Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury (29 page)

David's voice held frustration when he turned away from the computer screen that had been hurriedly moved from the secret room to the desk here. "I haven't been able to break the password on his Internet e-mail yet, and he hasn't used any of our pack accounts for this …business. I'm wondering if he might be trying that new trick that some of the terrorists are using. There aren't any e-mails sent between the parties. They just
start
an e-mail and save it as a draft. Then the other people log on with the same username and make their additions to the information before saving it again. Since the e-mail is never sent, there's nothing to trace—no partners or contacts to find and without the password, or a court order to open the account, we're screwed.”

Adam added his thoughts to the mess after picking another slice of pizza out of the box and taking a bite. A black olive slice dropped off the crust onto the top page and he tossed it in the box with the others. "Even worse, there's no way of knowing if Josef is supposed to log on at a specific time to keep the ball rolling. We might be risking sending his contacts scurrying by taking the time to read all this." He picked off a couple more olives and then finished the slice in three bites. Supreme wasn't his favorite, but he hadn't been the one paying.

Lucas sighed. "There's no helping that. Tony called from the hospital. He wasn't able to find a thing. Josef is still in the deep coma the healer put him in, so there's no mind to
touch
right now." He paused to flip the edges of the growing stack of papers and then motioned for Adam to pass over the pizza box. "We've got better code-breaking software at headquarters. I'll get someone there to start on the e-mail account." Opening a new bottle of water, the elder wolf took a long drink before taking the last slice, then looked Adam from head to toe while he chewed. "We might as well call it a night and start again in the morning.”

Adam picked up the stack of papers, stood, and deposited them on the desk in front of Lucas, fighting off a yawn. "How do you want to secure the scene? We can't just let pack members wander through here. And everybody has a key to the place.”

Lucas nodded. "I'll be staying here. I don't really plan to sleep, but the couch in the rec room folds out if it comes to it. That'll do, and I'll know immediately if anyone comes in. But I want to get as much information as I can tonight. Charles is pulling the council together for a conference call in the morning, so I can bring them up-to-date. You guys go ahead and take off. Oh, and try again to get hold of Cara before you hit the sack, Adam. I'm a little worried she hasn't returned any of our calls. Not even the
official
ones David left at her work number, pretending to need information on an active case.”

He nodded, trying not to let on just how worried he really was at her silence. Adam knew logically that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but something was chewing at the back of his mind. It was probably just his imagination, but he had the feeling something had gone very wrong today.

It wasn't until he and David were walking to the truck to go home that his brother commented on it. There was no particular scent attached to the question, and he kept his voice carefully neutral. "You're worried about her, aren't you?”

Other than his mother, his brother was the one most likely to spot a lie. But an acknowledgment wouldn't hurt. He looked up at the starred sky as he opened the door. They weren't as bright as down there. It was something he'd noticed when he was hunting the deer. He shrugged. "She's tough. I'm sure she's fine.”

"It's a damned slippery slope.”

He didn't comment further, so Adam turned to him after they were both in the cab and buckled up. "What is?”

David started the truck and turned on the headlights. "It was during that three-alarm fire last fall for me." Adam looked at his brother questioningly as they turned out of the parking lot. He'd just opened his mouth to ask, when David continued. "I knew Bonnie was on shift that night, and when I started to hear calls for ambulances—" He paused and stepped harder on the accelerator to bring them up to speed on the road. "I know a bunch of guys at the firehouse…shit, I have friends in
three
firehouses, don'tcha know. But I was only listening for
one
name on the box when they reported the roof collapsed." He turned his head after they were stopped at the red light and had a small smile on his face. "Her hair still smelled like smoke when I asked her out on a
real
date the next day. Like I say …slippery slope, bro.”

Adam couldn't think of any response, other than, "Fer sure."

20

Cara moaned and moved the flexible white ice pack to a different bruise, letting the cold seep into her skin to numb it. The timer flicked on the porch light and Yolanda reached over to turn on the lamp next to her feet. She moved her legs on the couch slightly in automatic response and winced.

¡Madre de Dios!
Even her
toes
hurt!

