Charlotte Boyett-Compo- Wyndsheer (5 page)

Spence nodded. “Unh huh,” he said, casting his deputy a knowing look.

“Listen, just have the Beaufort woman signal him,” Wendt said. “I know she’s out there and if he can help us find her ….”

“I ain’t saying he will,” the sheriff stated.

“I’ll make the son of a bitch help us,” Wendt snarled.

“Easier said than done,” the deputy said with a snort. “You don’t know him like we do.”

“If she somehow made it to his place, would he take care of her?” Hobart asked.

“He’d damned well better have!” Wendt proclaimed. “If he’s hurt her or ….”

“Cody!” Wendt’s partner cautioned in a firm voice.

Wendt’s hands were clenched into fists and he turned away, his face dark with anger.

“If she could be moved Mac would have brought her down if he found her,” Sheriff Spence said. “If she couldn’t be moved, he’d have come down to get help. Considering it’s been four days now since you found the wreckage and we ain’t heard from him, that tells me he ain’t seen hide nor hair of her.”

“You think he knows about the crash?” Hobart inquired.

“Mister, don’t nothing happen on this side of mountain that he ain’t aware of,” Spence answered. “Now across Aonair Ridge, that’s another matter. I ain’t never known him to go trekking over that way.”

“That ain’t to say he hasn’t,” Deputy Tolliver commented. “And he’ll be the best one to take you there since he can read tracks and signs like the rest of his kind.”

“His kind?” Wendt asked, pouncing on the statement.

“Mac is a Lycant,” Spence said softly, lips twitching as he waited for the reaction to his revelation.

“Oh, hell,” Hobart grumbled.

“And you people tolerate him living near you?” Wendt demanded.

“He don’t bother us and we leave him the hell alone,” the sheriff said.

“Is he a full-blood?” Hobart queried, glancing at Wendt.

“He is,” Spence said then leaned forward in his chair. “You still want us to run up that flag?”

Wendt narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. I’ve got a box of silver bullets in the trunk of my car with the bastard’s name on them if he tries something with us!”

The sheriff and his deputy laughed and shook their heads then Spence ordered Tolliver to have Mrs. Beaufort hoist the signal.

“You find what I said funny?” Wendt sneered after the deputy left the room.

Sheriff Spence got to his feet and hitched up his gun belt. He reached for his hat before he spoke. “Let me give you a bit of advice, Agent Wendt,” he said, staring the other man in the eye. “You may have had contact with others of his kind, but I would venture to say you’ve never encountered a full-blooded Lycant warrior and that is precisely what Mac is. You go popping him with one of your magic bullets and all you’re gonna do is piss him off and believe me when I tell you that you really don’t want to do that.”

“I’m not afraid of a damned Lycant,” Wendt stated.

The sheriff’s smile was nasty. “You ain’t met Jamie MacGivern.”

Wendt snorted. “Let’s go, Jake.”

Once out of the sheriff’s hearing, Wendt ordered his partner to find out everything he could about James MacGivern.

“See if he was ever brought in for conditioning,” Wendt stressed.

Hobart released a long breath. “We’d better hope he was.”

* * * *

“He’s gonna be madder than a cornered wolverine if he comes down here and there ain’t no money waiting for him,” Elspeth Beaufort complained to Tolliver. “You best go tell Ollie to have his wrinkled ass handy to explain to Mac why I put that flag up.”

“The sheriff will handle it, Elspeth,” Tolliver assured her.

“I’m just saying,” Elspeth told him with a sniff. “He’s gonna be ticked.”

“Mac ain’t gonna be happy when them government men ask him to guide ‘em to the other side of the Ridge, anyway,” Tolliver suggested.

The old woman waved a dismissive hand. “That there woman they’re looking for done went over the ledge and won’t ever be found,” Elspeth put in. “Mac’ll tell ‘em the same.”

Tolliver reached for a package of cookies then dug into his pocket for his money, shelling the coins out on the counter where they made a hollow plinking sound on the top. “Well, we won’t have to worry ‘bout it until tomorrow, even if he sees the flag today.”

“You tell Ollie to be here bright and early!” Elspeth ordered.

