Gail shook her head and growled.
Oh, shit!
“The other aspect of the ring is what you’re feeling now. The shaman was a powerful witch, but he had the fate of his people to concern him. He added another spell to the ring that allowed him to control other werewolves. With this spell, he could force other werewolves to change whenever he wanted. It made his people very strong indeed.”
Gail growled again and I saw her face was getting furry.
“Eventually another Viking got the ring away from him. From what I read, the man was part of his own village and betrayed him. The traitor had to flee Scandinavia and eventually made his way to what is now Alabama. I found a legend of the mound people destroying a tremendous beast who, when bound by some kind of magical bindings, changed into a man. I assume that this spirit of yours is the native shaman who came up with those bindings.
“You don’t have to worry about the spirit any more. I have enough experience dealing with spirits to handle it when it shows up.”
“This is crazy,” I heard Nichols say.
“Crazy? Professor Nichols, I think you should watch your tone unless you want to be on the menu,” Montgomery said.
I got my fingers on the bindings on my wrists and realized they were plastic zip ties. That was the first bit of good news tonight. Bad news came immediately after; my Colt wasn’t in its holster. I raised my head and searched the room. In a moment, I spotted both our guns on the mantle. If I could get to my feet then I could get my hands free in a jiffy. Then a quick dash to the mantel and I’d shoot all of these bastards. I just needed a second. I tried to get my feet under me, but my head spun with a sudden wave of nausea and I puked lunch onto the carpet.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, get him downstairs,” Montgomery exclaimed. “And someone clean up that mess.”
“Where do you want him?” our escort asked.
“Where do you think? Put him in the holding room and then come back for our newest pack member. He’ll make a nice first meal for her.”
Spangler placed a hand on Montgomery’s arm. “Greg, don’t you think he’d make a better addition than mere food? After all, we lost several members to him and we need replacements,”
The two security suits came over. Each of them grabbed me by an arm and I was lifted to my feet. I moaned and tried to puke on their shoes, but all I got was dry heaves.
“Maybe,” Montgomery said, “But he was given a chance to join us and refused. Then he had the balls to shoot me, several times in fact. Have you forgotten that one of those he killed was your own dear sister?”
“No, Greg, I haven’t forgotten anything. I’m just trying to be practical.”
Montgomery put a hand on Spangler’s cheek and kissed her. As I was dragged out of the room, I heard him say, “That’s what I love about you, Jean, you’re so practical, but I can’t always choose practicality over retribution.”
The two goons on either side of me dragged my sorry ass down the hall to an elevator. There was no way to get free while they held me, so I bided my time. Eventually, they would put me down and if the world would stop spinning, I’d have another chance at them.
We rode down and the elevator door opened into a dimly lit corridor made of cement blocks painted an ugly shade of green. It reminded me of baby shit and my dry heaves returned. Turning left, the guards dragged me around a corner and then all the way to the end of the corridor. They stopped in front of a metal door with a large wooden beam holding it shut. It looked similar to my rig at the cabin. One of them lifted the beam off while the other one held me erect. I was starting to get my senses back and the room wasn’t spinning as bad. I moaned and tried to maintain the air of a punch-drunk fighter.
The door opened onto a twelve by twelve room with cement walls and a single armored light fixture in the middle of the ceiling.
They didn’t waste any time. They threw my ass inside and slammed the door shut behind me. I almost caught myself, but then I staggered and collapsed to the floor. I heard the beam being dropped into place on the outside of the door.
I had to lie still for a moment, getting my breath. Then I rolled myself back to the door and maneuvered myself into a sitting position. With my back braced against the wall, I pushed up until I was standing. There I stopped and took a couple of deep breaths to clear my head. I was still dizzy but I was functional. I stepped away from the wall and felt the zip tie around my wrists. Finding the latching mechanism, I slid it until it was centered between my wrists. Lifting my hands as far as the bindings allowed, I brought them down rapidly and the plastic latch snapped. There, nothing to it, just like I’d practiced.
I performed a quick inventory; of course, they’d taken my backpack and Colt. They’d missed the aluminum kubotan I kept in a concealed slot in my belt.
Standing to the opening side of the door, I gripped the gnarled tube of the kubotan and waited for my captors to return. I didn’t have long to wait. Only a couple of minutes passed before I heard the heavy tread of shoes outside the door and then the bang of the bar being raised. I crouched and prepared to lunge.
The door pulled open
