“That’s very insec-cure,” Bruno said. It was too risky to call the police. “Call Alan!”
“Do you know his number?” Clarice pulled up a keypad.
For a moment, Bruno was afraid that technology itself was going to be his downfall. All of the numbers he had were safely programmed into his phone. Who memorized phone numbers anymore?
“I could search for Tiny Paws,” Clarice said desperately. “If they have their number on the webpage.”
“Give me the keypad,” Bruno said impulsively. It was warmer inside, but not by much, and he fumbled the phone when he tried to hold it and push numbers at the same time. Clarice folded her fingers around his. It hurt where they warmed him, but he could use his other hand on the screen.
He closed his eyes, trying to draw on instinct. It had gotten him here. It had brought him this far. If he just trusted it, he didn’t actually have toremember…
His fingers were clumsy, and he deleted numbers without looking twice, then opened his eyes to stare at the screen. Alan’s number didn’t have a two in it, did it? He stabbed the call button anyway.
“Juliette,” an unfamiliar voice answered.
Bruno’s heart sank. He didn’t know a Juliette; he’d just gotten a random wrong number.
No, wait! Juliette was the name of the shifter agent,Theo’s ex-wife and mother of Darius and one of the kids at Tiny Paws.
“Who is this?” she asked sharply. “How did you get this number?”
“Bruno. B-bruno Martin. I have a k-kid at T-tiny P-paws with Jackson.” Bruno could barely move his mouth, he was shivering so badly, and he could hardly hear Juliette.
36
CLARICE
When it became apparent that Bruno was having trouble talking, Clarice cleared her throat and reached over to turn on the speakerphone. “Hi. I’m Clarice, I’m Bruno’s…uh…friend, and he’s got hypothermia, probably, but he seems to think that this phone number can help us stop a raid on aday carethat is about to happen.” If she could believe in shifters and telekinesis, why shouldn’t she believe that Bruno could ouija board a phone number with his eyes closed?
“Tell me everything.” Juliette’s voice was crystal clear now that she was on speakerphone. Clarice had no idea who she was, but she didn’t ask what Tiny Paws was or doubt that it was in trouble. “Start at the beginning. No, wait. I’m going to call in anyone I can first, there’s no time for details. Stay on the line, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Juliette’s hold music was terrible, but it gave Clarice a chance to take the phone of Bruno’s trembling hands. “We’ve got to get you out of those frozen wet clothes,” she said. “There’s no bedding here, but you can put on Veronica’s coat and I’ll tear down some curtains to wrap you in.”
Bruno needed her help to get the soaking clothing off. She rubbed his arms and helped him tuck his frigid hands into his own armpits before swaddling him in the coat and everything she could find, ignoring her own shivers. “I’m going to see if I can find the heater controls,” she said. “I’m going to be super pissed if they didn’t drain the swimming pool but they were here to turn off central heat. For a couple of reasons.”
There was no furniture, so Bruno sat on the bottom step of the grand staircase, leaning against the balustrade and shivering.
The house, blessedly, had power and gas, but Clarice knew that even on full blast, it would take a while to heat. Especially with the blown out doors on the wide-open second floor. She cranked it up as high as it would go and went to see if there was a chance one of the bedrooms had been left furnished for photographs.
Clarice returned at the same time the screen of the phone went to sleep. Tapping it reactivated the phone app, and Clarice helped Bruno back to his feet. “There’s a gas fireplace and a built-in couch in the snobby second receiving lobby. We’ll at least be more comfortable there.”
Bruno had hobbled halfway there when Juliette came briskly back on the phone. “I’ve got a team heading to Tiny Paws now and Agent Petrov has been alerted. I need to know what kind of force we’re looking at and when to expect them.”
“A dozen goons, several meatbags, a lot of guns—I’m sorry, I don’t really know what kind, but they did mention tranquilizers that could take shifters down—and two wizards,” Clarice said. “It’s a twenty minute drive from here, but they said something about stopping somewhere to change into something less conspicuous.”
There was a moment of silence. “Wizards?”
“They threw Bruno through a pair of very nice French doors without touching him. I don’t know what else they would be.”
“I’m passing that on,” Juliette said faintly. “The closest team should be there in thirty or forty minutes and we’ve put emergency protocols in place. Do you need emergency medical assistance?”
“I got the heat on and I’ve got Bruno wrapped up in a coat and curtains.” Bruno gave a thumbs up from his curtain roll. “I mean, we’re stranded here because they took our car keys, but the kids come first, of course. Bruno’s son is there. Gil. He’s very loud and he’ll probably be scared.”
“We’ll send an agent to get you after we’ve secured the location and relocated the kids,” Juliette said. “I’ve got this number and I’ll be with the second wave. Good work. We’ll take it from here.”
She hung up and Clarice turned the phone off to save the battery.
“So, we’ve got a little time to kill,” she said, snuggling close to Bruno. She was chilled herself, but she didn’t want to take back Veronica’s coat and leave him with nothing. “Oh! You know what, I bet I can put your clothes in the dryer if there is one. Let me go explore real quick and see.”
