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     than okay.
    I glanced behind me, noted the distance between the FBI agents and me and slowed down
     just enough to keep them interested.
    The game was on.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Sweat and grime covered me, making my skin itch, and fatigue had started pulling at
     my body, making every step feel like burning torture. I'd lead the agents all over
     the city for the last hour. They were no match for me, they just didn't know it, poor
     things. But now we'd had our fun and it was time to call it a day.
    I headed for one of the many abandoned neighborhoods in Charlotte. Ducking past the
     shattered entrance of the once prestigious gated community, I took off down a pitted,
     overgrown road. Running as silently as I could, I cut to the right, darting through
     the beaten down ruins in a zig-zag pattern that I hoped would confused the Were trackers
     that  would be brought in when they realized they'd lost me.
    Once I was sure I was out of sight and that I'd given them enough trails to stay busy,
     I wound my way to my real goal—a half destroyed home at the end of what had once been
     a family-friendly cul-de-sac. I imagined happy kids riding their bikes around in front
     of their houses, which had probably never happened given the level of wealth and prestige
     this particular community had commanded.
    I ran toward the collapsed and charred corpse of what was once a large brick colonial.
     Smashed walls, exposed floors, and broken furniture were all that remained, as if
     a giant toddler had decided her doll house displeased her and had taken a bat to it.
    Darting behind the half of the house that still stood, I prowled to the back. Approaching
     a section of the foundation that had cracked, I glanced around and then slipped feet
     first into a crevice at the base that was hidden behind the weeds.
    Now you see me, now you don't , I thought as I slid from the humid warmth of the late morning and down into the
     cool, earthy space that was once the basement entertainment hub for the occupants
     of the home. I landed with a crunch on the broken glass scattered over the floor and
     stepped carefully toward the stone fireplace.
    The fireplace was a classic rustic design made of heavy gray stone with an inner hearth
     that was about four feet by five. The huge flat-screen television that had once hung
     over the mantle now lay in a shattered mess and was the source of most of the glass
     covering the floor. Next to that were the remains of a pool table, long ago salvaged
     for kindling, as well as the guts of a leather sofa whose leather had been stripped,
     probably to be repurposed as clothing or storage containers.
    I climbed into the inner hearth and sat down facing forward, hugging my knees to my
     chest. This particular access point had been one of my ideas and I was particularly
     proud of it. I pressed my hands against the slate and my skin tingled as the scanner
     read my identity. Two handles popped out into my palms. I gripped them.
    "Addison Kittner. Access required," I said in a firm, clear voice and I braced myself.
    The back of the fireplace flipped over, carrying me with it head over heels like I'd
     done a fast backward summersault. Left behind was an empty fireplace and the trashed
     room that would immediately be sprayed with a fine mist composed of water and skunk
     discharge. The perfect cover to hide my trail from sniffing Weres.
    The panel at my back jerked to a stop and locked into place, and I dropped to a dirt
     floor, landing on my feet. The clean, moist scent of earth and rock washed over me.
     The tunnels Falcon had designed during the war stretched to my right and left with
     periodic low-level blue lights strung along it.
    He and I knew every inch of these tunnels and they'd saved my life more than once.
     These days we only used them for emergencies, not wanting to risk their discovery.
     As far as we were aware, we were the only ones who knew about them or used them, but
     the world was full of