by Sue Duff
A portly man strolled out from a back hall. He wore an apron and held a wooden spoon dripping red. “What? I’m in the middle of my marinara sauce.”
“Where’s Ian and the others?”
“They haven’t returned yet. As far as I know, they’re still dealing with the psycho Duach.”
The guards let themselves in and stood waiting for orders. Two teenagers yawned and rubbed their heads.
“Get those computer sticks plugged in and tell me what we found,” Marcus barked from over his shoulder.
“They’re called flash drives, old man.” Vael snickered.
Marcus let loose a throaty growl. “Milo, I need a secure room.”
Milo sized Vael up. “Is he a shyftor?”
“No, but he has a way with locks. I’m keeping the jam on and one of my men will be on guard duty.”
“I’ve got a place,” Milo said.
From the look in the old geezer’s eye, the comforts of home were not in Vael’s future.
{46}
Ian sat on the rock. Maajida lay at his feet. The massive Bengal tiger purred as he stroked her pelt of burnt orange with lightning bolts of the deepest black and pure white running through.
Rayne chose to remain a spectator, keeping the deep trench and viewing wall between them. “Other than Saxon, animals don’t seem to like me, Ian.”
“All living things have their own energy,” Ian said. “Perhaps they sense your drain and are skittish.”
“That explains my houseplant disasters.” Rayne sighed. “You’ve never mentioned your frequent visits to the zoo.”
There was so much about his Weir upbringing that he’d kept from her and Patrick, Ian realized. “Not all my trips were pleasant,” he said. “The first time Milo brought me to the zoo, I was expected to wander and connect with the creatures. It didn’t take long to recognize which ones were bred in captivity and which ones had been transferred from their natural habitats.”
Maajida’s tiger cub appeared from between the rocks. At spying Ian, it paused with a squealing yawn. “Oh, she has a baby?” Rayne smiled and leaned over the barrier for a closer look.
“Even the elderly and weak animals of the wild know the difference,” Ian continued. “I can’t help but be affected by their angst at the walls, windows, and trenches that keep them confined. After that first visit, I had to run free in the woods around the mansion for a few hours. It was the only way I could shed the claustrophobic sensation that followed me home.”
“Why come at all if it’s so painful for you?” Rayne asked.
“Milo. He wouldn’t tolerate my resistance to the zoo. Kept bringing me back. Over time, I learned to comfort the animals and to relieve some of their anguish. They calm in my presence, and I’ve discovered how to tune into their different characteristics and quirks. I’ve made some friends. Maajida is one of my favorites.” Often his first stop whenever he’d visit in the wee hours of the night, he would stroke her for minutes on end, eliciting her purrs and snuggles while relishing in her body’s warmth and strength.
Ian perused the tiger’s aura and was comforted to know that she was content. “Maajida, this is Rayne,” he said. The tiger stared at her.
“She’s magnificent, Ian.”
He got up from the rock and crouched in front of Maajida, meeting her intense gaze. Their connection strengthened, the emotional bond eliciting a sensation of savagery and igniting Ian’s senses. His calf muscles tensed as if prepared to take off at a full run.
“Maajida finds you intriguing,” Ian said. “She isn’t threatened by you, Rayne.”
“You can communicate with her?” Rayne asked.
“Not like Saxon.” Ian stood and rubbed Maajida behind the ears. “But we have an understanding, just the same.” He looked beyond Rayne, down the path. “Call Tara. If they don’t get here soon, we’ll be cutting it close.”
“She’s not happy with the plan.” Rayne pulled out her cell.
“I’m not happy with the plan. But it’s all we’ve got,” he said.
A second later, Rayne’s cell chimed. “She’s been casing the zoo, making sure they didn’t get here early.”
“Patrick?”
“He’s with Bryant.” Rayne paused. “Uh, oh.”
“What uh, oh?” Ian said.
“Carlene is with him.”
“Shit!” The one person who couldn’t get a glimpse of his powers was in the middle of an already haphazard plan. “He was supposed to—”
“He claims she woke up when he was tying her to the bed. He spilled everything.”
