Cole counted up Brianne’s money. She had thirty-eight bucks and the debit card. He handed the cash to Lambert and said, “Get as much food and water as you can with this. Don’t attract attention. If there’s trouble, run for the highway and I’ll pick you up. Come to think of it, wait until I’m done pumping the gas.”
“You wanna pump somethin’?” the inmate grunted. “Then follow me into the toilet.” With that, he stuffed the cash into his waistband and headed for the main building of the truck stop.
Cole felt a tension in his belly that had nothing to do with the tendrils wrapped around his guts as he slid Brianne’s debit card through the reader on the pump. The fact that he was probably being taped by a security camera didn’t bother him, since stealing a tank of gas barely qualified as legal trouble anymore. He was more concerned that the card would be denied for some reason. It wasn’t, so he topped off the tank. By the time he was done, Lambert still hadn’t shown up. Cole couldn’t see any signs of a commotion through the front window of the truck stop, so he pulled off to another parking space and dug out the phone from where he’d tucked it away.
Before he touched a single button, he reminded himself that it wasn’t his phone. Considering what had happened, it was more than likely that the cops or somebody would be monitoring calls made on Waylon’s line. Even if they didn’t do so now, the records would be there if anyone decided to do it later.
“God damn it,” Cole grumbled as he chucked the phone out the window.
His luck changed for the better when he found three folded ones and about four more dollars in change stuffed into Brianne’s ashtray. Since Lambert still hadn’t reappeared, he walked up to a bank of three pay phones outside the building. Peeking in past a faded cardboard advertisement for Ding Dongs in the window, he saw cash registers, soda machines, snack bars, showers, a metric ton of unhealthy snack foods, and a line for the restrooms. Scraping up enough cash to make a call had been fortunate. Discovering even one of those phones to be in working order was something close to a miracle. He dialed a number from memory and got an answer right away.
“Midwestern Ectological Group, this is Stu.”
“Hey! I was hoping I wouldn’t have to get transferred a hundred times to get ahold of you.”
“Cole? Is that you?”
“Yep.” Before he could say another word, the connection crackled and there were several clicks that made him wonder if he’d been disconnected. Since his legal troubles were extraordinary even for a member of a group with rampant issues at the moment, it could also have been a new MEG policy where Skinners were concerned.
When Stu’s voice returned, it was a little tinnier, but twice as excited. “Can you hear me okay?”
“Yes.”
“I’m using some new equipment that should make certain nobody’s listening in on us.”
“Are your phone lines being tapped?” Cole asked.
“I don’t know, but with all that’s been going on, we figured a little extra security wouldn’t hurt. Where the hell are you, man?”
“Did you hear about what happened in Colorado?”
“Of course I heard!” Stu said. “It’s all over the news! When they’re not showing clips of those two things running away from all that wreckage, they’re comparing it to archive footage from K.C. The video is still coming in. It’s shaky and doesn’t really show a lot as far as those creatures are concerned, but the online footage is impressive. I don’t know who leaked it, but it’s like a damn movie! Cops are shooting and running around a bunch of trashed cars, with the prison walls crumbling behind them and those two big guys just turn into some kind of four-legged bear things and jump completely out of the frame. Epic!”
Cole couldn’t exactly hold it against Stu for getting so excited. Considering the MEG guys spent most of their time sifting through black and white footage of empty rooms or surveillance videos of supposed Bigfoot sightings, actual recordings of werewolves fleeing the scene of a major attack was bigger than a jackpot. It was hitting the cryptozoological Power Ball.
“Is that all the video there was?” Cole asked. “Just those two running away?”
Stu’s voice dropped as if he was on the razor’s edge of squealing with glee. “Do you have anything else for us? I mean, you were there in the middle of it, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I knew that wasn’t you wrapped up in that trial!”
“What trial?” Cole asked as a new urgency rushed through him.
“The trial in the news. There’s reports of you being put on trial for what happened to those cops, but no footage. Just a lot of talk about court dates, testimony, and you being held in federal custody until you’re put in front of a judge. That’s all crap, though, right?”
“Look,” Cole said impatiently, “whatever’s on the news, whatever’s on the Internet, whatever’s being gossiped about or shown on TV, it just doesn’t matter anymore. I need a favor.”
“Wait a second. If you’re not in prison and you’re not surrounded by cops, does that mean you’re running from those things that were on TV? Were those Full Bloods?”
“No, I’m not in prison, and yes, those were Full Bloods.” Before Stu launched into an overexcited meltdown, Cole asked, “Do you know where Paige is?”
“Oh! I just talked to her! She’s in Oklahoma! That’s a whole other story! Wait’ll you hear this!”
Cole looked inside for Lambert and found him sniffing around the snack food aisle. “No time for stories,” he said. “I need to get in touch with some Skinners in the area, and since Paige isn’t nearby, I need someone who’s close and can get to me real fast. Can you do this now or should I give you some time?”
“I can call three more people, balance my checkbook, and play some War Mutant co-op online while talking to you.”
“ War Mutant ?” Cole scoffed. “You’re into that game? I thought you had taste.”
“Just because it’s not from Digital Dreamers doesn’t mean it’s bad. Besides, the new patch they just released fixed a lot of those matchmaking issues.”
More than once Cole had entertained the idea of going back to Seattle and trying to reclaim his position at Digital Dreamers, Inc. After all that had happened recently, he’d be lucky if Jason would ever talk to him again. For now, he could only indulge in some quick geeky banter. Suddenly, even that felt strange. It was like putting on an old skin. Those things never fit right and they all stank after being left alone for too long.
As always, Stu had a knack for keeping Cole on his toes. “Did you escape from prison?”
Deciding it would save time if he didn’t attempt to deflect that question, Cole said, “Yeah.”
“That’s so freaking cool! All right. Let me see here.” From the other end of the digital connection came the tapping of frantic fingers on a keyboard. Every now and then Stu would mutter to himself, but Cole didn’t interrupt the process. Before too long Stu declared, “Found a few that might be what you’re after. There’s someone named Maddy. Last time she checked in, she’d just flown into Arizona from Jersey.”
“Who else? Someone in Colorado or close to it.”
“There’s some guys who used to work out of Kansas, but they dropped off the grid years ago.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just what I said,” Stu replied. “Not all of you guys report in regularly. Some are real jerks. I don’t think they trust us. Anyway, those guys from Kansas aren’t a very safe bet but Jessup is usually pretty reliable.”
“Jessup? I think I met him in Philly.”
“That’s the one! He went out there to get what he could from all of that Lancroft loot.” After a few more taps Stu added, “Looks like Jessup isn’t available or he’s outside of coverage. Could be his phone is off. If you’ve got stuff to do, I can keep trying and let him know you’re looking.”