Alpha Blood Box Set(42)

“In this heavy truck it’ll take a half hour. Then we’ll slip out while they’re unloading and get into the car nearest the load. That’s meant for employees of the logging company, and the crew master said it’d be fine for us to use it.”

We rocked and bumped our way to Townsend. The road was long and tense, and both of us hardly breathed. We would be taking a risk leaving the truck because we still had no idea if there were any spies in town, but it was a risk we had to take. The truck came to a stop and we heard the door to the cab open. “That’s our cue to leave. Let me scout the area,” Luke suggested.

He climbed down into the cab while I nervously waited in the berth. In a few minutes his head popped up into the berth and he nodded. “Looks fine. Let’s get into the car quick.”

I climbed down and we exited the cab, but stayed close to the truck. The vehicle was parked parallel to the railroad tracks on the opposite side of the station platform. A large claw unloaded the wood from the truck and loaded it onto an open train car platform. There were two of those, and not far off sat the other truck with its full load and a hiding Alistair in the berth.

Luke took my hand and led me down the train to the nearest car. Fortunately there was a door on this opposite side, and he helped me in before climbing in himself and shutting the door. In preparation for our visit the tall, narrow windows all had their thick black shades pulled down. I plopped myself down in a cushioned seat while Luke peeked out the windows. Satisfied we weren’t seen, he took a seat beside me and sighed. “Well, that’s one challenge done with,” he commented.

“I hope that’s the hard part,” I replied.

He pursed his lips together and shook his head. “I have a feeling that was the easy part, but we won’t know for sure until we get to Agropolis.”

“You think we’ll have more trouble convincing Baker we’re on his side, or more trouble with the Protectors avenging their murdered guy?” I asked him.

Luke shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Everything comes down to timing. If we get there before the Protectors we’ll have a chance at getting Baker to safety.”

“You know, there’s one thing we haven’t really thought about,” I mused.

He turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“What if Baker really did murder a Protector?”

Luke’s face tensed and he looked straight ahead as he pondered that possibility. After a moment he shook his head. “No, I just don’t believe it, and judging by Stacy’s message she doesn’t, either.”

I shrugged. “Just thought I’d throw that out there. Can’t be too careful.”

He smiled and gave my hand a squeeze. “You’re right, but in this case you’re wrong.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks.” Luke leaned in and nuzzled my neck. I giggled and pushed him away. “None of that now. We’re on a mission to save a guy who may or may not be a murderer.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun on the way,” he argued.

“Doesn’t your beast ever switch off?”

“You broke the off switch the minute I noticed you sitting in the bar.”

“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or call an electrician.”

A strangled laugh broke from Luke’s lips. We didn’t need to be making a bunch of noise in a train car that was supposed to be empty. A few minutes later another occupant was added in the form of Alistair who was freed from his truck imprisonment. “The final load will be finished in a half hour and the train will depart soon after that,” Alistair informed us.

“And then we head west to Agropolis and arrive there in a few hours. That should get us there just after dark and provide us with some cover,” Luke added.

“Do you know the way to Baker’s place?” I asked him.

“I know the address and the general location, but haven’t actually been there,” he admitted. “His farm is a few miles out of Agropolis, and is one of the larger ones in that area so it’ll be hard to miss.”

There was nothing else to do but wait for us to arrive at Agropolis. The train left the station exactly as Alistair told us, and once it started moving Luke allowed me to raise the shade by my seat. The wooded country passed by in a blur of green and brown colors, but before nightfall the thick forest was tamed by the plow. Expansive fields of wheat and alfalfa replaced the tall trees, and large rocks changed to small farmhouses. I noticed a majority of the farms had modern equipment, but the houses were clean but, extremely plain.

Luke noticed my intent gaze on the houses, and leaned toward me. “They’re a great deal like Quakers,” he explained to me.

“Minus the beards,” I added with a smile, remembering Baker’s clean-shaven face.

The sun set an hour before we hit the Spatia station, a small platform with a small town in the background. The dusty, paved streets were laid out in a neat grid pattern with buildings that rarely reached higher than two floors, but I saw many of them had large cellar doors in the wide, clean alleys between the structures. There was a main street directly behind the station that was surrounded on both sides by clapboard houses with green lawns and barking dogs. Off in the distance I learned where the logs were headed when I noticed steam pouring from a sawmill.

“We’ll have to go on foot. It’s too risky searching for a car to drive us out there,” Luke told us.

I winced and glanced down at my feet. I still wore the heavy logger boots and didn’t look forward to a long hike along the dusty dirt roads I’d seen out the train car window. “How far is it?” I wondered.

“About ten miles.” The color drained from my face, but Luke laughed and rubbed my back. I purred. “You’re feet aren’t as tender as they used to be. Remember, you’re a werewolf now and made of tougher stuff,” he encouraged me.

I smiled and straightened in my seat. “I guess you’re right. Let’s get going.”

We left the train car, passed through the town, and took the main road out into the country. Night covered our forms and the dry, packed ground covered our tracks. The air was fresh and beautiful, the sky was brilliantly lit with stars, and my feet were killing me. The first five miles I felt invincible, the next three I tried every dance step in the book to alleviate my discomfort, and the last two miles I felt homicidal. I knew I was a werewolf now and made of tougher stuff, but my feet didn’t believe it. They ached, I was already tired of the dry grain bars that tasted like sawdust and created deserts in my mouth. My years in the city hadn’t prepared me for the noises and critters of the country. There were the cute crickets, the loud frogs, the annoying gnats, the mosquitoes the size of Alaska, and the beady eyes of raccoons watching us from the brush. I imagined them sitting there rubbing their cute little pawed hands together waiting for one of us to drop from exhaustion. Then they’d strike. Unfortunately, I was the weakest link in our group of three.

Fortunately, I was saved from a terrible fate of being eaten alive by raccoons by our arrival at Baker’s farm. Luke stopped us at a post with a home address and smiled. “Looks like my nose didn’t lead us astray,” he commented.

I frowned. “Nose? I thought you said you knew the way.”

He sheepishly grinned. “I may have exaggerated my geographical abilities, and Spatia is much larger and more open than I remember when I last passed through here ten years ago.”

I rolled my eyes as I followed Luke and Alistair past the post and down a half-mile dirt lane that led to a two-story white-washed farmhouse with a nice lawn around it. To our left beside the house was a small grove of wilderness filled with aspens and thick brush. To our right and fifty yards off was a large red barn with three parts to it. There were two short wings on either side of the high-peaked center where I imagined they kept most of their hay. Normal house doors led into the wings, and a pair of large, rolling barn doors were in the center of the building. Between the barn and us were two empty, fenced cow stocks with a road separating them. Beyond the house lay fields of alfalfa that sloped down out of view toward a far-off river, and beside the stocks were fresh stacks of rectangular hay bails piled three times my height.

I noticed movement out on the lawn and saw there were two kids, a boy and girl about six and eight, who were wrestling in the grass. They both wore coveralls and dirty shirts, but their faces were clean except for the grass stains. Behind them we could see lights through the windows of the house, but there wasn’t any movement. Luke slowly walked over to the pair, and they noticed us as soon as we came within scenting range which for them was twenty yards.

They stopped their playing and the boy scurried behind his older sibling. They looked too much alike to be anything but related, what with their brown hair and brown eyes. At the moment those eyes were wide, and I could see the choice of fight or flight dash over their expressions. The girl gathered her courage and stepped forward with her brother still clinging to the back of her coveralls. “Can I help you?” she asked us.

“We’re looking for Tom Baker. Do you happen to know where he is?” Luke replied.