“Cole’s the one who’d know if you were trying to put one over on me. If it takes too long, I’ll just rip it out of there and smash that computer to bits.”
Gunari grinned at her and nodded. “And if you prove to be someone we can work with this easily, we may be able to extend our hand to you in the future.”
“And I don’t mind lending a hand with you guys for whatever you need, especially since we seem to be working toward the same thing. Your partner is in the same tight spot as mine. He may even be locked up by the same group.”
“They are both in prison,” Gunari said. “Isn’t that what you mean?”
“They are both in buildings called prisons, but they’re not in the system.”
Milosh leaned forward in his seat as if to mirror Paige’s confidence. “What do you know of Tobar?”
“Have you seen any videos of him online or on the news?”
“No,” Nadya replied.
“Have you been able to contact him?”
“No.”
“Which means he’s disappeared just like Cole. I’m trying to find out something about where he wound up after he was pulled out of Denver. At the very least,” Paige added as she shifted to look at each of the Amriany in turn, “I should be able to check if both of them are alive, dead, or presumed something else.”
Gunari pointed a critical stare at Paige and asked, “How do you know this?”
“I’ve got contacts. Isn’t that what you like about me?”
“Americans,” Milosh grunted. “Always talk in circles, but never saying anything.”
Looking out her window, Paige said, “Prophet told me about what you guys did in Denver, so I don’t have any problem with doing what I can to find your partner. In the meantime, you can tell me how you’re so sure about that Full Blood in Oklahoma.”
The speakers mounted in the cabin over their heads crackled, and a feminine voice with a sharp, eastern European accent was transmitted through them. “Is that Drina?” Paige asked, pointing up to the closest speaker.
“We’ll be landing in five minutes,” Nadya said. “Buckle up.”
Paige tugged on the strap of her seat belt to show that she’d never unbuckled it.
“How quickly can you find out about Tobar?” Gunari asked.
“Depends on how long it takes to finish up this Oklahoma business. By the way,” Paige said, cocking her head to one side, “what was this business again?”
Nadya fixed her eyes on Paige, but before she could say anything, Milosh snarled something at her in their native tongue. After tersely responding to him, she looked back to Paige and said, “We need to be more trusting of each other. There is no cause for bad feelings between you and I, other than the rivalry that has existed between Skinners and Amriany for generations.”
As the plane dipped into a landing pattern, Paige felt something in her gut that came from more than just a change of altitude. The Amriany all stared at her expectantly before casting their eyes at each other as if they didn’t know whether to open up to her or gang up to make certain she never got up from her seat.
“We have Dikh Chakano,” Nadya declared. “Far Seers. All they need is a piece of a shapeshifter and they can find them.”
“They need more than that,” Milosh was quick to say.
“Really?” Paige scoffed. “Because I was about to piece together and steal an entire Gypsy ritual with just that last sentence.”
Milosh wagged a blade at her and asked, “You know what my people call an ignorant savage? ‘Skinner.’ See how that word rolls off my tongue like a kernel of shit someone slipped into my soup? When your people speak of us as superstitious fortune-tellers and thieves, ‘Gypsy’ sounds much the same way. If we are to start respecting each other, we can stop spitting these words at each other this way.”
“Fair enough. So what’s the Gypsy method for spotting Full Bloods?”
In a strange way, the word did sound different that time.
Tossing a dismissive wave in Milosh’s direction, Nadya continued, “We have been collecting samples of as many shapeshifters as we could from this country, just as we’ve done for our own. With all that’s happened here recently, there’s a lot more for us to collect.”
“Yeah, the fur’s really been flying.”
If Cole was there, he might have laughed at that. This audience wasn’t nearly as kind.
“More fur will fly in the place we’re going. Since it seems there are already at least two Full Bloods, a pack of Mongrels, and Half Breeds there as well, we may already be too late.”
Now, Paige hoped it was the Amriany who were attempting to pull a cheap laugh out of her. “There are that many shapeshifters in one spot?”
“At least. Possibly more. Our Dikh Chakano was almost knocked from his seat by the amount of power coming from this spot on his map. We got your message while we were in the air, and if you hadn’t already proven to be a valuable fighter, we wouldn’t have wasted the time to get you.”
“And what if I’d refused to help in a fight as lopsided as this one?” Paige asked.
Nadya was quick to reply, “Then we would have taken your weapons and put them to good use.”
Another indecipherable announcement was broadcast through the speakers, but Paige didn’t need a translation. The jet was approaching ground level. She could tell by the lightness in her stomach and the crackle in her ears. “You’re certain the Full Blood that attacked Kansas City is here?”
Gunari nodded. “The sample I bought was collected from a tower where most of the fighting took place during that siege. The seller was trying to make money by auctioning the patch of fur online.”
Dreading the answer she would get, Paige asked, “Was he a police officer?”
“No. Just some idiot trying to cash in. At least some stupid people can be useful.”
Paige showed him a friendly smile, enhanced with a hint of relief. “Finally we’re speaking the same language.”
Chapter Nine
The plane touched down at Atoka Municipal Airport on a strip of concrete that barely seemed long enough to accommodate it. After tires screeched against concrete, the Gulfstream came to a stop that nearly sent every one of its passengers into the nose cone. As soon as it rolled off the strip and completed a quick 180-degree turn, the engines cooled off and the door popped open.
Gunari stormed the stairs that swung down from the side door as if the war he wanted to join was ten feet in front of him, carrying a duffel bag of supplies, weapons, and ammunition in each hand. Drina had been one of the pilots, which meant this was the first time Paige saw her. Her long, dark blond hair was pulled back and held in place with a black baseball cap. After looking Paige over with a set of striking green eyes, she slung a FAMAS assault rifle over her shoulder and headed down the stairs. Nadya came out next, with Paige following close behind. Milosh made no effort to hide the fact that he was keeping an eye on the Skinner as he brought up the rear.
Gunari’s briefing had been quick and concise. According to the Amriany Far Seers, shapeshifters were converging in or around the small town of Atoka, Oklahoma. One of them was supposedly confirmed to be Liam, which meant he was probably after something. Although Gunari didn’t know what that something was, he didn’t want a Full Blood as dangerous Liam to get it. Despite many years of disagreement that existed between the two groups, Paige assumed any Skinner would agree with that line of reasoning. Other than the Full Blood, there were Mongrels and Half Breeds circling the city. Since the Amriany Far Seer hadn’t been completely clear on that point, Paige decided to take that with a grain of salt.
“There’s something wrong with your plan,” she pointed out. “The slowest of those creatures can run from one state to another in less time than it took your plane to land. How do you know they’re still here?”
“We’ll soon find out,” Gunari said. “Get into the car.”
Idling next to a row of shacks next to the airstrip was an SUV that looked as if it had been sitting there through the last dozen dust storms that whipped across the Oklahoma landscape. The Amriany piled in, and Paige made
