Fox Afield (Madison Wolves) (27 page)

* * * *

We stayed at the motel for the evening communication. Robert received new proof of life. Greg's computer guy stared intently at his computers, typing frantically from time to time and muttering to himself.

"All right," I said. "I still think we should get inside his house
and make sure she's not there. We could do that this evening unless there's something we can do instead."

Greg and Lara communed for a minute. "You think it's a waste of time, Michaela?"

"I don't think she's there," I admitted. "But I was only using my ears, and I have limits."

Greg talked to his computer guy. "We got more information," Greg said. "Proof of life was mailed to another account. Timothy basically forwarded the email. I don't think she's there. We're digging into the other account and chasing backwards to see where it came from. That's going to take a few hours. I don't think she's there, but as Michaela said, what else are we going to do?"

"All right," Lara said. "Who wants to join Michaela and me?"

"I am going," said Elisabeth. She looked around. "Karen?" Karen nodded.

The four of us huddled for a few minutes. The plan was pretty simple. We climbed into one of the cars, began driving, and the wolves all shifted. Lara helped Elisabeth and Karen with dog collars before doing her own shift. We parked around the corner from Timothy's, near the park. I unbuttoned my blouse a couple of buttons then climbed into the back. I put a collar on Lara and snapped leashes on all three of them. We climbed out of the car and began walking to Timothy's, cutting across the park. The four of us walked to his front door and I rang the bell, schooling my features.

He opened the door and peered out.

"Hi!" I began exuberantly. "I'm Michaela, and I have a new dog walking business!"

"Don't got a dog," he said and began to close the door.

"Please!" I said. "I'm having trouble finding customers. I'd be real grateful if you could help me. Real grateful."

"Don't got a dog," he said again.

"But I bet you know people," I said.

The closing door stopped. He opened it wider. "I know people," he agreed.

I held out my hand. "My name is Michaela," I said.

Timothy opened the door wider, staring at the top button of my blouse. Finally he took my hand. "Tim."

That was when Lara made her move. She got her nose in between Tim and the door and pushed. A normal dog her size would have been hard to block if you were ready. An alpha werewolf: impossible. Lara pushed past him, barking, the other two wolves following. They pulled the leashes right out of my hand and began tearing around the house, sniffing like crazy.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" I said. "I'll get them!" I slipped past Tim and began calling the wolves. "Elle! Lizzy! Kay kay! Heel!"

Then I listened. Nothing. I was sure the five of us were the only living creatures in the house, discounting the occasional rodent and vermin.

The wolves misbehaved for just a few moments, then I collected them up. Tim was wringing his hands, and I apologized profusely.

"I'm so sorry," I said, once the wolves were under control.

"Maybe you should learn to control the dogs you h
ave before you try walking more."

"I do them in shifts. These three are so big, but they've never done anything like that before. But you're right."

"Who was that woman you were with yesterday?" he asked.

"What woman?" I asked.

"The one you had the fight with," he said.

"You saw that?"

He nodded.

"My girlfriend." I tried to act shy. "But I'm bi-, and sometimes she likes to watch."

Lara stepped on my foot, putting as much of her weight into it as she could.

"Back off, Elle," I told her, nudging her with my knee. She didn't move.

"Tim," I said. "You're probably right. I need to learn to manage these dogs before I take on more. But maybe once I've had more practice, you can tell me other people with dogs that might need walking. I'll see you around. Come on, girls."

Tim held the door for me, and I'm sure he was staring at my ass.

"Maybe I could, you know, call you sometime," he said.

"I tell you what, Tim," I replied. "You're kind of cute. Lara might like you." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took his picture. "Give me your number; maybe we'll call you. We could have drinks. Or something."

He found paper and pen and wrote down his number. I glanced at it. "Is this your home or cell number?"

"Home," he said.

"Do you have a cell number? So if we meet somewhere and can't find you, we can call you."

"Um-" he said. "I do, but I'm not supposed to give it out."

"Oh," I said, disappointed. "That's too bad. I guess I'll see you around sometime." I turned to the door.

"Wait!" he said. He took the paper and added a cell number. "But don't tell anyone I gave you that number. I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

I looked at the number then pushed the paper into my pocket. I looked into his eyes. "If it's your phone, who can tell you not to give it to me?" I smiled shyly and moved closer.

He gulped. I didn't think Tim got much female attention. I didn't have much practice manipulating guys and was probably not very subtle, but still, he felt like putty in my hands.

"I'm not supposed to say," he said.

"Oh come on," I said. "It's just me and the dogs, and who are they going to tell? Come on, I love secrets. If you tell me your secret about the phone, I'll tell you one of mine."

"Really?" he said.

I nodded. "And you'll like it. I promise."

