AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  A lump formed in my throat, but I swallowed it down. "You've never picked up an injury on the job?"

  "I keep trying to think of what situation would cause bruises like that. For someone to grab you that hard. Where was Logan? Or that other partner of yours?"

  I had to admit that the bruises probably looked bad from his point of view, but trying not to get aggravated was difficult. "My partners were right there with me." I let go of his hand and leaned back. "And we all help each other, but the job isn't always easy."

  He appeared to struggle with what to say, but I could tell his eyes were focused inward.

  My frustration levels dropped when I realized he had more ugly images in his mind than the run of the mill person on the street. "You see bad things, every day. I get it; it's your job to stop the evils in the world. It's my job too." He tried to interrupt, but I kept going. "But, sometimes things look much worse than they are. You know I can't tell you what happened, but remember, it's not all bad. Someone might grab hold of someone if they're scared or in pain, and it would cause as much damage."

  Ethan seemed to think that over. "You're right, sorry."

  My face was flushed red. There was so much I wanted to say, and not all of it was friendly, but I liked Ethan. I could tell his mind had been striking out in bad places, but I also had to make him understand.

  In the silence, I gathered my words together. "Before we decide to move forward from here, there are a few things I need to say."

  Ethan looked like he was trying to bring his thoughts back to the light. "Okay."

  "First, my partners and I, we look out for each other, but it's not their job to make sure that nothing ever happens to me. We all carry our own weight. Second, you have to understand that I'm not a woman with a nine to five work life. We both have jobs that are tough, and I have training, same as you. And this is so important for you to understand, I am not helpless, and if you ever try to treat me like I am, we're going to have issues."

  Ethan's face was flush. "Anything else?"

  "That covers most of it."

  "Okay, my turn."

  His turn?

  He must have sensed I was going to break in, because he held out a finger, to wait. "You're right, in this job, your thoughts go to some bad places, and like it or not, I'm going to be upset when I see you injured. It's only going to be worse since you can't tell me what happened. Also, I don't know your partners at all, so yes, I may question what they were doing when you're black and blue, and they seem fine."

  I crossed my arms but kept my mouth shut. How would he know if they were injured or not?

  "And yes, I'm going to put your welfare above theirs." He held up a finger again, to hold back what I was going to say. "I really like you, and it's going to pain me to see you injured. But do not mistake my concern for you as an indication that I think you can't take care of yourself."

  "Can I say something?" I kept my voice level.

  "Two more things." Ethan's voice slowed. "You’re definitely not an ordinary woman, which I think is why I like you so much. And I'm going to say and do the wrong things along the way. It's a fact that I've learned to live with."

  I bit my lip to keep the corners of my mouth from turning up. "Anything else?"

  "Yes." Ethan let out a steady breath. "I shouldn't have said or assumed anything about your partners. Now that I know you're okay... are they? Logan looked fine, but I didn't see the other one today. Agent Wolfe, right?"

  I looked into Ethan's face and saw genuine concern. "Rider, yes. He and Logan are okay."

  Ethan stood up. "I'm sorry about tonight. Seeing someone I care about hurt and not being able to do anything about it, well, it's hard to deal with."

  Studying his face, I also stood up. "Too hard to deal with?"

  We stood there, looking at each other and I could feel the question hanging heavy in the air.

  One corner of Ethan's mouth turned up. "It's going to be a big adjustment."

  The tension that had been building died away. "Yes and the fact that I'm amazingly clumsy isn't going to help matters."

  Ethan stepped closer, and the look in his eyes made my heart beat faster. "I'm sure it'll take a lot of patience on your end to put up with me."

  I inched closer and took his hands. "Patience is not one of my strengths. I have witnesses."

  "Where does that leave us then?"

  Eyes locked together, I wrapped my arms around him and we kissed. He held me tight, and soon my eyes shut, and I lost myself in the moment.

