The Severed Thread

by Dione C. Suto

  At the top of the stairs was a balcony, which provided an unobstructed view of the entire first floor bar and dance floor. It was still early, so there were not many customers, but the music was already pounding. I could feel it pulsing up my legs from the floor below. I followed Lok across the balcony to another door, which I hoped led into some type of office which might drown out the sound. There would be no way to talk over this noise.

  Jacqueline took up a post outside the door before Lok ushered me inside. Our little group was like an onion, peeling off layers as we went.

  Once inside I took a look around. It was an office, and the furnishings were completely at odds with the modern décor of the club lying just a few feet away. The room was overflowing with antiques, and there was an intricate oriental rug on the hardwood floors. The center of the space was dominated by a large Edwardian mahogany desk, and sitting behind the desk was Liam McCallister.

  I had forgotten how striking he was, with his dark hair and eyes. Even sitting behind the desk you could see that he was fit, the line of his shirt implying a swimmers physique – wide shoulders and long lean muscles. Damn vampires, they were nearly always physically attractive. I guess when choosing someone to turn, you knew you potentially had to spend hundreds of years looking at them. Might as well pick someone handsome, right? Whoever had turned Liam McCallister had definitely chosen well in the looks department – it was his soul that was infamously lacking.

  “Ah, Abigail,” he said with a smile, acting for all the world as if this were a social visit. “So glad you could join me this evening.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Well McCallister, your associates didn’t make it sound like an optional invitation.”

  “McCallister?” he tsked in disapproval. “I thought I asked you to call me Liam when we met last spring?” I was surprised he even remembered meeting me, and my expression must have conveyed as much.

  “What?” he continued mockingly. “You did not think I would remember meeting the lovely daughter of Senator Lassiter?”

  I sighed in exasperation. “Look Mc… ah, Liam. I realize you must have a very good reason for dragging me here on the same day my brother was murdered. But, I hope you’ll understand if I don’t feel like exchanging pleasantries.”

  “Yes, I was sorry to hear about your brother. Damn, messy business that.” I noticed that he completely ignored my dig about dragging me out into the night on the shittiest day ever.

  “Yes,” I agreed, “very nasty.” I was so not in the mood for games or banter. I had depleted most of my self-control earlier in the day, during my time with the agents. I knew I was walking a fine line in keeping my temper, grief, and physical exhaustion from overwhelming my mental fortifications. I could feel my frustration leaking through the cracks that had been forming over the course of the day. That I had kept it in check at all this morning still amazed me. I was hoping that McCallister didn’t offer himself as a target for my anger, because my berserker was just waiting for an opportunity to vent its rage. Anyone would do at this point. It was feeling belligerent, screaming for vengeance. It might think it could take Liam McCallister, but I wasn’t so certain.

  “Can we get to why I’m here? As I told Lok and company, it’s been a long day.” He narrowed his eyes slightly but otherwise there was little clue as to what he was thinking. I couldn’t tell if he found my belligerence amusing, or annoying.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet, really,” he finally said as he rose up out of his chair, and half sat on the edge of his desk directly in front of me. He put both hands on the arms of my chair as he leaned down to look at me intently from only inches away. “Something of mine is missing Abigail, and I believe your brother took it.” He let me digest that little nugget for a moment before continuing. “I want it back.”

  I suddenly had a sinking feeling about the direction this conversation was heading. Please, oh please don’t tell me that Jason was entangled in some scheme involving Liam McCallister.

  “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage,” I told him honestly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and frankly I don’t have the energy to guess. So, if you could just get to the point…” I was trying to sound unconcerned but my heart rate had increased and I was sure he noticed. Vampires have very keen hearing, and were especially in tune with all things related to the circulatory system. I found myself feeling like prey for the second time this evening. The sensation was causing a few more hairline fissures to form in the wall around my temper.

  “Hmm,” he said giving me an assessing look before glancing up at Lok, who was standing behind me at the back of the office. They seemed to be having a silent conversation, and I had to fight the impulse to turn around and see what Lok was doing. Liam glanced at me again and shook his head regretfully before seeming to come to some sort of decision.

  “Well, it would appear you have a problem, but I’m willing to offer you the chance to fix things,” he said as he leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest.

  “I’m still way behind here. Can you bring me up to speed so I can be on the same page?”

  “As I’m sure you know, your brother had some cash flow problems.”

  I let out a defeated breath and nodded my head. “Yes, I know.” His trust was tied up until he turned thirty-five; mine was as well. Since he was two years my junior, he had even longer to wait than I did to get his hands on his money.

  “About a month ago, Jason approached me with a proposition.” He walked back to his chair on the other side of the desk and sat down. “He suggested a mutually beneficial agreement between me and Lassiter Shipping. The arrangement involved him overlooking inconsistencies with certain shipments. Once in port, he would arrange times for those shipments to be privately picked up.”

  I leaned my head back and looked at the ceiling. Was it possible that my brother had really done this? I tilted my head to look at him.

