Chapter Twenty
“H
elluva way to meet the in-laws,” whispered Stanton, obviously enjoying Josh’s discomfort as they waited at the side of the highway in Stanton’s jeep. The old vet had managed to locate the hidden turnoff to the road—not much more than an overgrown goat path, really—that meandered to the compound.
“They’re not my in-laws.”
“Not yet. You have to impress them first.”
“I’ll settle for them not killing me. Tell me again how this isn’t a bad idea—we’re asking civilians to help break prisoners out of a high-security compound.”
“They’re werewolves. They’ll take care of themselves, trust me.”
“That’s not comforting when all of the prisoners we’re trying to rescue are
werewolves
too. And somehow they managed to get themselves captured.”
“They were
alone
at the time they were picked up. You send werewolves in a pack, it’ll take a tank battalion to stop them.”
“How big’s a pack?”
“Anything more than one,” Stanton grinned.
A full-sized pickup truck was slowing as it approached. A few moments later Josh—who was accustomed to being taller than anyone he knew—found himself looking up at a blond Viking with murder written in his blue eyes. Two men flanked him, twins, their faces grim. Suddenly, a small white-haired woman stepped down from the driver’s seat of the truck. She was dressed in camo coveralls and her eyes contained immense intelligence—and something like amusement—as she surveyed him. He didn’t miss that she edged herself in front of the Viking. Her gaze lingered for a moment on Stanton before she extended a hand with many silver rings and bracelets to Josh. “I’m Birkie Peterson. We talked last night.”
When he’d called Connor Macleod’s office, he’d expected a recorded message to give him a home number for emergencies, as Stanton’s clinic phone did. Instead, the machine forwarded to this woman. He’d had no intention of discussing the situation with anyone but a Macleod but Kenzie had spoken fondly of Birkie—and said that she knew all about Changelings.
“I had a feeling my girl was in trouble,” she’d said, but otherwise had seemed unfazed by a complete stranger’s calling in the pre-dawn hours. Josh ended up explaining the entire situation to her, but certainly hadn’t expected her to show up in person. The three men were clearly shapeshifters, their strong auras glowing blue. But Birkie—he looked down at her slim hand clasped in his and saw a shine that had nothing to do with the jeshiwelry she wore. Incredibly, her
aura
was as silver as her rings
.
What the hell was she?
As if she knew what he was thinking, she winked at him and retrieved her hand. “These are Kenzie’s brothers. James”—she waved at the glowering blond giant—“and Culley and Devlin.
Although a smaller force was better suited to stealth operation, three men—even shape-shifters—did not seem like nearly enough. “I thought there were four of you. Where’s Connor?”
“Kenzie said he’s the one with the newborn, remember?” Stanton whispered from over Josh’s shoulder. “Werewolf imperative. Can’t leave if there’s young to guard—not for a while at least. It’s a biological thing.”
“It’s
Changeling
, if you don’t mind,” said Culley. “But you’re right. He had to call another veterinarian to fill in for a while because Connor can’t leave his mate’s side. Actually, it’s starting to drive Zoey crazy—” Elbowed by Devlin, Culley shrugged and fell silent.
“There’re more than enough of us,” said James.
Out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw Birkie reach behind her and place a restraining hand on James’s much bigger one, the one that was balled into a formidable fist at present. Josh wasn’t sure if James was pissed at him because he was casting doubt on their ability or questioning Connor’s absence. Both, he decided.
“We’re here to get our girl back,” Birkie said to Josh. Her voice was as friendly as ever, but he could hear the resolve and the certainty in it. “And we will. Like James said, there are more than enough of us to do the job.”
“Like Texas Rangers,” added Stanton.
One riot, one Changeling
. Josh fervently hoped his friend was right. “Let’s get down to business then. We’ll want to reach the facility before sundown.”
“Wait a second. I want to know how my sister ended up a prisoner in the first place.” It was James again, his voice still low and dangerous. He obviously thought Josh was to blame for the situation. Stanton narrowed his eyes, about to say something scathing no doubt, but Josh signaled him back.
Best to meet this one head on
. He locked eyes with the bigger man. “Kenzie went after Anya alone while I was checking another trail because we’d had an argument.”
“That so? And just what were you giving her a hard time about?”
