Page 59 of Mated to Team Shadow

When I ran into the city proper, a police car chased me, and then another joined him, and I had to change strategy. They'd have no problem shooting a wild animal. So I found an alley with a clothesline strung across it on which clothes hung to dry. I grabbed what I could with my teeth and fled with them flapping behind me. In a darker alley, I dropped the clothes and shifted and dressed.

Every bone and muscle ached. I've shifted four times today, and I had never done that. Shifting took a tremendous amount of energy, and I was ravenous and sick to my stomach from hunger at the same time.

I sat for a few minutes, gathering my breath and my thoughts, but soon pushed myself to my feet. I walked casually out of the alley to blend into the crowd on the narrow street. Then a gray-haired woman jabbering at me in heavily-accented English confronted me. She poked at the clothes I wore.

The policeman who had chased me earlier pulled up.

"Is there a problem?"

"Thief, thief!" the woman cried.

In a flash, he put handcuffs on me and stuffed me in the back of the police car.

"Why did you steal those woman's clothes?" asked the police officer. He spoke in English accented with a rolling rhythm as the car drove through the streets.

"Someone stole mine. I didn't want to walk around naked."

"Are you American?"

"Yes."

"And you lost your wallet and ID?"

"Yes," I said with some relief. He at least sounded helpful.

"What hotel are you staying in?"

"I'm not. I just got here, and well…"

He shook his head. "Street gangs are nasty here, like America, eh? You should know better than to walk around an unfamiliar place."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Well, you must face the magistrate, but I can arrange a phone call to the American Embassy in Barbados."

"There isn't one here?"

"Americans," he huffed. "Thinks the world belongs to them. No. Your government keeps a consulate in Barbados. That's who you must appeal to for help."

"That's fine," I said. All I needed was the phone call, and I could get the ball rolling. And I hoped he hurried because there was no telling what Melkot was doing to my team.

We reached the police station, and he led me up into the building, and my head snapped up. A familiar scent reached my nose, and I stared at the police desk and could not believe my eyes.

"Look, Sid," she said with her hand wrapped around the handle of a phone handset. "The police station is the only place that's letting me place calls, and that's only because if I don't get some papers, they will jail me. They are big on immigration issues here. No worse than that. You're my boss and supposed to help me. Yes, I know that I left without your permission, but this is a huge story. Yes, I've tried to reach the consulate in Barbados, but no one seems to be available. My money and my passport are in St. Lucia at my hotel. I need some money, some help to get another passport. Yes, it's a big story, and it's all yours, but I can't write it until I get out of Dominica."

"Jeanine?"

She spun around, and her eyes grew wide. "Kane? What? Sid, I've got to go. Just wire me the money to the Western Union office, okay? Bye." She stared at me. "Why are you in handcuffs?"

"Do you know this man?" said the constable.

"Yes, he's my—"

"Husband, I'm her husband. Baby? I've been looking all over for you. Thank God you are okay."

She rushed to me and put her arms around me. "Kane, oh my God. I thought—"

"Shh, shh," I said. "It's okay now."

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