Black and Shadow (12 page)

She could call Joe, but she’d been
relying on him a lot lately. Time she took charge of her life
again. Picking up the phone, she dialed zero. Isanti, Inc. probably
had a switchboard operator. Sure enough, a woman answered. “How may
I direct your call?”

“I’d like to speak to Katherine Sloane
please.” Kathy had said to call if she needed anything.

“One moment.”

“This is Kathy, how may I help
you?”

“Hi. This is Jessica Black.” Did Kathy
remember her? It had been kind of rude to fall asleep when they’d
met before.

“Jessica, how are you feeling?”
Katherine’s voice sounded warm with welcome. Jessica
relaxed.

“Better actually. I wondered if the
building had a cafeteria.”

“Yes, on the second floor. I could
come down and meet you. We could talk, get to know each other
better.”

“Okay, I, uh, left my purse in the
cabinet in the clinic. My suitcase made it to Joe’s apartment, but
my purse and fruit basket didn’t.”

“I’ll go down and bring them up. See
you in a few.”

“Great, thanks, Kathy.”

Jessica walked out the door and down
the hall to the elevator. From what she could tell the whole floor
looked like apartments. One of the perks of working for
Isanti?

The door opened and Jessica took the
elevator to the second floor. People filled this level. A sign on
the wall pointed toward the right for the cafeteria. Other signs
indicated a gym, pool, child care center, and ATM. Jessica headed
for the cafeteria and hoped Kathy didn’t take too long getting her
purse. She didn’t know what floor the clinic was on. The building
contained six floors above ground levels and two basement floors
along with parking.

Jessica nodded to a few people who
smiled at her, but hurried down the hall. She wondered briefly
where the tech department was located. The Isanti facility looked
modern without being cold. Lots of wood paneling and warm paint
colors mixed with the glass and steel of the structure. She liked
the feel of the place. Once inside the entrance to the cafeteria,
Jessica picked a table near the door and waited for
Kathy.

§

“Mr. Running Bear, Mr. Thunder Hoof to
see you.”

“Send him in please.”

Joe looked up to see Hugh followed by
Sarah enter the room. Hugh looked worried.

“Joe, Sarah explained what’s going on.
I think you should listen to what she has to say.” Joe sighed. If
Hugh suggested he listen, he probably wouldn’t like what he’d
hear.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t straight with you
from the first, Joe,” Sarah said. Joe motioned to the chairs in
front of his desk and Sarah sat down with a sigh. “Hugh guessed
correctly. I’m with the Inspector General’s Office. I took the job
with Isanti to investigate allegations of misconduct against Kurt
Kramer, DEA Officer. The sheriff’s office had no openings, so I
needed a job in security. Becoming a Sheriff’s Reserve Officer was
my next step.”

“Sarah found out troubling information
this morning. I actually found her coming in to speak to you,” Hugh
said. So, she returned to explain. Joe looked from Sarah to
Hugh.

“There’s a contract out on Jessica
Black. She’s in grave danger,” Sarah said.

“Dammit! What is going on here?
Jessica has never been to New Mexico before this trip.”

“We think it has to do with Kurt
Kramer’s sister, Kelly. She’s involved in this drug gang and we
think she knows who the drug lord is.”

“Kelly Kramer?” Joe asked. “Is she the
woman in the picture you lifted last night?”

“Yes, but her name is actually Kelly
Mason. Her mother’s second husband adopted her. They were killed in
a car accident and Kurt took over as guardian.”

Joe sat thinking. The bartender at the
Rattler mentioned a woman named Kelly meeting with Fred. How did
Fred fit into all this? What would he do about the contract on
Jessica?

§

Jessica waved at Kathy as she walked
in the door and sighed in relief to see her purse on Kathy’s
arm.

“Hi! Here you go. I sent your fruit
basket upstairs to Joe’s apartment,” Kathy said.

“Thank you.” Jessica took her purse
gratefully. Her stomach made a loud growl. They both
laughed.

