Several photos showed the same woman, looking quite hale in her sixties and perhaps seventies, but I didn’t recognize anyone else in any of the pics.
I plucked the sheet from the printer, skimmed the info and the address. “Austin! Hot fucking damn.”
Bryce gave me a questioning look.
“The phone call I got from Idris was made northwest of Austin on a phone stolen there,” I explained. “Plus, Mzatal detected the aftereffects of an event from a few days ago that disrupted the flows in a wide area around Austin. He felt Idris’s signature, but couldn’t pinpoint the source. I don’t think any of it’s a coincidence, and now we have an address.”
Bryce peered at the photos on the screen. “She’s not exactly a spring chicken now. You suspect she’s directly connected?”
I gave a humorless laugh. “I’ve learned that age is simply a matter of who you know. Katashi is over a hundred years old, and that bastard is going strong.” I tapped the paper. “She’s worn the ring, and she’s in Austin. That’s enough to keep her on my list of potential baddies until I find out otherwise.”
“Guilty until proven innocent,” Bryce said.
“When I’m dealing with the Mraztur and summoners, hell yeah.”
Bryce let out a snort of agreement. His gaze returned to Paul’s screen, then he frowned and jabbed a finger at one of the pics. “Paul, that one. I need to see that one bigger.” Paul tapped a key and the thumbnail enlarged to show Rasha much older, with an utterly gorgeous young woman at her side. Perfectly styled long black hair, medium dark complexion, full lips with a deep rose color, and a voluptuous body.
“I know that girl,” Bryce murmured. “I’ve seen her before.”
“That’s her granddaughter, Jade,” Paul said. The printer hummed again.
“Where have you seen her, Bryce?” I asked.
“At the compound. The Farouche Plantation.” He tapped his chin. “I know I’ve seen her there.”
My eyes narrowed. “The granddaughter of a known summoner is associated with your ex-boss? Is she a summoner too? What was she doing there?”
A grimace flickered across his face. “No idea. I saw her in his wing of the house a few times this past year. She came and went with . . .” He trailed off, blinked. “Mystery Man Twenty-two. The guy who was last off the plane with Idris in Amarillo. Fucking hell, she came with Mystery Man Twenty-two!”
Paul made a frustrated noise. “Why did I give B.M. my secrets?” He spun the chair to face us. “I can’t pull archive surveillance vid to show you, ’cause Big Mack followed my instructions and installed the firewall of doom on his servers plus took surveillance vids offline. I couldn’t even leave a back door for myself because, well—”
“That’s acting against his interests which triggers the fear,” I said with a nod of understanding.
“Exactly.” Paul scowled. “Trust me, I tried. Once.”
I heard footsteps on the back porch. Bryce drew a sharp breath. “Damn,” he murmured. “You can really feel when Mzatal gets close, can’t you? Wasn’t as noticeable in the demon realm, but here, wow.”
“I’ve grown used to it,” I confessed, though now that I focused on it I knew exactly what Bryce meant. Like an invisible pressure wave that grew more and more tangible as the demonic lord approached.
Mzatal stepped through the doorway. Instantly the feel of the office shifted from roomy to cramped broom closet. Yep, he certainly does have the whammy, I thought wryly.
He went still for the span of a heartbeat—reading and assessing the current status and the discovery of the ring’s bearer—before leveling his full attention onto me.
“You believe Rasha consorts with Farouche,” he stated.
“It’s very possible,” I said. “Her granddaughter certainly does. However, the ring wasn’t on a woman’s hand, so I want to find out who has it now and who Bryce saw with Jade.”
“It is possible she passed the ring to her offspring, or a student,” Mzatal pointed out.
“True. Either way, it’s worth checking.” I lifted the paper. “We have an address for her. In Austin.”
“Excellent,” he said brusquely. “We will proceed there, and I will assess her.” He announced it as though it was no more of a challenge than walking to the neighbor’s house.
