Free Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong Page A

point is that you’re out and—”
    “There’s … more.”
    A pause. “Do I want to know?”
    “Probably not. The werewolf wasn’t the only one snacking on cops. There was this hell-beast …”
    I didn’t get much farther into my story before Adam had me on speaker phone, so Jeremy could listen, with Lucas conferenced in from Miami. I put Jaime’s phone on speaker, too.
    When I got to the part about the pile of corpses and the hell-beast slavering at the door, Lucas said, “That’s …”
    “Did I just lose the connection or are you actually speechless?” I said.
    “I think he’s trying to figure out if you got some of those drugs,” Adam said.
    “I didn’t.”
    “Jaime?” Jeremy said. “You’re all right? Are there lingeringeffects from the injection? I presume it was an injection.”
    “I’m fine,” Jaime said. “But really, under the circumstances, that’s not our first priority.”
    It was his, though, closely followed by the dead werewolf. As for the rest, that ball was in Lucas’s court.
    “Can the Cortezes clean this up?” I asked.
    “Hold on,” Adam said. “I’m still stuck on the part about a demonic entity manifesting in our world. That’s next to impossible. There are accounts of it, but none less than two hundred years old, meaning none that have been verified. Are you sure—?”
    “That the creature with bat wings, a beak, and butcher-knife talons wasn’t just a really ugly police dog?”
    “No, I just mean … You said it was a spell. Maybe an illusion. Like a sorcerer’s trip wire. Those things are enough to scare the shit out of anyone.”
    “But they don’t rip the shit out of anyone. It tore a guy apart, Adam. Right in front of Jaime and me. Ripped him limb from limb—”
    Jaime looked ready to be sick again, so I stopped.
    “I’m sorry,” Adam said. “That wasn’t clear and I—”
    “Had to be clear. You’re the research guy. I know.”
    Lucas cut in. “Right now, I need to mobilize forces. Give me all the details you can. Did you notice the station number or address?”
    My mom whispered it, which I repeated. When I’d finished, Lucas stayed silent.
    “There’s someone with us,” I said.
    “Yes, I noticed. For a moment, it sounded like …” A long pause. “Never mind. That address again … ?”
    “The person with us,” I said. “You were going to say she sounds just like my mother.”
    Silence.

    “It is,” I said.
    Silence.
    “It’s my mom. That hell-beast the sorcerer brought over? It was a test run for what he really wanted to do—which was summon my mother.”
    “You means she’s … ?” Adam began.
    “Right here. In the flesh.”
    More silence. At last Jeremy broke it, saying, “Hello, Eve.”
    “Hey, Jeremy,” Mom said with a smile. “Long time no see. Well, I’ve seen you plenty of times, but maybe we’ll finally get a chance for a face-to-face now.”
    “I …” Adam began. “I don’t understand. How … ?”
    “We aren’t sure on the how,” Mom said. “But we have a pretty good idea why I was brought over. I’m not your average ghost.” She paused. “Jeremy, can you explain it after we sign off?”
    I glanced over at Jaime.
    “She didn’t tell him,” my mother murmured to me. “He figured it out.” She raised her voice. “Jeremy will tell you why I’m such a valuable commodity. Now, we really should let you guys get to work on cleanup duty. Savannah is …” She glanced at my bandaged throat. “She really shouldn’t be talking so much.”
    “What?” Adam said. “I thought she was okay. Savannah?”
    Mom winced. “She’s fine, Adam. Just a … blow to the throat. It’ll be sore for a few days.”
    “Blow?” He swore under his breath. “Okay, tell us where you are. We’ll be right there.”
    “We … can’t do that,” I said. “We need to lie low until we’re sure no one links us to this thing.”
    “Then we’ll lie low with you. If you’re hurt, Jeremy should check you out.”
    Mom