The Naughty List

by L. A. Kelley

  Sonia leaned in with interest. “What do the police say?”

  “Glitch in the system. More likely an invisible demon in the system. Robberies with similar MOs are clustered in the same area.” The E.L.F. pointed to the screen. “Thefts here, here, and here with store windows shattered as if hit by a tornado.”

  “Salazar is a kulkucan,” mused Billy. “A descendant of a Mayan wind god could make quick work of a pane of glass. Darby’s a medusa. Any reports of new statues suddenly popping up around town?”

  “Not yet,” David admitted, “but read this report. A police officer answered a silent alarm from a liquor store in the middle of the day. She found the clerk weak and disoriented. He said the thief hit him with something because the last thing he remembered was taking a nosedive to the floor. The police think he was tased. The security tape only caught the image of a figure in a hoodie cleaning out the cash register and swiping several bottles of liquor.”

  “Medusas sure don’t like those shiny surfaces, do they?” Sonia mused. “The clerk was lucky Darby didn’t get a good lock on him or he’d be a pigeon perch now.”

  “Robbing stores in broad daylight?” Billy glowered. “If Kaplan and the others are responsible, they sure don’t give a damn about capture.”

  “Why should they?” David asked. “The Atlanta police have no idea what they’re dealing with and the wardens still have their heads buried in the sand.” The E.L.F leaned over the desk, his expression grim. “Let me be clear, I don’t have a shred of proof. The wardens won’t let me call out the hounds for a legal snatch-and-grab, but I can’t shake a gut feeling these three are responsible for Atlanta’s new crime wave and Pearce is the mastermind.”

  “David asked me to do a preliminary trace a while back,” Billy confessed. “I know. It was strictly unauthorized.”

  “Hell, we’re not bothered by that,” Ramesh smirked, “only that you didn’t call us in. What did you find?”

  “All three definitely left the city. Whatever they’re up to is not in New York.”

  Ramesh blew his cheeks out in frustration. “So we’re right back to square one. How do we track them? Has Dominic found a way through the shield yet?”

  “He hit a roadblock and hasn’t made any progress in days. He needs one of the shields Anthony altered or he could be stuck for months.”

  Billy rubbed his chin, musing aloud. “We follow the others’ trails. The scent will lead us to the last place they were before the spell kicked in and they vanished.”

  “What if they already left?” demanded Ramesh. “What do we do then?”

  The door whipped open. “You look for other clues, pups,” Sadhri barked. “Pearce may block Integral senses, but we have different ways to track. David found good leads by scanning police, Internet, and news reports.”

  David had no desire for a facedown with Sadhri. “How much did you hear?”

  “Everything.”

  “Purely a theoretical problem,” he back peddled nervously. “I’m not suggesting—”

  She held up her hand. “Save it. Your Dad already figured out what you planned. I volunteered to come along as backup.”

  “Packs hunt alone,” Billy huffed.

  “You’re not a full pack, and I’m not giving you the option.” She drew herself up. “You think this is my first rodeo? I’m a shiva, young man, and not without battle experience. The blood of the destroyer runs through my veins.” She cast a fierce gaze over the others. “Anyone else have any objections?”

  Sonia swallowed. “Ramesh and I are totally okay with the idea.”

  Billy sighed with resignation. “All right. You can come.”

  Sadhri inclined her head toward her nephew with a wry smile. “I accept your gracious invitation.”

  The E.L.F. stood up. He had found his team. “Once I prove they’re working with Anthony every district will go on alert. As soon as you track them down, call me. I want to dash-away in for the snatch.”

  Billy eyed him askance. “Dude, dashing in with only GPS coordinates is tricky at best, suicidal at worst.” David folded his hands with a resolute expression. Billy gave in. “Okay, they’re your body parts.”

  “If the wardens find out before we catch any of them,” David cautioned, “they’ll stick our heads on a pike to parade around HQ with the Baal leading the way.”

  “Dominic can kiss my ass,” grunted Sadhri.

  “They won’t find out,” Billy assured himly ding the. “A hellhound knows how to be discreet. Liang taught us well.” At the mention of the pack leader, the other members of the pack set their expressions in steely determination. Billy rose to his feet. “Gear up, hounds. The hunt is on.”