Ian stepped away from Maajida and took a second to verify where the cub had wandered. He didn’t want to spook either one. “Tell him to get Bryant ready and that Carlene is his responsibility.” Ian shyfted next to Rayne.
“Where to now?” she asked while typing in her cell.
“I have a couple more friends I want to introduce,” Ian said.
He led her across the grounds to the spider monkey cage. Saxon stood watch where Ian had left the wolf. Ian opened the cage and found her slumbering in her hammock. He conjured a peach and bit into it then held it near the monkey’s nose. Her eyes flew open at her favorite treat and she leapt into his arms with a squawk.
“Rayne, this is Coco, short for Coconut.” He played keep away with the fruit. She wrapped her tail around his eyes and snatched it from his grasp. Rustling inside the cage. The other primates stirred.
When Ian turned down the path leading to the large apes, Saxon came to a halt. Not him, the wolf channeled.
He’s part of the plan, Ian responded. A deep, throaty growl came from the wolf. When Ian didn’t acknowledge it, Saxon’s paws dragged a few steps behind.
“What’s wrong with Saxon?” Rayne asked.
“Buster likes to dump buckets of water on everyone. Saxon is his favorite target.” Ian brushed Coco’s arm away when the spider monkey tried to stick the peach pit in his ear.
“Who’s Buster?” Rayne asked.
Ian smiled. Saxon snorted.
{47}
A crimson flash. Sulfur. The odor of burning flesh. Jaered’s lids fluttered, then opened at another burst. Across the room, Yannis held his fist against a blackened chest. The gun drooped, then slipped out of his grasp. He looked at Jaered, and collapsed on top of the bean-pole man.
A dark figure. Ning approached. He held Jaered’s arm down. Riiiip. An adrenaline rush diluted Jaered’s haze. Pain shot through both shoulders when he pushed to sit. “Ahh!” A nylon tie bound one of his wrists to the gurney’s rail.
“Insurance you don’t show up and mess with our plans.” Ning’s gloat distorted the flaming tattoos on his cheeks. “I know how attached you are to our little girl.”
“How?” Jaered gulped air and fought to focus.
“Me.” Donovan stood in the doorway. “Your father’s spy never questioned the added bulk to the passkey I gave him for the executive offices. Thanks to my little bug, I’ve known Yannis’s whereabouts, and stayed one step ahead of his inquiries into my affairs.” Donovan patted Jaered’s pockets. He withdrew the vial they’d stolen from his safe. “We need this for our little rendezvous tonight. Once my son and I are out of the country, I’ll send you half the coordinates to the other serum plant. You’ll get the rest of what you need to find the deadly Pur cocktail the second I get paid.”
“Do you think Rayne will enjoy South America?” Ning regarded Jaered like a meal simmering on a stove. “Of course, if your father comes through, she won’t have to for long.”
“You can’t get close to her, not while she’s with the Heir,” Jaered hissed.
“He’s bringing her to me.” Ning licked his lips.
Jaered stilled. What could possibly motivate the Heir to put her in such danger?
“I’d feel better in a crowd,” Donovan said. “If we could find such a place at three o’clock in the morning. He’d be less likely to use his powers in front of humans.”
“I stopped worrying about Wei
r law long ago.” Ning snickered. “I’m betting the Heir won’t upset the animals. Be-sides, their tranquilizer guns will come in handy if he brings that bastard, Marcus, as backup.” Ning regarded the vial in Donovan’s hand.
Jaered groped for Ning with a limp arm. The assassin deflected his feeble attempts with a laugh. A slammed door snuffed it out. The assassin’s taunt rang in Jaered’s ears long after their footsteps died.
The tie cut deep into his wrist and he soon gave up trying to wedge a finger under it. He searched the room. Surgical instruments lay in neat rows on a tray at the far counter. Jaered focused on drawing pure magnetic energy into his core. The metal tray shook as Jaered turned his chest into a powerful magnet.
