Chapter 24-Joe

What do you know about Ashland and the Ridgeline pack? Adrian asked Roe.

The Ridgeline pack is based in Ashland, but their territory doesn't cover the entire town, so we could probably sneak through without them noticing. Roe replied. Especially if we stayed in the car, so they couldn't catch our scents.

And we don't know what they'd do if they caught us. Shane said.

You're right, we don't. Roe said, shrugging. But I know their Alpha, and I don't think he's in league with Major Marsden. I don't think Oakland's Alpha is either, at least not knowingly anyway.

But can you be sure? Adrian asked her.

No, I can't. That's why I didn't say anything about asking the Ridgeline Alpha for help. Right now, the only two people I trust are Joe and Special Agent Maitland. Besides you two, of course.

So, what's the plan? Shane asked.

Unless y'all have any objections, get her to drive us to the other side of town, I'll call Joe and have him meet us in the neutral territory. There's a motel there, I'm sure Adrian can convince them to let us borrow a room or stay in the back office until Joe gets there. Then he can rent a room and we can talk about what to do from there.

Sounds good to me. Shane said.

Fine with me. Adrian said.

Okay, Adrian get her phone from her and I'll go ahead and call Joe, so we won't have as long to wait for him. Roe said.

Adrian nodded to Roe, then turned to the woman driving the car. "Where is your cell phone?" He asked her.

"It's in my purse." She replied.

"Where's your purse?" Adrian asked, looking around the front of the car.

"In between the seats."

"Where in between the seats?" Adrian asked her, confused. He'd already looked, and didn't see a purse.

Roe leaned forward so she could look in between the front two seats.

The woman driving the car reached her hand in between the two front seats and pulling out a tiny purse, handed it to Adrian. It was barely larger than a cell phone.

As soon as she saw the purse, Roe started laughing. It's no wonder Adrian couldn't find it. It's little more than a phone case.

That's a purse? Adrian asked, holding it out to Roe.

Yes. She replied taking it from him, while trying to quit laughing.

What are y'all talking about? Shane asked, moving so he could see the purse in Roe's hand. Are you sure that's a purse? That looks more like a wallet to me.

Roe started laughing again. Yes, it's a purse. She replied, opening it and looking for the phone. It's more like a combination of a wallet and a phone case. A lot of women don't feel the need to carry around a lot of junk with them, so this is the answer to that.

Well, I guess that makes sense. Shane said dubiously.

What about you? Adrian asked Roe. Is that the kind of purse you carry?

Sometimes. It depends on what's going on, and what else I have to have.

Okay. He said.

I don't think that's the end of this subject. I'm pretty sure he's just dropping it for now, so I can call Joe and do what we need to so we can rescue the other people that Marsden has. She took out the phone and dialed Joe's private number.

"Hello?" Joe answered the phone, not recognizing the number.

"Hey Joey." Roe said perkily.

"R-Cassandra? Are you okay? Where are you?" Joe said, catching himself before he said her name.

"Yeah, Joey, it's me." Roe said, keeping the perkiness in her voice. "Sugar, I need to ask you a very big favor, okay?"

"Sure, Cassie. What do you need?"

"Are you in your office? I need you to look something up for me...about little pitchers."

"Oh, okay Cassie. Give me just a second."

"Sure thing, Joey." Roe replied. "Just let me know when you get to where you can look up the information about the little pitchers for me."

"I'm on my way." Joe told her. A few minutes later, Joe said "I'm in my office with the door closed."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes."

"Have you activated the little pitcher defense system I gave you?"

Joe sighed. "Give me just a minute....Okay...Cassie, I'm alone, and your system is in place. It's already starting to give me a headache. What's going on?"

"First off, yes I'm okay. I'm with the two that were with me before, and they're okay too."

"Thank Goddess, Cassie."

"I know, and I have." She replied, agreeing wholeheartedly with him. "A has gotten us a driver, we're on the other side of Ashland, heading towards the town. Our hope is to get to your side of town, and get to their version of the roach spot, if you get my drift."