  David left to return The Book to the repository. Despite confidence in the theory, he wasn’t without a sense of nervous anticipation. He had just dragged a bunch of other people into his crazy idea and after securing The Book, he was about to drag in one more.

  ****

  The hellhounds and Sadhri held a brief consultation. Sonia agreed to track Darby while Ramesh took Salazar. Each needed a fresh scent lock. As an unauthorized track, they had to break into the quarries’ apartments. Although a strict violation of regulations, no one felt any qualms about bringing Liang’s killer one step closer to justice. Sadhri volunteered to go with them. Breaking in to locked apartments posed no problem for a shiva with a knack for explosives.

  Billy itched to run Jared Kaplan to ground. Kaplan was a hellhound, but a lone wolf not affiliated with a pack. In truth, no decent pack wanted him. He lived on the fringes with others who chafed at the restrictions imposed by the wardens. Usually they were nothing more than hot-headed trouble-makers, kept in check by The Book. They supported themselves by hiring out for quick jobs. Were things so bad, Billy wondered, that a two-bit thug like Kaplan willingly allied himself with a murderer?

  An hour later, the four of them met in the garage. Billy noted a few stray flecks of plaster dust in Sonia’s hair. Sadhri shrugged. “The door in Darby’s apartment was reinforced. The wall was not.”

  The three hellhounds set off in three different vehicles with Sadhri riding shotgun with Billy. They headed south on the same route. Billy’s hopes rose with each passing mile as the three separate trails converged on an identical course. Certain David was onto something, he convinced the others to abandon their cars and risk a flight to Atlanta, the closest airport to the last known whereabouts of Anthony Pearce. Losing the cars held a risk since hellhounds had a weakness. They could only concentrate on one scent at a time. If Kaplan, Darby, and Salazar split up, the hunt would be seriously compromised.

  Billy fretted about running the quarry to ground. A full hunting pack always carried manacles for apprehension to deprive Integrals of their power, but on an unauthorized mission, a visit to the armory was out of the question. He pushed the concern to the back of his mind. When the time came, they’d be creative.

  At the Atlanta airport they picked up a rental car. One quick scent check in the air and the hellhound’s spirits immediately rose. All three targets had been in the area recently, although each scent was far from fresh. That made sense, Billy thought with grim satisfaction, if the trio now had shields. He believed David was right. With luck, the hellhounds would corner all of them together at the last location. An hour of driving brought them across the street from a house in Decatur, the last spot where all three hellhounds discerned a clear scent.

  Billy studied the layout. The house was set back well from the street on a large heavily wooded lot. Although the trees lost their leaves the scrubby untended brush surrounding the property provided good cover. No prying eyes from the neighbors to worry about. Good for them. Good for us. The window shades were drawn and the door to the garage closed.

  Ramesh smirked. “Shall we knock?”

  Sadhri peered around the street. “What backs up to the lot?”

  Sonia whipped out her smart phone and pulled up a map ofed A full the area. “Strip mall.”

  They drove
the car out of the development and parked at the shopping center. Sadhri jumped out. “I’ll do recon.” She returned in five minutes with a full report. “In the back is a cinderblock wall bordering the property. I peeked over the top and saw right into the backyard. All the windows in the rear are shaded also. A rundown shed near the house makes good cover.” She glanced up. “The sky will be dark in an hour. We’ll make our move then.”

  As soon as the sun set, they crept around the strip mall to the cinderblock wall. “Bear right when you hit the ground,” Sadhri murmured. One by one, they silently vaulted over the top, dropped lightly to the other side, and then darted behind the shed. The house was dark. No light filtered through the shaded windows.

  Billy drew in a lungful of air searching for any fresh trace of Kaplan. He sensed nothing. For an instant, his confidence wavered.

  “What now?” Ramesh whispered.

