Playing with Fire (Judah Black Novels Book 4)

by E. A. Copen

  Tindall did a half turn, put two fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle that drew everyone’s attention. “Espinoza!” He made a big gesture with his arm. “Get over here!”

  A Latino cop in a beat uniform jogged up and I was suddenly reminded of my weakness for a man in uniform. Lieutenant Espinoza was the kind of cop they put on calendars: broad shouldered, ruggedly handsome, medium height with well-kept dark hair and flattering facial scruff. He was fit enough to grace the cover of a men’s health magazine without being too buff to be on Entertainment Weekly as heartthrob of the week in some cop drama. I’m not kidding. Espinoza was pretty. With a name like Otilio Espinoza, how could he not be? That name begged to be said aloud. Go ahead. Try it. See if you don’t melt. I almost did when he smiled at me and extended a hand.

  “Agent Black, meet Lieutenant Otilio Espinoza, head of my newly-formed special response team,” Tindall said.

  “It’s good to finally meet you, Agent Black,” Espinoza said in a formal tone and squeezed my limp fingers.

  “Lieutenant.” I finally shook the stars out of my eyes and squeezed back.

  A sultry smirk crossed Espinoza’s face and a small shock of magick power traveled down his fingers and into mine. Surprised, I jerked my hand away. “You’re—”

  “Gifted? I know.” He offered me a wink.

  Not sure how to respond, I turned to Tindall. “What’s the special response team for?”

  “For you.” Espinoza answered in Tindall’s place. “Or, more specifically, the squad was put together to be your back-up on the force. My men are volunteer only, Agent Black, so no one’s on your team that doesn’t want to be. And I fully vetted each of them with thorough background checks.” He dropped his voice an octave to keep from being overheard outside our circle. It made the skin on my arms prickle. “No Vanguards of Humanity on my team. You can trust every one of us to have your back.”

  “He’s ideal for your situation,” Tindall informed me, “if all you want to do is talk.”

  “In addition to being the sexiest cop on payroll, I happen to be a practitioner,” Espinoza said. “Not on your level, of course, but I do have a little talent you might find useful.”

  Tindall patted Espinoza on the back. “If you want info, he’s your man.”

  I finally convinced myself to look away from Espinoza’s face. “Alright, Espinoza, you know anything about rem?”

  Espinoza nodded. “I’ve got the most experience dealing with it on the force, ma’am, which still isn’t much.” He flushed and shifted his weight.

  “You okay, lieutenant?”

  “I’m fine. Just…”

  Espinoza jerked forward when Tindall slapped him on the back. “Espinoza’s your biggest fan.”

  I blinked. Fan? I had fans? This was news to me.

  “It’s true,” Espinoza admitted with a sheepish grin. “I’ve been following your work for some time, Agent Black. Judah the Giant Slayer. That was damned impressive.”

  I huffed. “You didn’t see how close it was to turning out the other way,” I said and nodded toward one of the squad cars. “We’ll make a better showing if we go in with the lights on.”

  “I’ll drive,” Espinoza offered and swaggered off.

  I sighed and gave Tindall a long look. “Don’t worry,” he said, scratching the scruff on his chin. “Espinoza’s a good guy. Just be careful.”

  “Why?” I scoffed. “What’s he going to do? Sexy me to death?”

  “Maybe. He has that effect. Lot of women really like to talk to him. Not sure if that’s part of his so-called talent, or something else.” He looked over at the cruiser where Espinoza was leaning on the hood in a lazy pose. “But he’s also got a reputation.”

  “What kind of reputation?”

  “The kind that usually gets people in trouble.” Tindall sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Really, he’s probably too good for this job. One of the best cops on the force. Problem is with people that think they can save the world, they tend to get hurt. He’s got what I’d call a Superman complex. Man of steel for sure, but the kind who might be a little too eager to apply truth and justice when he ought to look the other way.” He patted my back. “But you’ve got magick. You’ll be fine.”

