All Hell Breaks Loose (The Hellcat Series)

by Sharon Hannaford

  “Hey,” he said by way of greeting. Kyle’s lack of usual boyish exuberance was almost more concerning than the others’ serious demeanour.

  “What’s going on?” Gabi demanded without preamble.

  He grabbed her elbow. “Come on, I don’t think we should talk about this out here.” He steered her down the hallway to another door. It was one of the small interview rooms, which Gabi knew were soundproofed. Kyle plonked down in one of the chairs as Gabi closed the door behind them.

  “The person who helped the rogue escape was Hazel,” he said.

  Gabi heard the words, but they made absolutely no sense. “What?” she asked, sure she’d misheard him.

  “Yep, it was Hazel,” he reiterated. “Or someone who looked and smelled a lot like Hazel, and used Hazel’s access card.”

  “Hazel?” Gabi asked, still confounded.

  Kyle nodded slowly, his expression showing almost as much disbelief as she knew hers did.

  “Wait, start from the beginning. Tell me as much as you know.”

  “Byron called me this morning to say that he thought he’d found out who the other Shape-shifter was that I could scent in the holding cell. Apparently they’d been over every moment of video feed from last night, as well as checking the whereabouts of every staff member on duty. He asked me to come and see if I agreed with their conclusion based on scent.” He rubbed his eyes tiredly, a rare gesture for Kyle. “The moment I walked into his office I realised who the scent belonged to. Before I even knew who they suspected, I knew it was Hazel. I’ve been kicking myself for not figuring it out earlier, but you know how it is for me, I have to tune out the constant onslaught of smells most of the time, or it becomes too distracting.”

  Gabi nodded vague agreement, no one expected Kyle to have figured out it was Hazel; she was the last person anyone would have suspected.

  “Hazel,” she said again, the shock still fresh.

  “Well, this is where things get more interesting, and more murky,” Kyle continued. “Hazel swears blind she doesn’t remember a thing about last night. She insists she developed a migraine after dinner, took a couple of strong painkillers and went to bed. She remembers nothing after that until Byron woke her up knocking at her door this morning.”

  “Hmm,” Gabi interjected, “the other day when I came in to see Byron, Hazel was acting a little odd, and she asked Byron if she could go home because she had a migraine.”

  Kyle nodded. “Yeah, Byron told me that too. Apparently she’s been off several times with migraines in the last few months even though she’s never had a history of them before. Anyhow, Byron called in Irene to see if she could sense any kind of compulsion Magic around Hazel. She didn’t sense anything, but thinks that Hazel is telling the truth. Margaret was called in to be Hazel’s representative, and between them, they’re trying to glean whatever they can from her. She told them that she’s been having blank spots whenever she has a migraine, so now we’re waiting for a healer to see if they can pick up something. Maybe a tumour or undetected brain injury,” Kyle concluded.

  “Geesh,” Gabi exclaimed. “It’s hard to fool those two women, if Hazel really is involved in all this, then she’s been terribly well trained to lie. And why would she hang around after springing the rogue? She must have known she’d be spotted on camera and found out.”

  Kyle drew a deep breath. “Well, there is another possibility. Hazel insists that when she went to get dressed this morning, some of her clothes had been moved. You know how she is with everything in its place. What if someone drugged her, maybe switched out her migraine medicine, and disguised themselves as her, using her own clothes and stealing her access card.” Kyle sounded like he was leading up to something, but he was reluctant for some reason.

  “Kyle, that doesn’t explain the scent,” Gabi contradicted him. “You picked up Hazel’s scent in the holding cell. You can’t copy a scent.”

  Kyle linked his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, blowing out a breath.

  “That’s the problem,” he said slowly. “Once I got close enough to scent Hazel properly this morning, I realised that the scent is not exactly the same. It’s so close that I’m not sure anyone else would pick up the variation,” he sat forward looking at Gabi, his internal confusion plain on his face, “but there is definitely a small difference. Definitely.” He repeated.

