Bones’s head whipped in that direction, lips tightening when he saw the brown-haired vampire shouting orders to the other, helmeted soldiers who exited after him. They were too far away to see us, but as if Tate could feel our stares, he turned, looking right at us.
“You go, I’ll deal with him,” Spade muttered.
We did need to leave. The trip to Ottumwa would take almost four hours, and if Tate was here, Madigan probably wasn’t far behind, but I put a hand on Bones’s shoulder.
“Let’s wait a minute,” I said, motioning to Tate. “If he calls anyone else over, we’ll leave.”
Tate trotted over after a last shouted command, slowing down to stare at Francine, Tyler, and Lisa when he drew abreast of them. Then he resumed his brisk pace, his indigo gaze flitting between me, Bones, and the cursing ghost between us.
“Cat, your hair . . .” he began.
“If you think I look like shit now, you should’ve seen me when I was on fire. But enough of that. Why are you here?”
His features tightened at my brisk overview of being burned, but then they turned stony at my question.
“Madigan confiscated some amateur footage a week ago of you throwing a car off yourself, so he knows you’re in Iowa. He’s hot to get his hands on the ghost who killed his men, and he knows you’re after it, too. So we’re supposed to keep a lookout for you.”
“Was the footage from a cell phone video?” I wondered irreverently.
Tate nodded. “Those things fucking annoy me.”
He’d get no argument from me on that one. “Someone reported seeing a flaming person fly through the air with one of the 911 calls about the fire,” Tate continued. “We were deployed to investigate if it that was hysterical witness exaggerating, or if something supernatural was involved.”
“You will all be thrown into the eternal lake of fire!” Kramer shouted. I slammed my elbow into his face without bothering to look at him. From the zzzt! sound that followed, Bones zapped him again.
“So Madigan’s after me because he wants revenge for his murdered soldiers,” I mused.
Tate grunted. “No. He wants you to trap the ghost, then have us steal the trap so he can use the thing later as a weapon. Stupid bastard thinks he could control it.”
“And what are you intending to report to him?” Bones asked, his aura changing to icy, warning currents.
Tate shrugged. “That I didn’t see any vampires here but me.”
Kramer continued with his ranting about how we were all going to suffer, burn, beg, etc. None of us paid any attention to him, which enraged him more.
“This is the ghost,” I said, noting the shock that crossed Tate’s expression as he looked at the very solid Kramer. “We need you to make sure your team stays here for a while so no one follows us.”
The slightest smile crossed his face. “Then again, maybe I did see something suspicious on the far end of the field. Might take hours to investigate.”
I smiled back. “Thank you.”
He cast a final glance at Kramer before heading back toward the helicopter. The dangerous currents eased from Bones, changing into waves of determination.
“Let’s finish this, Kitten.”
I looked at Kramer and, for the first time, saw fear in the Inquisitor’s green gaze.
“Yes, let’s,” I drew out with supreme satisfaction.