by Mark Henwick
Again, close.
“And every request for clarification gets kicked up the chain of command. It’ll take time, but I guess we’ve got to find someone who knows what’s going on?”
He made it a question. He could see decisions being reached in my face.
“When Krantz was chasing me, I fed back through Colonel Laine. He spoke to someone and that someone had Krantz hauled off the case. Go ask Krantz who that was. It had to be someone in his chain of command that spoke to him. Maybe that’ll get you somewhere quicker.”
Ingram pursed his lips and nodded.
“You’ll make sure and tell Krantz that he’s done me a favor and I will repay it.”
Ingram smiled and nodded again, still waiting.
I laced my fingers together to still my nervous hands.
“You’re looking at two completely separate things. Give me till next week,” I said. “By then, you might have some idea who knows what in the army. And I hope I’ll be in a position to set up a meeting for the part that isn’t the army.”
“Yes, Agent Ingram,” Jen came in. “Hell, all I’ve heard is that Amber’s been doing good things and can’t talk because of some restrictions that aren’t her fault. I think some leeway would be in order.”
Ingram scratched his chin thoughtfully while he looked from one of us to the other, taking his time reaching a decision. I noted he didn’t say anything about needing to talk to a boss. That added to my impression he was far more senior than I first thought.
“I thank you, Ms. Kingslund, for your hospitality,” Ingram said, getting suddenly to his feet. “And I will hold you to that, Ms. Farrell. Keep in mind, I won’t stop looking in the meantime. And I won’t restrict my investigation.”
“Yeah. Fair enough.” I stood up, and in a moment of inspiration, I took a complete flyer. “Y’know that recording you played me? It’d be a great help if I had a copy.”
Ingram’s nose twitched and his eyes got all beady. The Taekwondo champion thought it would give him an advantage to have me in his debt. Maybe he was right. He took a tiny recording disk out of his Dictaphone and handed it over with a smile.
“Thanks,” I said. He nodded cordially back.
Jen saw him out, and I collapsed back on the sofa.
“He’s gone. You okay, honey?” Jen leaned against the doorframe.
“Yeah,” I sighed, rubbing my face.
“Just one more,” she said enigmatically, and went back out.
Tullah came in alone.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself. What’s up?”
She sat stiffly on the sofa beside me.
“Ma was sort of right, I guess.”
“What, you’ve just realized I’m an evil Athanate?” I grinned at her.
“No! You’re not evil.”
“Good to hear. Okay, so what was she sort of right about?”
“My dragon,” Tullah said. “She’s not…safe.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “But you sort of knew that already, though.”
Tullah looked as frustrated as I felt.
“It’s different. It’s as if she wants things and they start to seep through into my head.”
“Like what?”
“I can’t talk about it yet. I have to get my head straight.” She hunched her shoulders. “I’ll keep working on my cases, but I need to steer clear of you and Ma for a while.”
“Look, Tullah, that doesn’t fly. You can’t tell me you’re being distracted and then say you’re okay to work.”
“I’m not distracted when I work. I’m distracted when you’re around.” Tullah pressed her hands down on her thighs, digging her fingers in. “She wants something from you.”
“And..”
“I can’t agree until I understand what it is. The Adept must incorporate the guide, not the other way around.”
“Sounds like a bit of good rote-learned wisdom,” I said. Which was not to say it wasn’t valid. But Tullah and Kaothos probably couldn’t manage to besiege Byzantium for another couple of days. “Okay, take off till Monday. Then we talk and settle this.” Maybe with Mary and Liu.
She nodded agreement. I dug in my pack for my last set of cheap burn phones. “Keep this on you,” I said, handing one to her. “For emergencies, use this phone. I mean all kinds of emergencies, dragon included.” She nodded again, a brief smile flickering into view. “I’ll check my usual cell as well, but with people tracking it, I won’t keep it on.”
