Timeless Moon (34 page)

"Oh my
God.
I hate snakes. Get me out of here!"

"Fine. As you like." From the corner of his eye Rick saw the two of them leaving. There was no point in stopping them, and Josette's performance apparently wasn't nearly over.

"Ma'am." A uniformed security officer came on the scene. He came up to her slowly, and worked hard to be polite and reassuring, while at the same time trying to minimize the commotion. He shouldn't have bothered. A crowd had gathered, all staring avidly at the raised wooden shoeshine platform with its black leather seats. "You need to calm down. There's no reason to think
—"

She turned her panic into anger with the flick of an expression. "Excuse me? Are you calling me a liar? I know what I saw. There's a
snake
under there! You need to get animal control out here. Who
knows
what kind it is. It could be poisonous!"

"I'm sure it's not, ma'am. Now if you'll just come with me."

Rick answered for her, drawing a sharp glance from her. "Of course, officer." They gathered up their bags, but before either of them could take a step a teenage boy with more curiosity than sense kicked
the platform with a booted foot. As it scooted away from the wall, there were gasps and screams from the bystanders.

"There
is
a snake in there.
Damn,
that's a big one. Would you look at that!" The boy seemed fascinated, he kept trying to get a better look at the squirming, hissing reptile he'd revealed.

Josette
whimpered in mock fear, leaning into Rick's body. "Oh my God
—he'll get bitten!"

Damned if it hadn't worked. At least to keep the humans out of the way. "It's all right, baby. Don't worry." Rick's arm tightened around her waist. The two of them started backing away, moving into the bulk of the crowd.

"Everybody move back!" The cop ordered. "Move away!" Now that an actual snake had been sighted the officer had stopped treating
Josette
like a crazy nuisance. Grabbing the walkie-talkie attached to his uniform shirt he called for backup and requested that animal control be summoned to the scene. Security people began to converge on the stand, keeping the snake from bolting after them.

Rick was only half-listening. Most of his attention was on the crowd. Her scheme might have trapped one snake, but he hadn't been working alone. Somewhere in the airport was a shapeshifter capable of changing his or her appearance to look like anybody. He was betting that the same person who'd impersonated
Josette
to kill Bruce was here now. He doubted the
man would abort the mission just because his partner was captured. Far more likely that he'd try to finish the job, and then eliminate the partner. Lucas would want to do a thorough interrogation of the snake that was about to be in custody. He just hoped he'd get to.

She nearly read his mind with her next whispered statement. "We need to call Raphael, have him get in touch with Lucas. He's going to want to question that snake."

"Fine. Call.
I'm
more worried about the one that got away." Rick was taking deep breaths through his nose, searching for the unmistakable scent of a snake shifter. There were things he wanted to say about this reckless tactic, but he held his tongue.

Josette
reached into
her handbag and pulled out the cell phone. A quick press of a button and the call went through. She listened to the line ringing as she watched Rick turn in a slow circle, his nostrils flaring as he sought his prey.

"Ramirez." Raphael sounded dead tired and worried.

"It's
Josette,
we have a situation."

"Oh for the love of God!
Now what?" She could almost imagine him throwing his hands in the air, as he used to when he lived with Amber
—and usually when her name was invoked in the conversation. She flinched at his tone. It wasn't that she blamed him,
but it did hurt her to hear such bitterness directed her way.

"Well? What's gone wrong now?"

Looking around she saw several people from the earlier crowd passing by. They seemed to recognize her. Worse, they were eavesdropping. She needed to be very, very careful and choose her words wisely.

"There was a welcoming committee waiting for us in Atlanta. Oh, and the most incredible thing happened! They found this huge snake in the building. Animal control is capturing it now. I bet it will make the national news. You should have Lucas watch. You know how interested he is in those kinds of things."

Raphael started swearing loudly enough that she had to hold the phone away from her ear. When the volume decreased enough for her not to fear going deaf she put the receiver back in position.

"I'll tell Lucas," He growled low in his throat. "You said a welcoming
committee.
I take it there was more than one?"

"Yes. We're working on that. It's a little tricky."

She could actually hear his fingers drumming.
"Tricky.
Yeah, I can see where it would be." He took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. "Just be careful, and for God's sake, don't miss your flight. We need both of you in Daytona."

"I do know that."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just tired."

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?"

"Sleep? What is this 'sleep' you speak of?" He was joking, but the weariness in his voice wasn't funny.

"Raphael
—"

He chuckled tiredly. "You sound just like Cat when you say my name like that. I'll tell you what I told her. I'll sleep when I hear that you and Rick have landed safely in Daytona. Until then, I'm on duty. And check back in thirty minutes from now. Lucas is going to want a status report."

"Right. I'll do that
—Raphael." She blurted out his name before he could hang up.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drag you into the middle of this."

"It's all right. I know that none of this is your fault."

Rick fought the
urge to throttle her. At the moment he almost agreed with
Antoine.
She was insane. Once again, there had been no "plan" to what she'd done. She couldn't possibly have planned to draw the attention of the enemy, the local police
—in fact, everyone in the entire fucking airport. Yes, it had worked. They'd gotten away, but that was more by luck than design. Relying on luck would get them both killed.

