Page 44 of Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)

Chapter Forty-four

Chase watched Burnett cut the engine off. About a dozen mobile homes filled the small park. Gold light beamed out of the windows. Both he and Burnett pulled in air at the same time, testing it for any weres.

Burnett’s gaze shot to Chase.

Chase nodded. “It’s him.”

“You get anything besides were?”

“Humans. And it might be more than one were.” Chase looked down at the paper Burnett had handed him. “The address says number eight. It must be one in the back.”

As Burnett reached for the door handle, his phone rang and he checked the number. “Make it fast,” Burnett said into the phone and got out of the car.

“We found the Corolla, but not Della.” Shawn’s voice reached Chase’s ears.

“Where did you find the car?”

“We looked at all the places her father hung out these last few days, thinking Della might have gone looking for him. The car is parked in front of an old Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.”

“Have you checked the area?” Burnett frowned at Chase.

“Yes. She’s not here. Do you want us to get the car?”

“No,” Burnett said. “She’ll come back for it. Leave someone there, and… keep looking. Find her.” Burnett hung up.

Chase heard Burnett’s concern and he felt it tenfold. He also knew what scared Burnett the most was that Stone had somehow gotten his hands on Della. And damned if it didn’t terrify Chase. He’d seen what that man was capable of doing to his own girlfriend. He could only imagine what he’d do to a stranger.

They walked past the first five trailers. Chase heard people milling around inside.

“You go to the front door and knock,” Burnett said. “I’ll go to the back and stop their asses when they run.”

“I could do the back,” Chase offered.

Burnett frowned. “I got it.” Then he glanced around. “We’ve got to do this with no show. Not too many witnesses. You understand?”

Chase nodded and started to the front porch of trailer number eight as Burnett went around the back.

He stepped on the porch and right before he knocked he heard the telltale sound of a shotgun being cocked.

Chase moved. Just not fast enough.

***

Della pushed the airbag out of her face and looked at her uncle. He was doing the same thing.

Della smelled blood before she saw it ooze from his brow. “You okay?”

“Yes. The wheel went crazy.” He touched his brow. “Just a bump. You?”

“Fine.” Only after declaring it did Della move all her arms and legs. Nothing hurt.

The car engine spewed and sizzled. She glanced to the backseat with concern—only to feel like an idiot because her aunt was already dead. But she wasn’t even there.

Her uncle got out of the car. Della did the same. Or would have if the car door would have opened. She gave it a shove and the sound of screeching metal filled the night. They stood outside the car.

Feng looked at the vehicle.

“I warned you,” she said.

He nodded. “Never liked that car anyway.” Then he looked up at the sky. “It’s still quite a few miles from here.” He looked her up and down. “Sure you’re not hurt?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Then you’re okay to fly?”

She nodded.

***

Chase lurched back, landing on his feet.

Pain hit his shoulder as one tiny shot grazed him. But if he hadn’t moved he’d have been a goner. He growled and caught the scent of his own blood.

Pissed off, he leapt back onto the porch. He pushed through what was left of the door, hoping the shotgun wasn’t a double barrel, ready to give someone hell.

But hell had already been given. Burnett had the two guys down, FRU cuffs on their wrists. Chase saw the back door of the trailer on the floor.

Relief filled Burnett’s eyes when Chase appeared. Then he scowled.

“You’re hit!”

“Just grazed.” He went over and picked up the shotgun. Adrenaline still fired through his body, his shoulder stung, and he fought the desire to kick the two half-weres now stretched out face down on the stained carpet.

Then he noticed what was on one of the guy’s feet. “Nice shoes,” Chase said.

“Real nice.” Burnett stood and snatched his phone from his coat pocket and made a call. “We need a wagon to bring in two.”

***

They landed in a wooded lot, close to a fence. Her uncle took one step, then stopped. Della wasn’t quite sure where she was, but the neighborhood looked upscale. They’d passed over several nice estates. Houses as big as apartment buildings.

“You see that house?” her uncle asked.

Della looked between the metal slats of the fence. She could see it, but it was half a block away. “Yeah.”