She took the phone and looked uncertain. The implications of going off and doing it on her own were sinking in. Suddenly, all the pressure was on her to get things right.
“I think it’s a good idea,” I said. “With everyone out there so damned interested in me, all of us would be better off someplace else for a while. In fact, I’m just about to tell Jen that.”
That raised a smile. “Good luck,” she said. Her eyes flicked up at me and then quickly back down to her hands, clasped on her lap. “Was it like this for you, with the Athanate stuff?”
“I don’t know, Tullah. Like what? I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but if you’re asking if I was confused and angry and upset at times, yes, it was like that. Is like that.”
“You don’t show it. You’re always, like, so in control.”
I snorted and shoved her gently towards the door. “Get out of here.”
She got, and Jen came back.
“Are we ready to go to this horse thing?” I asked.
“After what Agent Ingram was talking about, I’m not sure how to take that.” She smiled. “Anyway, we’re not. I have my new cowboy boots from Werner, and we both have to be in style.”
“As in?”
“Why, surely, country and western, honey.”
She’d left the right clothes out on my bed. Curly-brim Stetson, blue jeans and jacket, plaid shirt like a freaking tablecloth and a leather belt with a monster horsey buckle that I’d never have worn otherwise. Sigh. I decided to go along with it. I’d pick my battles.
At least the denim jacket fit neatly over the shoulder holster. I wasn’t going anywhere, even a business meeting, without my HK.
Chapter 34
I picked my battle and I won it. By the time we drove off in her pink Mercedes, dressed like line dancers, Jen had agreed to stay at least a couple of nights at a hotel. The guards were closing Manassah and would meet us at the hotel later.
In retaliation, she insisted we get in the mood with a C&W CD karaoke session. We arrived at the race track giggling.
That was the last entertainment I had for a while. There was a rocky start to the meeting when Jen found out that the woman who was supposed to be signing the property over to Jen’s consortium hadn’t been able to make it. Her replacement was an arrogant easterner, Anthony Vance, with a horribly fussy way of talking. He just about managed not to correct Jen, but his own staff weren’t so lucky. Worst off was the gofer, a guy just out of high school who’d had the misfortune to be from Alabama. I thought he was cute and I like southern accents, but Vance gave him a hard time every time he spoke.
There was nothing I could say really, and Vance obviously didn’t expect me to speak, so I just sat there with my arms folded. This was as much fun as a visit to the dentist. Thinking that made me feel better. Athanate health benefits meant no more dental visits for me. Another check in the plus column. And at least Jen wasn’t enjoying it any more than I was. Although no one else seemed to notice, I could feel the level of irritation in her climbing like one of those ominous cut scenes in a movie where the boiler meter edges toward the red.
“Well.” Jen wrapped it up and stood. “That’s everything except the catering for the inaugural meeting. I think we’ll close now and I’ll leave that to an expert.”
Oh my God, why was I suddenly leaning forward?
“Amber?” Jen said quizzically.
“I don’t figure you should leave this to others. This inaugural meeting is a special occasion and I’d be all choked up
if the food wasn’t in keeping with the event.”
Except that wasn’t the way I said it. The demon had control of my throat and what came out was the illegitimate offspring of Agent Ingram and Alabama gofer, brung up in the trailer park. Just broader. Five syllables for inaugural.
“Yes, of course, thanks,” Jen said, straight-faced, and turned back to the table. “I want it done exactly as my colleague suggests.” She walked away quickly, ostensibly to retrieve our Stetsons, and leaving me to it.
At Vance’s increasingly panicked look of blank incomprehension, I turned to Alabama.
“You understand me, don’t you, sonny?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Big ole steaks on grills, size of a cow and thick as a saddle. Sauce fit to make your eyes pop. Potatoes in their skins with gobs of real butter. Beer colder than a well digger’s. An’ all the fixins.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
At Vance’s prompting he translated.
“What if someone doesn’t eat meat?” Vance said plaintively.
