“The kid with the hammer raised it above his head for another swing . . . and was struck by lightning. He’s heading for the morgue.”
Gods above and below, Monty thought.
“Fallacaro has made a statement and is on his way to Lakeside Hospital. Do you want me and Debany to meet him there and stay with him?”
“Wait a moment.” Monty relayed the information to Burke.
“That’s a plan,” Burke said. “They can head out now. Shady will keep an eye on things. I’ll call Captain Wheatley with an update as soon as we get back to the Courtyard.”
They heard the explosion and watched a fireball rise from a building two blocks away.
“Let’s go,” Burke said quietly as a second building exploded. Then a third. And a fourth.
Lightning struck nearby, and the boom of thunder, sounding more like giant hooves striking the ground, made Monty’s skin crawl.
“Let’s go,” Burke said again.
Monty returned to Nadine’s car and followed Burke’s flashing blue light back to the Courtyard as a punishing rain struck the northern part of the city, putting out the fires and flooding the streets.
? ? ?
“What do you think?” Eve Denby asked.
Henry looked around the room above the Liaison’s Office—a room that had occasionally been used for sex with a human—and wondered what he was supposed to think. More, he wondered why he’d been chosen to provide the answer. Then he looked at Ruthie, Theral, and Eve. They must have considered the members of the Business Association and had decided he was the most approachable right now.
Tess had slipped away from the Courtyard. No one was sure where she was, but he was certain a few members of the Humans First and Last movement were going to die of a mysterious plague that had already struck humans in the city a couple of times over the past few months. Simon had gone off to consider a simple yet difficult question: was Lakeside worth saving, and if it was, how much could their Courtyard save? Vlad and Blair were coordinating the defense of the Courtyard and its property. Wolves were patrolling the boundaries of the Courtyard and guarding the three gates that provided the easiest access. The Sanguinati were guarding the Market Square and the buildings on Crowfield Avenue, making sure no one attacked the Denbys’ apartment or threatened the children. The Crows and Hawks were maintaining a lookout around the buildings, while the Owls glided along the fence line, looking for intruders. Nathan, Erebus, and the Shady Burke were in Meat-n-Greens with Meg and Merri Lee.
And that left him to provide an answer to a question he didn’t understand.
“This isn’t much different from a hotel room,” Ruthie explained. “It has its own bathroom. We gave the room a quick dust and vacuum and put clean sheets on the bed—not that we thought the ones on it had been used, but . . .” She stopped, then plowed through the thorny words. “Ms. Fallacaro is going to need a place to stay, at least for tonight. She would be alone at a regular hotel.”
“And no one who has been targeted is going to want to be alone,” Eve added.
Now he understood. “You want permission for her to stay here?”
They nodded.
“And we wondered if someone could check on Lorne,” Ruthie said. “He said he would be here for the concert, but he didn’t show up, and he’s not answering his home phone or mobile phone. He doesn’t live far from here.”
“We will try to find him,” Henry promised. He would talk to Vlad about finding Elizabeth Bennefeld and Dominic Lorenzo, the other two humans who provided services to Courtyard residents. “Anything else?”
“Do you have any storage space we humans could use?” Eve asked. “We need to stock up on what we don’t want to do without.”
“I’ll talk to Simon.” Human settlements in the wild country were often cut off from supply towns during the winter months and stocked up on many things. He was pleased to hear these females preparing for the same kind of isolation.
He walked out of the room. Catching the sound of cars driving up the access way, he hurried down the stairs behind the Liaison’s Office, his hands shifting to the more useful paws and claws of a Grizzly. But these weren’t intruders. He didn’t recognize the car that had most of its windows smashed, but Lieutenant Montgomery was driving it, and Captain Burke was driving the black car.
Henry followed the cars. Burke pulled into the employee parking lot, but Montgomery drove to the spaces where delivery trucks parked for the Market Square. As soon as he parked the car, Montgomery hurried around to the other side and helped a woman out of the car. Wolves approached the Market Square, then turned away when Simon and Vlad stepped out of the library, along with Elliot.
“Is there anyone in the medical office who could take a look at Ms. Fallacaro?” Montgomery asked when Simon walked up to him.
“We’ll call our bodywalker,” Simon said.
“I’m fine,” Nadine said. “Just a little cold is all.”
Simon took a step toward her and sniffed the air. “You are not fine. I can smell blood.” He paused. “Not a lot of blood, but you are not fine.”
Montgomery escorted Nadine to the medical office. Moments later, Merri Lee looked out the door of Meat-n-Greens and came running.
Made sense, Henry decided. She was the human who most often helped Meg after the cutting. Even if someone else had to do the tending because Merri Lee still had sticks around one finger, she would know about human bandages and medicines.
Burke joined them, and the males, except Montgomery, returned to where Vlad and Elliot had waited.
“The mayor has called twice, wanting to know if we have any information about the fires,” Elliot said.
“Strange that His Honor is working so late,” Burke commented.
Elliot gave Burke a sharp smile. “I thought so too.”
“What did you tell him?” Simon asked.
“I told him he should ask the police commissioner about the fires since the man is a member of the Humans First and Last movement and would be better informed about these escalated attacks on innocent humans. He hung up.”
Burke barked out a laugh.
“Tess called,” Vlad said. “She’s bringing Lorne here, but she thinks he should be taken to a human bodywalker. She says it isn’t wise for her to go to such a place right now.”
No, it wouldn’t be smart for a Harvester to go to such a place.
“I can drive him to the hospital,” Burke said. “Chris Fallacaro should be there by now. I’ll find out when he’ll be released and then figure out where he can stay.”
“Bring him here,” Simon said. “I left a message on Dr. Lorenzo’s phone, warning him about the fires, and Vlad called Elizabeth Bennefeld. She received threatening phone calls tonight because she works in our medical office a couple of days a week. Vlad told her to come here because we can’t assume the monkeys won’t try to burn out anyone who works for us.” He gave Burke a challenging look.
“No, you can’t assume that,” Burke agreed. “Gods, the world has gone crazy tonight.”
“Not the world,” Henry rumbled. “Just your species.”
They went their separate ways, guarding and protecting—and preparing for the storms that were coming.
? ? ?
“Arsonists and mobs are being blamed for dozens of fires that burned down buildings in several of the city’s neighborhood business districts. The first wave of fires struck businesses that had been vandalized last week. Some accusations have been made that the Humans First and Last movement was behind the vandalism and the first wave of fires. The second wave of fires that swept through the city targeted bakeries, especially the bakeries displaying HFL signs, but investigators are refusing to comment about the cause of these fires. Police Commissioner Kurt Wallace has pledged that these fires will be thoroughly investigated and wrongdoers will be punished, regardless of their political affiliation or species.