you're interested, but let me cut to the chase. Not only is it a rare plant, it's so rare that it’s only found around here in the Indiana Dunes National Park."
"And you're sure about this?" When Liam nodded, Rory snapped his fingers. "You heard him. Let's head out." He took a step toward the door then stopped and shook his head. "Wait. We can't all go." He hesitated for a second as his shoulders slumped. "Now that I think about, I don't think any of us should go."
The O’Malleys all started talking at once, shouting over each other to be heard. Vasily made a cutting motion across his neck and the room remarkably fell silent. He walked around to face Rory. "Tell me what you're thinking. Maybe my brother and I can help."
Rory's eyes widened as if he'd forgotten about me for a second. Or even Vas for that matter. "Someone should be here if Da randomly shows up or we get a ransom call. But also, if they have eyes on the area—or if Da is still there—seeing an O'Malley show up would tip their hand and let them know that we’re on their trail. I can't risk it, especially not in the daylight."
Vasily was already reaching for his phone. "Good call, Rory. Give me a second to get in touch with my mate. He works with STAHP's best trackers and they’re always willing to help out. If it's okay with you, my brother and I will head out and meet with them at the national park. We need to get going though because we’re already burning daylight since the sun will be setting soon. We'll get in there and see what we can find before it gets dark. After that, the trackers can shift and hopefully lead us to your father."
"Yes, I like that plan. If you can make it happen, I'll be in your debt." He nodded decisively then shot me a wistful smile before darting out of the room. What was that about? Hopefully it was a sign of good things to come. But first, I would earn his trust by doing what I'd come here to do.
It was a big park, and we had maybe twenty minutes of daylight left when we arrived. Fortunately, Liam had been able to narrow down the only three spots in the park where the spooge plant grew that might be a match, which was a relief. Traipsing up and down the sand dunes in the dark would have inevitably ended up with one of us pitching off the side of one and landing in a lake. At least we didn’t have to deal with snow, though the freezing wind was like sandpaper on my cheeks.
Naturally, River’s eagle eye was the one to find the right one, nestled at the base of a tall dune. With barely any time to spare. It was already dark enough that our enhanced vision came in handy. The green and red plant sprawled spottily over the sand. It grew in patches, mats of green speckled between wide swathes of tan, and in person I could tell that the leaves were browning as winter crept near. "Over here. This is definitely the spot where they took the picture. The plants are all kinds of fucked up from being walked on, not to mention having a body laid out on them."
Nacho and Dante—the twin trackers who had already helped us in the past—circled the area, muttering in Spanish and nodding that River had it right. Without further discussion, they started stripping right there and shifted into their jaguar forms. While River matter-of-factly gathered their clothes and shoved them into an empty bag he'd brought with him, the two big cats put their noses to work. Within seconds, they were off and running.
"Shit. We have to go after them. They get on a trail and forget that people need to follow." River slid the bag over his shoulder and took off in a run. Vasily and I looked at each other and shrugged then followed. We also ran… at a slightly slower pace.
Luckily, we didn't need to go far because the scent trail ended abruptly at the top of the dune. By the time Vasily and I came out of the trees and walked out into the open, the twins were already getting dressed. Vas went straight to River's side. "What did we miss?"
River shook his head. "Nothing. I mean, unless you wanted to see their junk