“If’n they don’t like meat, they can always eat hamburger,” I replied and we left before Alabama had time to translate.
Jen drove us, only slightly erratically, off into the night.
We took the scenic route back. So much for being a bodyguard. Long days and late nights were catching up and my head was definitely lolling when we stopped.
I looked up. We’d only been going ten minutes.
“Did we run out of gas?”
“Honey, would I try a line like that on you?”
“You never know. Might be worth a try,” said my demon before I could catch it.
“No. Plenty of gas. It’s just worth a look, since we’re out here.”
We were somewhere up on Lookout, with the lights of Denver below us. We got out and leaned against the front of the car.
Three million people down there and Jen had to pick the one with a paranormal problem she couldn’t talk about yet. Sigh.
Somehow, Jen had slipped inside my arm and her hand snuck around me to rest on my hip. Her head lay on my shoulder.
“View’s out that way.” I nodded down at Denver.
“Hmm. That’s one opinion,” she said. “Ah, you’re blushing.”
“It’s dark, how can you tell?”
She chuckled. “Just a lucky guess, honey.”
I laughed and couldn’t stop myself pulling her into a hug. We fit together, perfectly, like one of those puzzles. I had to stop this, or I’d start thinking about how warm the hood would be beneath us, if we lay down on it. My jaw definitely didn’t ache now. Instead, there was a soft feeling of anticipation in my canines. They felt warm, comfortable. There was a promise of pleasure, a lazy wickedness that I knew would come from biting.
I closed my eyes. I could feel Jen’s every movement, sense her whole body. I could hear her heart, sweetly thumping in time with mine. I could feel the rush of air in her lungs and the push of blood through her veins. I could taste her desire and I could even feel how carefully she held herself in check. It was good that one of us was in control.
I’d never been so aware of another person, so absorbed, so sensitive to every nuance. I started to imagine I could feel the breeze against her cheek. The feeling of my back under her hands. My warmth against her. The sensations of both bodies merged in my head. To my closed eyes, we were naked, transparent as deep sea creatures but wreathed in light, full of murmuring…
She stirred against me, and our oversized belt buckles clinked together. Jen gave a huff of amusement, her breath soft on my neck. My eyes opened. We were clothed and cold and shivering up on a windy hillside. My breath came out in a shaky sigh.
“Hell, honey, I never met anyone like you,” she whispered.
“No, you probably haven’t, lucky you.” I gave a short laugh. “You know I’ve never lied to you?”
She nodded against me. “Just a bit choosy about what you answer.” But I could hear she was smiling.
“I swear,” I said, “after this weekend, I’ll never refuse to answer anything ever again.”
“That sounds like a long time.”
Neither of us said anything to that. Her heart rate had stepped up and mine followed.
“Would you tell me everything now, if I asked?” she murmured, teasing.
I swallowed. My throat was suddenly, painfully dry. But there was only one answer I could truthfully give. “Yes,” I said.
She looked up and her hands were suddenly on my cheeks.
“Oh my God, Amber, I wouldn’t. I was just teasing. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She clumsily wiped away the tears.
“No, I’m sorry. Being stupid.”
“It’s not stupid at all. Thank you, honey.” She cleared her throat. “Now, let’s go check in at the hotel. You need to get to bed. Alone. For the moment.”
Chapter 35
FRIDAY
I was at Victor’s office early enough for breakfast, so I brought takeout.
“What about my gut, woman?” Victor complained as we unpacked the waffles, doughnuts and coffee onto his desk.
I eyed his middle. Yup. The belt was still fastened at the same hole, but the pants and the shirt were pulling in opposite directions.
“Get out more,” I said complacently, crossing my legs and sticking my boots on his desk. I patted my belly. He shook his head. Didn’t stop him taking his share. Just to be sure they were safe from him, I balanced my waffles and doughnuts on my lap.
