Allegiance(75)
An amazing woman, admittedly—but Robin Ashton did not have a role in his game plan. Maybe after all of this was over he’d revise that plan, but not now. She was too big a distraction.
He spotted her when he entered the mill for the town meeting, sitting next to Nik on the big wooden spool. He gave them a casual wave and moved to where Aidan and Krys sat, but not before he noticed Robin’s narrowing eyes and lowering brows. She wasn’t going to make it easy to step away.
They’d either lost more people or some had stayed away—probably the latter. Cage counted fifteen vampires, including himself; eight humans, including Nik Dimitrou; and one known shifter, Robin. Fen had come in early, and Shawn had slipped in right before Mirren and Glory. Of Britta Eriksen, there was no sign. If she were innocent and realized they suspected her of being a plant, missing this meeting was bad form indeed. If she were guilty, well, it made her look guiltier. He’d never said two words to the woman, so he didn’t know enough to form an opinion.
Perhaps if he’d spend more time learning Penton’s new players and less time learning his way around one sexy little woman, he might remedy that.
When everyone had found seats, either in the chairs Mark and Melissa had brought in with Nik’s help, or on the mats, Aidan walked into the middle of the group. Off to one side, Mirren leaned against the wall near the door like Earth’s biggest sentinel.
Silence fell immediately when Aidan held up the flyer. “First off, in case you haven’t heard, this is a fake. Somebody took a photo of Will, put it on another body using computer software, and made it look as if he’d been tortured. I talked to him this morning, and he and Randa are fine. They should be back in Penton in about a week.”
He talked about psychological warfare and even asked Cage to elaborate.
“Remember the stories from World War II about Tokyo Rose?” A few nodded—several of the vampires had already been turned at that time, but likely most of the older ones had paid little attention to the war unless they lived in a place where fighting would impact their feeding. “Well, Tokyo Rose wasn’t a single person, but was the pseudonym, if you will, for a group of Japanese women who had an English-language radio show broadcast throughout Europe and the Pacific. Tokyo Rose would report so-called news about the war, and the soldiers and Navy men and flyers would listen to it. The reports were mostly false, and the whole point was to destroy the morale of the Allied troops.”
Fen spoke up. “Say you’re right about this being psychological warfare. How do we know the reports are false? I mean, after the fact, sure. But once you see something like that flyer, isn’t the damage already done?”
“You have to assume that it’s a lie,” Aidan said. “Anything you see like this, or anything you hear, come and talk to me or Mirren or Cage. During daylight hours, those of you who aren’t in daysleep, talk to Nik or Robin over there—they’re our newest Omega team members. If we don’t know the answer, give us time to find out before you make a rash decision. Another week, and I think things will improve.”
One of the human fams, a guy named Rusty who’d been in town before everything went to hell, stood up. “Aidan, what about Matthias Ludlam? I heard he was out?”
Hell. Cage watched eyes widen and people lean over to whisper to each other. Aidan had been able to keep the news about Matthias quiet until now, which made him wonder who spilled it to Rusty. Still, maybe it was for the best that people knew. They’d either leave or they wouldn’t.
“He escaped, but no one has seen or heard from him,” Aidan said. “All I can tell you is that we’re doing our best to keep everyone safe, but be on your guard. Travel in pairs. Don’t take off without letting someone know where you’re going. Keep your cell phones charged and within reach.”
Aidan paced around for a full minute, and everyone fell quiet, waiting to see what was next. “Okay, look. I’m just going to ask. Has anyone seen a strange animal around town or in the woods outside town?”
“Stranger than that ugly bloodhound of Hannah’s?” Rusty asked, which got a chuckle even from Aidan. That was one ugly dog, Cage had to admit, but Barnabas had probably kept Hannah sane.
“I’m particularly looking for info about a coyote or a black big cat, like a jaguar.”
Well, that brought the silence again. Finally, a scathe member from Florida stood up. “I saw a big black cat last week, but I just thought it was cool. I grew up not far from here, and there were always rumors that there were bobcats and black panthers in this area. I just thought maybe it was one of them, venturing out of the woods because there are so few people around here now.”