Richter fixed me with a curious gaze, and I answered his question before he voiced it. “No, I’m not an agent. I’m an independent contractor.” To say anything else would have been foolish, because Darius Richter easily had the resources to expose any other lie. “Independent contractor” was one of the nicer names given to those folks who do work that can’t be associated with the US Government for one reason or another, which often means the dirty work. Most agents knew next to nothing about independent contractors, and those who did would never admit to being in the know, even to Darius Richter.
Richter accepted my statement simply because there was no way he could ever disprove it, and I could tell it irked him. I irked him. Hell, this whole meeting irked him, but Jeffrey’s influence made it difficult for him to turn us down without a solid reason, and though he would never admit it, something about this assignment kept pinging his curiosity center. “Why is it I get the feeling that you’re holding something back?”
I smiled in counterpoint to the thinly veiled menace behind his tone. “Because you’re a suspicious person, and I’d expect nothing less to trust you with this task.”
We continued to stare one another down as he tried to reconcile the fact that I hadn’t denied his accusation. If I’d denied it outright, he would have known it was true; by avoiding it, he couldn’t be sure either way, and it bothered him. In the end, he stood up abruptly, signaling an end to this meeting. Porter followed his lead.
“Well, I think we have enough to assign your detail. I assume you’ll be wanting to meet with them before they’re installed?”
I nodded.
“My people are paid based on an internal rank structure, so I cannot give you specific pricing until the detail has been assembled.” The way he spoke made it seem as if, to him, it was the least important detail of our conversation, when in fact he was just making it seem that way because he was certain it was the least important detail to us. I didn’t disappoint him.
“The cost of your services doesn’t concern me, Darius. All financial matters should go directly to our people in New York.”
“Fair enough,” he said, taking a step forward and extending his hand over the desk in my direction. I took it, this handshake as abrupt as the first. “Your detail will be assembled by the end of next week. Porter will contact your people.”
I nodded. Porter didn’t offer his hand, still smarting about the chair-bomb thing. He would be even more put out in about twenty seconds. Richter placed the fob on the desk and turned to head for the door. Porter followed, and as Richter reached for the door knob, I spoke.
“Darius.” Richter and Porter both stopped and turned to face us. I mentally informed Alicia of what I was about to do, and then slowly, I reached out and grabbed the fob, stepping in front of her and holding it about eye level. In my mind’s eye, I could see her reach up and put her hands over her ears. “Just to settle the question on your mind,” I finished, a knowing smile on my face.
Both sets of eyes went wide as they recognized what I was about to do. Porter jumped in front of Richter faster than I’d thought him capable, his formidable build completely shielding the other man. His left arm came up to shield his eyes as I pressed the button, and the resulting explosion resounded through the room like a sharp clap of thunder. The blast force from the small charge was not enough to fill the room, but it was enough to interrupt heart rhythm like the madly amplified bass drum at a heavy metal concert.
The chair that Richter had occupied earlier fragmented into wood and fabric pieces that scattered to the four winds, most no larger than a stick of chewing gum. A few pieces made it to me, bouncing harmlessly off my chest and hitting the desk and floor.
Porter drew a pistol from a holster at the small of his back with impressive speed, and I found myself on the business end of a SIG .45 automatic. Despite the gun leveled at me, it looked like he was ready to leap across the room to throttle me, and the only thing that kept him at bay was the realization that I hadn’t flinched at all when the explosion went off. Well, that and the fact that I still controlled another explosive device. It also helped that I didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable being down range of a hand howitzer.
Ignoring the weapon, and its bearer, I addressed Richter directly, whose hard eyes were staring green icicles at me around Porter’s massive shoulder. “When it comes to protecting her, I don’t fuck around, and I don’t bluff. I expect the same from you.”
Richter placed a hand on Porter’s shoulder, ushering the big man aside. Porter moved slowly, keeping his eyes and weapon trained on me. “Your boy here is a fucking mad dog, Miss,” Richter began, ignoring me and addressing Alicia directly. “If I were you, I wouldn’t let him stray too far from the leash.”
“You have it backwards, Darius. The leash is mine, and there are no better hands for my life to be in,” Alicia replied.
“That’s debatable, but regardless, he’s the reason I’m about ready to pass on this job. And I guarantee you if I walk away, there won’t be anyone who’ll take it after that.”
Oho! The balls on this one. I was about to let Darius Richter have it, his services be damned, but an uncharacteristically diplomatic Alicia placed a hand on my forearm, stopping me from speaking my mind. Apparently she had a better handle than I did on how necessary this security detail was to her future.
“Darius, I ask that you please forgive David. If it were up to him, he’d be with me twenty-four/seven, but unfortunately for both of us, it’s not up to him. I assure you that his... uhh demonstration... was not a joke of any kind; rather, it was a misguided effort to show you how committed he is to my safety and how committed he expects your people to be. Don’t let the delivery overshadow the message.”
