“I am not,” I asserted.
“Are too. Come on, you promised we’d get phones and now we’re getting them.”
She flung open the door and didn’t wait to see if I was following.
Frowning, I tagged along.
Twenty minutes later, I was the proud owner of my first cell phone. Yeah, right. We had thrown the packaging away, and I was left with something with a five-inch screen, a charger, and an instruction manual that was nearly as large as the phone.
Sitting astride Beast, I was straining to read the tiny print for the initial operating instructions when I heard Tess speaking.
“Hi, Alex. Yes, it’s me. How are you doing?”
I put the manual down and stared at Tess.
“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t stay. You know I wanted to.”
She was talking to Alex, the son I’d learned of only recently and Tess’s brief lover while we were in New Braunfels. Why had she called him? We’d left before he could bury Laura, his mother, the woman I’d been forced to kill.
I felt strange listening to one side of a conversation, particularly considering the circumstances and to whom she was talking. I considered activating my enhanced senses tat, but then thought that might be rude. Damn, everything about having an apprentice put me in awkward situations. I just didn’t know what was proper. As her mentor, I had to protect her and make sure she remained safe while she was learning the trade, but she was chosen, just as I had been. It meant I needed to give her space and trust her not to get herself into something that she couldn’t get out of. Just like the other night when I’d spotted those rapists. If I had interfered before giving her a chance to get herself out of trouble, she’d have been pissed at me, and I wouldn’t have given her a chance to grow as a Wanderer.
A semi roared away from the traffic light on Nevada, drowning out whatever else Tess was saying to Alex.
When the semi moved off, I heard Tess again. “Yes, I have this number now, and I’ll try to call. If you need anything, call me. I’m sure Rafe will be happy to help.”
I would? What was my Apprentice signing me up for?
Tess disconnected and put the phone in an inside pocket. She looked up and saw me studying her. “What?”
“How’s Alex?” I asked, trying to sound like a concerned parent rather than a sperm donor.
Tess cocked her head to one side and studied me. After a few seconds, she said, “He’s coping. Losing a parent is hard. So far, he’s been too busy with all the paperwork required to change ownership of the business and their home to hardly consider his loss. It’ll catch up with him when the initial worries are taken care of.”
“You said you lost your own mother at an early age. Twelve wasn’t it?” I said.
“Yes, twelve, but I remember how bad Dad had it trying to cope with the process. We didn’t have much family in the area, not much anywhere for that matter, and he wouldn’t allow anyone else to handle anything. Mom’s only sister, Aunt Emily, went in the Army the year before Mom. She came to visit me at Wilford Hall and now she’s at Fort Carson. Hey, would it be all right if I saw her while we’re here?”
I gave it a moment’s thought and then nodded. “Sure, what could it hurt?”
“Great, I don’t want her thinking I just up and deserted.”
“If you’re ready, there’s someone else we should visit.”
“Who’s that?” Tess asked.
“Joe Leatherhide.”
“Native American and you call him Injun Joe?” Tess asked as she hit the ignition and cranked Maia’s engine.
“What?” I said, somewhat confused by her question. “Oh, hell no. He’s gone by Joe for twice as long as I’ve been alive. I don’t know if they used that moniker as a slight when he was named, but if you’re going to call him anything, make sure it’s Mister Leatherhide until and unless he tells you different. He’s an old friend. If he’s still around, he might have some insight into what’s going on.”
“He’s twice your age? Hell, is he human?”
I grinned, cranked Beast’s engine, and dropped the transmission into gear. “He’s as human as you. I actually met him before I met Walt.”
Before Tess could ask anything about Joe, I pulled onto Nevada, heading back south. Tess pulled even with me at the first traffic light that stopped us, and I could see that she wanted more information, but I shook my head. “If he’s around, you’ll meet him in ten minutes or so and I wouldn’t want to spoil the meet.”
“Spoil the meet? What’s that mean?”
The light changed to green, and we pulled out, shortly turning off Nevada Avenue and onto Lake Drive. We rode through the Broadmoor area, passing the resort’s buildings and took the drive toward the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We turned off before reaching the zoo and followed Old Stage Road until we passed the last of the modern homes. I pulled off beside a battered old mailbox on the uphill side of the street. A narrow gravel drive led up the hill to our right. It was a short driveway and ended at a log cabin that Joe had built by hand while he was still a young man, sometime before the First World War. An old Ford pickup was parked on one side of the small level area that made up Joe’s front yard. I pulled next to the pickup and dismounted. Beast’s engine died, and he remained upright without my putting the kickstand down.
Tess pulled Maia alongside Beast and killed her engine. She started to drop the kickstand, but then copied my action and dismounted without doing so.
“I guess your friend knows about Beast,” Tess said as she turned to look out over the city.
Colorado Springs was mostly one thousand feet below us and stretched
