Shit.
Tanner almost went through a total shift right on the spot at the realization that he’d left Zarina nearly defenseless.
“Get everyone loaded up as fast as possible, then get them back to our camp,” he called out to Spencer as he ran for the forest. “I’m going there now.”
Worry filled Spencer’s eyes. “Is something wrong?”
Tanner knew why the hybrid was concerned. If Zarina was in trouble, so was Lillie. He didn’t answer. Instead, he ran, letting his body shift in an effort to gain every ounce of speed he could muster.
Chapter 9
“Yes, sir, I’m aware I was out of my jurisdiction,” Chase said calmly into his cell phone. “But the people shooting at me didn’t seem to care about the fact that they weren’t allowed to kill me while I’m outside Oxford County.”
Tate bit his tongue to keep from laughing. The deputy had been on the phone with the sheriff for the past ten minutes as they sat in the patrol car in a store parking lot off Highway 101. To say the conversation had not gone well was an understatement.
Apparently, one of the cops on the scene at Joanne Harvey’s residence had called Sheriff Bowers and given him a fairly good rundown of everything that happened, including the parts about the machine-gun-wielding bad guys, the shattered living room window, and the shredded bulletproof vest. Chase had tried to downplay the severity of the incident, but the sheriff had been in no mood to be pacified. He definitely didn’t find any of this amusing, no matter how much sarcasm Chase dumped into his explanation.
“No, sir, I don’t think this is funny,” Chase said, his jaw clenching. Bowers had been grilling him hard, and it was obvious the deputy had taken about as much as he could handle. “But if I remember right, Sheriff, you’re the one who told me to keep an eye on Agent Evers and his investigation. When he decided to go first to the medical center in Scarborough, then Joanne Harvey’s house, I had to go with him even if it was outside our jurisdiction. I never expected to get into a shoot-out.”
Anger was starting to seep into Chase’s voice, but Tate knew it wasn’t only the third degree he was getting from his boss that was pissing the deputy off. A lot of it probably had to do with the fact that he and Chase had spent the next hour buried in questions, giving answers no one quite believed. A little while later, Bowers had called.
“It’s fortunate I did go with him,” Chase added, “or it’s likely Joanne Harvey and Agent Evers would be dead right now.”
Tate snorted. The way he remembered it, Chase had been the one close to getting snuffed, not him.
“No, sir, there’s no one else in the car with me,” Chase said, shooting Tate a look that blatantly suggested he keep his opinions to himself. “Evers called it a night, so I’m heading home… No, I still have no idea exactly where this is all going. All I can say for sure is Bell was involved with some very bad people, and it got him killed.”
When Chase finally hung up several minutes later, he stared silently out the windshield for a while, likely contemplating how much trouble he was going to be in when his boss figured out Chase had been lying his ass off about almost everything, including the part about him heading home now instead of out to Bell’s second residence. The one nobody but his personal research assistant had known about. Yeah, lying to your boss like that could get a cop fired pretty damn quick.
After another moment, the deputy put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the highway, heading toward Lewiston.
“We’ll be crossing the Androscoggin River in a few miles,” Chase said. “We should see the turnoff for Bell’s after that.”
Tate nodded. After rescuing Joanne Harvey from her attackers, the woman had been more than willing to tell them everything she knew about Dr. Bell, including the fact that the man had two homes. The small apartment near the medical center was where he spent most of his evenings after work. It was the address he listed on all the hospital paperwork and the only place associated with his name from a property tax perspective. Joanne had been there many times and told them it was essentially nothing more than a place to sleep. However, Bell had a much bigger home outside Lewiston where he stayed when he wanted to get away from everything. The house had been owned by his parents and was currently managed by a trust set up in their names. That’s why no one at the hospital knew about it. Apparently, no one else did either, since Kendra hadn’t come up with anything on it. Joanne was sure Bell was in a relationship with someone but said he’d been a very private man and she respected that privacy.
“Okay, let me see if I have this right,” Chase said. “There are these shifter creatures in the world that are half human, half animal. They look completely normal but have all these incredible abilities, not to mention fangs and claws. This guy who jumped on me at Joanne’s house and just about ripped me apart was a shifter, right?”
The deputy was clearly handling this better than Tate thought he would. “Batting a thousand so far.”
“Then there are hybrids, people who psycho doctors like Mahsood tried to turn into man-made shifters thanks to financial backing from rich, powerful people like Rebecca Brannon,” Chase continued. “With Bell’s background in genetics, I’m guessing you think he and Mahsood were working together on one of these hybrid projects?”
Damn, this guy was quick. Tate had touched on every one of those subjects but hadn’t tied them together in the neat bundle the way Chase already had. But before Tate could tell the deputy he was impressed, the cop spoke again.
“You said
