Renegade (Ministry of Paranormal Research & Defence) (23 page)

At least, that's what I thought it would have looked like. Everything was pretty much a blur as I thrashed the little scrambler as hard as I could.

The trees thinned out and I shot into a field. It was wide and sunlit and, apart from the Humvee bouncing across the grass, was as pleasant as the forest had been.

The Humvee took off towards me. It was painted in a dull green paint scheme which made it look suitably military and threatening. I skidded around in a wide turn and took off uphill, putting as much distance as possible between myself and the big 4x4. The engine screamed as I crested the hill and sped down the other side. Behind me I could hear the roar of the Humvee's big engine, disturbingly close. I didn't bother looking behind me because I needed every ounce of concentration to avoid trees and roots. Besides, there was nothing I could see behind me that would make me go faster than I already was.

The bike slid out briefly, the back wheel skidding across some loose dirt and stones, before I kicked it back upright and surged ahead, through a screen of trees, into a second clearing, and very nearly under the wheels of a second Humvee.

I was beginning to take this personally.

A twitch of the handlebars sent the bike in what was supposed to be an agile jink around the lumbering 4x4. Instead the back wheel let go again. I over-corrected, corrected and managed to get the bike upright again. I had just managed to dodge a rock the size of my head when I hit a tree root. The front wheel stopped dead, the back wheel went up, I went over the handlebars and hit the ground with the sickening crunch of broken bone. A grenade of pain when off in my left arm and my head slammed into the grass.

C
HAPTER

43

“
He's here?” I asked incredulously.

It had taken a while to get to a phone. We had moved a few exits up the Interstate and pulled off to the side of the road. Kyle thought I was being paranoid but I wanted to make the call from outside of Prescott county. If I could keep the Sheriff out of this as much as possible I would feel much better. As it was I'd had to leave the two Deputies and Kyle's car back along the road a little way and walk to the service station where I'd made the call, just in case it had CCTV cameras.

“Yes, ma'am,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. It was a cold, impersonal, female voice that stated everything in a matter-of-fact way. “But the most important thing at the moment is to get you to the Embassy as quickly as possible. Now your best bet is to get to the Consulate-General in Atlanta. That's the closest to you. Unless you want to try for the main Embassy in Washington DC. Either way, once we get you on Embassy territory we can help you, we can get you home.”

“
I was kidnapped and brought to this country against my will,” I said through gritted teeth. “Why can't you help me now?”

“
Because of Hunter Henderson,” replied the voice smoothly. “His presence in this country has placed the Crown in a very delicate position. The Crown cannot be involved with his illegal activities in any way. If, however, you come to the Embassy it would be a different matter altogether.”

“
Where did Jack go?” I asked.

“
We don't have that information,” she replied acidly. “Of course, the Crown is cooperating with law enforcement in locating him, per our treaties and agreements, but at the moment we have no idea where he and his team are. They have had no contact with us.”

I was almost certain that she wasn't supposed to have let that slip. Jack was here, sure. I could see that. But the team? Really? How had he managed to persuade them to come with him?

“Ma'am?”

“
Yeah, I hear you,” I replied. “I'll be in touch.”

I hung up the phone and walked away, thoughtfully. The woman on the phone hadn't needed to tell me that Jack had brought the team with him. They could have waited until they got me to the Embassy or even told me once I was on the way home. It may not seem like much but the excess information had set my nose twitching. I smelled more than I could see, and I smelled the ministry.

I might be deluding myself but I got the strong impression that I was supposed to contact Jack and let him know I was okay before he did too much damage or brought too much embarrassment to the government. Having done so I could contact the Embassy, get taken home through the normal channels, and Jack could slip away the same way he had come, nobody the wiser.

And now I knew John and Anna were here. That also told me that I had a way to contact them. I had no idea if a cellphone from the UK would even work in the US but John would find a way around it. At the very least he would make sure he could still get his e-mail.

All I had to do was contact John and we would have a way out of this mess. A quick way out. My pace quickened as I rounded a corner and approached what Terry had called 'The best mom and pop burger joint in the state.'

I had left Kyle and the others in the car park. Kyle was now sitting on the bonnet of his car, talking animatedly with Terry and the Deputies and I felt a stab of remorse. None of them had asked for it but simply by helping me they were in danger. We're werewolves. Werewolves tend to stick together, especially against vampires, but even so. It was a great feeling, meeting people who were prepared to help despite the horrible risk. I'd signed up for the mortal danger but they hadn't. It had been brought to their doorstep and I would do everything in my power to take it away again.

Kyle saw me and waved, grinning broadly. Everyone else turned and gave me some smiles.
I stifled a sigh and smiled back.

“
How did it go?” asked Terry.

“
It was interesting,” I replied.

I quickly explained the entire conversation and my impressions and conclusions.

Terry frowned.

“
I'm not sure if we'll be able to call your friend here, but if he's as good as you say he'll be able to get his e-mail, no problem,” he said. “Should be real easy.”

