“Yeah,” Gus said. “It’s normal. Doesn’t matter what else they share a heritage with, their eyes come out like that—is my understanding.”
Janelle didn’t pull away from Melody. It wasn’t in her to back down from anything.
She hadn’t backed down from the Hunter, nor would she give ground to a Contractor.
“Thank you, I like them quite a bit myself,” she said.
“Your soul is heavenly to look at,” Melody said, pressing her forehead to Janelle’s.
Gus was trying to get a read on the situation from Janelle’s mind. The more he understood her, the better he’d know how much to include her. For all he knew, she was part of the drug ring itself.
Janelle’s fear was rapidly dissipating, annoyance appearing in its place. Annoyance and a desire to hurl Melody toward a wall.
He got the impression the Elf was more of a commando than the soldier she was making herself sound like. That she’d worked her way up from the bottom as an enlisted and had done a lot of gunfighting and door kicking.
Gus and his reputation had shaken her, but that didn’t seem to be the norm for her. Not on any level.
Pulling on Janelle’s arm and away from Melody, Gus took her toward the bunkhouse. “Give us the quick tour, and then we’ll get moving.”
Chapter 15 - Knowing More
Getting into the four-door taxi, Gus found himself alone with Janelle.
“They took another one. Wasn’t enough room for all of us,” said the captain, meeting his eyes. “No vans or buses available either. Just these.”
Nodding his head at that, Gus buckled his seatbelt and got comfortable.
He’d taken a moment to hit the restroom while the others had gotten a cab for everyone.
“Where we going?” asked the driver.
“Naval yard,” Janelle said. “The ad—”
“I know it,” said the driver, pressing a button on his meter. Then he picked something up and started writing on it.
Janelle stared at the driver for several seconds before seeming to come to a decision. Frowning, she turned to look at Gus.
With a small gesture of her fingers, Janelle cast a spell. Gus could tell because Elven magic had always felt distinct to him.
“He won’t hear us,” Janelle said.
Grunting, Gus adjusted his coat and then looked out the window. There wasn’t anything he needed to talk with Janelle about.
As far as he could tell, she was something like special forces working exclusively with Elves. For whatever reason, she’d been pulled from active duty and thrown at them.
Janelle didn’t know the answer herself, though he’d picked up on several thoughts indicating she was glad to be back stateside.
There wasn’t much she knew about the situation that they didn’t know, either. She wasn’t holding anything back from Gus or his group and seemed to be complying absolutely.
It also didn’t hurt that she was constantly on edge around Gus.
“You’re the Hunter,” she said in Elvish.
“I am,” Gus agreed, using Elvish as well. He didn’t look away from the window. He didn’t think this conversation would last long.
Outside, people were moving about the airport.
Coming, going, waiting.
Everyone with their own lives and concerns.
“You… you don’t even hide it?” Janelle asked. “You’re not afraid I’d do something?”
“If anyone cared to dig deep enough to read my record, they’d find out who I was. You clearly suspected it at first sight,” Gus said. Turning his head finally, he looked at her. “How’d you know, by the way? That’s the second time Elves have known just at a glance.”
“You… reek of death. Of Elven death. It hangs about you like a cloak. You’ve trapped no souls though, and no ghosts haunt you.” Janelle’s left hand gestured at him. “It’s just… everyone knows of the Hunter, and you… you fit what the Hunter is supposed to be. Human. Handsome. Death.”
Gus snorted at that, then resumed his window watching as the taxi pulled out of the airport.
“As for whether I’m afraid you’ll do something… not really. I can take care of myself,” Gus said.
“I’m fairly certain you—”
Turning his head fractionally, Gus stared hard at Janelle. Her tone had been leading up to a threat, or something boasting of her strength.
He didn’t have time for games.
He gave her the same gaze he’d given many Elves right before he’d plucked their eyes out and eaten them in front of others.
Mostly for the benefit of terrorizing them into talking. To give him actionable intelligence.
Janelle’s face instantly became white, and a faint layer of sweat popped out on her skin.
She shivered once and then lifted her chin up, swallowing.
Whatever statement she had intended to demonstrate her strength had clearly died on her tongue.
“I’m fairly certain you can indeed take care of yourself,” Janelle said.
“What is it you want, royal one?” Gus said.
“I… want to know more,” Janelle said.
“No, you don’t.” Gus turned his eyes back to the window. “You just think you do.”
“I do want to know more. Everyone talks about it like you’re some kind of monster. But a monster wouldn’t just pack up and go home,” Janelle said. “Wouldn’t do what you did and leave it at that. You signed a peace accord and left. Vanished.”
“I just wanted to get out,” Gus said. “My friends were dying. Killed by Elves. We just wanted to go home. That’s it. Except no one wanted to let us do that. So I made them. Made them let us go home.”
“You… what?” Janelle asked.
“We were just a patrol,” Gus said with a dark laugh. “Out there on a deep patrol. Fighting and dying in the sand and blood, thinking it was a normal humans-being-shitty situation.