She was a loaded gun, always half-cocked, ready to use the weather, the police, anything handy. He couldn't
work
like that. How in the hell had she managed to stay alive all these years? He felt as if he was
partnered with Riggs from the
Lethal Weapon
movies. He'd enjoyed the films immensely, even as he thought them ridiculously unrealistic. But he had never, ever, sympathized more with the Danny Glover role than he did right now.

He looked away from her, forcing himself to calm down. His rage and frustration weren't just his. There were too many panicked people around him, and he was amplifying those emotions and was starting to bleed them out onto the other travelers. He could hear arguments breaking out as people approached, intensifying as they drew near, only to fizzle out when the group was a few feet past him. Worse, people were watching him, their eyes nervously flicking away as soon as they thought he might notice. It was too close to the moon for this sort of aggravation. The anger and fear were bringing out the beast in him, and the humans were beginning to act like prey. It was a recipe for absolute disaster if he didn't get control of himself right now. Just another reason why he hated crowds.

"Have you caught his scent?" She moved until she stood just in front of him. He loved her, but at this precise moment he didn't like her much.

He blew out a slow breath and struggled not to yell. "A hint. What did Raphael say?"

"Mostly he swore." She admitted. "But when he finished that he said he'd let Lucas know so they can do the interrogation. I'm supposed to check back in a
half hour so he knows there haven't been any more disasters."

"Wouldn't that be lovely?"

"Ah. You're pissed."

"Me? Why would I be pissed? It was a logical, well-planned, perfectly executed
—" His voice sounded just like he planned, sarcasm like a poisoned whip to lash out at her.

She didn't back down. If anything, his tone just set her off worse. A rolling yowl was coiled around her harsh whisper. "It worked, didn't it? Or is that what's bothering you? You weren't making the decisions.
You
weren't in control, and yet somehow it still worked. All these years away, and I'm still miraculously alive through stupid, thoughtless plans." Her hands were on her hips, that ridiculous purse swinging from her wrist as she glared at him, green eyes blazing.

Distantly he was aware that the other travelers were watching. Some smiled, others were moving to give them a wide berth.

"We don't have time for this now." Rick closed his eyes and growled.

"No. We don't. But let me tell you one thing Mr.
Atwood."
She spit out his new name like a curse and with the practiced ease of a Wolven pro. "I have been taking care of myself for a very long time without your help. Believe me when I tell you I can manage
just fine.
So don't you worry about me one little bit. You just take care of your end."

She stalked off, her suitcase squeaking as it rolled along the floor at a fast clip. A big part of him was tempted to let her go, but no. He'd regret it, and sooner rather than later. He just wished he could figure out why love and anger were so closely married in their relationship. But, they were scheduled on the same flight in a couple of hours so he'd better go after her.

Too, if anything happened to her
—if the snakes got to her because he wasn't there—he'd never forgive himself. He'd never forgive himself for losing her a second time, annoying as she might be right now. So he adjusted the strap on his duffel, moved it up on his shoulder and started following at a distance.

She backtracked until she wasn't more than thirty or forty feet from the shoeshine stand. The crowd seemed to have dispersed for the most part, but the area from the restroom to the shop just past the stand had been cordoned off. A pair of uniformed security guards were keeping passengers at a distance while the animal control officers struggled with the problem of safely capturing a huge, venomous reptile.

He only allowed himself to be distracted by the spectacle of it for a moment. Turning his attention back to
Josette
he watched in sudden admiration as she stopped, pretended annoyance that the bathrooms were cordoned off, and turned away.

Rick moved to where she had been. Yes, there it was, the scent of a male snake, musty, but without the
acrid overtones of most of the venomous breeds. That didn't mean he wouldn't be dangerous. In fact, he might be more so, particularly now that they had the upper hand.

With his long legs, it didn't take long for Rick to catch up with her. "Do you have a plan?" He felt like biting his tongue the minute the words slipped out of his mouth. The question hadn't been a bad one, but he hadn't meant to sound so sarcastic.

"Yes, but it requires your cooperation." The look she gave him said plainly that she wasn't sure he'd give it. She continued walking, and kept her voice pitched softly enough that no one could easily overhear. "The last group of snakes I ran into had done their homework. They knew I could hold them motionless. In fact, they were counting on it. They'd done something, probably some ritual magic, that was like Raphael's death touch. When I used my personal magic to hold them it triggered the trap and started draining me." She sighed, then shook her head.

"I'm thinking it's an amulet of some sort; probably something small enough to swallow, so that it stays with them in either form."

"That would make sense. I just wish I knew more about the kind of magic we're up against."

"I'm surprised you didn't run across it having worked with Charles for so long."

"This isn't his kind of thing." Rick knew he sounded defensive. He couldn't help it.

"No. I suppose it isn't." She reached out to touch his arm. "I meant no insult. I was just surprised, that's all."

"Fine." Rick let go of his irritation, forced it into a tight ball and threw it out into the crowd. It was something he learned while he was in Wolven, and it served him well here. He might start one fight with one group of people, but it wasn't such a broad brush that it would affect everyone in the concourse. "None taken. So what is the plan?"

"Can you use your empathy to literally scare someone stiff, so that they're caught like a deer in the headlights?"

"Um
…
probably. But won't that trigger the trap?"