  “You said he made that agreement on behalf of Lassiter Shipping?” I asked, grappling for any loophole I could use. “He didn’t have the authority to do that.”

  “I’m beginning to see that,” he replied. “Nonetheless, a member of your organization, a member of your family even, made a promise on your behalf. I expect you to fulfill the obligation.”

  “You said something of yours was missing. Care to elaborate?” I decided to skirt a commitment by asking another question. I could tell he knew exactly what I was doing, but he went along anyway. For now.

  “Two days ago, the Lassiter Storm docked at the Tioga Marine Terminal.” I nodded. That sounded right. “It was carrying a container with merchandise that belongs to me. Its disappearance would cause a considerable loss of future revenue. Not to mention the expenses I incurred buying the merchandise and getting it loaded into the container in the first place.”

  “At which port was the container loaded?” I had to ask the question but I knew I did not want to hear the answer.

  “Cristobal, Panama.” My stomach seized at the answer.

  “Bananas?” Say no, say no, say no!

  He just raised his dark brows and nodded.

  “Dammit!” I said as I jumped from my chair and started pacing around the room. McCallister’s eyes flicked to Lok, who I knew would jump me at sign of attack. My rage containment was being tested to the max. This was too much! Was Jason fucking crazy? There was only one thing that somebody wouldn’t want to show up on a manifest when it came to a shipment of bananas – Sapphire.

  Sapphire was the new drug of choice for affluent young Weres and shifters out looking for a good time. It had popped onto the club scene about two years ago, and was an instant hit. It had effects similar to Ecstasy, which was used heavily by the human club crowd; it diminished anxiety, created a sense of intimacy with others, and induced feelings of euphoria. Shifters and Weres were two of the most closely related species in the supernatural community. Because of their high metabolisms, regular drugs did not have much of an impa
ct. Sapphire was revolutionary because it lasted for hours, and as a result was in high demand and very expensive.

  Since it had become such a sought-after recreational drug, our Central and South American neighbors had begun producing it in large quantities. At first, they were merrily shipping it around the globe and making a fortune. Then six months ago, authorities figured out how to locate it hidden in shipping containers using gamma radiation detectors.

  Sapphire has a unique radiation signature, since it is processed with uranium in order to have a psychological impact on shifters and Weres. This unique signature became one of the things that made it so hard to get through port scans. To counteract these new security measures, Sapphire was now hidden in loads of bananas since its radiation signature was similar to that given off by the potassium in bulk banana shipments.

  I threw myself back into the chair thinking that if Jason were not already dead, I would kill him myself. Hot on the heels of that thought was another – I could be sitting across a desk from my brother’s killer on the very same day he had been killed. I froze, my eyes darting to McCallister.

  “You killed him,” I whispered, feeling another fracture forming in my mental walls.

  “No, but I was wondering when you would draw that conclusion,” he countered with a touch of amusement. I doubted he would be so amused if he knew how close I was to the end of my tether. “He was murdered during daylight hours which would mean I was sleeping when he was killed. It gives me a rather nice alibi, don’t you think?” He smiled widely, showing off two pearly fangs. A very toothy smile that never reached his eyes.

  “I suppose,” I replied somewhat doubtfully. Not that that would have stopped him from having a non-vamp do his dirty work for him, but I refrained from pointing that out.

  “My first priority is to get my merchandise back,” he said. “I would have tortured your brother until he told me how to get my property back first. Once I got the information I wanted, then I would have killed him. My understanding of the events of this morning made no reference to torture.”

  I guess that depended on what you considered torture. Personally I thought seeing the contents of one’s own abdominal cavity just before dying constituted torture. I struggled to swallow back the bile rising up the back of my throat at the thought. The last thing I needed to do was to throw up all over Liam McCallister’s very expensive looking rug.

  “Thank you for being so frank,” I said with a touch of sarcasm. I was in no way convinced that he was not responsible. “Just so I’m sure I understand, you did not kill him, but would have if you’d had the chance?”

  “Abigail, I’m a business man and the Philadelphia Area Clan Master,” he said. “I cannot allow an infraction of this magnitude pass without retribution. Besides, killing your brother while my merchandise is still missing does nothing to solve my problem.”

  He had a point, if indeed his merchandise was still missing. I really had no way of determining the validity of his accusations, although McCallister wasn’t known to fabricate grievances. He would have no credibility with his people, or anybody, if that were the case. It was very likely that Jason had stolen the Sapphire, or at least assisted with the theft, especially when you considered his track record for embracing foolish ideas. I had to figure out who Jason might have had help him, but it would be tricky. I didn’t want anyone to know what had happened at this point. I decided to try a different tact.

  “Why should I be responsible for your missing Sapphire? I would imagine that there were quite a few people involved with the logistics in Panama.”

  “Yes, you would think so wouldn’t you?” He seemed so calm that I knew there was more bad news coming. “I imagine that is what your brother thought as well.” He watched me carefully while he explained the next part.

