Part 61 (1/2)
”The executive summary is that she's the woman we saw through the doorway when we were fighting that monster in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the Castle. She helped us kill the d.a.m.n thing.”
”I was upstairs getting Kevin and Erica free. But Megan told me all about it.”
”Rinna is a shape-s.h.i.+fter-from a parallel universe. She can change into either a white wolf or a white hawk. And she has other powers as well. But this guy has already crippled her abilities to some extent, and I think he'll do more if has her for any length of time.”
”Okay,” Ross answered in a perfectly deadpan voice, and Logan appreciated that he wasn't having any trouble dealing with the strange facts. Not like the cop.
As they talked, Lance climbed out of the car and joined them. Logan clasped his shoulder. A few hours ago they had been fighting. But now he knew that his brother and his cousin were there for him.
”We need to track her,” Logan continued. ”And I know she was at the convenience store recently. The portal to her world is at the back of the store. From what a confused cop told me, I'm betting that the bad guy and some soldiers came through last night, and that they were using some kind of invisibility s.h.i.+eld.”
”It's kind of inconvenient if they're still using it,” Ross muttered.
”Let's a.s.sume that they can't hide a large group of soldiers like that for long.”
Ross nodded.
”We can leave that problem for now. We have to find Rinna. I think the bad guy started tracking her as soon as he came through.”
”And he caught up with her?”
Logan clenched his hands into fist. ”I think she went back to him-to keep him away from me. She used her power to plant the idea in my head that I should go for help. When I got to Lance's house I realized that she sent me away, leaving herself totally unprotected. If he's got her, they're going to be between here and my house.”
”Okay.”
”I was thinking that we could go as wolves to the convenience store and start in the direction of my place.”
Ross nodded, then asked in a perfectly conversational voice. ”And when we find the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who's got her, do we attack as wolves? Or as men?”
”Wolves. We'll change here, and I'll show you where to find the store.” He started toward the woods, then stopped as he thought about the kind of danger he was getting his brother and his cousin into. ”He's not alone. He's got soldiers from his private army with him. Maybe we'd better not attack until we see what we're up against.”
”We'll play it by ear,” Ross said. ”So maybe we need to be prepared with clothing.”
”I've started carrying stuff in my car,” Logan said, ”but I don't have any way to take clothing with me.”
”I have a couple of backpacks,” Ross said. ”We'll put as much as we can in there. And we can wear whistles so we can communicate.”
”Good idea.”
”They each have a different call,” Ross explained. ”I'll be a dove. Lance can be a cardinal and Logan can be a blue jay.”
They all spent a lot of time in the woods, so they all knew the calls.
They got the packs ready, then moved into a tangle of brambles, where they changed to wolf form.
When they were ready, they started toward the convenience store.
Logan stopped at the edge of the woods, when he saw Jake Cooper standing in front of the Easy Shopper. Lance had been right; the b.a.s.t.a.r.d hadn't wasted any time getting back there.
And apparently searching the place. The area in front of the building was roped off with familiar yellow tape. As Logan watched, two men emerged and shook their heads.