Deadly Call (3 page)

“Don’t even worry about it. Dimitri is gonna flip when he hears this. Hey, I even know the perfect room you can use down here.”

“
We
can use, right? I’m hoping you’ll help me.”

He nodded. “Of course. Come on. Let me show you what I have in mind.”

She watched as he gently laid his guitar in its case on the bed. “Hey, Dies? I’m really glad I came here.”

He turned his head and gave her a huge smile. “Me too, Doc.”

James focused on the mansion’s power grid and continued to feel his way through it. Man, the high school had been one thing, but Diesel and X really knew what they were doing. This place was like Fort Knox.

“Don’t blow anything important. I’ll have two seriously pissed New Breeds ready to take a piece out of me,” Richard said.

“I’m just trying to get a sense of it. It’s really complex.”

Richard smiled. “Yeah, sounds like them. Why don’t you take a break? You’ve been at it for a while.”

He took the bottle of water the brother offered and downed half of it. “Is there other stuff I’ll be learning before my transition?”

He nodded. “You’ll learn some things earlier. Hand to hand combat techniques, proper use of firearms, target practice. Pax will start with you in a couple of days.”

“Pax?” Oh, God. Why the hell did he just say that?

“Yeah, I assigned him as your
camzah
, your official mentor. Is that okay? If you’d like someone else, I’m sure Dimitri would be happy to do it.”

“Oh, no, Pax is fine.” Okay, Pax was so not fine. Sure, James had played Varsity basketball at school, but he had zero strength compared to Pax unless he was in his second form. Man, that was funny. He realized he hadn’t thought about basketball in days. It used to be
all
he thought about. His best friend, Seth, was captain. They had really bonded, being the only shifters on the team. Their teammates had never really held it against them, which was a fucking miracle. On the court, James had always felt right at home, like he belonged there. He was made to play hoops.

It was different here. He felt safe, sure. But he was going to look like a pansy-ass little kid in front of Pax. Yup. He was going to make a total ass of himself in front of the male. Of course, he had no idea why that mattered. Well, maybe he had some idea. Pax kicked ass. He had saved him from being turned into a
hellion
. He was exactly who he wanted to be like, after his second transition. So maybe it was really a good thing to have him as his mentor then. Man, he was giving himself a migraine.
Okay, just deal with it.
Eighteen was way too old for hero worship.

Richard’s voice broke into his thoughts. “James? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking about that power grid.”

The male chuckled. “Okay. Let’s get back to it then. I have about twenty more minutes before my female starts hunting me down.”

Diesel stood against the side of a trashed old Victorian in Southie. As he cast out his senses, he swept the area for k’ul.
Got ‘em.
He glanced at Pax who stood next to him. His bro nodded. There was a Toltec shifter across the street, one building down and, if his instincts were right, there was a
hellion
with him.
Well, son of a bitch.
Their first husband and wife tag team. They were out for some civilian’s
nagual
and he was damned if they were going to get it. He pulled his Beretta, nodded to Pax, and gleamed to the roof of the building.

He materialized on the slanted rooftop on his knees and looked below him. Sure as shit, they were standing on the side of the house. He felt the presence of one shifter inside the home and heard the front door open. He smelled the air. The civilian was a male and he was definitely alone. This would be what he and Pax called a
prank and gank.
It was fast and efficient and usually required no use of firearms, which was better in a sitch like this one. No need scaring the crap out of that civilian.

Right on cue, Pax materialized directly in front of the shifter. “Boo, cocksucker!”

Before the startled shifter could respond, Pax hit the male so hard Diesel heard the crunch of his jaw. His turn. He unsheathed one of his daggers, gleamed behind the confused hellion, and decapitated it in one clean cut. Pax slit the shifter’s throat and pulled his vial from his neck.

Diesel watched the civilian drive off in his car and looked down at the dead male. “Goddamn Toltec shifters. I’m gonna get real sick of disposing of bodies. The Goddess really needs to come up with a way to bring these fuckers home.”

Pax wiped his blade on his pants. “No shit. It’s already two o’clock. Let’s ditch this douche and hit Anarchy.”

Moments later, they walked into the club and headed directly for the back. Troy and X were sitting in a booth with a couple of beers.

