The Werewolf Chasers (Book 3): Wolf Hunt 3 Page 8

  One of the men, who was on the passenger side of the van and would therefore be the third or fourth one killed if George opened fire, tapped on the window. "Hey, you okay in there?"

  "Everybody, move where I can see you," said George, waving the revolver. "I don't want to have to shoot any of you, but I will!"

  Three of the men obliged. Lou took a menacing step toward the fourth, and he obliged as well.

  "My associate and I are bounty hunters," said George. "The man in the cage is a killer being brought to justice. I need you guys to back off and let us do our jobs."

  "Darwin is in there recording this, so you probably don't wanna shoot us."

  Lou glanced over at the gas station building. The cashier was watching them through the glass door, holding up a cell phone.

  "We don't want any trouble," said the man with one eyebrow. "We just want to know what's going on."

  "I literally just told you what's going on," said George.

  "What I meant was that we want you to open up the back of the van and prove it. Let us talk to him."

  "He's a spree killer being taken to justice. And I don't mean the police. You think he's going to tell the truth about why we've got him?"

  "I'd still like to hear his story. We can find out the truth, or the cops can find out the truth. My buddies and I are more likely to be okay with stuff outside the law than the cops are."

  "Okay, well, you've got our balls slung over your shoulder right now, so I guess we don't have a choice," said George. Lou waited for him to give some sort of signal that they were supposed to leap into action, but George walked over to the rear of the van without making eye contact. "He's asleep, so I don't know what you're going to get out of this."

  "Open it."

  George opened the rear doors of the van and gestured inside. "That's him. That's our captive. Not much to look at."

  "Open the cage."

  "Nope."

  "Open the cage. We're gonna drag his ass out of there and have a word with him."

  "Again: nope."

  "I wasn't asking permission."

  "And yet I withheld permission," said George. "Isn't it nutty how language works sometimes?"

  "Why are you acting like you have a choice?" the man asked.

  "Because, sir, I have a firearm. And if it takes a bloodbath to keep you nosy dipshits out of our business, I've got the four bullets I'll need to take care of the four of you, plus enough to spare to go in there and take out the cashier."

  "What about me?" asked a low and gravelly but feminine voice.

  George and Lou both glanced in that direction. A heavyset woman in her fifties, who probably hadn't materialized out of thin air but might as well have, stood about thirty feet away, holding a shotgun. It did not appear to be her first time wielding this weapon.

  "Jesus Christ," said George. "Did we stop at the gas station with the biggest social group in Mississippi?"

  "I asked, what about me?" the woman said.

  "Obviously, you've changed things. I'd like to believe that I could kill the four dumbasses before you blew me away with the shotgun, but that's wishful thinking. Would it work for me to take one of these guys as a hostage?"

  The woman shook her head.

  "Didn't think so." George lowered his gun. The woman did not lower her shotgun. Nor did she walk forward, offering the opportunity to distract her and then knock the weapon out of her hands. It was possible that Lou could make it back into the van before the woman shot both of them, but for George to make a run for it would be putting a lot of faith in the woman having terrible aim.

  "I really wasn't trying to start any of this," said the skinny guy. "I was just curious about where his hand went is all."

  "Open the cage," the man with one eyebrow repeated.

  "That's a bad, bad idea," said George. "I already told you that he's a killer. He's the most dangerous bounty we've ever captured. Why do you think he's in a cage? Why wouldn't we just cuff him? It's not safe to let him out."

  "There are four of us, two of you, and my ma with a shotgun. What is he, some kung fu master or something? What the hell is he gonna do? He can't throat-punch all of us."

  "I know we've only just met," said George. "But please trust me when I say that if you let him out of the cage, it'll be the worst mistake you've made in your life."

  "Clearly you haven't lived my life."

  "I'm not letting him out."

