Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5) (25 page)

"It will cost you," she said.

"Another day?"

"No. A promise. If you do get away from us, you will call me before you do anything too foolish. You will tell me your plan and let me poke holes in it."

"Promise," I said.

Delicately, Elisabeth took my arm. "Hold her," she said, and the other wolves steadied me, Serena settling in behind
me to support me with her body. Elisabeth did something painful to my arm, then she said, "Now. Heal it."

I collapsed
against Serena when I was done.

"Michaela," Elisabeth said. "
Are you lying about the extra day?"

"No."

"You scored five to our eight. I will give you one more city if you promise you aren't lying."

"I promise, I am not lying. You have until five AM, the day after tomorrow."

"Des Moines," Elisabeth said. "They aren't in Des Moines or any of the most immediate towns."

"Does that include Boone, Ames and Ankeny?"

"Yes, they aren't there, either."

I opened my eyes and searched her face. "Are you lying?"

"Are you?"

"No."

"Then I will make you another promise. If you escape, and if you call me before you enter Iowa, I will tell you whether or not I lied."

"And you won't lie?"

"No."

I closed my eyes.
"Why this game?" I asked after a while.

"We're trying to help," Karen said.

"We know you will shake us eventually," Serena said. "But until you do, we're going to give you every skill we can."

"And maybe if you know we're helping," said Elisabeth, "maybe you'll wait longer. Maybe you'll work with
Vivian." She paused. "Maybe you won't go."

I
opened my eyes and looked straight at Karen. "You were military?"

"Yes."

"Drill sergeant, you said." She nodded. "I'll give you three days if you find me a sniper rifle, teach me to use it, and help me make silver bullets."

"Angel," Elisabeth said immediately. "Stay with her. She isn't to leave this room. You two, with me."

The other three left the room, and then I heard them leave the gym entirely. On their way, Elisabeth told Eric and Rory I wasn't to leave.

Angel fed me more food then sat down and looked at me.

"How are classes?" I asked.

"Good," she said. She paused. "I'm not earning A's."

"Oh honey," I said. "Do you need help?"

"No. It's been hard to study."

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." She grinned. "I have a job lined up no matter how well I do."

"Earn A's," I said. "You'll be more proud of yourself if you do."

She nodded. "I'm going to talk to Mom about it. She'll help. Scarlett has been studying with me, and she's doing very well, but I keep thinking about keeping you safe."

"Oh honey."

"If you promised to wait, it might help."

"You little shit!" I said. "That wasn't even subtle!"

"Michaela," she said. "I'm not playing you."

"I'm not waiting," I said. "I'm sorry. You need to take responsibility for your grades."

"I know."

"You are not responsible for my safety. I am."

"And the enforcers."

"No. I am. That's it. I accept help, but in the end, my safety is my responsibility. Not yours or anyone else's."

"Lara bought a plane. Did you know?"

"Nice topic change," I said. "Have you seen it?"

"No. Not yet. She's getting upgrades for it. June told me."

"She hasn't told me."

"Distractions."

"Yeah."

The other enforcers returned while Angel and I talked about airplanes
. They knelt down next to me.

"We are giving you a chance to withdraw your offer," Elisabeth said. "We do not believe you have considered how you will obtain access to this rifle you want while on the run."

"It's not the sort of weapon you're going to find in some random gun shop," Karen pointed out.

"I have thought about it," I said. "Elisabeth, you're going to keep it on your fireplace mantle. Unlocked. With the ammo."

"I don't have a mantle."

"You'll put it somewhere I can break in, grab it, and go. The reasons you'll do this is because you know I'll go for it, giving you a little extra chance to catch me again, and because if I do get free, you'd rather have me shoot him from -" I turned to Karen. "How far?"

"A thousand yards," Karen said. "In light winds and if he's standing still."

I looked back at Elisabeth. "A thousand yards instead of up close and personal."

"All right," Elisabeth. "That's three days on top of the one we already earned."

"Yes." I was going to need the time to do my research anyway.

"You will spend an hour each day with Vivian," she said.

"All right."

"You will take a sleep aid that she prescribes."

"For tonight and two more nights," I agreed. "Not the last night. I don't want to be groggy." I turned to Karen. "Can you get me the gun?"

She smiled. "Yes, and I even have the silver rounds."

I laughed. "You already have the gun."

"Yes."

"It'll take down a wolf?"

"Yes. You'll need to hit his heart, which is a small target, or his head, which is a big target, but at a thousand yards, glancing blows can happen."

"So if I knock him down, be ready to put one more round into him?"

"Yes."

"If I lose the gun, can you get another one? I suspect you would rather not
actually give it up."

"Yes. Fifty-thousand dollars. You can owe me."

"Seriously?"

"I'll throw all the ammo in for free."

I laughed. "Deal. If I return it or never use it?"

"Then I'll pay for any ammo you use during training," Elisabeth said.

"Can you get me a night scope?" I asked. "I mean, as long as I'm asking."

She laughed. "It has one."

"I love you, Karen," I said.

"I love you, too. Now, we're going to tell you all the things that can go wrong."

"After dinner," I said. "I'm starved. I want a shower. And then can we go shooting?"

* * * *

I had never fired a rifle before. I had fired shotguns loaded with silver buckshot, but a rifle was very different.

