The Immortal Hunter(11)

"Check the van and see if there's anything useful in there," Decker ordered, moving to examine the two men he was most concerned with. "And check for a spare while you're at it."

"Will do," Justin said, and turned away.

"Justin?" Decker called. When the kid paused and turned back in question, he added grimly, "Keep your eyes and ears open."

Justin's gaze slid to the four rogues in the clearing, and then over the woods surrounding them. He nodded solemnly, and then moved more cautiously toward the van.

Decker stepped out of the trees and crossed to the fire to drop the burning log he'd been using as a torch to search the woods while Justin changed the tire on the van. He hadn't found a thing. It seemed the fifth rogue from the clearing had gotten away too.

He glanced over the remaining rogues. They lay where they'd fallen, trussed up with some rope Justin had found in the van. Decker had insisted on it before going to search for the missing one. While the rope wasn't likely to hold any of them long if they woke up, he'd hoped it would slow them down enough that he or Justin could shoot them again before they got completely free. He might have been fooling himself, it might have been as useful as wrapping limp, overcooked noodles around their ankles and wrists, but it had made him feel better about leaving Justin and Dani alone in the clearing with the rogues while he'd searched the woods.

Decker's gaze now slid to the woman. His woman. His life mate, he thought with not a little wonder. She lay curled up and sleeping peacefully by the fire compliments of Justin. While he didn't like to keep her under the other immortal's control like this, it did seem for the best at the moment.

"Did you find anything?"

Decker glanced to Justin as the younger immortal crossed the clearing to his side. He shook his head. "Not a thing."

Justin nodded, but smiled with satisfaction and announced, "I did when I took the flat tire off the van."

When Decker raised an inquiring eyebrow, Justin held out his hand and opened it to reveal two small electronic gizmos on his palm. "These were stuck to the wheel well with some kind of Silly Putty."

"What are they?" Decker took the offered items and knelt next to the fire to examine them.

"They're how Nicholas knew the rogues had grabbed the girls and brought them here. I'm pretty sure one is a listening device and the other some sort of tracking device."

"Hmm." Decker turned first one device over and then the other. "It figures. Nicholas always was a techie at heart. If Annie hadn't died, I think he would have given up being an enforcer to work in Bastien's tech lab."

"Annie was his life mate?" Justin asked.

Decker nodded.

"What happened to her?"

"She died." Decker closed his hand on the electronic gizmos and straightened. "Her death is what drove him over the edge."

Justin was silent for a minute and then said, "I've been thinking."

"Always a dangerous pastime," Decker murmured almost absently, his gaze shifting to the van to see that while he'd been searching the woods, Justin hadn't just removed the flat tire, he'd finished putting the spare on too. They could head out after Nicholas.

"Ha ha," Justin muttered, and then said, "I'm wondering if it's such a good idea to leave the rogues here for the cleanup crew to deal with. If they-"

"We're taking them with us," Decker interrupted. The problems with leaving the immortal rogues behind had struck him as he'd searched the woods. The downed men might wake before the cleanup crew could get there, or someone might have heard the gunshots earlier and there might-that moment-be an OPP car cruising around trying to find where the shots had originated. If a mortal cop stumbled on the clearing and found the bodies before the immortals did wake... Decker didn't even want to think about the trouble that could ensue.

When Justin relaxed beside him, obviously relieved at this news, he added, "But we aren't taking them until we're damned sure they aren't going to wake up in the back of the van and attack us."

"What are we going to do?" Justin asked.

Decker's answer was to lift the long branch he'd found in the woods. The action sent pain shooting through his chest and back, but he ignored it. It wasn't as bad as it had been and the queasiness had passed.

His gaze slid to Justin to see that the younger immortal was eyeing the stick dubiously.

"You're going to beat them?" he asked uncertainly.

"No," Decker growled, just managing not to grind his teeth together. He began snapping the branch into three pieces. "We're going to stake the three who were shot with bullets. The one with the arrow doesn't need it, but the others are a risk if there isn't something to ensure their heart can't pump."

"It could kill them if we leave the stakes in too long," Justin pointed out quietly.

"We won't. We're only leaving them staked until we can meet up with a cleanup crew," Decker assured him, and then asked, "You said you found a tarp in the back of the van?"

"Yeah," Justin said, and raised an eyebrow in question.

"After we load them in the van we'll cover them with that so that Dani doesn't see them and get upset."

"I could just keep her asleep," Justin pointed out. "There's no need to wake her up."