New Regime (4 page)

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rune asked the woman, who
appeared to be the leader of the group of Others. “You’ve abducted and tortured
two humans. You have to know you’re dead.”

The woman turned up her lip. “I don’t give a fuck about
these two pieces of human shit. I don’t care about being executed by human
law.”

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Three months ago, my fourteen year old daughter
disappeared. I begged the humans for help. I begged RISC for help.” She glared
at the crew, her hatred so intense it was tangible. “No one bothered to care.
What was one more runaway Other, right?”

Other children weren’t exactly numerous, but each year they
became more common. A few years earlier a runaway Other child might have drawn
more attention.

But now…

“If your child ran away—”

“She
didn’t
run away,” the woman said, her voice
breaking. She composed herself and shielded her emotions behind the cold mask
she must have worn like armor. “She was taken.”

She grabbed a handful of the man’s hair, jerking his head
backward. “He took my girl.” She nodded at the woman beside him. “And
she
took my girl. But no one did a fucking thing. No one investigated, no one asked
questions, no one cared.”

Rune holstered her gun and held her hand out, palm up, to
the woman. “I care.”

The Other laughed, a harsh, hurt sound that Rune had heard
before. It was the sound of an almost total absence of hope. A tiny, tiny spark
remained, but it was tempered by the knowledge that no matter what they needed
or wanted, they were going to be disappointed.

Her laugh told Rune the woman was so desperate and agonized
she would have ended her own life had it not been for that one miniscule spark
of hope.

Hope for her child.

“You don’t have children,” the Other said. “So you can’t
know what it feels like to lose one. I don’t even have the comfort of her
death. I have the constant torment of my daughter being terrified, confused,
and brutalized.” She shook her head. “I have to either save her, or know she
has left this world. Those are my two choices.”

“You should have come to me,” Rune said, her stomach tightening
with pity.

The Other smiled. “I did come to you, Rune Alexander. You
sent me to someone else, who sent me to someone else. None of you did
anything.” She looked at Rune. “You don’t even remember.”

“We fight, ma’am,” Jack said. “We kill. We don’t—”

“Shut up,” the woman said, tiredly. “Here’s what you’re
going to do. You’re going to devote every second to finding my daughter. Start
with these fucks, because they know what happened. They caused it to happen.
When you’ve found her breathing or found her dead, I’ll turn these two loose
and deliver myself for execution.”

“You’ve deprived your daughter of her mother,” Lex said.
“You should have found another way.”

“Just find her,” the woman said. “Then you can judge my
choices.”

“What’s your name?” Rune asked.

“Louisa Smith. My daughter’s name is Megan Smith. Ring a
bell?”

Rune nodded. Yeah, she remembered. But the memory was as
vague and unfinished as the search for Megan Smith had been. “I’m sorry. My
crew and I will use every resource we have to find your daughter.” She pointed
her chin at the two humans. “You don’t have to hold them. We’ll make Megan’s
case a priority.”

“I’ll hold these two anyway,” Louisa said. “You’ll need to
question them, and I’ll need to make sure they hold nothing back. They’re tough
motherfuckers, though. I’d not managed to get much out of them before you
arrived. But together, we’ll rip every truth from them piece by piece, until we
know where my daughter is.”

And as though afraid they might think she was bluffing, she cut
off a piece of the male human’s ear with two quick swipes of her blade, then
dropped the flesh on his already bloody lap.

“Stop, Louisa. No more cutting.” Rune had to speak loudly to
cover the human’s screams. “What led you to these two?”

She knew that no matter what Louisa promised, she wasn’t
letting the two humans live. As soon as she got what she wanted from them, they
were dead.

The crew began to spread out, surreptitiously, slowly. If at
any time one of them got a clean shot, he’d take it—after she let them know it
was okay.

But it wasn’t okay.

The Others were using the humans as shields, blades to their
throats, but that wasn’t the only reason Rune hesitated.

She wanted to help Louisa find the girl, and she did need to
question the humans. There was a story behind the disappearance, and she wanted
to know what it was.

“It’s not only my daughter,” Louisa said. “Other people have
disappeared. Young girls. Others.”

“What?”

Louisa spread her lips in an unamused smile at Rune’s
surprise. “Ask your superiors, Alexander. They know.”

Rune glanced at her crew, but they were clueless. Sure,
there were reported Other disappearances. Just as there were human disappearances.
RISC had done what they could to investigate.

Hadn’t they?

“Tell me about these two,” Rune said, nodding at the humans.