  That time stretched out and into the living room. After having to keep so much control over the past few days, it was almost a surprise that I could let myself go so completely. There was a hitch when he unbuttoned my shirt and saw bruises on my stomach. I froze, expecting a bad reaction, but he traced his fingers lightly over the skin, kissed me again, and seemed to forget the whole thing. When his phone rang a minute later, we stopped kissing to catch our breath.

  The phone was in his pocket, but Ethan wasn't in a hurry to answer. Still, I knew our evening was over, which was probably for the best, even though a part of me wanted to smash his phone. It was the same part that was confused as to why we were wearing so many clothes, even with half of them on the floor, so it was best to ignore that inclination and lock it away for now.

  "You are beautiful," Ethan breathed, giving me a kiss that was much more chaste.

  He looked dreamy, but I gently pushed him up. "You should answer your phone, Lieutenant Parker."

  "Was that a request, Agent Heidrich?" Ethan kissed me again.

  I laughed through the kiss, and then broke apart. "I wasn't aware there was the option of an order. But now, you know, you can never call me Agent again while on the job."

  Ethan sounded amused, but when he looked at the caller ID on his phone, he sighed and stood up. He was tucking in his shirt on the way to take the call in the kitchen.

  I stretched out on the couch and closed my eyes, wanting to keep hold of this feeling.

  Unfortunately, I could tell from Ethan's tone of voice that he would be on his way out the door soon. Patting my hair, I tried to make sure it wasn't too bad when I went into the kitchen. Ethan looked almost put together. When he got off the phone, I had a plastic food bag with cookies waiting for him.

  "Sorry, I have to go," Ethan said.

  "Work is work." With a kiss, I handed him the bag.

  "You didn't have to-"

  "Gran would be horribly embarrassed if I didn't."

  "Only if you told her," Ethan said, stowing the cookies in a jacket pocket.

  "Trust me, she always knows."

  ***

  The next day, Gran left early after giving me the warning to stay out or Rider's way, which was cryptic. Since Rider was my partner, I was not sure how it would be possible either.

  Being alone allowed me to work through some tangled thoughts. It would have been wonderful if my sleeping mind had dwelt on my evening with Ethan, but the case was weighing me down. Last night, nightmares showed me blurry images of my partners having their souls ripped out and stuffed into jewelry that I wore. In the dream, I had tried to take the necklace off, but it clung to my skin.

  The morning’s coffee didn’t wash away the dreams, so when the phone rang, I groaned and assumed it was bad news ready to ruin my day.

  "Good morning, Cassie." Ethan's voice put a tremor in my stomach.

  "Good morning." I was determined not to trip over my own tongue, making assumptions as to the nature of the call, so I stopped there.

  "I overheard an interesting conversation this morning that I thought your team would be interested in."

  Of course, it was work related. My entire life was work. "Sounds intriguing. What do you have for us?"

  "I happened to walk by the offices of our friends at the DEA. They cleared out, leaving for Langston."

  "I have no idea where that's at. Why were they going there?"

  "It's on the outskirts of the city. They mentioned a dr
ug bust," Ethan said, "and you and your partners have taken a special interest in some necklaces."

  "We have," I agreed, wondering how weird that sounded from his point of view.

  "They mentioned that there was a bunch of jewelry there as well. That's probably not too rare with drug money, but it sounded like these were bagged up like the drugs."

  My interest ratcheted up. "Have they already left? Did you hear anything else?"

  Ethan let out a chuckle. "I thought you'd be interested, so I called you right away. They were leaving the office when I walked by. That's all I have."

  "This is great, thank you, Ethan."

  Ethan's voice dropped to a less professional level. "I'm sorry I had to leave like that last night."

  "It's okay. I understand. Are we on for tomorrow?"

  I could hear Ethan's smile through the phone. "The day looks clear. I'll pick you up around nine thirty tomorrow morning?"

  "I'll have my hiking boots laced up."

  When Ethan and I were off the phone, I called Hank. We needed an all-access pass to a DEA crime scene and, as our handler, Hank always made sure we were well prepared and had what we needed.

  Hank clicked away on his keyboard after I told him what I knew. "Access to the site could take a while, but if it's in the city, it'll take you over an hour to get there anyway."

