Crossly, she shook her head. “It’s not just you I’m concerned about. You’re a man with ties. I’m sure you have a family, friends. Humans in your position can’t stand where you are—with a foot in the door to the Supernatural world. It either sucks you in and consumes you…or it spits you back out. But neither happen without collateral damage.”
“Well, maybe I’m lucky. I don’t have a family. Since work doesn’t leave me time to socialize, I don’t have friends, either.
He was a stubborn one. “But you have your partner and other colleagues.”
Romero’s eyes became hard. “Let me get this straight. You’re not threatening them, right?”
“Of course not.” Her weariness came out on an exhale. “But people without gifts tend to get hurt when Supernaturals are involved. Some die.”
“Ouch. Way to pull your punches.”
Serin threw up her hands. “I’m not exaggerating for effect. You’re out of your depth, Agent Romero.”
“Or you are.”
She put her hands on her hips, taken aback. “What does that mean?”
He cocked his head at her. “How many times have you tracked a suspect? Or fought with one who was ungifted enough to need a cell phone? I’m guessing it’s not a frequent occurrence for you, else you’d know not to soak them until after you’ve frisked them.”
Serin glared at him.
“Just saying.” Romero’s expression was smug. He gestured to the phone. “You know I have access to an entire lab of non-gifted techies. They can do wonders with a broken phone.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Serin brushed past him, reaching for the oven controls to turn on the broiler. “I’m sure there’s a spell to fix it.”
There might even be one in their library. Every safehouse had a stash of weapons and reference books. The latter were constantly being updated as they met and experienced new challenges. She was sure Gia had written down how to recover a waterlogged device somewhere. And if there wasn’t a way, then she would craft one. It would be an easy task with a bit of study.
“I’m sure there is…or you could put it in a bag of rice.”
Serin turned to find Romero holding up a little plastic sack. She raised a brow. “Is that an evidence bag?”
“I always carry some. It’s a tool of the trade,” he said, digging around the cabinets until he found a bag of rice and poured some into the baggie.
After he sealed it, he presented it to her with a flourish. “Et voila.”
“A spell would be faster.”
He wagged the bag at her. “You’re welcome.”
She snatched the bag, then shoved it into her pack again. “Thank you, now stop helping.”
Romero leaned in, crowding her again. She told herself she should stop him, but she let him put his hands on her hips, pulling her close to him.
“I think we both know that’s not going to happen.”
“Yes, I do.” She reached out, putting her palm against his cheek. He started to lean down for another kiss and Serin focused, channeling her talent through her hand.
Again, it shouldn’t have been possible for her talent to act on him, but if Romero was her mate, the normal rules wouldn’t apply.
The agent froze, the color of his skin paling and growing translucent. The counter and room behind him shimmered through his water form.
“Sorry about this,” she said softly, sending the cascade of water splashing into the sink. “But I can’t have you interfering anymore.”
Romero may have been water, but his voice was still loud in her ears. He went down the drain, swearing up a storm the entire way. Serin waited until his voice faded in her head.
She turned to Loki, who was watching wide-eyed from his doorway, a slice of half-eaten pizza in his hand.
He whistled. “Damn, girl. That was harsh.”
Her stomach hurt, but she couldn’t waver. Letting Daniel in would be a huge mistake. “Agent Romero doesn’t belong in this business. He needs to learn to stay out of the way, and you need to learn to be more careful. He found this place because of you. Now we need to move safe houses.”
Loki tiptoed up to the counter, brushing off the reprimand. “But isn’t Romero your special-some-pony?”
“My what?”
Loki grinned. “You’re not a My Little Pony fan, I guess… Where did you send him?”
She turned back to the cutting board, but she wasn’t hungry anymore. “The beach. He knows how to find his way back to town from there.”
She turned off the oven, tossing the entire lot of food in the trash bin. They didn’t have time to eat. They had to pack.
