Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury (28 page)

She bared her teeth and tensed. It was time to end this. She was definitely outnumbered. "Go to
hell.”

"You firssst." He reared back suddenly and she moved, narrowly avoiding the strike as she leaped backward. She turned and bounced her front legs off the cliff face and ran…harder and faster than she ever had in her life. She had to get back to the truck to call Will. She couldn't afford to fail. Cara didn't have to wonder if the snake was following because she could feel his hot breath on her heels and stinging magic try to hold her in place. She had to pick up her feet quickly to avoid his fangs and prayed that he couldn't jump into a strike while slithering. Faster and harder she pounded over the rocks, not caring about the branches that slapped her face, and the cactus that embedded in her paws. Nothing she tried seemed to be an obstacle for the snake. He flowed over the tallest boulders and skirted the trickiest corners. And with each movement, she had to fight against the web of magic he threw forward like a net, trying to slow her enough to grab her with his teeth. She was weakening and there was still the hill to climb. But when she spotted the truck, she realized Yolanda was standing outside next to it, scanning the valley with the binoculars.
Damn it!
She didn't dare scream a warning, since only silence had allowed her to get this far without alerting the birds. Thankfully, the snake didn't want their help, or she'd already be caught.

On her first leap up the hillside, she felt the rocks under her give way. She scrambled for purchase and felt a moment of panic before her claws dug in. Adrenaline flooded her body and she felt a sudden burst of reserve strength, like a second wind, that pushed her forward even faster. She climbed hard, doing her best to push as many rocks as she could down behind her to slow the snake. When she heard a sharp swear in Spanish, she knew she'd hit him with at least one. Finally, she saw Yolanda's gaze turn toward them and her friend froze, watching as the massive rattlesnake followed her up the hill. She had to lead the snake away from her friend, but there was no time to shift direction because the snake could see the truck as easily as she could. He might decide a hostage would be a good bargaining chip. Instead, she called on everything in her, forcing her muscles into a blur of movement until she pulled away from the rattler.

She leaped over the top of the slight overhang where they'd parked and issued a command to Yolanda who was surrounded by a cloud of ammonia-scented panic. "Go, go, go, go! I'll keep him busy!”

Dropping the binoculars, her friend obeyed with wide eyes and frantic movements—just managing to get in the truck and close the door before the snake whizzed over the top of the hill. Cara risked a glance behind her. Her pursuer put on his own burst of speed and, now that he was on level ground, caught up to her when she looked. He threw himself forward and tripped her, sending her into a tumble that would have her pulling rocks from under her skin for a week, if she survived at all. She wound up smashing headfirst into the trunk of an old live oak, hard enough to send leaves scattering down into her face.

"And now, wolf beetch, you're going to tell me everything I want to know.”

She shook her head, trying desperately to clear it from the pain and fuzz. The snake was poised over her, smelling of dark glee, his fangs already showing a drop of venom at the tip. Sazi venom could easily paralyze, or even kill, her. And from what she'd heard in Wolven, a skilled snake could inflict a slow, painful enough torture that other agents had revealed every secret in their head.
Shit!
She struggled to stand but there was no room to get her feet under her and her legs weren't working right from the tumbling fall. He was going to torture her. Her mind worked frantically while the snake flicked his tongue and waved his upper body in triumph, readying for the first strike. A wild thought crossed her mind.
What if he can't bite me?

As pack leader, she could hold her wolves from changing on the moon, in case they were in danger of being seen. She could also use her magic to call them back from their fur. Could that work here? She concentrated, forcing every ounce of her will, every bit of her remaining strength, into a single ball of energy inside her. Then, when the snake reared backward, she sent it forward, striking the snake in the chest. She didn't know what he looked like as a man, so she concentrated on the
shape
of a human and pressed a violent wave of magic in and through the snake, forcing him to shift back. He wasn't expecting an attack like that and couldn't counteract it fast enough. He shifted to human, revealing a slender clean-shaven Latino man with nutty brown skin and nearly golden eyes. He rested on his hips, his limbs flopping uselessly. She knew the arm and leg bones hadn't yet hardened after the transformation from cartilage. It was something she learned while sparring with Agent Mbutu. The snake was now both at his most vulnerable, and his most dangerous. He could use each limb like a separate snake, wrapping them to choke or crush. She memorized his face in the brief moment she knew she had before he could orient himself to shift again. He had a number of healing scars on his torso, reinforcing that he and the birds weren't getting along too well. But then she noticed a black tattoo on his inner forearm. It was in the shape of a triangle with wings, with a wavy line cutting down through the center.

