“Hey, she stunned me,” the woman said, affronted. “And wasn’t I the one who tracked the car down to that diner even though she had the devil’s luck and took the one with the malfunctioning tracker?”
Knives lanced Dev’s stomach at the thought of who Katya might have ridden with, what they might have done to her. “Did Lucas call back?” The leopard alpha had gone to talk to the folks who owned the diner after Dev’s attempts had met with stony silence.
His cell phone rang at that moment. Snapping it open, he looked at the caller ID. “Lucas, you got it?”
“She’s on a rig heading north,” the DarkRiver alpha told him. “With a driver named Jessie Amsel.”
“A woman?”
“Yes.”
But that, Dev thought, didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous. “I’ve got a contact in the truckers’ union,” Dev said. “I’ll get her route.”
“They left about four hours ago.”
“Then I better start moving.” Hanging up, he called his contact and five minutes later had a printout of Jessie Amsel’s route. Eyes narrowing, he made another call. “Michel? I need a favor.”
“You going to owe me, cousin.” A smile he could almost hear. “What’s up?”
Dev outlined what he needed. “Is it doable?”
“Against the rules, but I figure you’ll pull my butt out of jail if I land in it.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Even if she doesn’t switch rides beforehand, Traffic Comp tells me the roads are clear all the way to the border. If she hits Canada before I get to her, nothing I can do about it.”
EARTHTWO COMMAND LOG: SUNSHINE STATION
18 August 2080: Official incident report: Ten members of the scientific team are currently recovering from exposure in the medical bay. It appears they lost their sense of direction in the dark on their way back from a survey mission.
None of the ten contacted base camp for help, and they do not appear to remember the hours they spent without shelter. All ten have been confined to the med bay until they can be fully evaluated.
CHAPTER 32
“You got the papers to get over?” Jessie asked as she brought the truck to a stop three hours south of the Canadian border, the world still night-dark around them though it was early morning.
Katya shook her head. “No. I’ll have to find a way to sneak through.”
“That’s not exactly easy. They’ve got Psy guards now, too—apparently there was a problem with people using telepathy to cloud human guards’ minds.”
That eliminated the very plan Katya had been counting on. “I don’t suppose you know anyone who makes fake IDs.”
“Do I look like the criminal type?”
“No, you look resourceful.”
Jessie grinned. “What the hell. Come on.”
Twenty minutes later, Katya had an identification card that was “good for one use only,” according to the wizened little man who made it for her. “They’ll get a bounce on it mebbe ten minutes after you scan it through, so make sure you hightail it out of there fast.”
Katya nodded and handed over most of the cash she’d taken from Tag. “Thanks.”
“And if you get caught, you never saw me.” Beady black eyes pinned her in place. “Understood?”
“Got it.”
“Are you going over the border?” she asked Jessie once they were on their way again.
The other woman shook her head. “My delivery’s to a facility about forty minutes shy of it. You can hitch a ride with another trucker from there—I’ll make sure it’s one of the good ones.”
“Why are you helping me so much, Jessie?” Katya asked, running her fingers over and around the hard edges of the ID card. “I’m obviously someone in trouble, someone who could get you in trouble.”
“You heard that thing about paying it forward?”
“No.”
“Where you been living, in a cave?” Without waiting for an answer, Jessie quickly explained. “It’s like this—if someone does something nice for you, you got to do something nice for another person down the road. It’s meant to put good back into the world.”
“I see,” Katya said slowly. “The world would indeed be a better place if everyone did that. Can I ask—whose niceness are you paying forward?”
“When I was a scrawny little sixteen-year-old, a scary fucker of a trucker picked me up on a dark and deserted street.” Jessie’s smile turned her striking. “After he finished chewing me out about the dangers of hitchhiking, he fed me, let me shower in his truck, and asked me where I was going. When I said I didn’t know, he gave this big sigh.”
“And?” Katya prompted when Jessie fell silent.
“And I ended up riding with him for the next five years. Isaac’s the one who taught me how to drive the big rigs, who got me my first gig.”
“He must be so proud of you. Is he retired now?”
“Hah! He’s only six years older than me!”
“Oh.” Katya bit her lip, but couldn’t contain her curiosity. “You don’t see him as a brother, do you?”