Betrayed: Days of the Rogue (36 page)

“What the hell are you doing here?”
He’d snarled the words at Reno. Hiding behind an attitude, that’s
what Beth would have called it.

“Keeping you from getting killed it
would seem.” Reno had started the engine and pulled away from the
curb. They were in a seedy downtown area, though exactly what town,
Damien couldn’t recall; the past months were almost a blur. It must
have been after two in the morning. Businesses were closed and
traffic was light. A fine mist had made the road look shiny, and
Reno had flicked on the wipers to clear the windshield.

How had Reno found him? The answer
hadn’t really mattered, of course. What did matter was escaping
before this family reunion went any farther.

“Maybe being killed is what I
want.” He’d grabbed the door handle prepared to leave the vehicle,
regardless of the fact that it was already moving.

Reno had cast a deadly look at him.
“You jump out of this van and I’ll turn it right around and run you
over. At least with a couple of broken legs you’ll be easier to
track down.”

Damien had studied the man,
wondering if he’d really meant what he’d said. Yeah, Reno would
probably do it. With a sigh, he’d let go of the handle and slumped
in the corner.

The rest of the drive had been
completed mostly in silence, partly because he’d been trying to
think how to get away and partly because he’d kept losing
consciousness. When they’d finally arrived at their destination—a
small farmhouse on the edge of nowhere—Reno had almost carried him
inside.

“Got him.” Satisfaction had laced
Reno’s voice as he’d kicked the door shut and then dropped him on a
sofa.

The jarring sensation of landing on
the old leather cushions had momentarily returned him to his
senses. He’d noticed faded wallpaper and sparse furnishings before
darkness had, once again, begun to encroach upon his vision.
Captain Fielding’s familiar grumble had filled the room, and he’d
inhaled Brandi’s scent as her hand had touched his brow. Allowing
their care and concern to wrap around him, he’d given a sigh and
passed out.

As it turned out he’d had a
concussion, which explained the double vision that had been
plaguing him. He’d known where it had come from. His last victim
had put up more of fight than usual; the bastard’s dying blow had
been to slam a rock into his head. Of course, he hadn’t told Reno
or Brandi that. It would have required explanations he couldn’t
give. So he’d let them think he’d fallen while drunk. The drunk
part had been real. Alcohol was his solace, numbing his
conscience.

Brandi had fussed, Reno had sworn,
and the captain had sat in the corner eyeing him thoughtfully.
Yeah, the days during which he’d been healing had been great.
They’d ended all too soon, of course, and once he was deemed fit,
Reno’s version of an intervention had begun.

“What the hell were you thinking,
taking off like that?”

“You know the consequences of going
AWOL, Masterson?”

Reno and Captain Fielding had
circled around the chair he’d sat in, making him feel like a
naughty schoolboy in the principal’s office. They’d threatened him
with everything, up to and including a trip before High Council, if
he didn’t get his act together. In between their verbal assaults,
Brandi had tried to worm her way under his defences with cool logic
and tender pleas. He’d finally fallen in with their plan just to
get them to stop.

Almost a week passed before they’d
trusted him enough to leave him alone in the farmhouse. He’d seized
the opportunity and used his phone.

“Checking in.” He’d actually winced
in anticipation of the response he’d get.

“Where the hell have you been?
Three days without contact and a price goes on your head. You know
the rule.” The acerbic voice had rung in his ears.

“Friends found me. I had a
concussion. This is the first time I’ve been alone.”

“
Friends
?”

“Lycan Link friends, and before you
ask, I didn’t tell them anything.”

His statement had been met with
silence, but he’d been used to the tactic by then and had waited
patiently. Finally a response had come.

“You’re damned lucky I’m feeling
lenient and still need your skills. Give me your coordinates, and
I’ll arrange a pickup.”

“I travel alone, you know that.
I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He’d hesitated, knowing his next
bit of news wouldn’t be well received. “There’s one
complication.”

“Complication? Explain.”

“They want me to work for them, off
the record.”

A snort had been the response.
“What did you tell them?”

“I agreed. It got them off my
back.”

“Fantastic.” Sarcasm had dripped
from the word. “And when you disappear, they’ll try to find you
again. You should have told them to go fuck themselves.”