  Suddenly, the back door swung open. The hellhounds and shiva crouched low. Jared Kaplan strode out onto the stoop. He wore a gold chain around his neck matching the description of one stolen several weeks ago. Kaplan lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and blew out the smoke. Billy curled his nose in disgust as his sensitive receptors immediately caught a whiff of tobacco. Smoking and drinking were strictly forbidden for a hellhound. They interfered with the gift. No wonder other packs held Kaplan in scorn.

  Billy blocked out the acrid stench and focused on Kaplan. At this distance, Billy’s receptors should be screaming, but to his stunned amazement he perceived nothing. His eyes saw the man, his ears heard the faint shuffle of his feet on the wooden stoop, but as far as his Integral senses were concerned, Jared Kaplan didn’t exist.

  The door opened once more and this time Allison Darby stepped out. She, too, wore an identical gold chain. She slipped her arm through Kaplan’s and murmured something in his ear. He leered at her, stubbed out the cigarette, and followed the medusa inside.

  “I don’t believe it,” gasped Sonia. “I get nothing from Darby. If I hadn’t seen her with my own eyes, I would have said she was long gone from here.”

  “That means we have a good chance Salazar an

  d Pearce are inside the house,” Ramesh said.

  Billy whipped out his phone to call David.

  The E.L.F. picked up immediately. “Give me the coordinates.”

  Billy glanced around the yard. “It’s tricky, dude. The lot is heavily wooded. Landing will be tight.” For an instant he thought about suggesting the back of the strip mall, but decided a blind dash-away to asphalt was more dangerous than to grass.

  “Give me a ten foot diameter and stand clear.”

  Billy relayed the coordinates, stepped back, and then held his breath. He cast one more eye toward the house. No movement. No lights. “Go,” he whispered into the phone.

  An instant later a short blast of air hit him in the face. Two bodies slammed into the ground with a dull thud. Billy rushed over. “Are you okay?”

  David sat up and nonchalantly brushed himself off. Carlos Mendoza rolled over with a muffled groan. “You will never talk me into doing that ever again.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Why is Carlos here?” Sadhri demanded. “He works for the Baal.”

  “I worked for the Baal,” Carlos sat up rubbing his head. “We had a bit of a falling out aftly di“Heer Mr. Now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t over here,” he nodded to David, “decided to stroll out of central lock-up. Besides I brought toys.” He motioned to a duffle bag at his feet and then pulled down the zipper to reveal four sets of manacles and five sunglasses with highly mirrored lenses. Several wrapped packages were buried underneath.

  “I needed someone with access to the armory,” David explained. “Carlos agreed to help.”

  “Packs hunt alone,” grumbled Ramesh.

  “Another Integral rule needing an update, but here is neither the time nor the place. What did you discover?”

  Billy nodded toward the house. “Darby and Kaplan are definitely inside. No read on the others.”

  Sadhri motioned toward Carlos’s duffle bag. “Anything for me?”

  The medusa fished out the small packages stowed at the bottom. “Not sure what you wanted, so I brought an assortment.”

  The shiva grunted her approval. “Not bad.” She shot him a wary look. “These items are all restricted. Your ass is toast if the master-at-arms discovers them missing.”

  Carlos shrugged nonchalantly. “He knows by now. Once we get back to the prison with one of the shielded Integrals, we’ll kiss and make up.”

  “If we don’t?”

  He managed a grin. “Then I guess I’ll be the next fugitive for your nephew and his pack to track down.”

  For once, Sadhri looked amused. She selected two of the smaller packages and hefted them experimentally in her hand. “Since we don’t know the layout of the house, I’ll take out the front and back doors simultaneously. Before the smoke clears, we rush in. If we’re lucky everyone inside will be caught in the middle.”

  “How big an explosion?” David asked, trying not to show any concern as a vision of the tumbling walls in the prison break shot to mind.

  “Not enough to wake the neighbors,” Sadhri assured him with confidence.

  “Yeah,” muttered Billy sarcastically, “if the neighbors are stone cold deaf. Shivas love their boom sticks.” The hellhound’s off-handed comment didn’t fill David with comfort.

  Carlos handed out the mirrored eyeglasses. They would protect the others from any medusa’s blast, but being immune he didn’t need one himself. “Salazar has a nasty cyclonic punch that could easily level the house. You’ll need to take him down fast.”

