Page 36 of Lion Conquers All
“Keep them calm, Aarav. All of them.” Col gestured to the remaining crowd of people who had refused to leave the parking lot. “Give them something to do.”
“Yes,Vraka.”
Col left and Aarav turned back toward the problem at hand. They needed to avoid a panic. They needed to get out of the weather. The sheriff’s office wasn’t big enough for everyone, but they couldn’t stay in the parking lot either.
The temperature was dropping. Soon it would be snowing.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Katherine.
“Deputy?”
“I need the community center.”
There was a low chuckle from the female on the other end. “I figured. Send everyone over. Tables are out. We can set up whatever else you need. Send at least ten people home to get food.”
Aarav felt a heavy weight lift from his chest. “Thank you.”
“Deputy Di’Rham, what the damn hell is going on?”
Aarav whirled to find the sheriff climbing out of his patrol car. “Sir. We have two missing teens. Searches have been organized. We’re moving to the community center to get all the volunteers out of the approaching storm.”
The sheriff wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and frowned. The smell of whiskey on his breath was strong and the man was stumbling a little to the left as he walked.
He was drunk. Not a little drunk. A lot drunk.
“I’ll be in my office if you need me. Carry on.”
Aarav released the breath he’d been holding after telling him what was happening. The sheriff disappeared inside the building and not a single person spoke to him the whole way.
Everyone knew the sheriff was a drunk.
Everyone knew he got elected because his family made sure of it.
And everyone knew the onlyrealofficer of the law who cared about the town of Mystery was Aarav.
He had to find these kids. No matter what. He had to find them.
15
CONNIE
Connie handed out Styrofoam cups full of steaming hot coffee to the volunteers and friends and family to the Roberts and Hardisty’s. She paused at the map table. Every time one of the teams would check in, it would get marked off the list. Helen Tragher and her oldest were manning the maps right now.
The big black hand-held radio on the table crackled to life. “This is Veer checking in, Flat Rock blind is a negative.”
“Got it, thanks.” Oscar Tragher put a black line through the name of the blind on the long list and then drew a small black circle on the search map of the area that’d been taped to a large freestanding whiteboard. His mother was right next to him, checking over the list.
“It’s only been two hours and they’ve gotten to half a dozen of the blinds further up the mountain than anyone should’ve been able to get to three hours or more.” She leaned against the table, closer to Connie. “Veer and Ivann, Shenn and Raj…how are they moving so fast? Except it’s not just them. The other newcomers are moving just as fast. They’ve already checked three on their list while Ditrich and Grigory got to their first blind ten minutes ago. Those guys know that mountain. They grew up on the mountain.”
Connie didn’t have a good answer. The Reylean’s had promised not to shift, but it didn’t mean they still couldn’t out-hike and out-track any human on the planet. They were part predator.
“Connie. How did they know they could do more? Why did they get more assignments over others? Oh, and Ditrich and Grigory are headed back.” Helen kept her voice low, but she was like a wolf with a bone. She wasn’t letting it drop.
“Special training?” Connie gave a half smile and shrugged her shoulders. “Ex-military?”
“Maybe. But all of them? I mean, they certainly have that look. Like they’ve seen war. Especially the really new guys at the firehouse search and rescue. The newest ones. My husband has PTSD and those guys definitely have it too, but they are kind. I’ve never seen them lose their temper with anyone that didn’t deserve it. And I’ve seen them verbally tear apart a man, threaten him physically, and then turn and a millisecond later be sweet and polite to a woman. Like nothing had happened.”
“They have good standards.” Connie smiled. Out of any person in town, she knew she could trust the Reyleans who lived here never to hurt her or any woman. It was more than she could say for some of the human males in Mystery.