  "Luckily, the local team doesn't have too long of a head-start on us." I shot off a text to Logan and Rider, telling them to gear up for a road trip. "Is there anything in the system yet?"

  "So far, only a prelim report. We know where they're at and drugs are involved."

  "How long ago was the bust made?"

  "About an hour ago. Kyrian should be able to pull some strings to get you all in as soon as you arrive."

  "Do you think she can get them to keep people away?" It was a long shot, but worth a try. "A clear site would be easier for tracking, but I've already ticked the DEA off once."

  "With this late of a start, I doubt we can make that happen."

  Another thought struck me. "Any way to get MyTH out there? They're close by, and at least we can learn what's happening on scene."

  "They don't have badges." Hank paused in his relentless attack on the keyboard. "Actually, one person does. Let me talk to Kyrian and see if we can move in that direction."

  Two texts came through, letting me know that Rider and Logan were on their way. "How did someone from MyTH end up with a badge?"

  "They're only about ten years old, some sort of an offshoot of an older organization. The man who set it up came from AIR. Agent Gordon took early retirement to set up shop in the city."

  "And AIR let him go off on his own?" I asked.

  "I checked out the file once, and chunks of the report were redacted. Something happened in St. Louis around that time. MyTH was set up to oversee it, and AIR gave their blessing."

  "Hopefully they can get Gordon over to the site. If he can, have Sable and Dr. Taylor meet us there as well."

  "Will do."

  "Thanks, Hank. Before I go, have you heard any updates about the minotaurs?"

  "Everyone's accounted for so far. You'll hear from me soon."

  It should have been a relief, but, as I hung up the phone, it made me wonder what we were dealing with. If all the minotaurs were accounted for, could we even be dealing with souls?

  Hank got back to me once Logan, Rider, and I were on the road. MyTH was on their way to the site.

  "Hopefully this will lead to another piece of the puzzle. We do not have much to go on yet," Rider said.

  Glancing at Rider, I saw nothing that would make me want to move out of his way. Still, Gran wouldn’t have given me the warning for no reason.

  "True, and no suspects," I said.

  Rider and Logan remained silent. I could have asked them if they still thought Vincent was behind this, but I chickened out, certain that I didn't want to hear their answer.

  "So, what are we walking into?" Logan asked after a few beats of silence.

  Grateful for the change of subject, I opened the file.

  "Hank sent us a little more," I said. "The bust is joint work with local police and DEA. Suspects have been removed and are in interrogation. The last time they updated the file they were photographing and cataloging items on site."

  "Anything about the jewelry?" Logan asked.

  "Not a thing," I said. "Maybe they aren't connecting the two yet."

  "Keep a close eye when we get there," Logan said. "Make sure nothing has slipped into their evidence bags before we have a chance to take a look."

  "What are you going to do when we get there?" Rider asked me.

  "Same as usual. It's a crime scene," I said.

  "I do not think it is a good idea for you to be in the room until we know if the jewelry is active or not," Rider said.

  "He makes a good point," Logan said. "We don't know what, if anything, we have here. It would be bad if you took in a bunch of energy from the Lost at a crime scene."

  "I've been thinking about that." The implication that I couldn't handle my job made me twist in my seat. "Nothing seems to happen if I am near the items, only when I touch one of them, and it shouldn't be hard to avoid that. No one's going to be tossing around evidence."

  Logan began humming to himself.

  "Look," I said, "I can do my job."

  "We know that," Rider said, "but we want to keep you safe."

  Logan shook his head then continued to hum.

  I took a couple of meditative breaths before responding. It really didn't help. "Are you going to be able to tell if something is in the jewelry without me? Have either of you been able to detect anything in the items?" Rider didn't answer. "Look, I'm not saying it's the best idea, but if the unexpected happens, I can at least hold things off ‘til we are away from the scene. I managed to do that at the police station, and that was before we knew what to expect."