“I need to talk to you before we make any plans,” I told him, taking his hand. After a quick excuse us to Bryce and Paul, I led Mzatal to the front porch and closed the door.
“You do realize that most of the means of travel in this world involve getting into a metal container of some sort for several hours?” I asked him. “Rasha lives in Austin. That’s either an eight to nine hour drive, or a flight involving airports and security and lots of interaction with people. Which, pretty much means we have to drive. In a car.”
Mzatal lifted my hand and kissed it. “It is as it is, zharkat,” he murmured. “I will manage it.”
I gave his hand a squeeze. He knew I worried about him. “Next question. Can you, um, turn down your mojo at all?”
“It is minimal now,” he informed me. “What preparations must be made?”
Fine, I’d let him dodge the subject. For now. “First, we decide who’s going,” I said as we returned inside. “Zack and Ryan need to remain here to hold down the fort. They can handle any weird crises that come up, and help Steeev watch over Jill.” I entered the office and considered Bryce and Paul. Both of them would be pretty damn useful. The only hitch would be finding a way to sneak them out of town without any of the bad guys knowing. “Y’all up for a road trip?” I asked them.
Paul drew in a pleased breath and flicked a hopeful glance to Bryce, face brightening as the older man gave a nod.
“Austin? Sure,” Bryce said as Paul swiveled back to the computer to resume typing. “What do we need to do to prep?”
“We’ll probably want an SUV so we aren’t too cramped,” I said. It would be hard enough for Mzatal to be enclosed in a vehicle for several hours, so might as well get something big. “Eilahn can follow on the motorcycle.”
“I can help with the driving,” Bryce pointed out, and I gave him a grateful nod.
“When will this SUV be acquired?” Mzatal asked.
“We’ll rent one,” I said, then shifted my attention to Paul. “Can you find a company that will deliver one here within the next few hours?”
A grin spread across his face. “I’m working on it. Unless I’m completely wrong—which I’m not—I can get an Escalade here in an hour and a half. Two hours at the outside. You guys gonna wager on whether or not I can set it all up in under five minutes?”
I shook my head, smiled. “One of these days I’ll remember how good you really are. No way am I betting against you again.”
Paul simply grinned.
“Wait,” I said. “How are you going to pay for it?”
He gave me an unmistakably withering look while Bryce choked on a laugh.
I lifted my hands in surrender. “Forget I asked. Holy shit, but I’m glad you’re on our side,” I said, then a slow smile spread over my face as a plan came together in my head. “Hang on.” I scribbled an address on a sticky note and gave it to Paul. “Have it delivered there instead of here.”
I quickly laid out my clever, and actually quite simple, plan to sneak Bryce and Paul away. We’d have the SUV delivered to the back lot of an out-of-business furniture store, which was a five mile drive from my house via the highway, but only about a half mile trek through woods beyond the back fence of my property. I had no gate or driveway there, and the woods were heavy enough I figured the chances were exceedingly slim that Farouche would have people watching along the fence line.
Bryce listened carefully, then had Paul call up a satellite photo of the area. “You’re right,” he said as he noted the clever shortcut. “He wouldn’t have people watching the middle of the wo
ods. That should work.” To my relief, no one else found any glaring problems with the ruse either.
Mzatal nodded, face serious and focused—in other words, utterly Mzatal-like—then exited the room. Bryce and I followed him out, though Mzatal continued on outside and to the mini-nexus, while we two humans stopped in the kitchen. Bryce’s gaze followed him.
“I’m having a hard time seeing him in a car for eight or nine hours,” he murmured with a frown.
I winced. “I imagine we’ll be taking a lot of breaks.” Crap, this road trip would probably end up taking closer to ten hours. “We’ll be getting to Austin after dark. I’ll get Eilahn up to speed and have her watch for anyone tailing us then hook up with us once we’re clear.”
“What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“Pack snacks,” I replied. “Jekki can help you. And get all of Paul’s stuff charged up.”
He gave a crisp nod, smiled. “Munchies and power for Paul. I’m on it.”