  “It couldn’t be explained by another person wearing Hazel’s clothes?” Gabi checked, though she was pretty sure that wouldn’t be enough to trick Kyle’s expert sense of smell.

  Kyle shrugged. “We’ve never really tested it under those circumstances, but I’ve never been fooled before,” he answered.

  “What about a spell or ward of some kind?” Gabi mused. “I wonder if a Magus could create something that would mimic or disguise a scent.”

  Kyle looked intrigued by that thought. “That’s something I hadn’t considered. Let’s try and track down a Magus and ask them.” He sprang out of his seat and left Gabi to follow in his wake.

  Chapter 13

  Gabi and Kyle tracked down four Magi in the building, and the short answer was that no one had any idea whether there was a magical way to replicate a scent. Frustrated, they returned to the conference room. Just as they neared the door, Byron stepped out, closing the door behind him. He forced a smile for Gabi, and she wordlessly pulled him into a hug.

  “Making any progress with Hazel?” Kyle asked.

  “The Healer is with her now. He looked perplexed after his initial check, so we’ll see what he has to say once he’s finished. I really don’t know what to think.” Byron sighed.

  Gabi still had one arm around his waist and gave him another squeeze. “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” she assured him. “Let’s go grab a cup of something hot while we wait.”

  They were in Byron’s office when Irene found them a short while later. She gratefully accepted Byron’s offer of a cup of tea from the trolley in the corner of the office.

  “For once I’m a little stumped, Byron,” she admitted. “The Healer thinks her memory has been tampered with in some way. But it’s very subtle; it would take someone with infinite finesse to do such an unobtrusive job. He can’t bring any lost memories back either. He found traces of sedative in her system, so her story is starting to sound plausible.” She took a long, slow sip of her tea. “If she’s lying, then she’s one of the most convincing liars I’ve ever met. Margaret agrees with me, and you know she’s a pretty good judge of character and not one to defend a Shape-shifter just because they’re the same race.”

  Byron nodded. “I hope you’re right,” he said wearily. He glanced at Kyle and Gabi. “You two might as well ask Irene about the scent thing, if anybody knows, it’ll be her.”

  Kyle explained about the anomaly with Hazel’s scent and their theory that it could be a spell or ward.

  “It’s certainly a possibility,” Irene confirmed. “I’ve never heard of it being done, but I think someone with the right spell-casting ability, or maybe even an air-bender could probably do it. I’d have to do some checking to be sure, though.”

  “What do we do with her now?” Byron asked no one in particular.

  “May I make a suggestion?” Irene asked.

  “Of course,” Byron said.

  “Place the girl in Margaret’s care for a few days while we try to figure this out. You could send a couple of reinforcements to keep an eye on her in case she is up to something sinister. Then you catch up on some rest while the rest of us do our research. I’ll speak to the Oracles and find out if they’ve ‘seen’ anything relevant to these events. Perhaps Kyle can take a trip to Hazel’s house to see if she’s had any guests recently.” She turned to Kyle. “If you find her bottle of painkillers, it might be a good idea to bring them back here, and we’ll get them analysed. I’ll get Athena to work on the scent-altering theory. Hopefully we’ll be able to make a more informed decision after that.”

  “That’s as sound a plan as any
,” Byron agreed.

  “Yeah, I’ll take a trip to Hazel’s apartment,” Kyle said. “If someone can get me the address and some keys, I’ll go now.”

  There didn’t seem to be anything else Gabi could contribute, so she headed back home to grab some lunch. She was on patrol duty tonight, and her sole plans for the afternoon were a run with Roman and a visit to the land of ‘piss-off-I’m-asleep’.

  The rain let up just long enough for Gabi and Roman to run two laps around the boundary of her property. As they made their way back to the house at a slower, warm-down pace, they were both panting but exhilarated. She quickly hosed the mud off both of them before hitting the shower and then devouring a lunch of soup and crusty home-made bread that Rose had set out before heading home.

