“I do have a rearview mirror, you know.” Caradoc cut off two cars to get off the freeway.
“And you don’t always share what’s going on.” Maeve didn’t change her position. “I’ll keep my eye out if you don’t mind.”
Stella’s diner wasn’t in a great part of town, and unlike some areas, it looked like it had never started out great. Tiny houses with non-existent yards lined the street to the diner, along with a few larger new buildings that had little to no signage. But Stella kept her food prices low and made sure families in the area were taken care of. At 4’11” she looked like someone’s kindly grandmother. But people who crossed her only did so once.
Caradoc parked a way down from the diner and they walked to it. Harlie’s motorcycle was still out front.
“You brought our friends I assume?” Aisling hadn’t seen Caradoc grab the steel box, but he was extremely distracted.
He patted his jacket. “Yeah.”
Maeve stepped up alongside. “He’s still trying to figure out who’s smarter than him. He’ll get over it.”
Aisling drifted to a small, seemingly empty parking spot near the diner. It could hold two cars, but more importantly, Reece had a cloaking system on it. If he were here, she’d be able to touch his car even though she couldn’t see it. She picked up a small piece of gravel, hopefully not large enough to set off his alarm, and threw it where his car would be. Not a peep and the gravel didn’t stop in its arc.
“Checking for him?” Maeve stopped while she did her test.
“Yup, better to be prepared if he’s here.” She wasn’t sure if she was happy or upset that he wasn’t there. They followed Caradoc into the diner and were waved down by Harlie to a large booth.
“I thought you were going to keep watch but stay separate from us?” Aisling slid in next to him.
“Seemed a bit redundant since you were already followed repeatedly. And if there is someone here watching you, I can spot them.” Harlie had a few empty dishes near him and one of the busboys darted over to get them.
“The waitress will be right back.” The busboy was a teenaged satyr and his voice managed to crack three different times in that short sentence. He bobbed his head, grabbed the used dishes, and trotted off.
“What’ll ya have, sugars?” Stella came up so silently Aisling hadn’t heard her approach. She did notice the frown and slight shake of her head as Stella handed out the menus.
“I’ll start with a cup of hot tea if you would.” Maeve flashed her best smile. She’d most likely seen the frown and head shake as well.
“Iced tea for me, please.” Aisling looked over to Caradoc who was scowling at his phone. “For him as well.”
“I’ll get on those and be back for your food order. Our specials are on page three.” She took off before anyone could respond.
Harlie frowned. “She wasn’t like that before...oh.” He pointedly looked to a group of young goths near the back. Who were pointedly not looking their way. “They must have just come in. Most likely following you three. You have acquired some extremely sloppy tails as of late.”
Maeve flipped through her menu, grabbed Caradoc’s and flipped through his, then turned to Aisling. “Well? Look at page three.” She’d dropped her voice, and there were no occupied tables near them, but Aisling had a back-of-the-neck-feeling that the group in black was extremely aware of her.
Without a word, she flipped to page three. A slip of paper stuck out behind the daily specials. “Go to the back room. Wait for my signal. Tell others not to go.”
Aisling read it twice, but if there was anything else to it, she was missing it. She folded it flat against the menu and slid it to Maeve. “I’m thinking I might get this one.” She put her finger on the note.
Maeve nodded and read it. “What do you two think?” She elbowed Caradoc to get his attention, but Harlie nodded at once.
There was no way to tell what the signal would be, or when it would happen, but she didn’t need Maeve, Caradoc, or Harlie jumping to their feet and running after her.
A minute or two later, yelling erupted from the group in the back corner. The three in black leaped to their feet and started shaking their hands as if shocked. That was as good a signal as any. Aisling jumped to her feet and ran for the back broom closet. She waited until she got the door to the diner shut before trying the second door, the one at the back of the closet. If Stella had gained access to Reece’s hidey-hole, Aisling would have expected that she’d find a way to get all four of them in. The second door stuck briefly, then let her push it open.