The old woman pulled her heavy wool sweater around her frail shoulders and watched the deputy saunter out of her general store. She walked to the window and looked out at the gray, gloomy day that threatened to erupt into even more rain. The environs around the little town at the base of Mount Piseog were nothing more than bogs as it was, the lone paved street covered with mud from the continual slides flowing down from the Pionós Mountain range.

Lamb’s Grove--population less than fifty--didn’t get many visitors for it was tucked into a side of Mount Piseog that was not easy to reach. The occasional mountain climber might find his or her way to the rustic village, but since there were no restaurants or inns, no souvenir shops or outfitting establishments, hikers didn’t stay long in town. With the search teams and government agents roaming around, the residents had seen more outsiders in the last four days than they’d seen in an entire year.

“And I’ll be glad when they get their wide loads outta here,” Elspeth complained as she watched a group of three searchers walking past her store.

“How many are there?”

The old woman yelped and jumped, spinning around with her eyes wide to plaster herself to the door of her shop. She hadn’t heard a sound and that infuriated her.

“God damn it, boy, don’t you sneak up on me like that!” she complained, her hand trembling as she clutched the sweater front. “You trying to give me a heart attack?”

“How many?”

She moved aside as he came to join her.

“Ten,” she replied. She narrowed her eyes. “You must have been on your way down before I ran that flag up.”

“What do they want me for?” Jamie asked as he stared out the window at the strangers.

“There’s a woman missing from that plane crash up near Lurcher’s Point,” she replied. “They think you can help ‘em find her.”

“She went over the ledge,” he said then moved away from the window.

“That’s what we’ve told them but they don’t listen,” she complained. “You know how government people can be.”

“Only too well,” he acknowledged as he went to the counter.

Elspeth nodded, spying a rucksack on the counter that hadn’t been there before. “I know you do.”

“I know damned well they’ve covered every inch of the Point,” he said as the old woman opened the rucksack. “Where the hell do they want to look now?”

“Across the Ridge,” she told him and when he arched one dark brow, she shrugged. “They’re government men, Mac, and they don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground.”

A slight twitch of his lips was all that generally passed for a smile from the Lycant.

“You gonna guide ‘em over that way?” she inquired as she reached inside the canvas bag.

“Why not?” he responded. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Elspeth’s hand closed around a wooden carving and when she brought it out, she whistled. “Lordy be, Mac. This is something else!”

He glanced at the carving of two naked lovers standing entwined in a passionate embrace then looked away. “What can I say? I was horny.”

The old woman looked up from the carving with sad eyes. “You need a woman, son,” she said. “A mate.”

“How much do you think Wilson will pay me for the two of them?” he inquired.

Elspeth blinked. “There’s another one?” she asked, setting the first carving down to rummage in the rucksack for the second. When she pulled the other one out, she drew in a quick breath then slowly leveled her gaze on her visitor. “Mac?”

“Put them away,” he said. “You’re about to have visitors.”

Stuffing the carvings into the rucksack, the old woman barely had the canvas bag under the counter when the bell over the door rang and the two government men walked in. “What can I do for you, gents?” she asked, keenly aware of Jamie turning to leaned his elbows on her counter as he surveyed the newcomers.

Cody Wendt knew immediately who the man was at the counter. His nose wrinkled with distaste and his hand went to the holster slung around his shoulder as though he expected MacGivern to attack.

Jamie snorted at the implied threat. “Not the best way to win friends and influence enemies, G-man,” he quipped.

Wendt ignored the snide remark. His attention was glued to the large hunting knife strapped to the other man’s left thigh. “Raise your hands then turn around and put your palms flat on the counter where I can see them,” he hissed.

Slowly, Jamie lifted his hands out to the side and up--the front of the leather bomber jacket he wore splaying open--then casually turned around. The look he gave Elspeth as their eyes met was as cold as the snows that dusted the higher elevations of the Pionós in winter and caused the old woman to shiver. When he lowered his hands to the counter, she saw a tick flexing his jaw.

“Frisk him,” Wendt ordered his partner.

Hobart moved in quickly, reached around the Lycant and confiscated his knife, tossed it to Wendt and then with practiced ease ran his hands over Jamie’s shoulders, along his arms then began patting his sides and hips and legs. “He’s clean,” he said, stepping back.

“This is a helluva weapon,” Wendt observed, staring at the deadly black tungsten blade. The cutting edge was deeply serrated and looked razor-sharp. The tip was curved upward, the carved bone handle curled down and no doubt made to fit only one man’s grip. “This is an assassin’s blade.”

