Mortal Ties (27 page)

No. Lily was the cue ball. Beth was just one of the random balls sent crashing around
the pool table, hoping to find a safe pocket to hide in. That’s what San Francisco
was supposed to be—her safe pocket.

Beth snorted in disgust. She’d played ostrich, and that was on her. Lily still should
have told her way more than she had. Now Beth was pissed. And scared. Scared for Sean
and scared for herself, and there didn’t seem to be anything she could
do.
Beth shoved away from her desk and grabbed her sneakers. “Murray!”

He appeared in her doorway. “Yo.”

She glanced up at him, annoyed. That probably had more to do with his presence than
his word choice, but still, he was here and she didn’t like it. “No one actually says
‘yo.’ ”

“I do.”

Murray had such pretty eyes. They reminded her of the half-starved puppy she’d snuck
into her room when she was eight. She’d named him Samson. Lily hadn’t told on her.
Even Susan had kept mum, but there was no way to keep a puppy a secret, and their
mother thought dogs were dirty and full of germs. Beth had cried and cried when Samson’s
new owners came to take him away. “Are you an army wannabe or something?”

“I was with the Rangers for six years. Are we going somewhere? It’s not time for your
Bojuka class.”

Which he would know because he’d been following her to the damn class all along. “I’m
not going to Bojuka.” Not with Sean missing. It would hurt too much. She tugged on
one shoe. “I didn’t think lupi could be in the military.”

His mouth crooked up. “Legally, you mean? The jury’s still out on that. But there’s
always been some of us who joined anyway, especially during World War II. Not so many
these days, but a few.”

“How did you pull it off? I mean, I know you don’t absolutely have to Change at full
moon, but still. That had to be hard.”

“It can be. You have to be okay living away from clan, and you have to have really
good control. It’s not just keeping your wolf from showing up at a bad time. You have
to be able to fake human-level responses and strength pretty much all the time, and
not everyone can do that.”

“This was back before it was okay to go public about being lupi?”

“Some would say it isn’t okay now,” he said dryly. “I ask again. Are we going somewhere?”

“Out.” She tied the second shoe and stood. “Maybe we’ll pick up something for supper.
You like pad Thai? There’s a place six blocks over that makes incredible pad Thai.”

“We could order in.”

“You can do what you like. I need to get out. I need to move.” And she needed to figure
some things out before her roommates showed up. Susan wouldn’t be home for at least
an hour, but Deirdre might turn up any minute. Deirdre knew that Sean was missing—Beth
had called her about that this morning—but not about any of the rest of it…such as
the homely man with the gorgeous build watching her warily now with those pretty brown
eyes.

What was Beth supposed to tell her roommates?

The truth, she supposed glumly. She couldn’t yell at Lily for hiding stuff then hide
stuff herself. Beth pulled her
favorite hoodie, the one with the fake fur trim, from her overstuffed closet. “Come
on, if you’re coming.”

He was, of course. Not only that, but he insisted on going first when they reached
the stairs. She frowned at the top of his shoulders as they started down. Great shoulders.
“Haven’t you ever heard of ladies first?”

“Ladies first is for idiots. Or for people who don’t care if the lady takes a bullet.”

“Don’t talk about bullets.”

“Okay.”

“It’s not like I can’t take care of myself, you know.”

That amused him, damn him. “The Bojuka.”

“I’m just starting, but I do pretty well.”

“Rule has guards, and he’s probably a tiny bit better at taking care of himself than
you are.”

“Oooh, sarcasm. Those puppy-dog eyes are such a lie. How did you stand it, not being
able to issue orders to me while you were sneaking around following me?”

“It was rough.”

He was still amused. She wanted to hit him. “Not that you were all that good at sneaking.
I saw you sometimes, you know, and—”

“You thought I was a neighbor.”

“Yeah, but aren’t you supposed to—hey!”

He’d stopped so abruptly she almost smacked into him. “Back!”

“What?”

“Go back up. Quick.”

