There were only three parents inside the mayor’s building when she arrived, and they seemed to be keeping their shit together pretty well.
Suzanne looked at her and smiled, standing up from her chair to greet her. “We have a lead on the missing children.”
Oh, thank the Mother. “That’s excellent news. Where? What do we need to do to get them back?”
Suzanne’s smile widened, and her shoulders sagged with relief. “Let me fill you in.”
The kids were being held at yet another detention facility. However, this one was in Portland.
Really. Had the president planned that?
Paige invested the next several hours discussing options to get them out. Their sources had mentioned a secret weapon, but they had no idea what that might be. Paige certainly wasn't looking forward to finding out.
They nearly had a plan of attack when Tuck showed up, a bit more ruffled than normal and looking concerned.
"What's wrong now?"
She couldn't see his lips as they hid behind his salt-and-pepper mustache and growing beard. But the rest of his face was pinched and nervous. "I just received word that the president is coming here."
Was this a win? "Any word as to why?" Paige knew why. “Dumb question. Sorry.”
Tuck waved her off.
Paige turned to the mayor. "You're our leader."
Suzanne just shook her head wildly, her eyes wide. "Not on this, I'm not. That’s you. I’ll continue finding homes for everyone. But this mess is all yours.” She clapped her hands as if that settled it.
Well, it kind of did.
“Come on, kid,” Tuck said gruffly. “Let’s get some things hammered out.”
Paige followed Tuck to his old beat-up Ford truck and got in.
"Heard about Dexx."
Since Dexx worked for him, she certainly hoped he’d heard.
"I'm sure he'll be okay."
He had to be okay. "I hope so." But, frankly, no one was going to know that until he actually made it home. "After all, it is Dexx."
Tuck grunted as he turned right, heading toward the highway. "That won't necessarily make things any better for him."
Paige fully understood that Dexx was a stubborn man and that, sometimes, his stubborn personality could seriously get the better of him. But she was still hopeful that his good sense would prevail and also his stubbornness would remain. She didn't understand how DoDO had managed to get him. One day, she was going to get her answers. She wasn't certain the world would remain standing when she did. "Where are we meeting her?"
"At the roadblock."
That seemed weird.
He gave her a sideways glance and then shook his head. "We're in a whole new world here, kid. She's treating us as if we’re invaders." He gave her a helpless shrug. “I got no idea what to do here.”
What did that even mean for them? Were there new rules that she needed to know? Things that would bite her in the butt later?
She was certain there were. The president wasn't doing things this way without a reason.
They spent the rest of their time discussing small things like the weather while they waited. Tuck wasn't much of a feelings guy, and Paige wasn't much of a small talker. So, their conversation was a little stilted. However, Tuck was still one of those people she enjoyed being around. His wealth of experience in most things law enforcement was a reassurance to her. In these areas, she didn't have to be the expert.
Was there a class in government she could take? With all the online classes available, she was sure there was, and she was going to invest some time to learn because she couldn’t remain this dumb…or naïve or whatever term she wanted to use. If she was going to become a world leader—she nearly choked on her own spit with that thought—then she needed to know how the world worked. She needed to be an expert somewhere in this.
"The trick is,” Tuck said, leaning against his truck with his arms folded in front of him, staring daggers at the DoDO agents on the other side of the exit sign, "most of us are doing the exact same thing—pretending we know what we’re talkin’ about and hoping no one catches on."
She realized he was trying to make her feel better. However, he didn't. What she wanted was for someone to have answers. And what he was saying was that no one did. “If the president wants to talk, we’ll go to the Whiskey house.”
Tuck nodded. “Good call.”
It was the best way to keep the president away from downtown, so, Paige hoped it was a good idea. “Hopefully, she wants to talk.”
Tuck grunted.
The president's motorcade came down the highway and pulled to the edge of the road as it reached the off-ramp. It was time to put this show on the road.
The president's vehicle came to a stop, and several security personnel poured out, with their sunglasses on and their earpieces in, making it quite clear that they were there to protect and serve.
Paige and Tuck stayed out of their way. It wasn't their intention to restrict their ability to do their job. They just wanted to protect their town and save as many paranormals as they could.
For the first time since this started, Paige was laser focused.
The president got out and walked down the off-ramp.
Paige and Tuck met her halfway.
The president raised her chin. “Do you have somewhere we could talk?”
“My place. I’m flying ahead to make sure we don’t have any surprises.”
“Like?” the president asked, her interest piqued. But not in a good way. It was like she was hoping to find ammunition to use in her campaign.
“Like kids, Madame President. They like to hang out, and I need to make sure we aren’t going to be interrupted by a ton of freakin’ kids.”
“Who should be in school.”
“Except that school has let out for the day.” Which it had. Only just barely.
The president gave her a cool look. “Your phones work, don’t they?”
