I shook my head and realized it was still furry. Feathers, a wing, and one leg ending with a webbed foot was all that was left of the snow goose. It was good. Much better than the other kind. I'd have to keep in mind.

Ahmad called again and I shook my head to get the stinging of his magic from my brain. Whatever he was doing was different than the visions I'd been getting. Wolf!

The name's Tony, Ahmad. I'd appreciate you deigning to either call me Agent or by name.

A pause. Very well. Tony. Have you been in contact with Lucas or Charles recently?

I didn't want to get into a long recitation of what had been a really weird day, so I just said, Yes.

I have information that absolutely must reach them. Will you deliver the message, or must I kill you when I return?

Oh, for G.o.d's sake. I picked up the rest of the leg and started to chew on it, pretending it was his snakey head my fangs were sinking into. Look, snake boy. I don't like you. You don't like me. But let's be civil here, huh? It's bad enough I have to go along for your little s.e.x romps with your main squeeze-which takes on a whole new meaning in your case, but- What did you say? I could hear the panic note in his voice.

I sighed, as much as I could and rested my muzzle on my paws. It had been a long day and it wasn't getting any better. Look. I've been inside your head since you were chained down in Boulder this morning. You can't hear me, but I can hear you. I presume you found the cave so it works both ways for the moment. Oh, and I've also been able to smell through your tongue-which is freaky weird, and get fired up enough to have to have s.e.x every few hours. I was there for the breakout, and for the flight where you got cozy with Tuli and talked about your whole sad history. Then when you landed and found the camp and just now when you had steamy snake s.e.x. But we're not going to discuss that. Ever. 'Kay?

Just tell me what I don't know yet. I saw the temple and heard you thinking out loud about the legends. What else you got for me to pa.s.s on when I call?

He sounded a little sh.e.l.l-shocked when he replied, and I guess I would be too in his place. That will speed up this discussion, I suppose.

I would have snapped my fingers together if I had any in wolf form. Oh, by the way, anything in your legend about a weird obsidian blade? I came by one today on another case and it's definitely of Sazi origin. Or, at least, it affects us by cutting off pieces of our magic aura, which hurts like blazes. Anything you've heard about?

There was a pause long enough that I wondered if we'd been cut off, but since all I wanted to do was sleep anyway, I figured I might as well let myself drift off. He'd either wake me or he wouldn't. I already had plenty to discuss with Lucas and Charles in the morning. My eyes eased closed just as I let out a slow breath that blew bits of white fluff into the air. Hmm. Actually- I pulled over the remaining wing and put my muzzle down into the soft feathers. Perfect. A goose down pillow. It'd feel a lot better on my skin than mud and wood when I changed back in the morning Pain. An ache of something missing inside.

I opened my eyes and I was back inside the cave where Ahmad was. Except Ahmad wasn't there. It was empty, silent even of insects. I felt my hands being pulled to the cool stone wall. They flattened and pressed and the ache filled me again. There was no heartbeat, no fire to warm the bodies of what used to live here. I got a flash of the cave again, but filled with jungle life-bugs and bats wandering through the depths, monkeys playing in the cool shade, eating fruit and grooming.

And then the ache when it was taken.

Wol . . . Tony? Ahmad's voice shattered the image, and it fell to shards of color on the floor of my mind. I blinked my eyes again and I was back under the tree.

G.o.d! What? I sounded grumpy, even to myself. I wanted to get back to sleep. I don't know why I was dreaming about the cave, but it wasn't a bad dream, as things go. Sort of a mental Discovery Channel special, which is often what I go to sleep by anyway.

I had to leave the cave to check on some things. Are you already aware of them, or should I tell you?

The quiet night sounds of the wetlands were lulling me again, so I wanted to get this over with. Tell me.

Nasil found doc.u.ments that indicate there's a second temple and we all agree that Paolo might have taken the egg there to hatch. But strangely, it appears to exist on the East Coast of America somewhere. I wasn't aware the Mayans extended their territory that far. I know of some burial mounds in the Midwest that could conceivably be attributed to Mayan descendants, but a temple?

Okay, he'd managed to get my attention enough that I was awake again. Geez, I can be dense sometimes. No. Not a temple. A casino.

A cas . . . Explain.

