The Curse (Belador #3)(109)
“More creatures like this?” Trey asked, also breathing hard after the fight.
“Possibly, but there is a being there that this one actually fears.”
Evalle unwound her arms from its neck and sat up, grimacing at the ache of pulling her legs over its back as she dismounted. “That’s not promising. A house with other creatures. Good thing we caught it, eh, Z?”
When Tzader scowled at her she winked at him.
His worried voice came into her head. Next time, don’t take the place of the bait.
She shrugged. I couldn’t stand by and watch a mama cow and her baby get sacrificed.
Better them than you. Your arms are cut to hell.
I’ll live. Her wounds weren’t deep. Beladors healed faster than humans so her arms would probably heal in a few days. She used the edge of her shirt to wipe blood off her skin, telling Tzader, You were right. Sounds like someone is creating these things. We have to find that person.
He met her eyes and nodded before asking Quinn, “Any chance you can figure out where the house is located?”
Quinn pondered a moment, stopping long enough to quiet the creature again when it stirred. “I don’t think this thing comprehends words verbally or written so I don’t believe there’s information of that nature to retrieve.”
Casper had pulled off his headgear, scratched his head and put the gear back on. “The house must be where this thing lives, or lived if he escaped.”
“Probably,” Quinn agreed.
“If that’s the case,” Casper went on, thinking out loud. “Maybe he would go back there. Like a homing pigeon.”
Tzader interjected, “You want me to just turn this thing loose and hope it goes home?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” Casper said. “Just trying to come up with an idea. Can’t sit on the damn thing all night long.”
Quinn stared off as if thinking through possible options, “That actually might work if I knew how to tell it to go home.”
Evalle took in what everyone had said and snapped her fingers. “Did you see other images, Quinn?”
“Like what?” “Maybe food, like the cows it killed?” Which was an icky visual to bring to mind.
“Yes, I did.” “Can you flood this thing’s mind with images of the house then maybe add the suggestion that pregnant cows would be there, sort of like home is where the food is?”
Quinn thought for a moment, his collar-length blond hair disheveled from the battle to ground this thing. “That might work, but I’m not sure how long it would hold in his mind once he flew away.”
Deep frown lines carved Tzader’s forehead while he thought on something. He asked Quinn, “Think you could hold control of its mind and keep feeding those home and food images if we followed it close enough while it flew?”
No hesitation when Quinn answered, “Yes. I feel certain I can hold the mind lock as long as I have it within sight.”
She hated to be the one to throw a logic bomb into their planning but Evalle pointed out, “One flaw with this plan, boys.”
“What’s that, sunshine?” Casper asked.
Ignoring his usual jab at her nocturnal lifestyle, she turned to Tzader. “How do we follow something that flies if I’m on a motorcycle and you all came in vehicles?”
Tzader flipped out his cell phone, punched in several keys then closed it. “Not a problem.”
“Why? Who’d you call?” “Got a bird waiting in the next pasture.”
Tzader was wrong. A helicopter might be a huge problem.
Her palms got sweaty any time she faced being over twenty feet off the ground.
CHAPTER TWO
It was amazing what a person would do when confronted with peer pressure and humiliation.
Evalle gripped the edge of the leather seat in the back of the helicopter. She couldn’t appreciate the way the men had talked about how quiet an MD-902 could be.
She didn’t care about the noise level. Flying closer to the ground would have rated higher on her value scale.
One look at her face when they’d taken off and Tzader had asked silently, Are you afraid of flying?
She’d answered, I don’t know. Never done it.
When he’d paused then said he’d have the pilot let her off if she wanted, she’d refused. There was no time to bring in another agent and she wouldn’t abandon any team in the middle of an op.
She’d survived much worse.
But she doubted she’d have lasted much longer than the eighteen minutes and twelve seconds it took for the flying human-like creature to find home. Sweat had trickled down the back of her neck while the helicopter half flew, half hovered along behind the flapping creature, keeping just within visual sight for Quinn. Finally it glided down toward an antebellum house with a long driveway that tucked the mansion back from the road and casual observation.
She watched Quinn who sat in the copilot’s seat, holding her breath until he said, “This looks like the place I saw in its mind.”
Through sheer force of will, Evalle shoved the contents of her stomach back down her throat. She fumbled with her seatbelt, ready to get out the minute the chopper touched ground, asking, “Where are we?”
Tzader turned to answer her. “Close to Social Circle, east of where the cows were attacked. Trey’s downloading intel now.”