  "And we're not letting you leave. You say you're the good guys and he's the bad guy, but we don't know that. I see two men driving a van that has a prisoner in a cage, and I have to do a little more investigating before I can say which side has higher moral ground. You're not gonna convince me that I'm putting my life in danger by getting his perspective on the matter."

  "Open the cage," said the woman.

  "It's locked."

  "Unlock it."

  "That would be unintelligent."

  "How do you know Frank didn't call the cops before he started recording you? They're not quick around here, but every second you delay brings them one second closer."

  "I'm going to agree with what my associate is saying," said Lou. "We absolutely cannot let him out of the cage."

  "Unlock it," said the woman.

  "I don't have the key," said George.

  "No way are you traveling around with a man in a cage and no key."

  "It's inside the van."

  "Tell your friend to get it."

  "Lou, go get the key." Now George gave him a knowing look. Lou understood the plan. There was another gun in the van. Two guns versus the five of them was still terrible odds but better than setting Ivan loose.

  "No, no, we can't trust you," said the skinny guy. "Tell me where it is. I'll get it."

  "Fine," said George. "You've outwitted us. I've got the key. We'll let him out, but you need to have some tranquilizer darts ready. They're in the glove compartment."

  The skinny guy hurried over, opened Lou's door, and got the tranquilizer gun out of the glove compartment.

  "Give it to my associate," said George. "I don't know how good of a shot you are."

  "I'm better than a guy with one hand."

  "It only takes one hand to shoot a dart gun. I am not unlocking that cage unless somebody I trust is right there to drug him. That's not negotiable. Otherwise, we wait for the cops, or we turn this into that bloodbath we talked about earlier."

  "All right," said the skinny guy. "Have it your way." He handed the tranquilizer gun to Lou.

  George took the key out of his pocket, climbed inside the back of the van, and unlocked the cage. He swung open the door, grabbed Ivan by the feet, and dragged him over to the back doors.

  "This is him," said George.

  "Doesn't look like much," said the skinny guy.

  "Wake him up," said the man with one eyebrow.

  "Everybody step back," said George.

  Surprisingly, the men did as they were told. George patted Ivan a few times on the leg, while Lou kept the tranquilizer gun aimed at him, ready to squeeze the trigger at the slightest hint of a problem.

  Ivan opened his eyes.

  He yawned, sat up, yawned again, and smiled.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Some Explaining To Do

  "What's going on?" Ivan asked, sounding groggy.

  "We want to talk to you," said the man with one eyebrow.

  "Well, that sounds lovely." Ivan slid his legs over the edge of the van. He yawned again. "I apologize for all the yawning. I was in the middle of a nap. What would you like to speak with me about?"

  "Get your legs back where they were," said George.

  "Oh, yes, yes, of course," said Ivan, pulling his legs back up again. He winked at the man with one eyebrow. "He's a stickler for the rules."

  "Why are you in there?" asked the skinny guy.

  "You mean in the cage?"

  "Yeah."

  Ivan let out a high-pitched laugh. "Oh my goodness, you gentlemen must be so confused! Y
ou saw me lying asleep in a cage in the back of a van, with these two rough-looking men keeping me prisoner, and you thought the worst, didn't you?"

  "Uh, yeah."

  Ivan slid his legs over the side of the van again. "I need to stretch my legs," he informed George, as he hopped out of the vehicle.

  "Are you going to make me shoot you?" asked Lou, gesturing with the tranquilizer gun.

  "No. I'm not." Ivan walked in a small circle, then did a couple of jumping jacks. "Oh, yeah, that's better. Gotta get that blood flowing."

  "So, uh," said the skinny guy, "I guess we just kind of wanted to know why you were in the cage."

  "Are you asking if I was in there of my own free will?"

  "Yeah."

  "I was indeed. It's a kink thing. I doubt you'd understand."

  "They said you were a spree killer being taken to justice."

