"A veterinarian? That's cool. Bring her down and have her take a look at Sali."
"I heard you were on the outs with him," Randy said. "I'd have said that was impossible, three years ago. You were inseparable."
"Yeah. Things change."
"Actually, I was thinking about inviting Sara down. Maybe she'd like the beach."
"Just about everybody does," Ashe flipped through another file.
"She was the one who did the autopsies for me—on all those dead rats." Ashe jerked his head up.
"Randy, she's not going back down there, is she? To the tunnels?" Ashe recalled then that he hadn't told Winkler about his suspicions.
"She never went—city workers hauled the rats out for her to examine."
"Randy, this is important; get on the phone and tell her and anybody else not to go near any of that. The rats are expendable. People aren't." Ashe hauled out his cell and sent a text to Winkler. He hardly used his cell anymore; his mindspeech was much more direct and reliable. Winkler arrived in Ashe's office quickly, in response to the text.
"Randy, tell Mr. Winkler about exploding rat hearts," Ashe instructed.
* * *
"Matt, we think some of them are holed up in the Chicago narrow gauge rail tunnels," Winkler was on a conference call with Matt Michaels and the Grand Master.
"I’ll get with the City—see if anybody has detected anything," Matt said.
"I can get some wolves on it," Weldon offered.
"Don't get close enough to get anybody killed," Winkler warned.
"Don't worry. I think we can use sensors," Matt suggested. "And if we find them, maybe we can flush them out."
"There's a thriving vampire community in Chicago. I’ll get Wlodek on the phone. He may be interested in this," Weldon offered. "If I send my wolves in with his vamps, we might be able to take care of this with none the wiser."
"That's less conspicuous than sending in Special Forces," Matt agreed. "I’ll send a task force in right away. We’ll know by tomorrow."
"If Wlodek agrees, we can get our forces together by Wednesday night," Weldon suggested.
"Good enough. Let's get what we can. Maybe we can force them off the planet after all," Matt agreed. He'd had several meetings with the President, with specific discussions over this particular alien invasion. The trouble was, none of his agents had been able to locate them. This was good information and Ashe Evans and Randy Smith had collaborated, giving him the best intelligence he'd received to date. Matt itched to get to Chicago himself.
* * *
"Winkler, what's in the tunnels under Chicago is just a portion of them," Ashe pointed out quietly over dinner. Trajan and Trace were listening carefully to Ashe's words.
"You know where the others are," Winkler stared at his ward.
"There are young with the camps. I’m not about to send Matt Michaels and a bunch of vampires and werewolves after kids."
"Ashe, the adults can do more damage," Winkler frowned.
"They're after me. If they find me, the rest of you need to stand out of the way and let me handle it." Ashe was having meatloaf at a local diner in Star Cove. He'd never gotten his burger at Dandee Burgers, so he wasn't sure which might be his favorite restaurant so far.
"Kid, I know you're talented, but," Trajan began.
"Here." Ashe pulled his cell phone out and hit a few keys. "Randy forwarded this to me. He didn't know what it was. You didn't see this because you were on St. Joseph Island. I never knew Randy recorded it." Ashe handed the iPhone to Trajan. Winkler and Trace leaned in to watch as the canal in the center of their Star Cove community burst into flames, burning high into the night sky. Ashe hunched down in his seat when the screams sounded. Winkler cursed in wonder. Trace whistled.
"I’ll get Randy to erase those images. Send this to me, Ashe, if you wouldn't mind," Winkler said, handing the phone back. Ashe sent the images to Winkler's email and pocketed his phone. "Now, Ashe, would you mind telling us how you managed to burn everything else and get out of there alive?"
"I'm not talking about that," Ashe replied and refused to say anything else.
* * *
"He wouldn't say how he got out of that," Winkler sighed. He'd made a conference call to Matt and Weldon after arriving in Star Cove. Ashe had gone out for ice cream with Trajan and Trace. Winkler forwarded the images from Star Cove during the last full moon. Winkler felt itchy—the full moon was four days away. He'd talked to Buck—they could move into the beach house on Friday before the full moon on Sunday. Winkler was brought back from his thoughts by Matt's words. "If we could recruit that kid, think of the possibilities. He could get in anywhere and do anything. Hostages rescued, terrorists eliminated," Matt sounded euphoric.
"You're talking from a purely human point of view," Weldon said. "We need him too, remember? We have rogues that can be more dangerous than any human. Same with the vamps. Wlodek's Enforcers and Assassins are working overtime, while my Trackers haven't seen time off in I don't know how long. I’m working to recruit more, but that's harder than it sounds. Face it, Director, we all need him. The shifters, too, unless I miss my guess. The trouble is, he's only sixteen. Won't be of legal age for another two years—can't drink for three years past that. Those deaths in Star Cove bother him, even though they were trying to kill his friends and capture him. I don't know what effect dealing with terrorists and rogues will have on the boy."
"I think we’ll have to wait two years, but he's already been a big help," Winkler said. "We’ll utilize him for special assignments but as my ward, I don't want him anywhere near the Middle East. He stays in the U.S. and works here."
"That's fine, but when he turns eighteen," Matt began.
"We get it. We’ll all come knocking and he’ll make up his own mind. What we have to do is keep him out of Wlodek's clutches when the time comes." Weldon wasn't mincing words. He knew Matt depended upon his vampire agents. He was trusting Matt to do the right thing and work to keep Ashe the way he was.
* * *
"Sara, I know this is a little forward, but you could come for a visit," Randy coaxed. "There's a beach just a few yards away, a boat slip that runs down the center of the community and we could spend a little time together. I told the newspaper that I could start work on the fifteenth. Come down for a few days."