well, witches,” she said.

  “Witches? You think we would know if there are witches around?” Devany laughed. Hampton looked surprised and Buck… Buck looked thoughtful.

  She raised one eyebrow and waited. After a few seconds of thought, he met her eyes and explained, “Know a guy. Lives up past Shorty’s place. In fact, Short is pretty friendly with him. He’s Abenaki, Penobscot descent, Shorty says. I think he’s an Elder.”

  “So he’s old? What of it?” Devany asked.

  “No, he’s an Elder of his people. Shorty swears he’s dialed into the land in ways that we could never match. Some kind of shaman or something,” Buck said.

  “Sounds promising. What’s his name?” Stacia asked.

  “Maurice Bowwan,” Buck said.

  “Sounds English, not Native American,” Hampton said.

  “Most of the local natives married into the white population when the government was majorly anti-Indian. They either moved north to Canada or disappeared into the local communities to avoid persecution,” Buck said. “Anyway, I’ll call Short and see if he can introduce us. I’m presuming that you want to be there as well?” he asked her.

  “Yes. If he is a Crafter, then I want to forewarn him if… when my friend shows up. Prevent misunderstandings,” she said.

  “Witch stuff is a big deal, then?” Hampton asked, genuinely curious.

  “Oh you have no idea,” she said, leaving it at that.

  Her phone chimed again, this time with a text from Chet Aikens, the Demidova computer expert.

  “Okay, the Demidova Corp is involved in some major medical research and their computer has access to all kinds of data. Chris had them run a search, and two names popped up of people who had recent miraculous remissions of cancer. Both have addresses up in Fetter,” she reported as she read the text. She wrote out the names on a pad of paper and shoved it over toward Buck. He looked the names over, then passed it on to Devany and Hampton.

  “Michael Tacchino,” Devany said with a grunt. “Great.”

  “Problem?” she asked.

  “He’s a vet. Fought in Iraq. I heard he was sick. Guy is tough. It was always a problem when he got drunk in the Bitter Bear and started fighting. Usually took both Buck and I to corral him. Frankly, when he got sick we had less trouble, as crappy as that is to say,” Devany said. “Definitely fits the disenchanted, angry model.”

  “Why? Why is he angry?” she asked.

  “Never was a happy sort, but came home from the war on a medical discharge. Caught something over there and never got over it. The VA ran him around, lost his files, sent him everywhere for tests. His disability checks got held up a number of times, too. The whole thing left him bitter. Has an explosive temper and knows how to fight,” Buck said.

  “Well according to this, the VA now indicates he’s been cured of whatever the hell kind of lung cancer they showed him having,” Stacia said.

  “What are the odds he was cured by the treatments?” Hampton asked.

  “According to the records that Chet attached, he wasn’t taking treatments. He refused them,” Stacia said.

  “Great, so now we got a tough bastard that wasn’t much fun to tangle with before he became a werewolf and he was trained by the military,” Devany said.

  “Who’s the other one? I don’t recognize the name,” Hampton said.

  “Karen Lyon. She graduated ahead of me, I think. Quiet girl, kinda mousey, if I remember correctly,” Devany said.

  “And now apparently free of leukemia,” Stacia said.

  “So we should see if we can find these two, right?” Devany asked.

  Buck looked at Stacia, then nodded. “Yup, let’s do it. But if we find Tacchino, we stay back, okay?” he asked, making a point of looking at Stacia when he said it.

  “Listen Buck, I know I don’t make much of impression as a fighter, but I train with people that scare Hell. In fact, I’ve been there. Don’t judge me by my appearance,” she said.

  Devany smirked. “Sorry, but it’s kinda hard to imagine you as a cage fighter,” he said, giving her an appraising leer.

  “And you don’t think I use that to advantage?” she said, leaning down to grasp the leg of his chair. She straightened up, shifting her weight to get under the mass as she lifted the chair and the shocked deputy with one hand. “I’m also stronger than other weres my size and I change forms faster than any Alpha I ever met. I’m not your average werewolf, Devany,” she said.

  “Okay, okay. Put me down. Shit!” he said, looking rattled.

  “Hey Devany, now you can truthfully say you got picked up by Stacia Reynolds,” Hampton joked.

  “If you three are done, we should go track down these two,” Buck said.

  “Let’s do it,” Stacia said, lowering the deputy most of the way and dropping him the last two inches.

  Chapter 13

  They headed up to Fetter, then split forces, with Hampton and Devany visiting Karen Lyon’s address while Deputy Thompson and Stacia went looking for Michael Tacchino.

  They had grabbed lunch and eaten in the cars on the way up to save time, as it was now well past noon.

  Tacchino lived in a small cabin at the end of a long dirt driveway deep in a heavily wooded forest.

  “This is like something from a horror movie,” Buck said as the overgrown oak and maple trees on the side of the driveway scraped leafy branches on the side of his county truck.

  “Ah, but in this story, the monster is sitting beside you,” Stacia replied, her tone easy and calm.

  “Damn, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s almost like I keep forgetting you’re what you are until you remind me,” he said, grimacing at his own clumsiness.

  “That’s because we’re humans first and wolves second. Most of the time, we blend in much better than vampires do. That whole sleep-through-the-day-and-drink-blood thing makes it hard for them to hide,” she said.

  He looked at her sideways, then turned back to the road. “You live in a much stranger world than I do. And you’re not a monster,” he said.

  “That’s sweet,” she said in a tone that indicated it was also naïve. “But you’re wrong. I am a monster,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s important to remember. Not letting it weird you out is a whole ‘nother proposition.”

  “How does your friend—the witch—handle it?” he asked.

  “Like it’s not big deal. He goes to school with young weres, so he’s learned a lot about how to act and not act around us. But the other side of the coin is that he’d tell you he is a bigger monster than me.”

  “How do you feel about that?” he asked.

  “Well… he’s right. Don’t get me wrong; he’s one of the nicest kids you’d ever meet. A bit of a wiseass, but not overly so unless you get on his bad side or unless your name is Lydia,” she said.

  “I don’t understand… Lydia?” he asked.

  “Sorry. Inside joke. Tanya’s right-hand vampire is this little bundle of attitude and mouth named Lydia. She singlehandedly keeps Chris and Declan’s egos in check. It’s a running battle of wits between two of the most dangerous people I know and a five-foot-nothing vampire. She mostly wins,” she said. “Anyway, back to Declan. He’s generally quiet in groups, actually humble, and very controlled. But pick on his friends or his family and he’ll get angry. I, at my worst, look like a puppy compared to a really angry Declan.”

  “I don’t get it. You change into a massive predat
or and he does what? Brews love spells?” Buck asked.

  “Witches manipulate energy with their minds. Some can start fires, some can create storms, most can cast spells that fog your mind or confuse you. Declan is from a long line of truly powerful crafters, and he’s the best and the strongest. He’s also an expert on old spells and witch knowledge. Chris and Tanya handpicked him to work for them this past summer and he exceeded their expectations.”