So I did. I told him about what had happened to Carmine and the new gang of . . . duh! Central-American guys. It was all clicking in my head now. I'm betting this Paolo of yours is either legit in some part of his life, or knows someone who is. They didn't find a temple, they're building one! It's called Quetzalcoatl and is being raised in Atlantic City. Carmine said the new gang is into drugs and didn't Nasil say something about a lab down there maybe exploding?

Even more pieces were falling into place and Ahmad picked up where I left off. The Order of Marduc likely has many tentacles. My father would have seen to that. So, at some point they must have decided to expand their drug selling into your former employer's town. They were pushed out, but didn't understand the Mafia culture there and killed someone important.

I found my head nodding, the moonlight now making my brain race even faster, instead of slowing it down. And Carmine, of course, immediately ordered a hit of someone there. But the hitter Carmine sent got greedy and took a knife that's critical to raising Marduc, which is the knife I have now.

I could tell Ahmad agreed, but there was one kink in the theory. Except n.o.body here knew anything about a knife. Either it's not involved or was something the priests of the order were aware of that they didn't tell anyone about . . . even Sargon.

Or, I amended, maybe they just found it. You said n.o.body had breached the wall to get to the egg until recently. Could it have been in with the egg? An offering of some sort that they're not quite sure what to do with? But it would still be sacred and they'd want it back.

Ahmad's voice sounded pleased, not that I really cared. So, it sounds as if our destination tomorrow needs to be that temple. I'll let Nasil know we fly to New Jersey.

Fly. New Jersey. c.r.a.p! That's right. There's one more piece to the puzzle. After you left, Angelique went nuts in the clinic when I said I was going to New Jersey. She kept repeating that she had to get there and it took Charles, Lucas, and Amber to sedate her. Amber wanted to run blood tests to find out why both she and you went berserk. She mentioned something to my wife about a virus or . . . a drug. What exactly were they making in that lab?

He paused and replied slowly, thoughtfully. I'd presumed regular street drugs, cocaine or heroin, but now . . . now I'm not certain. I'll definitely check and get samples for Amber before we leave here. He sighed and I could feel a wave of frustration, tinged with fear, as though they were my own. I'll have to confront Nasil. He is the key to most of this information. He was Father's right hand and despite what I might have told Tuli, there was little he didn't know about what Sargon did. I'll advise you of the results.

I let out a little huff that would have been a chuckle in human form and inhaled another breath of moist, musty air. I'll probably be there for it. I seem to get stuck inside you for the big four: food, water, survival, and s.e.x. Just try to keep it to the first three for the next few days if you would.

The next noise might have been a cough, or maybe it was a mumbled swear word I couldn't make out. But the rest was clear. I'll keep that in mind. Good night, w . . . Tony. Your help has indeed been valuable.

I'd like to say he left and I was able to get back to sleep, but that wasn't to be my life. Like the telephone ringing every time you step into the shower, I heard Sue in my mind next.

Tony? Where are you?

I sighed. Trying to sleep under a tree. What's up?

I'm in Newark and rented a car. I was driving down the interstate and got the feeling you were nearby. Would you like to sleep in a bed tonight?

You'd think that would be an easy answer, but it wasn't. There was nothing quite like falling asleep next to my mate, regardless of my form. But tonight I was feeling the moon like few other times in my life. It was powerful, compelling and yet comforting. No. I don't think so. I've got my feather pillow and I'm comfortable. But hey, if you want to meet me at mile marker two-forty-six tomorrow morning, I could use a ride back.

I liked that it was okay with her. She didn't question or whine. She just said, Okay. Love you. See you tomorrow.

My eyes drifted closed, and I successfully ignored the buzzing of my cell phone, set on vibrate. Yeah, I could answer it in wolf form. Touch pads are just made for pointed claws. But it was already sealed in the plastic bag where I'd put my clothes after I stripped. I'd have to tear it open with teeth and claws and then all my stuff would be damp in the morning.

But the knowledge that there were still things to be done made it so my mind wouldn't follow my closed eyes down into the depths of the night. It's interesting how things replay in your mind when you're in the netherworld between light and dark.

All roads lead to New Jersey.

But what roads lead out?

My eyes snapped open in the darkness and I raised my head so fast I cracked it against the ma.s.sive old root roof. The pain spurred my mind to full wakefulness. Where did Ricky and Stuart fit in? Yeah, they were Jersey guys, but they worked for Prezza, not the snakes. Or, was Prezza in with the snakes? But they weren't looking for Scotty. They were looking for me. How did they get to Boulder and, in fact, how did they find out about our trip to Hansen, Kansas? Not a s...o...b..ll's chance in h.e.l.l that was coincidence.