Chapter 32
The next hour turned into a flurry of activity as humans and demons scurried about to get everything ready, though I had a brief setback when I caught Eilahn by her motorcycle with an empty cat carrier, a colorful tangle of bungees in one hand, and duct tape in the other. For the next ten minutes I waged a grim war to convince her that Fuzzykins could not come with us. I made a little headway with the fact that Fuzzykins would be miserable cooped up for hours in the carrier on the back of the motorcycle. I lost ground on the alternative of the back of the SUV, then reclaimed some advantage with the assurance that Zack would take good care of Fuzzykins here, and of course Eilahn could call her as often as she wanted. Yet it wasn’t until Fuzzykins stalked off the porch, wound around Eilahn’s ankles and apparently told her, “No, I do not choose to go this day as I am certain the motion will upset my digestion,” that Eilahn finally put away the duct tape and bungees.
Ludicrous as it was, in that one shining moment, I loved that stupid cat.
With the Fuzzykins crisis dealt with, I went back inside and ran through my mental checklist of things to do. Jill stepped through the front door, looking relatively well-rested after her night in her new place. “What’s going on?” she asked after a few seconds of watching our frenetic activity.
“We got a hot lead,” I told her as I threw stuff into a bag. “We’re going to Austin to follow up on it.”
She backed to the wall and put her hand over her belly as Jekki scurried by, rolled her eyes and smiled as he chittered to her in passing. “Looks like you’re leaving any second now,” she observed. “You already tell Ryan, or you want me to let him know when he gets home?”
“Crap.” I grabbed for my phone. “I want both Zack and Ryan here to watch over you, and yes, I know you’re tough and you have a demon guardian now,” I said with a smile, “but I still want them here, ’cause you never know.”
“I’m tough,” Jill agreed with a steely glint in her eye. “But everything is different now because of the bean.” She laid her hand on her belly and her expression softened. “I’m not taking any chances.”
“Damn glad to hear it,” I said, then quickly called Ryan, filled him in, and dutifully agreed to text him when we arrived and if we had any problems. Next, I called Zack and got his assurance that he’d keep an eye on the house, Jill, and Fuzzykins.
After I hung up, I grabbed a pile of Tracy’s notebooks and journals, stuffed them into my bag and zipped it closed, then went outside to where Mzatal sat cross-legged on the mini-nexus. “Boss? We’re hoping to get going pretty soon. You ready?”
He drew a deep breath. “It is far to travel from this place.”
I knew he meant the tacit security of the mini-nexus. “I wish there was a faster way to get there and back that was feasible,” I said with a small sigh. “But driving makes the most sense. We’ll get there a little after dark and should be back by midday tomorrow at the latest.” I didn’t add if all goes well. Didn’t want to jinx things.
“I am sufficiently prepared,” he said.
I laid my hand against his cheek. “You’ve been on Earth a couple of days already. You sure you have the reserves to do this?”
He covered my hand with his. “I am faring well, zharkat,” he told me. “I have used the mini-nexus to greatly slow my potency depletion, and without undue expenditure will be able to maintain perhaps another five days.”
I peered at him, felt his reserves and smiled. “Excellent. I’ll go finish getting our stuff together.” I gave him a quick kiss, then made sure everything we needed was packed up and ready to go on the back porch.
Paul leaned out the back door, as excited as a kid going to Disney World. “The Escalade will be there in about twenty minutes,” he announced.
“Thanks for the update,” I said. “We’ll leave here in five.”
He disappeared back inside as Bryce stepped out with a small duffel bag in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
“Will Paul be able to work on the road?” I asked him. “We need to check out Rasha and her connection to the ring, and see if she had anything to do with the flow-disturbing event, but also really need to keep digging into the rest. I hate the thought of waiting until we get back.”
Bryce clucked his tongue at me. “Have you learned nothing about Paul? He can do pretty much anything as long as he can get a cell phone signal.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “I will never doubt him again.”