“Hello Aisling, please take a seat.”
Chapter Five
Even though she’d checked for his car, seeing Reece there wasn’t as surprising as she would have thought. He must have ditched the FBI folks as soon as they cleared the forest. However, seeing the holograms of Garran and Surratt standing there was surprising. Surratt was human, or appeared so. In reality, he was a changeling—but working so deep undercover that few knew. Even most likely calling in from his hospital room he looked sleek and well dressed. His dark hair and beard looked trimmed within an inch of their lives. Garran was a bit taller than Surratt, and pure fey. Just which fey species was unclear. His buzz-cut hair showed ears longer and more pointed than any other fey. Most likely a mixed fey breed of some sort. He never said what his lineage was, and no one asked.
Reece stood near the front of the table, closest to her. The other two stayed on the far end—most likely where the holographic receiver was. Holo-tech was a new science and she was surprised to see it. They were top-notch holograms, but it was clear what they were. In theory, scientists were working on making them indistinguishable from real people until someone tried to touch them. Aisling could see far too many ways for that to be a bad thing. Garran had been the one who spoke when she came in.
Aisling shared her glare with all three, folded her arms, and remained standing. “What the hell is this?” She wanted to add a lot more, but not in front of Garran and Surratt.
“I’ll sit.” Reece sat noticeably not in the chair closest to her. “I’ll let them start, however.”
Garran looked uncomfortable, something Aisling had rarely seen. He was acting chief of the department, having taken over when Surratt died. Or at least when they told the public Surratt died to bring out whoever had tried to kill him. He was still playing dead and Garran was still in charge.
“This isn’t how I wanted things to go down. How any of us wanted them to go down.” He shot a glare at Surratt. “But today’s events are making us speed up the timeline and pull you into the loop. We can’t bring in Maeve or Caradoc yet though.”
Aisling raised her hand and turned toward the door. “Then I’m out. Maeve is my partner, and I’m sure somewhere deep inside you recall what that means. Caradoc is my brother and only one of two family members that I can stand. Not to mention whatever you’re all up to, having them along is a good idea. Don’t read me in if they’re out.” She wanted to be on this case, but she knew the others needed to be in as well.
She had her hand on the door handle when Reece got up and grabbed her arm.
He turned to the two holograms. “I told you this would happen. You can’t have one without all. I’d say add in Harlie too—who knows what he’ll pick up.”
“This isn’t open for negotiations.” Surratt had been silent, and his voice was low.
Aisling let go of the door handle and glared at them. “And you’re not my boss—since everyone thinks you’re dead. Garran isn’t right now either, since both Maeve and I are on indefinite leave. We all know, or none of us do. And if any of you added bugs to Caradoc’s car, he will find you. He’s working on reverse engineering them now. He will find out who created them.”
A crash came from behind one of the electronic boards on the left side of the room. Reece winced, the two holograms shook their heads.
“Whoever is back there needs to come out now. I am getting seriously sick of these games.” Aisling sta
lked over but the board slid back before she got there.
“Hi, Aisling.” Mott Flowers stood there, looking embarrassed. “Nice to see you again.”
Aisling looked from the rumpled inventor to Reece and the other two. “He’s involved but we’re not? Let me guess who created the bugs.” Mott was one of the few people who could out-tech Caradoc.
“Now see, I told them they made a mistake kicking Caradoc out. And not letting you in. Or Maeve. They wouldn’t listen.” Mott was an elf, a pure one. But his lack of height and permanently rumpled appearance made Aisling wonder if there wasn’t a gnome or three buried deep in his family tree. He’d worked with Caradoc in one of his businesses and also in a brain trust.
“And they tried to keep you hidden from me?” She turned to the holograms. “This is where trust issues begin, boys. You want me to trust you, but you keep hiding things.” This time she had the door open an inch when Reece pushed it shut.
