A Perfect Blood

by Kim Harrison

Page 26

 

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Silvers, grays, blacks, and browns had taken over Glenn's apartment, Daryl's touch turning the open floor plan from a rather sterile place of uncomfortably mixed styles to something pleasantly relaxed. It was masculine, calming and powerful, I mused as I sat on the overindulgent, black leather couch with my ribs taped and my ankle propped up, smiling as I took with my left hand the plate of pizza Wayde handed me. It had just come out of the oven and was too hot to eat, but the hamburger, tomatoes, and bacon set my mouth watering.

  In the few months that Daryl had been living with Glenn, she had completely redecorated his space. If I had to choose, I'd say it was soft modern, having simple lines and clean surfaces, but mixing in plush and lavish textures. The couch I was drowning in was about the only thing left from his original furnishings. I'd be worried that the unemployed woman was taking over his life, but in all honesty, the place looked so great that I'd let the warrior dryad redecorate any time she wanted.

  Seeing that I had a can of pop beside me, Wayde went back into the kitchen. Ivy was already in there, Daryl was on the far end of the couch with me, and Jenks was buzzing about, waiting for the vegetarian pizza to come out since too much animal fat gave him the Hershey squirts. His words, not mine. Glenn was fiddling with the TV, jumping among stations to find the evening news and the official explanation of what had happened at the library. So far it had been sports scores, pig prices, and the latest Cincy scandal. I'd been sitting here with my foot up for almost two hours while Glenn and Ivy made the pizza and decompressed. I wanted to get up, but I didn't think I could, the couch was so plush and I'd had enough time to stiffen up. Besides, my ribs hurt, and it was easier to do nothing.

  The soft hum of Jenks's wings brought my attention up from the TV, and I took the napkin he held. "Here, Rache," he said, landing on the arm of the opulent couch. "Big FIB detective had a royal hissy fit last time he found pizza sauce on his leather. "

  "Hey, that wasn't me," I said, turning to Glenn.

  "You were the one in the chair," Glenn said as he stood and ambled into the kitchen. Ivy was just taking the veggie pizza out, setting the hot pizza stone on a thick pad stuffed with thyme, and it smelled wonderful.

  Plate on my lap, I tried to lever myself up with my good hand and shift my back to the arm of the couch so I didn't have to twist so much to see the kitchen. It was harder than it should have been, but I managed. "It was game night," I said, catching my pizza before it slid off the plate. "It could have been anyone. "

  Glenn didn't say anything, and I watched the play of emotions as Ivy took a slice of vegetarian pizza and left the kitchen, her napkin dramatically waving as she handed the plate to Daryl, sitting on the edge of the couch, before going to her own chair and waiting pizza. We'd been coming over for game night for a few weeks now as Ivy and Glenn tried to get Daryl more socialized. The woman wasn't healthy, and even the excitement of Jenga could set off her asthma. My thoughts went to her, Ivy, and Glenn, and then I wished they hadn't. I wanted them to be okay, but still . . . there was a new space that hadn't been there before.

  Most of Daryl's species had been wiped out in the industrial revolution, though there were some signs that they were coming back in the mountains - now that we weren't cutting down hundred-year-old trees anymore. Frail, pale, and sensitive to pollution, the woman didn't get out much. She was a warrior, though, and for all her delicate beauty and flowing clothes, I'd seen her pin Glenn with a cheese knife to his throat when she thought he was cheating.

  My eyes went to the ozonator Glenn had put in last month, the machine purifying the air and leaving it with the smell of a thunderstorm. It seemed to help, and now that I noticed, all the new furnishings were eco oriented, with no petroleum or synthetic anything to make her condition worse. Method to her redecorating madness, perhaps?

  Jenks spilled a silver dust and rose an inch before dropping back down. "Daryl, turn it up!" he exclaimed as BRIMSTONE BUST AT LIBRARY flashed up on the screen and the lady announcer in her lavender suit began talking. The pretty, petite warrior woman licked her fingers and snatched up the remote, knowing how to work it as if she'd been born with one in her hand. Magic, technology - sometimes I failed to see the difference.

  The announcer's voice became loud and I leaned forward, straining over the hum of Jenks's wings. "If you tried to use the downtown branch of the library this afternoon, chances are good that you were turned away as the FIB and the I. S. took part in a rare combined effort to catch one of the country's slipperiest Brimstone distributors. "

  "Brimstone?" Jenks shouted, and I shushed him.

