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What a tall order. And her week was nearly up.
Lawe had kept his word though. He had allowed her to do whatever she needed to do. He even stood back when necessary and without asking; he’d never once questioned the working relationship she had with Thor.
She wasn’t fooled though. This battle wasn’t over.
And time was running out. She had one day left to produce information. After that, Jonas would threaten the Navajo Nation Council with sanctions if he didn’t get the information he wanted on Honor Roberts and Fawn Corrigan.
And she was just tired of wasted time and effort.
It was a damned good thing Diane had excellent contacts. Contacts who wanted the identities of that group to suggest they take the job of hiding more than Council-threatened Breeds and humans.
No matter how they tried, there was no way of finding them, though. If there had been, then the men her uncle collaborated with would have found it.
Moving through the darkened rooms of the
suite the Navajo Council had made available for her and Lawe, Diane slipped silently past the balcony doors she had managed to jimmy earlier and keep from locking.
Lawe would have a fit over this, she knew, but she was tired of the shadows and the constant smothering presence of Breeds surrounding her. She needed to run wild and free to clear her brain. Besides, she knew for a fact that Liza Johnson used the running trail that wrapped around the small park for her morning exercise.
If she hurried, she would get there in time to scout out the area, then lie in wait for the friend whom Coyote Breed Ashley Truing cared so much for.
Taking Lawe with her would only serve to intimidate Liza, who seemed to have a sense of fear where Breed males were concerned. Diane knew what a fear of men looked like in wary eyes.
Just as she knew that Liza and Chelsea Martinez had been the reason Isabelle hadn’t ended up raped by her ex-boyfriend recently.
Climbing effortlessly from the balcony before grabbing hold of the strong, dense vine that grew along the building, she began silently lowering herself to the ground below.
Lawe had left the room minutes after they had been escorted to it by a team of Breeds. And if she hadn’t misunderstood, then she knew those Breeds were outside her door and charged with making certain she was protected while Lawe was busy.
Son of a bitch, she was so tired of protection.
This was becoming ridiculous.
Jumping to the ground, Diane came to a crouch, her gaze adjusting to the darkness outside as she searched for any Breed Enforcers who might have reached this side of the hotel while patrolling.
They hadn’t. The soft green grass that met the building was a part of the golf course, which stretched out behind the Navajo Suites. On the other side was a large pool, a park for kids and a variety of other simple amusements.
Straightening up, Diane sprinted quickly across the grass and headed for a stand of trees bordering the golf course before the Breed guards could get a whiff of her scent and stop her.
Liza Johnson was suspected by Diane’s contact to have been the go-between in the pickup of several other Breed children, a scientist with Navajo roots who had been forced to work with the Council and a young woman whose mate had been killed.
Liza was highly involved in the Bureau of Breed Affairs as a liaison between the office and the Navajo Council and community, and she was also a close friend to several high-profile Breeds. If anyone in Window Rock knew where Honor Roberts was hiding and the identity she had taken, then it would be Liza.
Using the golf course’s heavy boulders, the stand of sheltering trees and the artificial hills for cover, Diane made her way quickly from the hotel to the other side of the course, praying Breed eyes hadn’t seen her escape.
Once there, she turned along a narrow path, no longer bothering to stay hidden in the deepest shadows as she pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and hoped any Breed surveillance wouldn’t immediately realize who she was.
There were no Breeds assigned to this area, though, she knew. At least, the plans she’d been privy to hadn’t shown any. There was always the chance that Lawe had ensured she not know exactly where the Breeds were patrolling, but she didn’t think he had. As he saw it, since she’d been given permission to conduct her investigation, she would have no reason to slip away to do it.
No reason other than the fact that she could no longer bear to be surrounded by big hulking brutes determined to die for her. Lawe had kept his word, but as Rachel had warned her, other Breeds had made a vow, and they didn’t care to shadow her and Lawe, and especially her and Thor, whenever they saw her out.
God, could she survive watching another man she knew, possibly Lawe, the man she loved, die for her? She’d seen it once before. She had watched the life drain from Padric’s gaze as the bullet he’d taken to his chest to protect her had killed him.
The memory of it flayed her. She had never escaped the nightmares that forced her to relive it and couldn’t seem to convince herself that she was older, more experienced, and definitely more merciless than she had been then.
She also wasn’t nearly as reckless as Lawe wanted to believe she was. Moving past the small children’s playground and entering the city park, Diane stopped at the tall stone monument that marked the missing members of the Navajo Nation as well as other tribes who had been used in Breed research.
There were fifty-seven names total, men and women whose lives had no doubt been lost long before the Navajo had ever learned of their deaths.
