16
We hurried on our way with Luke in the lead and Adam at the rear. Ian, Emily and I were in the middle. Adam wouldn’t have them at his back, and the other two weren’t sure where the rendezvous point lay. I was a little lost, so I couldn’t be leader. However, I could doubt my mate’s decision to bring along the two self-professed-changed-for-the-better werewolves.
I sidled up to him as we jogged on our way and lowered my voice so I hardly heard my own words. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked him.
“No, but it’s wise to keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” he returned.
“And if they decide the light side is boring and the dark side offers better-tasting cookies?” I wondered.
“We must be prepared for the worst, but I worry less about them than about finding Callean. He wouldn’t have hidden himself in Lance’s own territory if he didn’t have a very good hiding spot,” he pointed out.
My face fell and my voice came out an octave higher than I planned. “So how do you plan on finding him?”
“I haven’t worked that out, but I’m sure something will come to me,” he replied.
The color drained from my face. “Oh boy. . .” I whispered.
We arrived at the rendezvous spot with no time to spare. As we exited the trees I heard truck tires crunch on the rocky road ahead of us, but didn’t see any headlights. Wilson was playing it safe to keep us safe. The dark outline of a truck stopped near the edge of the trees with the passenger side turned toward us for a quick getaway.
Luke leaned close to me. “Is that Wilson’s truck?” he asked me.
I gave a nod. “Yep, and the smell, too.” If this wonderful adventure was going to teach me anything, it was going to teach me the distinct scent of diesel.
The truck engine shut off and Wilson leaned his head out the open passenger window. “You coming or wanting to stand here all night staring at my fine truck?”
I smiled and strode up to the truck with the others close behind. Wilson’s grinning face greeted me at the door. “Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon, Becky,” he commented.
“It feels like forever since you dropped me off,” I returned.
“Well, let’s hope this ride gets you to a better place,” he replied. He opened the door and slid back to allow us inside the cab.
Luke turned to the three others in our group. “Adam, will you sit in the back with our two friends?”
Adam cast a side-glance at the pair. “I would prefer it.”
Emily rolled her eyes and climbed into the truck bed. “You don’t have to be so paranoid. We won’t kill you in your sleep.”
“I won’t give you the chance,” Adam countered as he, too, took a spot in the back of the vehicle.
I scooted into the cab while Wilson looked through the rear view mirror at our two new companions in the back. “You seem to have picked up two strays. I was told there’d be three of you,” he commented.
“A change of plans after the last message,” Luke explained as he climbed into the truck.
“Yeah, about that. Were you really wanting me to take you into Lance’s territory?” Wilson wondered.
“If you can. We’re not sure of the danger, but if we find Callean we may be able to-”
Wilson held up his hand. “I’m not saying this isn’t worth the trouble, but it won’t be easy getting across that border and you’d better know where you want to go before you get there.”
“We don’t want to get to a place, but to a person. Frederick Callean is supposed to be hiding in Prospera, and he may be our best chance at fighting Lance,” Luke explained.
Wilson whistled as he started the truck and shifted it into gear. “That’s a mighty big name to be wanting to find. Where’s he supposed to be in the region?”
“We have no idea, but we hoped you would be able to shed some light on where someone could hide in Prospera,” Luke replied.
Wilson shook his head as he turned the vehicle around and drove down the road. “Nope, but if this mess is as important as you think it is then I’ll help all I can. I’ll get you across the border, but I can’t guarantee someone won’t know we’re there.”
“We can guarantee that,” Emily spoke up. She opened the window at the rear of the cab and smiled at us. “Just drive us to the border, Jeeves, and we can show you a way through that will make us nearly as invisible to sight as Lance’s men are to smell.”
He smiled at her, and I noticed with horror that he didn’t slow down the truck from his normal breakneck speed to we-may-survive-this. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name’s Wilson.”
She smiled and took his hand. “The name’s Emily, and my mate here is Ian,” she replied.