  "In a late hour of action, officials stormed the lower levels of the downtown branch of the Cincinnati library. The chase ultimately covered almost two city blocks through some of Cincinnati's old bioshelters, created during the Turn, until Eloy Orin was apprehended trying to emerge from Central Ave. 's access doors. " The woman turned to the attractive, gray-tinged man sitting beside her and smiled. "Brimstone in the library? It gives new meaning to the phrase 'hooked on reading. ' Right, Bob?"

  The TV changed to a shot of Central Ave. , bright under a low sun. The picture was blurry, clearly taken from some distance. "Look!" Jenks exclaimed, hovering to block the TV. "Rache! That's you!"

  I leaned forward to see a figure in a red shirt being carried out by a man in a suit, Trent, obviously. "Good God, I look Brimstoned," I said, hoping this wouldn't be syndicated out to the West Coast. My mom would pee her pants, then call her neighbors to brag.

  "Which is why you're sitting," Ivy said. "Eat your pizza. You've hardly touched it. "

  "Quiet," Wayde muttered from the kitchen. "I didn't get a chance to see this. "

  "You didn't miss anything," I said as I lifted my wedge of pizza while the announcer gave a brief history lesson on the tunnels and how there was no record that they connected with the library.

  Again Wayde shushed me, his eyes bright. "She's talking about you!"

  I chewed quietly, not excited. Most times my name made the news, I had to hide in the church for two weeks.

  "Though sources haven't verified it, witnesses claim that Cincinnati's very own demon witch Rachel Morgan was on the scene. Phone calls to the firm she calls one-third her own have gone unanswered - "

  "Because I'm eating," I muttered, shushed by both Daryl and Wayde.

  "But Vampiric Charms is known to have worked with the FIB in the past. "

  "Oh, crap!" I exclaimed as the thirty-second video of me wearing nothing but an FIB coat flashed up on the screen. I didn't care if the important bits were being blocked out. I looked awful, my hair wild and the coat riding up to show my fuzzed ass.

  "Whoa! I didn't know the station had that," Glenn said, and I flushed.

  "Trent's in the background," Jenks said, and horrified, I looked to see the elf, his eyes averted.

  "Oh God. Can we please turn this off?" I pleaded, and Daryl worked the remote to turn the volume down, her little mouth drawn up as she laughed at me.

  Glenn stood behind Ivy, a beer in one hand, smiling at last. "Thank you, Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks," he said, raising the bottle in salute. "You were the difference between success and failure. Good tag. "

  Ivy shifted in her chair and raised her glass above her head, clinking with him. "I wish I'd been there at the end. I would've enjoyed smacking Eloy under the flag of justice. "

  I would have enjoyed smacking Eloy a little more, too, and as the announcer flirted with her male counterpart, I set my pizza aside. Caught not once but twice with my own magic, I thought as I spun Trent's ring on my pinkie. But at least we'd gotten him. My smile faded as the memory of the-men-who-don't-belong surfaced. If their radio had been working, things might have turned out differently. I might not be so banged up, for instance. They had left, and that was just . . . wrong.

  Focus blurring, I remembered Trent's casual acceptance of everything, his matter-of-fact
recitation of all the things wrong with me before the ambulance personnel had their look and confirmed it. He hadn't panicked when finding me beat up and broken. Instead, he quietly sat beside me and looked for the-men-who-don't-belong. A part of me thought I should be mad that he let me sit there in pain, but I wasn't. He'd known what was wrong with me before the ambulance personnel had. Nothing had been life threatening, but finding the-men-who-don't-belong had been then or never. Besides, I had told him no ambulance.

  Head down, I spun the ring on my finger, squinting as I noticed that one of the three bands had turned black. It was a three-charm spell, I thought in surprise. It still had some power.

  Wayde wandered out of the kitchen with a plate of pizza in one hand, pop in the other, and looked over the seating arrangements. Seeing the Were at a loss, I shifted my legs so he could sit between me and Daryl. "Thanks," he said as he sank and a puff of vampire- and dryad-scented air rose. "I still don't believe that you eat pizza," he said to Glenn as he inched himself forward and out of the cushion trap to set his plate on the coffee table. "You're okay, FIB man. You can run with me anytime. "

  Glenn gave him a look, his expression one of wondering mistrust. "Thanks. "

  Ivy picked a pepperoni off her pizza and gave it to Glenn. He was still standing over her, watching his bust through the newscaster's eyes. "You should tell everyone at the FIB you eat pizza," Ivy said. "It will do wonders for your street cred. "

  "My street cred is fine," he said. "And they already think I'm insane. Seeing that I like working with witches and vampires. "

  Jenks hummed over my pizza, and I gestured that he could have it. "But it's a good kind of insane," the pixy said as he sat on the crust and used his chopsticks to nibble the tomato sauce.

