Wild Card (19 page)

David gave me a fleeting look to see if I was going to help him out, but I didn’t have a clue. I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“For most, they have to return to Haven and they feed under the supervision of a Mentor,” Pia said as she came in and leaned against the sofa behind David. “But it’s different for David. When Athanate form bonds with other Athanate, the bond includes kin. It’s not compulsory, of course, and sometimes it doesn’t work.” She reached down and massaged his neck. “I have more kin, but David and I share only one so far. They were together in a safe environment last night. Ideally, we would both be with our kin, but we didn’t want to leave Julie without backup.”

Jen blinked. So much to take in. “And your other kin?” she said.

“I haven’t had much time with them,” David replied. “It’s all been a bit of a rush.”

Pia smiled, obviously in no doubt as to the outcome, despite David’s shyness.

Julie was standing in the doorway. I wondered how much she’d heard and what she’d made of it, but she looked to be concentrating on her comms earplug.

I did a double take on her outfit. On Monday, after the Nagas’ visit to her motel, she’d been left with only the clothes on her back. Somewhere along the way, she’d got hold of a upscale black pants suit. It fit so well, the slight bulge under her arm was only noticeable because I was looking for it.

My eyes swiveled to Jen, but I could hardly make a fuss about this. Julie needed clothes to work in, and as with David, blending in was better. Jen must have organized some shopping.

Julie nodded at something that she heard on her earplug and beckoned to the others.

“So how many kin do you have?” Jen said, getting up.

“Only three.” Pia straightened. “As a Mentor, I should have had more, but at Altau, we were always struggling to catch up.”

“Please invite them here for dinner on Friday.” Jen picked up her briefcase. “I’d like to meet them. And why not ask them to stay?”

“Oh! Thank you,” Pia said. “I’m sure they’ll accept. It’ll be a wonderful opportunity for all of us.”

It struck me that Pia’s kin were part of my House, and so part of my responsibility. I should have been issuing the invitation. If I had a house.

Jen gave me a one-arm hug and another kiss on the cheek. “And wake me up next time you’re exercising, honey,” she said quietly with a little smile. “I’d like to join in.”

“You want to get all hot and sweaty?” my demon responded before I could stop it.

Jen’s laugh was low and throaty. A throb of anticipation started in my canines and worked its way down my body despite my efforts to damp it down. I couldn’t let it run away with me.

“See you later then,” Jen said with emphasis, and turned away. I could see her putting on her businesswoman persona like it was a coat she just needed to shrug into.

They filed out, Jen quizzing David on some obscure financial issue highlighted by his analysis. I heard the phrase ‘significant opportunity to de-leverage’ and my brain slammed the shutters down on my Athanate-enhanced hearing.

Minutes later, fortified with another cup of coffee, I called Ingram.

“You cannot be serious,” I said.

He knew exactly what I was talking about. “It’s a tough line call, Ms. Farrell, but Griffith is the agent on site with the seniority and experience. I can’t override it.”

“You said he was unimaginative and that he wasn’t cleared for Project Anthracite.”

“And I wouldn’t change a word of that.”

“But…” The FBI didn’t
officially
know there was anything paranormal about the series of animal-related killings stretching over the last few years in Denver. Ingram suspected it, and I’d hinted I would talk to him when the time came, but he couldn’t take that to his boss. “Couldn’t you just divert him for a while?”

“To allow what precisely?”

Ingram would have a recording of this conversation and whatever leeway he might be able to give me off the record, I couldn’t assume that he’d take my side against his own agency. Not if I said something on the phone.

“Just to get him off my back,” I said.

“Well, there’s always more work here. I can shovel it around the shop. You might find he’ll be slow to get back to you.”

“He wasn’t slow last night.”

“Eh?”

Ingram hadn’t heard about it. Griffith must have been keeping everyone but his own team out of the loop. I told him about it—the theft of my clothes, the choice of my old house and a veteran as a victim. I left out any paranormal reasons for those choices.

He was quiet for a minute after I finished.