  Ivan nodded. "Role playing. I'm the savage little psycho killer, and they're the big, strong manly men taking me to get what's coming to me." He gave George a kiss on the shoulder. "I'm bad, and I need to be punished, and I'm sorry if it upset any of you to witness our playtime. Who do you all think is cuter? Some days it's Georgie for me, and other days it's Louie. Today is a Louie day. Who do you all prefer? Let's take a vote."

  Nobody participated in the vote.

  "Oh, jeez," said Ivan, looking over at the woman. "Please don't point that at me. It gives me a gooshy feeling in my stomach."

  The woman lowered the shotgun.

  "Well, if this is consensual, then there's nothing more to say," said the man with one eyebrow. "You three are adults, and this is America."

  "It's very consensual," said Ivan. "Oh, the consenting I do."

  "Do you have one of those safe word things?" asked the skinny guy.

  "Of course."

  "Is it stump?"

  "It is not."

  "Do you ever do, like, stump play?"

  The man with one eyebrow smacked the skinny guy on the back of the head, hard enough to knock off his baseball cap.

  "It was an honest question!" the skinny guy insisted. "If they're being so free with information why shouldn't we learn from their experience?"

  "I'm sorry we bothered you," said the man with one eyebrow. "It would've been irresponsible not to help a person in need. You have a good day now."

  "Our safe word is wolf," said Ivan. "Wolf. I'm saying it now, because I really need to stretch my legs."

  The men and Ma walked toward the gas station.

  "Hey," said George. "Tell the guy inside to delete the video."

  "Oh, he will. He won't want that on his phone."

  "Thanks."

  When everybody else was gone, Ivan smiled. "That went well, don't you think?"

  "It went great," said George. "Get back in the cage."

  "But I used the safe word."

  "Get back in the fucking cage."

  "No, George, I don't think I will. Our friends are still watching us. Now, Lou can shoot me with the dart, but I won't immediately drop unconscious. I'll have time to change. And if I can get in one or two really vicious swipes...well, I can do some damage. So you've got Lou screaming that his chest has been opened up, and you've got the people inside calling the police because they just saw a werewolf in action, and suddenly you have to call our buddy J.P. and explain that you've screwed the pooch."

  "We're not letting you go," said George.

  "I'm not asking you to release me. I'm more invested in this job than you are. I'm with you jolly fellows until the end. But I'm not getting back in the cage, and you're not going to shoot me with those darts again. In fact, Lou, throw the gun away. Right now."

  Lou shook his head. "No way."

  "Do you know what'll happen if you shoot and I dodge the dart? I will start a slaughter festival that makes what happened in Florida look like a paper cut. There will be an Olympic-sized swimming pool's worth of blood on your hands. If you don't miss, well, I may or may not have time to tear out your throat. I believe that I will." Ivan did a couple more jumping jacks. "Or, you can get rid of your toy, and we can proceed in a civil manner."

  "How do I know you won't try to kill me as soon as I drop the gun?"

  "If I intended to kill you, I would've done it when I had five extra victims. I would've transformed my arm, flung one of them at you, and started mauling away."

  "That's a very good point," said Lou.

  "We have the same goal," said Ivan. "I'm just not going back in the goddamn cage. And if that gun doesn't fall to the ground immediately I'm going to—"

  Lou dropped the tranquilizer gun.

  "Thank you. Let's get back in the van and be on our way."

  "We're just going to leave the gun on the ground?"

  "Sure, why not?"

  "A little kid could find it."

  "Then that child will learn an important lesson about personal safety."

  "My fingerprints are on it."

  "They aren't going to give the gun to the police. If anything, they'll use the dart to try to get high. We're wasting time. When J.P. checks in, I'd like to give him a good report." Ivan climbed into the back of the van and pulled the doors closed behind him.

  "Shit," said George.

  "Yeah," said Lou.

  * * *

  Ivan was mercifully quiet for the first three minutes of the drive. George and Lou were silent as well, since they couldn't really discuss this new development in front of the werewolf who was no longer their captive.

  "Pull over," said Ivan.

  "Why?" George asked.