  Glenn made a noise deep in his throat, then headed back into the kitchen, clearly not convinced. Ivy stood with her empty plate and followed him. She was looking a little sultry, and I'd be surprised if she came back to the church with me tonight. Good thing Wayde was here to get me home. It'd be hard to drive with my ankle and wrist messed up.

  Wayde choked, and I looked up from my bruised hand when he shouted, "Turn it up!"

  Daryl was already reaching for the remote, but Jenks beat her to it, stomping on the button until the announcer's voice blared, " . . . tonight when Orin escaped, while being moved to a more secure FIB facility. "

  "What?" Ivy exclaimed from the kitchen, and suddenly her scent poured over me as she stood at my shoulder, mouth agape.

  "Son of Tink!" Jenks said, and Glenn bellowed for everyone to shut up. He had escaped? How?

  "Authorities are asking for your help if you see this man," the woman in lavender said as her face was replaced by a shot of Eloy, recent by the apparent bruise from where Trent had hit him and the swollen bump on his head from where he'd further slammed his head on the floor. Eloy's head was cocked and he looked determined, angry, and disdainful. Anger stirred in me. He hadn't escaped. Someone had broken him out. Eloy had said they were everywhere. The-men-who-don't-belong, maybe?

  "Orin is considered highly dangerous and should not be approached," she was saying as another picture of him popped up, this time a full-body shot. "Please call one of the numbers below if you see him. "

  Two numbers: one for the FIB, the other for the I. S. "Call the I. S. ," Jenks said, hovering before the TV with his hands on his hips. "The FIB can't even hold their farts. "

  "You're in the way!" Wayde leaned to see around him, but they'd gone back to a wide angle of the studio showing the newscasters sitting side by side.

  "Sounds like a dangerous man," the guy was saying, "evading both the I. S. and the FIB. Let's hope they get this one soon. "

  The woman smiled brightly. "If it were me, I'd be halfway to Brazil. You know how I like my sun. And speaking of sun, is there any sun in our forecast for tomorrow, Susan?"

  I stared at the map of the East Coast, with the low pressure dropping down from the Canadian wilds, stunned. Nice segue.

  "Glenn?" Ivy said, and I twisted in the couch and saw her staring at an empty kitchen.

  Jenks rose on a column of silver sparkles. "He's in the bedroom, on the phone. Oh, he's pissed. "

  I grabbed the arm of the couch and tried to get up, failing. Daryl was already halfway across the room. Ivy joined her at the locked door, hammering on it when a polite knock got no result. Her jaw clenched. "Glenn?" she shouted, and Jenks hummed by her ear, telling her to be quiet so he could hear.

  I sank back into the cushions, stymied. I could not get up out of this damned couch. Wayde was looking at me, and I stared back. "You going to help me, or just sit there?" I asked, and he sighed and set his pizza down.

  Wayde hauled me up, my ribs protesting. My foot was numb from human medicine, and I grabbed the crutch he handed me, hobbling to Glenn's bedroom door. "What's he saying?"

  "Just a lot of swearing so far," Jenks said. "He wants to know who approved the move. "

  "Dr. Cordova," Ivy whispered.

  "You heard that?" Jenks said, impressed, and she shook her head.

  "She was bitching about it under the library," Ivy said, then frowned, brow furrowed as she listened to Glenn.

  "I didn't approve a transfer!" His voice came clear through the thin walls of the apartment. "I don't care if Cordova told you to, she's not your boss, I am!" There was a hesitation, and he growled, "Cordova has been trying to close my division ever since its inception. I think she wanted him to escape. "

  At Glenn's words, I blinked. A sudden thought stabbed through my head, and I staggered, almost falling when my crutch snagged on the rug. Ivy glanced back when Wayde caught me, and I waved her off, stunned as the new thought circled. I think she wanted him to escape.

  "Rache?" Jenks said, concern in his features as, within me, old thoughts rearranged themselves into a new reality: the I. S. trying to catch HAPA without involving the FIB; Cordova being hands-on at a run she had no business attending; Jennifer gaining her freedom as Cordova reamed out the entire team; Cordova's insistence that the FIB retain custody; Eloy's boast that his people were everywhere; and the fact that when we did catch him, he escaped not once, but twice - the FIB-issued pistol in Eloy's hand as he shot at me.

