So we flew United to Dayton (uneventful), rented a Prius (time-consuming), and made our way to the Ryan’s address (only getting lost twice).
It was a three-story house on a tree-lined street with autumn leaves covering the big front lawn. Rachel parked down the block.
“So now what, Kemo Sabe?” She turned off the motor.
“Hell if I know, Tonto.” I peered at the front porch. The car smelled as if the last renter had smoked too many cigarettes. It gave me a craving that I tried to ignore. I’d smoked a long time ago. “What do we know about Ryan?”
She looked at her phone. “Let’s see, let’s see—here he is. Contracts lawyer. Fifty-two, married to Eileen Ryan, formerly Wren, maybe a Raen herself. Twenty-seven years. Not sure how he hooks into the family tree, mostly because I can’t magnify it on this phone. Want me to get my laptop?”
“Not yet. I peered at the sky, hoping to spot Nerina through the clouds. I crossed my arms. “So we’ve got at least two options—go up and knock on the door and ask if they’re holding Roman prisoner, or, you know . . . wait and watch. You got anything else?”
“Call Georgeanne? We know she’s here.”
It was tempting. But . . . “We’re trying to keep a low profile. Maybe later?”
Rachel punched my arm. “That’s twice you’ve been right today. Don’t make it a habit.”
“Yeah, my streak is probably about to end.” I rubbed my arm. “The key to being a good detective is knowing when to wait.” Also keeping a wide-mouthed empty bottle somewhere in the car on a stakeout. I’d snagged one while waiting for the car, without telling Rachel why. I hope it wouldn’t get to that.
She flicked through her phone. “Can we listen to music?”
“Keep it low. No punk rock.”
Rachel chortled and hit a key. “How’s this?”
Lou Reed. “Perfect.”
So we waited.
After three hours, Rachel yawned. “Is being a private eye always this exciting?”
“You’d rather be fighting vampires?” I stretched. Night was dropping. No sign of Nerina. No activity in Ryan’s house, although lights were coming on.
She sighed. “I guess not. I’m going to have to go to the bathroom soon.”
I wasn’t sure if my bottle would work for her. I’ve never understood how female detectives do it. “There was a gas station a few miles back—”
“I’ll hold it.” She grunted. “For now.”
The street was quiet and dark. A crow circled overhead, just beneath the clouds. A few more songs went by. I saw two cars pulling into driveways.
Then a black van pulled up behind us. Oh shit.
Rachel straightened her shoulders. “Is that . . .?”
The Rossini always drove black vans. I twisted around.
The van’s back door opened. A black shape jumped out onto the street and walked quickly to our rented Prius. I hit the “unlock” button on the doors. After one or two tries, the lock opened. It was a different car, after all.
“Hi, guys.” Georgeanne slid into the back seat. A tall blond woman, she wore tight camouflage pants, high boots, and a black jacket, zipped up to her neck. Probably hiding the handgun she usually carried under her arm. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” I glanced around to smile at her, then went back to keeping an eye on the Ryan house. “You were here in Ohio first.”
Georgeanne sighed. Then she unzipped her jacket, reached inside, and pulled out a handgun as a small cannon. “We’re trying to stop a war.”
My shoulders clenched. “Uh, Georgeanne? Could your please put the gun away?”
“Sorry, no.” Georgeanne set the weapon in her lap. “We’re all on edge.”
“Me too.” Rachel twitched in her seat. “I really need to go to the bathroom.”
I sighed. “So what the hell’s going on?”
She shook her head. “The Raen are getting more aggressive. They’re capturing our people. Two days ago they attacked us in Urbana. Don’t worry—” She looked at me. “Carole’s fine, but Patricia? She got killed, and Luisa got taken prisoner. I know you don’t know them.”
She shook her head, rushing on. “Last night Carole sent a mission to a house in Indiana. It was supposed to be empty, but it blew up. Killed two Rossini, and they got another one. His name’s Roman.”
“Yeah.” Rachel grimaced. “We know about Roman.”
“Okay. We don’t know why the Raen are escalating. There’s nothing in the stars, no asteroids coming near the earth, the Star is safe, thanks to you . . .” She looked at the house. “It’s like the Raen are trying to draw us out.”
“Or they’re trying to trap Nerina. Again.” I shook my head. “She’s a kid. This isn’t Iraq, it’s Ohio.”
“And right now it’s Ground Zero.” She pointed a finger at the house across the street. “Andy’s trying to negotiate to get Roman and Luisa out of there. But if Nerina flies down and starts killing people to get her boyfriend out—this whole thing could erupt.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Were you ever 19 and in love for the first time? What did you expect?”
