Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson #5)(19)
Author: Patricia Briggs

Adam slipped on a pair of sunglasses – but he kept his gaze on the bounty hunter as Heart came to his feet. Adam took a step back when Heart offered a hand to his cameraman, and his foot crunched on something.

Adam knelt, a graceful movement, over in a moment. When he stood up, he was holding the camera.

"I’m afraid this didn’t survive the fall."

The cameraman made a moaning sound as if someone had hit him. He snatched the camera and tucked it against his belly as if that could somehow make it better.

Adam looked at the cameraman, then beyond him to the van, where Heart’s people were frantically conferring. He glanced at Ben. When he had the other werewolf’s attention, he motioned toward the van with his chin. As simply as that, he let Ben know that he wanted him to go keep tabs on Heart’s crew. Adam didn’t leave things to chance, and he wouldn’t ignore possible hostiles on the other side of the parking lot.

"I am sorry for scaring you," Kelly told me, sincerely. This time he was lying. "And for upsetting the children." He wasn’t worried about that either. I wondered how many people actually believed that sincere act.

A pair of police cars, followed by Tony’s truck, pulled into the parking lot.

"No sirens," said Adam. "Probably Tony didn’t tell them about the gun."

Sam stepped around me, making me bump into the door. I dropped one hand and wrapped it in the ruff of his neck – no way was I stupid enough to grab his collar. My touch was a request, not an order . . . but Sam had already stopped beside me. He surveyed the approaching police from the top of the steps, a position that was higher than theirs.

Sam, Heart paid attention to. He glanced longingly at Zee – because the gun was out of sight – and took a step away from the werewolf.

"This is a misunderstanding," he said in a voice designed to carry to the approaching police. "My fault."

I saw the moment the first officer on the scene recognized him because his eyes rounded, and his voice was a little awed as he told the older patrolmen who followed him, "It’s all right, Holbrook, Monty. It’s Kelly Heart, the bounty hunter from TV."

Monty was probably Tony, whose last name was Montenegro. That would make the older cop Holbrook.

"Green," said the older man quietly – I don’t think any of us were supposed to hear him. "It’s not all right until you find out what’s going on. I don’t care if the president himself is in front of you." But then Holbrook took a good look at us, all standing with our hands plainly visible and in the relaxed fashion of people who had not almost killed each other five minutes before. We, all of us, were pretty good at lying with our bodies. "Now, go call it in and tell them situation under control."

Green turned without argument, leaving Tony and Holbrook to approach us alone.

"Mercy?" Unlike the other officers, Tony wasn’t in uniform. He was wearing a dark jacket over black jeans, and he wore diamond studs in his pierced ears and looked more like a drug dealer than a cop. "What happened?"

"He came into the office and saw my friend here." I rested my hand on Sam’s head. I couldn’t call him by name. Tony knew Dr. Samuel Cornick, knew he was my roommate – and wouldn’t have any trouble connecting him with a wolf named Sam. And calling him Snowball at this juncture was only going to draw attention to the fact that I was hiding his identity. "And assumed that any werewolf was a danger."

"That’s a werewolf?" asked the older cop, who suddenly looked a lot more wary. His hand crept to his holster.

"Yes," I agreed steadily. "And as you can see – despite Heart’s precipitous actions" – I didn’t tell them what his precipitous actions had been, though Tony’s mouth tightened, so I was pretty sure he knew about the gun – "my friend here kept his head. If he hadn’t, there would be bodies." I looked at Heart. "Some people might learn from his example of self-control and good judgement."

"He’s dangerous," said Kelly. "I wouldn’t have sh – " He suddenly decided to leave the gun out of it, too, and switched tactics without bothering to finish his sentence. "I have a warrant authorizing the apprehension of the werewolf."

"No, you don’t," I told him confidently. No way did he have a warrant for Sam.

"What?" said Tony.

"A werewolf?" said the older cop. "I don’t remember hearing anything about a warrant on a werewolf."

He whistled and waved, catching the attention of the young cop who was walking briskly back toward us.

"Green," he said, "you hear anything about a warrant out for one of our local werewolves?"

The young man’s eyes widened. He looked at me, looked at Sam, and came to the right conclusion. Sam wagged his tail, and the police officer straightened up, his face going impersonal and professional. I recognized the look – this one had been in the armed forces.

"No, sir," he said. He wasn’t afraid, but he was watching Sam closely. "I would have remembered something like that."

"I have proof," the bounty hunter said, nodding toward the van. "I have the warrant in the van."

Tony’s eyebrow went up, and he glanced at the other cops. "I can tell you for certain that we haven’t had any werewolves arrested and let out on bail. Since when does our department give arrest warrants to bounty hunters? I’m inclined to agree with Mercy – you must be mistaken."

Holbrook kept his attention on Sam, but Green and Tony both showed better sense.

"Officer Holbrook," I said, "you could make things a lot easier on my friend here if you didn’t look him in the eye. He won’t do anything." I hoped. "But the wolf instincts tell him that direct eye contact is a challenge."

Holbrook looked at me. "Thank you, ma’am," he said. "I appreciate the information."

"The warrant’s in the van," said Heart. "I can have my assistant bring it here."

While the police were talking to Heart and me, Adam, Zee, and Gabriel had been doing their best to fade into the background. But I caught motion out of the corner of my eye: Zee, catching Adam’s attention. When he had it, he tilted his head toward the storage yard across the street.

Like Adam, I followed Zee’s gesture with my eyes and spotted it right away. On top of the nearest storage unit was something that blended in with the red metal roof. With enough glamour, a fae can take on the appearance of any living thing, but something inanimate – like a roof – is harder. I couldn’t see what he or she was, just that something was there. It took less than an instant, and I pulled my eyes away quickly so as not to alert the fae creature of our notice.