Chapter 71 #13
Once they were past the gravel road and back on asphalt, Jack put his foot down, and the vehicle raced along the road as if they were in a high-speed pursuit. Maybe they were, except they were chasing the remaining daylight.
When they reached Destiny Bay, Beth and Jack made their phone calls.
Neither of the rescued men asked to use a bathroom, and she noticed that Jack didn’t suggest it.
Since he had more experience dealing with humans who had become…
untethered…by their experience in Wyrd, she figured there was a strong possibility of the men bolting.
One of the men, anyway. She had a feeling they were going to have to drag the crier out of the vehicle in order to get him on the ferry.
Jack didn’t waste any time. The only thing he said to her as they were leaving Destiny Bay was “Focus on the need to get to Destiny Park quickly. Don’t think about anything else.”
Words had power here. Intentions mattered.
Whatever road Jack was taking now to get them to the park wasn’t going to take them through static neighborhoods, and with two men in emotional turmoil of one sort or another, Jack wanted her to stay focused on where they needed to go, while his focus was divided between driving a vehicle at a reckless speed and reaching their destination.
When they pulled into the part of the park that held a variety of vehicles, male Arcana swarmed around the car, opening the doors and pulling the rescued men out of the back seat.
Someone opened her door, but before Beth could snarl a warning, she recognized Ethan.
He didn’t reach for her, just looked relieved by whatever he saw in her face.
Beth stood with Ethan and watched while a man she assumed was a human doctor gave the rescued men a quick checkup before injecting them with a sedative. They were escorted to what looked like an old-time horse-drawn police wagon, complete with bars on the small windows and locks on the door.
She and Jack also rode in a horse-drawn cart, but it was open and practical.
“You and I have to escort them across the river,” Jack said. He handed her a slip of paper. “Give that to the police. It’s the sedative the doctor used to calm the humans enough to get them to Penwych. The medical people will need that information before they administer anything else.”
Beth memorized the name of the drug and the dosage used. When she had a chance, she’d talk to the doctor and find out what the standard procedure was when dealing with rescued individuals.
There was no private place on the ferry to stash the two men and keep them away from the rest of the passengers, but the men had been missing for several weeks and personal hygiene hadn’t been a priority, so she didn’t have to worry about other people getting too close to her charges, despite curious looks.
In fact, several of the passengers opted for outside seats after a few minutes.
She didn’t blame them. If she didn’t have to keep an eye on the men, she would be out there, too, especially after being in a vehicle with them for several hours.
When they reached the Penwych side of the river and the ferry docked, the other passengers hurried out of the cabin.
Beth, Jack, and the rescued men were the last ones to disembark, but they weren’t alone.
A handful of men waited to help her escort her charges to the other end of the pier, where Tom Castelletti and Ian Kuhn waited.
She wasn’t sure how many men normally worked on the ferry, but she didn’t question the need for them as they helped the rescued men reach the end of the pier.
They formed a phalanx around the rescued men, with Beth in the lead, the ferry’s crew on either side, and Jack in the rear. No one was going to break loose, run away, or jump into the water—at least not while the Arcana were still somewhat responsible for the fools.
Crewmen were replaced by cops, EMTs, and ambulance personnel.
Beth gave the medical personnel the information about the sedative and also emphasized the need for observation due to suspected emotional and mental trauma.
She also gave the information to Castelletti and Kuhn.
And she obeyed the one don’t-mess-with-me order she’d been given by Jack: she didn’t step one foot off the pier.
“Detective Fahey,” Jack said, coming up behind her. “We have to leave now.”
“We need her report,” Castelletti said.
Jack gave Castelletti a fierce smile. “She can write it up and send it to you.”
“She,” Beth growled, “can speak for herself.” She looked at the men who had been her colleagues.
If she didn’t leave now, she’d be stuck on this side of the river, and she really didn’t want to stay in Penwych tonight.
“We didn’t find Yaron Kali. We’ll be going back out at first light.
