Hard As Steele(16)

If he thought that Jerrico could safely and successfully extract the information, he would have been willing, but it was clear that Jerrico’s powers weren’t up to the task. Frustration boiled up inside him. Why couldn’t they see that waiting for Cody was the only answer?

Because Roxanne was human, and not their priority, and they’d be willing to risk scrambling her brain permanently if they thought it would help them find what they needed.

Finally he stopped pacing. He’d made his decision.

He was going to send in the picture to the Wardens, but before they got to his house, he would take Roxanne and leave town. He knew they’d consider him a traitor. He couldn’t help that. Roxanne was his, and he wasn’t letting them take her from him.

He would still do his duty. There was another shaman that he knew of, in upstate New York, who was pretty close to Cody’s level of talent. Nobody would expect Steele to head out there. He’d take Roxanne there, and have the shaman fix the damage that had been done to her earlier. He’d probably have to force the shaman to do it; there would be a kill order out on him by then, and every wolf shifter in the country would know about it.

He’d insist that the shaman fix Roxanne, and extract whatever she remembered about the missing shifter girl. Then he’d have the shaman call the Wardens with whatever information Roxanne could provide, hopefully information that would lead them to the girl.

He thought quickly. He needed to deliver a message to his uncle that he’d be leaving, and that somebody else would need to take over his department, but that message couldn’t be delivered until he and Roxanne were safely out of the area.

Who could he turn to for help? Although he had a lot of friends and family in Timber Valley, he couldn’t trust any of them not to turn him in to the Wardens, and he didn’t want to put anyone in that position anyway. Any wolf who helped him would be considered a traitor.

Hmm. That would only apply to wolves, though.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his cell phone and called Isadora’s number. He couldn’t believe that he was doing this; Isadora was the last person that he ever thought he’d be calling for help and yet strangely, somehow, he trusted her. Probably because she’d be more than happy to see the uptight, rules-following Sheriff Battle flout authority.

Isadora answered on the third ring. “Listen, law-dog, I haven’t stolen anything in at least five minutes,” Isadora said irritably. “Do you ever take a day off?”

“I need to ask you a favor. Are you alone?”

“Sadly, yes, but I’m about to go trolling for dates. Why do you ask?”

“I need you to come over to my house immediately, and don’t tell anyone what you’re doing, or that you’ve spoken to me.”

“I’m intrigued. Be there in ten.”

He was about to tell her not to speed on the way over there, but she’d already hung up.

“Roxanne, we’re leaving,” he called out. “Grab anything that you think you’ll need, because we’re not coming back.”

“What? Why? Where are we going?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you when we get there!” He ran into his bedroom, grabbed his suitcase, and began packing. He threw in clothes, and he grabbed some water bottles, apples, hard salami and granola bars from the kitchen for Roxanne. He could hunt his own dinner, but he didn’t expect her to eat raw game that he’d chased down.

“Can I help? What’s going on?” she asked, standing in his doorway and watching him.

“We’re going on a road trip. I’ll explain while we’re driving.”

Someone knocked on the door. He pushed aside the curtains and checked through the window, saw Isadora, and let her in. She was wearing black jeans with zippers all over them, combat boots, and a black sweater. Her necklace was a silver chain with a padlock on it. She’d added a streak of violet to her hair recently, he saw.

“What’s with all the secret squirrel business?” she asked.

“I actually need your help, believe it or not. I’m leaving town, permanently,” he told her. “I’ve got to get Roxanne out of here, and I won’t be able to come back.”

Her eyes widened with shock. “Really? Wow. I’ll kind of miss you, even if you were constantly trying to oppress me and trample on my rights, and even if you did have the nerve to imply that I am actually attracted to Dash, which is horrifying, and even if…come to think of it, bon voyage! Don’t forget to write.”

“I’m so touched I could just about cry, if I were capable of such a thing,” Steele said dryly. “Here’s why I called you.”

“I’m all ears.” Isadora shifted just her ears, so they were furry and tufted, then shifted them back.