“Two months before Meg’s disappearance, Mrs. Dunbar here
became her music teacher. Meg loved music. She wanted to learn the piano. I
couldn’t afford lessons, but guess what? Our generous human offered to teach
Megan for free.” She paused. “I knew better. I
knew
better. The humans
give us nothing. But Megan wanted it so badly…”

None of the Others with her made a sound. They watched with
blank faces and let Louisa speak for all of them.

They were werefoxes—it’d taken Rune a few minutes to
recognize them, but they all had telltale reddish brown hair with prominent
widow’s peaks and long, narrow, brown eyes. Their features were as sharp as
their crowded rows of teeth.

They also had a scent particular to foxes—it was musky and
somehow darting—there one moment and gone the next.

Foxes weren’t the bravest, or the strongest, or the
scariest. But they were born with the ability to bullshit. Cunning and
quickness were their strengths.

The Dunbars remained silent, probably afraid to speak and
draw swift retribution from one of the foxes.

But Mrs. Dunbar stared at Rune, begging her silently to help
them.

“Megan became withdrawn after she’d been with the Dunbars
for only a couple of weeks. When I pressed, she grew angry and…” Louisa pressed
her lips together, gathering herself before continuing. “We had words. The last
thing I said to her,” she whispered, “was what a fucking spoiled brat she was.”

“She became
withdrawn,
” Mrs. Dunbar said, her anger
giving her courage, “because I let her know that your abuse was wrong.”

“I didn’t abuse my daughter,” Louisa screamed, and both the
Dunbars flinched.

Rune glanced at the female Dunbar. The human was strong and
calm, and nothing in her face made her seem like the type of person who’d harm
a kid. No wonder Megan gravitated to her, if her parents were indeed abusive.

“Did you hit your kid?” Rune asked Louisa.

“Her father and I kept her in line,” Louisa said. “We didn’t
beat her, we disciplined her.” She shook her head, her eyes wild. “And I’m
sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She slid the tip of her knife a little farther into the soft
flesh beneath the male’s jaw. “Tell me who has my baby,” she said. “Tell me or
I swear to God I’ll cut your fucking throat.”

“I don’t know,” he cried. “I told you! I don’t know any
names. Please, oh please…”

“There’s a broker,” Mrs. Dunbar said.

“You sold Megan Smith?” Rune was shocked. She hadn’t
believed the Dunbars were guilty. She wasn’t sure why.

“No, no,” Mrs. Dunbar said. “But we’ve heard talk and we
thought—”

“Shut up, Lorna,” Mr. Dunbar demanded. “Shut up.”

But she’d opened her mouth and there was no going back. The
female Dunbar was giving up. “See the pikes.” She looked at Rune. “The ones
that live in Wormwood. The master is a man named Sean Colley. That’s the only
name we have.”

“Why wouldn’t you just tell?” Louisa asked. “You might have
saved my girl.”

“No,” Mr. Dunbar said. “They don’t come back once the broker
takes them. Never. It would have gotten us killed for nothing.” He managed to
glare at his wife, though one of his eyes was swollen shut. “But we’re dead now
anyway. Your mouth has gotten us killed.”

Louisa shook with the effort to restrain herself, but in the
end she lost that battle as her rage and fear got the best of her.

Her face screwed into a grimace, Louisa pulled the knife tip
free and went for the killing blow.

Rune shot her in the head.

The crew went to work controlling the other foxes, while trying
to keep the humans alive.

If both of them died, the chances of finding Megan got a
little bit slimmer.

Rune knew how Louisa felt, but it wasn’t her job to
sympathize. As the woman lay bleeding on the floor, her body trying to fight
off the silver streaking through her system, Rune dragged the man into a corner
and out of the way.

“Stay down,” she ordered, but needn’t have bothered. He
curled into a fetal position and didn’t move.

Denim tossed Mrs. Dunbar behind a sofa.

The foxes shifted, and the fight was on. One of the foxes
tried to run, aware it was his only chance to live.

If the crew didn’t kill him, the state would.

The crew ended up killing only one of the foxes—a female who
threw herself at Levi, buried her teeth in his neck, and tried to shake the
life from him.

Rune nearly decapitated her with her silver claws. The fox
wasn’t going to heal from that.

It took the crew only a few minutes to neutralize and silver
the Others. They called paramedics to take the humans to the hospital, and
Annex sent transport for the werefoxes.

