I swore I could hear myself swallow in the sudden tense quietness. Without realizing I was doing it, I sank back in my chair, my voice a whole lot more restrained than it had been as I asked, “How do you know I’m the target?”
Ling Mai pulled open the top drawer of her desk, not making a sound until she reached in and rustled a sheet of paper. After she pulled it out she unfurled it and slid it across the pristine surface of the desk.
“This is why.”
I leaned forward, afraid to touch that paper as if it could scorch me. But I forced myself to claim it with two fingers, pulling it toward me so I could read it easier.
It looked innocent enough. A few typed words—less than a full sentence altogether.
Today. Shifter training. Remove Noziak. Now.
The spit in my throat dried up, but I was pleased that I could scoot the paper back toward Ling Mai and lean against my chair, acting as if I read death threats daily.
“Where’d you get this?” I asked, my voice only wobbling a little.
“Intercepted a call,” Stone said.
“And you have no idea who was on the phone? Here? I find that hard to believe.”
“It was a fluke that we were able to get as much as we did.” He curled then released his fists against his side. “Everyone who enters this compound has their phones and any other electronic devices confiscated when they arrive. Our tech people were doing a routine surveillance and caught the conversation minutes before we assembled in the gym.”
“By the time they knew there was a threat we were already sparring,” Vaughn added, halting my next question, why were we not warned, in its tracks.
“So how did someone get a phone?” I asked, keeping my gaze on Stone.
He shrugged, his face darkening. “Bribed someone. Snuck one through the perimeter. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
I wasn’t really listening to his answer. After only two months in prison I knew only too well how easy it was to acquire what you wanted, regardless of the precautions. Everything had a price.
Ling Mai leaned forward, voicing the thought already tumbling around my head. “Who wants you dead?”
I wasn’t often at a loss for words, but the question gob smacked me. “Don’t know.”
“Make any enemies where you were?” Stone asked, stepping away from the wall.
I appreciated that he didn’t rat where I’d spent the last two months to Vaughn, even though it was obvious she was more of an insider than an outsider here.
“Big Mad Martha,” I mumbled, then shook my head. “But she hated everyone, so I doubt it was personal. Besides, she was only a big fish in a very small pond. I doubt she could plan something beyond the boundaries of PWCC.”
“Sounds like a delightful woman,” Vaughn muttered, averting her gaze and not asking what, or where, PWCC was.
“Anyone else?” Stone pushed.
I spread my hands wide, which looked really stupid with one mummified with bandages. “There are less than four hundred people in all of Mud Lake,” I said, referring to my hometown. “A few hundred more in the outlying area. I don’t know them all but enough of them to not suspect a single one.”
“There’s got to be someone?” Stone said, his tone a threat.
Vaughn raised one hand. “Wait a minute, Alex has a good point.”
“What, that there’s no one I know in Mud Lake who wants to cross the country to take me out?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m thinking maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.”
“Meaning?” Stone snapped, taking his frustration out on her, though I wasn’t sure why.
“This is a very organized attempt to kill Alex,” she said, looking mostly at Ling Mai and myself and giving her shoulder to Stone. I knew I liked her.
She continued, “Someone has gone to a lot of trouble and invested a lot of money in this operation.”
“Which means what?” I asked. “Most of the folks I know barely break even year after year. Not a lot of people with money to burn in Mud Lake.”
Vaughn offered me a weak smile. “Not looking necessarily at individual wealth,” she said, then looked at Stone as if daring him to take a potshot at her. “Think connections. Organization. The backing of a larger group as opposed to one person.”
“The Mafia?” I asked, swimming in the dark. I could see my brothers snorting over the idea of an Idaho Mafia.
“Who else is extremely organized, runs in packs, and has the financial wherewithal of a group to fund an operation like this?”
Ling Mai and I spoke at the same time. “Weres.”
“Or vamps,” Stone added, realizing exactly what Vaughn was saying.
“No.” I shook my head. “No, I killed a Were. Haven’t had any run-ins with vampires.” That I knew about, not that vamps easily fit in with human society, and living in an isolated small Idaho community meant I didn’t cross paths with many of them. And few went to prison. They didn’t do well in a closed society that required you to be awake in the daylight. So if they committed a crime, they made damned sure they weren’t caught.
“So we’re looking for a Were,” Stone repeated, nodding at Ling Mai.
“Except.” I raised my hand to halt the easy solution. “The Were I killed was a rogue. He wasn’t affiliated with any pack.”
“You know this for sure?” Stone demanded, like a child deprived of promised candy.
“My dad did some checking. He wanted to make sure we didn’t owe a blood payment to a Were clan.”
Vaughn gave me a raised eyebrow glance that silently interrogated.
I answered her, “My dad is a shaman shifter; he understands the protocol associated with many of the non-human species as well as the spirit world.”
“Must be handy,” Vaughn smiled, one that went all the way to her eyes to let me know it was sincere. “I wish my dad knew those kinds of things.”
It was Stone who broke the bonding moment. “So the Were was rogue, which meant no one watching his back. We’re back to square one.”
“Not quite.” I mulled over Vaughn’s comment, tasting the truth of her words. “My dad checked pack allegiance but he didn’t check for other connections.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Stone pushed.
I glanced at Ling Mai who’d kept her own counsel through the conversation. It was a wise woman who knew when to hold her tongue.
Vaughn leaned forward in her chair, waiting for my words.
What if I was wrong? We could spend time chasing down the wrong rabbit hole while someone had me in her sights.
But if I was right, no one else had to die needlessly.
My gaze tap-danced across the room, making sure we were all focused here before I took a deep breath. “Dad looked at clan allegiance, but he didn’t look at friends.” I paused before adding, “Or family.”
Vaughn whistled, catching on the fastest. “Of course. I don’t know enough about Weres, but aren’t their families the same as their packs?”
“Not always,” Stone mused aloud, forgetting for a minute to snap at Vaughn. “Many packs avoid family dynamics by selecting pack members from outside blood bonds.”
“But those bonds still exist,” I said, thinking of my brothers. I’d do anything for them, including dying. Shifters were different than Weres, but one thing they had in common, once aligned, either by blood or allegiance, the bond held.
I looked at Ling Mai. “So how do we find out who inside here might be connected to my dead Were?”
“We’ll start immediately digging deeper into all the recruit backgrounds,” Ling Mai said, glancing at Stone.
“And then what?” I asked.
“Then we remove the person or persons involved,” Stone said, his voice ice cold and deadly.
But that wasn’t enough. Not for me. Not after what had happened to Serena and Bitsi and Rolf. It felt like the world’s weight pressed against me, but I wasn’t waiting for some silent assassin to strike again.
Vaughn was already rising from the chair as I grabbed her wrist and said, “Wait.”
It was Ling Mai who asked, “Is there something wrong, Ms. Noziak?”
“Yeah, there is.”
Vaughn sat back down.
“Go on.” Ling Mai nodded as if expecting my hesitation.
“I don’t want to sit passively until the computer spits out something useful,” I said, straightening my shoulders. “If we’re wrong or the information isn’t easy to find, or. . .”
“Or if the person here has hidden the connection to the Were,” said Vaughn, following my train of thought.
“Exactly. My brothers are shifters, but I’m not. So if someone was looking for a shifter or part-shifter-”
“They wouldn’t look at you,” Vaughn finished my thought.
“So what are you suggesting?” Ling Mai prompted, like a teacher with a recalcitrant student.
“I suggest we set a trap.”
“What kind of trap?” Stone asked, coming to attention.
“One with me as the bait.”