Diesel sat down. “Out for a cold one on your night off, I see.”

“Man, every night’s a night off these days. I’m already over this shit,” X said.

Pax nodded. “Yeah, we were just saying the same thing. It’s too hard to find those assholes in a city this size. We’re taking out one or two couples and that’s supposed to be a night’s work? And we’re doing it at the expense of looking for mutant dens.”

Troy signaled the waitress. “Maybe we need to work both at the same time. Two and two.”

X rubbed his goatee. “We need to change something. This is ineffective as hell.”

Diesel ordered three shots of Everclear. He looked at Pax and ignored the
what the fuck?
look the brother was giving him from across the table. “I’m sure Reyn will talk about it at the meeting tomorrow night.”

Troy bumped Pax and he slid over. “I’m out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

X got up. “Hold up. I’ll come with.”

When they were gone, Pax didn’t waste any time. “What’s up with you?”

“What?”

“You know what. You’re drinking more; you’re taking on more duties. I don’t like these extremes, man.”

“Would you quit worryin’? Jesus, Pax.”

Pax took a drink and watched as his buddy flashed those pale green eyes and long, dark lashes at a human female a couple of tables away. He was beyond irritated. He finished his drink and stood up. “I’m gonna head out.”

Diesel’s brows went up. “You’re leaving?”

“I’m not in the mood for this tonight.”

“There’s a first. Fine, let’s go.”

Pax led the way to the back door of the club and walked out into the alley. “Honestly, I don’t know why this shit even interests you anymore, anyway.”

Diesel fell into stride alongside him. “What do you mean?”

“With Helen now and whatever.”
Hello?
He was gay, not dead. He had eyes for Chrissake.

“Huh?”

“Come on, Dies. You know you wanna tap that.”

Pax’s head hit the brick wall of the club so hard, his vision actually blurred out for a second. Diesel’s body was crushed against him, his face so close he could feel his breath.

“What did you just say to me?”

“Nothing. Forget it.”

“That’s what I thought. You know, I’ll take all the shit the brothers throw at me about the females. They don’t know how dirty it makes me feel. They don’t know how many showers I take when I get back. They don’t know that I do it to control my adrenaline, so I’m not some ticking time bomb out in the field. But not from you, Pax. And another thing. You ever disrespect Helen like that again, I will end you. Got it,
brother?
”

Pax couldn’t speak. He just nodded.

The male let go of him and strutted back up the alley and into the club.

Pax just stood there. He was so shocked he literally couldn’t move. He had never seen Diesel behave that way. Ever.
Fuck.
His boy was either really into Helen or his moods were seriously out of whack. But if he liked Helen so much, why the hell had he just gone back into the club? He knew casual sex was different for Diesel than it was for himself. He could take it or leave it. Diesel used it the same way he used alcohol—to keep his anxiety in check. But this was…. He brushed himself off, started walking toward the street, and gleamed out mid-stride.

Ana stared down at her psychotic mother’s file and shook her head. There were papers strewn all over the bed and she’d worked herself up to a fabulous headache.
Nothing.
She’d gone over them again and again; the reason for taking the
naguals
just wasn’t there. She knew it was a long shot. Her mother would have been a total moron to put that kind of shit down on paper. But how the hell else was she supposed to figure it out? She glanced over at her laptop and watched the Mommie Dearest work in her office. Planting that mini cam seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she was starting to wonder. She wasn’t getting any usable Intel and it was driving her just as crazy as the translating work was. Not to mention SE was out on his first duty since her transition. How the hell did he handle the protective instinct as a New Breed? She wanted to stop by her mother’s office, kill her, then go find SE, and drag him home where she knew he was safe. There was a knock on the door. She was so grateful for the interruption, she didn’t care who it was.

“It’s open.”

Dimitri poked his head in. “Hey, partner.”

She smiled. “Hey, D. What’s up?”

“I just thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to do some sparring—SE’s first night out and all.”

She could have cried. “I’ll meet you in the gym in ten.”

He turned and started toward the door. “Perfect.”

“Hey, Dimitri?”

The male turned in the doorway. “Yo.”

“Thanks.”

He smiled. “No problem.”

