The Immortal Hunter(26)

She watched his face, noting the expressions that flitted across it, and would have sworn he really hadn't had one before. "Are you a vegan or something?"

Decker glanced at her with surprise. "No. Why would you ask that?"

"Well, it's like you've never had a burger before."

"He hasn't," Justin informed her. "Decker usually sticks to a liquid diet."

"Justin Bricker," Decker gasped, sounding as shocked as he was horrified by the revelation.

Ignoring him, Dani asked, "You mean protein drinks?"

"Something like that," Justin said evasively. "Their special liquid with lots of protein and-"

"Bricker," Decker snarled now.

"Well, you do," the man said, unrepentant, and then told Dani, "He claims it's too much fuss and bother to eat real food and sticks to a purely liquid diet as a rule."

"Goddammit, Bricker." Decker was nearly rabid with anger now, but the sound of a cell phone ringing made him forget about the man's teasing and start searching his pockets for his phone. His hello when he found and snapped it open was less than welcoming.

Dani watched curiously as he listened, and then he grunted what might have been a good-bye and put the phone away. "We stay on here until Vaughan. They're going to meet us in the parking lot at Outdoor World."

Justin nodded as he swallowed the cheeseburger in his mouth, she suspected without even bothering to chew it. "I know where that is."

"We're stopping?" Dani asked with alarm. Stopping meant Stephanie and the man who had her would just get farther ahead of them.

"Just a quick stop to switch this van for an SUV," Decker assured her.

Dani frowned, but then glanced to the back of the van and muttered, "I suppose it's better than driving around with five dead guys."

"Four," Justin corrected.

"Five," Dani repeated. "There were six in the clearing, and one got away with Stephanie."

The men exchanged a glance, and then Decker admitted, "One was missing from the clearing when we got back. We only managed to get four of them."

"Oh." Dani frowned. She'd thought there were five when she'd looked, but the light had been bad and the bodies were piled on top of each other. There might be only four.

"And don't worry, this won't slow us down much," Justin assured her. "We'll be able to go faster with the SUV. This old van doesn't get above one hundred and thirty kilometers an hour, but our SUVs are juiced up. They really move."

When Dani remained silent, Justin asked Decker, "Who's meeting us at Outdoor World?"

"Eshe," was the answer. "She's bringing a new SUV with supplies. Lucian and Leigh are on their way there too. It sounds like they're a bit behind us, though I don't know how they managed that."

Justin nodded again. "They really should have got there first, but his having to make phone calls probably held them up."

"Who are these people?" Dani asked curiously, twisting in her seat to glance at Decker. "Lucian is your boss, right? But who are Eshe and Leigh?"

"Eshe's another... er... agent like us," Decker answered, avoiding her eyes.

"She's one of the best. Eshe kicks ass," Justin said with a grin.

"Oh? Eshe is a woman then?" Dani asked, glancing at him curiously. She had a lot of patients with interesting and exotic names, but Eshe was one she'd never come across before this.

Justin nodded and said with admiration, "A whole lotta woman. Six feet tall, lean and mean and moves like a panther. I wouldn't want to go up against her. She's enough to scare a guy straight if he's even considering going rogue."

"Rogue?" Dani peered at him with bewilderment.

"Ignore Justin," Decker said grimly. "He's gone into his comic book fantasy mode. Tell me if he starts drooling and I'll find the napkins."

Dani managed a smile at Decker's words.

"Whatever," Justin said dryly, and then informed her, "Eshe is cool, and Leigh is nice."

"Is she an agent too?" Dani asked, just barely catching herself from saying enforcer.

"No. She's Lucian's life mate, though I hear she wants to help out on cases," Justin told her. "I guess it turns out she knows some of that martial arts stuff and can kick ass too."

"Life mate?" Dani asked. It was a term she'd never heard before.

"They aren't married yet," Decker put in.

"Oh."

"Leigh's nice. You'll like her," Justin said suddenly. "But Lucian's a bit of a hard-ass."

Dani shrugged that aside. "It doesn't matter. This is hardly a social occasion. We're just meeting up to switch vehicles."

"True, but I thought I'd better warn you," Justin said. "He can seem a bit harsh at times."

Dani didn't comment; her thoughts were on what she'd learned. Eshe was an agent too, or a Council enforcer as Nicholas had called them. Their boss, Lucian, was a hard-ass, and Leigh was his life mate. She shook her head, suspecting there was a lot about these people that she didn't know and should. Dani was less concerned with that, however, than with worry about her sister. She didn't understand why they had to switch vehicles at all. Did it really matter if they continued on in the van rather than switching for the SUV? While it would be nice not to be driving around with bodies in the back of the vehicle, the stop was going to slow them down, and the man who was holding Stephanie was already an hour ahead of them.