The tone in the president’s voice hinted at a rub-in, like she wanted to remind Paige they couldn’t power up their phones. Of course, Paige could totally be misinterpreting that, but she felt it. “They do,” Paige said, not wanting to give the president any room to ask her to join her on the ride. “But kids don’t carry them. At least, not here. Most of us don’t have that kind of money, especially now that all income has been cut off.”
The president smiled. It was a flicker of one, like she was glad and then reminded herself not to show it.
“Just follow the sheriff.” Paige didn’t wait. She changed into an owl and launched herself into the sky.
But halfway through, she realized she needed to fly faster and give the townspeople the heads up. So, she shifted into a white-throated needletail, which flew considerably faster. She then changed into a peregrine falcon for the dive, shifting into human form as soon as her feet touched the small balcony.
Suzanne jumped as Paige appeared, interrupting another meeting with more distraught parents.
Bobby sat quietly in one of the extra chairs in the office.
“Paige, I thought—”
“No time. Just keep everyone here. I’ll be back for the mission as soon as I can.” And then she was off again before Suzanne could do much more than sputter. Paige did, however, blow a kiss to Bobby and told him to behave.
He shot her a grin and winked.
She didn’t know him well enough to know if he was saying he’d be good or that he’d be good at finding trouble.
Tuck was driving the speed limit, thankfully, which bought her a little time. He’d probably done that to give her the time to warn people. But that also gave the president an opportunity to see what they were doing with the town, which wasn’t exactly what Paige could call a bonus.
She made it to the house in time to clear everyone out, enlist the pack to keep an eye on the perimeter, and start the coffee pot—the big one, not the single serve—by the time the president arrived.
Secret service went through her hou
se and did a quick sweep, coming up empty.
The president walked in as the coffee pot gurgled and glugged, saying it was done.
“Coffee? Cups are here. Sugar’s here. Milk’s in the fridge.”
“Creamer?” the president asked, with a pleasant enough smile, setting herself to the task of making her own cup.
With that all squared away, Paige invited the president of the United States to sit at her kitchen table. “What do you want?”
“Right to the heart of it, I see.” The president winced. “Well, if you want it that way, I happen to know you broke into one of our camps and released several criminals.”
The president’s tone suggested that Paige was, indeed, in a lot of trouble and needed to be on the defensive. And if Paige and the paranormals were treated like citizens of the U.S., then, maybe she would, but Paige wasn’t afraid of the repercussions because… they were already criminals. For having been born or turned or whatever. “I didn’t release criminals. The paranormal in that facility were illegally detained.”
The president’s gaze was cool. “They resisted registration.”
“Which isn’t even legal. So, that’s what we can expect? We’ve been living here just fine for generations, but now, all of a sudden, we’ll be criminals if we don’t volunteer to be collared?” Paige frowned at her, shaking her head. “Don’t you see the parallels here? We’re repeating history. It didn’t work for Hitler and the Jews. It didn’t work for the U.S. and the Japanese. It’s not going to work here, either.”
“Paranormals are the enemy.”
“The only crime most of us have committed is having been born. Racism is the same, except now you’re adding jail time.”
“Except we’re not talking about the color of your skin. We’re talking about teeth and claws and magick.”
“So, dentures, manicures, and mood swings.”
The president tipped her head to the side, with a Mom-glare.
“I’m just trying to shine a light on the reality of your argument.” Paige understood the fear but didn’t want it to gain ground. It was still baseless. “Why the vendetta? What makes this personal to you? Something to do with your daughter?”
The president set her coffee cup down on the table, and her expression closed.
Well, that one hit close to home. “Was she bitten? Turned?”
“I was raped,” the president blurted.
Not surprising. Paige worked law enforcement. She had a pretty good understanding of just how many women were raped in America. “By a paranormal?”
The president nodded. “A shapeshifter. When she was born, I didn’t know what to do with her. I was ashamed, but I kept her. I loved her. But then she shifted.”
This was a story Paige thought would be more common than it was, having the adopted kid shift in the middle of a birthday party or something.
“I took the matter to the pack, and my rapist wasn’t brought before a court. Their leader ‘dealt with it,’ and then, when I made a big display about it, they filed to take my daughter. And won. I learned years later that they won because the judge was also a shifter.”
That surprised Paige a little because, if that was the case, the two of them had a lot more in common. They’d both lost their daughter to people using connections against them. “Hmm. So, you want more justice? You think he got off easy?” She didn’t get the feeling that the president was too broken up about having lost her daughter. It was more like she was upset over the idea of having lost her daughter, which just irritated Paige more.
“Your kind needs to operate inside the law.”
Paige didn’t know how best to verbally take this argument. “Well, I can tell you that the pack probably did handle it. They’re usually pretty tough on rapists. And the alpha handled the situation so that the public didn’t get wind of it and turn it into… this. So, I can’t fault him for that.”