  “May God have mercy on my poor, little soul,” I droned and waved to Tindall as I walked over to the cruiser.

  Espinoza opened the passenger side door of the cruiser for me and tipped his hat. “You know where the compound is, Agent Black?”

  “That-a-way.” I mimicked the fire marshal and then added, “Better call dispatch and get an address.”

  “You don’t have some kind of magick spell to find the bad guy, huh?”

  Espinoza said it in jest, but it made me think of Ed’s spell. It might have seemed like harmless magick to him, but all his dabbling had changed his aura around and I didn’t know yet if that was a bad or good thing. Ed was young and untrained learning magick from someone else who was young and untrained. That by itself was a bad thing. Or maybe, just maybe, it would be the edge I’d need to get a leg up on Seamus when he made his appearance.

  Chapter Four

  “Okay,” I said after we’d pulled away from the scene, lights on and sirens blaring. “I’ve got to know. If you’ve got magick, what are you doing working from EPD instead of BSI?”

  Espinoza chuckled. “I’m not that talented. Besides, I’ve never had any interest in working for the government. The fact that I became a cop at all is a surprise. But mi mamá didn’t raise a criminal. I grew up on Superman and Batman comics. Being a cop is my form of hero worship, I suppose.”

  I gave him a sideways glance and tilted my head to the side. “You’re into comic books?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, but don’t call me a comic book geek. I’m the thing most of them wish they could be,” he said in a cock-sure tone.

  I turned my attention out the window to the landscape passing by. It wasn’t a far drive to the compound. There was nothing but empty desert between the barn and there, that and empty road. We barely had time for conversation before it loomed up in front of us.

  The compound was a hodge-podge of simple buildings connected and built onto each other. Some sections were three stories high. Others were only two. I counted four sections in the dark and one more under construction. The compound sat on three acres of land, some of which had been converted into greenhouses. I made a note of that. We couldn’t search them without a warrant, which I wouldn’t be getting. There was still no evidence to back up Ed’s claim that they were growing rem. I needed more than unreliable testimony to get a warrant.

  As the car came down the long driveway in front of the compound, a small light came on in front of a covered entryway and faces pressed against the windows. One by one, shades and blinds closed. The compound was probably going into lockdown with our arrival. I wondered if I’d brought enough back-up.

  We parked in front of the covered entry but Espinoza left the siren running an extra second or two before shutting it off. He didn’t bother to kill the lights. I’d told him that we wanted to be seen. If people were being held in the house against their will, I hoped they’d make some noise so we could come in. If not, it would communicate that we were there and meant business.

  We got out of the car. I pulled my badge from my pocket. As soon as I started for the front door, it opened and a man stepped out. He was tall, thin, and bald with an angular jaw. I would have placed his age somewhere between forty and forty-five and described his complexion as milky. He was dressed in gray pajama pants, a white t-shirt and a thin, blue bathrobe. Dark rings under his green eyes and the coffee cup in his hand told me he’d been awake when we pulled in. Worry lines creased in his forehead while sweat formed on mine. This had to be the guy Ed had seen.

  One of my primary abilities allows me to see people’s auras. Red, blue, purple and green are all common colors. Each one has its own meaning…sort of. It’s more complicated than red means angry and blue me
ans sad. The location of the colors has its own meaning along with how large the aura is.

  Gold was not a common color and I’d seen it exactly one time before, once when I peeked at Father Reed’s aura. This guy’s aura made Father Reed’s look like muddy water. It was the brightest, most glowing gold I’d ever seen streaked with light blue and black. Holy hell, this guy had some serious mojo.

  “Officers,” he said in the form of a greeting. “Is this about the fire?”

  We stopped in front of him. “You’ve been watching?” I asked.

  “One of my people called it in. We saw the blaze a while ago.” His jade eyes darted from me over to Espinoza. “Can I assume it’s a total loss?”