I opened the door in my mind again with a sigh, and uncurled my body out from the cozy nest under the tree. Sue?

She answered immediately. Yes?

Changed my mind. Can you come pick me up after all? I won't be sleeping, though, I'm afraid. Did you bring your laptop with you, and does it have remote access to the Wolven files?

Her voice sounded amused, excited and curious. Sure, yes, and yes. I'm on the way.

Chapter Eighteen.

"AND THAT'S WHEN I discovered this." Another phone bill popped up on the laptop screen. Two items were highlighted in yellow. One was an incoming call from an international number. The other was an outgoing international call. But the numbers weren't the same, not even the country code.

"What am I looking at?" While she'd made a compelling case so far that a current Wolven agent was on the take, this part wasn't making sense to me.

She leaned back against the edge of the desk in the hotel room so she could look at me. I leaned back in the chair and gave her my full attention. "When Lucas asked me to pull up the phone records for each of the Wolven-issued phones, he asked me to look for any irregularities in the billing. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know it wasn't just billing issues he was looking for. We still haven't found the mole who planted all the trackers in things. It had to be someone high up in the organization. Regular agents just don't have access to the stuff that was tampered with. So, I started looking for numbers that were called often and then cross-checked the dates with weird things in the files . . . you know, people supposedly in one place but got calls in another. That sort of thing." She tapped the screen with one shiny fingernail.

"Look at the dates of the calls and tell me what you see."

I did, and when she said it that way, I noticed something odd. "They're exactly one day apart. Exactly. Down to the minute."

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "And so are the dozen other ones over the course of a year or so. I haven't looked any further back yet. And check this out." She turned around slightly and grabbed the mouse and moved the scroll bar down to the next pair of yellowed entries. "Every incoming call I've marked on this phone is a hang-up, like a wrong number . . . but it's the same number. Lucas got a plan that lists the numbers, but doesn't charge for the first ten seconds. That way, he can call and just say something like 'Report in,' and then they call him back from a secure number."

I nodded. He'd done that to me more than once.

"Of course, it could just be something simple like spam calls. We have a few of those stupid investment companies that call week after week."

She nodded and then grabbed another chair to sit down in. "I considered that. It would make sense except for those calls the day after. Every time."

She was right. I scrolled down and call after call. One spam, one outgoing the day after of varying length, but around ten minutes. "Where does the outgoing ring to?"

"Our agent Rayna in Mexico City. A landline in her apartment. It's definitely her number. I've called it to verify."

"So you're saying we've got two moles. Working together." I tapped my finger on the tabletop and considered what to do with the information.

She shook her head. "I thought that too, but scroll down to the bottom. This bill came in just yesterday."

I did and noticed two more highlighted calls and realized exactly what she meant. "Wait. This can't be right. You're sure it's a landline? Rayna was a prisoner in the jungle when this call was made. She wasn't anywhere near Mexico City."

The look I got said it all. I didn't even need the scents of determination and annoyance. "Precisely. Someone's trying to frame her. I got her permission to do some checking around and discovered a Mexico City bank account in her name, in a different branch as her regular accounts, with a bunch of money in it. And a bunch of activity, too. Including one rather large withdrawal . . . on the same date as the last call."

I put my hands behind my head and thought. "Wow. So this is your surprise. Quite the coup, sweetheart. Whose phone is this?"

She laughed brightly and stood up. "Oh, no. This isn't the surprise. I wouldn't have even brought it up to you if it wasn't for the fact that you'll probably have to verify to the council where Rayna was on the date of the last call. And I don't know whose number this is . . . yet. Only Lucas and Charles have the list of numbers that match the agent names." She walked across the room to the closet near the door and pulled out a large cardboard tube that you might mail doc.u.ments in. "No, this is the surprise, and I was d.a.m.ned proud of myself for pulling it off."

Now she had me curious. She opened the top of the tube and poured out the doc.u.ment onto the bed. I couldn't help but let out a low, delighted whistle when I opened the thick roll of stapled papers. It was a blueprint . . . of the Quetzalcoatl casino! Pages and pages of details about the construction, including the lower bas.e.m.e.nt-set below sea level, with a small room blocked off with a red 'X' and surrounded by pumps to keep out the seawater. "Oh, you have been a busy girl! Where in the world did you dig this up?"