“Let’s get you food,” Kathy
suggested.

Jessica filled her tray, but didn’t
know what to do when the clerk asked for her employee
identification card before letting her check out.

“She’s with me,” Kathy said hurrying
over. “Miss Black is the personal guest of Mr. Running
Bear.”

“Oh, I heard the bear wasn’t as growly
as normal. We all thank you for that, Miss Black.”

Jessica didn’t know what to say, so
she nodded and handed over her cash. They carried their trays to
the table and sat. “Why did you tell her that?” Jessica asked. Did
Kathy like to gossip? Jessica hated that.

“Next time you come in, they won’t
bother you about employee identification. You do want to eat, don’t
you?” Kathy asked.

Jessica blushed. Okay, she’d gotten it
wrong. Why did she act so touchy about Joe Running Bear? Did Kathy
know about the mating mark and Shadow Dimension?

“Kathy, I have a heart shaped tattoo
on my breast.”

“Yes, I know. I have one too. It means
you’re Joe’s destined mate.”

“Who are you destined to mate?”
Jessica asked leaning forward.

Kathy looked sad all of a sudden.
“Derek Darkwood and I are supposed to be together. He’s on
assignment and I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”

“I’m sorry,” Jessica said, unsure what
to say. “Kathy, is this claiming thing supposed to be
forever?”

“If you asked someone in the tribe,
they would say, yes. But you always have a choice, Jessica. Don’t
you want Joe?”

“I don’t know. I’m very attracted to
him. The sex is fantastic. But I don’t know him enough to know if I
want forever.”

“I felt that way about Derek. He’s
known as the playboy of Isanti. But now he’s gone I feel like a
piece of my heart is missing. Be honest with Joe. Honesty is
important to him. I would suggest you stick around until you know
for sure what you want. If you walk away, it would devastate Joe.
I’ve never seen him so happy.”

“Happy?”

“Because of you, silly. The big bad
bear has turned into a teddy bear overnight. All because of
you.”

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating. Joe
must have had other relationships.”

“Not really, though I’ve heard of a
few one-night stands. Joe is a very private person. He has to be on
guard since he’s head of security. He makes friends with the people
on his team, and with Raven and Derek and the other members of the
tribe. But he’s not what one would call sociable. Though I hear he
has a wicked sense of humor.”

“You seem to know a lot about
him.”

“Raven, Joe, and Derek pretty much run
the whole company and tribe. I’ve worked closely with all three men
for five years. The one person they hold in higher esteem is Isanti
Quiet Thunder, shaman of the tribe and retired owner of Isanti.
They took me in after my husband was killed in Afghanistan. I owe
them a lot. They’re good men, Jessica.”

“Yes, I can see that. Fred really
looked up to Joe. My brother constantly talked Joe up. I accused
him of match making.”

Kathy laughed. “Fred didn’t know how
right he was. Each Shadow Walker is marked with a tribal tattoo the
first time they go into Shadow. Each mate is marked as well when
escorted through Shadow for the first time. The women get together
and practice Shadow Walking, so we don’t have to rely on our guys
to take us places. It can be dangerous to enter Shadow if you don’t
know what you’re doing.”

“So, because I’ve been marked, I can
walk into the Shadow Dimension?”

“Yes, that’s one of the perks of being
a Shadow Walker mate. The other one is the shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“Oh, yeah. Italy, Paris. London,
anywhere you want to go you can travel to if you’ve been there
before.”

“I’ve never been out of the
continental United States.” Jessica felt a little
inadequate.

“That’s okay. Joe can escort you. Once
you’re there you can return anytime you want. You do need a shadow
of course to enter the dimension. No shadow, no door.”

“Will you show me how to open a
door?”

“Sure, but not here. Only tribe
members and their mates have clearance to know about Shadow
Walking. Finish eating and we can go up to Joe’s apartment. With
Raven on his honeymoon, my work load is fairly light. I can take
time to show you.”