Theoretically, it should take Romero a few hours to get back here, but he was a resourceful man. She reached for her bag, groped inside, and then swore.
The agent was very resourceful—and apparently skilled at sleight of hand.
“That ass took the phone!”
20
The cute female tech handed over the phone, but continued to linger at Romero’s desk.
“It’s an older model, but it has most the capabilities of a smartphone,” she said.
“Yeah, I see that,” he murmured, scanning the report she’d written.
He glanced up when she didn’t move. “Anything of note?”
She blushed, reaching out to touch his sea glass paperweight. “We recovered most of the data. There’s a complete contact list, so plenty of leads to follow, but no texts of anything incriminating. They could be using a code, of course, but it’s not an obvious one if they are.”
“Great, thanks,” he said, skimming the contact list for any red flags.
“There were some audio files,” she added. “But they’re probably nothing. It sounds like they recorded someone’s recipes. We only got fragments of those, but they’re not likely pertinent to your case.”
He twisted his lips. “That’s it? Recipes but no porn?”
Laughing, she shook her head. “Um…do you want to discuss it further over coffee?”
“No, thanks. I’ve got some here.” He held up his half-filled mug, his eyes fixed on the report.
“All right.” She started to turn away but hesitated. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Mm-hmm.”
The transcript of the audio files was a bit weird. It sounded more like someone was preparing some sort of holistic medicine than cooking, but since it was just a fragment, he couldn’t tell what it was for.
He raised his head, surprised to see the tech still standing there. “Was there something else?”
“No, no.” Her face was tomato red now. Ducking her head, she turned and hurried away.
Daniel leaned back in his chair, already dismissing the encounter, until Ray reached over and smacked him over the head with his copy of the report.
“Hey. What was that for?”
His partner snorted derisively. “Isn’t that the Sandy, the same tech you’ve been making eyes at for over a year?”
Daniel hit him back. “What does that even mean? Making eyes. Sounds like I’m a serial killer. Worse, like a kid in high school.” He took a sip. “And I haven’t done anything like that.”
“How quickly you’ve forgotten. You actually went for coffee with that girl twice before you started hunting the woman in the white bikini.”
Daniel shrugged. “Sandy is a colleague. I have coffee with lots of our coworkers. Are you going to give me shit for having a cup with Jeffords, too?”
Ray rolled his eyes, waving in the direction of the middle-aged and overweight agent. “Not unless you were trying to get him into bed like you were with Sandy.”
“I was not,” Daniel protested.
A corner of Ray’s mouth pulled down.
“All right,” Daniel admitted. “I kind of was. Maybe. But she wasn’t interested. I moved on. No big deal.”
Ray leaned closer. “Except it kind of is because it’s not what happened. Sandy is totally into you. She was angling for another coffee dat
e. But you forgot all about her the minute you got the Knight case. Admit it.”
“So I put my love life on the back burner. It’s a big case. Work happens. Besides, if I get that promotion—and it’s a big if these days—D.C. is where I’ll be transferred. Not a good time to start a relationship.”
Rat threw up his hands. “Since when do you do relationships? What happened to Mr. Hit-It-And-Quit-It?”
Daniel scowled. “I was never prolific enough for that name.”
Ray pointed at him. “See, asshole!” he crowed in triumph. “You just spoke in the past tense, and it’s because of the Knight woman.”
“Enough.” Daniel rubbed his forehead. “We’ve been over this already.”
Ray turned his chair, facing it back to his screen. “You already admitted it’s where you got this phone,” he said over his shoulder in a low voice.
“And unless one of these phone numbers turns up a name, lifting it was pointless.”
Daniel frowned at the handset before turning to his keyboard. He pulled up the login window, accessing the internal database. On impulse, he sent the audio fragments to his office-issued cell phone.
Serin had stopped at a Chinese apothecary to get a bunch of herbs to help her weird shapeshifting friend. Something told him she’d recognize the ingredients in the transcript. They seemed innocuous to him, but that meant nothing. It’s probably some kind of magical roofie or worse.
