More Than Meets the Eye

  “Here we go,” Gil said quietly to Avery.

  “Absolutely not!” Jake practically roared.

  “I must agree with wolf boy,” Anna said as she placed the freshly filled cup on the coffee table in front of Jake. “No good you being the bait Natasha. We will wait for better plan.”

  “Momma its the only way for sure get him out in the open. Otherwise he will kill again. Or his confederate will. Anyway, if he’s trying to draw me out, then he will keep on with the killing until he gets what he wants.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Gil said, only to be stared into silence by the opposing factions.

  “Natasha, this plan of action is very dangerous,” Henry finally said. “You could be seriously injured or even killed.”

  “Wait, no, you can’t possibly be in favor of this?” Jake asked his Alpha incredulously.

  “This idea is pretty much what I have been thinking. I said I had an idea, I just didn’t like it,” Henry shrugged.

  “And you!” Jake turned on Gil.

  “Hey man, you’re just too close to the situation to see it from a logical perspective. I think it would work.”

  “No way, I’m with Jake on this partner,” Avery shook his head. “If anything went even the slightest bit wrong,” he didn’t finish.

  “So, we have to make sure nothin goes wrong,” Gil retorted. “Look, we’ve got to protect Tasha. It’s gonna get harder to do that from the shadows. I’d like to be a little more proactive with the protection. A plan like this would allow that. We also have to stop this guy and whomever he’s workin with. We’ve got to do it in such a way that, one, we discover who this other party is, and two, we’ve got to find enough evidence to convict them. A trap to bring them both out into the open, well, it’s the best way.”

  “No need,” Jake snarled as he stood. “I’ll take care of Roberts myself. No need for the police to worry about evidence.”

  “Jake, no,” Tasha stood to intercept him, reaching out to catch his arm.

  Jake tried to shake her hand away, but she held fast. She interposed herself between Jake and the door, placing her free hand upon his chest. She looked up into his eyes, and what she saw there before he quickly looked away made her much more afraid for Jake than for herself.

  “Jake, you can’t,” she said softly.

  He reached to her hand to move it away, refusing to look at her as he did so.

  “Jake, please, look at me,”

  He relented. He locked eyes with hers, his gold wolf eyes glowing fiercely. His growl was low but primal, his face contorted in anger and agony. He covered her hand with his and squeezed.

  Henry spoke into the tense silence. “Son, you need to take a seat and look at this rationally.”

  “I am,” His speech was ragged with emotion, not looking up from Tasha. “Sir, we take care of problems like him all the time.”

  “No, not the way you’re thinking. Let me guess. You plan on ripping his throat out?”

  “For starters.”

  “And how will that look to the police?”

  Avery scratched at his cheek. “It’ll look like an animal attack. But this time it would be an animal attack. The police, we, would still be looking for a killer and the public would still be in fear.”

  “Don’t forget that unknown factor,” Gil reminded them. “Someone else is out there, and we need to draw him out into the open.”

  Jake growled low in his throat again as he looked up at Henry and stopped only when Henry held his stare and Jake relented his challenge to the alpha.

  “If you have a better way Jake, then let’s hear it,” Henry said calmly and not unkindly.

  Jake huffed air through his mouth in frustration. “I need some air.” He tried release Tasha’s grasp. “Tasha, damn it, let me go.”

  “Jake,” she interrupted him. She reached up and gently caressed his cheek. “We’ll try to think of something else. You go get some air, just promise me that you won’t do anything stupid.”

  Jake sighed. “I can’t promise that,” he drew her hand from his cheek and held her hand in his, “but I’ll promise not to do anything stupid tonight.”

  “That’s all I can ask.”

  He nodded. “Do you have your car keys on you?”

  Tasha narrowed her eyes, “I do, why?”

  “Can I borrow your car?”

  “Don’t hurt her,” she said as she pulled the key ring from her pocket, relinquishing them to his open palm.