He’d growled at the crude words;
the ties of friendship had already begun to reform. “This can
work.”

“How?”

“They want me to investigate a
series of murders involving the Fae.”

“I’d say that’s a definite
‘conflict of interest,’ wouldn’t you?”

It had taken a lot fast talking,
but eventually the plan had been approved. The fact that he’d felt
like he was betraying the trust of his best friends had been hard
to swallow, but at the time it had seemed the only option.

To this day he still wasn’t sure if
he’d made the right choice.

Chapter 36

Following Damien’s trail, Rafe
found himself back at his own place with no sign of the man save
his footprints. A quick look around revealed he wasn’t anywhere on
the property, and Rafe rubbed his chin wondering what Damien was up
to. As far as he knew, except for trips to the lumberyard, the man
had stayed within the territory. Of course, that was his belief
before he’d talked to Constable Duffy. Was Damien aware that the
local police were on the lookout for him? Rafe shook his head. Why
had he ever thought he had any skills when it came to understanding
the mind of a rogue?

The sound of a car approaching drew
his attention. It was a grey four-door, nondescript, with three
passengers. When they exited the car, two stayed beside the vehicle
with hands clasped behind their backs and eyes fixed straight
ahead. The driver showed only slightly more animation, his arms
swinging at his side as he almost marched over.

“Dr. McRae?”

“Yes?” Rafe kept his tone and face
neutral, despite the fact that he was sure he knew who the men were
even before he checked the insignia on their t-shirts.
Trackers.

“Douglas Clement, Enforcer second
class, assigned to Rogue Retrieval.” The man reached out his hand,
and Rafe shook it, resisting the urge to wipe his hand on his pant
leg afterwards.

“We’ve had a report of a rogue in
the area.” The Tracker snapped his fingers at his cohorts, in
response one of them approached and handed over a file. After
opening it, he extended it so Rafe could see. “Do you know this
man?”

Rafe took it, not at all surprised
to see the image of a much younger Damien staring back at him from
a black and white photo. It must have been taken several years ago.
There were no lines bracketing Damien’s mouth, no tired, hard edge
to his eyes. Life had definitely not been easy on the man over the
intervening years.

Handing the photo back, Rafe
nodded. “Damien Masterson. I’m familiar with his case.”

The Tracker looked him up and down.
“I figured you would be, given you run that clinic.”

That
clinic. Rafe wanted to
snarl at the man for his condescending tone, but forced himself to
maintain a mild manner. “Yes, I’m the head of the Rogue
Rehabilitation Clinic.”

“We’ve had reports that Masterson’s
causing trouble. Savaging livestock, the locals are terrified.”

“Really?” Rafe arched a brow.

“This is news to you?” The man gave
him a disbelieving look.

“Only slightly. The local police
informed me of the situation only a short while ago. I’m surprised
you made it here so quickly. Lycan Link is some distance from
Grassy Hills.”

“We were in the neighbourhood.”

“Indeed.” Rafe was quite sure there
were no other dangerous rogues in the vicinity, but decided against
calling the man on it. “So you’re looking for Damien. How can I be
of assistance?”

“Talk around town is that he’s been
working for you.”

Talk around town. It was doubtful
that these men had been interviewing the populace of Grassy Hills,
and equally doubtful that the locals were talking about Damien. The
residents were friendly but not prone to gossip with outsiders. It
was more likely that someone had tipped them off. But who? Someone
at Lycan Link…such as Reno? That idea still didn’t sit well. He
stared over at the meadow where he’d found the scentless tracks.
Perhaps they weren’t Damien’s. Maybe another wolf
was
in the
area, and had called in Rogue Retrieval for some purpose of its
own.

“Doctor?” Clement prodded him,
still waiting for an answer.

“What? Oh, yes.” He looked back at
the man. “Damien’s been here helping me do some repairs.”

“Sir, you realize it’s an offense
not to report a rogue.”

“An
out of control
rogue,”
he qualified. “And I’m well aware of the rules surrounding them. I
helped form some of the policies.”

Clearing his throat, the man had
the grace to look uncomfortable.