  "Rache?" Jenks asked again, and I shook my head.

  "I need to sit down," I said, and Wayde took my elbow, helping me move to one of the bar stools instead of that couch made for entrapment. Seeing me there, he waffled between staying and going back to the door. I waved him off, and he retreated, leaving me to my awful thoughts. The FIB didn't want HAPA caught. That's what Felix had said. That's what Felix had known.

  I had a very bad feeling that Dr. Cordova was a member of HAPA. Glenn didn't have a clue. No wonder he couldn't catch them.

  The memory of Cordova's angry expression when Eloy was snared intruded. And her anger again when Glenn tagged him on Central Ave. , how she'd driven off amid a media circus, not toward the FIB or the I. S. , but somewhere else. Somewhere else to arrange a breakout?

  "Oh my God," I whispered, one hand gripping my crutch, the other holding my ribs. The FIB had access to every blueprint in the city. They'd know the best places to hide, and with a whisper, HAPA would know when to move. HAPA had infiltrated the FIB. It was the only answer that made sense.

  My gaze rose to the closed door with the Inderlanders clustered before it, all of them hearing every word Glenn was saying, and as my ankle throbbed through the pain amulet, my phone, stuck in my back pocket, began to hum. If HAPA had infested the FIB, who were the-men-who-don't-belong?

  Mouth dry, I fumbled for the phone, seeing a text from Trent. Trent texts? I thought, thinking it odd, and then my expression blanked. RADIO IS ACTIVE. MEET ME DOWNSTAIRS. JUST U.

  Crap on toast, it wasn't over yet.

  Feeling unreal, I slid from the bar stool, my ankle jarring all the way up my spine. Jenks turned, sympathy showing on his face. I froze, my hand still shoving my phone away. Alon
e. He had said alone. That wasn't even considering how he knew where I was and who I was with. Trent knew something and wasn't sure who he could trust - except for me.

  "We'll get him, Rachel. I promise," Jenks vowed as he took in my cold face, but I didn't have the heart to tell him we wouldn't. Even if I told them my awful thoughts and we brought Dr. Cordova in, something would get fouled up. Human error, Eloy had called it.

  "I'm going to take a walk," I said, and Ivy turned. Wayde and Daryl were next, and I flinched under their combined looks.

  "With your ankle like that?" Ivy said.

  "A drive then," I said, my eyes flicking to Glenn's door and back as I made a barely perceptible head shake. If Jenks or Ivy came, then Glenn would follow. He'd call the FIB's home office. It'd be the tunnels all over again.

  Ivy's face paled, and her breath eased out slowly as she gained understanding. She knew I didn't want Glenn to know. Something had broken between her and Glenn, and trust came too hard to the vampire. She'd keep them all here for me, and I was proud of her and me both as I hobbled to the chair by the door where my coat and shoulder bag were.

  "I've got . . . my phone," I said, to tell her I wouldn't be alone, and she nodded, lower lip between her teeth. All I need now is a really big stick to hit Eloy with. I bet Trent would hold him down for me.

  "Give me a minute to get into my cold-weather gear," Jenks said, darting to the light fixture where he'd left it.

  "She'll be fine, Jenks," Ivy said softly, and the pixy jerked to a stop, mistrusting it.

  Wayde crossed the room as I dug my coat out from the bottom of the stack. "Sit down," Wayde said, and I shoved my crutch at him to hold while I shrugged into my coat. "I know it's a shock, but if you caught him once, you can do it again. "

  Coat on, I reached for my crutch, and Wayde tightened his grip, not letting me take it. Behind him, Ivy shook her head at Jenks, telling him to leave off.

  "Let go of my crutch," I said, giving it a yank. "I'm going to take a walk. Clear my head. " Find Eloy. Smack his head into a wall, dance on his guts . . . I'd get creative. Spontaneous like.

  "By myself, thanks anyway, Jenks," I said as I slipped my shoulder bag up, and the pixy hovered at the ceiling in uncertainty, looking ticked but trusting Ivy. "I'll be back in an hour!" I exclaimed, not liking the helpless feeling they were filling me with. "Save me a slice of pizza. Does anyone want anything while I'm out?"