“We need to talk.” He was close enough that there were a few layers of meaning in that comment.
His face was close to hers and his gray eyes were almost pleading. Aisling let go of the handle then swore to herself—never look into Reece’s eyes. Reece was damn good-looking, tall, slender but with a well-built swimmer’s body, thick dark hair—and some sort of mojo-powered gray eyes. Even before she knew who he really worked for, she’d had a policy to stay away from those eyes.
She pushed past him and took a seat. “Talk fast, and don’t say anything that you don’t want me to repeat to Maeve and my brothers out there.” She folded her arms and shared the glare around the room. Except Mott. As usual, he looked confused as he took a seat. He was brilliant with technology and weapons, not so much on social cues.
Reece sat as well but pointedly looked to the two holograms.
“And we’re talking now?” Aisling was glad they had reached out to her, but she wasn’t leaving the others out. Trust was earned, and she trusted the three out in the diner more than the four in here.
Garran broke the silence. “We cut you off, and them, because we needed to see if there were connections to the people behind the Area 42 attack.”
“You thought that if we were involved we’d go running to Mommy the moment you cut us? Or what, that Maeve would run to MI-6?” She understood that there was a lot of stress going on, this was an unprecedented situation. But either they trusted her or they didn’t.
“No.” Surratt turned and partially vanished. When he came back into the picture he spoke louder. “We were watching to see if they would reach out to you. And we’d wanted to wait longer, especially after Area 42 cut Caradoc loose.”
“Against my objections by the way. But I’m not on the higher-ups’ good list right now.” Reece shrugged.
That answered the question of if those three he’d been with were FBI or not. He’d been demoted to babysitting an FBI operation when he’d tried to stand up for Aisling and the others.
“Where’d you park? I checked your secret spot coming in.”
Reece smiled. “I told Mott you would. I’m around the corner in a very staid unmarked FBI loaner. I can’t use any car that someone might recognize.” From the look on his face, that wasn’t his call either. Reece was very attached to his cars.
“I’ll cut to the meat,” Garran finally said. “The main theory, that Area 42 won’t admit to any of us, is that there is a cabal within the High Council. We don’t know the motivation and since Area 42 won’t tell us what, specifically, the group housed in the building disappeared was focusing on, we’re not getting anywhere fast.”
“You mean like my mother.” Aisling shrugged. “Yup, I’d say she and her cronies are definitely involved. Harlie found some connection with them before Nix’s drug operation blew up. The reason as to why they stole a building, however, is up for grabs. But my mother is a power mad bitch. If I were going up against her, the first people I would have included would have been people who know her well and can’t stand her.”
“Which are good points. But we’re working around Area 42 on this and they have information that we don’t. Judging by the way they excluded you after they recruited you, kicked out Caradoc, and semi-demoted Larkin, I’d say they might know more than we do.”
“They said they didn’t need me either, not that it seems to matter.” If Mott was upset about being let go as a consulting-semi-prisoner from Area 42, he wasn’t showing it. Mott wasn’t fond of organizations in general.
“So here we are. Whatever this is.” Aisling motioned around the table. “We call the others in, or do I walk?”
Garran and Surratt closed their mics to only themselves as they broke into a silent yet extremely animated conversation.
“It’s all about them you know.” Mott leaned over and nodded to the arguing holograms. “I’m not completely sure what they are, maybe a secret unit? But those two are leading it. When Area 42 set me free, Garran was driving the cab that picked me up.”
“Which wasn’t known to Area 42, by the way. I was still inside at that point, and they called for a regular cab. I didn’t hear anything that the people who dropped Mott off recognized Garran.” Reece watched the other two, most likely to try and read their lips. Both were at enough of an angle to make that difficult. But it didn’t stop him from trying.
“Did they pull you in before or after you got demoted? Thank you for trying to get Maeve and me back on the case, by the way.” She still wasn’t sure what was going on with them on a personal level, but she genuinely appreciated his attempt on the professional one.