“That
hard time
was pretty mutual as I recall, and the subject’s none of your business—it’s between me and Kenzie.” Josh didn’t miss that the twins almost took a physical step back, as if expecting an explosion. “You want to go a round with me, James, that’s fine. Name the place and time. But it can damn well wait until Kenzie and the others are safe.” Josh deliberately turned his back on the big man and spread out his maps and papers on the hood of his truck. “Culley, I hear you’re the electronics expert. I’ve got a live fence around the compound and the power shed appears to be
here
on the north side ...”
As Culley peered at the map, his face had lost its threatening demeanor. In fact, Josh could swear that he was trying not to laugh. The others circled around and a moment later, James silently joined in.
Four more Changelings now stood on human feet. Only three remained as wolves, and of those, Beau and Rico were still unconscious. Kenzie was worried about wowidth="1 them both—whatever they were being drugged with was heavy-duty stuff. And, hours later, Dempsey still had not been returned to his cage.
A couple of handlers had brought in fresh deer quarters, using butchers’ chainmail gloves as they shoved them through the narrow steel flaps in the cage doors over the brackets that held the food dishes. Kenzie decided she needed to keep up her strength. She couldn’t stomach raw venison as a human any more than she could handle pizza as a wolf. So she Changed as soon as the men left and gobbled down the fresh meat, even cracking the bigger bones and licking out the marrow. The others followed suit.
Nikki came in as Kenzie finished eating and gingerly approached her cage. “Dempsey is in ICU. I think we’ve got him stabilized now, but he’s had a rough time of it. The tranq obviously affects you differently when you’re in human form than it does when you’re a wolf. I’m so sorry.”
It wasn’t going to hurt anything to shift her form in front of the young vet; she already knew what Kenzie was. And maybe it would be a gesture of trust between them. Kenzie stood and resumed her human form.
The others followed her lead, and for a few moments, blue sparks rained in the room and unseen vortexes of icy air spun wildly about.
“Oh. My. God.” Nikki’s face was awestruck. Her sleek black hair was mussed from all the static electricity. A pair of blue sparks winked out on her lab coat. “I didn’t think it would be so fast. That was amazing.”
Kenzie noted with satisfaction that, except for Beau and Rico, every one of the Changelings had now put away their wolfen forms. After all, brute force wasn’t going to get them out of their cages. But a little charm and some opposable thumbs just might....
The crash of the door on the far side of the room dispelled her optimism. Gessler strode in, obviously enjoying his noisy entrance, and handed Nikki a thick sheaf of paper. “New security rules, Dr. Yeung.”
“What are you, a secretary now? I don’t have time to go over this bureaucratic—” she began but Gessler put up his hand.
“It involves you and your staff,” he said and pointed to a paragraph highlighted in yellow. “For your own safety, you’ll be accompanied by one of my men each and every time you enter this room.”
“Since when? What the hell is this about?”
“It’s about our research subjects assuming human shape in order to elicit sympathy from the
real
humans. You could be seriously wounded or even killed in an unguarded moment, Dr. Yeung. This is for your own protection.”
“That’s a load of horseshit, buddy, and I’m going to the top about this right now.” She stalked from the room.
Gessler turned a mocking smile on Kenzie. “Whatever you’re planning isn’t going to work,” he whispered, and sauntered after Nikki.
“I hate that guy,” said Roy.
Kenzie clenched her fists in frustration. “Not nearly as much as I do.” Just then a voice popped into her head. It was Stanton, only it was
so
much easier to hear him than it had been before. She listened carefully, then beamed at Roy and the others.
“They’re coming,” she announced.
Roy looked toward the door. “Who is it now?”
“No, no, not from here. My friends on the outside. They’re coming to get us.”
Whispered cheers came from the other cages. Dan and Shaggy Sam hd Srom igh-fived each other through the mesh.
Kenzie paused as Stanton continued. “He did
what
? Omigod.”
He couldn’t have.
“What’s wrong?” asked Roy.
“Josh called in my brothers.” And even Birkie had come along to help. The mix of emotions was overwhelming, almost dizzying, and Kenzie sat down to try to make sense of them. Elation and relief warred with stark fear for her loved ones. Kenzie didn’t want her family anywhere near this terrible place. Astonishment that a human would take it upon himself to apprise her Changeling family of her situation blended with worry—what if they blamed Josh? After all, hadn’t she reacted the same way when she’d discovered Anya missing? Of course, her brothers were more accepting of humans than she was, and with Birkie on hand, maybe they wouldn’t do anything to him.
Maybe.
