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“So right at this minute, where does your father think you are?” Tobias asked. He held his chin between his thumb and index finger, striking a pensive pose.
“On my way back home. But I don’t know how long Erica’s meddling will fool him for. He’s not a stupid man.”
“By all accounts, no, he’s not. But judging him on what you’ve so far revealed to me, he is actually incredibly stupid. He’s letting his lust for money and power get in the way of anything else.”
Katana nodded. “Do you have any ideas on how to stop the hybrids?”
“Yes. That’s quite easy. After the scandal between your father and your wolf, the Preternatural Council passed a law that said any supernaturally tainted being had to have a microchip implanted.”
“I know about the microchips. Jacques told me all the wolves have them. They’re a tracking device like the hunters but also have a ‘zap’ to make them behave if necessary. What scandal? What are you talking about?”
Tobias smiled. “Your tracking device is completely different to these microchips. Your friend is mistaken though. Yes, they have a ‘zap,’ but they will also end their life at the press of a button.”
Katana gasped. She remembered her father’s threat before she headed out on this case—that Jacques would be ‘gone’ if anything happened to her. Whilst she hadn’t thought too much about how he would kill her friend, she’d never expected him to have the power to do so at the press of a button.
“Do the wolves know that?”
“Yes. It’s a legal requirement that they’re made aware of the power the organisation has over them.”
Great. Something else Jacques kept from me.
“Don’t you know what happened between your father and Jacques?” Tobias said.
“Does the expression on my face look like I know?”
He laughed. “To cut a long story short, Jacques and three others escaped Gregory’s lab. Does that jog any memories?”
Katana frowned. “No. Why, should it?”
“Well, considering you were the one who let them out, yes.”
“But I’ve never been down in Gregory’s lab, let alone interfered with whatever he does down there.”
Tobias tipped his head back and laughed. “My dear, Katana, I fear your mother may have used her powerful position to influence your memories. Here is the story as I know it...”
Ten minutes later, Katana sat on the floor, dazed and stunned. Not only had she learned she’d set her friend free, she’d learned why Jacques didn’t want to come back to Dalmellington, and that her father was a callous murderer with little care or respect for anyone but himself.
To add to that, her mother had washed over her memories of setting the wolf-shifters free, seemingly erasing all knowledge of what she’d seen in Gregory’s lab.
“And there was me thinking I couldn’t be shocked anymore,” she said, covering her face with her hands.
“Well, after Jacques’ little escapade, the Preternatural Council demanded that any supernatural being be implanted with a microchip. It would mean the family would have total control of them at any given point regardless of where they were in the world.”
“In other words, if he ran again, they’d flick a switch and kill him.”
Tobias nodded.
“But what makes you think that Gregory put these microchips in the hybrids?”
“Because any mad scientist, no matter how mad, will need a back-up plan to cover his arse in case things go wrong. He wouldn’t have not done that.”
“Ok, I’m not entirely sold on that theory but working on the basis that he has, how can we access the data when it’s in his lab?”
A broad grin spread over Tobias’s face. His blue eyes glinted with joy. “Because the microchips can only be sourced from one place—the Preternatural Council. Before they’re shipped out, each one is logged and coded onto our internal system. We know the second they’re implanted and become active because they’re keyed into the supernatural cells.”
Katana’s eyes widened. “Whoa. But with all the wolves we have as hunting companions, how are you going to know who is a wolf and who is a hybrid experiment?”
Tobias shrugged his shoulders. “Two ways. A simple cross-reference of microchip locations to the recent influx of cases. Also, the microchips have to be individually named as soon as they’re active or the Council will fine your family.”
Katana grinned. Suddenly having allegiances in high places seemed to be paying off. She started to understand why her father had wanted this marriage to happen so badly. If she’d married Tobias four years ago, which is what everyone had wanted, then this current problem wouldn’t currently be a problem.
She checked herself.
Of course it would. Her marrying into the Bembridge family wouldn’t have stopped Gregory playing with the hybrids nor stopped him letting them loose in a bid to spread a virus around the world. The only difference would have been to her knowledge of her world. She would have known nothing of the sick, twisted activities being undertaken and would never have been in a position, like now, to do something.
Everything happens for a reason.
A thought pinged to mind. “Can you access that data from your phone?” Katana asked.
Tobias frowned and pulled his phone from inside his jacket pocket. It was a huge phablet; one of the latest releases from the looks of it. “Yes, why?”
“You need to access it. Now. To get the location of them.”
Tobias tapped on the screen, waking the phone from its sleep. He swiped, tapped, and dotted around on the screen for several pain-staking seconds. “Ok,” he said, flicking across the screen. “It seems they’re still in the UK.” He frowned. “This is really peculiar. Is this normal werewolf behaviour?”
Katana looked over his shoulder. “What?”
“It looks like they’re in couples or small groups...most are still around the Nottingham area. A couple are near Manchester...”
Katana’s stomach flipped upside down. “No. That’s not normal behaviour at all. Are you telling me they’re working together like that?”