He wondered how he was going to get Serin the list. Going to the high-rise apartment in Sherwood Forest was pointless. He knew because he’d already tried. But Serin and Loki had split the minute she threw him out of the apartment.
Daniel picked up the baggie, fingering the flat screen. How the hell had he managed to hold onto it during that second wild ride through the drainage pipes? It was baffling, but the phone had been in his back pocket, right where he’d left it.
Magic was weird.
Daniel glanced at his watch. It was almost midnight. He’d been waiting for three hours.
She’s not going to show.
He’d racked his brain for a way to track Serin. He watched hours of traffic cam footage, trying to track the pair following their exit from the apartment. It had been a complete waste of time. They hadn’t been caught on any of the neighborhood’s cameras. He hadn’t bothered to check the footage farther out.
He’d hoped to get lucky with the cams again, but after Loki’s illicit convenience store runs, Serin must have him on a short leash.
It had taken Daniel the better part of the night to realize he didn’t have to hunt her down. He had the phone. Serin would find him. So he had gone to the nearest pub to wait.
Despite the cold, he sat outside at one of their sidewalk tables, nursing a beer with only the die-hard smokers for company from the sparse Friday night crowd.
A sour-faced waitress approached, asking if he needed anything for the second time. He lifted the bottle. “Still working on this one, thanks.”
Her mouth tightened. “If you change your mind about another round, I should warn you—we close in two hours,” she said sarcastically, sweeping away to check on other patrons.
He tracked her progress to the door. When he turned back, the chair opposite was occupied.
“You’re late,” he said.
Serin stared at him coldly. “I had no idea we had a rendezvous scheduled, Agent Romero.”
“C’mon, Serin, I thought we were on a first-name basis,” he said, nodding at the waitress when she dropped off his beer. “And who says rendezvous anymore?”
The woman looked good enough to eat. She was wearing rust-colored leather pants and a sleeveless top. Even though she was still, there was a preternatural grace to her form.
Anyone else dressed like that would appear fake, like an extra in a bad sci-fi movie. But Serin was the real deal. His mind flashed to her as the lead in a Matrix-like movie. He bet she could do any of those gravity-defying moves without wires.
Somehow, knowing how badass and deadly she was only made her hotter.
Fuck, I’ve got issues.
A thought checked him in his tracks. He scowled. “You are Serin, right?” Because if it was Loki again, he was going to have to wash the inside of his own skull with lemon juice.
“No, I’m over here!” Daniel twisted to see a Serin double in a flowing purple top and sparkly silver skirt strutting toward him.
Heads turned as she dragged an empty chair and pulled it up to the table.
“Loki,” Serin scolded. “You were allowed to come with me on one condition—that you not do that anymore!”
Loki shook out his arms, making the gauzy see-through sleeves flutter as he sat down. “But someone has to wear these fabulous clothes again. I miss your old style so much. You simply can’t let these babies hang in the closet unused—-it would be a crime against fashion.”
Serin scrubbed a hand over her face. “Take me off,” she said from behind gritted teeth.
Loki blew his—her?— hair from his eyes. His head whipped back and forth with an exaggerated put-upon air, like a teenager told to clean his room. Once he was certain no one was watching him, he changed. A mind-bending ripple of reality later, there was only one Serin. Loki was a twenty-something male again, wearing pressed jeans and t-shirt the same shiny purple as the blouse he’d been wearing.
“Thank Christ,” Daniel muttered. Two Serins screwed with his hormones.
Loki beamed at him, fluttering his lush lashes.
“Well, hello again, Agent Romero,” he said coyly. “Did you miss me?”
Daniel blinked, realizing the fairy’s interest was genuine. Well, of course he was bisexual. Loki could be both a man and a woman. Why would he limit his prospects?