The president narrowed her eyes.
“Look at it from our side, Madame President,” Paige said, trying one more time to get through to her. “Your kind are really good only at being scared.”
The president narrowed her eyes. “Be careful what you say next.”
“Why? Because we might be declaring more war on each other? You might threaten to incarcerate more of our people, shut off more towns? And I’ll threaten to save more of my people? I mean, come on. We could do this all day.”
The president took in a deep breath. “I’m offering peace.”
Well, now. Paige wanted to hear the details on what her version of “peace” looked like.
29
“What are we talkin’? Beyond forced registration.”
The president folded her hands around her coffee mug. “There will need to be certain concessions. The people are scared.”
“Because you created then fed their fear.”
The president tipped her head to the side and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Did I really have to try hard? As far as campaigns go, this one was easy.”
On one hand, at least she was being honest. On the other… “What about the kids who died due to your ‘campaign’?”
The president went rigid. “I did not authorize that.”
Paige didn’t know if she believed that. “What about the kids who were separated from their incarcerated parents?”
The president’s lips went thin, but then she opened a hand, palm up toward her. “They can be released.”
“When?”
The president appeared upset as her nostrils flared.
Maybe Paige had managed to do more damage than she’d thought. “And the other people you’re holding prisoner?”
“They will be as well.”
This was going a little too well. Paige was missing something. “To be returned home?”
“No.”
There it was, the point where things got hard.
“But we can discuss reservations.”
“Instead of prisons?”
The president gave a nonverbal acknowledgement.
This was insane. “Did that work out for the natives?”
“It did for us.”
“But… did it work for the natives? Why would I agree to this? Also, what land would you ‘give’ us? There are no lands left.”
“We would have to move a few assets around, but, be assured, we do have land available.”
“Why wasn’t this your first move? Why did you decide to use prisons instead? To treat us like prisoners?”
“Because you’re criminals and terrorists.”
“Convenient titles to slander people in order to get what you want.”
The president clamped her lips shut and shook her head, glaring at Paige.
Finally, a reaction that wasn’t smug. “We’re not criminals or terrorists. We’re people. We’re parents. We’re brothers and sisters, daughters and sons. We’re wives and husbands.”
“Some of you have multiple husbands and wives.”
“Some of us are Wiccan too. Some worship Thor and the old gods. Are you going to hold that against us?”
The president ducked her head. “We will give you parcels of land in—”
“How big?”
“—order for you to build your cities.”
“And will we be forced to wear the collars?”
The president paused. “No.” She was upset, by the set of her lips, but her eyes promised something worse instead.
“What? Out with it.”
“But there will be a chip.”
Paige felt like she was pulling teeth from a mule. “And?”
“And,” the president sipped her coffee and carefully set her mug down before meeting Paige’s gaze, “there will be a perimeter. Controlled access. People can’t just come strolling in when they want, and you can’t leave. Even with your door magic. Anyone who leaves the boundary will die.”
“By the chip.”
The president smiled warmly.
“So, like a prison.”
“But you can build it like a town, make it feel better.”
“And the rules?”
“You will have to obey ours. We will provide a police force. They will monitor things, provide enforcement of the laws and curfews.”
“Jobs?”
“Normal jobs. You can do whatever you want. You will need to create money, pay the taxes that will be invested in paying for your lands and protections.”
This wasn’t peace.
“As an offer of good faith, the children of the criminals you freed are already on a bus headed toward us as we speak.”
“Where?”
Her gaze was cool. “They’re three hours out.”
“So, that’s long enough for me to gather whatever councils we might have, discuss this, and give you our answer. And is their safe return contingent upon our answer?”
“Your surrender will be necessary.” The president stood. “You can keep Troutdale as one of your homes, but the humans will need to be removed. If they do not come willingly, I will need you to assist us with removing them for their own safety.”
Wait. “What?”
“We will be bringing all paranormals together, which will include those who drink their blood.”
“Vampires.”
“Yes. I noticed you have none here, but that will change. You will get vampires and many other paranormals here. I cannot risk humans’ safety.”
Paige clamped her mouth shut. Vampires and the Eastwoods couldn’t survive together because of the blood magick. It stirred a blood lust in the vampire they couldn’t control. Even the wards didn’t protect them.
“The children in my care look forward to your answer.” The president didn’t offer her hand. She just left.
Paige stared daggers at the president’s coffee cup, letting the information filter through her head.
Margo walked through the back. “Everything go okay?”
Not even close. “Anything happen?”
“Not a peep.”
“Good. Stay on alert. I don’t know what else she’s going to throw at us, but I know she’s not done.”
“Understood.” Margo slipped out the back door, sliding it closed behind her.
Tuck walked through the front door.
Paige met him in the hall. “We need to make sure they leave.”
Whiskey Storm (Whiskey Witches Midnight Rising Book 1) Page 27