He saw Charlie give Nix another flirty grin. “No, I’m just a grad student. He doesn’t tell us much, so I really don’t know where the great and powerful Oz is. Sorry.”
“He treats you pretty bad, huh?” Nix’s voice held commiseration. Of the three of them, she would have the most empathy for the kid based on her experiences with the council.
Charlie snorted. “OMG, he can be such a prick. Pardon my French. As long as whatever you’re doing will reflect well on him, he’s like your best friend. As soon as you move on to something else, he drop kicks you to the curb.”
“Is that what happened with Rinda?” she asked.
“OMG?” Tobias asked as an aside to MacMillan.
“Oh, my God.” MacMillan shot him a sidelong glance. “Text speak. You need to get with the times, boss. Maybe you should start tweeting or something.”
“I dunno,” Charlie said to Nix. “I mean, they seemed kinda tight, you know? But like I said, I’m just a grad student.”
Tobias restrained a growl of irritation. This kid was getting them nowhere. His gut told him the youngster didn’t know anything, and his gut was rarely wrong. “Who would know where Sahir is?”
Charlie’s mouth opened and then shut. “I was gonna say Amarinda would know, but…” He sighed.
Tobias glanced at Nix. She pulled a face and shrugged. Looking back at Charlie, she asked, “Is there anyone else here that can tell us what Rinda was working on?”
“Um…” Charlie glanced around. “She pretty much kept to herself, but maybe…” He paused. “Clarissa, uh, I mean Dr. Busham might know.” He pointed to a curvaceous blonde standing next to the large telescope. “She’s worked with Sahir more than any of the rest of us. And she helped Amarinda with some of her rift research.”
“Thanks,” Nix said with a soft smile.
A blush fired up Charlie’s freckles as he stuttered a response.
Tobias shook his head and walked toward the blonde scientist, fishing out his ID as he went. “Dr. Busham?”
She looked up, her ponytail bouncing against her nape. “Yes?”
He showed her his ID and introduced himself and then Nix and MacMillan. He saw interest flare in her eyes when she looked at the detective. “Dr. Busham?” he said, drawing her attention back to him. “We’d like to talk to you about Dr. Sahir.”
Her lips thinned and blue eyes flared with anger. “Before you ask, I don’t have any clue where he is. We have a report due to NASA in a week, and he up and disappears?” She gave a derisive snort. “Bastard. I should have known he’d leave me to finish up the work.”
“Why is that?” Nix jotted down a few notes.
“Because he’s not a serious scientist. He’s in it for the glamour of working in conjunction with NASA, with getting his face in the news.” Dr. Busham huffed. “And it looks like he took off with some of our equipment, too, which will slow our progress even more. Damn it!”
“What kind of equipment?” Tobias asked.
“A couple of laptops, a radio transceiver and transmitter, and our only broad-bandwidth videotape recorder.” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine why he would want them, but since they disappeared at the same time he did, I can only presume he took them.”
Tobias shared a look with Nix. They needed to find Sahir. He would lead them to the one behind the transmissions.
Natchook.
“Thank you,” he murmured to Dr. Busham. To Nix and MacMillan he said, “You two go talk to the other staff we missed the last time we were here. I’m going to call my PI friend.” Knowing they would do their jobs, Tobias walked back outside, his phone in hand. He hit the speed dial. While he waited for Percival to pick up, he sniffed the air to make sure there wasn’t anyone around. The only things he smelled were natural animals and trees. No prets or humans were near enough for him to smell, and, therefore, they weren’t near enough to listen in on his conversation.
The PI answered on the fourth ring. “What the hell kind of weird shit did you get me into here, Caine?”
“What’re you talking about?” Tobias walked toward the edge of the drive, head up as he scanned his surroundings.