  Wayde was standing in front of the door as if he couldn't believe they were going to let me leave, but there was no reason I shouldn't apart from maybe having trouble driving. I thought of Winona and the wreck they had made of her body, and my eyes narrowed. I'd improvise, overcome . . . adapt.

  "You sure you have everything you need?" Ivy said, and I almost smiled.

  "Yes," I said, and I pushed Wayde out of my way with a gentle pressure.

  "You're going to let her just walk out?" the Were said as I opened the door. Hobbling past him, I headed for the lift. "She can't drive with a broken ankle. "

  The hallway was empty, and my arm hurt from the crutch. God, I hated it.

  "So she'll sit in the parking lot until she gets cold," Ivy said with false indifference.

  "Besides, we're good at putting the pieces back together," Jenks said, and the door closed behind me.

  Yes, they were good at putting me back together, and I felt like Humpty Dumpty as I made my scuff-thumping way to the elevator. My ankle hurt and my ribs ached as I waited for it. I got in when the doors finally opened, punching the lobby button with a vengeance, hard enough to make my bruised hand complain. I should have made a healing curse, but the honest truth was that I was afraid I might get it wrong and end up worse off.

  HAPA was deep in the FIB. How long, I wondered, had this arrangement been in force? Had they evolved together? Or had HAPA only recently infiltrated the nationwide organization? And how did the-men-who-don't-belong fit in? Trent said the radio was active. Were they after Eloy themselves, or helping him escape? I was going to find out.

  The doors opened, and the cooler air of the deserted lobby brushed my anger-warmed face. I got across the tiny divide and started for the twin glass doors, looking for Trent's car and not seeing it. Hesitating, I heard the lift close and immediately start back up.

  My eyes narrowed. Wayde, I thought, then frowned as I looked over the scantily decorated entryway. Three days ago, I hadn't been able to bring myself to hurt him. Today, with a broken ankle, bruised ribs, a damaged hand, and a new outlook, I felt different.

  I stood and watched as the light held steady on Glenn's floor, then began to drop again. "Stupid, tenacious Were," I muttered as the elevator dinged and I hobbled to stand next to it, out of sight. I dropped my bag as the doors slid open, pulled back my crutch . . . and as he walked out of the elevator, I swung it at him.

  "Holy mother!" Wayde shouted, falling back into the elevator as my crutch hit the doors and splintered. I'd moved too soon.

  "Don't follow me, Wayde!" I said as I got in front of the elevator and stopped the doors from shutting with my broken crutch. Wayde was pressed flat against the back of the car, his eyes wide as he stared. "I'm telling you, don't follow me! I need some time alone right now, okay?"

  Part of me wanted to tap a line and smack him a good one, but I didn't. Restraint. That was going to be my new watchword. That I'd given myself permission to do demon magic scared the shit out of me. I didn't want to become Al. I'd use my magic only if necessary. Wayde was a reasonable person. We could settle this without violence.

  I turned for the doors, angry but trying not to be. It was harder to walk without my crutch, but I managed, my pulse fast as I snatched my bag from the floor and lurched for the handle of the glass doors. Beyond them in the glow of a streetlight was Trent's car, the lights aimed at the front of the building. There was a tiny scuff behind me, and I turned, ticked.

  "Hey!" I yelped, scrambling to stay upright when Wayde plowed into me, pinning me to the glass wall beside the door. "What in hell are you doing?" I wheezed, my back to the door and squirming as he felt in my coat pockets.

  "Looking for your keys," he said, and my hand met his cheek in a loud smack.

  "Get off!" I yelled, and I heard the jingle of keys as he backed up. "What in hell is wrong with you!"

  His head lowered, Wayde backed off, my keys in his hand. His face was red where I'd hit him, but he didn't seem bothered about it. "You'll thank me for this later," he said, looking as if he'd won. "I know you're mad about Eloy, but running out and trying to find him isn't going to help anyone, least of all you. " He jiggled my keys as if he had the world by the nads, and I frowned, tugging my coat straight. Now? I wondered. Can I use my demon magic now?

  Trent hadn't come in yet. I knew he was watching this, and my thoughts whispered restraint. I could walk away, but if I did, he'd just follow me in my car. I needed my keys. "You," I said as I limped toward Wayde and he backed up, blinking, "haven't known me long enough to give me advice that I'm not going to take. Give me my keys. "

  "No. " He raised them high over his head as if it were a game. "Let's go upstairs, have some pizza, beer, and burn HAPA in effigy. Tomorrow when we're done with our pity party, you'll make some charms and we'll find out where they went. We don't have to tell the FIB or the I. S. We can take care of this ourselves. "

  Taking care of this myself was exactly what I intended to do. Adrenaline seeped through me, erasing every hurt, making me alive. "Keys," I said, backing him up until we were at the elevators again. "Give me my keys!" I demanded, my hand out, and he held them in the air like a school bully. "Wayde, I'm not afraid anymore to hurt you!"