  As Gabi soaked up the last of the soup with a chunk of bread, she could feel the faint electrical prickle of a storm brewing outside. When the first rumbles of thunder rolled across the skies, she went out to check if Roman was disturbed by the noise, but he was gnawing contentedly on a large meaty bone in the shelter of the garage. He only raised his eyes to hers and radiated contentment. Lightning forked down from the clouds, and the distinct boulder-cracking noise followed, ripping across the afternoon sky. Gabi smiled as she watched the show, she loved a good storm. Back inside, she gathered up her furry family and fell into bed. Curled up with a large cat, a medium-sized ferret and a tiny squirrel, and with the Thunder Gods demonstrating their considerable talent outside, she plunged into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  Four hours of oblivion left her groggy, but no longer exhausted. She tried stifling a yawn as she eased the Mustang through the last of the rush-hour traffic, but she lost the battle and nearly dislocated her jaw. Rain clouds still hung low and prominent in the sky, bringing nightfall early. She knew it was going to be a cold, wet night on patrol. She had a couple of hours to spare before the team set off, so she was headed to Julius’s to check on Derek and Trish. Okay, it wasn’t all about checking on her friends; Julius was bound to be awake by now, and she wanted to see him. She would also pick up her babysitter for the night. Her mouth pulled into a grimace at the thought. If it wasn’t for bastard rogues packing guns, she would’ve found a way to lose the bodyguard. As things stood, she knew it made sense to have a Vampire on the team; he may have orders to protect her first, but he’d protect the others as well.

  When Gabi reached the Estate, she went first to Hawthorn House. Derek was nowhere to be seen, and Trish was pacing the kitchen and lounge. The TV was on, and a magazine lay open on a sofa, but it was obvious Trish was anxious about something. A thought suddenly occurred to Gabi. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Gabi tested out her intuition.

  “Trish,” Gabi said, “I’m not sure if anyone else has asked you this, but have you sorted out time off from your job?”

  Trish bit her bottom lip. “Um, yeah, I called my supervisor yesterday and explained that I was sick with something really contagious. It should be fine for a couple of weeks.” Her words were confident, but she wasn’t meeting Gabi’s eyes.

  “Trish,” Gabi said patiently, as patiently as Gabi could sound. “Tell me. We’ll sort it out.”

  Trish shook her head. “It’s fine, it’s nothing for you to worry about. You and the others have already gone above and beyond, as they say.” She put a cheery smile on her face.

  “Trish,” Gabi’s voice had lost any pretence of patience, “I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong. So just spit it out.”

  Trish let out a little pent-up breath and paced to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker.

  “It’s really nothing compared to the enormity of the problems you’re dealing with.” She kept her eyes from Gabi’s as she concentrated on the task of making coffee.

  Gabi followed her into the kitchen, hopped up on the kitchen counter next to the coffee maker, and waited.

  “It’s just that I used up all my sick leave when, well, a few months ago, when my boyfriend put me in the hospital.” Indignation filled Gabi, but Trish rushed on. “It’s not that my boss won’t give me the leave, I’m sure they wouldn’t fire me for being sick, but any leave I take now is unpaid. I have some savings that will cover my mortgage for a couple of weeks, but with Derek and I both not getting paid, things could get a little tight. But as I said, it’s not your problem. We’ll sort it out.”

  Gabi relaxed. She leaned over and gently squeezed Trish’s shoulder. “Well, that happens to be a fairly easy fix, actually,” she told the younger woman.

  Trish’s gaze finally met hers, surprised.

  “Julius and the SMV are both substantial employers, mostly of non-humans. There’s bound to be something you can do to make a little money in the meantime. What job do you normally do?”

  “I’m a computer programmer,” Trish answered, the worry on her face turning to hope, “but I’ve waitressed, I can cook, I can clean.”

  “She’s also a first-class hacker,” a male voice put in from the front door.

  “Derek,” Trish hissed, glaring at him.

  He grinned back. “Are you going to call me a liar?”

  “She’s a what?” Gabi asked, jumping down from the counter and whirling to face Derek.

  He stopped, suddenly uncertain.

