He looked at Tad. You need to be out of here before those sirens get close. Can you change your appearance so no one will recognize you?
Tad nodded.
Change shape, then, Adam said. You understand that it wont just be the police coming here. Even the dumbest cop is going to see that there was magic afoot here. Were going to have government agents, and if they get a glimpse of what you can do, they are going to want you. You are too powerful for anyone to let you run around loose: human, shapeshifter, or fae. No one but your dad knows exactly how powerful you arelets leave it like that.
Tad changed like I dobetween one breath and the next. He was a little taller than usual and a lot handsomer. He looked cleancut and real. I wondered if hed stolen the appearance from someone or if he practiced in front of a mirror.
Thats good, said Adam. Go.
Thank you, I told him.
He grinned, and Tads grin looked odd on the strangers face. You arent supposed to thank the fae, Mercy. Youre just lucky I like you. Then he strolled casually outside and away.
Adam pulled out his cell phone. Jim. Get rid of all copies of the feed to Mercys garage after I hit Flores with the engine. Blur or get rid of anything that shows Mercys assistant after he left when she closed up.
Got it.
He hung up the phone and looked at me. Hed seen it faster than I had. Tad was incredibly powerful to do what hed done. He was also young, and with his father locked away in Fairyland (the Ronald Wilson Reagan Fae Reservations less respectful nickname), he was vulnerable: no one but family could know what he was. I looked at the sheet of aluminum, now crumpled and torn aside. It could have been an airplane or a tank or We needed to keep him safe.
The hole goes underground out to the parking lot.
He told me his name was Guayota, I saidand thats when I saw the naked dead man lying on the floor where a dead dog should have been.
I blinked twice, and he was still there, belly down, but his head turned to the side so I could see the single bullet hole in his forehead. My bullet hole.
Adam? I said, and my voice was a little high.
He turned his head and saw the man, too. Who is that?
I think, I said slowly, I think thats the dog I shot. I remembered that toointelligent, ancient gaze.
I saw it on my laptop on the way over, Adam said. You shot a dog.
It wasnt a dog. I gave a halfhysterical hiccough. Theyll arrest me for murder.
No, Adam said.
Are you sure? I sounded a little more pathetic than usual. My face hurt. My garage was in ruins that would make my insurance company run to find their Acts of God not covered clause. Id killed a dog that had turned into a naked dead guy, and someone had thrown a finger at me.
Flores essentially ate your gun, so no weapon for ballistics, Adam said. And you were attacked in your garage. He didnt say any more out loud, but I heard what he left unspoken. There wasnt a member of the local police department who hadnt seen or at least heard of the recording of what had happened to me in this garage before, if only because the imagery of Adams ripping apart the body of my assailant left a big impression.
His arms closed around me, and we both looked at the dead man. He looked like someones uncle, someones father. His body was spare and muscled in a way that looked familiar. Werewolves dont have extra fat on their bodies, either. They burn calories in the change from human to wolf and back, and they burn calories moving because a werewolf doesnt have the proper temperament to be a couch potato.
Sweetheart, Adam said, his voice a sigh as the first official car pulled into my parking lot. It was clearcut selfdefense.
I closed my eyes and leaned against him.
Hands up, said a shaky voice. Get your hands up where I can see them.
Adam let go of me and put his hands up. I turned around, stepping away from Adam so they could tell I wasnt armed. The man approaching us wasnt in uniform, but his gun was out. His eyes werent on me, all of his attention was for Adam. Of course, it didnt take a genius to figure out which one of us would be the bigger threat. If I looked like I felt, I looked tired, scared, and hurtI put my hands up anyway.
Mr. Hauptman? said the armed man, stopping just inside the bay door but in the middle of the open space so that the Passat didnt interfere with his ability to cover both of us. He was younger than me, and he was wearing slacks and a jacket and tie, which only made him look even younger. I noticed almost absently that true night had fallen in the short time between when Id first thrown open the bay doors and now.
Adam Hauptman? he said again. His voice squeaked, and he winced.
Keep your hands where we can see them, said another, calmer voice. This one was dressed in a cheap suit and held his gun as though hed shot people before. His eyes had that look that let you know hed shoot right now, too, and sleep like a baby that night. Agent Dan Orton, CNTRP. This is my partner, Agent Cary Kent. You are Adam Hauptman and his wife, Mercedes?