“Stumbled onto some type of clan land. We tried to negotiate; they killed the messenger. So I started killing. Any and every Elf I could find. That’s all it was.”
Janelle didn’t say anything to that. She was so silent that Gus had to actually take a moment to give her a glance. She was staring down at her knees in thought.
Good. Maybe now she can piss off.
An hour of absolute silence was honestly just what Gus needed.
***
Stepping out of the cab after having paid, Gus gave his coat a flick and then checked his holster. All their luggage was at the hotel, which was also the airport.
Somehow Trish had talked him into not getting a rental car and using cabs instead. Now he wasn’t so sure that was a great idea.
Janelle had indeed been absolutely silent the rest of the trip, but he would have rather been traveling with Trish and Indali all the same.
Looking out ahead, he found those two dressed in their “Fed suits” and waiting for him. Both were clearly wearing pistols on their belts.
Seeing Trish with an actual weapon was still partially disorienting for Gus. He couldn’t see beyond the beautiful cleaning lady who’d somehow captured his attention.
Smiling even as she turned her head toward him, Trish immediately caught him watching her. Her eyes crinkled, and she wrinkled her nose. Her lips parted into a toothy grin.
It was as if she always knew when he was looking at her.
“I made arrangements for us already,” Janelle said, walking up to him. “We have a pretty significant presence here for our logistics. That’s who we’ll be talking to, since that’s where the ping originated.”
Gus nodded and started walking over to Trish.
Before he reached her, Indali turned to face Gus as well. She was slowly getting used to being around him and working for the Fed, her confident and teasing personality behind the desk reasserting itself more with each day.
“You’re the senior agent,” Indali said to him. “What do we do?”
“Captain Ries already made arrangements for us
.” Gus threw a thumb toward the Elf. “She’ll lead the way.”
All three of them turned toward the Elf.
“Correct,” she said. “Follow me. We’ll check in and then proceed. They might ask you to check your weapons.”
“They can try. I’ll have my boss’s boss on the line in about thirty seconds after they try to stop me from taking my weapon in,” Gus said.
“What? It’s standard procedure,” Janelle said.
“No one’s touching my weapon or taking it from me,” Gus said simply. It was the truth. He wasn’t about to be caught without it.
Without Indali.
He’d rather make a political stink.
Everyone fell silent at that as they trooped toward the security booth.
Not paying attention to the check in process, Gus instead looked around. He was inspecting people’s thoughts, the nearby buildings, and what he could see. If he was going to figure out what was going on here, he needed to be aware of what wasn’t being shown to him.
He was also leery of the possibility this was all the same group who’d arranged the mask break and the Fed bombings. Which meant someone was probably waiting around here for an investigator like Gus to show up.
And probably with a scoped rifle. Just watching and waiting.
It’d line up with everything else they’ve done. From the Boogie in my basement to the crates vanishing. It’s all been done with the utmost secrecy.
Thinking on the Boogie hitman, Gus realized she was probably gone by now. He was pretty sure Melody’s niece was supposed to have picked her up the other day.
Faster than he’d ever done before, he pushed threads of his telepathy into everyone he saw. Listening to thoughts as they streamed in, he kept adding to the jumble.
More and more, he pulled in everyone he saw, trying to figure out if there was anything lurking nearby.
He’d found that more often than not, people couldn’t resist checking out things they were involved with. Like returning to the scene of the crime to see what was going on.
It was just the curiosity all people shared.
When he turned his gaze upward, Gus spotted a man in a window of a building overlooking the entry plaza.
Straining against the weight of the seven minds he was already juggling, Gus pushed himself into the mind of this man as well.
And immediately had to look away rather than give himself away.
The man was a Boogieman.
There was no way Gus couldn’t see him as anything other than what he was. His mind was full of thoughts of fear, feasting, and hunting. Of tearing through “Trish and that Elf” and pulling their hearts out.
The man knew Trish’s name, which was beyond strange to Gus. As far as possibilities went, that would only occur if he was involved with the group that had sent the Boogie hitman, or if he somehow had clearance to know of Gus’s investigation.
Then the man’s thoughts turned toward Gus.
He knew he was Gus. Knew his name.
But he didn’t know why Gus was here. In fact, that thought kept circling around in the man’s head. Why were Gus and Trish here?
And that means… he’s part of the Fed bombing, hitman, and mask break, but not the drugs.
Or… is it the other way around?
He’s here because of the drugs, but doesn’t know why I’m here. Which means that the same group is responsible for both?
Trying to look bored and like he was waiting, Gus felt rather helpless. He didn’t have enough power to march up there and demand to know who the man was and that he talk immediately.
Gus wasn’t even sure he’d be allowed on the base. He was very much out of his element here.
On military grounds, the Fed was only allowed so much leeway as a courtesy. Or so it had been in the past. With the majority of it having been wiped out, it was more than likely only going to get worse.
Certainly not better.
Dropping all the minds he was holding except the one belonging to the man above, Gus was surprised when everyone began moving ahead again.
No one tried to take Indali from him, for which he was thankful. He didn’t want to have to get in a pissing contest when he really just wanted to find out who that man was.
