More Than Meets the Eye

  “The underbrush is a bit far away,” Tasha noticed.

  “Yes, but we will be there.”

  “I know. I’m just, you know, totally freaking out,” she was calm as she spoke, but Jake noticed the iris of her eyes had lightened considerably.

  Jake wrapped her in a hug and rubbed her back. “Me too, kiddo, me too.”

  Tasha reveled in that embrace. It felt safe and warm and right. Reluctantly Tasha pulled away from his embrace and looked around. “I noticed that the path runs right along the lake, and this area here bows in on the lake a little. You’re right, it would be a perfect place to capture a wolf that can’t swim.”

  “It may not happen here, so don’t let your guard down. It may be earlier or even be later. Keep your nose on, so to say.”

  “Got it boss.”

  Chapter 29

  The whole lot of them congregated at Jake’s place, except for Jake and Tasha, who went up to the office to take care of some actual business. Jake made up the final report for Mrs. Smith. As it turned out Mr. Smith was not cheating at all but was involved in an odd role playing game where people dressed as zombies and ran through the factory “making” zombies when they caught someone. “Like a new version of tag, but with makeup,” Jake had told Mrs. Smith. She’d been slightly pertubed by the revelation but still relieved to know that her husband was not a philanderer.

  When darkness finally fell, Tasha locked up the front of the office, but not before stepping out onto the sidewalk and looking up and down the street. Sure enough, she saw her stalker lurking in the shadows. Too bad for him that she could see into the shadows better that humans, so she saw him as if he had been standing in direct sunlight. Well almost.

  She walked through the office and out the back door, then down the stairs to Jake’s apartment. “He’s out there, just as expected,” she told no one in particular as she joined her mother, Henry and Jake in his apartment.

  “Okay, so we’re on,” Jake said. “Need to rest at all?”

  “No, I’m immortal, remember?”

  “Well, not exactly, but close. Still, you might want to eat something.”

  “Dah, Natasha, you must eat. It will help you to concentrate.”

  Tasha accepted a plate of food from her mother, and, though she didn’t think she’d be able to eat, she cleaned her plate and went back for seconds.

  They hung around, waiting for a later hour when their chances of anyone being around was at a minimum. But the wait was tortuous.

  Finally the hour of action arrived. “It’s time,” Jake said without preamble. They all took up the earpieces that Gil had provided for them and placed them in their ears. They patted themselves, checking pockets, sleeves, pant legs, as they made sure the weapons they had were secured. Henry stood by quietly and watched.

  Everyone quietly left Jake’s apartment. Before Jake could lead Anna out of the apartment, Anna turned and gave her daughter a hug and a kiss on her cheek. She could not speak, but Tasha knew her mother was frightened for her, and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

  “Give us thirty minutes to get there and set up, then give me a call. You won’t be in radio range almost until you get on sight. You set?”

  “Yep, let’s get this over with.”

  Jake looked up at his Alpha.

  “Be careful, Jake,” was all he said.

  Jake gave Tasha’s upper arm a gentle squeeze. Tasha couldn't resist. If this were the last time she should see Jake, well, she wanted it to count. She lifted her face to his and kissed him on the mouth.

  Jake pulled away first. He looked down at Tasha, a smile playing at his lips. He didn't say anything. He smiled his goodby before he and Anna turned and closed the door behind them.

  Henry eyed Tasha with a mild curiosity but they sat in the silence, neither saying a word, and waited.

  Chapter 30

  Tasha left Henry at Jake’s. They all voted that he should stay completely out of it in case everything went wrong. She drove to the garden and parked her car in the spot that Jake had indicated. The street lamp above had been shot out and had not been repaired as yet. She took a deep breath, tucked her phone into the front pocket of her coat, stepped out of the car and shut the door. She looked about her and saw nothing, but the sound of the rattle-trap landscaping van could be heard puttering up the street, heading towards her position. She saw the van pass on the street, driving past her location, but once Tasha had stepped up onto the community garden grounds, she heard it park and shut off. She looked around again, took her time taking the phone out of her pocket, making a show of making a call. Though Jake was on speed dial, she still took the time to dial his number. He picked up instantly. “I’m here. So is Roberts.” She put the phone back in her pocket before she began to walk.

