One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #3)(22)

I knew exactly where he was going. He was heading down I45 toward me. He was coming back to Gertrude Hunt.

“Thank God someone fitted his boost bike with a daytime obfuscator,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

I looked at Sean.

He raised his hands and mouthed, “It was all you had in the garage.”

“I was his last stop,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “He never checked out.”

Wing was still a guest. If Wing was caught, Mr. Rodriquez would be hauled before the Assembly, and the Assembly wouldn’t be kind.

“He’s barreling down the highway toward you and he’s got half of the Dallas PD behind him. He’s about to clear the city limits and then the State Troopers are going to get involved. I can’t get to him fast enough. We'd have to get in front of him to grab him. Any vehicle we’d have to use to get to that kind of speed would be too attention-grabbing in daylight, and the news channels are having a feeding frenzy. Is there any way you could help me?”

*

“Why in the world would you put an obfuscator on his boost bike?”

Sean and I sat in the back of the Ryder truck we had rented forty minutes ago. We’d attached a photon projector to it, drove here, and parked it on the grass well away from the road, on the side of I45. In front of us the highway rolled into the distance, completely empty.

“Because he had nothing at all, and he is a Ku.” Sean rested his arms on the wheel and checked his phone.

“There were refractors in the garage. And a photon projector.”

“I didn’t see those, but even if I did, I wouldn’t have put one on his bike.”

“Why not?”

“Because he is a Ku. We used them as scouts on Nexus. He barely follows the rules as is and he drives like a maniac. If he got it through his thick skull that his boost bike was now invisible, he would zip around in daylight. We’d have a pileup on every major interstate after he was through. I put the obfuscator on there and told him it was only for emergencies and if he used it, law enforcement would come and hunt him.”

Put that way, I had to agree. Wing was a menace. He wouldn’t just cause accidents. He would cause many accidents. People would be hurt, possibly die.

Sean growled under his breath. “Arland is ignoring my texts.”

“Have you tried sending a kissy face?”

Sean looked at me for a moment.

“Maybe he’s just not that into you.”

He tapped his ear piece. “They’ve just passed Madisonville. They threw out the spike strips, but of course he blasted right through them since he’s riding two feet above the ground. He should be in range in about two minutes.”

The Texas State Troopers must’ve reasoned that eventually the unknown vehicle would run out of gas, because all indications said they resolved to run it to ground. They also blocked the highway in both directions around Madisonville, and we had to creep past their road block. I held my breath the whole time. A photon projector could do wonders for making you near invisible, but it didn’t mask sound. Every time the truck springs creaked, I’d braced myself.

We were up against eight police cars and a helicopter. They had helpfully exiled the news helicopters ‘in the interests of public safety,’ so at least we didn’t have to worry about that.

I got my phone out and dialed Arland’s phone. I’d given him one of the spares we kept for guests and showed him how to use it. He didn’t seem enthusiastic.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Come on, Arland.

Beep.

“This is a ridiculous communicator,” Arland’s voice said into the phone.

I put him on speaker.

“What is with the swiping and the pushing? Why isn’t it simply voice activated?”

“The Ku will be in range in one minute and forty-five seconds,” I told him.

“Understood.” He hung up.

The phone might have been ridiculous, but it was safer than radio transmissions.

I dialed my sister. She picked up on the first ring.

“A minute and a half.”

“Got it.”

I drummed my fingers on the wooden floor of the truck’s back. It would work. It was a simple plan, and it relied on the thing vampires did best - hunting. Arland would apprehend the Ku, my sister would run interference against the cops, and we were the getaway drivers.

“Are you going to help the Hiru?” Sean asked.

“I want to.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“It would be a logistical nightmare. It would require me to be away from the inn, probably on short notice. The Draziri would invade in force, and I don’t think they care about being discreet. As an innkeeper, I’m supposed to avoid situations that put the inn at risk of exposure.”

“Mhm,” he said. “What’s the real reason?”

“Those are the real reasons.”

“I saw your face,” Sean said. “You almost cried when he told his story.”

So much for my inscrutable innkeeper face. “Just because I sympathize, doesn’t mean I can’t objectively evaluate the situation.”

He didn’t say anything.

On my left, in the distance, a dark dot appeared in the sky, quickly growing larger. The helicopter.

“Three… two…”