They took me at my word; I only had a normal escort, and they didn't treat me with any great deal of suspicion.  But Elisabeth begged me not to tell Lara what we were doing. That was an easy promise to make.
Karen brought a pistol as well, and I fired that a half dozen times.

"There," Elisabeth said. "That will explain the smell of gunpowder."

Over three days, we went through hundreds of rounds of ammunition, firing one or two rounds at a time. The third day, we were firing at a thousand yards. I thought I was doing okay. We had hung a set of wooden balls from a tree, so I could see when I hit something. Karen took the gun from me and said, "This is what is possible. Watch through the spotting scope."

There were four balls hanging from ropes. She fired four times, about a second apart per shot, and each shot got a new ball swinging. Then she concentrated on one and kept hitting it even while it was swinging wildly.

"Shit," I said.

"You'll need a still target at this range. Let's close back to two hundred and you
can try moving targets."

At two hundred, I could hit them if they were moving slowly, but swing
ing around, I couldn't touch them. Then we went back to a thousand yards and Karen said, "You're as good as you're going to get without years of practice. Let's fire a few silver rounds. They don't carry quite as well." Then she demonstrated she could still hit one of the targets. She rolled away from the gun and it was my turn.

It took three shots, but I hit my target. I put rounds into the next two targets.

"It was two extra lines in the scope," I said.

"Yeah, about, at this distance. At two
hundred yards, they'll both be the same."

"If I get a clean headshot?"

"He's down and won't get up. And honestly, I think even a standard round in the head would kill him, but maybe not in the heart. I prefer silver, anyway, because a silver round anywhere can still kill him just like it could in a human."

"So if I can't get a head shot?"

"A body shot will knock him down, he might get up, he might not, but if he does, he won't be chasing you. His friends might, though."

"Thank you, Karen."

"Please don't do this," she said. "Please, Michaela. Find a way to let it go."

I didn't answer but packed up the gun and remaining ammunition. "Four clips," Karen said. "Twenty rounds each. Two are silver, two are standard. There's another two hundred rounds of standard. I don't have any more silver. Everything will be in the case. Please don't do this."

"Thank you for helping me, Karen."

"We're trying to make you feel like you have control," she said. "Please don't leave us."

I hugged her and walked to the SUV, carrying the gun. Elisabeth took it from me. "It will be in my front closet," she said. "And I won't lock the house door. You don't have to break a window."

"Are you going to put a tracking device in it?"

She laughed. "Count on it. There are tracking devices on each car and little ones in your clothes."

"You are full of shit."

She bent down in front of me, pulled out a knife, and cut open the hem of my jeans, then stood up, holding a small device.

"Shit," I said. "I bet it has crap for range."

She laughed.

"You're bluffing," I said. "That little thing can't track me."

"Okay," she said. "I'm bluffing."

"If I get to Iowa in front of you," I said. "Don't follow me."

"I won't promise that, but I will take it into advisement. Now, do I have to tell you what it is going to do to Lara if you get yourself killed?"

"No. Do I have to tell you what it will do to Lara if she has to lock me in a cage because I am insane?"

"Work with Vivian. Six months. I promise you'll get better. Give it six months. If you give it six months, and they both aren't already dead, all of us will help you. We'll plan a world class hit. Six months of learning to shoot. Karen will come, and she'll shoot for you if you can't do it. We'll all learn to shoot like that."

I considered her offer.  I really did.

"Tomorrow at five AM," I said finally. "But I am still trying to get past it. I'm not succeeding. They have to die."

She sighed. "Lara doesn't need this right now, Michaela."

"I know, but she's better off without me right now."

Elisabeth pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, and then we got into the car and drove back to the compound.

Over dinner, Lara said, "You haven't taken off yet."

"No. I made a promise to Elisabeth to let Vivian have a little more time."

"What did she pay you for this promise?" Lara asked.

I lied. "Nothing."

Lara didn't believe me, but she didn't push it. No one else said a word. After dinner, I asked for a run, then I took a shower and cuddled with Lara until we fell asleep together.

I felt Karen's eyes on me as I fell asleep.

I woke during the changing of the guard. And at 4:30, Elisabeth joined Serena. I went back to sleep. They would get tired of watching me. I slept in, getting up when Lara did.

They followed me into the bathroom. Someone watched me while I used the toilet. Someone watched me while I showered. I ignored her.

I spent the day doing research, trying to find where Brody and Johnny were. I didn't get vary far. I wasn't very good at it. I wondered if Gia were blocking me somehow.

I bided my time. I had two wolves minimum watching me at any time except in my bedroom. Then it was one or two depending on how Serena was feeling about me at the time.

I moved a radio into the bathroom so I could listen to music while in the shower. The radio had a docking station for my iPod.

I spent time in the gym, but took my showers at home. Some times I played the radio; some times I sang. I had a lousy singing voice, but I didn't care. Everyone loves to sing in the shower.

Three days later my opportunity came. I got a good workout in the gym and an escort home from Serena and Angel. Serena sent Angel up to watch me while I showered. I collected my change of clothes from the closet, palming a few extra things while I was in there. I grabbed my undies and socks as well, I set everything in the bathroom, then stepped back out and stripped in front of Angel. I tossed the clothes towards the laundry basket, but missed. Angel walked over to toss them into the basket, and I turned to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it with Angel in the other room.