Page 86 of Red Boar's Baby

“There,” Costa said. He pointed. Diana caught a brief glint of moonlight, far off down the road, reflecting off something in the dark. Costa was right, they weren’t using headlights.

“Where’s the gate?” Diana asked.

“Down here. Come on.”

They went swiftly off the porch and across the edge of the yard. Her eyes were adjusting to the moonlight. She couldn’t see the cars from here, but suspected they would be in sight soon enough.

Costa stopped at the pole that normally held a light to flood the yard. There was a high fence and a large metal gate. Together, he and Diana swung it shut with a screech of rusty hinges. A heavy old padlock dangled from the gate. Costa snapped it shut.

“Hope somebody still has a key, or we’ll have to cut that off,” he muttered.

The sound of engines was growing louder. Costa turned to Diana.

“There’s a reason I wanted you to come with me for this,” he said quietly. “We may or may not be able to raise anyone on the CBs; I don’t know if the signal will make it out of the canyon. So I want you to go for help. Shift and fly to a neighbor, see if you can find someone with a working phone. They’ve obviously cut the lines, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re also using some kind of jammer, like they did on the plane the other day.”

“I’m not going to leave you,” Diana retorted.

“The best thing anyone can do is get help from the SCB. And you can fly.”

“So can Farley. Send him.”

“I’ll go,” Farley offered. “I really do want to help you guys. I mean it this time.”

“I don’t trust you,” Costa snapped. “And I want her?—”

“Out of danger?” Diana interrupted. “Too bad.” She grabbed his hand. “We’re a team. And we don’t have time to spend arguing. We need to get moving.”

Costa sighed. He turned to Farley.

“Fine. From here, if you can get your wings to work, the fastest way is cross-country.” He pointed. “There are several houses along the road. Get to the nearest house, find a phone, tell the SCB what’s going on. And in particular, tell them to get Agent Azarias Caine out here. He can be here fastest.”

“Azarias Caine,” Farley repeated. “All right. I’m on it.”

He started stripping off his clothes. Costa grabbed his arm.

“Everyone I care about most in the world is here,” he said between his teeth. “If you betray us, you won’t be able to run far enough or fast enough to get away from me.”

Farley nodded without speaking. A moment later, his pale, naked body dropped to a crouch and vanished; the wolverine was nearly invisible in the dark. Diana sensed motion, and there was the sharp snap of his wings unfurling. It took some heavy flapping, but he got off the ground, and she saw him flying low across the rocky ground beside the road.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t get turned around,” Costa muttered. “That’s a last resort, but we won’t count on him.”

“Boss! Here!” Delgado arrived and pressed a walkie-talkie into his hand.

“Great. At least we have short-range communications. You got your gun?”

“Yeah,” Delgado said. “Do you want?—”

“No. I want you stationed here at the gate, in the shadows where they can’t see you. Darkness works both ways,” he added grimly. “It covers them, but it also covers us.”

Delgado nodded and fell back, just as the glint of moonlight on darkened headlights and a roar of engines announced the arrival of several vehicles on the other side of the gate.

“Stay with her,” Costa told Diana under his breath.

“What are you going to?—”

Costa interrupted in what she was coming to think of as his “leader of the SCB” voice. “I’ll talk to them.”

Diana’s urge to protest faded in the face of his obvious determination. Delgado was starting to make a protesting noise from the inky shadows alongside the gate.

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