Rafe smiled inwardly but merely
continued on. “My professional assessment is that Damien Masterson
is not out of control. He’s been a model assistant to me and in
fact we’ve been getting along quite well together.” While that
wasn’t strictly true it wasn’t any of the buffoon’s business.

Rafe wasn’t sure, but the man
holding the file seemed to have mumbled something along the lines
of ‘bleeding hearted pacifist’ but beyond giving the man a hard
stare, he chose to ignore it.

“You’re welcome to your opinion,
sir. However, the fact remains that we’ve been charged with
locating him. Do you know where he is right now?”

“At this moment…no.”

“It’s also an offence to withhold
information.”

A rumble rose from his chest. “I
don’t need
you
to remind me of protocol.” His patience
spent, Rafe spoke in clipped tones, and the Tracker actually
retreated a step obviously surprised that the supposedly
mild-mannered doctor had developed a ‘don’t fuck with me’
attitude.

Taking a deep breath, Rafe tried to
curb his temper. “Last time I checked, Damien was working on
replacing the porch of the cabin I gave him to stay in. Head
through the woods until you get to the creek, follow it downstream
for about three miles and you’ll reach the edge of a small lake.
His place is on the edge of the lake, about a mile and half to the
north.” It was the long way around, and should buy precious minutes
during which he could hopefully find Damien, sedate him and get him
to safety.

“We’ve also had a report that
there’s a woman staying here with you?”

Already on guard, Rafe’s senses
prickled even more. Who had made the report and why did this man
want to know about Eve? He couldn’t lie, not if someone had had the
place under surveillance, but he would definitely let them know he
was offended. In fact, he could even turn it to his own
advantage.

Stepping forward, he intruded into
the man’s personal space making no effort to quell his displeasure.
Narrowing his eyes, he curled his lip and answered in a low, deep
voice. “My personal life is none of your business.”

Clement swallowed hard as he and
his fellow Tracker stepped further away. There was a definite
change in the air of confidence that had surrounded them mere
minutes earlier.

Rafe continued. “However, in the
spirit of cooperation, I’ll answer your question. Yes, she does
stay here from time to time. I believe she’s working at her own
cabin today. It’s about two miles beyond Damien’s. Just follow the
edge of the lake.” Inwardly, he chuckled thinking of how long and
difficult a path they’d be traversing.

“Thank you for your cooperation,
Doctor. If we need any more information, we’ll be back.” With a
quick nod, the man turned to go, jerking his head for his companion
to follow.

Rafe shot out his arm and grabbed
his shoulder. “You realize that an investigation has been launched
into the tactics that you’re using to bring in rogues. There’ve
been too many deaths recently.”

A shuttered look came over the man.
“Unfortunate. However,
you
must realize, sir, that each of
the rogues we’ve killed was a known murderer
and
attacked us
first. We have a right to protect ourselves.” The man pulled away
and walked to his car. After a brief conversation with his
compatriots they all shifted into wolf form and took off.

A right to protect themselves.
Three against one. How Adrian Somerset could condone such idiocy
was hard to imagine.

Exhaling loudly, Rafe rubbed his
neck. What the hell was going on here? Well, at least Eve was
safely out of the way. Double checking that his vials of
tranquillizer were still firmly attached, he began to follow
Damien’s scent trail again. It was, of course, in the opposite
direction he’d sent the Trackers.

Chapter 37

Damien looked around and realized
he’d travelled some distance while reminiscing. He’d been keeping
parallel to the road in case Eve’s car passed by. So far, no
luck.

Pausing, he considered what to do.
Should he stay with the road or cut across country to Eve’s cabin?
It would save time… Just as he was about to strike off on a new
path, a glint of something metallic caught his attention. Narrowing
his eyes, he crouched low and crept closer. There, on the other
side of a group of trees, was Eve’s car and she was in it!

Cautiously, he studied the scene
before him. Eve was reading a book, her seat slightly reclined. The
car was pulled off to the side and sat at a strange angle. A quick
glance at the tires revealed that the front right one was flat. It
would seem she was stuck and not up to changing the tire on her
own. And, strangely enough, Rafe was nowhere to be seen. Now that
was unusual; the man stuck to Eve like gum to a shoe.