"All right," he said. "Harvey Block gave me the cell phone. I'm only supposed to use it to talk to him."

"Who is Harvey
Block?" I asked.

"He's this guy-"

"What does he do for a living?"

"He builds buildings."

"Like houses?"

"And he built the shopping mall."

"Well, your secret is safe with me, Tim," I said. I looked him straight in the eye. "I promised you a secret, didn't I?"

He nodded.

I leaned closer. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Um- Sure."

I whispered into his ears. "My nipples are pierced."

He gulped again. "Really?"

"Uh huh," I said, nodding.

"Do you think you could show me?" he asked.

"Why Tim," I said. "Lara would paddle my bottom if I did that without permission. But you can bet I'll show her your picture. She sometimes takes a week or two before she warms up to an idea. So you need to be patient. You can be patient, can't you?"

"Um. Sure."

I patted his cheek. "Good boy. I better get going. I think Elle is about to piddle right on the floor."

I pulled the wolves out the door. Lara was fuming. Tim watched us leave, and I wriggled my ass at him, giving him a real good show. I didn't say anything to the wolves until we got in the car. I took their leashes and collars off then climbed up front. Lara shifted immediately, pulling on clothes.

She was fuming.

"So," I said. "She's not there."

"No." She was tight lipped and glared at me. I was in trouble.

"We got the information," I said quietly. "We got in and out, and he has no idea what he told us. Furthermore, there is no way on the planet he is going to mention us to the good Mr. Block."

"You could have told him something else," she said.

"For crying out
loud, Lara," I said. "I didn't tell him anything he wouldn't have known after yesterday's little water display. They were pretty obvious then, don't you think?"

"He's going to be thinking about you. He's probably back there right now doing disgusting things."

"Which means he's not telling Harvey Block we're onto him. Call Greg."

I turned around and put the car into gear. Lara climbed up front, glared at me some more, then called Greg.

"Harvey Block," she said. She relayed the conversation.

* * * *

We arrived at the motel. Lara was tight lipped the entire way. As we pulled in, I told her, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize this would upset you. It was the first thing that popped in my head, and I knew it would distract him. I don't know how I was supposed to know it was top secret when the entire pack knows, but it has upset you, and I am sorry."

She didn't respond.

Fine. I wasn't going to grovel. I was doing the best I could, and if it wasn't good enough for her, that was just tough.

I pulled to an uncomfortable stop, killed the engine, and threw the keys to Elisabeth before climbing out and slamming my door.

Eric started to open the motel room door as I approached. I pushed past him. "Greg," I said. "Get me a list of buildings to start checking. I don't know if I will hear anyone inside of them, but I can at least try. There's nothing else I can do, after all. It's almost dark; I'm sure my security detail will allow me to sneak around once it's fully dark."

"We're working on it," he said before even turning around to look at me. "Alpha-"

"Yes?" I interjected, standing up straight with my hands on my hips. I knew he meant Lara, but I intended to be taken seriously.

"Michaela," Lara said from my side. "I don't believe now is a good time for us to start a turf war."

I ignored her. "Greg, what does Robert say about Harvey Block?"

"There is a planning committee meeting next Tuesday in which Mr. Block is petitioning for a zoning ordinance variance. Robert Callahan is opposed to the variance."

"We got him," I said.

"Yes," Greg said. "We got him. But.
Harvey Block's brother is an assistant agent in charge at the Milwaukee FBI office," Greg said.

I stared at Greg. "Fuck," I said after a minute. "This is on us, isn't it?"

"That is my recommendation," Greg said.

Greg gave us a briefing. I didn't care about any of it. I wanted to know where he was keeping Virginia. I began to grow impatient and finally snapped at Greg.

"I don't need to know any of this. I need to know what buildings to start checking!"

"It's not that easy, Michaela," he said. "Aren't you listening? He directly owns four buildings. He owns companies that own six more. We believe he has a partial ownership in several others. Plus there are the buildings under construction, which we haven't fully identified yet. He is what passes for a real estate tycoon in this part of Wisconsin, with interests from the Michigan border all the way to Superior. She could be anywhere. We need to keep digging."

"Greg, I can't help with any of that. But I can scout buildings once it gets dark. Get me a list of whatever you have, and I'll start there."

But Greg wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Lara.

"Greg, please give me the buildings nearby that you know about," I said again.

"I am sorry, Michaela," Greg said. "I don't work for you. I work for the woman signing my checks."

I turned to Lara. She wouldn't meet my eye.

"Michaela, you should stay in tonight," she said.

"Why?"

"We have at least until Tuesday," she said. "That gives us tonight and the entire weekend, plus Monday."