Daniel took another sip of beer. “I missed you like crazy,” he told him, straight-faced.
The shapeshifter laughed, turning sparkling eyes on the Water Elemental. “Can we keep him, please?”
Serin rolled her eyes. “I need a drink.”
The waitress materialized in front of them as if by magic.
“Would you like something?” she asked Serin, her eyes warming as she checked out the gorgeous woman. She didn’t give him or Loki a second glance. Daniel didn’t blame her.
“What’s your best rum?” Serin asked.
“We’ve got a bottle of Appleton Estate gathering dust. It’s too pricey for this crowd.” The waitress flicked her lashes disdainfully at Daniel.
A fifty-dollar bill appeared in Serin’s hand. The waitress took it and slipped it into her bra, her eyes inviting more than alcohol. She moved away to place the order, putting an extra sway to her hips.
“That’s okay. I didn’t want anything,” Loki said to no one in particular.
“Good, cause I don’t think we exist when she’s around,” Daniel said, nodding at Serin.
Serin didn’t reply, simply nodded regally when a very generously poured glass of rum appeared in her hand a few moments later. Satisfied with that crumb of attention, the waitress wandered off with a smile.
All hail the queen.
Daniel leaned back in his chair. “Damn, that was quick. Maybe I should try pouring myself into skin-tight leather pants next time.”
A hint of a smile played on Serin’s lips. “Something tells me you wouldn’t get the same reception even if you did.”
He shrugged. “I’m going to leave a really big tip just to disappoint her.” Daniel reached into his bag, grabbed the tech’s report, and then dropped it in front of Serin.
She sipped the rum, glancing down at the folder.
He tapped the papers. “It’s everything we pulled off the phone—contact list, text transcripts, and weird homeopathic recipes.”
That got her attention. She straightened, flipping through the papers until she reached the list of ingredients. Her expression didn’t shift one iota, but he could sense the change in her.
“What is it?” Loki asked as Serin closed the file.
“The recipe is not comple
te.”
Loki took if from her hands, rifling through pages until he got to the transcript portion. He whistled. “Not good.”
Daniel shifted, aggravated at being left out. “What are those ingredients used for?”
Serin turned away, taking another sip of the amber liquid. Her eyes fixed on a point to the right of him. “Like I said, the recipe is not complete, but it confirms something I suspected.”
He took the report back. “Our techs decided it’s unrelated to the weapons manufacturer.”
Loki leaned forward as if he were about to burst, but he subsided on a signal from Serin.
Her mouth tightened. “They’re wrong.”
The ominous tone sent a chill through Daniel. “What can it possibly make? I mean, there’s some rare herbs in there, but most of it is a standard bunch of plants and oils—it’s all-natural shit.”
Her smirk was derisive. “Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s safe. Everything is poison in the right amount, although I suspect this wouldn’t kill you. That wouldn’t matter, of course. It’s the bullet itself that would cause the damage in your case.”
Daniel stilled. “Are you saying the guys we’re chasing are doctoring their bullets with this concoction? Are they targeting…um…magic people?” he asked, waving to Loki as an example.
“It would appear so.” Serin turned to the now-subdued fae. “It’s why you’re still not fully healed, despite being shot weeks ago.”
Loki’s face had paled considerably, his formerly twinkling eyes dimmed. He put his hand over his middle, covering the place where he’d been hit.
“I guess I know why you and I were shot just steps away from Dionysia,” he observed.
“Yes. Maybe it was random, but my guess is it wasn’t. Puck was taking the opportunity to test his formula.”
She turned to Daniel. “Dionysia isn’t a place for high fae. It’s a hangout for the lower classes. Most of the lower fae aren’t susceptible to iron, so they’d have to use something else to take them out. Shooting you and Loki was a test. They wanted to know if their poison worked.”
Loki grimaced. “I guess I’m lucky they haven’t gotten it right yet.”
Water: The Elementals Book Three Page 15