“Ms. Farrell, I take it back. I can’t shovel anything around that’d slow down that investigation. I’m sure Agent Griffith’s fully informed of everything he needs, and I fully intend to leave him to proceed.”

He was saying he’d not give Griffith any hint of his suspicions about the rogue cases, but he wouldn’t hinder him in any way either. Swearing silently, I cut my losses. “Understood. Are you any further on getting into the Ops 4 group?”

“No ma’am. I surely kicked up some shitstorm of jurisdiction over in DC. I’m going to have to fly there today.”

“Well, safe flight. And more power to your kicking foot.”

“I thank you.” He ended the call.

Crap.

Even if Ingram didn’t tell him the links that made me more involved, Griffith would eventually discover them. I wouldn’t put it past him to try and take me into protective custody. My deadline for finding the rogue had just gotten squeezed again.

I’d promised to, so I called Ethel Harriman as well. She wasn’t happy that I couldn’t meet her immediately and that I couldn’t promise a schedule, but she did brief me on Mrs. de Vries’ case.

It was another distraction, but either I was serious about maintaining my independence and keeping involved in normal life, or I should just pack up my PI firm now. I wasn’t ready to do that and I hoped I never would be.

But I couldn’t face the rest of my call list right away. Instead, I visited the local stores for maps, stationery and office products.

An hour later I had transformed the study.

Two walls were covered in bulletin boards. The centerpieces of both were maps. One was the surrounding district, with pins showing where bodies had been found. The dates of discovery and estimated dates of death were listed down the side. The other board had a large street map of Denver. A single pin was stuck in it, on South Vineyard.

The last boards were blank. They were there for me to note ideas or gut feelings. Anything. Blank was not good. No gut feeling was really not good.

Relax. I’ve put the boards up and they will come.

Lots more procedural investigation remained to be done. I needed the pack to feedback on where they lived and where they were sure no intruder Weres could be staying. With that knowledge I could start removing sections of the map and trying to find a pattern that would allow me to concentrate the search.

And to do all that, I needed to call on Felix. It wasn’t going to be fun. He’d already know I’d ignored his order to not get involved in fighting Matlal Were. Whatever his screwed-up reasoning, it was an order and I’d disobeyed. That wouldn’t be a good introduction to the next topic I had to raise with him, which was that the operation being run by the pack to hunt down the Matlal Weres was a shambles. They had to get organized, use the right equipment and work to a plan. I could put it together, if I had his permission. And at the same time, I’d be using the pack to help in the hunt for the rogue.

Felix would see that, right away.

I was still worrying about how to finesse him when the guard on the gate buzzed me.

Chapter 20

Tullah and Jofranka slunk in like a pair of errant schoolgirls.

“Don’t get comfortable,” I snapped. “You’re going straight back out.”

I slipped on my HK harness and jacket. What I had in mind should be less dangerous that it would appear to the girls, but there was no sense in being underprepared.

I ushered them back out to Tullah’s car, grabbing my backpack with my jogging gear in case I didn’t get home before meeting Melissa.

“Where to?” Tullah asked.

“The office, but park behind the bank across the intersection.”

She headed south on Downing Street without questioning me. I’d told her to stay away from the office when Hoben and Matlal had been looking for me. She might think it was safe to go back now. I was about to clarify that.

“How dangerous do you think it is it now?” I asked.

“Well, much less than last week.”

“Wrong answer,” I said.

Jofranka leaned forward from the back seat. “Can I ask a question?”

“No.”

They both went quiet. The fact that they were taking this so seriously was a big plus in their favor.

And I guess I should have seen this coming. I’d introduced them back when I was working in the police, mainly as a way of the pair of them exhausting each other with their enthusiasm. They’d become good friends. Jofranka would have seen Tullah working as an office assistant for me and then suddenly becoming an apprentice PI.

Oooh! Cool! Exciting!

Well, if I could impress on them that it would be boring more often than not, and that, when it was exciting, that meant frigging dangerous, then I might consider taking Jofranka on, in a
minor
role. For all her sweet looks, Tullah was physically capable of taking care of herself, even before you took her Adept abilities and Kaothos into account. Jofranka had nothing in comparison. She was a good student at the Kwan, and she was street-smart, but that was it. And she wasn’t aware of any of the paranormal background.