Jamie shrugged indifferently.

“Turn around. Slowly.”

Doing as he was ordered, Jamie kept his hands up and in sight, having no intention of giving the federal agent a reason to draw on him.

“We need a guide,” Wendt said, handing the blade to Hobart.

“You need a lot of things,” Jamie said. “Manners being right at the top of the list.”

Wendt took a few steps forward, his face a mask of anger. “I know all about you, MacGivern,” he said.

“Then you know I don’t suffer stupidity very well,” Jamie told him. “If you want my help--which you don’t need, by the way--you’d better find a way to ask nicely or I’ll turn around and walk right out of here.”

Before his partner could explode into a fit of fury, Hobart stepped between them. “Why don’t we need your help?” he asked.

Jamie shifted his frigid stare to Hobart. “From everything I’ve heard the woman you’re looking for went over the ledge. If that’s the case, you’ll never find her body in the river.”

“I don’t believe that,” Wendt snarled. He raked a hand through his thinning blond hair. “Not for a fucking minute do I believe my Ally is dead!”

A strange look entered the Lycant’s eyes, but he said nothing to the outburst.

“Why don’t you take a walk, Cody,” Hobart said, “and let me handle this.” He put a comforting hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Go on. Take a breather.”

Wendt’s lips thinned but he spun around and stormed out of the store, his heavy tread making the bell over the jingle before he ever jerked the door open.

“He and Allison have been friends since they were at the University of Corinth together,” Hobart said in way of explanation for Wendt’s behavior. “He’s worried sick about her.”

“He’s in love with her,” Jamie stated, folding his arms over his chest, a hard gleam in his pale eyes.

Hobart frowned. “I wouldn’t go that far. Allison has a husband waiting for her and we’d like something concrete to tell him about her disappearance.”

Jamie stiffened. “She was married?”

“Twelve years,” Hobart replied. He stepped forward and extended the dagger to the Lycant, who took it without a word of thanks and shoved it into the sheath at his thigh.

“Married women ought not to be Federal agents,” Elspeth chimed in.

Jamie glanced at her, his eyes narrowed.

“I know we got off on the wrong foot, MacGivern but ….” Hobart began but Jamie made a rude sound, cutting him off.

“You checked my record so you know I spent time in Draeton,” the Lycant snapped. “You also know I have no love for the government for what they did to me.”

“It isn’t the government you’d be helping here,” Hobart told him. “It would be a good woman who just happens to be a highly-decorated lawwoman.”

Jamie stared at Hobart for a long moment then turned away. “It’s too late in the day to start up the mountain. I’ll get my gear and meet you back here at dawn. If you aren’t ready to go then, I’ll leave your ass behind.” He brushed past Hobart and skirted the counter, leaving by the same rear door he’d entered.

“You’d best tread carefully around him, Mister,” Elspeth told the government man. “They hurt him bad at Draeton and your partner has already brought out the mean pup in him. You really don’t want to get a look at the mad wolf.”

Hobart acknowledged the old woman’s words with a slight nod.

When she was the only one in her store, Elspeth reached under the counter and pulled out the rucksack. From it she took the second carving Jamie MacGivern had done and she stared intently at the rendering. It was of a man lying beside a woman, his knee crooked between her spread legs, a hand on her breast, his face buried in her neck, but it did not take a genius to realize the man was Mac and the old woman had no doubt the woman was the missing federal agent.

“What have you done, Mac?” she asked, her arthritic fingers tracing the smooth leg of the reclining male. “What have you gone and done?”

* * * *

On his way back up the mountain, Jamie knew he was being trailed but paid no attention to the clumsy attempts of those following to keep him in sight. He would shake them when he needed to, for the man on his trail was as inept as they came. Besides, he had other things more pressing on his mind.

His thoughts were on Mairi--or Allison as the fed had called her. He didn’t like that name and shook it aside. Mairi suited her better.

He didn’t like the idea that there was another man in her life, though he had suspected there had to be. He hadn’t used his vast powers to question her but he would as soon as he got back to the cabin. He hadn’t wanted to know about her past, but upon learning she hadn’t been the prisoner he thought her to be, but rather the lawman he knew he had to discover all he could about her.