“I left you a voice mail. Didn’t you get it?” Percival’s voice sounded strained. “Your scientist met up with a couple of vamps last night, which, okay, is not that big a deal. Humans hook up with vamps all the time, right? Afterwards he made a call to a prepaid cell in Scottsdale. The person he called paid in cash, I already checked. No way to trace who the phone belongs to.” His voice dropped a notch. “Early this morning, around dawn, your guy comes out of the house and throws a couple of suitcases in the trunk of his car. Before he can take off, though, these same vamps jump him.” The PI paused and then said, “Sahir’s dead, Caine.”
“Damn it.” Tobias scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand. He hadn’t gotten the voice mail. Sometimes he hated modern technology. “Did they know you were there?”
“I don’t think so.” Percival sighed. “I had the windows up and stayed real still. Didn’t move until I knew for sure they were gone.”
“What did they do with the body?”
“Tossed it in the trunk with the suitcases and drove off in his car.” Tobias heard the rasp of whiskers and pictured the grizzled PI rubbing his fingers against his chin, a habitual move he did when he was thinking. Percival said, “By now he’s out in the desert somewhere getting picked over by coyotes. Since he’d packed those suitcases, law enforcement will assume he just took off of his own volition.”
“And it’s fine to let them keep assuming that for now. This is big, Perce.” And the less the PI knew, the safer it was for him. Tobias warned, “You keep your head down.”
“No kidding. Those vamps were some scary freaks, man. No way I’m letting them know I saw what I saw.” He cleared his throat. “Consider us even now, Caine. I don’t owe you any more favors.” It took a lot to shake Percival, but it was obvious seeing a bunch of vamps kill a human was more than enough to do the job.
Tobias agreed and ended the call. He stood for a moment, listening to the birds and the wind blowing through the evergreens. The air up here was crisp and clean, chilling his already cool skin. He didn’t feel the discomfort of it, but he could sense the coldness of the temperature.
At least four deaths now in conjunction with the rift device. Three vamps, one human. This was going to blow up in their faces if they didn’t track Natchook down soon.
He heard the door to the observatory open and turned to see Nix and MacMillan headed his way. The detective turned up his jacket collar again and folded his arms, tucking his hands in his armpits for warmth. Nix had a slight smile on her face that faded as she got closer. “What happened? What did your PI friend have to say?”
Tobias glanced around one more time to make sure they didn’t have any eavesdroppers. “Sahir’s dead. Killed by vampires early this morning.”
MacMillan let out a low whistle. “Well, that jibes with what we just learned.”
“Which is?”
Nix glanced down at her notes. “One of the scientists said Sahir met someone at the base of the mountain a few days ago. He saw them pulled over on one of the side roads as he drove by on his way home.” She closed up her notebook and slipped it into her bag. “He said the other guy looked like a vampire.”
“He could tell that as he passed by going fifty miles an hour?” Tobias couldn’t help but be skeptical.
“That’s what I said,” MacMillan replied. “It was at an intersection, so he had to stop and check for clearance before he kept going. They weren’t that far away, and apparently the vamp was showing quite a bit of fang.”
“Would he recognize him if he saw him again?” Tobias would borrow a police sketch artist and get him up here if that were the case.
MacMillan shook his head. “Nope. Said once he caught a glimpse of fangs that was all he saw. He couldn’t even say if the vamp was blond or brunet. Just that he was male.” He grimaced. “I have a feeling we’r
e lucky he managed to notice that much.”
“Shit.” Tobias looked at Nix. “Did you get anything more?”
“No.” Her eyes held sparks of demon fire. “It looks like our best lead to Natchook has hit a dead end. Literally.”
Chapter Fifteen
It was nearing five o’clock by the time they got back on the road heading out of Tucson. MacMillan wanted to stop for dinner, Tobias made a concession and went through a fast-food drive through. Nix ordered a single cheeseburger and a side salad, while the detective ordered a triple beef burger with bacon and three kinds of cheese, large fries, and a regular cola.
“Your arteries are probably screaming for help,” Nix said before biting into her burger.
“Nah. I get lots of exercise with the horses,” MacMillan said. “That and running around after my little sister.”
“Your sister?” Tobias asked. “How old is she?”
