Stygian rubbed at his jaw thoughtfully. “Any chatter?”
“Strangely, nada.” Dog shook his head. “If it hadn’t been for Loki, we wouldn’t know about this.” He nodded toward the canyon.
“This the same canyon Liza and Claire crashed into when they were fifteen. The one we took her to?”
“The same canyon we also found evidence of a sweat lodge in,” Dog told him. “You know, Navajo medicine is shrouded in history. There are a lot of things they’re rumored to be able to do though.”
“Such as?” Stygian asked absently as he stared through the binoculars into the canyon.
“I’ve had Chimera working with Joseph Redwolf for a while now, Megan Arness’s grandfather. From what she’s uncovered, there’s a legend that the memories of a dying warrior can be passed to a warrior who needs the skill or the information that could be gone forever. There’s no information whether it’s ever been done before, but the legend is there. She’s also learned that they’ve been shredding and burning records from more than a decade back, which were contained in a secured, secret location where the tribal chiefs are said to store the written history of their secrets and the recipes used for certain rituals, handed down since long before their lands were ever invaded by the white man.”
Stygian lowered the binoculars, his arms propped on the edge of the boulder he’d been resting against.
“The Navajo medicine men are rumored to still know many of the ancient rituals,” he said thoughtfully. “How close is that supposed secured, secret location to the canyon where the girls wrecked?”
“We don’t have a clue. Even Chimera doesn’t know where it’s at. But she’s smelled the ash on Joseph’s clothes when he returned from the desert. And he didn’t lie when she asked what he had been burning. He told her he was burning another’s past.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
He could feel it.
In his gut, Stygian could feel the vibrations of an interference that had likely saved Liza’s life as child, but could cost her that life now.
Liza?
To her friends, to her family, she was Liza Johnson. It was Liza Johnson’s memories she carried, but it wasn’t Liza Johnson’s personality. Just as it hadn’t been Liza Johnson’s destiny to be in this place, at this time. It was Honor Roberts’s. And now, Honor no longer had the very information that could save her life.
“At the same time the wreck occurred, two men supposedly from a unit Audi Johnson had trained while in the military showed up as well. Cullen Maverick and Klah Hunter. We suspect Klah is Judd.” Dog leaned against the boulder they were using as shelter, his gaze narrowing, the lines fanning out from his eyes, the marks of squinting into the sun, or his gaze narrowing on distant targets, stood out in stark relief as they narrowed once again.
Between his teeth he clenched a cold, thin cigar that he had yet to light. Crossing his arms over the desert-tan shirt that covered his chest, the Coyote watched Stygian assessingly.
“Stranger things have happened,” Stygian murmured.
Hell, he knew better than that.
Judd wouldn’t have left the girls without his protection. Even in the labs, both Judd and Gideon had risked their lives more than once to protect both girls. “There was a reported attack on two teenagers and a young man, matching Honor’s, Fawn’s, and Judd’s description, as well as two Native Americans accompanying them, six hours from Window Rock, less than twenty-four hours before the wreck,” Dog continued. “Several soldiers identified as working for Brandenmore Research were found dead as well, their bodies obviously having been dumped there rather than left where they were killed.”
“The underground network that has always helped the Breeds in escaping and relocation are rumored to be on Claire and Liza’s asses every time they leave the hotel. The Breeds that were here, before Liza and Claire came on our radar, say the members of that network are rumored to never leave a kill where it was made, if killing is necessary,” Stygian murmured.
“True,” Dog agreed. “We also have the fact that there’s a team shadowing Liza and Claire, a report that the two girls have always had shadows. Shadows our Breeds could never identify or track. They’re damned good, Stygian, if they can evade us.”
“I’ve glimpsed them,” Stygian admitted. “Each time I’ve sent Flint or one of my own team out to track them, they simply disappear.”
“What’s your gut telling you?” Dog asked when Stygian said nothing more. “What are your animal instincts telling you?”
The bastard knew exactly what his instincts were telling him, Stygian thought as he glared out at the desert once again.
“When it happens, no matter how much she suspects it, it’s going to destroy her,” he snapped, enraged at the thought. “She believed she was one person. Her parents, her friends, everyone treated her as though she were Liza Johnson. To definitively learn the truth will destroy her.”
“Not if Honor’s memories are still there,” Dog stated. “If she’s having nightmares, then no doubt they are. Someone has simply overlaid Honor’s memories with Liza’s. They’ve done just enough to keep her safe and to keep her alive.”
“And now the Breeds will destroy that security,” Stygian retorted. “What a fine gift to give my mate.”
Dog breathed out roughly at the thought. “Too bad Liza’s medical records from the lab were destroyed. We know her DNA was changed by the treatments she received there, but we have no idea what it changed to. Have you asked her to have a Core Level DNA test done?”
“That’s not the answer,” Stygian argued. “As you said, we have no idea how Honor’s DNA was changed. It wouldn’t prove anything.”