Page 60 of Red Boar's Baby

Farley didn’t quite look at them. “Little of both.”

“You mean kidnapping?” Diana asked, leaning forward. “Like V—like your friend told us about, Costa?”

“Sounds like it,” Costa said grimly. “You know, Farley, that immunity offer may not remain on the table, depending on how actively you’ve been aiding and abetting a series of felonies.”

Farley straightened up, holding his injured arm awkwardly against his chest. “Look, have you ever been involved in something like this? It’s a slippery slope. First you take a few shifter-related jobs for a surcharge. The boss isn’t a shifter, but he knows about us, so Morty and me, we handled the shifter-type work, dealing with shifter clients who were more comfortable with a shifter pilot. And we got paid a little extra. Then Thornburg goes hey, I got a more sensitive job for you, and I know you can handle sensitive jobs. So we do that one, and the money’s really good, and soon you start feeling like it’s all okay, you know?”

“Yeah, until planes start falling out of the sky, and passengers start falling out of them,” Costa said. “Do you have any idea what happened to your buddy Morty? That wasn’t just a regular crash, was it? Know anything about it?”

Farley sighed.

“Knowing Morty, he probably grew a conscience. See, that’s the other thing, the deeper in you get, the more the boss reminds you that as long as we all work together, nothing bad happens to anybody. But he does have connections. People like Jim come from his connections. So no, I don’t know what happened to Morty, because I kept my head down and didn’t go out of my way to find out what happened to Morty—understand?”

“Coward,” Diana accused him.

Farley’s face twisted in anger, but then he leaned back against the boulder and just looked tired. “Yeah, probably. Maybe I should’a walked a while back. But it’s a good job, good benefits, and the extra money can send both of my kids to good colleges and fund my mom’s retirement. We never had much, and now we have a better life. I guess that’s the other thing Thornburg counts on. My wife is disabled and can’t work, so without me, they wouldn’t have anything.”

“You have kids?” Costa said quietly. “How old?”

“Ten and thirteen.”

“Tough ages,” Costa said. He looked at Diana, then up at the rapidly purpling sky. The sun had slipped away while they were talking, and the night’s chill was rising. The burning plane had died down to a flicker, the smoke smudge vanishing in the darkening sky. “Well, Farley, I can’t say I approve of your life choices, but I promise you I’m going to do my best to make sure your kids get their dad back.”

“Wewill,” Diana said. “But you’re going to help with our investigation once you do.” She paused. “Just one thing. You didn’t help burn down anyone’s house lately, did you?”

“No!” Farley said.

“I didn’t think so, but I had to make sure.”

“Whose house burned down?” he asked, looking at her.

“Mine. Because people who I guess are Thornburg’s ‘connections’ are after me.”

“There’s a chance they’ll be after you and your family too, so we’ll make sure we arrange protective custody for your wife and kids once we’re back to civilization,” Costa said. “And in the interests of getting back safe and sound, or in your case safe and sound-ish, I think we should all shift now. Here’s what we’ll do—you stay here, as a wolverine, since you’ll have trouble walking on three legs. We’ll go out foraging and bring you back something to eat. Also water if we can, though you might have to get there on your own in the morning. We don’t have anything to carry it in.”

Farley nodded earnestly. “I just appreciate you guys helping me. I’m sorry about all of the—you know.”

“I’m glad theyou knowdidn’t go any farther than it did,” Costa said grimly. “Because I can guarantee you wouldn’t be getting our help if anything had happened to either of us.” He stood up and picked up the gun, sticking it into the waistband of his jeans. “Okay, we’ll be back in a little while with whatever we can find. Need anything in the meantime?”

Farley shook his head. “I’ll be pretty comfortable here as a wolverine, I guess. There’s some dry grasses. It’s not bad.”

He squirmed a bit, trying to get some of his clothes off, then shifted abruptly into a large hump of dark brown and paler fur that snorted and shuffled around on three legs. Eventually, he curled up awkwardly in a nest made of his discarded clothes.

Diana and Costa walked up the hill. She picked her way carefully, wincing now and then.

“The barefoot thing is gonna be a problem if we have to walk for any length of time,” Costa said softly.

“I know. I was thinking I might shift and have you carry me. Or scout ahead as a bird.”

She looked back. Below them, the valley was cloaked in shadow; only the mountains rising above it still caught some light. They could make out the location of the crash by a few glowing patches where the metal had been heated by the fire. The smoke would have been conspicuous in the daytime. But they had precious little time for it to be seen before the rapidly advancing darkness, and by morning it would have dissipated.

“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” Diana said, low.

“Not nearly as much trouble as we’d be in if we weren’t shifters,” Costa pointed out. “We can get food and survive out here just as effectively as the animals we shift into.”

“You’re being very optimistic about that. I’ve never actually hunted as a roadrunner, and do you see any wild pig tracks around here? Because I don’t.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that. We can survive until people come to find us. As humans, I’m not sure we could make it through a couple of days, especially since you have almost nothing to wear. As animals, we’ll be fine in the short term. Uncomfortable, but fine.” He stopped at a cluster of boulders with a nice view of the valley. “Let’s leave our stuff here, tucked underneath. It’s not precisely that I don’t trust Farley, but, well, I don’t trust Farley. Especially if he gets the gun.”

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