My eyes continually searched the area around me. Damn, where had the Arcadian gone? I kept running, following his Onadyn scent.
With each pump of my feet and arms, with each jagged rock that beat into my boots, it became more and more clear that this man meant only to taunt me. When Dallas had ground the car to a halt, I had seen the Arcadian smile—smile, damn him—before sprinting away at full speed.
My footsteps continued to pound into the pavement. My heated breath mingled with the icy wind. Buildings towered on both my left and right sides, causing even greater darkness to swell around me. My senses were alert, my nocturnal vision excellent, and I finally caught another glimpse of him. I watched a trench coat whip around a corner and followed.
“Stop!” I shouted. “A.I.R.”
His laughter floated to me, rich and smooth, like warm brandy during a summer storm, unbelievably, suggestively sensual.
I’d catch him, the bastard, if for no other reason than to cut out his voice box so he’d never laugh again. As I ran, I adjusted my pyre-gun to stun, aimed, and fired off several rounds. With each shot, blue lights blazed a trail in front of me, illuminating the shocked faces of the alley’s inhabitants. The lights quickly faded.
I’d missed him. Every time. He dodged each round as if he knew exactly where they would land. Faster, Mia, I commanded myself. Don’t lose him. Ragged breath burned in my throat and lungs and clanged in my ears, but I forced myself to keep moving.
Abruptly my run came to a stop, for reasons that had nothing to do with stamina. A wall blocked the end of the alley. Turning, panting, I eyed every inch of this bricked enclosure. The Arcadian was nowhere to be seen. How the hell had he gotten past that wall?
In the next instant, something soft brushed my ear. I whipped around, fired. Hit only the wall. The same softness brushed my other ear, renewing my awareness, propelling that odd thrill of energy through me. I spun, fired, and cursed. Still, nothing.
“You are being followed,” a husky male voice said. His voice. The warrior. He sounded serious and grave now, and I couldn’t tell which direction his voice came from. He was moving too fast.
“I know I’m being followed,” I said through clenched teeth. “By you.” Steady. “Are you a coward? Reveal yourself.”
“Another has already been taken, Mia Snow, and another will soon become a victim as well.” He continued to move around me so swiftly I couldn’t get a lock on him. “Will you protect these victims,” he said, “or will you help the killer?”
What kind of question was that? One so stupid, I wasn’t going to answer it. “Who has been taken, and who will be taken? Give me the names,” I demanded.
“Will you protect these victims?” the Arcadian demanded in the same hard tone I’d used.
Where the hell was he? “Of course I will protect them. That’s my job. Now give me their names.”
A long pause surrounded us. Finally, he said, “What do you know of Rianne Harte?”
“Ryan Heart,” I echoed, committing the name to memory. “Nothing. What do you know of him?”
He chuckled, the sound dark rather than amused. “Surely you have gotten further in the case than this. Surely you—”
“Mia,” Dallas called behind me.
“And so our time together ends,” the alien said.
“Stay,” I demanded of him. “I’m not finished with you.”
The Arcadian didn’t respond. In fact, I no longer felt his presence. The gentle charged hum of his electrical output was gone. Damn it. Obviously his powers were exceptional. Maybe that was why I’d felt his energy twice now. To escape as quickly and easily as he had, he either levitated or walked through that brick wall.
God help us if aliens could now mist through solid objects.
My free hand fisted. Had he told me the truth? Had someone else already been abducted? Was another man soon to die? If so, the Arcadian might even be the one responsible. He could have been bragging. I found myself nodding. That made sense and fit part of the killer’s profile.
“Where’s the Arcadian?” Dallas asked, panting. “I got a look at him and then he disappeared.”
I pivoted and faced my partner. “I lost him. Fucking lost him.”
“Who the hell was he, anyway?” He bent over and sucked in a breath. “And why the hell were we chasing him?”
“I saw him at the club.”
Dallas’s eyes went wide. “You think he knows something?”
“Yeah.” With my hands on my hips, I searched the alley one last time. Nothing. “Let’s go back to the car, and I’ll explain.”
We strode briskly to the vehicle, ever alert to the happenings around us, and managed to settle inside the car’s warmth without incident.
“He mentioned a name,” I said. “Ryan Heart, male. Check for a missing person’s report.”
Dallas typed the name into the console, then glanced at me. “Nada.”
“Try Ryan Hart,” I said, changing the spelling. “And if that doesn’t work, try Harte.”
A moment passed before Dallas uttered a dark chuckle. “I hate to break this to you, Mia, but there are two Ryan Harts. One is sixty-eight, not the appearance of our victims. The other is his ten-year-old grandson. They both have blond hair.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
The Arcadian had lied to me. My muscles tightened with simmering fury.
“Get both Harts on the phone,” I said. “I want to personally hear that they’re safe in their beds.”
It took Dallas fifteen minutes, but he finally confirmed that both Grandpa and the boy were safe.
“I want a guard on both of them,” I said. “I want to know who they talk to, where they go. And keep it low-key. I don’t want anyone to know, not even the commander.”
“There are a couple of humans who owe me a favor.” Dallas made the necessary calls.
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all.
CHAPTER 5
When we arrived at the warehouse, Ghost and Kittie were already there.
They stood beside their cruiser, each loaded down with multi-sized guns, knifes, and ammo. They were wearing typical hunter attire—black leather pants, black shirts, and black jackets. Where Ghost was tall, with chocolate-colored skin and a well-muscled body, Kittie was short and as pale as vanilla ice cream. His spindly arms and legs hid a dangerous strength and an ability to take down the most menacing of suspects.