Jordan Summers - [Dead World 01] (41 page)

The car was empty and unlocked.
Morgan opened
the
door and looked inside, but didn't see any blood or
signs of an accident. It was as
if Kane had driven into
the ditch and then left. He shut the door and stepped
several feet away so that it
wouldn't impair his senses. Morgan inhaled deeply, slowly turning full circle.
He
caught Kane's
scent coming from the woods.

What was he doing out here?

Morgan knew there was only one
way to find out. He holstered his weapon and then called in his loca
tion. He didn't want to alarm
anyone in the office, if it
could be avoided, so he told Maggie that he'd found
an abandoned vehicle that he
needed to check out.

"Location confirmed, Sheriff," she said, via
a
comlink. "Let us know if you need any
assistance."

"Sheriff off," he
said, stepping into the woods.

The trail was easy enough to
follow, since there
was
no underbrush or leaves of any kind remaining. It
wound around for several minutes,
twisting left and
right,
before opening into a small meadowlike area. Morgan spotted Kane on the other
side. Wide circles
of
sweat dotted his clothes. His normally neat hair
was in disarray, clinging to his forehead and
checks. Stubble covered his chin, giving Kane's face a shad
owy cast. He kept pacing and
looking toward the sky
as if he were waiting for something or someone.

Morgan glanced in the direction
he was watching, but didn't immediately spot anything. He approached
slowly, purposely making his
footfalls heavy. He
didn't
want to surprise Kane, especially since he ap
peared to be agitated. The moon was riding him
hard,
making him jumpy.

Kane continued to wear a path
into the ground.
"The
end is near. Soon the war will begin and the
Others will no longer hide in the shadows,"
he mum
bled under
his breath. "It's time for me to take my
rightful place as alpha." He turned and
started back
the
other direction, showing no indication that he
even knew Morgan was there. "She's
mine," he said. "The other women were nothing compared to Gina.
She's perfect. And soon I will
stake my claim."

Morgan listened in shock to
Kane's disjointed ram
blings.
His mind zeroed in at the mention of Gina,
and then turned to a red haze when he realized what
Kane had planned. No one would
claim his mate and
live.
No one. Not even the man he considered a
brother.

He would die before he'd allow
that to happen.
Gina
might not love him, but that didn't change how
he felt about her. She was his mate. His heart.
The
only woman who
would ever share his rest pad. His
dreams.
His wolf's soul.

Suddenly, Kane halted and
straightened to his full
height of six foot two. A fierce growl rumbled from his
chest. He turned toward Morgan
and smiled, highlighting the madness in his golden eyes.

"Cousin, I've been expecting
you," Kane said, shift
ing in midair
as he launched himself at Morgan.

chapter
twenty-four

Red arrived in Nuria at sundown.
She'd listened to an edu-disc on
the way down that discussed
wolves and
their habits. It had been a long
time since
she'd been in school, so she needed the re
fresher. Red turned onto the main drag. The streets
were just as
quiet, as when she'd left.

What had you expected? Fanfare?

Most everyone had gone home for
the night. She
parked
her car in front of the sheriff's office and got
out. Red didn't know who'd be on duty tonight, but
hoped it was
Morgan. Shoring up her courage, she
entered the building. It was quiet, too. Only Maggie,
Morgan's assistant, remained at her desk, manning a
small communications console
that was attached to
her compunit.

She walked up and stopped in
front of the woman.
"Who's
on duty tonight?" she asked, knowing only
one or two officers would be on call at night.
There
wasn't enough
activity to warrant more.

Maggie glanced up from the screen
she'd been
looking at. "The
sheriff," she said.

"Is he around?" Red
asked, unable to meet her eyes.

"He called in an abandoned vehicle awhile ago. I
haven't heard from him since. I've been waiting in case he wants me to send out
roadside assistance. For
all I know, he may
be on his way back. Do you want
me to contact him and find out?"

That's odd,
Red thought. No one left their
vehicles
these days with the unknown
problem being what it
was. You didn't have
to with the availability of on-call
assistance. To do otherwise was
asking for trouble. "Where did the sheriff say he was when he
called?"

Maggie relayed the rough
directions. Red followed along, mentally mapping the area. Thanks to the time she
and Morgan spent questioning townsfolk, she had
a pretty good idea where Maggie was talking about. She'd take a drive
out there. It might be better to face Morgan away from the prying eyes of the
town.

"If he happens to come in,
tell him
I'm
looking for
him," she said.

Maggie smiled. "I'll do that. Glad you decided to
come back. I don't think the sheriff could handle many more nights of sleeping
in his office."

Red couldn't hide her surprise at the announcement,
but didn't say anything. So she wasn't the only
one who'd had a rough night. Somehow she found that
thought
comforting. She left after thanking Maggie and had just about made it to her
car when a dark-
haired man stepped out of
the shadows.

"Gina Santiago?" he asked, his accent
different from what she'd heard in Nuria.

"Who's asking?"

"My name is Mike Travers and I've been sent here
to kill you."

Red's gun was out of its holster and drawn before
the man had a chance to take his next breath.
"Thanks
for the warning," she said.