  She heard Avery in her ear. “I see you. Roberts is layin back, but he’s mobile.” Tasha didn’t answer, but made her way around the large, tilled field that, come spring, would be green with new growth.

  As she drew even with the berry bushes she heard the faint crunch of Robert’s shoes on the gravel path. He’s not very good at this, she thought to herself. Doesn’t he know that a werewolf would hear him?

  Tasha passed through a vine-covered archway that led into the orchard. “Got ya,” Gil said, and she could see his grin in her mind, which in turn made her grin herself. She passed through the orchard, her feet crunching through what few leaves the wind had left untouched on the orchard path.

  She could hear the soft pads of Richards’ progress; it sounded like he was at least trying to avoid the crunching of the leaves.

  At one point, Tasha could smell Bob, one of Burly’s bouncers, then Tom, the other bouncer. Even though she could smell them, she could not see them, and that lack of sight caused the loneliness of the bare orchard to creep in on her. Keep it together, Natasha, she thought to herself.

  Just when she thought she was going to scream from the silence she heard Avery say “I’m following him now. He’s digging in his pockets, so be ready for anything.” Tasha heard the clicks of mics being tapped in response, one, then two, until all eight individuals responded. Be ready, she thought to herself.

  As she passed through another vine-covered archway, she heard Roberts picking up the pace. “This is it,” Gil’s voice sounded in her ear.

  Tasha couldn’t help it; she turned around to look at her nemesis, Richard Roberts. He flashed her a predatory smile that, even though friends surrounded her, sent her into a mild panic.

  Tasha turned and picked up her own pace. She heard Roberts break into a run, and as soon as he did, so did she. “He’s movin in,” Gil said. Tasha turned to see Roberts gaining on her, so she ran faster.

  “He’s a lot faster than he looks,” huffed Avery’s voice.

  “Move in closer, but he’s got to catch her. It’s no good unless he captures her.” Jake’s voice sounded strained.

  Tasha knew that Roberts had to drag her back through the orchard and the garden to get her back to his van. She absently wondered what means he intended on using to subdue her, because, let’s face it, she was supposed to be a big, strong werewolf.

  The shot that ripped through her body took her by complete surprised, though it shouldn’t have. She heard multiple curses over her ear-piece. She could taste silver in her mouth. She felt a searing pain in her shoulder. At least Burly was correct about one thing, Roberts wasn’t going to kill her. Not yet anyway.

  She faltered but continued to run. She was near the lake now. She could sense her compatriots surrounding her, all except Bob and Tom who were supposed to be headed back to Roberts’ van.

  Tasha stumbled, surprised that the loss of blood was causing her to head to spin so soon. No, there must have been something else on or in the bullet, she thought to herself. Wolfsbane, her mind told her. That must be some of that ancestral information Momma was talking about. She regained her footing, but not before Roberts had reached her. She could hear her mother cu
rsing in Russian, and Jake telling her mother “not yet” over the ear-piece. She felt the bounty hunter’s hand grab at her. She screamed, pulled away from his grasp, and ran some more but her strength was beginning to lag and her vision was blurring.

  “There’s another player,” Gil’s voice said.

  “Go to plan B,” Jake growled.

  “He’s coming in from the opposite side of the park. They’re closing in on Tasha” Gil’s voice was eerily calm.

  “Take him out, man,” urged Avery

  “Not yet,” Gil answered.

  Tasha turned her head and saw another man coming towards her. She had nowhere to go, so she ducked her head and charged forward, intending to run right through the second individual coming at her.

  She fell instead, a rope wrapped around her ankles. “Damn!” but before she could react further, everything began to go dim, then, complete blackness overtook her.

  “Tasha!” was the chorus she did not here.

  “I’m takin the shot,” shouted Gil as he aimed his crossbow at the easiest target, which at that moment was Roberts. He didn’t wait for confirmation. He let his arrow fly.

  It found it’s mark in Roberts’ chest, but the wound was not mortal. “Missed” Gil spat as he took aim at his second target.

