The Agency, Volume I
Page 30
“No—there aren’t any—it’s all by email—there’s no records—don’t shoot me—“
“Still lying. And not well.” Jason cocked the gun, and the human nearly fainted and started struggling, trying to win free of the two Agents who had him. “You’re making me late for a date, you know. Now, you and I are going to have a long conversation about your work here, but for the time being…“
“Talk all you want, this isn't over!” the scientist exclaimed, locking blazing eyes on Jason’s. “One way or another the Devourer will come and scour the Earth clean of your kind! It’s too late to stop His ascendancy! You will all burn in the purifying flame of—“
Jason rolled his eyes and punched him in the face.
The human sagged, lab coat pulling halfway off as he slid down to the ground, blood oozing from his nose. The two Agents stepped back, allowing SA-7 to tower over their quarry, aiming his gun squarely at the scientist’s forehead.
Jason smiled, the expression making the man shrink back in fear, and said, “You have the right to remain silent.”
He nodded to the other Agents, who pulled a black bag down over the man's head and dragged him away to the truck along with the other accomplices.
As he climbed back out the hatch and into the warehouse, where the Agents were already questioning suspects and Forensics was doing a preliminary sweep, there was a beep in his Ear, but not from Sage: an Agent-to-Agent transmission over the network.
[SA-7,] he said.
[Your coffee is getting cold.]
Jason smiled and walked out in to the Austin autumn, which was giving up its heat only grudgingly. [I'm sorry, love. We got a tip and had to move on it.]
A chuckle, warm and inviting, and he felt a familiar surge of warmth all through his body. [Oh, don't worry,] Rowan said. [You'll make it up to me later.]
[I’m probably going to be a few hours. Sara should be back at base in twenty—why don't you two spend the evening together?]
[Perhaps I'll ask—but I'd hate to make you go to bed alone after all that hard work.]
[Consider it my punishment for standing you up.]
[Not what I had in mind. Besides, if I held out on you every time you were late or broke a date with me over the last few months, we'd both be celibate, and I'd just as soon rather not do that again, thank you very much.]
[I'll let you know as soon as I'm back.]
[You'd better. And if you crawl in bed with me later, be sure you--]
[--brush my teeth first, I know.]
[Good boy. Be careful out there, SA-7. I love you.]
[Love you back, SA-5. Over and out.]
The transmission cut out with another beep. Jason stood a moment, basking in the residual heat of the Elf's voice, hoping with nearly religious zeal that he could get home soon. His clothes all felt too tight, and so did his skin.
A passing Agent on her way back from the truckful of suspects looked him up and down and coughed pointedly. Jason, only a little bit sheepish, pulled his coat closed in the front, grinned at the Agent, and went back to work.
About the Author
Dianne Sylvan, author of the Shadow World novels (Queen of Shadows, Shadowflame, Shadow’s Fall, and at least two more forthcoming) as well as two books on NeoPagan spirituality (The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition and The Body Sacred), lives in Austin, Texas.
She is an unabashed Mac enthusiast, a froofy iced coffee beverage addict, a chronic Twitterer, a seasoned snark professional, a shameless fangirl, a happy herbivore, a bit of a moody Scorpio, a sock junkie, a slightly freaky tattooed postmodern hippie, a cupcake baker extraordinaire; and is prone to hyperbole as well as fits of profanity.
She can be found online all over the place, starting at her website:
diannesylvan.com