GJ froze. But Eleri sucked in a breath and sauntered forward. It was all GJ could do to force her feet to move, and to not look as petrified as she felt.
“Hello, gentlemen,” Eleri called, a smile on her face, one hand behind her back, a gun held firmly there.
But these were wolves, GJ thought. Wouldn’t they smell the guns? The oil had to be a strong enough scent to pick up. Maybe, GJ hoped, there were enough guns around that they wouldn't recognize the scent of a few more.
Eleri had carefully tucked the spare into the back of her wet shorts. The pack covered it, but not very well. Maybe she was hoping that the soldiers would take the gun out of her hand and not know she had a second weapon. GJ did the same.
“It’s a lovely day today,” Eleri intoned, as though she were walking to a southern afternoon garden party. But GJ noticed that as she spoke, her hand was slipping into the zipper of the small pack. It took a moment to catch on. Then GJ did the same.
No one stopped their forward movement, as obviously the soldiers weren’t afraid of them. They even kept the tips of their rifles pointed to the ground. It was Eleri who flipped open her badge, and GJ followed along a half-beat behind, finally seeing where the senior agent was going.
“The weather is just beautiful here at Miranda Industries. You’ve got your own dock to do business out of, and it would be a shame if that became a problem,” Eleri said softly but firmly. “As you can see from my badge—” she held it out, aiming it in an arc so everyone could see. “—I’m an agent with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
“You have no jurisdiction here, Chica,” the police chief laughed the words out.
“Oh, I know,” Eleri replied, almost as if she, too, were enjoying a good laugh. But she still held the badge up. “I have no real jurisdiction. But if you shoot a federal agent, you will have the whole of the United States investigative branch on your ass inside of five minutes.” She motioned back toward GJ, who put on her best agent face. “As you've seen, my partner here is also a federal agent.”
This time, the chief nodded to Eleri and GJ. Though he clearly didn't offer any deference to the badge, he at least seemed to be considering what Eleri had said.
Brilliant, GJ was thinking. Then she stepped forward, continuing Eleri’s plan and hoping that her own speech would give the other agent time to actually do something. “This man—” she said, pointing to Noah, “—is Special Agent Noah Kimball. You've already detained a US special agent against his will. And there, in front of you. . .”
“Oh, sure,” laughed the chief when GJ trailed off. “I suppose you're going to tell me he is a federal agent, too.” He gestured to Donovan but didn’t stop laughing.
“Of course he is,” GJ replied, still calm on the outside. This, at least, managed to confuse a good number of them. They looked at one another, clearly understanding what Donovan was but not able to reconcile the pieces.
The chief clasped his hands and rocked back on his heels. “Surely the bureau doesn't hire dogs.”
“No,” GJ replied, watching in her peripheral vision as Eleri slowly put herself into a better position. Though her own blood tried to leap out of her body with every pulse of her heart, GJ fought to keep her exterior sweet, calm, and in control. “But the bureau does employ people with certain. . . special. . . skills.” She emphasized the pause between each word, watching as the crowd seemed to catch on. “You already know what special skills agent Donovan Heath possesses, but you don't know about the rest of us.”
She bluffed her ass off with that. Noah and Eleri had special skills. She was just an idiot who'd gotten herself bitten.
“How do I know you have any special skills?” The chief held his hands wide, as though inviting a kindly demonstration. He got one.
A whip of the wind brought a palm frond fast against his face in a hard smack. GJ almost laughed. Go Noah! Or maybe that was Eleri?
She tipped her head. “Would you like another demonstration?”
The chief frowned, though he appeared irritated at having been smacked. Gone was the fake, jovial tone. “That was nothing.” But he almost didn't finish the words as a gust of sharp wind punched him in the chest, knocking him slightly backward off his feet.
“Want to try again?” GJ asked, talking through more time for Noah to get his damn wrists out of those ties and for Eleri to get in place, and for Donovan to do. . . apparently nothing. She fought a sigh but kept her gaze on the chief.
“In fact, let me ask you who your assassin was supposed to kill? Because I'm pretty sure it was Agent Eames here.” GJ gestured with her hand. Shit. She’d drawn attention to Eleri. Wrong tactic! “Yet she's here, and your assassin is not.”
She pulled all the attention back to herself, and for the first time, she saw his exterior crack. Surely this man had believed his special assassin could not be bested. Yet here stood Eleri. GJ rubbed a little salt in the wound. “The other two are safe as well. Not so much for your hired man.”
Rambling on, she left no time for them to think. “You're going to set our agents free, and we're going to walk out of here.”
“I don't think so,” the chief replied, the words rough and angry.
Well, two could play at that game. GJ spoke with the most force she could utter, adding a guttural grind to her vocal cords as though she could push a spell forward with just the tone of her voice. But that wasn’t her. That was Eleri. Still, she said it. “I do.”
Something happened.
The chief's eyes flinched to Eleri as the senior agent repeated GJ’s words in a voice GJ didn’t recognize. She knew Eleri could do all kinds of things, but she had never actually seen it. She wanted to turn and look, but all their lives depended on her calm confidence. This had to appear like an everyday occurrence for her.
Behind her, the words came from a depth GJ could not visualize. “You will let our agents go.”
GJ watched as the chief’s eyes widened and he took a small step backward. Beside her now, Eleri took one forward, and the chief backed up again.
Only at that moment, a splash snapped everyone's attention to the dock. A large, fish-like creature had leapt up onto the surface. Slowly, it lifted its head, curls intact. The face was wide, scaly, and changing as it twisted back into human form, legs drawing up underneath it.
GJ spoke softly toward Eleri, hoping she could hear and no one else could. “That's Neriah.”
To her credit, Eleri didn't flinch. But Neriah jolted herself off the dock and ran toward them, screaming. Eleri didn't hesitate. Aiming her gun, she fired two rounds. GJ saw Neriah jolt from the impact.