“How fast can you make it there and knock down that door?”

Della looked at him. “More breaking and entering?”

“I don’t think he’ll call the police.”

She hesitated. “Why don’t I just knock, ask if I can come in? I can be convincing.”

He frowned. “Because the second one of us gets any closer to that house, it will set off a lockdown mode and a metal plate with electrical current will come down on all the windows and front door.”

“Oh.” She grimaced and looked back at the house.

Feng continued, “It will take thirty seconds for the metal to lower and get the power to it. Back in the day, I could get to that house in fifteen seconds. You that good?”

Della sighed. “Maybe. Whose house is this?” She inhaled, but wasn’t close enough to get any scents.

“Powell’s.”

She bit down on her lip. “Do you think Stone’s in there?”

“I don’t know. But I’d bet my canines Powell knows where his son is.”

The thought of snagging Stone and stopping the trial before it happened had Della pushing away the feeling that she was crossing over the line.

“He’s the old guy, right?” Della asked.

“Yeah.”

Della looked at Feng and tilted her head to hear his heart. “You’re not going to kill him?”

“No. I promise.”

Della nodded. “Then I’m ready.”

***

“You might as well confess,” Chase growled down at the barefooted rogue sitting in the interrogation room. “We got you. You’re going down.”

“You ain’t got shit,” the were said.

“Really?” Chase, feeling his canines lower, pulled the picture from the file he held. “Do you know what this is? It’s a picture of a shoe print, idiot! And guess what? By tomorrow, our guys will have matched it to your shoe, and you’re going down.”

“I’m not the only one who wears those shoes!” the half were said.

The door to the room opened. Burnett waved Chase to come out.

Chase slammed the door on his exit.

“What?” Frustration and worry over Della had his whole body knotted. “You found her?”

“No, but you’ve been going at him for thirty minutes. He’s not going to talk. And as you said, tomorrow they’ll identify the shoe print and we’ll have him. Don’t waste any more energy on him.”

Chase didn’t hate it so much that Burnett was right, he just hated that he was wrong. “Okay, let’s go back to our last two addresses to find Stone.”

Burnett shook his head. “I haven’t slept in thirty-eight hours and I’m betting you’re going on forty-eight.”

“And I’m not going to sleep until we know where Della is,” Chase said.

“Neither am I,” Burnett said. “But we both need to drink some blood and at least try to relax, or we’re likely to mess this up. I’ve already sent some agents out to the other two places on the list. Right now, both residences are empty. I’ve got them on watch, and if anyone shows up, they’ll call me first thing.”

“But—”

“Don’t argue,” Burnett said. “We did good tonight. Tomorrow, when the evidence comes in, I’ll mark the Chis’ case solved. Della will never have to know that her father reported her to the police.”

***

Della started to step back.

“Wait,” her uncle said. “If that metal plate comes down, stop. You got that?”

Della nodded.

“It probably wouldn’t kill you, but it would hurt like hell. And if I hand you back over to Chase with a scratch on you, he’ll have my head.”

“You won’t hand me over to anyone,” Della said.

“I didn’t mean… Sorry,” he said.

“Let’s do this,” she said.

She moved back several feet to get a running start. She heard the alarms as soon as she crossed the gate. The wind tossed her hair in her eyes. As she came closer to the porch she heard clicking sounds as if things were about to come down.

She sped up and hit the door with her shoulder full force.

It hurt like hell, but the door cracked. She landed on her side on the floor of the home.

The clicking noises stopped. She heard her uncle land on the porch and he rushed inside.

She bolted to her feet, and the smell hit.

It wasn’t as bad as the smell at Stone’s girlfriend’s house, but close. She slammed her hand over her nose.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me killing him,” her uncle said.

Della turned around, and there, on the hall floor, was the old man she remembered from her one and only council meeting. Considering his age, Della might have suspected he’d gone of natural causes. But there was nothing natural about the knife sticking out of his back.

“What’s the address here?” Della asked, looking away.

“Why?” her uncle asked.

She reached for her phone. “Because I’m calling Burnett.”