  He shook his head. "My God, you're a bitch when you're on pain meds. "

  "That's alpha bitch, buddy," I said, shaking, "of an honest-to-God pack. And you will respect that. Give me my keys, get in that elevator, and go away, or I'll pin you to the ground and rip off your ear. "

  Face grim, h
e shook his head. Pity had slipped into his eyes, and he slid the keys into his pocket. "He hurt you, Rachel, and I know what that does to you. My sister is the same way, and she hurts herself worse trying to get back at them. It doesn't make anything better. "

  I looked at him for a good three seconds, feeling my impatience grow. Trent was waiting, and Wayde wasn't listening. My ankle was starting to hurt again. Maybe I shouldn't have busted my crutch. I had tried. My idea of no violence wasn't working. "Maybe you're right," I said, relaxing my body as if I had given up.

  Wayde smiled. "Good," he said as he looked away to push the up button.

  I lunged forward, grabbing his shoulders and slamming his head into the wall. "Sorry," I breathed as he howled, reaching behind to get me.

  "Son of a whore!" he swore, and I hooked my good leg behind his and pulled. We both went down, but I was expecting it. Arms pinwheeling, he fell headfirst into the ashtray beside the elevator. Kneeling beside him, I grabbed the heavy metal bowl and slammed it on his head.

  Wayde yelled, and I hit him again, adrenaline pulling a scream of outrage from me. He went quiet, and I held my breath to make sure I could hear him breathing. I suppose I could have used my magic on him, but this was a lot more satisfying.

  "I never should have helped her off the couch," he whispered, and I hit him again, the ashtray bonging with hard certainty.

  He groaned, and this time, he really was out. There were three lumps on his head, and I shoved him over so I could pull his eyelids back to make sure that his pupils were dilated properly. "I told you I wasn't afraid anymore," I said as I slowly got up, shaking. Good God, my mother would laugh her pants off. I'd beaten up my bodyguard.

  I gave a moment's thought to taking his belt off and tying him up, but Trent was flashing his lights at me. Not wanting Wayde to follow, I felt his pockets for my keys and fished them out. Still shaking, I got up, made a salute to the camera in the corner, and hobbled out.

  The cool night air was like a balm, and I headed for Trent's car with my thoughts swirling. I'd hurt Wayde, but he'd be okay, not dead like if he followed and ended up shot. "You could have helped me out there," I said as I yanked the handle up and slid into the sharp little black two-seater, finding the seat warm from the electronic heater. The windows were down, but with all the vents wide open and aimed at me, it was comfortable even in the chill autumn night.

  Trent revved the engine, giving me a sideways grin. "I told you to come alone. You think I want to be on a security camera?"

  I eyed his black attire as I put my belt on and he jammed the car in first and headed smoothly for the exit. "Besides," he said as he paused at the entryway to the apartment complex, then gunned it. "If you couldn't get rid of your bodyguard, you aren't fit enough to tag Eloy. How come you didn't make up a healing curse?"

  "I haven't had the time. Besides, I'm okay," I said, and he nodded. Adrenaline spiked, and I couldn't help my smile. The car was fast, Trent looked good, and we both knew more than the I. S. and the FIB combined. "Do you know who the-men-who-don't-belong are yet?"

  He shook his head and tossed my battery pack and earbud to me. "Not yet, but they're human, and they're targeting HAPA, not helping them. They have one of their men with Eloy and Dr. Cordova at the 'watering hole. ' Take a listen. "

  I fumbled for the earpiece and put it in. The sound of light chatter and the clinking of a spoon met me. It could be anywhere.

  "You know what the watering hole is?" Trent asked, slowing at a stop sign.

  I shook my head, then hesitated, smiling as the distinctive sound of ice being crushed nearly blew my ear out. "Grand latte! Italian blend! Easy on the syrup, light on the froth! Ready for pickup!" Mark shouted.

  "You're not going to believe this," I said, thinking Trent looked a shade too devilish to be good backup, but he'd do. "They're at Junior's. "

  Trent grinned across the car at me, and something in me fluttered. "You're right. I don't believe you. "