Wilson glanced back at Ian and nodded his head. “Pleasure to meet you both. How’d you come to be in this little party?”
“We volunteered. It was either that or stay at the camp tied to a tree,” she told him. She expected at least a raised eyebrow, but all she got was a smile from our nonplussed driver.
“That so? I can see why you’d want to come with these nice folks. Doesn’t sound very comfortable staying at the camp,” he commented. “Now where do you want me to take you along the border? I know most of the east border of Prospera hereabouts and can get us most anywhere in a half day or so.”
Emily smirked and leaned her head through the window close to Wilson. “Do you know where the wicker tree is? The one by a creek running along the border?” she wondered.
He pondered her description for a moment before he shook his head. “Nope, can’t say that I do. There isn’t any creek running along the east border so you must be thinking of another place.”
Emily chuckled. “Actually, I just made that up to see if you really did know the border. Where you need to take us is to an old road called Slovenly by the locals. Do you know where that is?”
“Yep. Once herded some cows along there.” He leaned toward me and gave a wink. “Mind you I wasn’t supposed to be there because the range land was about fifteen miles east of that, but that had the best grass in the whole county.”
“Now it has the best entrance into Lance’s territory,” Emily told him.
“How soon can we be there?” Luke spoke up.
“Oh, I’d say about ten hours if we go by the long roads, give or take an hour,” Wilson guessed. “I’ve got a couple of five-gallon buckets of gas in the back that we can use to refill so we won’t find any trouble in the towns.”
Luke frowned. “How are the towns? Are Lance’s men causing much trouble still?”
Wilson pursed his lips and gave a nod. “Yep, but don’t you worry none about the folks in those small places. They have more guns and guts then those bullies have brains, and can handle themselves. Not forever, mind you, but long enough to let us get done what we need to.”
Luke’s frown turned upside down. “It’s good to know we can count on so many people to keep Lance’s men distracted.”
“Yep, and speaking of counting, your group here looks like they could use a little counting of sheep. Especially that Protector in the back.” Wilson nodded at the reflection of Adam in his rear view mirror. “He looks like he swallowed a frog and the thing’s still kicking around inside of him.”
“He thinks my mate and I are going to cut your throats while you sleep,” Emily explained.
Wilson raised an eyebrow. “That’d be a mighty poor way to be thanking us for taking you along for the ride.”
“It is nice to be taking an open-bed ride for once instead of in the back of some dark-tinted vehicle or truck,” Emily agreed. She slid back and plopped herself beside her mate. The pair faced Adam who stared at them unblinkingly. Emily smirked at him. “You can stare all you want at us, but I’m going to get some sleep.” She snuggled against Ian and closed her eyes.
Ian pointedly stared back at Adam. “We won’t help anyone by exhausting ourselves with paranoia,” he agreed. He, too, closed his eyes and leaned his head forward for some rest.
Wilson smiled and glanced at Luke and me. “You two can get some sleep, too. If that fellow there or I see something funny we’ll be sure to holler.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Luke replied.
Wilson snorted. “Just being nice doesn’t need that pretty a speech. Just get some rest and leave the driving to me.” I both trusted him and feared for my life as we barreled down the country road in the middle of the night without any headlights.
“We should rest,” Luke whispered to me.
I sighed and mimicked Emily when I snuggled against my own mate’s shoulder. “Not a problem,” I murmured.
17
We bumped along countless miles and made a few stops to rest and pour another container of gas into the truck. There were about half a dozen of the five-gallon drums left and not much sunlight on that long day by the time we reached the ten-mile stretch before the northwestern border where Manutia met Prospera. I was shaken awake by Luke, and my bleary eyes viewed the setting sun ahead of us on the horizon. The geography of this part of the werewolf lands was flat with tall bunches of wild grass and a few clumps of small birch trees. Against the natural habitat stood a long stretch of chain-link fence with some the sharp icing of barbed wire on top.