The cell phone buzzed for attention.
“Okay,” Jess said. “I’ve got something.” A painful silence followed for a few seconds. “Go to Tony’s Convenience over at Sterling and McCaster. It’s west of Yonge Street by about three blocks.”
Bran stepped away, lifting his hand and pointing at the traffic.
“What’s the red flag?” I scowled as a pair of cabs sped on by, ignoring us.
“Guy came in to buy diapers and formula bouncing a baby on his hip like a sack of potatoes. Seemed uneasy and didn’t look comfortable carrying the baby.”
“Pretty thin.” I watched Bran flip the bird at another cab charging through the intersection without slowing down.
“Best we got right now. Guy also bought smokes—might be Camels but Tony wasn’t sure. We’ll check the receipt when we get there but he didn’t approve of the guy smoking round the baby. That’s what made him even more memorable, puffing like a chimney in the kid’s face. Not too many idiots doing it these days, thank God.”
“‘We’?” I choked on the one syllable.
The chuckle startled me. “Kit, you can’t ask me to call a hunt and not expect me to get involved. It’s my neck on the line with the Board for getting us all involved and if I’m going to take a hit I’m sure as hell going to bring you along for the ride. See you there.”
She cut the connection.
I flashed back to a memory of my first hunt, of Ruth helping me back to the house. Jess had watched us come in, sitting on the porch with her legs swinging back and forth as we limped along the trail coming out of the forest, me hobbling along with a broken ankle and leaning on the older woman for support.
The last Board member waiting for the last hunter to come home.
“You’re the last.” She looked at her watch. “Late by about eight hours.”
I gave a nervous laugh, caught between the pain and the fear. “Having too much fun.”
In a flash she was in my face, nose to nose with an angry snarl. “You think I have nothing better to do than take care of you? Your father...” She paused and drew back, the sadness on her face snatching my breath away. “I’ll notify the Board you passed the test.” Jess gave a brisk nod to Ruth before leaving so quickly I had to remind myself she’d been there.
“Rebecca?” Bran’s voice brought me back to the present. He waved at the waiting cab, his tone verging on frantic. “Let’s go.”
The cab driver didn’t mind vague instructions as we zipped through narrow side streets, sliding through traffic and construction with ease until we pulled up in front of the corner store. Bran gave him a handsome tip as we got out, earning us a grateful smile.
Tony’s Convenience was like a hundred other small stores in the city, delivering milk and bread to the desperate at odd hours of the day and night for inflated prices. The postage-stamp-sized shop stood on the corner with neon signs advertising soda and a sandwich board at the entrance announcing the latest lottery jackpot waiting to be won. Various flyers and banners covered the windows to the point of making the glass moot.
Bran pulled on the single door and waited for me. I suspected it was more out of fear of meeting Jess face-on than chivalry.
An electronic jingle signaled our entrance.
The lone man standing behind the small squat counter looked up from his newspaper.
“Anything I can help you with?” The cheerful squeak was forced, the wail of a man who’d imagined a better future and ended up selling lottery tickets and chewing gum.
“We’re with Jess,” I said.
He folded the newspaper into a tight square before tossing it into a corner.
“I see.” He came out from around the counter, giving me a better look at him.
Tony Romano was tall enough to reach my shoulder and reminded me more of a snake than a Felis. Long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail gave his thin face a sharp, feral appearance. He looked like the type of guy who needed a safety line in the shower to make sure he didn’t slip down the drain.
His nostrils flared as I approached. He knew I wasn’t his usual customer looking for a chocolate fix.
His own scent, thick and oily, assaulted my senses. He was family, all right—the type you didn’t introduce your girlfriends to.
Tony glanced at the door. “Jess told me she was on her way.” The tone implied he’d be of little help until she arrived.
I surveyed the shelves, trying to slow my racing pulse. Prices were comparable to my own local hole-in-the-wall, which meant they were twice as much as I’d pay at the grocery store. The stacks of noodle cups and potato chip bags reaching to the ceiling gave me a mild case of claustrophobia.
The store of last resort for those late-night munchie runs and desperate men looking for baby supplies. If you bought formula and diapers here you had to be past desperate.
I checked out the formula shelf. The expiration dates weren’t all that far away and a ring of disturbed dust showed where the kidnapper’s can had come from.
I hoped the kidnapper would at least try to feed him.
Tony watched me stroll around his store, ignoring Bran.
I smiled inside. Big mistake.
Romano’s dark eyes narrowed. “You must be the outcast.” The last word came out like a curse. “Figured you’d be taller.”
I spread my hands, showing off all of my five foot four inches. “Big things, small packages and so forth.” I smiled. “But I think you know all about that, eh?”
Romano scowled.
Bran moved up behind me. I felt his body heat scorching my back and I knew he was sizing the Felis up.
Romano looked over my shoulder at Bran, sizing him up. “You must be the human.”
“You must be the genius of your family,” Bran deadpanned.
The Felis’s upper lip curled back.
“And she’s no outcast.” I felt the soft growl, the heated air on the back of my neck. It was a kit’s growl but it was enough to set the middle-aged man back on his heels. This wasn’t some dumb human looking to be ripped off by the cunning Felis for some overpriced beef jerky.
“Got a big mouth there, buddy.” Romano gave me a fast look before focusing on Bran. “Does she also hold your dick when you pee?”
The challenge flashed between the two men. You didn’t have to be Felis to sense that type of unspoken dare.
Bran cocked his head to one side. “Does your boyfriend?”
Romano took a step toward us before freezing in his tracks.
“Damn, human. Makes me wish I was twenty years younger.” Jess drawled from her position in the doorway. She leaned on the wooden frame, giving her height as exactly five foot eight inches according to the taped yardstick. “There’s something about a man willing to go to the ground for you.” She gave a wistful sigh. “If I were younger I’d make you fight for him.”
“You couldn’t handle him.” I wasn’t in any mood to dick around with trying to top each other. “Now that we’ve all massaged our egos let’s get down to business and find this baby.”
Jess tilted her head to one side and her eyebrows rose. For a horrible second I thought she was going to reprimand me and/or bring up my relationship with Bran. Instead she gave me a short nod and turned her attention to Romano.
Romano shrank perceptibly under her intense stare. It took a second for him to drop his gaze to the tiled floor, scarred by countless shoe heels.
“You don’t treat family or their friends like that,” Jess warned. “Do it again and you’ll answer to me. Is that clear?”
Romano nodded, intensely studying his toes.
“Okay. Over and done with. Now tell us what you saw,” Jess said.
Romano cleared his throat before speaking, careful to avoid looking at any of us directly. “He come in here carrying a baby under his arm like the daily newspaper. Puts him down here, wrapped up in a blanket. No car seat, no nothing.” He tapped the scratched clear plastic on the counter by the cash register, his anger turned away from us and at the invisible customer. “Baby’s crying, fussing, wriggling all over the place. I had to hold him to make sure he didn’t fall over the fucking edge.” Romano huffed. “Guy runs down the aisle and grabs diapers, canned formula, then lights up a smoke right here, in front of me and the kid.” The greasy-haired man shook his head. “That ain’t right. You want to screw up your lungs, fine. Ain’t right to put that on a kid, not a baby.”