Tullah parked and they sat there patiently. Another plus. I suspected Tullah had given Jofranka strict instructions to follow her lead. That, I wanted to reinforce.

“You’ve got your concealed weapon permit?”

Tullah shook her head. “Still waiting.”

“Bought a weapon?”

She opened the glove compartment and brought out a holstered Sig, neatly wrapped in an underarm harness like mine, ready for the permit. I checked the gun. It was saftied, cleaned and loaded.

I ran a finger along the slide, then rubbed it against my thumb. “Wipe off the excess oil after cleaning.” It was almost fun being a sergeant again.

“The reason the office is not safe,” I said, putting the gun back, “is that there are still people after me. Except now, it’s not bikers or drug gangs, it’s a rogue military unit. They’re called Ops 4-16, but I’ll generally call them Nagas. They’re trained in exactly the way I was trained. Since they’ve gone rogue, I’m assuming they’ll have no concerns about collateral damage or the methods they use to achieve their objectives.”

“What are their objectives?” Jofranka couldn’t help herself. I’d never known a girl to ask more questions. But this was a damn good one.

“I don’t know, which means I have to factor in them trying to kill or capture me.” I looked at the pair of them. “The important thing is that anyone who works with me is a potential liability for me and is personally at risk.”

I let them stew on that for a minute.

“There was a stakeout here. Two cars keeping an eye on the office. The FBI arrested some of their buddies and these guys got the message. They disappeared in a rush. So, Tullah. What do we do? Do we just stay away?”

“No. Well, I mean someone has to go there.”

“Why?”

“If they’re trying to kill you, they might have left something in the office. That’s dangerous. Someone else might get hurt. It’s our responsibility,” she said, emphasizing the ‘our’.

Oh, Tullah. You star.

I kept my face blank.

“Exactly. Which is why I want the pair of you to check the office out in fifteen minutes. That’s how long you’ve got to set up an approach that allows you to back off if you think the office is still being observed, or of you think you can see a trap. I’ll be watching.”

I got out and walked away. Out of their line of sight, I did a circuit of the intersection before buying a long juice drink in a café that had a view of the office.

Their appearance, right on cue, had me smiling.

They’d found a hoodie for Tullah that matched Jofranka’s, and they’d bought a skateboard from a junk shop. They spent ten minutes taking turns doing sidewalk tricks and watching. They worked their way down the side of the building and back in front. Loud, obvious and distracting.

Jofranka did some eye-catching kick and spin moves in front while Tullah inspected the door, casually leaning on the wall next to it, apparently focused on her friend.

Whether it would have fooled the Nagas or not, it showed application and resourcefulness. In the time I had, that was going to have to do.

I wandered across and opened the door.

Tullah went in and I was impressed by the quick and efficient scan she did. It wasn’t to say she would have found something that the Nagas had planted. Again, it was simply a good starting point.

Tullah beckoned us inside.

“Sit,” I said, and pointed at the client chairs in front of my desk.

They perched, as alert as a couple of hounds who’d just heard the cookie jar open.

“You aren’t interested in just answering phones, Jo, are you?”

She shook her head, glancing nervously at Tullah for support.

“And my
apprentice
,” I turned to Tullah, “isn’t interested in you just answering phones either.”

Tullah swallowed. “I wouldn’t have let her do anything you didn’t clear first. I’m sorry.”

I raised a brow at the tacked-on apology.

“It was kinda underhand,” she clarified.

“Good. We got that out of the way. Whose idea was the skateboard?”

Jofranka raised her hand.

“Not bad, coming up with that in a hurry,” I said and she glowed. I swung my feet up on the desk. “My apprentice assures me we can afford you part-time. I’ll agree on a probationary basis,” I held up a hand, “pending all the admin done by Tullah, a written report from both of you, detailing what you think you can do now and proposing a training schedule that’ll take you from an apprentice and a gofer to junior PI assistants.”