The stainless steel instruments bounced across the tray as if reacting to an earthquake tremor. He clenched his jaw at the strain and increased the energy’s pull. Screeching metal sang in the room. Steel cabinets creaked and tilted from stressed hinges. The IV pole toppled on him. Just when he feared he couldn’t draw enough, the surgical instruments took flight, aimed at Jaered’s chest. He caught one of the scalpels with his free hand and deflected others with a twist of his torso. One of the scalpels left a deep, bloody streak in his forearm that stung like hell. The instruments’ metal tray slammed into his chest and stuck to him like glue. He sliced the nylon tie. Jaered rolled off the gurney and used the tray to dodge the onslaught of all things metal while he reversed his core energy. The last of the objects settled and fell to the floor. The room silenced.
He refused to give in to the darkness filling his head. A cry that could wake the neighborhood helped him to focus. He collapsed into a nearby chair and tore open his shirt. He dug a finger into his upper chest, desperate to locate the bullet that had gouged a path toward his core.
He used his teeth to free a hypodermic of adrenaline from its bag, set it aside, then stuffed a wad of rolled gauze in his mouth. Jaered held the blade to the spot, then paused to find his courage. The smell of antiseptic snaked up his nose. With a vow to take revenge on the gods themselves if he should pass out, he wailed as the blade cut deep.
{48}
Donovan approached the Big Cat House with frequent glances over his shoulder. Ian wondered if it was from fear or to verify his ally was nearby. Their union had turned Ian’s greatest fear into a living nightmare. The narcissistic Sar had lowered himself to work with a powerless Duach like Donovan for one reason only. Ning couldn’t snatch her. He needed someone without a core to do it for him.
“I don’t see Ning,” Patrick’s voice spurt into Ian’s earpiece.
“Tara?” Ian said.
“It’s a big zoo, Ian. Nothing so far.”
Ian drew out of the shadows when Donovan was still several feet away. He counted on Ning keeping his distance to avoid setting off the Curse.
“Where’s my son?” Donovan came to a halt.
“He’s here.” Ian looked around. “Where’s your partner?”
“With your end of the bargain.” Donovan looked sheepish and gazed at his feet. “For the record, I had nothing to do with her . . . condition.”
Ian’s stomach lurched, and he silently vowed that Ning would stay dead this time. “I’ll show mine if you show me yours.”
“Behind you,” Donovan said and looked up.
Ian turned. Ning had Zoe, what was left of Rayne’s room-mate, dangling over the faux cliff above the outdoor pen where Ian had shared a tranquil moment with Maajida earlier. Blood dripped from deep gashes in her arm and leg. A dark socket, where one of her eyes had been melted away by a core blast, turned toward him. Her other eye was swollen shut. She whimpered amidst feeble thrashes. From what he could tell, she was barely alive.
“Where’s my little energy sucker?” Ning shouted. “She better show up to the party or she might miss her reunion.” Ning lowered Zoe a couple of feet when Maajida’s mate appeared in the open hatch. “This human doesn’t have long before she’s manure for the earth.”
“Not until they give me my son!” Donovan’s bold shout fell on deaf ears. Ning was here for one reason only.
The assassin laughed and set Zoe into a gentle sway. A pungent whiff of blood reached Ian. Another tiger entered the pen with Maajida’s cub standing watch at the doorway. Concerned its fretful cries would distract Maajida from her task, Ian took the initiative.
“Neither of you will get what you want if she dies!” Ian yelled. He drew heat from his core into his hands. They glowed. A core blast directed at the tigers might prompt them to run for safety. Another blast at the door hatch would seal them inside.
From that height, Ning could still drop Zoe to her death. Ian could shyft, perhaps catch her. Core blast power swelled in his chest. He directed it into his hands at the same time he prepared to shyft.
“Stop!” Carlene’s scream came from the other side of the building. Silent curses rang in Ian’s head at Patrick’s failure to keep her out of this. His hands cooled in a blink. She ran up and dropped to her knees across from her husband. “Richard, please! Don’t do this.”
“I’m not leaving here without Bryant,” Donovan sneered.
Carlene turned to Ian. “You promised me, Bry would be safe. I trusted you.”
“Patrick!” Ian shouted.
“Here,” came from the rear of the building, muffled.
“Let Donovan know that Bryant is with you,” Ian said.
Bryant called out a moment later. “Mommy?”
Carlene swiped at a tear. “Bry, I’m here!”
“I wanna go home,” came out in a mournful pitch.