  "Because I said to pull over. If we're going to work together, I'd like you to stop questioning everything."

  They hadn't yet made it back onto the highway. George pulled the van off to the side of the road. "Okay. I've cheerfully pulled over as you requested. Now what?"

  "Now we get rid of this cage."

  George decided not to argue. He wanted to keep the cage in the van just in case they were able to subdue Ivan, but if he protested, Ivan would think he wasn't acting in good faith. If they couldn't convince him that fingerprints on a tranquilizer gun were a problem, they wouldn't convince him that leaving a cage by the side of the road was a bad idea.

  They opened the back of the van. George and Ivan slid the cage out. Once it was completely out of the van George realized that it was way heavier than he expected. They walked with it for a couple of steps, then dropped it off the side of the road into the ditch.

  "Thanks," said Ivan. He climbed back into the van, then raised the seats that had been folded down to accommodate the cage. "Oh, yeah. Much better."

  "Everything set?" George asked.

  "Almost." Ivan climbed up into the front passenger seat. He opened the glove compartment and took out all of the tranquilizer darts. He got out of the van, then tossed them onto the ground next to the cage. "Can't have you trying to stab me with one of those."

  "What are people going to say if they see a cage with darts all around it?" asked Lou.

  "I'm guessing they won't say 'werewolf.' They might think a lion is on the loose. That'll be exciting for them, won't it?" Ivan got back into the van. "All right, let's head off."

  George and Lou got back into the van.

  "Anything else we can do for you?" George asked.

  "One more thing."

  * * *

  The three of them ate their hamburgers as they drove down the highway. Ivan had got both onion rings and French fries, plus a large strawberry milkshake. He seemed to be smacking his lips and slurping his drink more than necessary, but George decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just a noisy eater.

  "What's your favorite burger topping?" Ivan asked.

  "We're not interested in making casual conversation with you," said George.

  "Why be so pissy? Sure, you're in more danger now, but I'm not going to do anything if you don't. Doesn't it make you feel better, from a moral perspective, to have me sitting comfortably in the back seat inst
ead of in a cage? You can go through the drive-thru instead of having to go inside. I think we're all going to have a much more pleasant trip."

  "You think so? How do you think J.P. is going to respond to the news?"

  "Well, George, I guess I assumed that you wouldn't be sharing this little tidbit with him."

  "Maybe he should know about it."

  "I can't stop you. You know him better than I do. I'm sure he's the kind of person who stays perfectly calm when plans go awry. I will say that he's pretty thoroughly invested in keeping me around, and much less invested in keeping Lou around, if you know what I mean."

  "Actually, I don't," said George.

  "The Melt."

  "You know about that?"

  "Sure. Before I murdered that poor woman, I got plenty of information out of her. When you threaten people's eyeballs, they'll tell you pretty much whatever you want. The Melt might be bullshit. It might not. I'd rather not find out."

  "So here's a question, Mr. Ivan the Werewolf. What's to stop me from calling him up and telling him that you've escaped and that he needs to melt you as soon as possible?"

  "Well, Mr. George the Thug For Hire, he needs me enough that he'd probably go for capture over termination. And since he's tracking both of us, he'd see that we're in the same spot."

  "He's tracking the van, not me."

  "Is that so?"

  "Yeah."

  "Nobody in the compound did any medical work on you, huh?"

  "Shit."

  "I'm not going to tell you how to do your job," said Ivan. "But perhaps J.P. doesn't need to be kept in the loop."

  George's cell phone rang. He cursed and quickly answered.

  "How's everything going?" J.P. asked.

  "Fine. Ivan is being kind of lippy, but other than that everything is going smoothly."

  "You were stopped for a while."

  "We had really greasy burgers. My digestive system didn't approve. Would you like full reporting on what came out?"

  "You stopped again right after that."

  "More came out."

  "Put me on speaker."

  George touched the screen.

  "Ivan?" asked J.P. "How's everything?"