She preened brightly. She should be proud of herself. This was just short of amazing! "Well, I tried the easy routes first. I figured they would have to file the plans with the building department there. They did, but n.o.body can seem to find the file. Big surprise that, if there's really a plot going on. So then I called around to all the architects in the city. I found the right one, but of course they wouldn't talk to me. But I remembered Will Kerchee was in New York for a law enforcement conference this week. It's why he had to race to get back to work from the jungle. I called and told him that Lucas really needed those blueprints and asked if could do a little ch.o.r.e. I told him Lucas thought it up so he'd do it, but it was really my idea."

She was turning into quite the little spy. My smile turned to a grin as she continued. "Anyway, I had Will call the architect, speaking Spanish, and asked to have another set of the prints sent over to the site. He said he tried to sound really annoyed and told them that some idiot got the plans too close to a cutting torch or welder or something. Anyway, they burned up and they needed another set immediately. Then he changed forms and flew down to Jersey and waited outside the architect's office for the delivery boy to come out. He followed him for a few blocks until he was alone and froze him and took the prints. Did you know that Will can do magical persuasion? He made the poor delivery guy remember he'd delivered the package, so n.o.body's even going to call to check! Well, until they get a bill for them next month, and we'll be done by then."

We'll be done by then. I smiled again. Well, she'd sort of earned a piece of the action. But I'd still try to give her something to do that wouldn't put her in direct danger.

"Then Will gave them to me when my flight arrived in New York and I brought them down."

I looked up at her with a small amount of reality. "You do realize Lucas isn't going to be pleased about this, right? I don't know that he'll hurt you physically like he would one of us, but you could lose your job for overstepping your authority."

She nodded and looked contrite. "Yeah, I know. But it's looking more and more like he really will need them. If everything you and Ahmad found plays out, that is."

It was a lot of ifs, but I wasn't arguing that the plans were going to come in handy. I shook my head again. "I'm going to have to start calling you Nora if you keep this up."

She smiled. "Only if I get to call you Nick." She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "But I like Tony better."

The room phone rang just then and I figured it was probably Lucas. We've been playing phone tag since he left the message on my cell out by the lake. But it wasn't. "This is the front desk. There's a FedEx delivery at the front desk for Mrs. Giambrocco. I'm afraid it got put in the storeroom by mistake earlier. Shall I have a bellman bring it up now or in the morning?"

I raised my brows and covered the handset. "Are you expecting a FedEx?"

Her face brightened. "Oh! Yes. Have them bring it up." I repeated the instructions and when I hung up, she went to get her purse for a tip. "This is surprise number two. I couldn't bring it on the plane, so I had it shipped same-day air."

My little cough was automatic. For the price of same-day air, you could buy the package its own airline seat. In fact, that's exactly what you were doing. But the knock on the door didn't give me a chance to ask the obvious question of what the h.e.l.l did you have delivered? The question mark in my head was even bigger when I opened the door. The package was huge, as tall as the doorway and probably two feet across. But the bellhop didn't appear to struggle with it, so it must not be heavy. Sue inched past me as I took the box from him and gave him a fiver.

"Put it on the couch. It'll be out of the way there." I did as instructed, but felt more cat than wolf right then, wondering what Sue was up to.

"Should I open it?" I pulled out a pocketknife and looked at her questioningly. She nodded with a sly smile on her face, so I sliced.

Oh, baby! Inside the box, wrapped in tissue and surrounded by poofy sheets of bubble wrap were two big honking swords! "Whoa, nelly. What are these for?"

She shrugged. "Snakes, mostly. You said Carmine insisted on a blade, and these belonged to Lucas and Jack, from way back when they ran Wolven together. I found them totally by accident, wrapped in an old bed-sheet behind some filing cabinets when we were cleaning out the Paris office. I had them shipped to our place in Chicago, because that's where the last spider was found. I thought Nikoli might end up needing them. But we need them more right now as far as I'm concerned. n.o.body even knows they're missing, so if something happens to one it's no big deal."

I picked up the smaller of the two. It had a two-foot-long double-edged Damascus blade, and from the sting I got when I ran a light finger over the patterns, I was betting there was a high silver content hammered in during the creation. The pommel guard was worn and beat all to h.e.l.l, meaning it had seen a lot of action in its day. The hilt was bound with leather strips, well stained with both sweat and blood. It's hard to beat a weapon that's seen this much action. I really liked the feel of it in my hand. I couldn't help but swing it around a few times, feeling the perfect balance of it slicing the air.