  “Pearce will be a problem,” Billy advised, “since he’ll go invisible at the first sign of trouble. Keep your ears open. He can’t cover up sound.”

  They split into two groups. Carlos, Sonia, and Ramesh would enter through the rear. David, Billy, and Sadhri would rush the front door.

  Silently, David took up position flat against the house’s siding. From inside he heard the soft murmur of voices and then a woman’s high pitched laugh. He suspected the living room was on the other side of the wall. The woman laughed again. Darby must be talking with someone. He clenched his fist. He so hoped the other person was Pearce.

  Sadhri slipped back beside the E.L.F. after setting the charges. “Thirty seconds,” she whispered.

  Twenty-nine…twenty-eight... David counted down to himself. His stomach clenched into a tense knot. Each second that passed felt like an eternity. Three…two…He drew a deep breath.

  Poom-Poom.

  Muffled explosions rocked the E.L.F. on his feet. The fronteetdre door blasted inward and crashed through the house. Billy and Sadhri instantly bolted for the opening, David right on their heels. A painful blast punched him in the shoulder, but the glasses protected him from the worst of the medusa effects. Billy and Sadhri ahead of him staggered back and hit the wall hard.

  The living room was empty except for Darby. She glared at him from in front of a television set—the voices he heard from outside. Her hair twisted and wove around her, crackling with mystical energy. The three of them charged. From the other end of the house came a roaring wind. The kulkucan was in the kitchen.

  The gale pushed them all back. Pot and pans flew through the air. So did two shiny pairs of sunglasses. “Send them to me,” shouted Darby. Sonia and Ramesh tumbled backwards like leaves on a dry stream bed. The medusa grabbed Sonia and yanked her head back as David, Billy, and Sadhri fought against the whirlwind.

  The hellhound’s eyes screwed shut. “Go ahead and look,” the medusa screamed, in a mocking jeer as she savagely twisted Sonia’s head around. “You know you want to.”

  Through the debris, David glimpsed Salazar in the dining room. Line-of-sight was all he needed. The E.L.F. gritted his teeth and locked on to the kulkucan. He dashed-away directly behind him, instantly applying a headlock. The sudden assault broke Salazar’s concentration. The tortuous wind eased.
Ramesh scrambled to his feet and slapped on a pair of manacles. The wind died completely.

  A shot rang out. Everyone froze. “That will be enough playtime.” Anthony’s voice floated out of thin air. “The rest of you take off your sunglasses, so Allie-girl can have some fun. Singh—unlock Ernie.”

  “What’s the matter, Pearce?” David said. He had to keep the demon talking so the hellhounds could get a fix. “Afraid to show yourself?”

  “How did they find us?” squawked Darby. “You said The Book couldn’t—”

  “I know ways to use The Book, Anthony can’t even dream of. Surrender now.”

  “Shut up!” boomed out the demon’s disembodied voice. All the hellhounds’ ears instantly cocked toward the wall. “Release Ernie.”

  Ramesh hesitated. The voice continued to move keeping the demon’s exact location a guess. Another sharp crack fired out and Ramesh fell to the ground.

  “I said now!”

  Billy’s face twisted with primal instinctive rage. “Not another one of my pack, you son of a bitch!”

  The hellhound charged in the direction of the gunshot and hit a glancing blow off something large and heavy. He grabbed for it, but a hard object connected with his skull. Instantly, Sadhri jumped to her nephew’s side and appeared to pummel nothing but air. The gun fired three more times. Bullets pinged around the room before a subtle click of the hammer came down on an empty chamber.

  Sadhri made a twisting motion and a howl issued from Pearce. A metallic clink hit the wall. The gun became visible, wrested from the demon’s shielded hands. Sadhri slammed back against the wall, dazed. Her protective glasses flung from her head.

  “Blast her,” screamed Pearce.

  The medusa gave Sonia a vicious kick and turned her deadly gaze in the shiva’s direction. Salazar made a break for it, but David ignored the piercing burn from the supernatural bindings and fought to subdue the older, stronger kulkucan.