“Actually, we have extremely specialized knowledge that’s not at all useful outside of our business.” I smirked. “That’s what a degree in a specific field gets you. If you want to study something, that’s fine, but do it because you’re interested in it, not because of us. All this monster stuff is outside of the realm of our usual work. Most people who do antiquing as a source of income don’t have a formal education in a related field. They pick it up as they go and learn what people will pay for and what they won’t. I’m still learning myself when it comes to that.”
“I wonder…”
“What?”
“Never mind. I’m sure it’s a dumb idea.”
I thought of the idea she’d proposed that Autumn had shot down. I didn’t want her to think we wouldn’t value any contributions she might have. “You know, a lot of breakthroughs and innovations come from individuals who don’t have a background in the field. Sometimes the experts in an industry have this sort of myopic thinking where they’re so influenced by their peers and mentors, who were trained by their peers and mentors, that they can’t see the problems from a fresh angle. Whereas an outsider can bring that fresh perspective, especially in this day and age when there’s so much information available to anyone who wants to research it.”
Temi shrugged. “I don’t have any brilliant innovations. I was just wondering, well, this Basque isn’t the only language isolate, I assume? What if those two were speaking another? From somewhere on the planet that hasn’t been studied thoroughly and isn’t in your professor’s computer.”
It seemed Temi wasn’t ready to buy into the notion of alien visitors either. She hadn’t seen the glow-in-the-dark eyes…
“There aren’t that many places left on the planet that haven’t been studied thoroughly,” I said. “The languages of New Guinea haven’t been scrutinized in much depth yet, but those two look like a couple of white guys, even if they’re a little odd in appearance. They sure don’t look like some native of New Guinea.”
“Do I look like a native of New Mexico?” Temi asked dryly.
“Well, no, but it’s hard to imagine some obscure back-wilderness race adopting a couple of white kids and raising them to speak their language. Or some dead language. Unless…” I trailed off. Now I was the one hesitant to share stupid ideas.
“Unless?” Temi prompted.
“I don’t know. I keep thinking in terms of them being part of some military experiment or mad scientist’s lab creation.”
“Hey,” Simon said, “the Harleys are on the move.”
“Which way are they heading?” I didn’t feel like chasing Eleriss and Jakatra off into the woods again, not when that monster was chasing them everywhere too. Besides, they might simply be coming to visit us, to see if we’ve found their information yet.
“They passed our hotel and went up Iron Springs Road,” Simon said.
“That goes out toward the national forest and some more hiking and camping areas, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but they’re still in town. Stopped at a light, it looks like. They’ll be out of my range before long.”
“I went up Iron Springs Road this morning,” Temi said. “To drop your friend off at the vet.”
An uneasy feeling jumped into my stomach alongside the salmon.
“If they figured out we had more of their blood,” Simon said, “they might be going to collect it.”
“Damn.” I’d been joking about the fridge insulating the blood. Was it possible the riders had sensed it as soon as I took it out of the van’s fridge this morning and gave it to Autumn? I grabbed my phone to call her.
“I also went that way to visit the grocery store,” Temi said. “Maybe they’re going for breakfast themselves.”
“Those coconut bars are pretty good.” Simon waved the empty box.
Autumn answered the phone with, “What is it?”
I stood up. “Get the blood back and get out of there.” I waved Temi toward the Jag. “We’re coming to get you.”
“What? Why?”
“I think our interesting men are coming to collect the other sample.”
“All right. Call you back in a sec.”
“Simon,” I said, “pack your stuff and let’s go.”
“They won’t do anything to her, will they?” Temi asked as we jogged for the car. “They politely took the slide last night.”
I didn’t know if polite quite defined Jakatra’s frosty demeanor as he’d stalked across the hotel room. “We let them take it without a fight. Who knows what would have happened if we’d tried to stop them?”
“Maybe it’d be wiser not to try and stop them,” she said.
“Wiser? Probably, but I want to know who these guys are that they don’t share any human blood types.”
We climbed into the car. Temi started it up. “Aren’t we still thinking this blood might belong to the monster?”
“I’m not sure what to think at this point.” That slip-up from Eleriss had me thinking the blood belonged to them, to Jakatra specifically; he’d been the one with the bandage. “I just know I want to see that DNA analysis.”
CHAPTER 20
We didn’t drive sixty miles per hour this time, but Temi did run a few red lights. I wasn’t sure that was a good idea given how many police and soldiers were patrolling the town, hunting for monsters, but traffic was non-existent, and nobody pulled us over.
“Are they still driving or have they parked somewhere?” I asked, glancing back at Simon.
His MacBook was open in his lap. “Uh, sec.” He picked up his phone.
“I appreciate how assiduously you’re paying attention back there.”
“I got some results back from the app. I’m… No, they stopped. A half mile ahead.”
“That’s where the vet is,” Temi said, increasing speed.
We zipped past the Starbucks-judging by the line of cars in the drive-thru, the monster threat wasn’t quite big enough to keep people from their espresso addictions-and some other businesses, then hung a hard right into a tree-shaded parking lot. A single car was parked out back, and two familiar motorcycles waited next to the dog potty area.
“I’ll stop over there so they won’t see us if they walk out the front.” Temi veered toward the far side of the building. Towering boulders rose on that end of the parking lot, ensuring the vet would never have any neighbors on that side. Trees and brush blanketed the top of the rocky ledge.
I grabbed my phone and tried Autumn again. I’d called on the way and she hadn’t answered.
This time it stopped ringing immediately. “Sssh,” came the whispered response.
“Autumn?” I asked.
“They’re out front in the waiting area,” she whispered. “I think they know we’re back here, but we locked the inside door, and they haven’t tried to force it. Do you think they will?”
“I don’t know; they’re polite but determined.”
“Wait,” Autumn whispered with new urgency. “Someone’s fiddling with the lock.”
“Is there a back door you can come out? We’re in the parking lot outside. We can get you out of here.”
“Why didn’t you say so?”
“Don’t park,” I told Temi. “Drive around back. Look for a door.”
Before the car rolled into motion again, Simon hopped out with his MacBook cradled in his arm, the lid still open.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, but didn’t tell Temi to stop. Maybe Simon wanted to sabotage the motorcycles again. I wasn’t sure we should be pissing off our clients, but I didn’t want them chasing us down the highway either.
As we rounded the back of the building, two people darted out of a door by a dumpster, Autumn and a pasty-faced young man with eyes wider than horseshoes. I didn’t know what Autumn had told him, but he looked like he was being chased by the mob.
Without any need for encouragement, they hopped into the back seat Simon had vacated. The parking lot went all the way around the building so Temi continued forward, curling around the corner that led back to the potty area-and the parked motorcycles. We were almost even with the front door when it was thrown open, and two dark figures strode out.