“I haven’t heard anything about that place in the news or anywhere else,” he said. “You sure the problem’s that big?”
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s looking like nobody outside of here knows what’s going on, and I need to figure out why that is. In the meantime, we need the big guns. Bigger than the ones we’ve got.”
“Guns don’t do shit against Full Bloods.”
“I know. They can take down Half Breeds, though. Just think what could happen if Skinners worked with a big group of soldiers who not only believed us about what’s out there, but had plenty of guns big enough to do that job at their disposal?”
After a pause and a long, beleaguered sigh, Rico grunted, “Inhuman Response Division, huh?”
“Yep.” After rattling off a phone number, she told him, “Ask for Adderson. Tell him I sent you. Find out what you can.”
“Are you sure you’re not setting me up for this because you’re pissed about Toronto?”
“No. You’re just the only one I know who’s got a chance of getting out of there if the IRD turns out to be the bastards responsible for nearly killing Cole. You know all about that kind of thing, remember?”
“Gotchya.” With that, the connection died.
Outside, the howling was getting closer. Whenever there was a lull in the chorus of shredded throats, she could hear the wild barks of Half Breeds using their heightened senses to close the gap between them and their next meal.
“How’s Rico?” Nadya asked.
Paige put the phone back into her pocket and started packing away her kit. “I’ll find out in a while. What about Milosh?”
The Amriany woman had rarely left the side of his cot since administering treatment to him. “Our healing serums seem to be working,” Nadya said, “but he still may be in too much shock to survive on a dirty cot in this basement.”
Quinn walked down the stairs, shifting into a more human form by the time she reached the basement. Placing her hands flat against a wall that was an uneven surface of packed dirt, she said, “We may not be able to stay here much longer.”
“Any sign from Burke?” Paige asked.
Sinking her fingertips into the wall as if that could help her feel any tremors created by an approaching digger, Quinn shook her head. “Nothing yet. He and some of the others gathered farther in town. Maybe we can make it look like we’ve moved our shelter there.”
“So the whole town is overrun?” Paige asked.
“As far as we know. We can’t stay out long enough to get a good look around. Those Full Bloods sniff us out right away and get the Half Breeds to chase after us.”
“That’d be Liam pulling those strings,” Paige said. “He could steer the Half Breeds in Kansas City, so he’s probably doing it here.” Walking over to a collection of rifles and shotguns propped in one corner she asked, “Are these all functional?”
Quinn’s fur was slick with gore that could have come from any number of sources over the last several hours. It bristled as she said, “Haven’t checked them all. We stole them from around town when we first arrived and have been storing them here for an emergency.”
Paige grabbed a shotgun and checked to see how many shells were inside. “In case nobody’s called it yet, this is an emergency. Ammo?”
“There’s some in those boxes.”
Two bankers’ boxes sat next to each other at the foot of Milosh’s cot. When Paige checked them, she found only a few small cases of shells and rifle rounds stored with supplies ranging from flashlights to shoelaces. She helped herself to a dozen shotgun shells. “Can he be moved?” she asked while looking down at Milosh.
Nadya found a hunting rifle and strapped it across her back. “He probably shouldn’t, but I don’t know for sure. Drina was our medic, but she’s dead.”
Even for Paige that seemed harsh. Still, there were only two things that could be done where fallen comrades were concerned. Nadya could mourn them or, if she didn’t take action, she could join them.
“We’re taking him out of here,” Paige said.
Another Mongrel had found her way into the basement without making a sound to announce her presence. She simply appeared as the oil in her fur was shed. “No. I’ll do it,” she said. “You two don’t know where you’re going. As far as we know, there are more Half Breeds than people in this town. We’ve got alternate shelters, but we can’t get there on the surface.”
“She’s right,” Quinn added. “We can tie him to her so he’ll be dragged along for the ride.”
“You’re not one of the tunnel makers,” Nadya said.
“No, but we can all use the passages that are already made or squirm through the loose dirt as long as we know where to go.”
Looking at Quinn, Paige asked, “Why can’t you take him?”
“Because I lead this pack and our home is under siege. I don’t have the time to crawl underground at a snail’s pace just to drag one human to safety. We’ve been wearing ourselves to the bone to keep as much of this town alive as possible. We risked our necks to save you three because we need help to make sure everyone in this place isn’t destroyed. If you’d rather take a few months to learn all the ins and outs of tunneling so you can take your friend yourself, you’re welcome to it.”
Nadya didn’t need lessons in wriggling through Mongrel tunnels. Paige knew that much after listening to Cole’s stories about the Amriany using spiked wrist braces to pull themselves through the confined spaces. That didn’t mean Nadya knew how to navigate a dirt maze with her eyes closed.
Staring directly into the feline’s eyes, the Amriany asked, “What is your name?”
“Gail.”
“Tell me if you can keep him safe, Gail.”
Sensing the importance of her words, Gail nodded once and said, “I can’t promise anything for him or me, but I’m the best shot your friend has.”
Nadya sized up the Mongrel in a matter of seconds. “I’ll help you get him ready, but I want to know where he winds up.”
Already sifting through the clutter beneath a dusty workbench, Quinn said, “She’ll send word to me when she gets there and we’ll tell you about it as soon as we can. Here,” she added once she’d found a coil of rope. “Get him secured and then we’ll get out. Those Half Breeds are closing in fast.”
As Nadya helped Milosh to his feet and held him steady, Gail stood with her back pressed against his chest while Quinn tied him to her. Within a minute or two rope was looped under Gail’s arms and around her waist to form a makeshift harness. The Mongrel shifted into her four-legged form, which added enough bulk to tighten the harness as well as support Milosh’s weight when she crawled to the wall Quinn had been monitoring. The feline’s claws extended farther out from her hands and sank into the vertical surface. Although her scraping dislodged plenty of dirt, most of it merely shifted within the wall and allowed Gail to squirm inside. There was something else keeping that wall from collapsing. When the Mongrel’s head got to within an inch of the wall, the dirt compacted as if being pushed by something and even moved aside before it made contact with her fur. But Paige wasn’t inclined to try and figure it out. Sometimes it was best to let the experts do their thing.
“All right,” she said. “You wanted our help. Did you have something specific in mind?”
“The Full Bloods have been paying special attention to a house on Montana Avenue,” Quinn said as heavy bodies charged down the street above them. Judging by the scrapes and fleeting impacts, the Half Breeds were most likely scrambling across the roof in their haste to jump over the garage. “They can’t track us by scent as long as we stay underground. There are precautions we can take for you two, but the Full Bloods’ senses seem to have gotten even stronger than normal. The moment we come up, they will know where we are.”
“Which means you can’t check out that house,” Paige said.
“Right.”
“As long as it involves leaving this freaking basement, count me in.”
