Standard Deviation of Death (The Outlier Prophecies Book 4)

by Tina Gower

  I check my watch. Six a.m. “Oh come on. I talked to you less than fourteen hours ago. Don’t be so needy.”

  “Needy? Needy!” I hear him hit a wall or some other loud surface. Honeymoon’s over. “I uncovered those retirement accounts. Got a tech to look them over.”

  “Do we have any IP addresses on who’s using the logins?”

  “Not exactly. You know this is the government, right? We’re not that sophisticated. It’s not a television show.” He grumbles the last few words.

  “So after I discovered them a few nights ago we disabled them. All of them.”

  Okay, so there might be one reason Wyrd’s top witches came after me last night. Wish I had known. Again, a heads up would have been nice. I roll my eyes because it’s impolite and he can’t see me through the phone.

  “But one went back online. It reenabled, Kate.” He snaps his fingers. “Like that.”

  “Zombie account.” I make a whooo spooky ghost sound into the phone.

  Kyle doesn’t find my humor funny. Tough crowd.

  I decide to be serious, so I take a seat on the couch and prop my legs up onto a coffee table. “It was likely Wyrd—but we hit them good last night. We’re so close to breaking them up completely. We’ve got them cornered and they’re desperate.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh come on.” I lean forward. “Admit that since you’re not solving these cases, you’re not in the field doing the dirty, grimy work that you are jealous of the attention I’m going to get.”

  “I’m happy for you, Kate. I really am. In fact, you say you’re in a relationship? Good for you.” His tone shifts to something darker. “But just know if he fucks up once, I’m going to be there, waiting.”

  I narrow my eyes into the phone. “You know what? Good luck with that. I’d like to see you try.” Except part of me is nervous that he is good on his word. Once he finds out who I’m dating, he’ll be relentless on getting dirt on Becker. He won’t have to dig very far.

  I peek into the room. Yep, still asleep.

  “But this isn’t about that. This problem we both have is going to be taking down the biggest threat to our system.”

  “So you have a lead on who?” Now this is interesting.

  “You’re not going to like it.” He sighs. “So an account”—he pauses for effect— “a zombie account.”

  Glad he’s not a total waste of a demon.

  “The account went back online a few hours after we disabled it. I have no idea how they were able to do it, so I asked around for details. Turns out this person called in and got it reactivated, asked about the other retired accounts, is close with all the technicians and shoots the breeze with them.”

  “We knew they had someone on the inside. It’s interesting they’re retired, but okay, it makes sense. So is it someone we know?”

  “Kate, you won’t believe this. It’s Michelle Kitman.”

  He’s right. I don’t. “Michelle? Kitman?”

  “Yes. She went in and changed a probability number on a file.”

  I try not to laugh. She probably changed the probability on my file. She’d said it was bogus and she’d do something about it. The most logical explanation was that she wanted to stick it to HR one last time and didn’t care to go the official route.

  “Anything else?”

  “Anything else? She tampered with a file. I’d guess that would be enough.”

  “Will it do any damage?” Knowing Michelle, it would more than likely save a life. She probably had her reasons. Or maybe it was official, she was saving someone time and it was related to the Health case we both worked together.

  “I don’t know. It was a predicted missing person case. Well, several actually. A werewolf pack.”

  The blood drains from my face. “Wait, what?”

  “There’s one in Turmoil apparently.”

  I clear my throat. “Is there? I didn’t know.” I keep my voice even and uninterested.

  “So she changed the probability from the eighties to the mid teens. Sixteen or something so it would get kicked to Low Prob where it will get buried.”

  “What were the names of the shifters who go missing?” I ask, but the twisting in my intestines already knows the person he’ll say.

  “Yeah, the first name on the list. The first one missing? Hold on, I have to look it up.”

  The real question is does she go missing because they want her for magic as her nearly full-blooded status as a werewolf? Does she go missing because her pack finds out about her history? Do they retaliate when they find out she and Becker are lying to them? Does the rest of the pack go missing after Becker finds out?

  Gods, I’m dying a little inside because each scenario will affect us and has the potential to be what breaks him. Another pack slaughtered. Shit, he’s never going to let this go.

  Kyle gets back on the line. “Yeah, it’s someone named Dalia Swanson.”

  “Of course.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I’ve got this one.”

  “Nobody is going to believe us if we cry foul on Michelle Kitman. Dozens of people will defend her actions and she has the public wrapped around her pinky.”

  “I know.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I don’t plan on turning her in.”

  “What will you do?”

  I keep my focus on a certain wolf blinking awake. Did he hear? How am I going to explain it to him?

  “I don’t know yet.” And I hang up on Kyle.

  Ian pats the sheets next to him, expecting to wake up next to me. He shoots me a confused look. Didn’t look like we’d get the reprieve we thought we’d earned. Beach vacation? Nope.

  Ready?

  I bring a full breath of air into my lungs, hitting his gaze straight on.

  Set.

  He glares back at me, giving me his best what the hells face.

  Go.

  If you enjoyed Standard Deviation of Death please help other readers enjoy it too. Leave a review! Also, if you were hoping for a longer bedroom scene in chapter seventeen between Kate and Becker, some of my readers convinced me to write that scene. You can read it and other future bonus content if you sign up for my newsletter.

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  Acknowledgments

  As always, I’d like to thank my husband and kids for being so understanding of my wacky writing schedule—especially as it gets closer to the end of a book and I can’t keep our lives (or myself) organized as usual. Also, thank you to chocolate covered almonds for fueling the creativity behind this story.

  Thank you to my cover artist Christian Bentulan and my editor Alicia Street. And to fellow writers like Krystal Claxton, who asks the tough question and challenges parts in the Outlier series to make the whole story stronger. These books are a thousand times better because of her input along with many others. I’d like to thank Meghan Ewald for the long phone conversation while I stressed over how I’d handle the last few scenes of this book and keep the characters honest to their goals and motivations. And a huge shout out to Tammy for her support of the series and mentions on Rowdy Kittens.

  And thank you, thank you readers. I love getting notes and emails on how much you’ve enjoy
ed Kate, Ali, Becker, and Lipski—those encouragements do make me write faster to get the rest of the story to you! Telling me things like “I recommended these books to my book club” (or friends, or library group)—that is truly a huge boost.

  About the Author

  Tina Gower grew up in a small community in Northern California that proudly boasts of having more cows than people. She raised guide dogs for the blind, is dyslexic, and can shoot a gun or bow and miraculously never hit the target (which at some point becomes a statistical improbability). Tina also won the Writers of the Future, the Daphne du Maurier Award for Mystery and Suspense (paranormal category), and was nominated for the Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® (writing as Alice Faris). She has professionally published several short stories in a variety of magazines. Tina is represented by Rebecca Strauss at DeFiore and Company.

  Get the latest updates and learn more about the Outlier Series and other books by following Tina Gower and by signing up for her newsletter at:

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