in the boonies, huh? Think you could be a little more specific?”
“I was. The report was about a town in the middle of Nebraska.”
“Oh, I thought that was just a saying, like Hicksville, USA.”
There was a pause and then Abby said, “My grandma lives in Hicksville. It’s a nice place.”
“Aw hell.”
Before Cole could kick himself too hard, he heard a cute little snorting laugh come through the phone. “Sorry,” Abby said. “Just kidding. The town’s called Valparaiso, but it really is in the middle of Nebraska. More or less.”
“Is that the home of the Mongrels or your grandma?” As he asked that, Cole felt an impatient tap on his arm. Paige raised her eyebrows just enough to get her point across, but he didn’t break stride to explain himself to her. He did, however, switch over to speaker so Paige could listen in.
“The Mongrels were in Valparaiso,” Abby said. “There’s not a lot in the report other than someone named Rico was looking into some big cat sightings. There are some pictures of a cougar-looking thing attached to the file. Looks more like a panther to me, but there’s not supposed to be anything like that living in Nebraska, that’s for sure. Anyway, this big cat was also supposed to be able to disappear whenever it wanted.” She snorted again, but not in the cute laughing way. “That’s real convenient, huh?”
“Rico loves chasing down urban legends,” Paige scoffed. “He’s a sucker for that crap.”
“Is that you, Paige?” Abby asked. “How’s the newbie training coming along?”
“It has its moments.”
Suddenly, Cole felt like he was twelve years old and listening to a conversation about how cute it was that his voice was cracking and how he’d be a real lady killer once hair started sprouting from all sorts of funny places. “How about we save that for later,” he said. “What about those Mongrels?”
Abby shifted back into her more official voice. It wasn’t a whole lot different than the other one, but there was less snorting involved. “Rico said he tracked a few of the Mongrels down to a row of houses and they disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” Paige asked.
“Yep. That’s what they do, remember?” Abby tapped out a few more things and then went on to say, “He stuck around for a few days, but they must have really dug in because he lost them. He told us he couldn’t find any rat holes—whatever that’s supposed to mean—and he left. Since there weren’t any more reports of injuries caused by anything that looked like a Mongrel, he moved on.”
“Is that the closest Mongrel sighting to KC?”
“The only other reports over the last six months were in California, North Dakota, and Texas. Lots in Texas. There are a few others that could be Mongrels, but they’re not specifically listed that way.”
“When was Rico’s last check-in?” Paige asked.
“Little over two months ago. Want me to e-mail it to you?”
Cole jumped in before Paige could utter another syllable. “Yeah, why don’t you e-mail it to me? Got the address?”
“Yep.”
“All right, then. I’ll call you later if we need anything or…just to say hi. Whatever.” After Abby said a quick goodbye, Cole hung up. Looking over to Paige, he recognized the half smirk that had taken residence upon her upper lip. “What?”
“Just to say hi? Real smooth. For a sixteen-year-old.”
“I’m not exactly at my best here. What was that about rat holes?”
Paige chewed on her bottom lip and turned to look out her window. “That’s what Rico calls Mongrel dens. Those things tunnel under buildings and floors to make their homes. Sometimes they just connect one basement to another so they can live wherever there’s less chance of getting caught.”
“Sounds like a fun time hunting them down.”
“Try impossible,” she grumbled. “Or damn close to it. Not only do Mongrels keep to themselves, but they can bolt when they need to.”
“How quick are they?” Cole asked.
“We don’t even know for sure. We do know they can be nasty when they’re cornered, but they seem more content to go after other shapeshifters. It’s not surprising Rico let them go. He’s started to focus more on hunting for profit than tracking whatever he can find.”
“Maybe he struck a deal with them. If Mongrels are so fast and so good at sneaking around, they’d make some mighty fine criminals.”
Paige grinned and nodded as she glanced over at Cole. “I’ve taught you well, young one,” she said in her kung- fu master voice. “Now you see past what you are shown.”
“Oh boy,” Cole sighed. “If I’ve become just as paranoid as you, what’s next? Foil hats?”
She let out a comfortable laugh. “Sorry about biting your head off before. I’d really hate to lose a partner like you.”
Today hadn’t been the first time he’d considered moving back, but it was the first time he had mentioned it to Paige. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt for not telling her something that could affect her so much. If he left her in Chicago, Paige would have to fend for herself again. He wasn’t about to kid himself into thinking he was keeping her alive, but he was doing his best to watch her back. The way things were shaping up, that job was becoming more and more vital for both of them.
“I’m just keeping my options open,” he said. “Plus, there’s still bills to pay. We can’t just rely on Prophet’s lottery numbers hitting all the time.” When he didn’t get an answer right away, he asked, “Right?”
“Sure.”
“How much was the last hit, anyway?”
“Better than normal, but it was spread over plenty of other Skinners. Just leave it at that.”
“So what do you think about the Mongrel idea?”
“I like it, but Rico’s a damn good tracker. If he couldn’t find them, we won’t be able to.”
“If the Mongrels are even still there,” Cole pointed out.
Paige shook her head and gazed out the window. “They’re homebodies. When they dig in somewhere safe, they stay there until it’s not safe anymore. Since a Skinner came and went without finding them, that place is pretty damn safe.” Her eyebrows flicked up and she turned to look directly at Cole. “I just thought of something! You and I may not be able to find a bunch of holes under some houses, but what if we had a tech team?”
“Skinners have tech teams?”
“No, but we know some folks who are already in on what we’re doing and would
Cole looked down at his phone. The number he’d just dialed was still displayed in the corner of his touch screen. “MEG?”
“They go into places all the time with vans full of equipment. They’re always rigging stuff up to try and catch a picture of a ghost or some cold spots drifting through a room. Would it be so hard for them to look for living stuff?”
“I don’t think so. Haven’t you seen their TV specials? Most of their gear is made to see in the dark and record stuff nobody can hear. One time, I saw a show where they found a bunch of mice living in a crawl space that a family didn’t even know had been built right beneath their—”
“That’s a yes!” Paige said quickly. She sat back in her seat, wearing the stunned expression of a lottery winner. More specifically, someone who didn’t have to split her lottery winnings with a hundred or so other people. Since the car had come to a stop at a red light, she took Cole’s head in both hands and kissed him squarely on the mouth. Unfortunately, she pulled away again before he could truly get into it. “Call MEG and see if you can arrange for one of their teams to meet with us. Where’s my atlas?”
Cole hit Redial while savoring the sight of Paige’s trim backside wriggling beside him as she fished in the back for her giant book of outdated maps. When Abby answered, he felt as if she’d caught him peeking into a dressing room. “Hi, it’s me again.”
In a droll tone, Abby said, “I’ll need your ID number.”
Rather than start in on the series of numbers he’d been forced to memorize, Cole just waited for the snort. When it came, it was just as cute and slightly obnoxious as ever.
“Just kidding again. What’s up, Cole?”
