Nix.
The name only my friends dared to call me.
Carlos turned the car off, and as the engine idled to nothing, I lowered Dinah.
“Who and what are you?”
“Rio would like to speak with you,” he said, and his image wavered, the aura around him sparkling and dancing like a heatwave over a road. A Hider was an abnormal who could mask his own abilities to appear human, and a strong Hider could also mask those around him. I’d seen the ability before. My surrogate father, Zee, had been a Hider, and one of the very best. He’d given me almost eleven years living as a mother to Bear before I’d lost him.
Cowboy gave a low whistle. “A Hider! Shit, dude, you . . .”
“That’s why they didn’t find us at the hospital,” I said, the pieces of that tiny puzzle slipping into place. “You’d be about the only kind of abnormal safe from a purge like what has been happening here in North America.”
He nodded. “But it wasn’t enough to keep my daughter safe. She was too determined to help others, to try to figure out why this was happening and stop it. Her partner in the local department, he has been hunting for her with no luck. I sent him to New York. That seems to be where the last of the abnormals are in hiding.”
I frowned. “Can you hide all three of us?”
“For tonight, then you must get to Rio. He is in New York too.”
I went over what I knew about Rio in my head. At the time I’d stepped away from my father’s business, Rio had been a small fry, barely a blip on the radar. Prostitution was his main money maker, hidden behind three strip clubs, but he’d dabbled in some money laundering. That was the minor connection he’d had to my father, washing the money as it came through the clubs.
That had been a long time ago, though—when I’d stormed back into the picture looking for vengeance, there hadn’t been even a whisper of the Latin mob boss. Again though, I hadn’t been looking for Rio then. I’d been looking for Mancini and my father.
Peter shook his head. “No, I’m not going to New York. They’ll be looking for us there. It’s a fucking hotbed of abnormals. Or it was.”
Carlos motioned at the car. “May we continue? My wife has dinner waiting for us. Late, but I think you three need a good meal.”
“Already eaten, thanks,” Peter said with a pointed grin.
I eased back in my seat. “Drive.”
Dinah settled on my lap and the dog got comfortable too. I traced her scars—the bite marks, but also several cuts from a razor-sharp knife. Those scars were perfect, clean, and as numerous as the ones from other dogs.
It felt weird, like touching my own skin, tracing my scars.
She sighed and melted into my lap.
Much as I wanted Carlos to talk to me, I didn’t actually trust Peter or Cowboy. I was no fool. They were not my friends. Current partners, yes, but not friends.
In the real world, the Magelore and I would have tried to kill each other ten times over by now. And Cowboy? I would have walked by the squeaky-clean kid without a second look. He wasn’t part of our world of darkness and death. Or at least he shouldn’t be, despite his abilities. At the same time, I knew my odds at finding my boy would be better if they tagged along. Their odds of survival would be better too. If I left the kid behind, he’d be bagged and tagged again in no time. Peter might last longer, but not by much. He’d been taken near the beginning of the purge, not long after me as far as I could see.
Carlos drove through a lovely suburban area lit up with fake tiki torches and summer patio lanterns on most houses.
“Nice,” Peter said. “You really live here?”
“Benefits of being a Hider,” Carlos said.
My thoughts moved rapidly as we slid out of the car and followed him into his house. His wife was a petite woman whose curves met in the middle with a waist strapped in with a big buckled belt over her flowered dress. A perfect little housewife down to the styled hair and manicured nails. Very human looking. She smiled up at us, but I saw the strain in her eyes.
And the power that glittered back at me telling me she was stronger even than her husband.
“Two Hiders,” I said.
She gave a slow nod. “Come in. Eat and talk. You are safe here.”
Eat and talk, if only this was going to be that easy.
10
“Tell me exactly what happened from the beginning. I was taken before I heard anything about a purge,” I said as we sat at the oversized dinner table in Carlos and Anita’s house.
She had laid out a full meal with soup, salad, a main course of roast beef and potatoes, and a selection of other dishes I just glanced at. Much as my stomach growled and my body shook with the withdrawal from the drugs, I needed information as much as I needed a plate of real food. Cowboy knew some stuff, but he didn’t strike me as understanding the ebb and flow of the abnormal world. This couple had ties to the mob and the police. They’d have more information.
I slid a stack of beef and potatoes onto a plate and lowered it to the floor for the dog. I really needed to name her.
Carlos folded his hands on the table and spoke quietly. “It started before the public knew there was going to be a purge of abnormals. As you know, the strongest abnormals were taken as quickly and as quietly as they could be taken, mostly in their sleep using an airborne mist that suppressed not only their minds, but their abilities.
“The heads of the mob families were targeted, and Rio barely escaped. Mostly with our help, but that is not to