He laughed, his voice deeper than in his snake form. "That was a useless waste of energy,
muchacha.
And one I weel make certain you pay for.”

The growing roar of panic in her head as he prepared to shift turned out not to be in her head at all. The man quickly twisted his head until it was completely around like a scene from a bad horror movie. A burst of surprised scent rose into the air, followed by ammonia panic, just before he started to slither away from her. Too exhausted to move, all Cara could do was close her eyes and brace herself as a sparkling chrome truck bumper came racing toward them at breakneck speed.
19

Adam could only stare into the hole in the paneling with increasing fury. Pinned all over the walls were photos of girls—dozens of them—some who appeared to be as young as twelve. None of them looked happy. In fact, most of them had a look of abject terror on their face. Lucas tapped his shoulder.

"Move that light to the left, over by the file cabinet." He did so, but Lucas pointed up to about head level on the wall. "A little higher.”

Adam realized just where he was supposed to stop, because when he reached the right spot, he paused, his mouth suddenly dry. For there on the wall were two photos he recognized. One was of Jennifer, Tommy and Jill's fifteen-year-old daughter. And the other—

Lucas's voice sounded as angry as the scent that rose from him in a choking cloud, mixed with the sharp, sour scent of disbelief. "Now, what in the hell would the pack leader in Minnesota be doing with a photograph of
Ziri
on his wall?”

"I don't know," Adam said through gritted teeth, "But I think we need to find out. Let's get down to the pack clinic and wake that bastard up.”

Lucas nodded thoughtfully, tapping his fingers on the edge of the ripped paneling. "First, I think we need to find out the scope of what we're dealing with here. Let's get this out of the way so we can get inside. Since the computer is just on hibernate, we might get lucky and not need a password to get to the files. All we really need is a couple reams of paper and we can have
specifics
to confront him with.”

Adam stood and backed away from the wall. "I can handle that. We just bought a bunch of new office supplies before I left. They're in the storage room in the basement." He motioned toward his brother and then toward the hole in the wall. "How about you take care of getting this paneling out of the way while I'm downstairs? Lucas, can you—" He snapped his mouth shut, realizing he'd just about ordered the Wolven chief around like one of his pack members. Lucas wore a bemused expression, rather than an angry one, and the caramelized coffee scent of his anger had a brief touch of citrus.

"No, that's fine. Wolven's role is to be an asset to local packs affected by crimes. What would you like me to do …
Alpha?”

A slow deep breath blew between Adam's lips with the startling realization that he
was
the Alpha now. Whether he stayed here or went back to Texas, he was the Alpha Male of a pack, and it felt really
good.
"It's just that everything is happening so damned fast. This is a major crime scene, but I can't call any of the people I normally would to help. Could you …would you
mind
taking some photos of this room before we touch anything? I want credible, untouchable evidence to prosecute his ass before the council. We have some good photo equipment in the cabinet in the reception, if it wasn't destroyed in the battle.”

Lucas nodded and waved a hand toward the hole in the wall, and the photos beyond with a disgusted look on his face. "Consider it done. You might also consider checking any of the other computers in the building for signs of…
this
sort of crap.”

"Will do." Adam raced from the room and the sound of splintering wood followed him down the stairs at the end of the hallway. Just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he suddenly felt dizzy again, his head swimming and vision fuzzy. He paused and put one hand on the wall to steady himself as a wave of fatigue overcame him in a flash. It passed quickly, but his heart started pounding and he had to struggle to breathe for a moment.
Wow, what was that?