It’s better if I’m on Wyrd tonight. I’ll write up the report, although I’ve already told you what I can about the men we found during today’s search. ”
Castelletti stared at Jack. Then he looked at her. “Stay in touch.”
“I will.” She wondered if he was really concerned, or if he was bristling because something about Jack made him nervous.
Back on the ferry, Beth chose an outside seat and watched the crew efficiently cast off.
Jack took the seat beside hers. “We’ll be cutting it close.”
She glanced at his head. He nodded to acknowledge that the truth about the Arcana would probably be revealed before the ferry reached Wyrd.
“Are you going to join us for the evening meal?” he asked.
“Would it be considered rude if I didn’t?”
“That would depend on the reason.”
“What I’d really like to do is take a hot shower, get into my jammies, call for a meal from room service, and then read a book before falling asleep. Hopefully in that order.”
Jack grinned. “You’ve certainly earned some quiet time.
” He didn’t speak for a minute. “I’ll report to Lucas.
You do whatever you need to and get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll head out for some of the other neighborhoods, and we’ll be staying out for two or three days.
We may not find anyone else, Beth, but we’ll look. ”
She nodded. “They’d been missing for several weeks. After that much time, we were lucky to find two of them, weren’t we?”
“Yes, we were.”
There was still a chance that Detective Kali’s husband was alive. There was still a chance that they would find him. Maybe they would find the other two people who were still missing as well.
The ferry ride across the river didn’t take that long, but she didn’t object when Jack helped her off the ferry and escorted her to the hotel—not when she’d fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder and still felt groggy.
She also didn’t object to his insistence that she text him after she got out of the shower to prove she hadn’t fallen asleep again and drowned.
She wasn’t sure if that was Jack’s way of dealing with females in general or just a female who wasn’t pure Arcana.
Either way, he’d had a point. A lot had happened today, and she was exhausted.
It wasn’t until she was in bed with one of her cozy fantasy books that she realized that the bird with the woman’s face matched Ted Ocampo’s description of the bird that had killed Darren Palmer.
55
Beth wasn’t surprised when Lucas Frost sat down at her table before she finished breakfast. After all, Ethan Sharpe and Jack Frost had already swung by to take an inventory of what was on her plate.
“Are you checking up on me too?” she asked.
“Should I be?” he asked in return.
“I’m feeling a bit like the new puppy that everyone expects to trip over her own feet and land in her water bowl.”
Lucas’s laughter was loud enough to draw attention from everyone else in the hotel’s dining room.
“Not as bad as that,” he finally said, “but your position in terms of your work here hasn’t existed until now, so it’s not surprising that the men tasked with security around the park are trying to figure you out.
Besides, on your current assignment, Jack is responsible for your survival, and that’s not something he takes lightly. ”
“Did that order come from you?”
He didn’t answer the question, which made her think that Lucas wasn’t the one who had laid that burden on his brother.
“Think of Jack and Ethan as trainers, and you as the trainee,” Lucas said. “Didn’t the police assign you to work with an experienced officer when you first went out to perform your duties?”
She thought about the two jobs she’d had before getting the job in Penwych—the two jobs that hadn’t lasted through her probationary period for reasons no one wanted to explain. “Yes, they did.” And put that way, Jack’s and Ethan’s protective attitude toward a rookie made more sense.
“Besides,” Lucas added, “you making yourself a target for the harpy to split its attention unnerved Jack, who expected you to follow orders.”
“Would Jack have expected Ethan to stay back and let him stand on his own?”
Lucas smiled. “No, he wouldn’t. And he’s not foolish enough to think females aren’t dangerous or capable of protecting themselves.
Give him a chance to learn what you can do—and forgive him for the moments when he treats you like a puppy.
” His smile faded. “This choice you’re making to find the missing humans.
You don’t yet appreciate that your survival truly might be at stake.
Yesterday was the easy part. Listen to Jack. Believe what he tells you.”
They walked out of the dining room together.
Beth went up to her room to do the “personal necessaries,” as Jack called them.
She wondered if that was the typical way Arcana males referred to anything that involved female bodily functions, or if he was still trying to find a way to provide information without giving offense.