  “I won’t,” he said as he affectionately gave her a kiss on the top of her head. “If anyone gets hungry, there’s stuff in the fridge. If you get tired, you can sleep in my bed, just do not leave this apartment. I won't be gone long.”

  Chapter 27

  They made a plan, or at least most of one. Burly had a hunch that Jake was onto something, and he wasn’t willing to leave Jake’s input completely out of the planning process.

  As promised, Jake returned without damaging Tasha’s car or Richard Roberts. He plopped onto the sofa after tossing Tasha her keys. “Question. If Roberts had put a location spell on Tasha, why would he follow her car about town?”

  “He wouldn’t,” Burly said, considering Jake. “He’d know exactly where she was.”

  “Unless he didn’t trust his magic,” Avery suggested.

  “True,” Henry considered, “but I doubt it. I mean, why go to the trouble to use magic if you didn’t trust it.”

  “Naw, he’d trust it,” Gil said. “He trusts his magic, weather it’s faulty or not. Which means there is another player. And he has magic.”

  Jake nodded. “An unknown factor that may or may not be in with Roberts.”

  Burly nodded. “We’ve considered that and have made contingencies for it.”

  “So you have a plan?”

  “Most of one.” They explained it to Jake and when they were done, all eyes rested upon him.

  Jake sighed and looked at Tasha. “I haven’t got one any better. Not without more people dying in the meantime anyway.”

  Tasha smiled a weak and sympathetic smile. She knew he was unhappy and was wishing she could make it better. “I know, we all do. We could always wait it out, but we all know that means more loss of innocent life. You know that this has the best chance of success.”

  Jake shook his head. “I still don’t like it, but we can manipulate the circumstances so that they are more in our favor, your favor, Tasha. So, you have an idea of where this should all take place?”

  Burly smiled, “I figured you’d have someplace picked out by now. Am I incorrect?”

  “No, you’re correct.” Jake pulled a map out of his back pocket and laid it out on the ottoman in front of him. “I drove around for a while, picked Roberts up almost immediately.”

  “He’s been in the credit union parking lot hasn’t he?” asked Gil.

  “Yeah, and incidentally, there is a ladder on the back of his van. Looks like he could get just the right height to take those pictures. Now, as I was saying, I did some driving. I’ve also noticed that all three killings have taken place in a triangle around the downtown area.”

  “We are in the downtown area.”

  “Right, and most of the business you conduct is in this area as well. I’m not sure how he’d manage it, but I’m going to make a guess and say that he’s trying to pin these deaths on you, and eventually he’d achieve just that. Maybe not evidence enough for the police, but a werewolf hunting, vigilante group would be quite interested.”

  “Why would he do that?” Anna asked. “I thought this man was mighty hunter of monsters, interested in bounty.”

  “Cuz he’s a hell of a nice guy,” Gil grumbled. “He’s a coward. He’s never brought anything in, remember, he just talks real big. He needs help.”

  “Yeah, so, with the plan of Tasha here being seen out by herself in a wooded area, I think that we choose this area for consideration.”

  “Where is this place?” Anna squinted at th
e map. “I am not familiar with this city enough to know what is there.”

  “This,” Jake circled a small area with his finger “is a communal garden. There is a large park, and I mean large, over here to the side, then the rest of the land is filled with gardens, fruit and nut trees and bushes.”

  “It is so big.” Anna commented.

  “And it’s a bit over grown. Since it is the community that mostly contributes all the work, it tends to get a little overgrown once everything has been harvested.”

  “And it’s next to the government center so there won’t be anyone there at night,” Avery added, “nice.”

  “There are a number of trails back in this area for the work trucks to get in and out of, and there are all kinds of paths that crisscross out here by some of the out buildings. Those are really grown over and not everyone knows about them,” Gil pointed to an area on the map.

  The entire party looked up as one at Gil. “What? So I do a little gardening. I enjoy the physical labor, it’s outside, and there are some pretty hot chicks who volunteer there.”

  “Ah, that’s the man I know,” Avery said with a slap to Gil’s back.