“So do I, Bry,” she whimpered. “Soon, baby, soon.”
“How touching.” Donovan grabbed Carlene and dragged her toward the building.
“You’re not getting him!” The young mother screamed and lashed out at her husband.
The second her back was turned, Ian waved. A tremendous gust of wind picked Zoe up and tore her from Ning’s grasp. With a swoop and jerking dips, it deposited her in the deep trench at the edge of the pen, out of Ning’s sight.
“No!” The assassin bolted to his feet. A core blast formed in his open palm. He ran along the edge of the cliff closer to where Zoe had disappeared.
Ian took off, in a race to narrow the distance between him and the assassin. Ning stopped and pulled back to fling a blast down into the trench. Ian reached the threshold before he could release it. Ning clawed at his chest with a wail. Ian collapsed against the railing as the crushing pressure battled within his chest, the Curse dropping them both.
The Curse lifted as quickly as it began. Ian looked up. Ning was gone.
Maajida growled in anticipation. The tigress had a prey in her sights. Ian ran for Carlene. Pressure returned to the center of his chest. An instant later, the Curse dropped him to one knee, and he jammed a fist against his rib cage. “Ugh!”
A child’s wail. Maajida leapt out from the side of the building. Bryant was in her jaws.
A deafening scream. Maajida threw Carlene a throaty growl, then rushed toward Ian. Bryant cried out in pain at the same time Ian collapsed on the path, writhing in agony. The animal reached the railing and sprang into the air. She landed at the edge of the outdoor pen, then disappeared through the open hatch. The second the tiger put enough distance between them, the Curse lifted. Ian bolted to his feet.
“Nooo!” Carlene rushed to the building and threw open the door. She disappeared inside.
Ian stepped back and prepared to shyft to the bottom of the trench. A dart struck the trash can next to him.
“You’re gonna pay!” Donovan screamed. He aimed a tranquilizer gun at Ian’s chest.
Patrick wrapped strong arms around a hysterical Carlene. “He’s all right, Bryant is all right,” he insisted but didn’t let go, unsure if she had processed what he was telling her.
“You swore if I cooperated, Ian would take care of Bry.” Carlene turned and pounded on his chest. “A giant tiger crushed him in his mouth!”
“Bryant’s in the back, play
ing with a ball.” Patrick said. “See for yourself.” He led her through a door marked Zoo Staff Only.
Purring and giggles greeted them when they entered a large room. Bryant was inside a cage. The tiger lay down across from him. The boy kicked a ball and it rolled off to the side, but the tiger stopped the toy with its tail. A swish, and it rolled back toward the giggling child.
“Bry,” Carlene gasped. She ran up and wrapped her fingers around the bars.
“Mommy, kitty play ball with me.” He turned and tossed the ball in the tiger’s direction. It caught the toy in its mouth, then flipped it up in the air. When it bounced on the cement floor, Bryant clapped and ran after it.
“Carlene, this is Maajida,” Patrick said. “She and Ian have a very special bond. Ian knew she would never have harmed Bryant.”
“What is he wearing?” Carlene stared at Bryant while the color took its time returning to her face.
“A padded suit that Ian created,” Patrick said. “He wanted Maajida to be able to grab Bryant without harming him in any way. The tiger has a baby. Ian covered Bryant’s suit with her cub’s scent. They played back here and got comfortable with each other before their performance outside.” Patrick pushed against a hinged section of the cage. “Here, Bry, come crawl through the tunnel.”
“I wanna play with kitty.”
“No!” Carlene crouched down at the opening, her voice softened, “It’s time to go, I promise we’ll come back and visit the tiger again, soon.”
“Bye-bye kitty.” Bryant tossed the ball at Maajida, then crawled out of the opening.
Carlene scooped him up and buried her face in his neck. “Why put him through that?”
“Richard would never stop trying to get Bryant back,” Pat-rick said. “This way, he thinks his son is dead.”
{49}
Rayne’s pacing formed a path down the center of the Large Primate House while Buster, the gigantic orangutan that Ian insisted keep her company, mimicked her every move. When Rayne came to a halt and told him to stop, he bent down his lower lip and chattered like he was scolding her.