  “Since this was the first shipment going through a new handler, and it was worth a considerable amount of money, I went to Panama and oversaw the loading of the container myself.” Of course he did, I groaned to myself. He was not the clan master of one of the most densely populated vampire regions because he was an idiot. What had Jason been thinking to try to cheat him?

  “Lok placed a special mark on the customs seal with ink you can only see under phosphorescent light. So simplistic really, and it let us know immediately that the container had been tampered with after it left Cristobal. When the container arrived at Tioga it had a brand new customs seal without Lok’s mark. We did check the shipment for the Sapphire anyway, but it was nowhere to be found.”

  I took a moment to mull that over, aware that McCallister was watching my facial expressions and monitoring my heart rate closely. I did my best to keep my thoughts from showing plainly in my body language. Even though I had already conceded, at least to myself, that Jason may have had something to do with the missing drugs, I did not understand why he would think he could steal from Liam McCallister. It was their first endeavor, and he was obviously going to appear the guilty party! That seemed incredibly foolish, even for Jason.

  “How much was the missing Sapphire worth?”

  “I have $1.2 million invested. The street value is nearly three times that,” he told me.

  I could not stop myself from visibly cringing at the amount. I was well paid, but that mostly amounted to cash flow. The bulk of my money was tied up in trust until my thirty-fifth birthday, six years away. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money without accessing my trust fund. I had very little hope that the trustees would allow me early access to the money. God knows Jason had tried unsuccessfully enough times.

  “Ah, I see you are beginning to understand my problem,” McCallister replied at my cringe. Unfortunately I was also beginning to better understand my problem. I was going to wind up just as dead as Jason if I did not play my cards carefully.

  Chapter 6

  “You said you were willing to offer me a chance to fix things. What might that entail exactly?” I tried to be as noncommittal as possible with the question.

  “I will give you three days to find my missing cargo,” he explained as he got up and walked over to a decanter and glasses that were laid out on a nearby table.

  “And if I can’t locate it?”

  “Then you will be my new contact at Lassiter Shipping.” He turned back to me after filling his glass with amber colored liquor. “You will work off Jason’s debt by running shipments for me for the duration of one year.”

  “And if I don’t agree?” I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear his answer, but I felt compelled to ask anyway. It was always important to understand the implications of not cooperating.

  “Then bad things will start happening to some of your friends and associates. I believe you are particularly fond of a Ms. Goldwater, yes?” Yeah, I was right; I didn’t really want to know the answer. I had to give it to him though; the asshole definitely knew how to motivate a person.

  “I can’t agree to a year term if you are going to be shipping things in daily or even weekly,” I said, slipping into business mode. I negotiated contracts regularly, this was no different. Well, almost no different. “The risk of getting caught and losing another shipment would be too high. I need to understand how many shipments we are talking about.” I felt a bizarre sense of detachment as I calmly negotiated with the man who very likely killed my brother. Not to mention that these things could send me to prison for decades. Tomorrow, this was all going to hit me like a freight train, but tonight was about surviving this meeting.

  Now would be a great time to have Naris swoop in and do some of his Guardian duties. Since he was nowhere to be found, I could only assume that this hellacious encounter was part of The Plan. Again, lucky me.

  “I can agree to keep the shipments limited to one per month. I too would not like to see any other shipments get lost.” He had obviously noticed that I was unwilling to admit that Jason had stolen anything.

  “Alright,” I sighed. “So, we have a deal?” I could already feel little flecks of black s
ettling into the crevices of my soul for agreeing to go into business with this monster.

  “It would seem so,” he replied before glancing quickly over at Lok and then back at me again. “I expect to hear from you in three days or less about the missing shipment. We can go from there depending on the outcome.”

  I nodded my head in agreement. I had run out of energy for much else.

  “Lok will show you out,” I had apparently been dismissed. Finally.

  I rose, and started to follow Lok back out the door. I stopped short, realizing I needed an answer to an important question. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I turned around to find McCallister’s penetrating gaze settled on me. To my annoyance, I flushed under his scrutiny.

  “Was there something else you wished to discuss, Abigail?” he asked sardonically. “You seemed rather relived to be leaving just a second ago.”

  “I need the container tracking number for the lost shipment.” I might be able to locate the missing Sapphire if I could just get inside that container. If it had been reloaded and shipped out, my chances of tracking it down diminished considerably. It looked like I was going to have to dust off my Location talent to get this mess sorted out.

  My Location skills worked differently depending on who or what I was trying to find. Anything associated with a strong emotion I could usually find without much difficulty, since the emotion acted like a beacon. If I focused on the beacon, I could pinpoint the position of whatever or whoever was missing. Anything not associated with a strong emotion did not have a beacon. In those cases I was forced to rely on residue. Residue could either be a small sample of the item itself, or its residual energy found in a spot that it once occupied. I hoped to track down the Sapphire using residual energy. But to do that, I had to get to the correct shipping container.