"Fine." Sali slapped his car keys on the table. "Car was out of gas, anyway," he muttered, rising and stalking away.
"Three weeks," Marcus called out. Sali kept walking.
* * *
Wildrif's cell battery was almost drained, and there were few options in the Arizona desert to recharge it. He had calls to make, and hoped the battery would last at least that long.
"Don't stray too far," Rumble, the last of Baltis' new Destroyers growled at Wildrif as he walked past the guards posted on the eastern edge of the Dark King's encampment.
"Just getting a bit of exercise," Wildrif replied meekly, his head down. Rumble snorted and let the quarter-blood seer go. There wasn't anything for miles, Rumble knew, and the seer would find nothing but death should he stray too far. Rumble felt it might be a fitting end for the unwelcome misfit, but Baltis did seem to find him useful at times.
Wildrif walked for perhaps a quarter mile before pulling the precious cell from his pocket and making his first call—the most important one. The call was answered on the second ring.
"Master Tanner?" Wildrif spoke after Zeke's gruff "hello."
"Wildrif? What do you have for me?"
"A suggestion, Master Tanner. And a request."
"What's the suggestion?"
"Do you still have your contact in the U.S. capital?"
"I do."
"I will send a message containing vital information. You should forward it to him. He will take appropriate action."
"I'll do that. What's the request?"
"Might I be removed from the Dark King's loving embrace? He has become more than tiresome."
"I can have somebody at your current location in two days."
"I will be waiting."
"Good. Here's what I want you to do."
Chapter 6
Curtis Roberts, Director of the U.S. Intelligence and Foreign Communications Division, toyed with a printout of information he'd received from his source in Mexico. The title of Curt's division sounded completely benign. It wasn't. He had authority even the CIA couldn't claim. He'd held his position for nine years, after the division had been created by an outgoing President during a lame-duck session. As yet, the current President, still in the first year of his term, hadn't been notified of the IFC's actual role in national security.
"This is more than interesting," Curt handed the printout back to his personal assistant, Calhoun. "With this information, we can make arrests before the day's over."
"Who should I notify?"
"Matt Michaels. His people can move the fastest."
"What about the last paragraph here?" Calhoun dangled the paper by a corner. "It says there may be more coming, to prove we can trust the source."
"I'll wait to see what more coming actually means. These three names are good, but I'd need something better than that to make the source unimpeachable, in my opinion. Get with Matt Michaels, hand him the names and see if he can make arrests. If this information is wrong, well," Curt shrugged.
"We let Matt Michaels take the fall for it," Calhoun grinned.
"He's just too squeaky clean," Curt agreed. "Keep me posted with texts—the meeting I have on the hill may take all day."
"Of course, sir."
* * *
"Nervous?" Trace glanced at Ashe as they drove toward Beeville. Coastal Bend College was their destination for the test, and they'd left Port Aransas in plenty of time.
"Yes and no," Ashe sighed. "I know," he held up a hand as Trace started to reply. "That's not much of an answer. I have mixed feelings about this, Trace. I can't explain why, right now, but I do."
"You think you won't pass?"
"I can pass." Ashe hunched his shoulders. "No worries about passing."
"Winkler already pulled strings to get you enrolled at the University of Texas. He knows the College President."
"Yeah." Ashe looked out the passenger window.
"Kid, what's wrong?"
"Trace, ask me that question in a few weeks. Okay?"
"You're starting to scare me, Ashe."
"You think I'm not already there?" Ashe turned and blinked at Trace.
"Let's get through today, and we'll let tomorrow take care of itself," Trace muttered, turning onto Charco Road. Ashe saw the college sign near a parking lot, which was already filling up.
"Good thing we left early," Ashe sighed.
* * *
"What are you wearing tomorrow?" Wynn flopped onto Dori's bed. Dori had been restless and out of sorts all morning, calling Wynn right after breakfast and asking if she wanted to do anything on their last day of summer vacation.
"No idea. Maybe I should have waited to break up with Sali. At least he has a car and could take us somewhere," Dori grumped, dropping onto the floor in a cross-legged position. "I still have enough money to buy new shoes."
"Ace is out of town," Wynn nodded. "I miss him when he's gone. I know not to be a pest," she held up a hand at Dori's lifted eyebrow. "I don't call or text. We agreed that he'd let me know when he wasn't working. We talk, then."
"At least he's a mature werewolf." Dori frowned. "Unlike Sali, who resorts to childish insults at the first opportunity." Dori still hadn't shown Sali's last message to Wynn. The insult was too embarrassing.
"What do you think tomorrow will be like? Ashe won't be there. Hayes is gone. Larry and Jeff are still not talking to anybody, and Sali's back to being a jerk." Wynn examined her blue toenail polish with a critical eye. She'd have to redo it before classes started in the morning. "I'd really like to get my bangs trimmed," she added. "I wonder if Mom will let me borrow the car."
"We can ask, but if we don't have somebody with us," Dori said. "Marcus laid down the law after Hayes got killed. I still don't understand what happened to Jeremy. Sali told me that Micah took Chad's execution," her voice dropped to a whisper. "But he wouldn't talk about Jeremy."
"Well," Wynn scraped off blue toenail polish with a fingernail, "Ace told me. He said Marco told Cori, too, so I'm surprised she didn't tell you."
"Tell me what? I haven't really seen Cori lately; she's been busy moving into her dorm room."
"Ashe did it. Ace wouldn't explain how."
"It was that scary?" Dori blinked at Wynn in confusion.
"No. He said it was—unusual. That's all."
"That describes Ashe. Completely. He's unusual." Dori got up and wandered to her bedroom window. "I still want to go out today, but Mom's with Cori, hauling a load of stuff for her dorm room in the car. Dad's asleep and nobody else we know is available to ask."