Page 90 of Sundowners
“I sent Roman over to check on Bernadette because neither she nor Emmanuel were answering the phones. Now all three of them are missing. Patrol officers are out looking for them, the Mercedes, any sign of Stephen or his minions.”
I sprang up out of the chair. “Then we have to go! Let’s go to the house off seventeen, anything. If I can provoke them, get them to come after me—”
“Let’s go.” Rey said, checking his weapon and grabbing his keys.
“Wait!” Vanessa handed me a Kevlar vest. “Captain benched me here, but it’s killing me. Maybe I shouldn’t have went off on him.” She shrugged, but her hands were shaking. “You guys be careful and call me as soon as you know something.”
“Yeah,” he said as he beat feet for the door. I appreciated that Rey was a take-action kind of guy. He didn’t get hung up on semantics.
He led me out back and into the lot, and we were almost to his truck when I was hit by a hundred pounds of Doberman.
“Rhonda! How did you—” I bent down and held her wiggly, whimpering body close. She sniffed at my neck and licked my face. Would she ever trust that I wouldn’t leave her again?
“Once we foundher,” Cross raised his eyebrow at me, “we figured she could find you.” He fucking knew something was up with Rhonda. Goddess, could this pit get any deeper?
Cross and Mark stood back a bit, still in the shadows. Rey stiffened at my side.
“Rey, meet my friends. You did come here as friends, right?”
Cross quirked up one side of his mustache. “We had one last show in Aptos and then we were gonna hit the road. I think you can imagine our surprise when the most unwelcomest of guests showed up.”
“Stephen,” I breathed. “What did he say?”
Mark cleared his throat and gestured to Rey. “You tell him?”
“What I had to,” I said, stepping closer to Rey. “I told them what I knew about The Source and Gateway of the Sun.” I hoped they got from that statement that I hadn’t outed them. They would have to make that choice. Of course, them being here probably clued Rey in. “I was trying to help. So what did he say?”
“Well, he clearly doesn’t know we’re in collusion with you, because he told us he needed us for the Samhain ritual. Sounds like he’s short on folks who follow The Way after his friends got toasted, and The Source insisted there be four Leaders and four Guardians, as per usual.”
I blanched. “Have you done this with them before?”
Mark swore and wrinkled his nose. “Hell no.Fuckno. We told you we hate that guy, and we haven’t seen The Source since the same night you did.”
Cross smirked. “But we might have agreed to help them out.”
“That’s all nice and everything,” Rey said. “But they might have my sister-in-law and my nephews, so you better get to the fucking point.”
“The point,” Cross said, appraising Rey. He was definitely intrigued by the cop, which was all kinds of interesting, but this was not the time for him to try to seduce anyone. “Is that I came here thinking they had Creed, too, so the fact they don’t is a win for us.”
Rey stared at him, and then flicked a hand out as if to encourage him to continue. “Is that it? I’m sick of this fucking weird-ass shit.”
“Right?” Cross said, rolling his eyes. “This ritual shit isso1971.”
“Cross,” I said, irritated with his flippant attitude. “What did you agree to?”
“To meet them at a picnic site deep in the park at Loch Lomond. It’s on the line, which means more power for The Source.”
“Shit.”
“Exactly. But I think if we have the element of surprise on our side, maybe we have a chance.”
“There’s something else,” Mark said, and Cross nodded.
“Yeah. The Source isn’t right, Creed. There’s something off with them.”
I frowned. “That seems pretty obvious, but how do you mean?”
“We watched Stephen leave and followed him out to the car. There were three men waiting with the Source, and they all had a big argument.”