The road was little more than a bulldozed path through thick forest, most likely created when the facility was being built and left to its own devices after that. Josh felt a headache coming on, partly from the constant jarring of driving over deep ruts and potholes, and partly from his own frustration at not being able to travel faster. His hands were tense on the wheel, wanting nothing better than to break someone in half over Kenzie’s imprisonment, even as he knew emotions clouded judgement in battle. Still, his feelings refused to be quelled. The lowhung sky matched his mood, the dark clouds roiling like his gut. Fury at her captors warred with hurt over her parting words. What if she’d been telling the truth and couldn’t love a human partner? What if she really didn’t want him?
Then she doesn’t want me
, he told himself sternly.
But I’m getting her out of there so she can tell me that herself.
He envied James and Devlin, who had shifted to their lupine forms and run on ahead as scouts. They didn’t have to follow the road and could make far better time. Stanton and Culley were in the second truck but Birkie had elected to travel with him.
Josh was apprehensive about her company at first, but she didn’t interrogate him, simply talked about the rest of the Macleod family and their life in the small rural town of Dunvegan. He relaxed after a few minutes, and allowed her to distract him a little from the maelstrom of emotions that battered him.
“You’re not a Changeling but you sure seem to know a lot about them,” he said finally.
She nodded. “I’ve been acquainted with Changelings my entire life.”
“So tell me, can a shapeshifter have a successful relationship with a human?”
If she was surprised by his question, she hid it well. “Can and do, all the time. James’s wife was human when he met her. So was Connor’s.”
What?
“There’re humans in Kenzie’s
family
?” He’d make a point of bringing that little gem up in their next argument. And by God, there was going to be one.
“Plenty of them. Even her father was human when Gwen met him. Most Changelings find their mates among humans. For one thing, there aren’t that many shapeshifters around. And for another, Changelings
are
human, really. They just have a few extra talents. And a few special needs—they mate for life, you know.”
“So do I.”
Birkie nodded but there was a satisfied grin on her face as she gracefully changed the subjected div>
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It was dusk when they ditched the trucks about a mile from the IBC compound, pulling them into the forest and covering them with branches. Stanton had brought a veritable arsenal—Josh figured it represented a sizeable chunk of his friend’s personal collection—and distributed rifles, handguns, and tasers.
“Holy crap,” said Culley.“The government let you register all this? Hell, they let you
buy
all this?”
Stanton chuckled. “It’s Alaska, son. No gun control here on the frontier.”
“That’s it, I’m moving here,” he sighed.
“Use nonlethal force
if
you can,” instructed Josh, taking one of the tasers. “But since we’re dealing with people who think kidnapping’s A-OK, chances are they won’t hesitate to shoot us. So do what you need to do. Anybody have a problem with that?”
No one did.
Culley had his own contribution, holding up a camouflage hood. “IBC has more money than God. So everybody keep your face hidden at all times. I’ve got enough hoods for everyone, but if you don’t want to use one, wear face paint, sunglasses,
something
that will obscure your features. Because if they catch you on a security camera, there’ll be more than legal ramifications to worry about. Number one, they’ll suspect you of being a Changeling and hunt you down later, and trust me, they have the resources to find you anywhere on the planet. In other words, your life is ruined if they see you.”
“Encouraging pre-game speech there, coach,” remarked Devlin.
Birkie passed out tiny leather pouches on rawhide cords. “This should take care of that little problem. Made them myself.”
All three Macleods looked relieved and immediately put them on. Stanton scrutinized his, even sniffed it, then shrugged and followed suit.
“A medicine bag?” asked Josh. The traditional protective talisman was common to many Native American cultures, including his own. The bags usually held sacred herbs, stones, feathers, and other found objects.
Birkie patted his arm. “Not exactly. I guarantee they’re not just decorative, son.”
“Hey, I’ll take any help I can get,” he said as he slipped the cord over his head and tucked the pouch beneath his shirt and T-shirt, next to his skin. “Thanks.”
“Once we’re inside, don’t talk above a whisper if you can avoid it,” continued Culley. “We don’t want to take a chance on anyone’s voice patterns getting recorded. And glove up. No prints.”
The six of them took to the forest, following a narrow game trail through the thick brush until they came within sight of the gate. Birkie and Stanton dug in on the southwest side, hiding themselves at the edge of the treeline where they could watch anyone entering or leaving. The rest slipped quietly around the western perimeter of the compound, using the forest as cover.