"Can your driver hear me?"

"I doubt it, she's not like us. She also probably won't remember any of this, and if she does, it'll seem more like a dream than anything."

"Okay, so I'm free to speak, but you're trying to watch what you're saying, just in case she does remember something."

"Exactly, Joey. I always said you were smart." Roe smiled.

"Thanks, hon." Joe chuckled. "If I've understood you correctly, you want me to meet you-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Roe interrupted him.

"What, Cassie?"

"I don't want you to even say it."

"Why not? I've got your protection thing going on in here. Nobody can hear me."

"I'm not sure how that would work if there was a tap on your phone. If someone is listening from a distance, it may not affect them at all."

"Damn it." Joe said. "What the hell is going on?"

She sighed. "It's a long story, and I'd rather tell you in person. Actually, Joey, we need to change where we're meeting, now that I've been thinking about this. Remember that place in the woods where we used to go when we were dating?"

"But, we-"

"Don't you remember, Joey?" Roe purred. "That place in the woods we went as kids, we were talking about it just a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, yeah. I remember now."

I hope you do understand, Joe. "Okay, well meet us there and bring a couple extra shirts with you please?"

"Sure, Cassie. We'll be there soon."

"No, Joey. I really, really want you to come alone." When he didn't immediately answer, she continued. "Joey, please. You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't really important."

Joe sighed again. "You drive me crazy sometimes, Cassie."

"You know you love me, Joey." Roe smiled. He's going to come alone, thankfully. I just hope he knows where to meet us.

"Yeah, hon I do."

I know he's shaking his head at me. "Oh, and Joey, make sure you're not followed. I don't want company like the last time."

"You got it Cassie." Joe said, a tightness filling his voice.

I think he may have figured out why I'm taking so many precautions. "Did that guy I texted you about the other day come see you?"

"Yes, he did."

"You can invite him too, as long as he comes alone also."

"Okay. I'll see what I can do about that."

"But he has to come alone too. Actually, it might would work better if you have him meet you at your pack after you meet with us."

"Okay, Cassie. I'll call him and see what I can do."

"Just remember little pitchers, Joey, little pitchers."

Joe sighed once again. "I got it, Cassie."

"Do you remember that perfume I had you keep for me."

"What perfume?" Joe asked her. Come on Joe, remember the scent masking potion I made for you. He finally realized what she was talking about. "Oh yeah, that."

"I'm sure you can figure out a way to bring that to me..." I hope he understands that not only do I want him to bring it to me, I want him to use it on the way.

"Hmm, you know I might have another use for a little of it."

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, go for it."

"Okay hon. I think I've got it. If I have any issues, can I call you back at this number?"

"For about ten minutes, yes. After that, no. We're not going to have the driver much longer than that."

"Okay, Cassie. I'll see you in the woods soon."

"Okay, Joey. Be safe."

"You too. Bye." Joe said, then hung up the phone.

I'm going to hold onto the phone until we leave her, just in case he calls me back. Roe told the guys while playing with the phone. And yes, before you ask, I deleted his number from the phone.

Okay, so where are we meeting him? Shane asked.

At the motel, like we discussed. Roe answered.

But you told Joe we were meeting somewhere in the woods.

Yeah, I know. We've had this talk before of what we would do if something happened and he knows that the first place I suggest is where we're meeting, no matter what I say after that.

What?

We've prepared for this. For the risk of something happening and me needing a safe haven where no one knew where I was.

Why would you need to prepare like that? Adrian asked her.

Because every supernatural creature wanted me. She shrugged. There had been some threats toward me about choosing a mate. She shook her head. They thought they could force me to mate someone of their species so I'd back them in conflicts.

And they didn't realize that mating you could be done against your will. Adrian said speculatively.