The man—Mike—watched her
carefully, but made
no move to disarm
her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said calmly.

She laughed. "You aren't me."

"You're correct. I'm not near as
special
as
you are."

The emphasis he put on that one word had Red's hand
wavering, but she didn't lose her aim. He knew
the truth. He knew what she was. He'd found the hid
den
information despite her grandfather's efforts. She
had to do something to stop him. If he was here to kill
her.
then she'd lake him out first. But was he really
sadistic enough to warn her ahead of time?

She decided not to wait and find
out. Red raised the
pistol
a couple of inches higher until it was level with his head. Her finger brushed
the trigger. A breeze hit her a second later, or at least Red had thought it
was a
breeze until the gun began to turn
direction.

"What the hell—?" she
shouted, struggling to force
the gun back toward him. Her gaze shot from the muz
zle to his face. "How are you doing that?"

He shrugged carelessly and whatever had been
fighting her for control released its hold.
"All that mat
ters is that I can."

Red's gaze swept him, taking in
his dark suit, pasty
skin, and red lips.
"What are you?"

He smiled then, flashing
startling white teeth. "An
ally."

His response shocked her. That was the last thing she'd
expected him to say. "Why should I believe you, when you just told me
you're here to kill me?"

"Good question. Let's just say an old friend has
shown me the error of my ways," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

Raphael Vega appeared out of the shadows and
nodded in her direction. His presence did little
to ease
her concerns. She glanced back at Mike, who looked at her as if
she'd grown four heads.

"What?" she snapped.

His lips quirked. "Your appearance is deceiving.
You look so normal—so human."

She recoiled at that last statement, but held her
ground. "Well it's obvious that you are anything but. I'm surprised Roark
Montgomery hired you, what with his pure-blood platform."

It was Mike's turn to flinch. So
he had a secret, too.
She almost laughed
at the absurdity of the situation. "Yes, I know all about you," she
said. "You didn't
think that you could
break into the IPTT records with
out being detected, did you?"

"I must be losing my touch," he said, more
than a little amused.

Maybe he was telling the truth.
There was only one way to find out. Red lowered her weapon, but didn't holster
it. "If you're not here to kill me, then what do
you want?" she asked.

"I've come here to warn you that Roark has someone
working for him other than me."

"Who?"

"I
don't
know, but he may be angling for my job."

"Your job?"

Mike shook his head, but his matted black hair didn't
move. It was as if it were painted on his scalp. "It's not
important," he said, talking more to himself
than to her. "I'll take care of whoever he has in mind.
We
have a bigger issue to worry about."

"Such as?"

"A war."

Red frowned. "The IPTT won't allow the republics
to go to war. Everyone knows that. It's the team's main purpose for
existence."

He grinned. "That's where your untimely death
comes into play."

"I
don't
follow."

"He wanted me to kill you in order to gain IPTT
support."

Red threw her head back and
laughed. She laughed
so hard her
shoulders shook and tears came out of her eyes. When she'd finally managed to
pull herself together. Mike was staring at her with a bemused expression upon
his face.

"I don't see what's so funny."

She wiped her eyes. "The joke is that the only
person who'd miss me or even care that I died is my grandfather. And he isn't
about to throw support behind Roark Montgomery. In fact, if anything happened
to me, he'd do just the opposite."

Mike frowned. "I don't understand."

"I'm so special no one wants to work with me. As
far as the tactical team members are concerned,
I'm
a
social pariah."

"I see," he said.

She holstered her gun. "I have one more question
for you."

"Which is?"

"What are you going to tell Roark when he finds
out I'm still alive?"

"I'll—" A buzzing sound interrupted his
answer. Mike tapped his ear. "Sir? I can hardly hear you over the noise.
What is that?" He straightened to attention.

Red wished she could hear what was being said. Mike's
expression soured, then his color drained more, if that were even possible.

"Yes, sir. I'll get there right away." He
hit the device again, then glanced at her. "I have to go."

Was that Roark?"

He nodded. "Yes. He's waiting for me north of
town in a clearing. He's there with the sheriff." He started down the
sidewalk.

Red's mind blanked. There was no
reason for Mor
gan to be with Roark
Montgomery. No good reason. "I'm coming with you."

Mike turned back to look at her. "We can't go in
there together. He'll suspect."

He was right of course, but that didn't make her feel
any better. She would've preferred to keep an
eye
on him now that she'd had a sample of his power.
She shivered at the
memory of his mind, pushing at hers, forcing her to act against her will.
"Fine," she said. "I'll meet you there."

He nodded and then disappeared, moving faster than she
could visually track. Red's heart slammed against her ribs as she jumped in her
car and sped out of town. The minutes ticked by slowly, even with the pedal
pressed to the floor. She pulled behind Morgan's car twenty minutes later.

So much could've happened in the time it took her to
get here. She climbed out of her vehicle and
glanced
at the full moon hanging low in the sky. Any
other time, she'd stop to
admire the beauty of a night like this, but not tonight. She took a deep breath
and held it, listening for any sound that seemed out of place.