“Thirty.” He grinned at Tobias’s roll of the eyes. “She just separated from her husband.” His grin faded and sadness flitted across his face. “I told her she could move in with me while she gets back on her feet.”
“That was nice of you,” Nix said.
Tobias glanced in the rearview mirror and caught the detective’s modest shrug.
“It was the right thing to do,” MacMillan said. “Anyway, it helps me, too, because she’s there during the day to keep an eye on things, and when I have a long day like this she can work the horses a bit for me.”
“He has a quarter horse and an Appaloosa,” Nix volunteered, her face alight with interest. “Our schedules haven’t jelled enough for me to get over there for a ride, but one of these days I will.”
“You bet.” MacMillan met Tobias’s gaze in the mirror. “You’re invited, too, chief, but the horses probably won’t let you near ’em.”
“It’s all right.” Tobias knew from experience he’d have a hard time with horses. They sensed he was a predator and wouldn’t settle down until they could no longer see or smell him. He’d told MacMillan before that he’d had horses when he’d first moved to Arizona a century and a half ago. It had taken long months of working with them, a few minutes each day, to get the horses to the point where they trusted him. But eventually they had and he’d been able to get around a little more easily. He missed that. His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket and frowned. “It’s Braithwaite. I’m going to put him on speakerphone, don’t let him know you’re here.” He connected the call. “Caine here.”
“Tobias, it’s Will Braithwaite.” He paused. “Am I on speaker?”
“Yes, so I can be hands-free. I’m driving back up from Tucson.” Tobias shot a glance at Nix, who raised her hands, clearly baffled as to why the vampire council member was calling. “What can I do for you, Councilor?” Tobias asked.
“Things are happening, getting out of control…” He paused.
When he didn’t go on, Tobias thought maybe the call had been dropped. “Will?” he asked. “You still there?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m still here. I just… I really didn’t want to go over this on the phone. It’s not secure.”
“Well, I won’t be back in town for another…” Tobias glanced at the dashboard clock. “It’ll be at least an hour and a half before I hit the 202.”
“Maybe I can meet you somewhere.”
“Will, what is this all about?” Tobias frowned and glanced at Nix.
MacMillan slid forward and leaned his arm against the back of Tobias’s seat without making a sound.
“Are you alone?” Braithwaite asked him. “Is anyone in the car with you?”
“You’re free to speak, Will.” Tobias waited. As long as Braithwaite didn’t realize he hadn’t actually answered the question, he’d be all right.
“I’ve made some poor choices lately, Tobias,” Braithwaite said. “Decisions made in a misguided attempt to garner more power for myself on the council. And they’ve come home to roost. People are dead, our own people and now a human. The council hasn’t been completely forthcoming with you.”
He saw Nix mouth the words “That’s a surprise” and grimaced in agreement. “Forthcoming about what?” Tobias asked.
The other vampire cleared his throat. “You know we sent Dumond undercover to infiltrate a group of dissenters. What you don’t know is that this group has been opening a small rift between dimensions and sending radio transmissions through. We wanted Dumond to find out who the leader is so we could deal with him.”
Nix’s hand came out and gripped his thigh. Braithwaite had just confirmed what Lucifer had told her.
“And you didn’t feel this had any bearing on our current investigation? Especially after Dumond’s identity was confirmed?” Tobias clenched his jaw. Damn, but the council was made up of slippery bastards.
“Some of us felt you should know. But the majority ruled.”
“Majority meaning how many?” Tobias checked his mirrors, keeping an eye on traffic around him and trying to process what Braithwaite was telling him.
“Eight. Five of us voted to let you know about the transmissions. We were uncomfortable with keeping it hidden.”
“You were one of the five?” Tobias asked.
“Yes. For all the good it did.”
“Did Dumond find out who the leader is?”
“Not to our knowledge. On that I’m sure,” he added hurriedly as if he were afraid Tobias would question his truthfulness.
