Moonshifted(60)

I slowed down to see if I could see Jake inside. The first floor of the structure had bank-window-type glass and was brightly lit. Warm, I hoped, and safe.

“Hey!”

I heard the voice even though both my windows were rolled up. I startled, looking around, even though surely whoever it was wasn’t talking to me.

“Hey!”

I spotted him, racing down the street—a man in a fedora. Viktor, the were from the other night. “Hey!” he yelled again, swinging his arms over his head, as if he was trying to flag me down.

I hit the gas, trying to outrun him, but my Chevy didn’t have much get-up-and-go. It lurched forward, and he ran from the sidewalk out into the street at me. I had to hammer my brakes not to hit him, and I slammed my car into reverse and started rolling backward, blind down the street.

“I just want to talk to you!” He ran alongside me, pounding on my car hood. Leaving dents.

“Jesus Christ!” I braced my arm on the passenger seat and looked behind me. There was an alley coming up. I wasn’t a stunt driver, but—

“I just want to talk!”

I yanked my steering wheel down and prayed there wasn’t any oncoming traffic. My car spun into the alley, and I put it into drive again, and then this time floored it. I traced my way down the dark street, watching him race behind me, arms still waving like an air traffic controller, until he gave up and the night made him disappear.

I caught the exit onto the freeway this time and drove straight in to work.

* * *

I parked nearby in the visitor lot, trusting the Shadows to keep me safe once I was on hospital grounds. What was Viktor doing skulking downtown? Was that a coincidence, or had he followed me there? Would Jake be safe? I should have asked Anna to protect him, too. The next time I paid attention to my surroundings I was in the elevator, dropping down to Y4.

On an impulse, I hit the STOP button and looked up. “Hey.” I rapped on the wall with my free hand. “Are you there, Shadows? It’s me, Edie,” I said. I waited in silence, then sighed. “Which is it, you have no sense of humor, or no knowledge of popular literature?”

More silence. I felt sure they were listening in, though. “You’d better protect him from weres, too,” I told the ceiling. And then I let the STOP button go.

I arrived on Y4 an hour early. Charles came into the break room while I was fishing in the back of the fridge for my emergency Diet Coke.

“Hey, Edie! Did they call you in, too?”

“I was down here already, and the weather was bad, so there was no point in driving home,” I lied. “Why? We busy?”

“When aren’t we,” Charles said, and passed by me to take a Hot Pocket out of the freezer, popping it into the microwave as I cracked open my Coke. “So many donors came in last night. What the hell did they need all that blood for?”

After my chat with Anna this A.M., I had a suspicion. I sat down, since technically I wasn’t on yet. “Charles, have the Shadows ever let you down?”

He turned around from the microwave. “Why do you ask?”

“Your scar. The one you showed me. They didn’t protect you then, right? But—whatever they’re trading you, to keep you here, surely they’ve made good on that.”

“Yeah,” he said, and behind him, the microwave counted down backward, seconds ticking away.

“What is it? If I can ask?”

He made a thoughtful face and let out a huge sigh. “My wife needed a heart transplant. She was low on the list.”

“So … the Shadows moved her up?”

“Nope. She just got better.”

“Oh. God.” His wife—that’d mean he could never stop working at Y4. I mean, he could, but if he did … there was a distinct chance she’d die. That was an entire level of horror above the way they’d trapped me into working there. There was always the slim but possible chance that Jake might someday decide to stay clean. There was a ding, and Charles retrieved his Hot Pocket from inside the oven. “Damn.”

“Exactly. How’d they get you?”

“My brother’s a mess. Junkie. Homeless. Clueless as hell.” I wished I could confide in Charles, but I knew I shouldn’t. He had enough on his plate—plus he’d already warned me away from the weres. “There’s just so much stuff going on right now, I get worried about him.”

“Well, I don’t like the Shadows, but I don’t think they’ll abandon ship just yet. This place is prime feeding territory. Where else would they go?” He bit into his Hot Pocket, hissing as it released steam.

“I can’t believe you’re a grown man, and you still eat those.”