Cang had dared to threaten his mate. Nikos was going to make Cang regret it . . . if Jen didn’t get to him first.
Nikos sprang into the air.
Behind him, he was flanked by Joey, now in fox form, all nine tails waving in and out of the dimensions, and Mikhail flashing into dragon form. Nikos’s wings thundered, catapulting him into the sky. Mikhail leaped after, and Joey raced like a silver streak along the ground.
They arrowed toward the landslide where the oracle stone lay buried.
ELEVEN
JEN
Duster Guy kept his gaze on Jen, who stared back, though her insides had begun to roil. He smiled a little, his chin lifting in a gesture of mocking respect. Jen’s heart sank—the last thing she’d wanted was some jerk figuring out she had training. So much for her plan of playing passive until the right moment.
Duster Guy said to her, “I haven’t seen you before. Are you one of Joey Hu’s mutts?”
Jen stared back, saying nothing. But she was thinking, mutts?
Duster Guy flicked glances at the man and woman sitting to either side of Jen. “Zedi. Howard. Be alert.”
Jen’s heart sank further as Howard—who was even bigger than she’d estimated—pressed a bulging arm against her in silent threat. On the other side, Zedi began toying with a knife. Very subtle, Jen thought. Let me free and I’ll take that away in ten seconds flat.
Duster Guy went on, “The idea was to use any one of those humans in that bakery to bring the dragon to a negotiation. But you are one of his people, are you not? That changes things.”
Jen said nothing. Though inside she was full of questions, beginning with dragon? But that could wait. She’d been in a couple of tight situations before, the worst a time in Algiers, when some trigger-happy mercenaries turned up looking for fun, and it turned into a full-scale riot. At least here, she knew the territory. As long as no one was standing out of range with a gun aimed at her, she had a chance to get away. She just had to be on the watch for it.
They drove the few blocks to the landslide that Jen had seen the previous day, passing only two cars, none of them cops. The area was completely deserted.
Peke the driver pulled up, then twisted around, his blob-nose twitching. “From here I can’t smell what her animal is.”
What her animal is? Jen figured that had to be some sort of gang slang, but one thing was for sure: she didn’t intend to stay around long enough to ask.
“It soon will not matter,” Duster Guy said. “He should be here momentarily, and then we’re done with her. Unless Long comes to his senses and cooperates.”
‘Long’? Was that Mikhail Long?
“Do you know Keraunos?” Duster Guy continued, smiling at Jen.
Jen said, “Who?” And added, “I don’t know who you’re talking about. You definitely have the wrong person.”
Duster Guy ignored her. “Let me tell you about Keraunos. As both raiju and man, he’s a very capable assassin. A, what do you call them here, again?”
“Hit man,” the woman next to Jen muttered with heartless cheer. “Better you than me,” she smirked.
“Keraunos’s services are much in demand,” Duster Guy went on. He was obviously enjoying himself, so Jen tried hard to look bored. “He is extremely capable of fight or bite, but his real skill is the lightning that he cannot control. He has to discharge it or be consumed, and let us just say, his victims are seldom recognizable when he’s done with them.”
“Crispy critters,” Zedi said, snickering.
Peke giggled on a high, weird note. Only the gigantic guy Howard at Jen’s right remained totally impassive.
Jen said nothing, and as Peke pulled the car to a stop, Duster Guy gave a sigh of fake disappointment. “Let us position ourselves,” he said, and opened his car door.
Now, Jen thought, while everyone was getting out separate doors. She readied her muscles—and Zedi turned, flicking the knife to Jen’s throat along her carotid artery. “Nice and slow, you. No heroics.”
Howard slid right behind her, grunting as he heaved his thick, heavily muscled body after her. He was huge—built like a rhino.
Jen forced herself to move slowly, passively, but stayed vigilant. Zedi and Howard pressed close at either side as Duster Guy faced Jen. Peke hovered somewhere behind, snuffling and sniffing. Why doesn’t he just blow his nose? Jen thought in disgust.
She glared back at Duster Guy. The moon emerged from behind a departing raincloud, revealing a sharp-boned face. His duster flapped in the rising breeze. “Still nothing to say? Allow me to introduce myself,” he said to Jen, smiling down at her. “I am Long Cang.”