"You don't know that," I said. "And if Harvey Block owns this many buildings, it is going to take time to check them all out, especially if he's using a building he is only remotely connected to. The sooner I start looking, the sooner we narrow it down."

"We don't know the type of security that may be in place around the buildings," Lara said. "Greg's people haven't had time to dig into that. We haven't had time to do longer range surveillance."

"So they see me? So what? I'll be in fur? Who cares about a little fox looking around for a few field mice?"

"Around one building, or two, no one is going to care. But around all of them? What if you blow your cover and twelve hours later, we need you to scout a probable target, one we wolves can't get close enough to?"

I stared at her. She still wouldn't meet my eyes, but she was deadly serious.

"So I am supposed to do what, exactly?"

"Wait for better intelligence. It might be a few days. You could go home."

"Excuse me? I presume now you're just trying to make a bad joke."

"You're in the way here," she said.

I counted to ten before I said anything. "I see. I identified the car. I got the name. I got the information on the cell phone. And I am in the way. Excuse me. I will get out of your way and let the adults do their jobs."

I turned towards the door only to find Elisabeth guarding it.

"Keep her in our room, Elisabeth," Lara said.

"How do you propose I do that, Alpha?" Elisabeth said.

"There are a limited number of exits," Lara said. "Take who you need."

"Are you going to be the one to disarm her?" Elisabeth asked. "She knows she won't kill me with a silver knife to the gut, but it would sure slow me down."

"Fuck you both," I said quietly. I started dropping my silver in a pile on the floor. When I was done, I said, "Who wants to pat me down, make sure I don't have a holdout?"

And damned if Lara didn't do just that.

"Serena," Elisabeth said.

"Not me,"
Serena replied. "She's the one who found my kids. She asks me to step aside, I'm going to step aside."

Lara began to growl.

I turned to the enforcer. "Serena, tell the alpha you'll follow orders. And follow them, no matter how much I beg you later. But I promise, I won't put you in that position."

Serena looked between Lara and me. "This could not have been more poorly handled. I will do my duty, but you will resolve this by the time we return to Madison or I am resigning my position and moving my family to Boulder."

Serena stepped forward and gently took my arm. Elisabeth took the other before opening the door. The two of them marched me three doors down to the room I'd been sharing with Elisabeth. I didn't say a word to either of them. Serena used a card key and let us all in.

"Serena, t
ake the bathroom window," Elisabeth said. "If the fox leaves by that window, I will consider it extreme dereliction of duty. Michaela, do you know what the punishment is for extreme dereliction of duty?"

"No."

"Death."

Without a word, Serena turned on her heel, grabbed a chair, and carried it into the bathroom. She settled into position guarding one of the two exits from the room. I turned to Elisabeth.

"Did my wife just ask for a divorce?"

"You need to calm down."

"You just accused me of being willing to stab you with silver, Elisabeth. My wife agreed with your assessment. You threatened to murder someone if I leave. And I'm the one who is responding badly? All that on top of shutting me out of the search for my friend!" My voice went up after each statement. "And that is after I was the one who identified the lion's share of pertinent information. What. The. Fuck!" The last was screamed.

I was practically foaming at the mouth I was so livid, and the more I thought about it, the worse it got.

"I did not believe you would respond calmly to Lara's heavy-handed bullshit," Elisabeth said calmly. "I was worried you might do something you would later regret. I was also telling the alpha that she had gone way too far, and that she was in deep shit, if she didn't already know that."

I didn't have any response to that.

"As for Serena -- she stated clearly she would disobey direct orders, and I could not ignore that. I slapped her down as lightly as I could get away with. And I did so in a fashion that you won't ask her to help you, which would only make the situation worse. If you want out of this motel room, it's either through me or once Lara realizes what a colossally bad job she did bungling this."

I looked up into her face. She was returning my look with one of concern. I took several deep breaths, trying to calm down.

"One general, Michaela," Elisabeth said. "Right or wrong, one general. And it's Lara. She needs to know she can count on me. I told her she was wrong, but I still backed her. Would you have me do it any other way?"

I took several more breaths before replying. "No."

"Now, I am going to repeat. Lara handled this exceedingly poorly. However, she is right. You need to stay in tonight, for the reasons she so poorly iterated. You are right. You have been invaluable. And I suspect your role in this isn't done. But right now, Greg's people need to do their jobs."

"What is the real risk of me snooping around, say, two hours after full dark?"

"They notice you. They set up fox traps."

"Like I a
m going to get caught in a fox trap. That is an insulting suggestion."

"I could trap you," she told me calmly.

"When I'm aware there might be traps?" She nodded. "I am not willing to concede that point, although it might be interesting to try it sometime. But you know I'm a werefox. You would be going to much greater lengths. They would see a fox, not a werefox."