"Do you want me to put some more ice in a sandwich bag or something? The doctor said it would help with the swelling. Or will they all be healed before I could make it back from the kitchen? It's just fricking
weird
to see bruises disappearing while I watch.”

She opened her mouth to reply, and felt the side of her lip split again—then glared at her friend, who hadn't been much of a friend today. "I cannot
believe
you actually hit me with my own truck!”

Yolanda waved her finger in a teasing way, even though she smelled contrite. "Ah-ah-ah. A goat butted you
into
the truck. Don't screw up the story. And I hit you to save your life. You might have bruises—”

She raised a finger, her eyes still closed as she tried desperately not to breathe deeply. "And cracked ribs. Don't forget about the cracked ribs, because I sure can't.”

"But,"
Yolanda continued strongly enough to make her open her eyes. "You are not snake bit…or dead.”

Cara heard a noise on the front porch and tried to sit up, but Yo waved her back and peeked out behind the curtain cautiously with her hand resting lightly on the grip of her sidearm. She turned her head and spoke in a normal voice. "It's cool. Will's back." She walked to the door and let him in before returning to sit down in the old wooden rocking chair with a low, pitched creak. Will looked down at Cara over the back of the couch. There was concern in his scent, despite the blank, professional look on his face. "You're looking a little better. That gash on your forehead is nearly healed. We can probably cut those stitches out any time." Then he turned to Yolanda.
"This
is why we don't go to doctors. Don't ever do that again.”

Yo shrugged and then shook her head. "Well, when Cara told me you guys heal really quick, I was sort of thinking
days,
not minutes. I mean, I couldn't just leave her out in that field, and broken bones with blood means the hospital in my own sad experience.”

He snorted. "You're just damned lucky they took so long to get to you and she woke up before they started doing too many tests." Will reached down and gripped Cara's chin, turning her face into the light. The movement sent sharp bolts of pain through her eyes and she reached up to swat away his hand.

"Fortunately, other than the cut, which is going to take some fast talking when you go into work tomorrow, the rest of it you can fake by just moving slow and wincing from time to time for a few days. And if you forget, people will just think you're playing tough.”

"Yeah, yeah. I'll heal. Let's all hear it for the amazing Sazi healer. Everybody just ignore the fact I got run over by a freaking
truck
today." She shook her head slightly, winced again, and moved the ice pack to another bruise. But it had warmed to room temperature so she tossed it on the coffee table with a small noise of frustration. "So, enough about me. What did you find out over there?”

Will hooked his thumb at her while looking at Yolanda. "She always this grumpy when she's hurt?”

Yolanda rolled her eyes and smelled of equal parts of amusement and frustration.
"Chingada!

You have no idea. Ever since kindergarten, when she fell off the swing.”

Cara nearly laughed, but kept a small amount of annoyance in her voice so she wouldn't totally lose the battle of feeling sorry for herself. "You mean, ever since you
pushed me
off the swing.”

Now Yo let out a small chuckle and pursed her lips lightly. "Eh, pushed…fell. You only got a scraped knee and still went whining to the teacher. Wuss. Besides,
you
were the one who said Sazi were

'ruthless, but efficient,' if I remember." She raised her fingers to put imaginary quotes around the words.

"Using the truck was
both.
I mean, it was a fricking
rattlesnake
the size of an anaconda about to bite you! Well, at least until you turned it human again. But it was too late to stop the truck by then. After all,
I'm
only human.”

Will finally gave in and laughed and Cara did the same. She was actually really proud of her friend. It had taken a lot of guts to intentionally aim a speeding vehicle at her best friend,
and
superior officer, without having any idea what the result would be. She turned her eyes to Will. "Did you find any sign of him? Yo says he took off when she shot him in the shoulder as she was getting me into the truck. And what about the birds?”

"Wish I had better news." He leaned back into the plush, brightly colored pillows on the chair. He nodded his chin toward Yolanda but kept his eyes on her and laced his fingers together over his chest. "I found the spot where Yo shot him, but lost the trail when he made it to the rocks. He deliberately started moving through the junipers to hide his trail. Nice job on getting off a shot, by the way. That's no easy thing with an alpha Sazi." He raised his brows with a small smile while Yolanda preened, kissing and waving to an imaginary audience. "I got some blood samples that I'll give to Bobby for testing when he gets here. We might be able to match him, if he's known in our files. Same with the composite of his face and that tattoo.”