  There was a sudden, blinding light that almost caused him to fall out of the tree. “What the hell!” he yelled as he grabbed for purchase,

  “Can anyone see her?” Jake’s voice was frantic.

  “Can’t see anything man,” was Avery’s response.

  “Blinding spell” Burly said, with a curse. “It’ll only last a few seconds.”

  “Tasha!” Anna called, no longer bothering to be quiet, but ran blindly through the bushes.

  Mel came crashing through the underbrush nearer to the road than anyone else. “I can hear him, over here,”

  “Damn, I can’t see,” Jake practically wailed, but began moving in the direction of Mel’s big voice.

  They all heard the roar of an engine and the squeal of tires about the time that their eyes were beginning to clear.

  “Tasha,” Jake groaned. He stumbled, caught himself and plowed on. He reached the street and saw Mel chasing after a work truck with metal tool bins along the side, a spool of electrical wire in the cargo bed. “Why didn’t I see that?”

  Jake took off at a run, Burly not far behind. The work truck went around a bend in the roadway and they lost sight of it. They heard a loud crash. Jake ran faster. When he rounded the bend that had blocked his view of the work truck, he saw the second player. Roberts’ accomplice was an older man with wild gray hair. He was struggling to get out of the cab of his damaged truck. Another man, tall, black haired and naked was laying in the street. As Jake approached, the gray haired man tried to run, but only managing a quick, limping walk. Jake changed his trajectory in order to pursue the man, when the naked man rose to his feet, shook his head to clear it, and in heavily accented English said, “You get Natasha, I get gray man.”

  Jake, confused, nodded and ran towards the truck, yelling Tasha’s name. No answer. Jake became frantic as he tore at the bins, but he found nothing but tools. He stopped. He had to get ahold of himself. It had been over a hundred years since he had felt this out of control. He breathed deeply. He could smell the smells associated with the electrical trade. Wire, plastic, a little oil. But where was Tasha?

  Avery and Burly had finally caught up with him. “Where is she?” but Jake ignored the question.

  “She’s here, I can feel her, smell her.” He bent to throw the spool of wire from the bed of the truck, but it held fast. “What the hell?”

  “It’s attached to the bed of the truck,” Burly pointed to a bracket.

  “The bed, it’s got a false bottom,” Avery murmured as he began examining the bed.

  “You’re right. Jake, get out, I’ll bet this whole thing lifts up.” Jake complied, but they couldn’t find the latch that would allow the bed to lift.

  Jake began to tear the bed apart, beginning with the wire spool. It came off without too much trouble. He tossed it to Avery, who staggered back as he caught it, thinking it would be heavy, but it was considerably light. “Its fake.”

  “Fake?” asked Burly as Avery tossed the foam replica over to him.

  They both had to jump out of the way as Jake began pulling at the plywood bed. One final tug and it was free, revealing an unconscious Tasha in the shallow space beneath.

  “Grab her!” Jake commanded as he held the plywood away from the prone woman. Being a large man, Burly shoved his way past Avery, grabbed Tasha as best he could and pulled her over onto his shoulder. He carried her to a grassy spot just off the black top and placed her gently down.

  Jake let the plywood drop and he hopped out of the back of the truck and ran to the turf next to Tasha. He gently picked her up her shoulders and cradled her, checking for a pulse. He found one. He let out a breath. “She alive, just unconscious.”

  Avery took her limp hand. He muttered an ancient Mandarin phrase. “She’s been drugged. She’ll be okay.”

  “He’s not hearing a word you say,” Burly said wryly. He began to scan the area. “We have to get. We made quite a racket so the cops may be showing up soon. I’ll get my boys, clean up the mess and get out of here. The less fae involved the better.”

  Avery released Tasha’s hand, laying it over her stomach. He stood and looked at the truck. “I got this.”

  “Where’s Anna?” Jake asked over his mic. “I figured she’d be here by now.”

  “She’s here with me,” Gil said, “standing guard over Roberts.”

  “He alive?”

  “Yeah, but he seems to have cracked his head on her foot, so he’s out of it for now.”

  Jake looked up to Burly. “Will you take care of Anna?”