  “He’s right though. This garden area here is all cleared, but the berry bushes in back are thick with over growth and there are plenty of places for us to hide. Tasha, you need to cut through here, and head towards the wilderness preserve at the back.”

  “There is wilderness in middle of city?” asked Anna.

  “Not wilderness like you’re thinking. It’s more like a big, overgrown park. It is the home to some rabbits, foxes and quail. Not big enough for anything of substantial size, but it is a nice respite for those of us who find ourselves stuck in the city,” Henry commented.

  “One of the old wood elves donated the land years ago, with the stipulation that it be retained as a preserve,” explained Avery. “Hey, this is a good place right here,” Avery tapped.

  “Why there?” Anna asked.

  “That is around the same area that Roberts caught the wood sprite, or so he said,” Burly grumbled.

  Tasha’s insides twisted at bit. “So maybe he’ll think he’s struck lucky again, then?”

  “Sure, why not. He’s superstitious enough, so, yeah.”

  “Okay, Tasha, you’ll drive through the parking lot, if no one is there, you swing back and park here. The light is out and it’s darker here. Get out and walk with a purpose, like you’re going to meet someone farther back in the park. Walk through this area here.”

  Gil poked at the map, “There’s a huge tree around here somewhere. I’ll set up in there, up high, with my night vision. I’ll be able to see up to this point,” he tapped the map with his forefinger.

  “That is quite a tree if you can see that far,” Anna commented.

  “It’s an awesome tree,” Avery said enthusiastically. “I used to climb it when I was a kid.”

  “Is there good hiding place in this area, just beyond line of sight of tree?”

  Gil nodded. “You take that area then Anna?”

  “Dah, I hide in there.”

  They went over their plan, their hiding spots and plan of action.

  “What if he doesn’t take the bait?” Tasha asked.

  “Then you walk on through. We’ll have a car on the other side; you get in and drive away. Then we’ll try again another night.”

  “There is a lot of territory for you to go through, so chances are, something’s bound to happen eventually,” Gil said cheerily.

  They were done planning. Everyone, except for Tasha, was seated and eating sandwiches and chips and talking idly. Tasha was silent, thinking.

  Tasha said quietly, “What happened to the sprite?”

  “What?” Jake asked.

  “The sprite, what happened to her?”

  Jake hesitated and looked down at his empty plate. When he looked up again, Tasha could see that he was agonizing again. Gil cleared his throat uncomfortably and Avery began to fidget. No one but Henry would meet her eyes.

  “She was fine, eventually,” Henry said with a heavy sigh. “That man tortured her and kept her bound in irons for days before he finally decided to show her to the world.”

  “He put her on TV?”

  “Internet,” Henry continued. “He couldn’t convince the local news stations that he actually had something, so he had to go the Internet route. He trotted her out, cleaned up of course, and unshackled, but by the time he got the attention he sought, she was completely, eh, subdued.”

  “What happened?” Tasha whispered, Anna slipping her hand into Tasha’s.

  “Well, one of our people who worked with Child Protective Services saw her. Sprites are tiny things and they do have fae magic, so the sprite projected herself to look as a child would. Our CPS agent made a meeting with him, under the auspice of an interested television executive. They met, she knocked him out and took the sprite away then turned him in for suspected child abuse.”

  “She should have killed him,” Gil groused.

  “She can’t, it’s against her code,” reminded Avery.

  “Still, it would have been a lot better if she’d have forgotten her code.”

  “But, that was then. We have to focus on the now,” Burly reminded them. “This,” Burly motioned to the map, then to the people in the room, “this is on purpose. That puts the odds in our favor.” Tasha couldn’t deny the feral glint she beheld in his eyes.

  “When do we begin?” Tasha asked with more courage than she felt.

  Jake thought, “Not for at least a couple of days. I want you to be prepared.”

  “The longer we wait, the better chance we have of another person being killed,” Tasha reminded him. “We have to act fast. I think you should show me the area in the morning and take action tomorrow night.”

  Jake looked anguished. “Tasha, I don’t know.”

