Despite napping for most of the evening, I was ready to fall right back to sleep by the time I finished dinner and switched places with Kieshala for my turn to keep in physical contact with Maddie and Nat. It wasn’t a great sleep since it was once again plagued by nightmares, but I was starting to get used to those, and combined with my nap earlier, I seemed to get enough sleep to feel fully rested when Jenny woke me to take her shift.

As we ate a good breakfast, Uncle Jack told us what he had discovered about the man I had seen watching the fisherman collective. “Corporal Jaime Martinez, I can’t find anything on him for the past two years, but his most recent transfer was to Arlington, Virginia. That probably means that he’s been attached to secret projects and since Arlington is DARPA territory…”

“He’s probably attached to military research projects,” Dad finished with a frown.

“Just great,” Mom spat. “If military research is involved, they’re not going to stop until they get what they want, and they have deep enough pockets to pursue us for a long time.”

“If they capture any of us, we’ll never see the light of day again, at least not without something to enforce our obedience, like an explosive collar,” I muttered as I looked to Kara and Kieshala. “If they capture any of us who are still human, it’s a short hop to Guantanamo Bay, and they’re very dedicated to getting answers by any means necessary.”

“We’re mercenaries, so they’ll probably start with bribes,” Aunt Carmen commented thoughtfully. “When that doesn’t get them the answers that they want, we’ll be moved to their special suites for a more vigorous interrogation.”

Kara’s and Kieshala’s expressions got darker and darker as the conversation went on. “Well, shit,” my mate grumbled. “What do we do then? We can’t move until Maddie and Nat are done changing and if they know who the rest of you are…”

“We stay here for now, Love,” Uncle Jack offered with a shrug. “The contact that I used to rent this place can’t be traced back to us and if they had any idea where we were then they would have already hit us instead of waiting for Maddie to pop up on the grid.”

Dad nodded in agreement. “We’ve fortified our position and put every security measure that we can think of in place. We’ve got plenty of body armor and small arms, and even some grenades if we need them, but we should try to get our hands on some heavy artillery too, just in case. If they do find out where we are, they will hit us hard and fast, and we should be prepared to eliminate anyone they send and move quickly.”

“The boat is fully fueled and ready to go, but I’d rather not move Maddie and Natalie unless we absolutely have to, at least until their transformations are complete. With that in mind, I agree, it’s better to hunker down and wait for now. We can revisit this once the girls have stabilized as Naethari,” Mom contributed.

“If we want heavy artillery we’ll have to go through the black market, and they’ll be watching the usual black market sources for any non-locals,” Aunt Carmen pointed out. “That means that Naiya will have to go in disguise, or through an intermediary.”

“If I go in disguise, I’ll need to use a different vehicle, something with some major trunk space. That pink sports car is too flashy anyway, and it can be traced to my current identity. I might have to talk to Sandro, maybe he can help us out,” I added thoughtfully.

I twisted deftly to the side, allowing my opponent’s fist the fly harmlessly past me. His forward momentum carried him past me, and I kicked at the back of his knee, sending him to the ground, but his partner took that moment to attack my exposed back with a knife. I could smell and hear her coming and dropped low, twisting my upper body to grab her extended arm, and then I used her momentum to flip her over me and onto the ground. She had barely hit the floor when my hand snaked around her arm to squeeze the pressure point in her wrist that would force her to drop the weapon.

She was still trying to get to her feet as I quickly retrieved the knife and slipped the edge across her throat. Once down, one to go. Her partner had gotten to his feet and had drawn a weapon, a Glock is a dependable weapon, not much chance of a misfire and it could do some serious damage this close. I tossed the knife at his head. Most people would go for the chest, center of mass and all that, but it wouldn’t pierce that protective body armor, even if I did want to kill him. I just wanted a distraction before he could bring his weapon to bear.

His eyes widened at the unexpected tactic, and he twisted away from the projectile, effectively taking me out of the path of the barrel of his gun and giving me a moment to close the distance. Limiting myself to human strength and speed was annoying, but if I didn’t then I would give myself away and lose any edge that I might need later if that body camera happened to be recording. Still, the distraction gave me the precious seconds that a mere human would need to close in, and a well-placed chop to my opponent’s wrist knocked the gun from his now numb fingers.

His free hand moved in to make a grab for me and again, I used his momentum against him as I grabbed his wrist and flipped him to the floor, only slightly harder than I had intended. The breath left his lungs in a shallow wheeze, and I didn’t give him time to recover. I twisted his arm behind him and knelt on his back, just behind the shoulder blades, where he wouldn’t be able to make a grab for me, and where my weight and the grip on his arm would keep him at my mercy. “Talk,” I ordered.

Dad half laughed and half wheezed underneath me. “Good job, Naiya. You managed to take us both down that time and subdued me with strength and speed that would be believable from a human.”

Mom groaned as she sat up from where she had been playing dead. “An athletic and well-trained human, but a believable one,” she agreed. “That should be an adequate amount of strength and speed for you to use in a fight without people getting suspicious. If you have to go beyond that, then things have probably already gone off the rails anyway,” she commented as she walked over to pick up the wooden practice knife from where it had landed.

I got off Dad’s back and he rolled his shoulder with a slight wince as he got to his feet. “You surprised me when you threw the knife. Good thinking. People react instinctively to try to avoid things like that, even someone with training will try to avoid taking a knife to the eye, and it allowed you the time you needed to get close.”

