Dog Warrior by Wen Spencer Page A

Max that morning. No, what he’d told his partner hadn’t been too reassuring. He hadn’t explained being rescued by his brother; to be truthful, though, he wasn’t completely sure how safe he’d been with Atticus. “How did you find me?”
    â€œWe used the GPS on the cell phone you’re using,” Indigo explained. “Who is Hikaru Takahashi?”
    â€œHe’s my brother’s lover.”
    â€œWhat?” she cried as the Pack went still around him.
    â€œI have an older brother. His name is Atticus Steele. He’s the one who rescued me out of the trunk.”
    â€œWhy did he lock you in the basement?” Her voice held the suspicious anger echoed by the Dog Warriors.
    â€œAnd why is the upstairs dusted with Invisible Red?” Rennie added.
    â€œI think . . . I think he’s a drug dealer.”
    Into the following silence, Indigo’s phone rang. She answered it with a brusque, “Special Agent Zheng.” She listened to the thin voice coming through the cell phone, her brow gathering into annoyance. “Okay, I’ll be there shortly.
    â€œThe two male cultists wounded in the shoot-out just died,” Indigo told them. “I need to go deal with that. Here.” She handed Ukiah his wallet and then a hotel room key card. “I’m at the Residence Inn in Framingham; I’ve got it stocked with food.”
    The cult had left his photo ID and Evans City Library card, but taken his cash and credit cards. One of Max’s ATM/Visa cards, however, had been tucked into his wallet.
    â€œMy gun . . . and cell phone?”
    â€œThe cult kept your gun,” she said. “We’ve reported it stolen. We found only pieces of your cell phone, but that’s probably just as well—the cult used your cell phone to track you.”
    He flashed to the undercarriage of the rental truck, the flashlight lying flattened beside him on the road, and shuddered with recalled pain. “Keep yourself safe.”
    â€œLet me remind you that I haven’t been shot or killed once this year,” she said, without adding that he had. In fact, he’d lost count of how many times. She reached up, pulled him down to her, and kissed him, full of fearful passion. “Don’t,” she whispered huskily afterward, their foreheads still lightly touching, “do that again.”
    â€œI won’t,” he promised, even though he had no clue how to prevent it from happening again. He’d promise her anything to make her happy.
    â€œGood.” She released him then.
    As Ukiah walked Indigo to her car, Rennie gave silent orders to Murray and Stein, who gave her an unrequested—and perhaps unwanted—protective shadow.
    â€œI’ll see you at the hotel.”
    He nodded rather than lie, then watched her drive away, trying to keep down feelings that he was betraying her. The phone call had distracted her from Atticus. Also she probably thought the drugs his brother was dealing with were of the more mundane type, not Invisible Red. Like one creature, the Pack’s mind stayed firmly on Atticus, with a growing determination that he’d be tested in accordance to Pack law, and if found wanting, destroyed. Ukiah didn’t want to get her involved, forcing her into impossible choices.
    â€œAtticus is coming back soon,” he told Rennie as her taillights vanished. “He left to buy Invisible Red off of the Iron Horses.”
    â€œAfter that massive dose of Invisible Red the cult gave you three days ago, your resistance to it is still low. We’ll have to make sure you don’t get exposed to any more.”
    Ukiah winced, memories of his rape while under the influence of the drug cuttingly sharp. “I can hang back until you’ve got the drug off him. But I want to be there when you test him.”
    â€œAnd if he doesn’t pass?”
    What will you do if we have to destroy him? was