The lights went out and while I was still swinging a sword, it suddenly wasn't a sword. It was a machete. Okay, I was starting to figure this out. Apparently, I was going to connect to Ahmad every time we did something at the same time. Well that was annoying.

But there was no helping it, because the room dissolved. I just had time to toss the sword aside before I collapsed to the carpeting. Then I was cutting apart another of the bags I found stashed in the corner of the metal building farthest from the camp. The room was still filled with gla.s.s vials and burners, even though most of whatever had been made here was gone. I dipped a test tube into the hideous-smelling chemical mixture and put a stopper in it, making sure I kept my glove-covered hands from touching any skin. Tony had been right. This wasn't ordinary street drugs. But what it was and what it was for would have to be decided by another.

"What are you doing in here, Ahmad?"

I didn't stop opening packages, just in case they were different substances. Each of the sample bags had a different label and I dutifully marked each tube with a marker from the table. "Exactly what it looks like, Nasil. I'm taking back samples of the lab product." I turned to look at him, my grip tightening on the hilt of the machete even though I gave no sign of alarm in my scent or on my face. "I would think you'd be just as interested in making sure the quality is kept up to par. After all, if they're lying to you about one thing, why not another?' I paused and then gave him a look that made it seem like I already knew the answer. "Exactly how many people has it been tested on?"

The split-second look of surprise was quickly washed away in his usual disdain. "Only the ones absolutely necessary."

I shook my head and turned back to my work. "I grow tired of you, Nasil. Perhaps Paolo will be more cooperative. We have the same goal after all." I paused, but didn't look his way. It was time to try a bluff, just to see what happened. "Or do we? Why Angelique? Why risk giving her the drug when it could bring down the entire council on our heads?"

It was the right thing to ask. He sighed and started pulling more sample bags from other hidden locations that I hadn't found yet. "I wasn't in favor of that experiment, but we were running out of time. We still haven't found a thunderbird, and the eve of Her birth is expected at the next moon, according to the old carvings we found. We'd hoped that Angelique might be powerful enough to make up for the fact she doesn't have the genes, but so far we haven't had any luck."

I feigned surprise, which wasn't difficult, since I was getting more surprised by the minute. I threw another bone out to see how he would react. "Not any of the girls from Texas? Not even the young Mayan girl?" I knew Nasil had been in south Texas recently-calling himself Roberto, and that he left abruptly after killing a number of intentional attack victims. A group of girls had been captured and made into birds against their will. One was able to attach to the Texas wolf pack and was still sane, but the others . . . yes, it was probably best Nasil killed them. They were completely feral, and getting so bold as to attack livestock in the area, making the human ranchers nervous. But the report also said Roberto had been very interested in one particular Mayan child. Charles moved her and her family to an unknown location.

He shook his head. "Another failed plan. We lost Ziri to the council, which was the only girl who held true promise." Ah. Now it was the council, rather than you.

Excellent.

"What are the benefits of the latest batch? As you can guess, I haven't had new information since my father was . . . put down." There would be no more snide comments or arguments about who did what with that phrasing. Another dip and then another slam of the machete down crossway on a sample bag to split it in two.

He nodded and marked a sample number on another tube. "The compliance level is much better, equal to the very first batch, but without the mental instability Fiona's suffering."

My charade was ruined in that moment, when I exclaimed, "Fiona?! Fiona Monier? You gave the drug to her?"

But I was wrong about being discovered, because Nasil shook his head and shrugged with no emotion attached to taste. "You didn't know either, hmm? Yes, but I only discovered it myself after your father died. She's been quite a challenge to keep on task lately. I'm afraid the council is going to have to have her put down soon. She's absolutely fixated on bringing down Lucas Santiago. The constant plots to ruin his life and have him removed from Wolven aren't going to work, but I can't seem to get her to believe that. Still, this new batch is much better, from early reports. We're distributing it to a wide area through the drug cartels as free samples to regular junkies and have found a novel way to activate the people once they've taken the required doses."

My mouth was suddenly dry and there was a buzzing in my ears. My head felt fuzzy and unfocused. But this might be the only opportunity I had to have the entire plot revealed. I forced my voice to sound stronger than I felt, but couldn't meet his eyes or he'd know the truth. "Which is?"