Apparently, the guard who was escorting them had decided to try and show off to Trish. He was now giving them an unprompted and unnecessary tour.
Gus reached out and grabbed Janelle by the elbow, holding her back.
Giving him a weird look, the Elven maiden raised her eyebrows.
“Don’t look. But above us in the nearby building is someone I’m curious about. Just over my right shoulder and behind me,” Gus said in Elvish. “Is that a private office? Is it a department? Can you find out?”
Janelle stared hard at Gus, her eyes unmoving.
“You’re not hu—”
Gus squeezed her arm. “Not here. Can you find out who that is or not, royal one?”
“Yes, I can find out. I’ll go look in a minute, once we get rid of our tour guide,” Janelle said. “I have the appropriate clearance to be on my own.”
“Perfect. Look into it. Male, late middle age, facial hair. Couldn’t see much else.” Gus let go of the Elf. “Don’t get caught. This is just a very light-hearted recon to figure out who they are. Don’t push on them. They’ll bail.”
“I understand. I want to know more about you,” Janelle said, turning and following the rest of the group.
“I said later—or do you want me to pull your eyes out, scalp you, and add you to my collection?” Gus asked.
“You wouldn’t,” Janelle said confidently. “I’ve done nothing to you. You were attacked and responded. You’re not the monster everyone thinks you are.”
“How little you know,” Gus said in a growl, letting his grip on his self-control slip just a bit.
Fear instantly began to ooze out of Janelle.
She was delicious. It was like sitting in an open field with the sun on his face every time he ate from her.
Taking it all in, Gus managed to fear-scent her completely. She knew too much anyways, so it was something he needed to do.
If her luck ran bad and she said something she shouldn’t, he’d be figuring out how to scatter bits of her all over.
Soon enough, their tour guide left. Apparently, Trish’s aloof manner and complete non-response to anything the man said had finally gotten through to him.
He seemed like the type of guy to make excuses to go hover around someone he had a crush on. Then get angry when his being “nice” wasn’t reciprocated by her, as if she were a vending machine and she only needed a pre-set number of “nice” tokens.
Janelle held out a hand toward the door that led to what looked like some type of warehouse.
“This is our destination,” she said. “I’ve done my best to keep it under wraps why we’re here, so if we’re lucky, they won’t know. Should be a lieutenant running the show.”
“Butterbar?” Gus asked.
“Don’t think so,” Janelle said immediately. “This is more of a retirement posting.”
“Butterbar?” Trish asked, looking at Gus.
“Uh… inexperienced and fresh out of a classroom,” Gus said.
“Oh, like me? A rookie?” Trish said, scrambling his wits with a beautiful smile.
“No one could ever be like you,” Gus said before his brain could stop him.
Sticking her tongue out between her teeth in a grin, Trish reached over and ran a hand down Gus’s arm.
“Save it for later,” she murmured, her hand resting on his forearm. Neither Indali nor Janelle had noticed the exchange, and they were already walking in. “Should I lead?”
“Yeah, men say stupid crap to you even if they don’t want to,” Gus muttered.
“Don’t be like that. I’m flattered when you talk like that to me,” Trish said. “I enjoy your attention and compliments.”
More often than not, Gus felt odd around Trish. Like she had a hold on his psy
che and was slowly twisting him up. It had started with their contract night.
Moving into the warehouse, Trish caught up to Janelle, who was already talking to an older gentleman. Apparently she’d just introduced Indali.
“Second is Agent Ash,” Janelle said, turning to indicate Trish. “And their Senior Agent Hellström. This is Lieutenant Benson.”
“Pleasure,” Gus said, shaking the man’s hand when he got to him.
Janelle nodded and then slipped away. Off to go check on that man Gus wanted looked at.
“We’re here to look into an access request from someone at this location,” Trish said.
“Mitch Beasley,” Indali said without waiting to be prompted or for Trish to remember the name. Taking the momentary distraction for his own use, Gus snuck a needle of his power into the lieutenant’s mind.
“Mitch,” said the lieutenant. His thoughts were slightly jumbled and confused. He was rather distracted by Trish just being near him, it seemed. “Mitch Beasley.”
“That’s what came out of the system,” Indali said. “Is there an issue with that?”
“I mean… no, not really. It’s just… Mitch isn’t here. He’s been gone for months,” said Benson.
“Then how did he access a system here?” Indali asked.
“I… don’t know. And you’re positive it was him?” Benson asked.
“Very,” Gus said, then pulled out a folded piece of paper from his inner coat pocket and held it out to the lieutenant. “It got logged. Computer name was tagged as in this facility, login credentials were saved. So either he remotely accessed your system, or he was here in person. If neither of those are true, that means someone else was using his credentials. That’d mean you never disabled them. And if the government is anything like I remember, access to all systems is somewhat… protected.”
Benson looked a touch nervous to Gus. His breathing had become slower, as if the man was controlling it, and he had the look of someone who didn’t want to be here.
His thoughts were much of the same. Disjointed, fractured, broken things scattering off in every direction.
Swing Shift: Book 2 Page 17