  I decided to ignore his question and his attempt at leading the conversation. “I’m Special Agent Judah Black, BSI, and this is Lieutenant Espinoza, SRT. And you are?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What’s this about?”

  “I’ve received an anonymous complaint that a young woman is being held here against her will,” I said, tucking my badge away. “If you’d consent to a search of the premises, we could get this all cleared up, no problem.”

  The man’s smile was strained. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that. This is a sacred place. My people are peaceful. I assure that no one is being held here against their will. My flock is free to leave at their pleasure. Perhaps if you’d give me the name, I can clear it up.”

  I almost told him it was Mara but stopped when Espinoza put a hand on my arm and gave me a subtle shake of his head. Of course. What was I thinking? If I told him about Mara, he could still deny us entry and punish her for causing trouble. The best way to protect Mara was to distance myself from her.

  “Someone has also claimed you’ve been growing some plants of questionable origin,” Espinoza said and jabbed a thumb toward the greenhouses. “What do you grow in your greenhouses? Maybe you wouldn’t mind giving me a tour?”

  The man avoided the question entirely. He sighed and his shoulders slumped. “The old house was to be our next project. It was here when we began work on the property and we hadn’t yet had time to clean it out and renovate it. My people have not been inside or near that house in months. If there was anything growing in it, we were not the caretakers.”

  “You see anyone hanging around on your property?” Espinoza asked. “Maybe out by the old house? Strange cars? Prowlers? Anything like that?”

  “Nothing of the sort,” the bald man said and waved his hand.

  “I didn’t catch your name.”

  His glare at me intensified. “I am Reverend Hector Demetrius.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Are you registered with BSI, Hector?”

  Hector pressed his lips into a thin line. “If you’re not here simply to inform me about the damage to our property, perhaps I should speak with a lawyer before answering any more of your questions.”

  “Sure thing.” Espinoza pointed a thumb back at the squad car. “If you want to come down to the station and wait on your legal counsel, I’d be happy to take you. It’d save you the cab faire, seeing as how you don’t have any cars parked out here.”

  “We have transportation.” Hector sighed. “Officers, it’s very late. If you have questions, I can meet you at the station tomorrow. Would that suffice?”

  “Better to get it out of the way tonight,” I said. “No telling what could happen overnight. There are all kinds of monsters out there.” I tried to keep the acrid tone out of my voice but it crept in anyway. I didn’t appreciate the way he was stonewalling us.

  “Unless I’m under arrest, I won’t be going with you tonight. I need to be here with my people.”

  I stepped out of line and put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Someone else can keep the vigil until you get back. Looks like you’ve got plenty of people.” I started to pull him back toward the cruiser.

  The door opened again. “Judah?”

  I turned to see Mara step out of the compound, only it wasn’t the Mara I knew. She’d lost a lot of weight, giving her face a more angular look. The pink and blue coloring in her hair had faded, replaced by her natural, dirty blonde. Instead of a tank top, jeans and plenty of jewelry, Mara now wore a plain dress of slate blue. She stepped outside barefoot. “What are you doing here?”

  Another popped out of the darkness behind her, this one a boy about her age. He wore pajama pants and a white tank top. “Tamara,” the young man hissed.

  “It’s fine,” Mara said, raising a hand. “I know her.” I swallowed as she stepped closer and asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “Mara, I…” But I trailed off, unsure of what to say. “Is everything okay? With you, I mean. It’s good to see you.”

  I expected her to lash out with an insult. The Mara that I knew would at least dismiss me with sarcasm. This Mara, however, stood poised and calm with a blank smile. “Yes, I’m happy here, and I’m glad to see you’re still alive.”

  “You’re not still mad at me, Mara?”

  Mara looked at Hector, her grin wider, but strained. “The reverend has helped me to let go of my past. I’m at peace now. With everything.”

  The young man stepped out onto the porch beside Mara, his eyes steely. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

  “Warren,” a middle-aged woman hissed from the doorway. So, this boy was the infamous Warren Demetrius who’d convinced Mara to join his dad’s cult.