  Burly nodded. “I will take her to my place. It’s probably best if she’s no where around here when the police arrive.” Burly keyed his microphone as he stood, “Has anyone found a naked guy? Tall, dark hair? Yes, I said naked.”

  “What are we going to tell the police?” Jake asked him.

  “As close to the truth as we can,” suggested Burly. “Some guy nabbed Tasha, hit something while trying to flee and took off. Who was that guy that was hit anyway? And why was he naked?”

  “Don’t know, but I thought I saw a very large animal running through the woods just ahead of me. Could have been him.”

  “A were-something?” asked Averey.

  “Stranger things have happened.”

  “Hey,” came Gil’s voice over the mic. “How am I going to explain me being in the woods at just the right time with a cross bow?”

  “Ah, there’s just no time to fix the crime scene,” Avery moaned.

  Burly soothed. “Mel and I can fix this. I’ve just decided Gray Hair is the shooter.”

  Once everything was set and all non-essential parties were gone from the scene, Avery called the police as well as an ambulance. It wasn’t long before a police car rolled up to their position and Avery and Jake both pocketed their earpieces, Jake taking Tasha’s out of her ear as well.

  “I’m Detective Avery Chen,” he said as he lifted both hands in the air, one hand holding his badge. “Were is the ambulance I called for? And do you got backup on the way?” Avery asked.

  Before the officer could respond, Avery jumped into explanations.

  “Yeah, well we’ve got two possible kidnappers. One shot the other with a crossbow. That suspect is on the run, I just stopped to make sure that the kidnap victim, which is this young lady right here, is okay. I’m on my way to apprehend him. The other suspect, the one that was shot, is in the park. Detective Marshal is there with him.

  Gil came sauntering onto the street, “Hey, you got an ambulance coming? Cuz we’ve got a guy down over here.”

  The ambulance pulled up but Jake remained at Tasha’s side while Avery went into a very animated explanation of events for
the policeman. “It was crazy. This woman here, her name is Natasha, she’s a friend of mine. This guy is Jake, he’s her boss, also a friend of mine. She got this call from some guy, I don’t know what the heck she was thinkin’ but she came out here to meet him. Well, Jake and I we didn’t want her comin out here by herself, you know, with a crazy killer on the loose. Well, we pulled up, but no Tasha. We went in to try to find her, when we hear all this commotion and ran up to find this crazy gray haired man with a crossbow. We ducked down, because we didn’t know what was goin on. Well, the guy without the crossbow, he grabbed Tasha here, tied her all up, and drugged her but the gray haired guy shot him, and he nabbed Tasha and took off. When we got out to the street he was already on the road but that gray haired guy he hit, somethin, I didn’t see what because we were still around that little bend up there, but before we could get to that gray haired guy he took off. Craziest damn thing I ever saw!”

  Jake just smiled at his friend. We might just pull this off, he thought to himself.

  Chapter 31

  Jake made sure Tasha was belted in before he closed the passenger door of his truck. He got into the driver’s side and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Jake, I’m fine. I have a headache, and my shoulder hurts but I just would really like to go home.”

  “We’ve got to make a detour first.”

  “Where?”

  “Burly’s. Your mother is there.”

  “Why didn’t someone bring her to the hospital? She must be crazy with worry.”

  Jake smiled. “She is worried, but not crazy. Something came up that has her attention right now.”

  “Jake?”

  “Not saying a word.”

  They drove in silence. Not that she was ready to talk yet. She was still shaking from her ordeal with the bounty hunters.

  They walked into Burly’s pub. It was empty for all but their associates.

  Anna rushed to her and wrapped Tasha in a strong hug that squeezed the breath out of her. “Oh, my darling! Are you okay?”

  “Dr. Wyatt says I’ll be fine.”

  “Oh, I’ve been so worried. Ach, look at your poor face, it’s all scratched up. From that horrible man tripping you, eh?” Tasha nodded. “Ach, oh well, you are still beautiful and you will heal quickly. Now, I have someone to show you.” Anna led Tasha to a corner area, where Burly was sitting across from a tall man with shaggy black hair and gray eyes.