No, they didn't know that, or exactly how it was done. My family has been spreading rumors that we're the ones that have to mark the other person. So, most people think it's a spell of some sort. The ones threatening me seemed to think that if they could kidnap me that they could hold me hostage until I did what they wanted. I don't think they thought it through all the way.

Maybe they thought that they could find another witch and have her cast the mating spell on you. That way they wouldn't have to have your consent. Adrian mused.

I hadn't thought about that. What if they already have one, and the witch was pressing for me to be brought to her so she could do the spell on me, but in reality she wanted me to be brought there to help her escape.

Oh, shit. Shane said. That would be bad.

Yeah. I've got to figure out what's really going on with that, because if that's the case, I've got to help her.

Could it be one of your cousins? Shane asked.

I'm not sure. It's been a while since I had contact with some of them. I'm the oldest, so some of them are a good bit younger than I am.

Wouldn't somebody tell you if one of them was missing? Adrian asked.

Probably so. Roe said, calming down a little bit. I need to get in touch with my parents and find out for sure. A couple of my cousins aren't much younger than I am, so it's possible that their parents don't know that they're missing.

When did the threats start? Adrian asked her.

A month or so ago.

If it is one of your cousins, why wouldn't their parents know? Adrian asked.

Some of them are finished with high school, and I know a couple of them just graduated and were going on vacation together after school let out. So, if they were on vacation, it's possible that their parents might not know that they're missing yet.

I see. Adrian said.

How many of them are out of school already? Shane asked.

With the three that just graduated, there are five girls that are out of high school. Not including me.

You have three cousins that just graduated? Shane asked, surprised.

Yes, two are twins though. Roe said. Why does it surprise you that I have a lot of cousins? Don't you?

Well yeah, but I'm a werewolf. I guess I just assumed that witches would be like humans, and not have a bunch of kids.

You have to realize that some of my aunts and uncles are mated to wolves, and other supernaturals. The only one of them that has four kids, had two sets of twins. The rest only have two or three kids. She shrugged.

How many aunts and uncles do you have? Shane asked, confused by the number of cousins she had.

A bunch, but what I think you really want to know is that my mom has four siblings, and my dad has three. Mom and dad are the odd ones out because they only had one child, me. She explained.

Oh. I guess I had assumed that you only had a couple of aunts and uncles. It makes more sense now that I know how many you have.

Yeah, and I have a lot more cousins than that, but I'm not close to them. The ones I talk about are the ones that I'm close to. The others are descendants of my great-aunts and uncles. We don't see them often.

That makes sense. Shane said.

They were all quiet for a couple of minutes. Then Adrian motioned to the driver and said We're getting close to where she's going.

Roe looked around. They were through the town, and almost into the wooded area on the other side. Can you get her to miss her turn, and take us a little further out of town? I'd feel better if we were closer to the woods before we get out of the car.

I can do that, but not too far. I don't want to lose control of her while she's on the way back to her house.

That's fine. I'd just rather be a little further away from all the houses before we get out. Roe said.

Adrian nodded, then told the woman "Drive to the next place to turn around after we pass your house. You were deep in thought and missed your turn."

The woman nodded.

Hey, Roe. Can I ask you a question? Shane asked.

Sure.

You know I don't know much about witches. Is there a spell you can cast to hide our scents?

That's a good idea, Shane. I know there's a potion to hide scents, I made one for Joe. I'd have to do some research to find a spell that would do it. Roe answered thoughtfully. But that's not going to help us much right now.

Oh, well. I could hope. Shane said with a smile.

I do believe he's trying to tease me. Who would've thought that would happen when we first met? She thought as she smiled back at him.

Alright, we're here. Adrian said, as the woman pulled the car over on the side of the road. This is as far as I think we can go with her.

Okay. Roe said, dropping the woman's purse back where she'd had it. I know where we are. It's not that much further to the motel.

They all got out of the car, and the woman pulled back out into the road and drove back toward town.

I guess we're walking from here. Shane quipped, as they started walking into the woods.