Devil's Gate (NUMA Files 9)

Looking down, he noticed wet footprints on the mostly dry concrete of the alcove’s floor. His own prints were obvious, but the others swung wide and then back, in places Kurt had not stepped.

Remaining still, Kurt reached behind him. His fingers found the doorknob and closed around it, but he didn’t need to turn it.

Even from that slight touch, the door moved freely.

44

A CHILL RAN UP KURT’S SPINE that had nothing to do with the soaking wet conditions. He stood forward, careful not to react. With one hand, he waved Joe over.

“You find anything?” he asked a little louder than necessary.

“Nothing,” Joe said. “He’s gone.”

Kurt nodded his head toward the door behind him. Joe glanced at the door, which was slightly ajar. He nodded. He understood.

“All right,” Kurt said, “let’s get out of here.”

But instead of getting out, he put his hand back on the round knob. Taking a deep breath, he shoved it open with a snap of the wrist.

There was a sudden squawking and the sound of scampering and skittering feet, but no one was there. Kurt saw a cage filled with toucans and some other brightly colored birds he didn’t recognize. Behind them another cage held a huge iguana the size of a thirty-pound dog.

As the birds settled down, a few feathers floated through the air.

“So much for the element of surprise,” Joe mumbled.

Kurt had to agree, but seeing more wet tracks on the floor told him for certain they were onto Ion’s trail.

“Some kind of pet store,” he said, although he couldn’t imagine taking the giant iguana, which looked like a small dinosaur, for a walk.

He glanced back at the door. The wooden frame was broken and splintered where it had been kicked in. Ion must have pushed the door shut once he’d gone inside, but damaged the way it was, it couldn’t be latched again.

Kurt’s eyes moved upward. A sign read “Rare and Exotic”—apparently, it meant the animals.

There were two aisles in the long narrow store. In the center stood a row of stacked cages; on the sides were larger enclosures, some with bars, others with clear plastic walls and doors.

Kurt pointed to the right, and Joe moved toward that aisle. Kurt took the other one.

As he moved down his aisle, Kurt saw a Komodo dragon sleeping under a dim light. Lemurs and monkeys and a sloth slept in large cages in the center. A caracal, a wild cat with tawny fur and black ears, occupied a medium-sized cage beside them.

Treading softly, Kurt listened for movement. He heard noises, but they sounded like the snores and shuffles of the animals as far as he could tell. Then he heard a clink like metal on metal. Silence followed and then another metallic sound.

Footsteps came next, but not two at a time. There were four.

They stopped, and Kurt heard a low growl. Suddenly, there was a hiss and a roar and the crashing of cages.

The monkeys woke in a start and screeched and banged the bars of their enclosure, and another roar went out from some larger cat.

Kurt lunged around the corner to see Joe squashed into the thin space between the top of the monkey cage and the ceiling. A juvenile leopard swatted at him, with its teeth bared and its ears flat against its head.

Kurt grabbed what looked like a bowl of food and threw it at the leopard, hitting the animal in the shoulder. It turned his way in shock, let out another growl, and then ran the opposite way toward the front of the store. Kurt watched it until it slipped out through the gap in the open door.

“Remind me to call animal control when we’re done,” he said as Joe clambered down.

Before Joe could answer, a shadow moved near the back of the store. This time, it walked upright.

Kurt ran that direction. Ion had made it to the rear exit and was pulling on it with all his might, but the steel door was locked tight. And unlike the front door, it was designed for security, not looks. He pulled and then pounded on it with his shoulder, and then turned and stared at Kurt.

Desperate, he tried to race past Kurt, but Kurt grabbed him and flung him back into the door. He darted for the other aisle, saw Joe, and stopped.