Darius Richter looked at her hand on my arm, and he caught a glimpse of the bond Alicia and I shared. It was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, but it helped him understand the situation better. He took a deep breath, his anger slowly dissipating, and patted Porter’s rigid shoulder once. Porter lowered the hand cannon and returned it to its holster. “My people use only codenames for their principal, and I think that yours will be SERENITY.”
“Thank you for your understanding,” Alicia said, accepting the compliment. Richter’s face softened for an instant, and then he turned his gaze to me, his face hardening into the hundred Rockwell range.
“Pull a stunt like that again, and you and I are gonna go, boy.”
I hardened my own face to match, a dangerous glint behind my eyes. A hundred comebacks flooded my mind, and I chose the one that would keep the focus where it belonged: on Alicia. “Likewise if something happens to her on your watch.”
◆◆◆
“Sorry,” I said softly after the door shut behind Porter. “I guess I went a little too far. I should’ve shown more restraint, but he was daring me to do it.”
Alicia looked at me oddly, her shoulders beginning to tremble. I almost started to worry until a smile spread out on her face. “Are you kidding? The look on their faces was priceless! I almost peed my pants,” she said, a deep laugh bubbling up from inside her. I laughed with her because it felt good.
“Nice save, by the way.”
“I have my uses,” she replied, the seriousness in her tone belied by the suddenly seductive smile on her lips.
“You do,” I agreed, making a big production of looking at my watch. “Unfortunately, there’s work to be done, so you’ll have to hold that thought for now.”
“Damn,” she said with a mock scowl. “It’s always business with you...”
“Hey now, don’t be blaming me,” I replied, injecting a fair imitation of indignation into my tone. “You’re the one who wanted to be Queen of the Crackpile.”
“Enough,” she sighed, holding up a hand, and I flashed a victory smile. If I had known that would be the last thing I’d have to smile about for quite some time, I might have tried to savor it a little more.
Well, probably not, but it still would have been
nice to know.
◆◆◆
The limo moved slowly and casually through downtown Seattle. I’d given the driver no particular destination, simply instructing him to drive around until I told him otherwise. I’d read somewhere that a moving cellular signal is harder to trace, and even though it should be next to impossible to trace any communications from the satellite two-ways, it seemed like a good idea. Besides, it is extremely difficult to laser mic a moving vehicle. Remember, always give them more credit than they deserve.
Alicia sat next to me in the forward-facing seat, looking out the window. I watched the time on the phone’s display tick off the minutes. At 10:17, I pressed the SEND button, ringing Javier’s communications device. The devices had two modes of operation, a two-way radio-like function and a phone-like function. I chose the latter for tonight’s conversation for the sake of simplicity.
“Bueno?” Javier answered on the second ring.
“Buenas noches, Javier. My employer is here.”
“As is mine.”
“Despite the security of these devices, it is best if names are not used. For the sake of this conversation, your employer will be tio, and my employer will be tia.” Prior to the meeting, Alicia and I both agreed to spring her gender on them before she spoke, allowing them to get their reactions out of the way before having to pay attention to what she was saying. Alicia held her breath awaiting Javier’s reaction, and he did not disappoint.
“Tia?” Javier gasped before he could stop himself, and then all sound became muffled as he put his hand over the receiver as he relayed to Gonzalo Barrera in a rapid burst of Spanish that I only caught half of. What I caught wasn’t flattering, but I wasn’t expecting roses anyway. I shook my head as I handed Alicia the phone; something sharp poked the back of my mind, but I couldn’t get a handle on it.
“Some might say you are in the wrong profession,” Gonzalo Barrera said in excellent English.
“Some might. What do you think?”
“I think it is too early for such judgments, but if the people you surround yourself with are any indicator, then I have no cause for concern.” Wow. I was finding it difficult to reconcile the image of Barrera the butcher with Barrera the diplomat. It has been said that all leaders must have many faces, and the great ones instinctively know which one should be worn at any given time. Say what you will about Gonzalo Barrera, but he was wearing the proper face tonight.
Perhaps I’m giving him too much credit. What other choice did he really have? The only real drawback to Alicia’s gender was the fact that too many people might see her as weak and try to take advantage, but Martin and I had expended quite a bit of effort and energy making sure that wasn’t going to happen, and Alicia herself continued to impress everyone around her with her business savvy. Since most men tended to perceive women as being less ego-driven than men, in a business where ego often dwarfed viciousness, not to mention common sense and reason, her gender might actually be a bonus. In fact, Barrera could very well be enjoying the possibility of not having to worry about clashing egos in this relationship anymore.
“Your words are appreciated. A less-enlightened man might think otherwise.”
Barrera chuckled. “You give me too much credit, tia. I have my own personal views on a woman’s place, but I am, first and foremost, a businessman, and this is business. You have already proven yourself more capable than your predecessor, and despite his numerous faults, he had been successful in our business for quite some time. But perhaps we should not speak ill of the dead...” Barrera was fishing, both for a reaction to his remark about women and his mention of Christian, but the fish weren’t biting tonight.
“Speak of him however you wish, tio. I have no concern for the dead. There is enough to worry about with the living.”
“The strong endure; the weak fertilize the grass.”
“Well put. All we can do about the dead is avoid making their mistakes.”
