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I turn back on myself. There is no time for me to go down the alleyway to behind the shop without them seeing me. I jump up and seize the bottom of the fire escape ladder with my fist. Hauling myself up in one smooth motion, I get my feet onto the rungs and climb swiftly up it.
By the time I have reached the roof, the brutish hulks have got out of their cars, every one a man but one. They are whooping and hollering. No doubt they are aware that Stephen Manners, their treacherous former pack member, is inside and can hear them and is terrified. And they can see the cop car too. They know a cop or two are inside, but they are not scared.
A tall brunette has got out of the lead car. The body language of the others seems to worship her. There is no doubt that she is the alpha.
I drop down flat on the roof and crawl on my elbows to the edge. The firing angle from the edge is awkward, but I point my gun straight down towards the pack. Six of them have emerged from the four cars. Three of them are already on my side of the road.
What are you doing? Diana says urgently. Three are going to go inside!
I let them go. Having them in there is better for me than having them out here. The other three have parked their two cars on the opposite side of the road. As soon as the pack alpha and the two with her have disappeared inside the store, I pick off the remaining three as they cross the road. Pop! Pop, pop! Bull’s-eye. My shots land square in the middle of their chests, the silencer muffling them. Diana gives a little squeal of horror at each one. I chuckle.
“Relax. They’re werewolves. A normal bullet isn’t going to kill them. Not even dipped in your buddy Theo’s crazy elixir.”
Theo’s crazy elixir is the only reason all three of them have dropped onto the ground as if dead. Otherwise one bullet each would have barely slowed them down. I reckon I have five minutes at most before they regain the ability to move.
Fortunately the other three already inside the store do not come back out. They must not have noticed yet that their buddies are down. Good for me. I swiftly descend the fire escape and jog down the alleyway at the side of the store.
Where are you going? she cries out in desperation as I leave behind the front door. Clearly she expected me to follow the werewolves in and shoot them in the back before they got to Storm. If they haven’t already.
I don’t bother to reply. I’m not going in by the front door for sure. She must think I’m crazy. This one body of ours is no match for one werewolf, let alone three. The front door is also recipe for getting caught, and the one thing that I am going to make sure of is that we don’t get caught.
Shots sound from within as I jog down the alleyway. By the time I have run into the overgro
wn, weed infested yard behind the store and peered in through the gaps between the metal slats boarding up the back window, the three werewolves are inside the back room with Storm and DI Zael.
A small magically enhanced flashlight on the ground is doing a half-decent job of lighting up the dim room within. Storm must have dropped it.
The first thing I see is Detective Zael face down on the ground with a werewolf riding him. Flipping hilarious. He is reaching desperately for his gun which has fallen on the ground, as the bleeding werewolf on top, a six-foot guy ripped with muscle, pummels him. DI Zael is not having much luck getting to that gun. No doubt each of those furious punches is cracking a rib or two. Poor Zael.
In the room’s doorway, flat out on the ground, is another werewolf. It is weakly stirring. Storm must have hit it with the max setting of his stunbommer. But he didn’t get the alpha werewolf, because that one is brawling with Storm, both of them locked in an intense wrestling match. She may be a woman, but there is no fucking doubt that she is a full blooded alpha.
“Sexy,” I purr, watching the man-hunk that is Storm struggling to pin her down. The flexing muscles on his arms and back are clearly visible through his shirt.
Is this any time for perving? Diana yells at me.
“I perv at every opportunity.”
I switch window slats, choosing a different gap to try to catch a view of the cage. Regardless of what Diana made me promise, I need to put the sergeant out of his misery before he gets a chance to tell Storm that it was me who dragged him into that cage in the first place. Little did she know that when she made me promise to save Storm, it was a death knell for Lowry. She can’t have both.
I catch a glimpse of Lowry still in the cage where I put him and get my first pleasant surprise of the day. Hell if he isn’t dead already. He must have been caught in the firefight between the werewolves and Storm and Zael. One of the werewolves’ silver bullets has gotten him right in the back of the head. Had to be a silver one or he wouldn’t be so neatly dead. The pack got what they came for after all. Stephen Manners is dead.
And my job here is done.
I am about to turn my back and leave, when I notice that the alpha werewolf is getting the better of Storm. She flips him over, and I see blood on his thigh. Not such a fair fight after all. She has managed to shoot him. I grimace. I had thought Storm could handle this, but not if he is bleeding out. I positioned the muzzle of my gun into one of the gaps between the slats and wait for the exact right moment before pulling the trigger.
My wolfsbane elixir-dipped bullet rips into the alpha’s shoulder. It is just a flesh wound. But the elixir does its job. She slumps over on top of Storm.
I wait, watching for a minute. Storm shoves the alpha werewolf off him and gets to his feet. He cuffs her with those ultra-special sigil-enhanced cuffs I’ve been coveting. He takes his second pair of cuffs off his weapon belt and then picks his stunbommer off the ground. He aims it at the werewolf fighting with DI Zael. I swiftly turn tail and hustle myself back down the alleyway.
What are you doing? Diana yells. Storm still needs help.
“If we don’t leave now, we’ll be the ones who need help. You think Storm’s not aware a shooter was outside the window? And if Storm and Zael can’t handle one bleeding werewolf, then they’re not worth the air they’re breathing.”
I get to the street and take the time to detour to the three werewolves still lying on the ground outside the store. They have begun to stir. I pump each of them full of another couple of rounds just to be sure they won’t be getting up before Storm’s backup arrives.
My job done, I stick my gun in my bag and stroll away.
Chapter 29