A few minutes later we assembled on the back porch, made a final headcount, then started out across my yard toward the back of my property, like a bunch of Sherpas about to tackle Everest. I heard a soft patter of feet behind me and glanced back to see Jekki eagerly trotting along in our wake. Oh, damn.
“Jekki.” I grimaced in apology. “I’m so sorry, but you can’t come with us.”
He stopped, sat up on his two back feet and peered up at me, looked at Mzatal’s retreating back and then to me again. “Why, Kara Gillian? Mzaaaatal walks.”
Sighing, I crouched. “You’re beautiful and colorful and very unique,” I told him. “And if anyone beyond this property saw you, it would draw a lot of attention which could jeopardize everything. I’m very sorry.”
He chittered in distress as Mzatal stepped onto the trail through the trees. “Dahn dahn dahn! Who tends Mzatal?”
Boss, I need your help here. “Eilahn and I will tend to him to the best of our ability.”
Not at all mollified by my assurances, Jekki continued to chitter, then ran to Mzatal as the lord turned back. I stood and moved toward them, silently cursing myself. I should have foreseen that the devoted little faas would want to come along.
Mzatal crouched and stroked Jekki’s head, spoke low in demon. Jekki’s incessantly moving tail went almost completely still as he listened.
The lord stood as I reached them, though his hand remained on Jekki’s head. “He will accompany us to the fence,” he informed me. He gave Jekki one more gentle caress before tucking his arm through mine and continuing to the path.
“He is distressed yet,” Mzatal continued softly as we reached the cool shade of the trees, “but I have asked him to tend Szerain, and he is better with that.”
I had a silent moment of hilarity as I pictured the faas trying to ply Ryan with sliced fruit and fix his hair. “Thanks,” I said, then gave his arm a squeeze. “I’ll do my best to take care of you as well as he would.”
The trip through the woods was utterly uneventful, which was totally okay with me. Jekki spoke with Mzatal again when we reached the fence, but remained on my property without protest as we all climbed over. I glanced back as we made a turn that would take us out of view in the dense trees and saw him, his little hands upon the sturdy wire fence, still as a statue and watching.
The silver Escalade was exactly where Paul had asked the agency to leave it, though we waited for Mzatal to assess the area
before we exited the woods. Once we knew it was safe to proceed, Paul made himself comfortable in the back with his laptop and tablet, while Mzatal took the front passenger seat. I put the journals and notebooks in the middle of the backseat, on the off chance the mood struck me to continue grinding my way through the damn things.
“I’ll drive until we get out of the area,” I said to Bryce as we finished loading our stuff into the vehicle. “Once we’re sure we’re clear you and I can trade off.”
“I do know how to drive,” Paul piped up, though his eyes remained glued to his laptop.
“Do you want to take a turn driving?” Bryce asked Paul, eyebrow raised.
Paul looked up, frowned as he considered, then shook his head. “Nah. That would suck.”
Bryce rolled his eyes. “Which is why we didn’t ask you to drive. I know you pretty well by now.”
I bit back a laugh. Those two were as bad as siblings.
With that settled, we headed out.
• • •
We stopped about every ninety minutes, or whenever Mzatal started looking a bit peaked or antsy, though it was actually more of a feel than a look. The pressure of his aura would take on an uncomfortable edge, and everyone knew it was time to stop.
By the third hour of driving we developed a smooth routine: feel the aura, find a suitable spot to stop, let the demonic lord out to breathe and chill for a few, check in with Eilahn, get back in and change drivers, keep going.
“What’s the plan when we get to Austin? Go straight to this woman’s house?” Bryce asked as he settled into the driver’s seat for his turn at the wheel.
I winced. “Pretty much. Unfortunately we don’t have any intel on what to expect when we get there.”
“In other words, we’re winging it?” He glanced in the rear view mirror and gave me a wry smile.
“You got a better plan?”
Fury of the Demon (Kara Gillian) Page 35