  Gabi spun back to Trish. “Really, you’re a hacker? A computer hacker?” She couldn’t contain her excitement. “Gods, I’ll kiss you if you’re a hacker.”

  Trish allowed a small, hesitant smile. “Well, I haven’t done it with any seriousness for a few years,” she said. “It was mostly a teenage rebellion kind of thing.”

  Derek came into the kitchen and gave his sister a hug and a peck on the cheek, then pulled out an extra mug and poured three coffees. “My first big break as a movie stuntman came when Trish was about sixteen,” he told Gabi, handing her a mug. “The shoot was over six months long and wasn’t in the City, so I had no choice but to take Trish out of school and drag her along with me. The premise of the movie was a trio of computer hackers stumbling across some sensitive government information, so the producers employed two real hackers as consultants on the set. Trish made friends with them, and you know how much time is spent waiting around on set with nothing much going on.” He raised knowing eyebrows at Gabi, and she nodded wry agreement. “Well, a pretty sixteen-year-old hanging around on set with nothing to do…these two hackers started to show off their skills, and soon they had her hooked.”

  “There wasn’t much else to fill the days with,” Trish defended herself.

  “True.” He smiled. “I tried to talk her out of it, but once she realised she was good at it, there was no stopping her. She caused trouble for years until one of her hacker friends got caught cracking a federal agency website and landed himself with jail time. That shocked her enough to stop with the illegal stuff and turn it into a legitimate career.”

  Gabi could see the pride shining through as he winked at his sister.

  “I was never a black hat,” Trish said a little defensively.

  “But you did dabble in the grey,” he noted.

  The talk about hats was going over Gabi’s head, and it must have shown on her face, as Derek smiled and said, “Black hats are hackers who go in to destroy data or maliciously crash systems. You also get white hats, who generally test systems non-maliciously, or hack in to gain experience or for their own amusement. Grey’s walk a thin line between the other two.” His expression dared Trish to contradict him, but she didn’t. “So why are you so excited about Trish being a hacker?” he asked, turning his attention back to Gabi.

  “You won’t believe how hard Julius is looking for someone who knows their way around the back alleys of the internet. This is like a godsend.”

  Gabi explained about the group looking for information on Werewolves. She didn’t go into details; she didn’t want to scare them just yet.

  “There are always things like this that Julius needs an expert for. I’ll make sure he pays well,” she assured Trish.

 
“Why would a Vampire care what happens to Werewolves, though?” Trish looked mystified.

  “Julius employs nearly a quarter of the Werewolf population of the City. They are his security force, as well as staff for his many businesses,” she explained. “Vampires need to stay hidden as much as Werewolves and even more than Shifters and Magi. If Werewolves were ever ‘outed’, it’s almost certain that Vampires would be too, so they work hard to ensure Weres aren’t discovered either.”

  “Wow,” Trish said, a little in awe. “It’s almost impossible to conceive such a huge supernatural movement can be going on right under our…uh, humans’…noses. It’s like a whole other universe or dimension.”

  Derek nodded agreement, but Gabi just smiled. She didn’t know what it was like to not know these things, she’d been a part of both worlds her entire life.

  “So,” she said to Trish, “are you up for it?”

  Trish paused, looking a little nervous.

  “Don’t worry,” Gabi said. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t feel comfortable with. I promise you there will be no pressure. If you think it’s too dangerous, you can walk away. If anyone tells you otherwise, tell them to fuck off, Hellcat is your BFF.”

  Laughter bubbled up Trish’s chest. “Yeah, okay,” she agreed, grinning. “I think I’ll be safe if I can claim that.”

  Julius was pleased to see her, the pleasure strong enough for her to feel through their fragile psychic connection. His elation at finding a hacker living in their midst was even greater than hers, so much so that a small alarm bell chimed in the back of Gabi’s mind. He immediately sent Maximilian to set up an office for her in one of the rooms in Hawthorn House, telling him to get Trish to write down her requirements for a computer so it could be ordered immediately. As the steward marched off to do as he was told, Gabi stepped close to Julius and poked him in the chest.