“Okay. Let’s say I believe you,” Tobias said, partly to keep the councilor off balance and partly because he wasn’t sure he did believe that Braithwaite had been in the minority. The vampire council member was clearly a minion of Deoul, and Deoul had never bothered to hide his disdain for humans. Tobias had no problem believing that the wily elf was in this up to his eyeballs. Where Deoul went, Braithwaite usually wasn’t far behind. “Why did the others want to keep it a secret?”
“I can’t say.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?” Tobias couldn’t keep the distrust from his voice.
“Can’t.” Braithwaite sounded sincere. It was difficult to tell when someone was lying over the phone because you couldn’t pick up visual clues. There was no opportunity to sense elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate or sweating. It was even more difficult to tell when vampires lied because they had no physical changes at all to give themselves away. For the time being, Tobias would believe him. Braithwaite went on. “The first two murders seemed unrelated. They still seem unrelated from what I can tell. But Novellus and Dumond had a commonality, as frail as it might be.”
“The rift,” Tobias murmured.
“Exactly. But I’m the newest one on the council. I’m not included in a lot of discussions that go on behind closed doors. There are machinations behind the scenes to which I’m not privy.”
Tobias pondered that for a moment, then asked, “Do you suspect that any of the council are involved with the group of dissenters?”
Braithwaite’s sigh was heavy. “All I know is that powerful people are involved in this, Tobias. I don’t know who, but I know they have influence. If they find out we know about it, our lives won’t be worth spit. You know there’s a tenuous peace between humans and prets right now. There are those who believe true peace only comes through chaos.”
That shot a chill through Tobias. What Braithwaite just said had a familiar ring to it. “Will, who—”
“Look, I’ve said all I have to say. Good luck.” He disconnected the call.
Tobias hit the end button on his phone. “Well, hell. This just keeps getting better and better.”
“You’re talking about the council being aware of the transmissions?” MacMillan asked.
“That, and what he said about chaos.” Tobias clenched his jaw. “Someone I once knew used to say ‘Righteous men live in peace and think they’re free; only the enlightened can know true peace through anarchy and chaos.’” He clenched his jaw as memories seared him. The betrayal of a friend. The murder of a good man.
<
br /> The never-ending guilt over the failure to protect.
Nix stared at him a moment, then turned to MacMillan and whispered, “Natchook.”
Tobias swallowed back the rage at the mention of his enemy’s name. The man who’d pretended to be his friend with the intent of gaining access to their people’s leader, whom Tobias had sworn to protect with his own life if necessary.
Natchook had in reality been quite mad and a revolutionary intent on plunging their people into anarchy. He’d used Tobias for years and, when the time was right, had killed their leader before Tobias could stop him. Then he’d bribed a few officials, gone through the process to be stripped of his physical body, and escaped through the rift with the rest of the undesirables.
It was only after the fact that Tobias had learned that the name Natchook was an alias, though he hadn’t had time to suss out the man’s real identity. He did discover, though, that the bastard wasn’t even from Tobias’s planet. He had a parent who was of Tobias’s species, but the other parent had been from another planet, another species entirely. Why Natchook had fixated on Kai Vardan was beyond him. But he had, and Vardan had lost his life as a result.
Tobias had chased Natchook from one dimension to another. He had no idea what his nemesis looked like in this world, but he knew he’d recognize him by his scent once he found him. And he would find him if it took the rest of time.
“This is just further proof that Natchook is behind this rift thing,” Nix said. “Otherwise, how could Braithwaite have known that saying?”
“You forget, Braithwaite is the same species as me.” Tobias glanced at her. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he heard Natchook say that before his Influx.”
“Did he come through the rift at the same time?” MacMillan slid back in his seat.
“I don’t know. Hmph.” Tobias thought it over, but couldn’t ever remember anyone discussing Influx dates in the same breath as Braithwaite. But he was pretty certain Braithwaite had come through the rift centuries before Tobias and Natchook had.
“Wait.” Nix gripped his thigh again. “Braithwaite said vampires and ‘now a human’ have been killed. How would he know that? We just found out ourselves.”
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