  I only caught a glance of the woman in the doorway, but she was wearing dark fabric, a head covering and had a rather plain face. Mara looked well-fed, though, and I didn’t see any bruises or signs she was in distress, leaving me no just cause to intervene.

  “Child, obey your mother,” Hector said and nodded. “These people won’t harm me.”

  “But they’re the enemy,” said Warren and he cast a hateful look at me. “You can’t trust them to keep their word.”

  I let go of Hector’s arm as he turned to address his son. “And what does Jesus say we should do to our enemies?”

  Warren didn’t answer, but Mara came to stand beside him, taking his hand. It was she who answered, “Love them.”

  “Very good.” He turned back to me.

  The woman I’d seen in the doorway stepped out to usher Warren and Mara back inside. “Nice kid,” Espinoza commented to the woman. “Yours?”

  Hector stood stiffly. “You will address me. Everyone here is mine. These people are under my protection, officers. They huddle here away from a world that has rejected them and so they reject it in return. If you insist on bringing me to the station now, you will have to carry me away from them in chains.” He extended his wrists to us. “If you arrest me, I will not resist. However, I will not be taken away from my flock under false pretenses. Either arrest me or leave.”

  Espinoza and I exchanged glances.

  “We’re not here to arrest you,” I said and he lowered his hands. “We’re just here to try and get information.”

  “Yes,” he sighed, impatiently. “Information I have promised to provide tomorrow. We can go in circles all night, Agent Black, and neither of us will get any closer to getting what we want. Now, you can either accept my assurances until I’ve had time to confer with my lawyer, and believe that I will come willingly to the station to meet you tomorrow morning for an interview, or you can arrest me. Anything else is a violation of my constitutional rights.”

  “Tell you what.” Espinoza pulled a business card out of his uniform, blew on it and held it out to the woman. “We’ll spend the night looking into things so we can have plenty of questions ready for tomorrow. If you think of anything else in the meantime or see anyone prowling around, you call the number on the card.”

  The woman reached out and clutched the card with a thumb and forefinger, but Hector snatched it away before she could take it. “Thank you,” he said curtly. “Now, please leave.”

  ~

  “That could have gone better,” I said, sliding into the back seat.

  “It went bette
r than expected,” Espinoza said. “I got her to touch the card. Hopefully, that counts for something. I would have preferred her to hold it.”

  I leaned against the metal grate that separated the front seat from the back. I’d meant meeting Mara again. Ed was going to flip his lid when he got the news that I couldn’t do anything about her. Mara seemed to be there of her own free will, and she’d seemed… maybe not happy, but better. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, willing my mind to refocus on the task at hand.

  “You spelled the card?”

  “Of course I did,” Espinoza said, smiling. “Hector has some powerful magick. Did you see it, Agent Black?”

  I nodded. “No idea what kind, but he’s sure got something big and scary. He’s probably registered with BSI but I seriously doubt Hector Demetrius is his real name. If I were going to start a cult, I’d use a pseudonym. I’ll see if I can track down who he is.”

  I paused and then added, “What will the card do?”

  “Everyone who handles it is now eyes and ears for a limited time so long as I hold the card’s twin.” He produced another from his uniform pocket and waved it. “I don’t make them in stacks. Just two at a time. Anyway, if you want to listen in, we can do it anytime. At least until Hector figures out the card is spelled.”

  “Make it so,” I said.

  Espinoza flashed me a roguish grin. Then, he lifted his copy of the business card and flicked it once. It made a sound somewhere between a tuning fork and radio static for a minute and then we heard voices.

  “…I’m sorry,” the woman was saying. “I shouldn’t have interrupted.”

  “They were only here to unsettle us,” Hector said. “They have no evidence or they would have arrested me.”

  “The police are about to be the least of our problems.” That was a third voice. Was it…Warren? “What do we do?”

  “We continue on as if nothing has changed because nothing has changed.”