We had been practicing for most of the day, only taking a break to eat and allowing me to rest in my true form for a bit. First, we had worked on my marksmanship, and then on giving me a refresher on close-quarters combat. The plan was to not only optimize my fighting abilities but also allow me to disable and capture someone if I needed to while appearing human. It took me most of the afternoon, but it seemed that I was finally able to do so without using too much speed and strength.

That had actually been the hardest part since I took to fighting and shooting again much more easily than any of us expected. Maybe it’s a shapeshifting thing, but I had much better body awareness and control than I had ever had when I had been a human boy. Or maybe it was just that I felt comfortable in my own skin now, no matter what shape it wore. I will admit that my enhanced Naethari senses probably helped a lot too, but they wouldn’t give me away like my strength and speed would.

“Yeah, I figured that would make anyone flinch,” I answered Dad with a grin.

With that, Mom and Dad decided that we were finished for the day, and we went back inside the house so I could chill in the pool and rehydrate for a bit before dinner. It was still way too damn hot outside and all that physical training in such heat had really worn me out. I snatched up my phone from the kitchen counter and started checking through messages as I made my way toward the pool to relax for a bit with Kara and Jenny.

There was one notification of a text from a local number, one that I recognized as Sandro’s. The text was only one character, an exclamation mark. Wondering what would have him sending me such a message, I tapped on his contact info to place a call. Uncle Jack had made sure that the number was secure when we started doing business with Sandro, so I wasn’t too worried about security, and if he was contacting me, it was probably something important.

“Hola,” the familiar accented voice answered.

“Hi, my shifter is stuck, and I might need to have someone take a look under my hood, do you have any appointments free?” I asked cautiously. Just because the phone was secure, didn’t mean that he was at the moment. With that in mind, we had come up with a key phrase to let him know that it was me, in case I needed to contact him for some reason.

“Hola, mi amor, it’s good to hear your beautiful voice again. You still up for a night on the town?” Sandro replied casually.

“What’s up?” I asked with a frown at his answer. It meant that the phone was still secure, but he couldn’t be sure if listening devices or eavesdroppers might be in play.

He managed to sound upset as he said, “No… I understand. La familia es importante. I’m probably going to be busy tonight anyway. There are some tipos here offering big money for some information. My boys don’t know anything, but it might be worth it to have a look around the barrio for anything suspicious so we can cash in. Maybe I can take you out somewhere special tomorrow night instead.”

The message was clear enough. People had come around asking questions about my family and he was going to make sure that his people knew not to tell them anything and see if he could figure out where they had set up shop. “Thanks for the heads-up, Sandro. Tomorrow at noon, the coffee shop where you and Uncle Jack first met to discuss business.”

“Well, that’s a bit expensive, but you’re worth it, mi amor. I’ll pick you up at six,” Sandro replied before making kissing sounds and hanging up.

I placed my phone back on its charger and walked back into the kitchen where Dad was telling Uncle Jack about how my training went, and Mom and Aunt Carmen were making preparations for the evening meal. Without any preamble, I announced, “Sandro called. People have been asking about you on his turf. They’re offering a reward, but his people won’t rat us out and he’s going to see if he can find out anything useful.”

“Shite,” Uncle Jack muttered. “Well, it was only a matter of time. It was the area that we were most active in, after all.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t head into the city tomorrow, Naiya,” Mom suggested with a worried expression.

“I have to,” I replied with a shake of my head. “We’re running low on food supplies again with us Naethari needing to eat so much, and I set up a meeting with Sandro so I can get more details than the vague bits of information that he was feeding me over the phone. I’ll be extra cautious, I won’t break character in public, and I’ll take precautions in case they’ve put a tail on Sandro. I’ll case things out from a distance, and if I think there’s any danger then I’ll abort the meeting and just go buy supplies.”

None of them liked the idea, but they agreed that it was necessary. We did need the supplies, and more to defend our position with than some small arms and a few grenades. They wanted to be able to arm the Naethari among us as well, and teach them how to use the weapons, in case things got too hot here. If that happened, then the more we could thin the enemy numbers before it came to close combat, the better it would be for all of us.

As the conversation drew to a close and Mom and Aunt Carmen got to making dinner, I returned to the pool to get some rest and spend some time with Jenny and Kara. Kieshala had just taken over for my mate and was watching over Maddie and Nat, so it was nice to get some time snuggling with my mate and talking to her and Jenny for a while. Neither was very happy, and both were worried when I told them about Sandro’s call and my plans for the next day, but I think that they were both mostly frustrated because they couldn’t leave the villa to do anything to help.

They were doing something though, and I made sure to tell them as much. They were taking care of Maddie and Nat and making sure that their transition into Naethari would go smoothly, and we and Kieshala were the only ones who could do that. Kara was also my lifeline, and if things went pear-shaped tomorrow, then I would be counting on her to keep the others up to date and let them know about any changes in my plans.

Most of the dinner conversation that night consisted of making plans and contingency plans for my trip to Havana the next day. We must have gone over and refined the details at least a dozen times. With our enemies sniffing around, I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. I wouldn’t let myself make any. My family’s safety depended on me, and I wasn’t going to let them down.