I’d brought all his security gear back and payments to cover it. I took a bite from a waffle and licked the syrup carefully off my fingers before handing the two checks across the desk.
“I dated one the end of the month. Hope that’s okay?” There was just barely enough in the account to cover the rental of the equipment and Vic’s delivery of Arvinder. I wanted Tullah to have some reserve while payments were coming in for her cases.
Skylur might pick up the tab for some of it. Might.
He grunted and swept the checks into a drawer without looking. He took a long swig of his coffee.
“Anythin’ you want to share?” he said. He kept his deep Georgia voice casual, but I heard the undercurrents.
“What would there be, Vic?”
He snorted. “Why people lookin’ for you, girl? An’ I don’ mean puttin’ an ad in the papers, that type of lookin’. I mean banging on doors, roughhouse, kicking over tables type of lookin’.”
“They came around here?”
He nodded, took a huge bite out of a doughnut and chewed it thoughtfully, still watching me. “Told them to Foxtrot Romeo Oscar,” he mumbled.
I smiled. I was putting all my friends in danger, but Victor was capable of handling it at this level.
“Thanks, big man. Can’t talk about it. Should be over soon.”
He just raised a brow skeptically. I knew what he was thinking. That kind of effort was for something that wasn’t just going to go away. But I couldn’t tell him any more than I could tell Jen. Not now and maybe never.
“Well,” he said when I stayed quiet, “I already told Tullah thanks for the business she passed to me, but I’ll say it again to you. And I sent her back some surveillance and internet jobs. She’s smart with that stuff; made us look good for a client this week.” He finished off his doughnut. “Helpin’ out seems to be doin’ us both good.”
“Thanks. I’ll catch up with Tullah next week, see if we can make it even better.”
If I’m around.
Something of that thought got through and Victor’s brow went up again. I kicked myself mentally and concentrated on the doughnut.
“If…” Victor paused and thought about it a bit. “If you get tired of runnin’ the business and want to get out more, there’s always room for you and Tullah here. Y’all got the skills, girl.”
He was offering me a kind of safety, and I loved him for it. Business was tough enough for solo PIs, and training Tullah was going to make it even tougher in the short term. Victor
had a steady business and I’d earn an income instead of feast and famine. I’d be able to put aside regular savings for clothes and a house and…no. Not me. Not just too proud. I simply wasn’t that kind of woman, deep down. Never really had been, for all the care I’d managed my money with when I’d been supporting Mom and Kath. And what Victor didn’t understand was that, if the situation with Matlal and Basilikos wasn’t fixed at this Assembly, then his levels of physical safety weren’t going to be nearly enough anyway.
“Thanks again, Vic, but I’m not ready to pack up shop.” I drained the coffee and sighed. “And I got errands to run today, gotta go run them.”
Away from his office, I pulled over and turned on my cell to check my messages.
Nothing from Alex. Nothing from the colonel, either.
The colonel’s silence didn’t bother me. He was smart. He would make his way here eventually and we’d fix things for him if they could be fixed.
Alex’s silence really bothered me.
Okay, so I would make my way toward Haven. Just a telephone call first. Shouldn’t take long.
Chapter 36
The octopus wasn’t disguising my voice when I called Alex’s office number, and somehow his secretary knew who it was, right away.
“Ms. Farrell, I’m sorry, but I expect Mr. Deauville will be in meetings all day. It’s just not a good time. Can I take a message?”
I slowed down. I sure as hell wasn’t giving some secretary a message about Matlal sponsoring the rival pack.
Worse than that, something wasn’t right here. Pure instinct told me this wasn’t Alex putting me off, which meant this would have to be a pack thing. I didn’t like it one bit.
“Ms. Farrell?”
I’d ignored my instinct before and regretted it. I don’t like regrets. And if I had some bad news coming up, I didn’t like not knowing. I really didn’t like not knowing before I gave my oath at the ceremony. Even Diana had said I needed to know where I stood when I gave that oath.