Shaking it off, he walked down the short hallway to the storage room. He had to look around twice before he found any supplies. Nearly all of the items he'd put down here personally just a few short days ago were missing.

"Yah, there are definitely going to be some changes around here." The words were said almost under his breath as he picked up two reams of laser paper, but they were no less true for having no other ear to hear them. He shook his head and turned out the light.

Halfway up the staircase, his vision narrowed and his heart started to pound in his temples again. This time a sensation of fear accompanied the fatigue, as though from a distance, and a feeling of desperation panicked him.

But why am I panicking?
Could he be getting some residual visions from being attached to Jill?

He felt his eyes go wide and his breath come in short pants as the reams of paper dropped out of his arms onto the stairs, splitting open and raining paper down to the bottom. He clutched at the slender wooden handrail and tried to call out to the others. But no words would come as fear became terror so great it seized his throat.

Oh, Yo …no please …you wouldn't!
Adam couldn't figure out what the thought even meant, and though he struggled to keep his grip on reality, he felt a tearing sensation deep inside his stomach that was both painful and pleasurable. A swell of powerful emotions—anger, fear, hate, and something even stronger engulfed him just before every bit of his energy was pulled forcibly from his body. A grunt escaped him like something impacted his chest, and the same something then lifted him and threw him through the air. He felt himself falling and knew there was nothing to be done. Strangely, though, as pain filled his body and the world went black, part of his brain accepted the sensation as good and right. It was nearly dark when David held out another stack of papers, still warm from the laser printer. Adam absently tucked them under the pile already in his lap with an incredulous shake of his head that shot pain through his forehead.

He must have winced, because Lucas looked him over critically. "Adam, you look like crap after that fall. You doing okay?”

Adam nodded and took a deep breath, feeling a dull ache radiate through his ribs. It reminded him of getting the flu when he was ten. Every muscle and joint felt stiff and sore. He moved his hand to the back of his neck to rub away a little of the tension. "Marginal. I still feel like a truck hit me. I haven't blacked out like that since I worked a triple shift during a hostage standoff…probably a decade ago.”

David stood up and stretched his back, which shifted his shirt enough for Adam to finally see the series of deep bruises that covered his torso. "You're damned lucky you didn't break your neck, tumbling down the stairs like that.”

He shrugged. "I'll heal. Let's just finish this up before I get so tired I forget to be pissed. What in the hell did Josef think he was doing?" Each page he scanned was worse than the previous one. Lucas ran fingers through his hair in frustration. His voice held the same furious astonishment that Adam was feeling. "And how many fucking years has this been going
on?
How could he have hidden an operation of this magnitude from
everyone?”
He turned glowing golden eyes to them and lashed out with magic, causing the bulb in the table lamp to flare momentarily. Adam braced for pain, but it stopped just short of hitting either he or David.

"I swear to you there was no
hint
of this, Lucas. You already questioned everybody who showed up at the meeting tonight and nobody lied. We have to face the facts …none of us—the council included—ever conceived that Josef was capable of running a child slavery ring over the Internet. But it does explain why he was willing to use the pack to kill Bobby and Tony when they came knocking.”

David tapped another series of keys and the printer started to spit out pages again. "And it explains why he had to get rid of you, too, Adam. Having the council pay attention to our pack meant his every move was being watched. He had to get attention away from himself. Killing you and starting an investigation down there would have done it.”

Now Lucas started to tap his fingers heavily on the wooden chair arm, nodding in agreement, the scent of his anger no less, but now other emotions added to it. "It's those two pictures that make me wonder most, though. Jennifer said Josef had never spoken a word to her when her parents weren't present. She didn't attend pack meetings and, while she was starting to show symptoms of turning, she hadn't had her first change yet. Was she just
a potential
target? Did he change his mind when she started to smell of fur? And how did he get a picture of Ziri when all that just happened?”