trying to reach him. More than likely that was why Kawosa had kept the phone in the first place. “Hello?” Cole said after establishing the connection.
“Where the hell have you been? Why the hell would you pick
Prophet had reloaded his pistol and was shifting his aim between all three of the creatures lying on the floor. “Is that Paige?”
Cole nodded.
“You sure about that?”
“Ohhh, yeah,” Cole replied.
“I hear gunshots,” she said. “What’s happening over there? Did you start the raid without me?”
“Had to,” Cole said.
“But I just got into Denver!”
“Did the nymphs charge up again?”
“No, Bob got me on a chartered jet. It’s a long story.”
Even though there was more than enough going on in the immediate vicinity, Cole felt his hackles raise when he heard that name. “Bob Stanze? Officer Bob Stanze from Kansas City?”
“That’s him. He knows some people. I’m not sure if they’re Feds or what, but he says they’re from police departments all over the country.” She paused to take a breath, and no matter what else was going on at that moment, Cole waited for her to finish. “They know about us,” she said. “They know about Skinners and what we do. From what he’s been telling me, they’ve known for a while now.”
“So on top of everything else, we’ve got to deal with some kind of conspiracy?”
“That’s why I’ve been sticking with them,” Paige hissed. Her voice had become louder and scratchier, making Cole certain she was cupping her hand over her phone when she said, “Just tell me you’re getting to those cops the Nymar set up. I don’t know how big this thing is yet, but the last thing we need is more bad blood on our hands where the police are concerned.”
“I’m getting to it.”
“Good. Call when you’ve got something. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
When the connection was cut, Cole felt as if he’d been severed from damn near everything in his world. He wasn’t alone in that stark white building, but he no longer had the guiding force that had gotten him this far. Knowing what needed to be done was one thing. Doing it, no matter what might happen to him along the way, was another.
Prophet grit his teeth and kept his back to a wall as hell spilled into the hallway on the other side of the door in front of him. “All right,” he said. “What’s next?”
“You’re gonna stay here and hack that computer.”
“I don’t know anything about hacking a damn computer!”
“It’s already unlocked,” Cole explained as he waved at the bloodstained terminal. “The screen’s a little gross, but the pass codes have already been put in. Do you know how to go through PC files?”
“Yeah.”
“Then go through as much as you can and look for anything that might be useful. If you find something, print it up or e-mail it to yourself.”
“Won’t that be dangerous?” Prophet asked.
The gunfire had moved into another part of the building. In the time it took for Cole to place his spear into the harness strapped to his back, several voices boomed from the front and back rooms. He couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying but they had the cadence of authority mixed in with several choppy syllables that could either be “freeze” or “on your knees.”
“I doubt there’ll be anyone left around here to follow up with viruses or backward traces,” Cole explained. “Cobb38 must have security measures in place, so he’ll probably figure out something’s up and send you something to corrupt your system. Just don’t open anything until I can do a sweep of whatever computer you send it to.”
“I meant safe as in me being safe screwing with computer shit while everyone’s trying to kill us!”
“Sounds like cops out there,” Cole said, “Since they’re probably going to be more careful than any of us, you should have enough time to get what you need and get out. There’s gotta be something in there we can use. Addresses, phone numbers, a contact list. A contact list would be great!”
Another eruption of official-sounding voices was washed away in the roar of shotguns. Prophet reflexively covered his head as he approached the computer but stopped short of ducking under the desk. Cole, on the other hand, kept walking toward the hall.
“At least we took out these … whatever the hell they are,” Cole said. Just to make sure, he checked the bodies on the floor. Both of the werewolves were still lying in their pools of blood, but Kawosa was nowhere to be found. He left behind no blood, tracks, or anything more substantial than the memory that he’d been in that room. “Of course,” Cole grunted. “Things aren’t ever that easy.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
The building had a simple floor plan with one ring of rooms surrounding a block of larger ones. One large hallway wrapped all the way around, connecting two main entrances, one in front and the other in the back. Rico guessed there was at least one side door but had been too busy getting shot at to find it. The other Amriany came in through the front and fought their way inside, guns blazing to make the biggest spectacle possible. Somewhere along the line Nadya had caught a bullet. Gunari dragged her down the hall by her collar so her legs were splayed out behind them and she was able to keep firing her semiautomatic in controlled bursts.
After regrouping with them, Rico tapped his earpiece and asked, “Cole, where the hell are you?”
“Right behind you.” Sure enough, Cole rounded a corner to find Rico and Drina on opposite sides of the hall with their backs pressed against a soda and snack machine, respectively. Before he could get to Rico’s side, the rest of the Amriany came along to meet them.
“The Nymar retreated into the east side of the building.” Knowing Cole’s lack of an internal compass, Rico pointed down the hall past the vending machines and added, “That way. They drove us back here after we took a few of them down then fell back into that room at the end of the hall. I’m guessing it’s an open space because they’d be crammed in like clowns in a Volkswagen if it was just another closet.
“Did you hit anyone other than Nymar?” Cole asked.
“Nope. Barely slowed down the ones I did hit. Only a few of them twitched at the antidote rounds. The rest’ve been scampering around like rats. Probably just holding us here until their backup arrives.”
Drina pressed a finger to her earpiece and frowned. “Tobar was taken by the police.”
“And that’d be their backup,” Rico grunted.
“Let’s just clean this place out,” Cole said. “I’ve got the best armor, so I’ll draw the aggro.”
“What is he talking about?” Gunari asked as he tightened a length of torn fabric around one of Nadya’s knees. Her leg was soaked in blood that oozed out through her jeans, but she barely acknowledged it with anything more than a sharp breath.
Rico shook his head and chanced a look around the soda machine. “I barely ever know what he’s talkin’ about.”
“Aggro,” Cole said impatiently. “One guy goes in to draw fire and the others circle around to flank the bad guys. Don’t any of you guys ever do
The screaming from the front half of the building died down, followed by the occasional crash of a door being kicked in.
“By the way,” Cole said as he gripped his .45 and closed his coat by threading one of the thick wooden slivers that passed for buttons through a rough slit Rico had cut into the leather, “there’s some other shapeshifter running around here. Not a werewolf. Mind controller. Be on the lookout for him.” With that, he set his sights on the doors