It had been an unsatisfying encounter, but Louisa Smith had
gotten what she wanted, even if she had failed in her attempt to kill Mr.
Dunbar.

She’d gotten attention where she needed it—on her daughter.

Later, as she strode to Rice’s office, Rune thought the boy,
Epik, must have been one of the pikes. But something was off about him. She
didn’t know what it was, but something wasn’t right.

Bill motioned her into a chair, his brow furrowed, his hair
standing on end. “Sit, Rune. Sit.”

She sat. “What’s wrong?”

He drew in a deep breath and visibly relaxed. “Too many
things going on at once. But that’s nothing new, is it?” He took a noisy slurp
of his coffee, grimaced, and clicked a button. “Alan, could I have a refill,
please? And bring one for Rune.”

“Thanks,” she said. She’d never refuse a coffee. “Did you
see the foxes yet?”

“No, but Elizabeth did.”

“Elizabeth is working?”

“Of course. It’s a tragedy about little Stefanie, but
Elizabeth would rather keep busy than dwell on it.”

“What’s going to happen to George?”

Rice shrugged, his gaze darting to the door. “He woke up
once, but went right back into his…coma, and hasn’t been conscious since.”

That didn’t answer her question. “Will Elizabeth take him if
he recovers?”

“Certainly. But…” He spread his fingers. “It doesn’t look
good for the boy.”

“Who took Fie?”

He took another drink of his coffee, then shoved it away.
“Alan,” he bellowed, then grumbled, “I miss Ellis. He made a good assistant.”

Rune watched him. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Bill?”

He stood. “I don’t have time for questions right now, Rune. There
is too much going on. Another body was discovered, we have those shifters to
deal with, I’m trying to settle into this new place, Eugene is—”

“
Another
nailed body? You just found one.”

He nodded. “Our killer is keeping us busy.”

“And there are no leads?”

He hesitated, and she thought he might have told her
something he hadn’t really planned on telling her, but the slow Alan finally
made an appearance, tray in hand.

“At last,” Bill said. “Sit it there. Yes, there. Perhaps
with practice you’ll learn how to pour a cup of coffee without taking an hour
to do it.” He glared at the hapless Alan. “That’s all.”

Alan was a small, blond man with calm eyes and a ready
smile. “You’re welcome,” he said to Bill, then left the room, shutting the door
gently behind him.

Rune grinned.

Bill sighed. “I need to get back to work, Rune. Take your
coffee with you.”

Rune didn’t move. “I want to investigate Megan’s disappearance.”

His ready agreement made her suspicious. “Of course, of
course. But the emergencies take precedence.”

“Yeah.” She frowned, then stood up and took her coffee. “Are
you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Rune. Thank you.”

But she could see the difference in him, and that difference
wasn’t just physical. His withdrawal was obvious. Since the Annex, Bill Rice
had closed himself off. At least to her.

She still had Elizabeth. Elizabeth would keep her updated on
the serial killer, the memory wiped shifters, and the werefoxes. Rune would
also have to go to her for whatever they had on Megan Smith.

And maybe Elizabeth would be more forthcoming about who the
hell had taken Fie.

“She’s in a psychiatric hospital,” was all Elizabeth would
say. “She’ll be well cared for.”

“What exactly did she do?” Rune asked. “How did she…”

“Try to kill George?”

Rune shrugged. “Yeah.”

Elizabeth hesitated, then took off her reading glasses and
sat them carefully on her desk. She arranged them just so. “I’ve never seen
anything like it. She leaned over his face, opened her mouth, and began to suck
the life from him.”

Rune pressed her fist into her stomach. “Shit.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I don’t know what she is or what all she’s
capable of. We know about the necromancy, but this…” She shook her head. “We
don’t know.”

“Can you visit her?”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and picked up her
glasses. “No. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an enormous amount of work to
do.”

Rune stood. “Elizabeth, can I get the file on Megan Smith?”

“Of course. There isn’t much there, though. I had a look
after you brought in the foxes.” She peered into her computer monitor and began
typing. “I’ll make it available for you. You’ll need your password.”

“Thanks.”

She left Elizabeth’s office, her mind on the foxes. She’d pay
a visit to the Dunbars and then she’d read Megan’s file. She was pretty sure
that Louisa’s need for blood had interrupted a lot more information from
Megan’s piano teacher, and she meant to get it.

But when she arrived at the hospital, the cops inside Mrs.
Dunbar’s room informed her the Dunbars were dead.

Mr. Dunbar had been right.

His wife’s mouth had gotten them killed.