But he didn’t wait for her to obey, grabbing her and turning her physically, which
pissed her off and got her heart scared. He shoved. Her feet obeyed him even as her
heartbeat went crazy. “What is it? What’s happening?”

“Patrick sounded the alert. Move faster.”

Patrick? Who was Patrick? What alert? She hadn’t heard anything—but she didn’t have
lupi hearing, and his hand was urging her to move, move faster, and she took the stairs
as fast as she could so that all she heard were her own feet, her own breath coming
hard and rough.

She reached the third-floor landing. His hand left her back for her shoulder, and
he pushed down and gave a piercing whistle. She went to her knees, dazed and frightened
and wondering what—

“Get flat!” he ordered, but he didn’t pause to see if she obeyed. He spun back around
and leaped. Leaped down the stairs, his arms spread so that one brushed the wall,
as if he wanted to make himself the biggest target possible. Leaped right at the man
racing up the stairs with a gun pointed up at him.

The sound of the shots was deafeningly loud in the closed-in space.

C
ARRIE
Ann Rucker was fifty-nine, a placid woman with graying blond hair and a crooked front
tooth that lent a certain charm to her smile. She owned a small handcrafted jewelry
store and was wearing a sample of her merchandise with her neatly pressed jeans and
white blouse—a pretty pair of chandelier earrings.

She also worked as a mule for a drug cartel. Her only arrest had never made it to
the grand jury, thanks to some clumsiness on the part of the arresting officer and
a very expensive lawyer. One who also worked for said cartel.

“And you never looked inside the bag,” Lily said.

“He asked me not to, and I agreed. I do believe in keeping my word, don’t you?”

One of the interesting things about Carrie Ann was the way her attention stayed with
Lily. Sure, Rule wasn’t saying much, but people always noticed him. Especially women.
Even if Carrie Ann was wired for women, Lily would expect her to take more interest
in a guy who occasionally turns into a wolf. “That seems like an odd thing to ask.
Even odder that you agreed.”

Carrie Ann smiled comfortably. “I’m not a very curious person.”

“Remarkably incurious, considering you’ve been arrested for transporting illegal substances
in the past. Substances you had no idea someone had planted in your car,” Lily said
dryly. “Hard to believe you wouldn’t want to make sure this man you’d never met before
wasn’t taking advantage of your helpful nature.”

“He had such a good vibe. I’m sure it was all perfectly innocent.”

“Are you, now? And yet the FBI takes very little interest in scavenger hunts.”

Carrie Ann just smiled.

Lily looked down at her notes, wondering how much longer to push. Carrie Ann was a
pro. She knew what to say and when to shut up, and she was enjoying herself way too
much. She knew damn well Lily didn’t have a lever to pry loose any actual facts. Sure,
she’d given them a description of the “nice older man” she met at the park, but that
only meant that whoever really had her make the drop looked nothing like the guy she’d
described.

Lily looked up from her notes. “That’s what he said he was doing, right? Setting up
a scavenger hunt for the grandkids. He asked you to leave a Macy’s shopping bag at
the base of the Dutch windmill. He specifically asked you not to look inside.”

“That’s right.”

“He was a white male, about seventy. He had white hair, thick for a man his age. You
don’t remember what he was wearing, but you’re sure you would have noticed if he’d
been in a suit.”

“No one wears suits on Saturday at the park, do they?”

“You think he may have been wearing glasses, but you aren’t sure about that, either.
And you don’t know his name.”

“He must have told me,” she said apologetically, “but I don’t remember it. And I think
the bag was from Macy’s,
but it might have been Nordstrom’s. I shop at both places, and I’m sure it was from
one of them.”

Rule touched Lily’s arm lightly and stood. She glanced up. He’d taken out his phone
and was heading for the door of the office they’d borrowed from one of the local agents.
She looked back at Carrie Ann. “How much do you think the bag weighed?”

“Oh, not too much. Perhaps as much as two or three books?”