“Judging from the distance they’ve travelled already, yes. I’d have expected them to scatter like marbles from your house, but they haven’t.” He let out a long breath and looked back down at his phone “Oh, hang on.”
Katana’s veins filled with dread. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
Altair lifted his head from grazing, peering behind him into the treeline.
“It looks like there’s one not far from here...” Tobias moved his fingers apart on the phablet screen, zooming in on his information “...shit, it’s actually really not far from here....”
Altair snorted and bolted to Katana. Without even hesitating, Katana reached for her katana sword and unsheathed it. She peered into the dark edge of the trees.
“According to this,” Tobias said, looking up at Katana with confusion spread over his face. “It’s about two hundred metres inside the woods. That way.” He pointed to the direction Katana was already facing.
“Can you deactivate it from there?”
“What, the chip?”
“Yes,” Katana replied, scanning her eyes over the unmoving nature before her. She tightened Altair’s girth, ready to mount.
“You do realise that’s it—they cease to exist?”
Katana spared him a glance. “Are you telling me you’ve developed a conscience now?”
“I’ve always had a conscience, Katana. I really do think you have a skewed vision of me. I’m not a bad guy.”
“Perhaps now isn’t the time to discuss your credentials as a person, let alone as a partner.”
Tobias nodded and fiddled with his phablet screen some more. “Right. Are you sure you want this done?”
“What’s the name registered to the chip?”
“Subject number H7A2. Stefan Lear.”
Katana gasped. She’d expected the name to be Ashley’s. “What? No. You must be wrong?”
Tobias put the screen in front of her, showing her the information he had to hand. “I can only read what’s in front of me.”
“Press it!” she yelled. “Press the damn button now!”
Before Tobias could respond to her screaming instructions, the earth beneath them shook as a thundering beast emerged from the treeline. Two bright yellow eyes gleamed with sadistic joy.
“What the f—” Tobias said, frozen in place from fear.
Katana put a foot in her left stirrup and swung herself up onto Altair’s back. She didn’t even bother unhooking his reins; she knew she could direct him with the weight from her seat bones, not that he needed direction. His own natural instincts combined with his training would keep them both safe enough to do the required job.
The second Katana’s bum hit the saddle, Altair took off. Half concentrating on finding her right stirrup and half concentrating on keeping a hold of her huge sword, Katana was completely at the mercy of her chestnut Arab gelding and to an extent, whatever God existed in this messed up world.
Seeing Katana race away from him, Tobias suddenly sprung back to life, but dropped his phablet in the process. He turned and bolted for his helicopter, shouting and waving his arms at the handful of men inside.
Three burly men, all dressed in black, jumped out of the side doors, huge machine guns positioned in front of their chests and all pointed at the raging werewolf. They let loose with their fire, a continuous, deafening noise filling the air as they emptied their magazines at the approaching beast.
The onslaught of bullets barely slowed the werewolf. When he saw Katana and Altair galloping off to his left, he changed his direction; fixed on his target of a female hunter.
Tobias’ men re-loaded with more ammunition, emptying a second magazine each in the direction of the rabid creature.
Altair dashed into the trees, picking through narrow pathways and gaps in between their twisted trunks and branches. Katana had now gained her right stirrup and was fully balanced, poised on top of her steed with both hands wrapped around the tang of her lethal weapon.
A strangled bellow sounded behind them. The werewolf roared in frustration at the trees and branches blocking his path.
So consumed with the direct path in front of him, he’d failed to notice the gentle curve Altair had taken, leading back around to the left to exit the woodland where the beast had charged from.
Bursting out of the undergrowth with the speed of a bullet leaving a gun, Altair kept on his left-hand circle, intent on coming up behind the beast so Katana could swing her sword and end its life; albeit temporarily.
But the creature figured it out before they re-entered the forest behind him. He crashed back through the path he’d already cleared and leapt from his place, landing to the left-hand side of Katana and her horse.
Katana sucked in a deep breath and swung her sword through the air. The damn creature had landed half a foot too far away.
It howled with laughter.
Altair turned on the spot, as agile as a Spanish horse in the bull ring. Katana lifted her arms above her head and readied herself for another swing from the other side. Just as she lifted her blade, ready to swipe at its head, the monstrous thing exploded, showering her and Altair in blood and guts.
Altair halted, allowing Katana to wipe her eyes clean, re-sheath her sword, and then clean the chunks of flesh and bone from her face and body.
She nudged Altair forwards, turning him in Tobias’s direction. When she saw her fiancé, grinning from ear to ear and waving his phone through the air, Katana couldn’t help but smile.
“That went with more of a bang than I thought,” he yelled, jogging towards them. “I like this button. Fancy a fireworks show tonight?”
Katana laughed. “I hate to ruin your joy, but he will be back.”
“What?” He motioned his hands over her and Altair. “Have you forgotten the fact you’re wearing him?”
“Oh no, not at all. But what you failed to recognise is that he’s a phoenix hybrid. All you’ve done is killed him for half an hour, tops.”
Tobias’s eyes widened. “This really is a can of worms isn’t it?”
“You have no idea.”