“That would be wonderful,
Kathy.”

The two women made their way upstairs
to Joe’s apartment. Jessica laid her purse on the table by her
fruit basket.

“The first thing you have to do is
find a good shadow and really look at it.” Kathy pointed to the
darkness behind the door. “What do you see?”

Jessica stared at the shadow. “I’m not
sure what you mean.”

“Look hard. Do you see any movement? A
wavering?”

Jessica looked again. She peered
deeply into the darkness. Her breath caught. Near one edge of the
shadow it looked like something moved. A small wavering, like
energy waves coming off a metal surface. “I see
something!”

“Good. Now put your hands together,
palm to palm and push them into the shadow. Don’t freak out when
they disappear.”

Jessica kneeled down and sure enough
her fingers disappeared into the darkness. Cold bit at her
invisible fingers. She shivered. “Now what?”

“Open your hands, slowly. Pull them
apart to make a door big enough to enter.”

“Like this?” Jessica asked while
stretching the space between her hands.

“Yes. You can make it taller by moving
your hands up and down.”

“Man, it’s cold in there. What do you
do to protect your skin?” Jessica shuddered. It would be real easy
to freeze in these temperatures. A cold breeze blew out from the
entrance she’d made.

“We wear leather. There’s a wonderful
shop in Italy Raven’s foster sisters use. They took me there once,
but I’m not sure I remember it well enough to Shadow Walk on my
own.”

“So you have to know a place really
well to Shadow Walk there?” Jessica set about making the entrance
human size.

“Yes. You need a clear picture. Where
furniture is placed, the way the light hits. Getting lost in Shadow
is a death sentence. Joe wouldn’t want you trying this all on your
own.”

“Okay, the door is open. Now what?”
Jessica stood and turned to Kathy.

“We go in. Here, give me your hand.
I’ll transport us to my office upstairs and you can try to bring us
here. Are you wearing any synthetic fibers or carrying any metals?
Shadow will disintegrate anything not natural.”

“Everything is cotton. My sandals are
leather.” Jessica’s sport bra had an underwire, but she was curious
to see what would happen to it.

“Okay then. Let’s go.” Kathy took her
hand and they both stepped into darkness.

“Brr, I can’t believe Joe walks
through that cold without a heavy jacket on.” Jessica settled into
the chair in front of Kathy’s desk.

“If it’s a short trip, it’s not too
bad.” Kathy rubbed at her arms.

At a sudden ringing, Jessica pulled
her cell phone out of her pocket. “How come this phone survived
Shadow? My last one didn’t.”

“It’s specially made here at Isanti
out of corn resin and copper. All natural.”

“Hello?” Jessica answered.

“Miss Black, this is Sam Johnson, the
manager of Oasis Apartments. I asked you repeatedly to get your
brother’s things out of the apartment. Tomorrow is the first of the
new month, so I called the Salvation Army to come and pick up his
things. They’re here now since the police cleared the crime
scene.”

“What? Wait. I haven’t gone through
anything yet. I need to get Fred’s army medals and other personal
belongings.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Black. I suggest you
come over immediately. They’ve already begun to load up the truck.”
The phone went dead.

“What’s wrong?” Kathy asked, her voice
worried.

“I need a car. Now. I have to go get
Fred’s things.” Jessica ran her hand through her hair.

“I’ll call down to the garage and have
a car put at your disposal. If you need anything else, let me
know.”

“I really appreciate all your help,
Kathy.”

“Okay. Give me a minute to call the
garage and I’ll walk through Shadow with you so you can grab your
purse and get going.”

§

“Dammit, Sarah, I am not using Jessica
as bait!” Joe gritted his teeth. He didn’t care about catching the
DEA officer. He cared about keeping Jessica safe. He would not use
her to draw out the drug lord. He glanced at the clock when his
stomach growled. Lunch time had long since passed. He hoped Jessica
had gotten something to eat. He didn’t think he’d be gone this
long.