"Michaela, there are people in the FBI who know about weres. We don't know that assistant agent in charge Block doesn't know. And we don't know he hasn't told his brother. We don't know whether we'r
e dealing strictly with Harvey Block or his brother. For all we know, this could be engineered by Mr. Fibbie."

I paced around the room for a while, absorbing everything she had said. I ended my pacing by staring up into her face. She was remarkably calm.

"And we couldn't just discuss this calmly in the next room?"

"You were pushy and Lara made an extreme overreaction. She'll start kicking herself soon and be over to apologize and explain herself."

"She can get stuffed."

"She probably won't be by until she thinks there's a chance your reaction might be something other than that."

I sighed. "All right. I'm still pissed, but I'm not pissed at you any longer. In fact, I won't even go over to my suitcase and load up on the next set of silver I have waiting for me. Isn't that magnanimous of me?"

"Quite."

I prowled the room for a while. Elisabeth guarded the door. I turned to her. "You're going to guard the door all night?"

"Until relieved."

I turned my back on her. There wasn't anything to do in the room, and I knew my tolerance for sitting on my hands would be less than five minutes. I turned on the television and went channel surfing. I wasn't much of a television viewer.

I flipped it back off and reached for my phone, only to realize Lara had taken it.

"Seriously?" I said.

"Who did you want to call?"

"Angel."

Elisabeth called Angel. "Do they have you doing anything?"

"I'm on a food run," Angel replied.

"Call me back when you're done," Elisabeth said.

"We going to spring her?" Angel asked.

"No. We're going to entertain her."

"All right."

I sat on the bed and fumed. And then I turned petty. I reached to my ears, fumbled for a minute, then pulled the four earrings out. I slammed the earrings on the nightstand then concentrated on healing the holes.

"Burning bridges?" Elisabeth asked. "You know she wanted you to keep those."

"It is my body," I said. "I will do what I want with it."

I opened my blouse then lifted my bra away.

"Please stop," Elisabeth said. "You know she's going to apologize. You know she's going to be very sorry."

"Her behavior is a continuing pattern, Elisabeth. She might apologize, but she is going to continue doing it because she knows if she apologizes, I'll forgive her, and she gets away with it."

"This isn't going to change anything," Elisabeth said. "You shouldn't do this while you're angry."

I didn't respond to that. I pulled both of the piercings out of my nipples, slammed them onto the nightstand as well, then healed the holes.

Elisabeth sighed.

I adjusted my clothing, then I concentrated on my crotch. I wasn't sure if I could make the hair there grow back, but I was going to try.

I felt tingling and itching, and after several minutes I reached down into my jeans. "Ah," I said. "Nice and furry. Like nature intended."

I ignored any response Elisabeth may have.

Then I punched the pillow several times, rolled over, and tried to sleep.

* * * *

I must have been tired. I slept through Angel coming in to check on me and offer food for everyone. I slept through someone covering me with a blanket from the other bed. I slept through Lara arriving. I slept through her discovery of the jewelry sitting on the nightstand. I slept through her climbing onto the bed.

I woke the instant she tried to pull me into her arms.

"Get your hands off me," I told her coldly.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't give a fuck. You embarrassed the hell out of me, treating me like a wayward, ill-behaved child. You patted me down! You took my phone. What? I was going to call Harvey Block and warn him we were coming? Get the fuck away from me. When we have rescued Virginia, I might, and I repeat, might, consider listening to any apologies you have to offer."

"Please, honey, calm down and listen."

"I was fucking asleep," I said. "I don't get much calmer than that."

"You're not calm now."

"Would you be?" I spat at her.

"Just let me explain what happened. Then if you want me to leave you alone, I will."

I hadn't moved since she arrived in the bed except to shrug her off every time she tried to touch me. I continued to stare at the wall next to the bathroom door.

"We were both there. I think I know what happened."

"You don't know why. You think you do, perhaps, but you don't."

I didn't respond.

"Michaela, please. I think you want to know why. If nothing else, it will give you more fuel for your anger."

"Shut up," I said. "Do not make jokes about this."

"I'm sorry," she said

"Fine. Why did you treat me like that? Did I do something to deserve it?"

"No, you didn't," she said. "I was right about you staying inside tonight, but I was completely, entirely in the wrong how I handled it."

"Fine. Why?"

"Because I was so blinded by jealousy I couldn't think straight."

I lay there for several minutes, thinking about it. To her credit, Lara didn't say a further word and didn't try to touch me.

"Has anything come to light that suggests my services are needed
tonight?"

"No," she said. "Not yet."

"Am I still under house arrest?"

She didn't answer right away, but I wasn't going to say another word until she did. Finally she said, "No. I already sent Serena and Elisabeth away.
"