***
With food in her stomach and dry clothes on, Arianna descended the stairs to the central room. They were in an old motel run by Flint, or one of his companies that had turned it into an elaborate bed and breakfast. Neither of them were sure what. Ajax had told her it felt vaguely familiar to him, but when she’d asked why, he would only smile.
“Arianna, it is good to see you looking much better,” Flint said as they entered the room.
“I feel better,” she admitted. “Thank you for taking me in,” she told him, shaking his hand firmly.
“It was the least I could do,” he told her. “Besides, maybe you can help him decide how to fix his problem.” He jerked his chin in the direction of Ajax.
She heard the shifter growl softly, and wondered just what was going on that she had missed.
“Problem?” she asked, turning to face Ajax.
“Flint is refusing to help us anymore,” he explained.
“I operate from the shadows,” Flint replied in a hard voice. “I don’t do open combat, and I certainly cannot harbor all these people myself. You are asking too much of me. I don’t have the funds to maintain this large of an operation.”
Arianna looked back and forth.
“There must be a way we can make this work. Ajax, do you have funds that Flint could draw on?”
Ajax hesitated. “Yes, I suppose I could talk to some people.” His eyes narrowed as he focused them on Flint. “But if we helped you, then you’d have to get these men out of town. I will help however I can, but you are the only one with the expertise, unless you think we can simply hide them in a truck and drive away.”
Flint looked back and forth at the two of them for a moment.
“Even if I had the funds, I still don’t like operating so overtly. It puts me at risk.”
Ajax rolled his eyes. “Flint, you are out of the shadows now. They know you exist, and they aren’t going to stop. You can run, and I wouldn’t entirely blame you. This is big-boy shit. Scary stuff. But if you’re in, you’re in.”
Arianna looked between them. “Flint, can you house everyone for another day or two?”
He nodded. “Even a few days if need be, especially if I have more funds to keep hiding my tracks. But getting these men out of the city is going to be tricky. We can’t use rail or planes, probably not boats either. All of those are too heavily watched. That leaves by road. Despite the size of the city, that’s not as easy as it sounds,” he explained.
“Why not?” Arianna asked. She had grown up in King City, but she had rarely actually left it.
Ajax looked at her and then back at Flint, also curious as to the reasoning.
“The city is three quarters surrounded by water. Yes, there are major highway arteries that cross the water, but if you count them, there are only a few chokepoints they would have to post teams at to catch us. I doubt we lost them coming here, but with the police station next door, they’re going to be loath to try anything. Still, when we try to leave, they’ll be able to follow us.”
She blinked in surprise. The news about the police station was news to her.
“So can you do anything to help or not?” Ajax asked.
“Give me a day,” Flint said, sighing in defeat. “I’ll come up with something. Is that okay?”
Ajax looked at her. It took Arianna a moment to realize he was waiting on her approval.
“Yes, yeah, that will work,” she said. There didn’t seem to be much of a choice, all things considered. “Whoever these guys are, they’re going after shifters. We need to get them out of town. It’s the right thing to do,” she said firmly.
What she didn’t mention was why Flint had such a vested interest in shifters. He wasn’t one himself, but before they came along, he had been using his limited resources—which she didn’t think were as limited as he made out, just traceable by those with the right contacts, which made things tough to use them freely—to help those shifters who were targeted get out of town. There had to be a reason for his devotion to them, but she didn’t know what it was, and she was beginning to suspect they might never.
“The real question I have,” Ajax said aloud, looking at all the shifters that had been rescued. “Is why you guys? What do you all have in common that made them want to target you?”
A strong voice rang out. “We all were vocal in the community about the treatment of shifters, and how many of us are still at risk from unsavory parts of society, including the government.” Benji stepped into the room at last. He paused with a start as he saw Arianna.
“Ari?” he asked, amazed.
“Hi Benji,” she said, turning to allow herself to be embraced in a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“And you!” he exclaimed. “But what are you doing here?”
“She helped us find you,” Ajax said proudly, putting his arm around her.
The gesture seemed innocent, but she recognized it as a subtle challenge by Ajax to show that she was with him, no matter what Benji might think. It was silly, because Benji would recognize that Ajax was a good man. Even as she watched he glanced back and forth, and gave Ajax a discreet nod.
“This story needs more explaining,” he said at last.
“We’ll tell you, if you tell us how you know that’s the reason they’re after you,” Ajax said.
“Deal.”
Ajax made to turn them away and head outside, but she paused, looking back at Flint.
“We’re counting on you,” she told him firmly. “Don’t let us down.”
He swallowed visibly as she went to go reunite with her half-brother.