“Bueno,” Gonzalo Barrera replied, signaling the end of the conversation. Apparently, he had heard enough. “We are both busy people, no? I thank you for your time.”
“My business is my only priority, and I always have time for those important to it. May this relationship bring prosperity to both of us.”
“I have no doubt that it will,” Barrera answered, hanging up. Alicia handed me the phone, her expression asking my opinion.
“That went about as well as it could have,” I offered, trying to pin down the nagging feeling in the back of my mind.
“Yeah, well I still wish you could read minds over the phone,” she stated, and then she noticed my preoccupation. “What?”
“I’m not sure. Something about his reaction to you. It was almost...”
“Almost what?”
I closed my eyes and rubbed my fingers over them, pinching the bridge of my nose in hard thought. That nagging feeling eluded me for several moments, and though Alicia’s anticipation kicked up a notch, she waited for me to continue without further prodding. And then it snapped into place. My eyes shot open, wary. “Almost as if he were prepared for it.”
“What?” she gaped, confusion inking in parts of her face.
I shook my head, a grudging sense of awe blooming. Very few mortals surprised me. “Son of a bitch. He knew.”
“He knew? But what about Javier’s reaction?”
“It was Javier’s reaction that started it. He’s too controlled for that. When I dropped bombs on him during our meeting, he couldn’t control his eyes or his face, but he did control all of his words. Damn...” I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
Alicia took all of this in, and her expression became grave. “How? How did they find out?”
“I don’t know,” I responded flatly, my mind churning. I don’t think that any other three words out of my mouth could have frightened Alicia any more. When I caught it, I reached out to comfort her, but she pushed me, and her fear, away.
“DeShawn?”
I shook my head immediately. “There’s no chance he could keep something like that from me.”
“Martin?”
I blinked twice to keep from laughing out loud. “Oh yeah, with all those Bolivian contacts he’s fostered over the years?”
“This isn’t funny, Jason,” Alicia snapped, her eyes freezing over.
“I’m sorry,” I offered immediately. “It’s just that you don’t understand the relationship that Martin and I have. He’s only alive because of me, and he could easily be dead for the exact same reason. Martin doesn’t care about much, but he treasures his life. He wouldn’t betray me for all the girls in the Victoria’s Secret catalog.”
“Are you willing to bet my life on that? What’s to stop him from running?”
“He could run, but he could never hide. Martin and I share the same Bloodline; I could find him with my eyes closed at the Million Revenant March. Besides, for Martin to have anything to do with Barrera, our Bolivian drug lord would have to be revenant, and he’s not.”
“You can tell that from a phone conversation?”
“No, I can tell that from Javier’s mind.”
Alicia sighed. “Okay, then who else knows about me?”
“Only Richter and Porter, but if either one sniffed the drug connection, they wouldn’t touch us with a 10-foot pole stamped ‘Property of the DEA’.”
“So where does that leave us?”
Fucked, whispered a little voice inside my head, throttled by the turbulent motion of my thoughts. “An unknown party possessing an unknown amount of information that they are willing to share to further an unknown agenda with a supplier that we couldn't get in touch with on our own? I’d say that pretty much leaves us at the mercy of whatever they’re planning.”
Alicia’s eyes narrowed. “There's no way they gave that information to Barrera for the fun of it, or even to mess with us. There was no way that they could have known Barrera would tip us off, and that kind of information is better used as either a good faith offering or a spec
tacular opener. Options?”
I thought about it for a moment before answering. “I see two. We figure out who they are, and more importantly, what they stand to gain from this so we can deal with it on our own timetable, or we deal with it on their terms when they spring it on us.”
“I’ll take door number one, Monty.”
“No shit.”
10 homecoming
Cassia was silent, her teeth worriedly working over her lips. As Jeffrey watched her reaction, he briefly pondered the wisdom of continually involving her in a world that held nothing but pain for her, but it was an agreement they had made from the beginning: no secrets, no lies, no matter what. Though Jeffrey was sure she sometimes regretted that bargain, he knew she would never change it. Cassia had dealt with enough painful secrets and told enough painful lies to last ten lifetimes.
Jeffrey had his share of secrets, and he had engaged in a great deal of deception to keep them, but as he had no real mortal friends and no mortal family, he was not constantly lying to people he cared about. The revenant agenda had been his own for all but the most insignificant portion of his life.
Or perhaps the most significant, depending on point of view.
Cassia was not thrilled that her husband worked so closely with vampires, especially two of them in particular, but she understood that she could never change the facts, and for what it was worth, she felt as safe as anyone privy to their existence. No revenant in his right mind would harm either one of them; then again, it only took one nutcase, and the retribution dished out by Jason and the others would not make her any less dead.
“Do you really think she’s angry enough to take him on?” Cassia asked, her eyes hooded and difficult to read, the norm when the topic of conversation was Jason. She had once said that her memories of him held a lifetime of joy and pain so tangled that it was better to pretend to forget both. Unfortunately for both of them, she was not very good at pretending, and to this day she still rarely mentioned his name. Conversation about him was rarer still.
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