Page 43 of Flesh and Fury
“Yes. Months ago, Deputy Chief Priest noticed that someone had placed a listening device in her office as well as her home. She’s left them all in place and is cautious in all her conversations, saying nothing about King John, so that whoever is listening, won’t realize they’ve been discovered.She’s given us burner phones to talk to her when we’re on the road.”
He pulled out his burner and set it on the table. “We know we’re putting our lives in your hands by even mentioning this. For all we know, you could be part of the problem and are ready and willing to report our plans and movements back to Tillis Bradshaw. We’re told by King John that you’re both trustworthy, so we’re literally staking our lives on it.”
Rana nodded but Andy Red Crow slid the phone back to him across the smooth tabletop before crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not so convinced but Rana is a friend, and has been a mentor to me since my daddy died,” he said. “I don’t have the same warm feelings about the cold, undead vampires the way my daddy did, but Rana assured me that hearing you out was the right thing to do.” He spread his hands wide. “So, here I am.”
“Your father was a friend to King Townsend as have I been,” Rana said, directing her comments to Red Crow beside her. “He’s bartered with our two reservations over the years, and we’ve had a good working relationship, Andy. For a clan like your Denver tribe who has wealth and gambling, barter and trade with vampires may just have been an interesting amusement for your father but to us in Colorado Springs, it is an essential way of life. Without our bartering contracts for grain and salt we needed from Phoenix, and the water his rez desperately needed from us, we wouldn’t have had the money we did. That’s been cut off now that this Bradshaw bastard has taken over the tribe so, I’d sit back and listen to what these marshals have to say and why you should hear them out.”
Andy glowered at her for a few seconds and then turned to look at Joe and Alo. He gestured with his hand. “And you two clearly agree that I shouldn’t be skeptical of these marshals?”
Two Trees sat forward. “Look, you can be as skeptical as you want but I—” He glanced over toward Ari and Eoghan. “Wetrust these men. They have been nothing but straightforward with us and they even solved a massive problem for us.”
“Yeah, we heard about the massive problem these two solved for you. They had your tribal council chief arrested.” Andy sneered at Eoghan and Ari.
“For pedophilia, fraud, and a litany of other crimes,” Two Trees said. “Colt Wilkins set up an innocent clan member for a terrible crime and had him sentenced to Folsom prison hoping that he could then carry-on raping Wilkins own younger sister, who had already given birth to one of his children. He’d been diddling with her since she was a child. He was a monster, so yeah, when I.S.R. Marshals Sapphire and Brown proved to us that there was a fox in the henhouse, they did the Tahoe clan a huge favor. They also brought the girl and her three children home to be reunited with her husband who’s since been released from prison. They’re now back in their home together on the rez, where they belong.”
Red Crow sat back slightly but the insolent expression was still there.
“So, yes, to answer your questions, we trust them, and we believe them when they say letting Tillis Bradshaw take over artificial blood supplies all over the country is going to become a problem. The more blood plants he takes over, and the more drugs he distributes along the same transportation corridors, the more vamps he has to create. As his empire grows, he’ll need to make more vampire employees to guard, transport, and distribute the drugs and blood. By controlling the artificial blood supply, he also makes slaves out of vast numbers of vampire reservations. That kind of crap leads to human attacks and murders by starving vampires who havenowhere else to turn for food.” He pointed to his head. “Think about it, Red Crow. We have the unique opportunity of killing bad vamps to help out good ones. What do you say? Is the Denver rez on board?”
Eoghan cheered inside as he and Ari exchanged silent glances. His partner looked just as happy that Joe had been the one to make their case for them as he was. He’d cut through all the begging and come up with the most convincing argument to be made.
“Come on, Andy, listen to them. You have nothing to lose here,” Rana said. When he still didn’t say anything, she twisted around, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Will you accept the advice of an older sister and look at these two shifters as brothers, even if you don’t like the fact that you’re committing your tribe to a vampire cause?”
“I hate vampires, and it’s not my business,” he said emphatically.
She dropped her hand. “Then, I guess there’s nothing more for me to say.” She turned back to Eoghan and Ari. “If he doesn’t want to accept what we say because he’s too stubborn, he’s going to be sorry.”
“I’m sorry about that too,” Eoghan said. “Denver is going to be a major distribution hub for the methamphetamine his motorcycle gang is pushing. In fact, the Denver chapter of the Phoenix based Pagans is probably already half vamp and growing stronger as they turn more members day by day. But there’s nothing that can be taught to someone who thinks they’re too smart or too savvy to learn.” He glanced over at Ari and then back at Rana. “You’re on board to help?”
“Yes, of course we are.”
“Good. I’ll make sure the I.S.R. puts you on the no purge list,” Eoghan said, knowing there was no such thing.
“What?” she and Red Crow asked at the same time.
Eoghan could see the bravado of the tribal chief fall away instantly as he wondered what a no purge list was. “It just means that if you are of help to us, and the I.S.R. is convinced all your clan members are with us, we’ll do everything in our power to save you when your time comes.”
“What does that mean?” Red Crow asked, sitting up straighter in the chair and looking very uncomfortable.
Good,Eoghan thought.
“It means that without the help of the I.S.R., you’ll soon be overrun by vampires and your people will be starving because all the humans who drop all that money in your casinos and trinket shops and trading posts owned by the tribe, will be dead. You’ll be desperate to sell whatever you can to buy food once yours runs out, but hopefully you won’t startbecomingfood for the crazed vamps who’ll overrun your rez before we can get help to you.” He abruptly stood up.
“Wait,” Andy said. “What are you saying? You’re not going to help us?”
“Why would we help a tribe who’s fighting against us when our numbers will be supporting the tribes who are fighting with us?” Ari asked, standing up right beside him. “This is war.”
He pointed to his own chest. “Take it from an Army Ranger. You always help out an ally before you help out one who isn’t.” He reached over and held out a hand to Rana. “Thank you.”
She immediately stood and took his hand, shaking it as Two Trees and Uwaite stood as well. Red Crow sat there, staring at the tabletop as they all shook hands. When they began filing out of the room, the big shifter stopped them.
“I’ll help.”
Eoghan stopped and turned. “You’ll commit the Denver shifter clan to helping put this monster out of all our misery once and for all?”
“Yes,” he said, standing up and walking around the table. “I don’t know what I was being stubborn about.”
Rana hooked her arm with his and craned her neck, looking all the way up at him. “You don’t have any reason to trust anyone your father did except that your father trusted them. You don’t know how important the I.S.R. is or what good they do for the shifter community. They take care of us.”