“He’s getting the best care we can give him, Paige. Didn’t Bob tell you how we operate?”
Bob Stanze was a great cop. He was the only cop who’d tried to do something about the encroaching werewolf presence before they swarmed Kansas City. After that he’d been one of the few to survive the Full Blood siege without trying to pass it off as an urban riot that took place while a pack of wild dogs were prowling the streets.
“I went to Bob for help in tracking those Nymar in Denver before those cops were killed,” Paige said. “He told me you guys would also be able to help with what happened to Cole.”
“A lot of those Denver cops are alive because of what you and your partners did.”
“And some died. Plenty more were killed across the country. I’m starting to think we could’ve done just as well without you.”
“The IRD is in its infancy,” Adderson explained. “Like any agency, it’s not going to hit its stride right away. Considering what we’ve got to work with, I’d say we’re doing pretty well. We’d be doing even better if you were more forthcoming about the rest of the Skinners throughout the country.”
“You convinced me to hand over my partner and you still want me to help you recruit? You’ve got some set of brass under that expensive suit. Until I hear something solid about Cole, you can consider me one hell of a potential problem who’s really good at fading away when the heat’s on.”
The man at the other end of the line sighed. “Cole was supposed to be held at one of our facilities in Boulder where he would be given a preliminary hearing to keep the Justice Department off our backs. After that, as far as any official documentation goes, he was transferred to the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City. That was supposed to buy us some time to do what we could before anyone pressed too hard for a trial or an interview with the prisoner.”
“And?”
“And …he was transferred.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” she snapped.
“Maybe I should remind you that
“You forgot the part where you promised I’d be able to see him once things settled down. That was the only way I agreed to throw in with you guys at all, and you’d better not fucking back out on that now.”
Shifting into a tone that reeked of federal authority, Adderson said, “You were in no position to threaten me when Officer Stanze brought you to us, and you’re in no better position now.”
“That’s where we differ. See, my whole life is sliding into hell. When someone doesn’t have anything else to lose, the last thing you want to do is set them off. You know what would make me feel better?”
“Talking to Cole?”
“Now there’s the smart guy Bob promised me.”
The tapping she heard at the other end of the line wasn’t a keyboard. Judging by the frustration in Adderson’s voice, it was most likely a pen being bounced off a desk or even the crackling of knuckles. “I’ll be candid with you, Paige. Things simply never settled down long enough for us to get you in to see him. Now that he’s been …diverted, that situation is worse.”
“Where has he been diverted to?” she asked.
“Actually, although one member of the IRD checked Cole out of Canon City, he was taken away by someone not under my jurisdiction.”
“So …Cole’s just gone?”
“He can’t be far,” Adderson assured her. “Our people are watching the roads and have a great number of contacts in that area. That’s why it was so vital for us to make our move in Denver as opposed to—”
Paige interrupted in a voice that was sharp enough to snip an iron post in half. “Is it possible the real cops took him from one prison and transferred him through the system?”
“We’re checking on that.”
“Yeah? Well you’d better not be waiting for our trouble with the cops to blow over. By the time that happens, Cole could be a stain on an electric chair. What do you know about what happened to him?”
“We had visual confirmation that Cole was taken into Canon City. He was put into Maximum Security Holding and was under constant surveillance. After we sent someone in to deliver the message from you, he was moved.”
“Where to?” The long silence she got was enough to answer her question. “You seriously don’t know, do you?”
When Adderson failed to respond to that, Paige gritted her teeth and prepared to unleash as many kinds of hell as she could summon. Before she could spit her first piece of brimstone, another car rolled to a stop several yards away. It was stuffed with two adults in the front seats and several bouncing little ankle biters in the back. The driver pushed open his door and staggered out, looking as if he was ready to take a dive over the guardrail just to earn a few moments of peace.
Turning her head away from that car, she said, “You guys are supposed to know what you’re doing! The only reason I agreed to let Bob set me up with you is because you had the resources to start getting this fucking mess cleaned up.”
“We’re a privately owned organization operating outside the parameters of several official agencies. Right now, it’s taking everything we’ve got to keep from being noticed.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit!” Paige snarled. “With all the contacts you’ve made and the resources you’ve got, there’s no way you could work outside
After a pause, Adderson calmly replied, “Highly ranked officials in the Army and Marine Corps are aware of us, but not in an official capacity. Perhaps it would also make you feel better knowing that one of our men in that SWAT van with Cole kept him from being shot by angry officers who lost their friends that night. And before you spout off again, I realize you Skinners had nothing to do with actually killing those men and women. You want to know what we’ve been doing? The IRD has been stretched almost beyond our limits just keeping the truth about all of this from being spread across the Internet. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to create plausible deniability regarding monsters that are showing up on everything from conspiracy blogs to national news sites?”
“Actually, yes. I do.”
“Your friend Cole did some good work with those doctored videos and pictures he circulated after the Kansas City riots. Those got a lot of people willing to write these instances off as a bad hoax in troubled times. But there’s more to it now. You people simply do not know how to lay low. It’s bad enough that my agency was forced to show itself once the Nymar started targeting innocent people and police officers. With all the attention being aimed at you, it’s that much harder for us to keep our heads out of the sights.”
“You’ve got ties to the government. Doesn’t that make anything easier?”
The sound Adderson made was barely recognizable as a laugh. “We have some funding and equipment from the military and many members with federal or state law enforcement duties. If anything, that makes things a whole lot more difficult. And before you consider threatening me with becoming a squeakier wheel, let me remind you that if you were on your own, none of you would have gotten away from that warehouse.”
Paige knew he had a point, but there was no way she was about to give him that much slack. “Is that how you’d react if one of your men disappeared?”
“We haven’t abandoned Cole. We’re still trying to find out what’s going on in Colorado.”
“I want to go there. Send a chopper for me.”
After a short pause he asked, “After all of that spiteful talk, you want us to be the ones to pick you up? What’s wrong? Is there a search being conducted with your name attached to it?”
“Cole’s been alone too long as it is. At the very least, I need to try and get another message to him.”
“If that were possible, we—”
“Just take me there,” she snapped. “If you’ve got men in Boulder, then take me to them. I can help track Cole down.”