“It’s curious that you would think of comparing it to objects made of paper. It did,
in fact, hold paper.”

“Oh?” She said that politely, as if she felt a certain social obligation to express
interest.

“Mmm. Ms. Rucker—”

“Please make it Carrie Ann,” she said warmly.

Lily bared her teeth in something not meant to be mistaken for a smile. “Carrie Ann,
I hope you’ll search your memory carefully. Amazing as it seems, that nice old man
was not arranging a scavenger hunt. As I said, the Bureau takes very little interest
in such things. We do, however, really perk up and pay attention when kidnapping’s
involved.”

The slight widening of her eyes was Carrie Ann’s first unscripted response. She didn’t
like that word, not at all. Whoever told her to make the drop hadn’t given her any
hint it might be ransom money. She recovered quickly, lifting one hand to her throat
and allowing herself to look uncertain. “Kidnapping. Oh, surely not. If one of that
nice old man’s grandchildren was—”

The door opened. “Lily,” Rule said. “They tried for Beth. She’s okay. Murray isn’t.
I need to get there quick.”

Lily shoved her chair back and fixed Rucker with a look. “Stay here.”

One second later, she was out the door and flinging orders at the first face she saw.
“Get me a driver and a car with a siren. Black-and-white or Bureau—whichever’s faster.
I need the car waiting on the street by the time the elevator gets me down there.”

“What—”

“Do it. Now. Bergman!”

The door at the end of the hall opened. The woman’s face creased with annoyance. “You
yelled?”

“They attacked my sister. One of Rule’s people is badly hurt. I’m leaving. Keep someone
on Rucker. Use this attack to shake her loose, if you can.” She flung the last over
her shoulder as she headed for the elevator bank, Rule beside her. “Who called you,”
she asked him, her voice low, “if Murray’s badly hurt?”

“Patrick.”

“Patrick? But—”

“I added him to Beth’s detail while you were questioning Tony. The attackers came
at her in the stairwell of her building—four men, two from above, two from below.
Beth is unharmed. Murray took at least one bullet in the chest. I told Patrick to
call an ambulance. I need to be there. Murray’s not conscious now, but if he survives
long enough for the EMTs to load him, he could wake up.”

“Right.” Badly hurt lupi were dangerous. Murray might Change; he might see any attempt
at help as an attack. Rule could control him. She jabbed the elevator button and thought
about the stairs, but they were on the thirteenth floor. Rule might beat the elevator
down, but she couldn’t. The car she’d ordered probably wouldn’t be there yet, anyway.

Bergman caught up with them. “Is your sister all right?”

“I think so. Four men came for her. Could have been an attempted hit or a snatch,
but my money’s on the latter. Who sends four men to kill a single young woman?” She
looked at Rule. “What happened to the attackers? Was Patrick able to hold on to any
of them?”

“Who’s Patrick?’ Bergman said.

Rule answered Lily, not the other woman. “Two are dead. One escaped. One is alive,
but badly injured.”

Bergman scowled. “Sounds like one hell of a mess. Your sister didn’t repel four men
on her own. Who’s this Patrick?”

“One of Rule’s men.” Lily stabbed the stupid damn
elevator button again and looked at Rule. “Are the locals on the scene yet?”

He looked blank. Rule tended not to think about calling the cops.

“Someone’s probably called it in,” Lily told Bergman as the elevator finally opened.
“At least one shot was fired. Get in touch with the locals. Make sure they’re expecting
me and Rule.” She and Rule stepped into the elevator.

“Wait. What do you mean, he’s one of Rule’s men? Were you expecting something like
this?”

“Not like this, no.” The doors shut on Special Agent Bergman’s frustrated face. Lily
looked at Rule. “You were, though. You sent Patrick.”

“Belt and suspenders,” he said obscurely as the elevator started down. “Lily, the
two dead—Murray took out one, and Patrick got the other. The badly injured one, though,
that was Beth’s doing. Do you want Patrick to take responsibility for him? I need
to let him know.”