“Funny.” He handed her the picture of the blonde girl. “In a couple of hours, I need you to go drop this off at my office, and tell them that I’ve left and I’m not coming back. Don’t go before then, because I need time to get safely out of the area. I also need you to call my uncle and tell him that I’ve left for good.”

She looked at the picture. “It’s a healer. Who wrote ‘help me’ on it?”

“Roxanne. She also drew the picture. It’s a long story. Her memory is kind of spotty right now, and she doesn’t remember where she saw this girl, but I suspect that it’s one of the kidnap victims. As soon as she remembers anything more, I will make sure that information gets to the Wardens, I promise you that.”

“Okay. Wow. I don’t know what to say.” She tucked the picture into her metal stud covered purse. “Good luck. Anything else that I can do?”

“Whoever they pick as the new sheriff, don’t torture him too much.”

Isadora threw back her head and let out a cackling laugh of delight. Then she rubbed her hands together gleefully.

“I get to break in a new one!” she crowed, as she turned and walked back to her car.

Steele groaned, and shut the door. God help the new sheriff, he thought.

He heard her pull away.

“We’ve got to leave now,” he said to Roxanne. She nodded, her expression worried but trusting. He grabbed his suitcase. She had a couple of grocery bags that she’d grabbed from the kitchen, stuffed with food and some towels, shampoo, and the guest toothbrush she’d been using.

Steele’s heart was heavy. He wanted to be with Roxanne, but not like this. They’d never be able to stop looking over their shoulders . If he thought that leaving her behind would make her safe, he’d do it, but the shifter nation wouldn’t rest knowing that a human was out there who knew of their existence. He’d need to keep her by his side at all times.

He heard a car pulling up in front of his house, and paused where he stood. Had Isadora betrayed him? Or had the Wardens decided they were just going to come take Roxanne from him, no matter what? He only heard one car, which meant there wouldn’t be too many shifters for him to handle.

“Go in the kitchen,” he ordered her. She hesitated. “Hurry!” he barked, and she turned and ran, glancing over her shoulder. “Shut the door!” he called out to her, and she did.

Annoyed, he stalked over to the door and yanked it open.

There was a human and a wolf shifter standing there, with rifles pointed at him. They were clearly civilians, not military. One of them was a skinny redheaded girl with glasses, the other was a tall, lean, blond man who definitely smelled of wolf shifter. A closer look revealed that the redheaded girl was holding a tranquilizer gun.

“What have you done with her, you son of a bitch?” the redheaded girl yelled at him. She and the wolf shifter advanced on him, weapons pointed straight at him.

Steele backed into the house, keeping a wary eye on them.

“Roxanne!” the redheaded girl shouted. “Roxanne, we’re here! You’re safe now! Roxanne, come out!” She glowered at Steele. “I swear to God, if you’ve hurt her…”

Roxanne rushed into the room, holding the frying pan up defensively. “Don’t hurt him!” she yelled at them. Steele would have smiled if the situation hadn’t been so serious. That was his girl, tough as nails.

“Oh, thank God! I thought he’d killed you!” The redhead ran over and hugged Roxanne, while wolf shifter kept his rifle trained on Steele. Roxanne slowly lowered the frying pan and stared at the girl in confusion.

“Who are you?” Roxanne asked.

The girl took a step back. “Roxanne. You know me. What’s wrong?” she demanded.

“What do you mean? How do I know you?”

Roxanne shook her head, confused.

“I’m Katherine,” the girl said, staring at her. “You know me. We’ve been best friends forever. You were missing for seven months, and you just called me out of the blue two days ago. Do you remember that?”

“I was missing for seven months?” Roxanne asked, looking shocked.

“Yes. You disappeared in February. You were headed to the doctor, and he said you never arrived. Are your memory problems acting up again?” the redhead peered at her, forehead wrinkling in concern.

“You’re lying,” Steele said angrily. “My men have run her name through the system. She was never reported missing.”