Chapter 772 Chapter 772
Calla felt one hundred percent better. At first, she hadn’t been sure the flash was someone from the team, until it repeated several times. They’d gotten her message. It was a system Amari set up with her and Deva. For them to know it, Amari must have been in touch with the team. Knowing she was involved brought her a small measure of comfort. Now, she just had to figure out how the switch worked and where the other locations were, and they would come and get her.
As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, her animal alerted her that someone was down there. She went into the kitchen. An older woman with grey streaked dark hair was at the counter cutting up vegetables.
“I knew we had a new house guest.” She said and glanced over her shoulder. “I’m Edda.” Turning, she went back to what she was doing.
Calla almost gave her real name. “Missy.”
“Nice to meet you.” Edda paused, turned around, and looked at her.
Calla put her age in the late fifties, but sometimes it was hard to tell with shifters. When the woman’s dark eyes looked at her, it felt like she was looking into her soul. There was something familiar about her, but she couldn’t place it. Whatever it was, they were filled with deep sorrow, and it made her animal pause.
“Kumar said I was to give you a hand.”
Edda’s assessment ended, and she nodded. “That would be appreciated.” She set the knife down and moved toward the fridge. She barely moved her left leg, just dragged it along. “How are you at barbecuing?”
Calla shrugged. “Not bad.”
Edda opened the fridge and took out a large tray of meat.
Calla wanted to rush over and help her, but surprisingly enough, she was able to turn and put it on the counter without issue. She watched her go over and open a cupboard. “Did you hurt yourself?”
Edda shook her head. “A very long time ago.”
“That sucks.” Calla went around the island to the tray.
Edda set a bottle of sauce beside it. “It’s just a part of me now.”
“I guess shifting wasn’t able to heal it.”
Edda looked at her with sadness in her eyes. “I never had the opportunity to try.” She shrugged. “Now I’m used to being this way.”
That told Calla that Edda, at one time, wasn’t with these people of her own choice.
“That’s sad. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t.”
Edda studied her for a moment. The regret was clear in her eyes, but she still offered up a brief smile. “Slop lots of this on the meat, but don’t overcook it. A little pink is good.” She turned back to the counter.
Calla hurried to the door and grabbed her boots. Going back to the kitchen, she picked up the tray and sauce and went over to the patio doors.
“Kumar tell you about the switch?”
Slipping her feet into her boots, she balanced the tray on one arm as she opened the door. “Yeah. That’s some kind of magic switch, huh?”
“I don’t know anything about technology or how it works. I just follow instructions.”
Calla grinned. “Until those instructions don’t make sense.” She smiled at her and went outside. The barbeque was set away from the house. She went over and cringed as her boots squished in the mud. Putting the tray on the small table, she opened the lid. At least the grill was clean.
As she got it going, she glanced out of the corner of her eye to check out the area back here. They’d only dug up enough to call the mud she was standing in a lawn eventually; five feet beyond, it was tall growth from last year. She was surprised a lot of the snow was gone, but it was still early enough in the year that they could be hit with some squalls or even blizzards.
Once she had the meat on the grill, she slathered it with the sauce and then closed the lid and looked around. A hawk flew overhead, moving away from the building. She wanted to watch him to see where Gideon was heading but also didn’t want to draw attention to him. It had to be a scary thing for the flying clans, knowing they could be shot down at any time. A shiver went down her spine. It was hard for her to go for a run anywhere because lions didn’t really blend in any territory in this hemisphere, but at least she had a cover on the ground.
When she was allowed, she was going for a run to try and find one of the team and explain what was going on. She glanced back at the house as she lifted the lid to check the meat. Hopefully, she’d be able to go for a run without being followed. She knew Eaton would somehow find a way to get her something so she could contact them; until then, it was going to have to be sign language.
A movement to her left made her jump and look. It was Kumar. “Scared me. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”
He grinned. “You must have been lost in your head because, with this mud, there is no sneaking.”
She turned back to the grill and turned the meat to cook the other side. “Bet the smell of this has everyone’s stomach rumbling.”
“It does smell good, but that’s not why I’m here.”
She gave him a quick look.
“Boss wants to see you when you’re done with that.”
Calla nodded. “All right. Can I eat first?”
He shook his head. “After.”
“Fine. What does he want to see me for?” She had to tap into the calm of her animal so she could keep her heart rate down and breathing normally.
“There are no Callahan’s on the Alliance teams. So, you check out.”
She grinned at him. “Whew, good to know.” She rolled her eyes. “I could have told you that. I’ve never even met any other Callahan’s.” It wasn’t a lie. She kept her attention on the food. “You guys have access to Alliance computers or something? That was some fast research.”
“We used to have access to their network, but not anymore.”
This guy was so easy to get information from. “What happened?”
“They figured it out.” He chuckled. “Only took them a year.”
“Are you guys’ hackers or something?”
He snorted. “Not me, but we have a few that understand all the tech.”
She turned off the gas and started stacking the meat back on the tray. “They must be the ones that set up a light switch as a warning system?” She paused and looked at him. “How does that even work? It’s connected to the electricity in the house, right? So, does it send out a bat signal or something?” She smiled.
He shook his head. “I don’t even know. All I know is that if the switch is turned off, it disrupts something, and the other houses here and the other bases are notified.”
“An alarm?” How would that work? She got how it did for the three houses right here but far away.
“No alarm, but the lights flash in the houses.” He shrugged. “It took them weeks to perfect it, so there was a lot of flashing.”
“That’s kind of cool that they can do things like that.”
He held out his hand for the tray when she finished. “I’ll get this to Edda.” He pointed to the left. “Boss is in the house over there.”
Calla handed him the bottle of sauce and hung the fork back on the side of the barbecue. “Save one of those for me.”
He grinned. “We eat over at number one, all together, so you’ll get some.”
“Good to know.” She turned and started trudging through the mud. She hoped Dane, Illias, or all of the tech geeks understood how the light switches worked because she had no clue.
When she reached the side of the first house, she dragged her feet through the remnants of a snowbank. She was going to have to buy some rubber boots if she was going to be wandering around in the mud. When she had most of it off, she walked along the snow until she reached the front of the house. The garage door was open, and two men stopped what they were doing and looked at her. “You could ski through that mud back there.”
One of them grinned. He was short with red hair. His eyes made her think of a fox. “Wait until the rest of the yard thaws and the rain comes.”
She gave him a bored look. “Where can I buy rubber boots?”
The other one turned around and opened a box. “Just tell Ellery to add it to the next shopping run.”
She nodded. “I was told the Boss wants to see me.” He was a lot larger than the other one. Even though he was young, his hair was dusted with grey. When he turned his head, she saw the scars on his neck. Those were the same kind of scars the men who lived in collars had.
He pointed to the door. “Leave the boots on the mat, or Ellery will scream at you.”
“Thanks.” She hurried over and opened the door. No one was questioning who she was. That told her that people often came and went here. Gnawing on her lip, she pulled her boots off and set them on the rubber tray beside the door. She had to remember all of this to tell Eaton. This was not going to be an easy op.