He must have noticed Cara's curious expression and scent, because he elaborated. "Bobby and his partner are on their way down here, according to Lucas. They'll be here tomorrow. Oh, and they've been trying to reach you all day. It's why Lucas finally called me to come check on you. I know you said your cell phone got busted up during the accident, but you might want to call Adam, so he knows you're okay. I just talked to Lucas on my way over here. There's all sorts of weird shit going on up there and a lot of it has to do with what's going on down
here.”

"Such as?”

He just shook his head. "Call Adam. He knows more than me, and I don't want to mess it up. Anyway, the hog carcass was still there, but other than a few feathers, that's
all
that was there. They broke camp and took the van, but managed to scatter the tire marks with mesquite, so I couldn't even track them. I found evidence of six separate birds, including the two original owls and eagle, so you were right about that. But no snake, other than a few scales on the rocks. But one of the things that concerns me is I found a pair of blue jeans, girls' size six, plus a striped T-shirt. They matched the description of that AMBER Alert that came over the wire yesterday.”

Cara felt her heart still for a moment and Yolanda gasped. "You don't think the birds—" She couldn't even finish. It was one thing to kill and eat those men, but…a
little girl?

Will's expression darkened. "I don't know
what
to think. It might be coincidence, but I should at least tell you—" He glanced at Yolanda for a long moment, and Cara could tell he was trying to decide whether to trust her. Finally he let out a small trill and the metallic scent of determination rose from him,

"And this information is every bit as secret as the existence of the Sazi—" She'd already proven she could keep the secret for decades, without letting even Cara's own pack know, and she was a fellow cop. Yolanda nodded and zipped fingers across her lips. Will nodded and continued gravely. "But Lucas and Adam discovered that the pack leader up in Minneapolis was involved in some sort of child slavery ring

—and it's tied to this area.”

Cara's head dropped back onto the pillow wearily. "Oh
fuck!
So, now what do we—”

The telephone jangled in the kitchen suddenly and she let it ring once, trying to decide whether to drag her body up to go answer it. As it started to ring a second time, she sighed and pushed herself to a sitting position.

"Don't. I'll bring it to you." Yolanda touched her shoulder and stood, then quickly walked into the kitchen and answered it before it had finished ringing a third time. "Hello?" A pause, and then, "No, I'm a friend of hers. Hang on.”

She walked out of the kitchen holding the portable and passed it to her, mouthing the word, Adam. Cara took the phone and felt a fluttering in her stomach as she put it up to her ear. But she noticed Will motioning to her for the phone, so she passed it to him first, almost relieved.

"Adam? It's Cloudsfall. Hey, I talked to Lucas a bit ago. Really sorry to hear what happened up there. Hang in there, bud." He paused to listen, but the central air unit picked that moment to kick in, and the sound of the fan drowned out Adam's reply. "No, I haven't told her anything yet." Another pause, this time accompanied by a slight smile. "Yeah, well…I'll let
her
tell you about what happened. She's fine

…mostly. She'll heal. Here, hang on a minute.”

Will passed the phone back to her and then looked up at Yolanda. "How about I give you a ride back to the office so you can pick up your car? We'll let them
chat.”

Yo nodded and picked up her soda from the table. "Yeah, I really need to get back, now that I know you're going to be okay. We'll talk in the morning, huh?”

Cara nodded and waited, with her hand over the mouthpiece, until Will and Yolanda walked out. The air conditioner shut off just as the door closed and silence closed around her. She looked at the phone once and the butterflies started to churn her stomach again. But she couldn't figure out
why.
Taking a deep breath, she put the phone back to her ear. She tried to decide whether to put a false note of cheerfulness into her voice, but decided against it. There was too much going on to pretend. "Hey, Adam. Cara here." Her voice sounded like she felt, weary and frustrated. There was a long pause where she could hear him breathing, as though he was trying to decide what to say. "So …who'd you piss off this time?" His voice tried for teasing comradery, but a little too much concern leaked in around the edges.