Moon - New Moon Part 63

"If that was her plan, it was pretty risky."

"But what else could she do?"

"Stick with you while you made a couple of phone calls?" Ross suggested.

Logan clenched his hands into fists, once again struggling to keep his temper. "They don't have phones in her world. She wouldn't think of a phone call."

"Let's not argue about it," Ross answered, his voice smooth and even. "The point is she bought us time to find her."

"Right."

FALCONE looked like a small boy who had been told that he had to come inside for dinner when he still wanted to play kickball with his friends. He actually started to stamp his foot, then glanced at her and stopped himself.

"I will not stay in this world now. Not when..." His voice trailed off.

"Now when you're unprepared?" she asked.

When he glared at her, she shrugged. "It's not that easy to open a portal. It takes a lot of energy. I don't have the strength now. And when I try it, you and the others are going to have to lend me your power."

"All right."

Knowing that she was taking a big risk, she told him what she really wanted. "And you're going to have to agree to let me stay here."

"All right," he said at once.

Of course, she didn't trust his answer. She knew he would say anything right now to get her cooperation. But she would let him think that he'd fooled her.

Brusco looked at their surroundings. "What about the tent? She says we can't stay here."

"She could be lying," Falcone snapped.

"Believe that if you want to. But I was in the tent that Logan uses when he was camping. It's nothing like this."

"What's my alternative?" he demanded, watching her carefully.

"We can stay in a house. In this world, people leave their houses unoccupied and go away on trips."

Falcone made a snorting noise. "You expect me to believe that?"

She struggled to keep a satisfied expression off her face. She had come here with Logan, and she had felt like she knew nothing about his environment. However, the little she did know gave her a tremendous advantage over Falcone and his men.

Looking him in the eye, she said, "After Logan and I came through the portal, we found a house where the owners were away. We stayed there overnight."

"How did you know they were not at home?" Avery asked.

"In this world, a newspaper is delivered to houses every day. If there are a lot of them at the end of the driveway, it means the people are away. Also, a... a government service delivers letters and junk mail into a metal box. It fills up if n.o.body empties it."

"I've heard of newspapers," Falcone answered. "Explain junk mail."

"Advertising circulars," she answered promptly, glad she had remembered the term Logan used.

"It sounds like she knows a lot about this world," Avery said.

She gave him a grateful look.

Falcone scowled at him.

"I can help you look for a suitable place," she said.

Falcone's gaze bore into her. "Why would you help me?"

"So I can get back to Logan as soon as possible."

Falcone continued to stare at her. "Who is this Logan person?" he asked.

"A shape-shifter. He got caught in that trap you left for me. That's how I met him."

"We're wasting time talking about this shape-shifter," Avery interjected. "We should find a place to hide."

Falcone glared at him, but he went outside and gave orders for the men to pack up camp.

When he came back, she raised her head. "Untie me," she said.

JAKE Cooper leaned against his unmarked. It had a few dents in it where chunks of the building had landed, but other than that, it was unharmed.

He was supposed to be on sick leave. But he'd gotten the lieutenant to rea.s.sign him back to active duty.

He still had the mother of all headaches from the incident last night. But the good news was that he hadn't been inside the building when it exploded. And neither had anyone else, thanks to his stroke of intuition, or whatever it was.

Earlier in the day, the owner had screamed b.l.o.o.d.y murder about having his place shut down. Now he was going after his insurance company.

So had he blown the place up himself to collect on the insurance? That was always a possibility.

A team from the Maryland State Police were on their way to determine what had caused the explosion. Someone had suggested a gas leak, and that was one possibility.

Or maybe someone had set a bomb. He repressed a laugh. Yeah, terrorists, like he'd told the Lieu.

Or maybe it was someone who wanted to destroy evidence.

And who would have done that?

Marshall? It didn't seem likely, since he was busy searching for his wife. Unless he was lying about that.

Jake had sent a patrol car back to the residence, and the guy wasn't there.

He switched his thoughts from Marshall to his own lucky escape. He would have been pretty close to the explosion, if a large dog hadn't dashed out of the woods and pulled him toward safety.

A large dog wearing a backpack of all things. Make that three large dogs and two backpacks.