“After. They just brought me in a day ago. Ironically, Area 42 removed me from the case before Caradoc.”
“Was that op in the forest near the trolls anything at all connected to the Area 42 case?”
“Not a bit. I’m glad you refused to come with us though and good on Reg for the backup.” He grinned. “I looked him up, he’s not just any troll on walkabout. He’s a high-ranking member of Ckiong, the agency that protects all troll interests. They aren’t fond of the elven High Council, by the way.”
“Good thing I’m not one of them.” Aisling watched the holograms, but they were still arguing. “Why are you glad we didn’t go with you?”
“Because you’re not related to the FBI case, and it would have been a waste of time. The case they dropped on me is a mess. They got infiltrated a few months ago by a gang. Didn’t even realize it for a month. Thought they had a trap set up to follow them back to their base, you guys show up, the fake FBI follows you instead and the operation failed.”
“At least you have them. How many were in that group?” There had been seven SUVs. The first car only had two people, but there could have been far more in the rest.
“We have captured twenty of the lowest rungs in the fake organization. I left the questioning to Jazmyn since she’s still pissed about me taking over.”
“Didn’t we go to school with a Jazmyn?” Mott asked as he doodled on an electronic pad. Possibly creating a new tech to change the world.
Aisling shook her head. She and Mott had gone to primary school together, but she hadn’t thought of him until he became involved with the iron death drug case. “You’re the one who remembers that better than me, I doubt this is the same one though.”
The sudden sound as both Garran and Surratt turned on their mics again was startling.
Garran nodded. “Go get the other three. Actually, get Stella too. We fix this together or we all go down together.” Neither he nor Surratt looked happy, so it wasn’t clear which one had put up the bigger fight.
Aisling was out the door before they could change their minds. They were still in the booth, but Harlie was the only one with food. The goth gang from the corner was gone though, and Stella was hovering near the booth.
“They said you had something for me?”
Aisling had forgotten about Grundog’s envelope. She pulled it out of her jacket. “Sorry, Grundog gave me this.”
“I’ll be right back.” Stella
darted away, vanishing into the kitchen.
“So? What was that about? And don’t say nothing. You were in there too long for nothing,” Maeve said.
“Let’s wait for Stella, but yeah, all of you need to come to the back room—her too. I don’t want to say anything until we get back there.”
Caradoc looked ready to climb out of the booth that second.
“Seriously. We all need to go together. What happened to our odd little friends?” She looked toward the corner the goth gang had been in.
Harlie grinned. “Pretty sure they were Baobhan, the one that looked like a guy, wasn’t. They took off not too long after you vanished. Stella might know more about them.”
Baobhan were female vampires. They were a fey race but often tried to pass themselves off as human. Or, failing that, as evil ones from beyond the veil. Vampire legends notwithstanding, they were really only dangerous in large groups. They were frail and had no magic. If they could drug someone they might be able to take their blood, but most humans had a natural avoidance of them and most other fey would kill them if they tried anything. The majority of the race were decent members of society, but there were always a few in every group who had to push things.
Stella came back a moment later, noticeably without the envelope. “There now, all secured. So?” She directed the last at Aisling.
“So we all get to go into the back room.”
Stella’s eyebrows went up. Since the only way into the secret room was through the diner, she had to know who was in there right now. She might not know about the two holograms. From what Reg had said it was probably a hell of a lot safer for Garran that he was only a hologram when he was facing Stella. She obviously hadn’t taken the exclusion any better than Aisling.
“Let me tell Nethi to cover the place.” Stella nodded and went back to the kitchen.
“I’ll keep an eye out here.” Harlie watched the patrons around him all the while still appearing to be only keeping an eye on his food.
“Nope, you’re being pulled in on this too.” Aisling was about to flag down the busboy, but Stella caught him just as she came back out of the kitchen. He nodded at her instructions then went into the kitchen.
An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2) Page 4