“I’m 24, and I’ve had had two boyfriends. And one girlfriend, too.” Georgeanne winked at her. What? “But that’s not the point. We have to stop Nerina before she starts an all-out war that spills out of the shadows. Some of the Rossini want to do it anyway, after Patricia and the others, even if Andy makes a deal for Luisa and Roman. Nerina could be the tipping point.”
I hesitated. “Is there any chance that Roman could be Raen?” That’s how they’d gotten hold of Nerina in the first place—through her previous boyfriend, Ben.
But Georgeanne shook her head. “We know him. He’s totally with us.”
That was good news. For Nerina, at least. “So what do you want from us? Are you ordering us out?”
“No!” Georgeanne gripped my shoulder. “Nerina trusts you.”
“Fine.” Rachel turned on the motor. “I’m going to find a gas station. Tom can wait with you while I—”
“Wait.” I pointed.
The sun was gone, and the clouds were black. But a small dark shape was gliding down, wings spread. “It’s her.”
Rachel grunted in frustration. “Damn it.”
The doors of the black van behind us popped open, but Georgeanne was already out on the street. “Hold back!” she ordered, waving a hand. “We don’t want to spook her.”
Rachel and I climbed out. “You okay?”
She bit her lip. “I’ll be fine.”
We crossed the street with Georgeanne. She slipped her handgun back under her arm, but I’d seen how fast she could draw it. I hoped she wouldn’t have to.
Nerina landed near the curb, bending over. We watched her body shudder and shake as she shifted back to her human form.
She wore jeans, sneakers, and a denim jacket. She trembled in the cold. Then she leaned back for a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, as if getting ready to shift again.
“Nerina!” I called, hoping not to attract attention inside the house. “It’s Tom and Rachel!”
“And me! Geogeanne!” She trotted in front of us.
Nerina turned. “What are you—” She waved a hand. “Don’t try to stop me.”
“You’re exhausted.” Rachel grabbed Nerina’s shoulder. “You flew all the way here from Indianapolis? We took an airplane, and we’re tired as hell.”
Nerina pulled away. “Roman’s in there. I can . . . I have to get him out. I can hear him screaming—”
“Wait a minute, Nerina.” Georgeanne was right next to her now. “Let us take care of this.”
“Yeah.” I said it to both Nerina and Georgeanne. “It could be a trap.”
“No!” Nerina pounded a foot. “I don’t care! I have to—”
“Oh, it’s definitely a trap.” The voice came from outside the door.
Suddenly three Raen monsters surrounded us—a huge dog with horns jutting from its forehead, a furry beast almost nine feet tall with long fangs and jagged claws, and a metallic robot whose arms ended in sharped, curved samurai swords.
The van’s doors slammed on the street behind us. Georgeanne drew her handgun. I knew the rest of her soldiers were heavily armed, too.
“Hang on a minute.” I staggered on the street. “Remember what you said about starting a war?”
“Shut up!” A tall woman in graying hair marched down the steps of the Ryan house. She wore a long flowing green skirt that blew up from her ankles in the light evening wind. “You know your guns won’t hurt our monsters! All we want is Nerina! You can all stand down!”
“Not going to happen,” Georgeanne said.
Nerina twirled around on her toes like a ballerina. As fatigued as she was, she looked ready to shift again and take all three monsters on simultaneously.
I glanced over my shoulder. The Rossini from the van—two women, one man, all in black ninja-like outfits and armed with assault rifles, didn’t look like they were ready to stand down.
And Rachel and I were in the crossfire. Nerina, too, but she could shift and take pretty good care of herself. I lifted my hands. “Wait! Wait!”
For a moment—thank God—everyone froze.
Nerina crouched, hands on her knees as if about to collapse. “All I want—is Roman.”
The woman—Eileen Cameron?—nodded. “Come inside, Nerina.”
“Not alone.” But Georgeanne slid her handgun back under her jacket. “Guys! Wait out here!”
Rachel put a hand under Nerina’s arm and helped her stagger forward. The monsters stepped back, but didn’t fade away. I followed them, Georgeanne behind me, up the steps onto the porch.
“Eileen Cameron? Tom Jurgen.”
A thin smile answered me. “I know who you are. You’re on our list of troublemakers.”
I’ve been on that list most of my life. “This is my—associate. Rachel.”
“Girlfriend.” Rachel was holding Nerina up. “Don’t mess with him, or you’ll see what a monster really looks like. By the way, can I use your bathroom?”
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