  Logan's humming filled the silence for the rest of the trip. The ethereal tones rolled over me, taking my aggravation as it went. The GPS took us right up to the entrance of an apartment building. There were police officers mingled in with several agents with DEA stamped across the back of their jackets.

  "Has the file been updated?" Logan asked.

  Outside the truck, Rider took in the entire scene and appeared tense.

  It took a few seconds for the tablet to refresh. "Nothing new." Watching Rider's anxiety threatened to bring back my aggravation. "Look, take some tranquilizers with us, just to be on the safe side."

  "I do not want to tranquilize you." He looked offended, but it didn't last long. Rider tensed, all anxiety seeming to flee, and he looked around the site.

  Following suit, I took a tentative step into the Path. The dark recesses hidden beyond my mind shifted as I jumped the gap over them, and into the Path. Rippling waves of emotion streamed widely, but it was punctuated by holes that held no glimmering traces and dulled the areas around them.

  Goosebumps broke out on my arms. "We're in the right place."

  "Good to know," Logan said. "I grabbed some tranqs. Let's scoot on in there."

  "Scoot?" I looked at my partner in surprise.

  Logan grinned. "Cowboy lingo."

  Of course it was.

  Rider rolled his head on his shoulders, grabbed a tranquilizer without looking at it and put it into his pocket. Logan took the lead and I followed behind, but everything was out of balance and had me moving slower than normal. When I damned up the Path, reading only a tiny trickle, most of the effects died away. There were blank spots to avoid which caused my trail to wind. Rider followed my zig-zagging path. I'm not sure if he could sense what he was avoiding, or if he was trying to cover the fact that I looked ridiculous.

  There were a few agents outside. One guarding an official truck with two other men taking notes, and another few moving to and from the apartment. Two officers guarded the yellow crime scene taped around the yard, keeping a close eye on the neighbors that were smoking and watching
the show with interest. Rider's nose wrinkled up. Hopefully, the cigarette smoke wouldn't hide the scents we needed to track.

  Each agent took notice of our approach, making sure we knew they were watching. Logan flashed a badge as we approached the officer standing watch over the door. The guard inspected our badge, taking more time than I thought the occasion warranted. Finally, after looking at each of our IDs, he let us through.

  Even with the people outside the apartment, it was overcrowded when we entered the room. Two men tried to bar our progress further, but our badges wiped away the protests.

  "Make a big bust and all the feds come out of the woodworks," someone muttered. "Where were these guys last week?"

  Seeing the holes in the Path was making me edgy, and I wanted to turn to tell the man exactly where we were last week and where he could shove his comment, but Logan intercepted and brought us further into the room.

  "Telling that fool anything isn't going to help you or him," he said in a low voice.

  The argument was on the tip of my tongue, but he was right, so I let Logan steer me further into the room and straight into Doctor Taylor. Literally. I bumped into him from behind and I was apologizing before I even recognized him.

  "Good to see you here," he said quietly. Taylor hadn't taken his eyes off a door in the hallway and I could hear a heated discussion coming from the other room.

  "Who's in there?" I asked.

  "Gordon's in there with some DEA agent that tried to kick us out," Taylor said. "And what you're looking for is in that room."

  Chapter 14

  That was enough for Logan. He tipped an imaginary hat at Taylor and walked into the room. Rider was caught in indecision. He followed Logan, but then stopped and watched the door, much like Taylor.

  When Taylor looked at me, I shrugged. "Logan will sort them out." Under my breath I added, "One way or another." I meant it for Rider's ears, but both he and Taylor relaxed.

  "Is Sable here?" I asked.

  "No, only Gordon and myself," Taylor said.

  "Rider, do you want to see if you can pick up anything while we wait?" I asked.

  Immediately, his eyes darted around everywhere and moved in circles around the room. It was a difficult task with this many bodies. A few people grumbled, but I caught their eye and gave them my best glare. I didn't make any friends, but I was an unknown quantity, as was Rider, so no one spoke out too loudly. The room had the stuffy, sticky feeling of too many people in one area. There was no objection from me when someone reached around me and turned on the AC.