The compound was more oval than square, following the natural terrain. Cutting off the corners made the distance much shorter on paper, but it sure didn’t feel like it, thought Josh. It had taken forever to hike around to the north side where the wind turbine loomed over the power shed. Culley surveyed the high metal fence critically, then walked back to the treeline without a word. When he reappeared, he was dragging a huge log. Josh and James helped him position it upright about four feet from the fence—then let it go. A shower of sparks crackled and sprayed in all directions like fireworks as the log toppled onto the mledghtesh. Parts of the timber blackened and caught fire and Josh was grateful that nobody had touched the fence—this was no wildlife deterrent but a full-fledged anti-personnel device designed to disable intruders.
Devlin, who was watching the compound from beneath a thicket of huckleberry bushes about forty yards further down, had a clear view of the front of the main building and signaled that they were clear. The power shed, the size of a city bus and located about ten feet inside the fence, was shielding them nicely from any IBC eyes, and the deep twilight would make it difficult for any casual glances to see the smoke. Particularly when the main building had no windows on this side.
A few moments later, Culley poked at the fence with a stick, then slapped it with his hand. “It’s shorted out. Let’s chop through it.” James set to work with bolt cutters and started taking out a large chunk of mesh about six feet tall and almost as wide.
“I don’t know about you, bro, but the rest of us could fit through a
way
smaller hole,” said Culley.
“We’ve got a dozen people to rescue plus ourselves,” James whispered fiercely. “If something happens that we have to get out of here in a hurry, I’d rather not try to do it single file.”
“Wait.” Josh pulled out his field glasses. He had a clear view of the ATV shed on the northeast and the dog runs between it and the garage. No animals were visible. Maybe they were sleeping, but it seemed unlikely. He held a hand to his ear where his headset nestled under the gray and brown camo fabric and spoke to Devlin. “How many ATVs do you count over there?”
“Five.”
“Dogs.?”
“Dogs?”
“None.”
“We’ve got issues then.”
As if on cue, Stanton hailed him. “Heads up, Tark. Got a guy coming up the road with a herd of dogs the size of ponies following him. He’ll be at the gate in about ten.”
Shit.
The handler would have to bring the dogs all the way across the compound to their pens—and the animals were bound to sense the presence of intruders. “We’re going to have to pull back,” said Josh.
“We can if you want us to, boss,” Culley said, helping to pull the mesh out of the way as James continued to cut the fence as if nothing was wrong. “But Birkie can handle the dogs.”
“
Birkie?
” What the hell was a little old lady going to do? But then Josh remembered that strange silvery aura ... He belly-crawled over to Devlin, reaching his hidey-hole just as a pinging sound from across the compound signaled that the gate was opening. Both of them trained their glasses in time to see a man on an ATV come into sight on the road. There were at least six dogs trotting beside him, maybe seven—and the old vet had been right; they looked
huge
, even from Josh’s vantage point.
Suddenly an enormous mule deer, a pale buck with antlers like tree branches, leapt directly into the path of the vehicle and sprang straight up and over the head of its driver, who barely had time to duck. The big animal hit the ground running and bounded back down the trail at top speed. Every dog wheeled and followed the creature, barking madly. Their handler jumped off the ATV, waving his arms and shouting, but the dogs didn’t return. He stood there for a long moment, then drove the ATV into the compound, parking it beside the gate and walking into the main building.
Josh returned to Culley, not quite sure what he’d just witnesd ound, parksed. “She’s not—you’re not telling me that was Birkie, are you?”
“Hell no,” he chuckled. “She’s not a shapeshifter. But that lady has some pretty impressive talents. Don’t know where she found the deer or how she persuaded it to pull that stunt, but it’ll keep those dogs busy for hours. Who knows, the gate might be left open for them tonight and we won’t e
ven have to use this fine doorway we’re making.”
Josh fingered the little leather pouch around his neck that Birkie had given him. She’d said it
wasn’t decorative
—did he really want to know what it could do? “Let’s keep an eye on the ATV just the same. The guy might go back for it and put it away.”
“That’s got it,” said James suddenly and helped Culley pull the rest of the cut mesh clear of the hole they’d made. Josh checked his watch. Twenty-two hundred. Two more hours to
maximum dark
and they could enact their plan. Fortunately, the thick cloud cover was helping to dull the perpetual twilight of the northern night and the moon would be well hidden, at least for a while.
Devlin remained on lookout while the rest of them retreated to the cover of the treeline for the hardest part of the operation.
Waiting.