  “She is correct,” Henry nodded his agreement. “The whole purpose for this operation is to protect more innocents from being harmed.”

  Jake sighed. “Not much of a choice.”

  “No, it may not be, but it’s still a choice. And I choose to do this. You know, it’s the best way.” Tasha looked intently at Jake.

  Jake looked into Tasha’s eyes, but couldn’t hold them. He looked away. “What if I can’t protect you?” he all but whispered.

  “Then you will have to trust me, and in my abilities to stay alive. I can protect my self, or at the very least, stay alive until you can come and get me,” she shrugged. “I’ve been training with Mel, I know jujitsu, and as far as he knows, he’s dealing with a wolf not a leopard. That gives me better odds.”

  “Dah, silver cannot hurt her. Well, it can hurt but not incapacitate.”

  “You could still be killed,” Jake reminded her, “and I don’t care what or who you are, pain is still pain.”

  “Please, tell me more, I’m not near freaked out enough,” Tasha said.

  “He won’t kill her, not on purpose. He needs her alive,” Burly said. “He will want you to change, so he can prove to the world that he was right.”

  “That’s all he wants, is recognition,” Gil said.

  “Yeah, but what is he willing to do to her to get her to change?” Avery asked.

  No one answered.

  “Should I change?”

  “Not unless it’s the only way out.”

  “Super-duper,” Tasha leaned back into her chair with a sigh. “I almost wish this was going down tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, I’m not gonna get a bit of peace until this is over.”

  Chapter 28

  They used Franklin’s niece as a decoy. Pauline drove Tasha’s car, and the beat up landscape van belonging to Richard Roberts followed her. Once the coast was clear, Jake, along with Tasha and Anna headed out to the preserve and met up with the rest, along with a few others.

  As Tasha got out of her car she noticed that Mel had shown up as well a
s a couple of Burly’s bouncers. “Thanks for coming,” Jake said as he shook everyone’s hand.

  Mel grunted his assent. “Anything to get rid of that piece of shit. And to protect the girl of course,” he amended with a wink.

  The party set out across the preserve, working back towards Tasha’s projected starting point. They scouted hideouts and possible places for Roberts to make his move.

  Tasha roamed around taking in the landscape and plotting her course. She felt almost nostalgic, but couldn’t figure out why. This place was new to her, so why would she feel happy and yet sad to be here.

  Anna spoke, causing Tasha to start, as she hadn’t heard her approach. “It reminds me of a place my father showed me. The lake there, with the evergreens and the fallen leaves from the other trees. It reminds me of the place where my father was born, his home when he was a child.

  “Momma, is that why it feels, I don’t know, familiar?”

  Anna nodded. “Dah, you are feeling the memory of your ancestors. I feel it too.”

  “Why do I feel sad?”

  “I do not know, Papa never told me, but I think that some great tragedy happened there. I know his mother was killed when he was young child. Perhaps this is what you are feeling.”

  They stood in silence at the edge of the small lake. Suddenly, Anna stiffened. “What is it Mom?”

  “I do not know. I feel like we are being observed.”

  “I don’t smell anything,” Tasha said as her eyes roamed the thick underbrush.

  “Nyet, I do not either. Perhaps I am being over sensitive.”

  Tasha tried to smile at her but found it hard to.

  Jake approached. “What’s the matter?”

  “Maybe nothing. We thought we felt like we were being watched is all.”

  Jake was on immediate alert, lifting his chin and sniffing, and listening. “I don’t, I don’t sense anything.”

  “We did not either,” Anna said, moving in the direction she had felt the threat was coming from. “Natasha, you stay here with wolf boy, I go to investigate.”

  Anna left to investigate but Jake’s eyes followed her as she went. “So, I’m thinking this lake will be a good place for him to capture you.”

  Tasha gulped but remained as calm as could be expected. “Why?”

  “Because your back would be to the lake. Werewolves can’t swim.”

  “How deep is this lake?”

  “Deep enough to swim in. The kids used to swim here years ago when it was actual wilderness instead of a wilderness park.