Not here. Let’s check his son’s room.
Kang had gone to his room in a shit mood because he had a woman there. He had planned to take out his frustrations on her. If Longwei had joined him, the woman could be in far more trouble than she could handle. He knew Meiling caught his thoughts.
I’m going in with you, Gedeon.
That might not be a good idea, Meiling. Let me check it out. We don’t even know for sure if the woman is Cosette.
I know. I feel it. I have to go in with you.
Gedeon didn’t argue with her. They slipped past the guards together and entered Kang’s apartment. It was very quiet. Too quiet. The scent of blood was overpowering. Meiling reached out to him and Gedeon took her hand, just for a moment, to reassure her. He moved ahead of her to go into the bedroom.
Kang lay on the floor, blood congealed around his head. There were stab wounds on his chest. He’d been dead for hours. Longwei Lis, Kang’s father, lay near the bed, completely naked, his tongue hanging out, blue, his eyes bugging out of his head, a wire around his neck pulled tight, cutting into the flesh.
On the bed, Cosette sat, fully dressed, her hands folded together in her lap. One foot tapped nervously, the only movement she made as she tracked Gedeon coming into the room. She looked like a young predator sizing him up.
“Cosette?” Meiling stepped out from behind him.
Cosette blinked several times, her gaze flicking back and forth from Gedeon to Meiling and finally settling on Meiling. Her lips trembled. She pressed her fingers to her mouth. “Meiling? I knew you would come. I knew you would. I did what you taught me and I was waiting for you.”
Gedeon looked at the two dead men on the floor. His sweet, kind, compassionate woman had taught this little woman how to do that? He looked from one woman to the other.
Meiling gathered Cosette into her arms. “You did what you needed to do. I’m so proud of you. Let’s get you home. We still have to get past the guards and make it through the lines of soldiers.” She turned to Gedeon. “Did you bring that pill and the spray with you?”
He nodded and fished out the little bag, handing it over. Meiling gave the pill to Cosette to take. The girl did everything Meiling said without hesitation. She stripped, allowed Meiling to spray her body without asking questions and took the thin, rolled pants and long-sleeved tee that matched the ground outside in the dark. She tucked her hair into the dark cap and allowed Meiling to stripe her face with darker colors.
“Don’t move or speak unless Gedeon or I direct you to. This is going to be very difficult,” Meiling instructed.
Gedeon took one last look at the two dead men Cosette had killed in self-defense. He had no doubt that she would do exactly as they instructed.
They had planned for bringing out a prisoner once they knew Cosette had been taken. They took her out the side exit, careful to keep from triggering an alarm. That was the most difficult task. Gedeon had studied the palace’s security system with meticulous attention to detail and then had Rene go over it with him just to be certain. Even a slight disturbance would be detected, but if the cameras or alarms went back online immediately, security would put it down to a glitch. Those did happen when the palace was so remote.
In the end, Gedeon was shocked by how easy it was to get Cosette out of the palace and through the line of soldiers to the car Rene had waiting for them. They went directly to the airport, where Etienne’s private plane waited to fly them out of the country. Cosette waited until they were safely away until she had a much-earned breakdown.
As Gedeon watched his woman comforting the younger woman, he found himself fighting anger at the shifters who were so callous. Maybe they shouldn’t survive as a species. Then Meiling looked up at him and smiled.
You spend too much time in the wrong world, Leopard Boy. We need to connect with some of the good ones.
Good men?
You’re a good man. There are more. That was firm.
His woman. Meiling.
20
GEDEON lay on the bed in his favorite place, his head on Meiling’s belly while her fingers drifted through his hair. The sounds of the swamp played through their bedroom. Alligators bellowed at each other—two bulls bent on establishing dominion over territory and the females in it. A youngster had been foolish enough to challenge the resident male. Big Boy, as Meiling called him, wasn’t taking any nonsense from the upstart.
Insects droned in relentless pursuit of musical talent when they had none, although Gedeon had come to love the sounds. All the different whistles and hums. The louder piercings and softer brushings, all coming together to make a background that was a ceaseless cacophony of noise. Snakes plopped into the water from the overhanging branches occasionally, emphasizing the rasping of the bullfrogs. The small tree frogs had a lot to say as they called out in an effort to attract mates. Gedeon wasn’t impressed with their voices, and Meiling wanted to know where the Disney frogs were hiding so she could hear them sing.