He was still chewing on that dread as Alex brought the plane down in a flawless landing. Damn, even as shaken as she had to be, Alex was total cool control behind the wheel. A real professional. Just one more thing that made him appreciate her all the more.
"Shit," he exhaled low under his breath as he stared out the window of the cockpit. He really did have it bad for this female.
"Looks like half the town is gathered outside the health clinic," Alex said. "Since Roger Bemis's plane is in, I'm guessing they must have brought Big Dave and Lanny in from the bush already." Kade grunted, looking a block up the center of town at the converted ranch house where a couple dozen people had assembled under the floodlight that lit the yard, some on foot, others seated astride idling snowmachines.
Alex cut the plane's engine and opened the pilot's door. Kade got out with her, walking around the front of the plane as she secured it and locked everything down. Her movements were efficient, her gloved hands working as if by habit more than conscious thought. When she finally glanced over at him, Kade saw that her face was pale as ash, her features stricken and wary. But her gaze was sharp with grim determination.
"Alex ... let's talk about this before you go in there and say what you think you need to say to those folks."
She frowned. "They need to know. I need to tell them."
"Alex." He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, more firmly than he'd intended. She stared at his fingers clamped around her, then looked back up at him. "I can't let you do this." She pulled out of his hold, and for a second he considered trancing her to keep her away from the gathered crowd up the road. With a small mental effort and one brief sweep of his palm over her forehead, he could place her into a pliable state of semiconsciousness.
He could buy precious time. Prevent her from jeopardizing his entire mission for the Order by alerting her fellow townsfolk to the existence of vampires living among them, preying on them from the shadows.
And she would hate him even more--rightfully so--for the further manipulation. She took a step back from him, her brows still knitted together in confusion. "What's wrong with you all of a sudden? I have to go."
He didn't stop her when she pivoted around and headed off at a jog for Harmony's small health clinic. On a gritted curse, Kade went after her. He caught up in an instant, then wove with her through the anxious, chattering crowd.
"... just terrible that something like this should happen again," murmured a white-haired woman to the person next to her.
"... he lost so much blood," someone else remarked. "Tore them up, was what I heard. Not much left intact on either man."
"A horrible thing," said another detached voice in the crowd, shrill with panic. "First the Tomses, now Big Dave and Lanny. I wanna know what Officer Tucker plans to do about this!" Kade strode beside Alex as she marched toward Zach, who stood near the entrance of the clinic, his cell phone pressed to his ear. He acknowledged her with barely a glance, continuing to bark grave orders to someone on the other end of the line.
"Zach," she said, "I need to speak with you--"
"Kinda busy," he snapped.
"But, Zach--"
"Not now, goddamn it! I've got one man dead and another bleeding out in there and the whole fucking town is going apeshit around me!"
Kade could hardly contain the protective snarl that curled at the back of his throat at the human's outburst. His own anger spiked dangerously, muscles tensed and ready for a fight he realized he was more than eager to initiate. Instead, he subtly took Alex by the arm and placed himself between her and the other male. "Come on," he said to her, guiding her away from the trooper and his meltdown in progress. "Let's go somewhere else until things settle down."
"No," she said. "I can't go. I need to see Big Dave. I need to be sure--" She broke away from him and dashed up the concrete steps and into the clinic, with Kade fast on her heels. The place was quiet inside, only the hum of the overhead fluorescent lights that tracked from the vacant reception area down the hallway toward the examination rooms. From the sparse look of the clinic and its lack of equipment, it didn't appear that it was set up for dealing with much more than the occasional abrasion or vaccination.
Alex headed down the hall at a determined, brisk pace.
"Where's Fran Littlejohn? She never keeps it this cold in here," she murmured, at just about the same time that Kade was noticing the temperature, as well.
An arctic chill, blowing up the hallway from one of the rooms in back. The only one with the door closed.
Alex put her hand on the knob. It didn't budge. "That's odd. It's locked." Kade's warrior instincts lit up like firecrackers. "Get back." He was already standing in front of her, moving faster than her eyes could possibly track him. He gripped the doorknob and gave it a hard twist. The lock snapped, mechanisms were crushed to powder in an instant.
Kade pushed the door open ... and found himself staring into the cold dead eyes of a Minion.
"Skeeter?" Alex's voice was sharp with surprise, and well-placed suspicion. "What the hell are you doing in here?"
The Minion's business was potently clear to Kade. On the floor next to Big Dave's bed lay a large, middle-age woman--the clinic technician, no doubt. Unconscious, but she was still breathing, which was better than he could say for her patient on the bed.
"Fran!" Alex cried, racing to the unresponsive woman's side. Kade's focus was centered elsewhere. The room reeked with the overpowering stench of human blood. Had it been fresh, Kade's physiological response would have been impossible to hide, but the odor was stale, the cells no longer living. Nor was Big Dave, who lay on the bed, virtually unrecognizable for the severity of his injuries. All Kade needed was one whiff of the spilled, coagulating hemoglobin to know that the man was several minutes dead already.
"My Master was displeased to hear about the attack today," the Minion said, his thin face pale and emotionless. Behind him was an open window, his obvious means of entry into the room. And in his hand was a bloodied pair of suture scissors that had been used to speed the consequences of Big Dave's lifethreatening wounds.
"Kade ... what's he talking about?"
Skeeter smiled at Alex, a deviant, rictus grin. "My Master hasn't been too pleased to hear about you, either. Witnesses are a problem in general, you understand."