She shook her head as she started to clean up the bed. God, she hoped he brought his gear with him. She was feeling especially violent.

Diesel exhaled as he walked down the compound corridor to the living area. He’d already tried Pax’s room and he wasn’t answering. So, either the son of a bitch was ignoring him or he wasn’t in there.
I’ll take door number two, Alex.
He heard the TV. Sci-fi Channel. Good sign. He walked in the room and leaned on the back of the couch.

“Hey.”

Pax didn’t turn his head. “Hey.”

Well, this was going just swimmingly. He moved around to the front of the sofa and sat down. “Pax, look, I’m sorry, man. I was totally out of line.”

Pax’s big browns moved from the TV and he looked Diesel in the eye. “You got overprotective of Helen. It happens. I just didn’t know you felt that way about her.”

“I don’t. Look, I know she’s beautiful and I can see where you got the wrong idea. I’m just not into her like that, Pax. It’s a total non-issue. I was just sticking up for a good female and got carried away.”

“That’s what worries me.”

Diesel dropped his eyes to the floor.

“Look, I shouldn’t have ridden you so hard about the drinking and the females. I know you don’t want to hear this, Dies, any more than I want to say it. But I’m the only one who knows and you need to hear it from someone. You left part of your head back on that patrol in Iraq. You’ve got to deal with this. Your moods are way off kilter. If you won’t talk to me then you’d better talk to someone. Tell me you’ll at least think about it? I mean, really think about it.”

He ran his hand through his hair and looked back at his best friend. “Yeah, sure, I’ll think about it. I will.”

“Okay. Good. I’m gonna crash. I’m beat.”

“Night.”

Diesel walked over to the bar and poured some Jack into a tumbler. Well, if he didn’t sleep tonight, he sure as hell would after an extra duty tomorrow. Part of him knew Pax was right, but all he could do was push forward. He didn’t know how to do anything else. He rubbed his eyes. Christ, he was exhausted. He was so goddamn tired all the time. Tired of constantly being keyed up, tired of the worry and the panic. But mostly he was tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Reyn stood at the front of the drawing room and watched the Order as they all filed in. “Okay, this is going to be a strategy session. You’re having issues locating more than one or two mutant-shifter couples a night. I’m sure it’s been frustrating.”

Troy leaned against the long, central table. “Word.”

Reyn ignored him and continued. “I’ve been tracking them using the Intel you’ve given me and information from the tips called in by civilians. There’s a pattern to their movements. They never hit the same neighborhoods twice in a three or four day period. Now, we know from Ana that there are about a hundred shifters total, with the specific regiment working for the Initiative. That’s a relatively small number and it’s another reason why finding them has been so difficult. From now on, you will be assigned to a specific area for each shift based on the pattern. At the same time, we’ll be splitting up. Two of you will look for couples and the other two will search for mutant dens. This will be done in rotation. Any questions? Good. Look, we all know we’re vastly outnumbered. We’re going to start attacking Toltec with a more multi-faceted approach. While you work in the field, Ana and X will continue to try and crack the mystery behind the vials. At the same time, Dr. Sussman will begin work on a cure to the mutant serum. We may have a shot at not only stopping the mutant program in its tracks, but also helping the
hellions
who’ve already been turned. That’s all.”

As the warriors filed out of the room, Reyn could hear them all discussing various aspects of the information he’d given them. He walked down the hall to the study, passed his desk, and went into his room. He opened the mini fridge and grabbed a beer.

“Well done, warrior.”

Reyn sat on the bed, leaned his head against the wall, and closed his eyes. “No pep talks.”

“It’s not easy keeping them patient, I know.”

“I
said
no pep talks,” he grumbled.

Her scent came to him as if carried on a breeze, and calmed him immediately. When had his life gotten so goddamn complicated? Like that was hard to answer—nine months ago when Akina had found him and chosen him as the first New Breed. Or maybe it was when he found out he was intended to be the leader of the Order. Or maybe…

As her scent filled the room, he sighed and put his beer down on the bedside table. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“I understand. I don’t mean to try and cheer you when I’m asked not to. Only I do not like to see you so sad.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. You have enough to worry about.”

Her scent intensified. “Apology accepted. Oh, and warrior, next time make sure you have an ale for me as well.”