Terry quickly set me up with an anonymous e-mail account with his smartphone and I entered John's e-mail address. I added Anna's and Jack's too, just in case. Then I sent:

Old friend looking to hook up. Let me know

what you guys are up to these days.

-Scrapper.

“
Scrapper?” asked Terry when I passed the phone back to him.

“
Back in the early days of the ministry everyone got a code name,” I explained. “That's how Jack became Pagan. By the time I joined the code names had become pretty much redundant so hunters got nicknamed by their final instructor instead. Jack named me. Said it was because I fought for my spot on his team.”

“
You mean you guys don't use those code names all the time?” Kyle asked.

“
No, Scrapper's not even official,” I replied.

“
Man, that's just another thing the show got wrong,” he said glumly.

“
Well, you didn't think it was a documentary, did you?” said Terry.

“
You mind if we continue the discussion sitting down?” said Aiden, directing a meaningful glance towards the diner.

“
You're hungry?” said Natasha. “Big surprise, there.”

“
Hey, the smell has been driving me crazy,” he said.

I had to say, the place was making my mouth water. The not-so-subtle scent of a wood-fired grill mixed with the heady aroma of cooked meat in a way that appealed directly to my taste buds.

“Okay,” I said, swallowing. “We might as well eat while we wait.”

The diner was a low brick building with a metal roof and dusty windows. The car park was only paved in places, the rest was a mash-up of gravel and dirt, mostly cratered with potholes and stained with oil. The interior was little better. Harsh fluorescent lights illuminated scarred and scratched tables surrounded by equally battered booths. Several tatty and miss-matched stools stood against a big counter shiny with use and pocked with burns. Faded posters and framed prints lined the walls over the badly stained linoleum floor. Still, for all the shabbiness the place was scrupulously clean, and the smell was wonderful.

We took a large booth and looked over the menu. After a few moments a skinny young waitress with thick blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail came over to take our orders.

“
Hi! How you folks doing?” she asked brightly.

“
We're doing just fine,” said Natasha with a bright smile.

“
What can I get you folks to drink?”

We all ordered drinks and she scuttled off to get them while we looked at the menu.

“Do you guys really call french fries 'chips' in England?” asked Terry.

“
Yes we do,” I replied. It was nice to leave the situation behind for a little while and talk about mundane things.

“
So what do you call chips?”

“
Crisps.”

“
And you call cookies 'biscuits', right?” said Aiden.

I nodded.

“So what do you call biscuits?” asked Natasha.

I puzzled over that for a moment. Finally I had to admit defeat.

“I don't even know what you guys call biscuits,” I said. “So I don't know what they might be in England.”

“
Well,” said Terry, “They do a great sausage and biscuit here. You'll see when mine arrives.”

When the waitress came back I ordered a burger with a large portion of chips—sorry, french fries—and sat back, trying to relax. Aiden and Terry were having a spirited discussion about sports. Natasha was watching a TV mounted above the counter that was showing a news show. Try as I might I couldn't relax completely. Jack kept popping into my mind. He was nearby, he and our friends. We'd get a message back and then arrange to meet up somewhere safe. There would be a nice, happy reunion and then we'd find a way to get home. I kept having to stifle the desire to have Terry check whether we'd had a reply yet.

The conversation stopped once the waitress brought our food. The hamburger was the biggest I'd ever seen and the pile of chips was daunting. Good job I was starving. Terry showed me a biscuit and I puzzled over it for a while. The closest comparison I could make was a scone and even that was wide of the mark.

“
Oh man, that sucks,” said Terry. “I always wanted to visit England but if they don't have sausage and biscuits I'd starve.”

I couldn't see where the sausage came in. Each biscuit seemed to have a burger in the middle. Then I realized the burger must have been made of sausage meat. I shrugged and took a bite of my burger. It was fantastic and I tore into it eagerly.

Lunch passed and it was nice, but I was feeling antsy. I wanted to get back to the team and—more importantly—I wanted to be with Jack and I wanted to get home.

I suddenly realized I'd been staring off into the distance, lost in thought, and Kyle had asked me a question.

“Pardon?” I said, shaking myself mentally.

“
I asked what you were thinking about,” he said. “You didn't hear what Terry said?”

I shook my head.

“You got a reply to your e-mail,” he said, holding out his phone.

I took it and tapped the screen, my stomach turning over. I felt my mouth stretch into a wide grin as I read the message.

             
Scrapper,

             
Good to hear from you. Sure, everyone here looking forward to seeing you again. Give us a call.

                                   
-J&A

At the bottom was a phone number.

“
I take it that was your friends?” said Aiden.

“
Yeah,” I said, still grinning broadly. “It certainly was. Excuse me, I'm going outside to make a call.”

I practically ran out of the door and around the corner before punching the number in.

“Hello?” Anna's voice.

“
Anna!”

“
Scrapper! Where the hell have you been?” she replied with a delighted laugh.

“
I ran into some trouble.”

“
Serious?”

“
Nothing I couldn't handle. But the people who were driving me around lost interest all of a sudden. They left me all on my own so I hooked up with some new friends.”

“
Glad to hear it.”

“
Where are you guys?”