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“OK…” Tomi still didn’t sound sure.
“Don’t worry, bro, I got my boys standing ready if we need to break him out.” Boudreaux reached over from the driver’s seat and patted Tomi’s shoulder loudly.
Though Dax didn’t know if any of Boudreaux’s “boys” were supernatural, most of them had the bearing of well-trained military men. Dax had reaped enough soldiers and warriors in his day to know what one looked like at a glance. Boudreaux had been an army medic, and Dax guessed his boys were more military friends. If he did get in trouble and need the help, he was glad Boudreaux and his friends were there to back him up.
“Alright, we’re about to pull up to the compound. Look more dejected and shit,” Boudreaux called.
The van stopped, and Boudreaux rolled the window down. “Hey!”
“Unless you have an engraved invitation, turn this piece of shit around and get out of here,” the security guard barked.
“I hear your boss likes collecting interesting specimens and will pay for really good ones.” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “I got one in the back.”
The guard paused, then sighed. “This better not be a hoax, or I’m going to pistol whip you.”
Boudreaux raised both hands, protesting innocence. “Nah, man. This is the real deal. A unique one, too.”
“You both stay here. Is it secured?”
“Yup, cuffed and secured to the bed of the van. Back door is unlocked if you want to check it out, just don’t get too close. It still has teeth.” Boudreaux chuckled. A second later, the light on the ceiling of the cargo area flicked on.
That was Dax’s signal. He’d practiced it a couple times. It wasn’t always easy to hold his transformation in a partial state. Drawing in a breath, he let his human skin slough off but stopped before his human clothes joined his flesh and his robe appeared.
“Looking good,” Tomi whispered from the passenger seat.
Dropping his head, he did his best to look like a defeated and captured magical creature. He didn’t have to work too hard at it. This whole charade was demoralizing, if necessary.
A wave of fresh night air wafted into the van, and a flashlight flared in his eyes.
“Holy shit,” the guard mumbled. “Hey, you. Look at me.”
Slowly, Dax lifted his head and turned to face the guard.
“Can you make him move more? I want to make sure this isn’t a really good fake,” the guard called out.
Boudreaux turned and slapped the cage separating the cargo area from the front of the van. “You. Dance for the man.”
With the chain connecting the cuffs to the floor of the van, Dax didn’t have a lot of slack to work with, but he lifted his legs and shook them a couple times, gritting his teeth all the while.
The guard chuckled stupidly and mumbled to himself, “Dancing.”
He shut the back of the van and walked around front. “I think my employer will like this one. I’m going to open the gate, pull through and stop. I’ll get on a golf cart and lead you around to the back. Don’t do anything stupid. There are plenty of men with guns around.”
“I understand, hoss.” Boudreaux turned on the car and pulled through the gate, stopping to wait for the guard.
Staring out the back window, Dax watched a shadow creep along the top of the wall and climb down to chew on the cable of a security camera. The Rat’s minions had arrived to help ensure there weren’t any records of their visit or anything that might transpire. That eased a bit of the hot ball of tension in his center.
Reaching out, Dax tried to find the life threads of everyone nearby, excluding Tomi and Boudreaux’s. Another man approached and passed by the van as the initial guard moved inside the gate. Further out, he could feel men patrolling around the house. All told, he could feel about ten individuals moving around the outside of the house. When he extended it to smaller creatures, he was forced to pull back his awareness at the hundreds of little threads that surged around the property.
As he pushed in, he focused on the house, but couldn’t breach the perimeter of it. Looking for any cracks, he tried to find a weak spot to force his awareness through, but he couldn’t. The house was warded. He might be able to break it, but surely the use of that much power would trip the wards and alert whoever had set them.
He stopped a growl of annoyance in his throat before it could sound. Shaking his head, he vowed to learn more about the various types of magic that existed in this realm. Perhaps the manbo could help him.
He sighed. He’d tried to avoid getting entangled in the never-ending economy of favors with her, but it seemed that they were going to be inextricably linked, at least for a while. Though she’d proven to be a good ally so far. It could be far worse.
Jamie—the girl who’d tried to kill him after getting entangled with an outlaw motorcycle gang—had learned the hard way about whom to get involved with. Though it had been her deadbeat dad who’d been the origin of the problem. She’d been fortunate Dax was merciful and that Tomi had stopped him from making any rash decisions. He wondered how she was faring.
That would have to be a query for later. The van crept forward, braking occasionally to not overrun the security guard’s golf cart. A couple minutes later, they parked. Boudreaux turned off the engine and rolled the window down.
