“I didn’t think to ask if anyone had been to your place. You got an alarm system?”
“I do, but someone with skill could get by it easily enough. That said, if someone did, I should have video of who did it. That’s the nice thing about my house; it’s small enough it wasn’t hard or expensive to install monitors.”
“Will all of the idiots in the cargo bay please report to Brandon’s office?” Zachary demanded over the intercom.
“I think he’s talking about you two,” Alex said.
“Impossible. We’re both far too smart,” I replied. “I don’t suppose you two know how to get to the office from here, do you?”
“Judging from that question alone, I’m pretty certain you’re one of the idiots.” Alex pointed behind me. “It’s that way, somewhere.”
“Judging from that answer alone, I’m pretty certain you’re also one of the idiots,” I replied.
It took us almost half an hour to find our way out of the maze. Zachary waited in the doorway of Brandon’s office, his arms crossed over his chest. “You shook your detail,” he accused.
I hadn’t even considered my security detail while hunting for the others in the cargo bay. I widened my eyes at my friend. “I didn’t shake them. I was actively hunting them down the entire time. They shook me.”
“It’s true. We got a little carried away,” Alex admitted. “You missed it. He frightened Richard.”
After a long moment of looking between Richard and me, Zachary replied, “You look alive. Richard doesn’t do scared. I’ve seen him. He has two modes of operation, and frightened isn’t one of them.”
“I solemnly swear on my honor that Richard yelped. He was definitely scared. At the very least, gloriously startled.” Alex clapped his brother’s shoulder. “It was fun.”
“Alex,” Richard growled.
With an unrepentant grin, Alex stepped out of his brother’s reach. “Nicole’s going to love you, Jackson. You’re going to keep Richard in line far better than I can.”
“Is it too late for me to change my mind about taking him with me to Yellowknife?”
“Yes, it is,” Zachary replied.
“We’re here, Zachary. What’s the problem?” I asked. A yawn slipped out of me before I could stop it.
“Brandon called. It’s almost five in the morning. Don’t any of you have any common sense or restraint? What were you doing, anyway?”
After exchanging looks with Richard and Alex, I said, “Elliot challenged me.”
“See?” Alex demanded, poking me in the collarbone. “You just had to go prove your dominance. Don’t blame your brother. Admit it, you wanted to do it as much as we did.”
“I’m confused,” Zachary admitted.
“Hide and seek,” Richard replied. “Jackson was the seeker for most of it, seeing as it’s shamefully easy to outrun him when he’s limping around like a cripple.”
I scowled, but decided it was wiser to keep my mouth shut.
It didn’t save me from Zachary’s wrath. He turned on me and blurted, “Are you insane? Have you lost your fucking mind? Playing a hunting game with Fenerec? You’re going to die.”
“See? I keep trying to tell you,” Alex muttered.
“I don’t know what the big deal is. Look, I’m fine. I’m not even limping as bad as I was earlier today.”
With a rather unimpressed expression, Zachary replied, “You mean yesterday.”
“Even better, then. You all wanted me to exercise, now you’re complaining that I went and did what you wanted.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, grumbled a few curses under my breath, and attempted to change the conversation by asking, “Where’s Evelyn?”
A pair of arms slipped around my waist from behind, startling a gasp out of me. Evelyn murmured, “Here I am.” Her breath tickled my ear. “Did you have fun?”
I leaned against her, swallowing the lump out of my throat before replying, “I did. I caught Richard.”
“Hey! He had help. Without me, he would have noticed you,” Alex protested. “I noticed you.”
“Oh? You caught yourself a big bad wolf? Good hunters are rewarded for their efforts,” Evelyn murmured, pressing her lips to my neck.
“Please go to your room first,” Zachary complained, shaking his head. “Why were you playing hide and seek in the cargo bay, anyway? You could have done it up top if you wanted.”
“Privacy?” I improvised.
“Opportunity,” my brother corrected, emerging from between two shipping containers. “You didn’t catch me. I thought you said you could.”
“I caught Richard. He’s worth more points,” I replied. Another yawn worked its way out of me. “I’m ready for bed.”
“Are you now?” Evelyn whispered in my ear.
Zachary shook his head. “Is there even a point in going to bed now?”
“Think about it this way. We confirmed there were no stowaways in your cargo bay,” Richard said, stretching his arms over his head. “Sleep sounds good.”
“I could have told you there were no stragglers—and you know full well there aren’t any. You helped me check!” Zachary sighed.
Taking hold of Evelyn’s hands, I freed myself from her grip, turning so I could give her a gentle push towards the staircase. “I needed the exercise anyway.”
Brandon chuckled. “Lay off, Zach. He was perfectly safe the entire time. I only called you because I was tired of monitoring their play. I need sleep, too.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll lock up. All of you, out of my cargo bay! I guess I shouldn’t complain at you for enjoying the cruise, although I’d prefer if you did so in a more traditional fashion. So you’re aware, we’ll reach Prince Edward Island tomorrow night.”
Apprehension sucked away my good mood, and I tightened my hold on Evelyn. I had forgotten about landfall and the subsequent trip to Yellowknife. What would happen when we reached our final destination? Everything I knew was in Georgia, but I wasn’t going to leave Evelyn. I could relocate easily enough, but I had no idea what she wanted, and that bothered me most of all. My work didn’t matter; I could reach out to my contacts in Ottawa and make arrangements, but so long as Evelyn remained on the Inquisition’s kill list, she’d never be truly safe, even under Richard’s guard.
“Let’s go to bed,” I said, herding Evelyn out of the cargo bay.
I needed to get her cleared by the Inquisition as quickly as possible, even if it meant having to beat a pardon out of my brother. While I suspected Canada would cooperate, if only to take advantage of the increase of revenue my dealings would bring them, they had limits on what they would tolerate. The United States did as well, but neither country crossed the Inquisition lightly.
Supernatural killings weren’t taken lightly by either country and until she was cleared, she’d be at risk.
I drew a deep breath to calm my nerves. There’d be time enough for a trip to Ottawa. First, I needed to get Evelyn to Yellowknife. After that, I had plans to find who had killed my daughter and deal with them permanently. Once those two all-important tasks were completed, I would worry about staying on the right side of the law.
~~*~~
I spent the rest of the cruise cooped up in my stateroom with Evelyn, learning everything I could about the pair of blood-red stones. Within their depths were the names of almost two thousand dead, the vast majority of them older teenagers. My anger swelled as the hours ticked by. I delved deeper into the limited data I had from the Canadians. The Inquisition files on most of the victims were barren, leaving me with a frustrating tangle of tidbits.
Through it all, Evelyn watched with quiet interest, sitting on the couch beside me. When she ran her hand over my leg, I paused from my data mining to look at her. “What is it?”
“Is this your regular job?” she asked, pointing at the database I was populating with information.
While she seemed relaxed, I was aware of her tension and worry, which baffled me. I stared at her, trying to figure out what was concerning her. When I failed, I replied, “No, it’s not. Officially, I’m a consultant. Businesses and governments hire me to look over their setups and advise them on how to tighten their operations.”
“But you’re also a smuggler.”
“I am. There are several different types of smugglers in the world, Evelyn. I’m one of the good guys—so far as we go. I’m sanctioned; that means I play the game by the rules of several governments, running my operations right under their noses. They know I’m there, and they choose to ignore me. They’re paid a fee to look the other way. The consulting work is legitimate business, too. When I’m not helping them streamline their operations, I’m running operations. Sometimes they’re one and the same, especially when government work is involved. I keep my work clean, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Evelyn sighed and leaned against me, capturing my hand in hers so she could rub her thumbs against my palm. “What do you mean by clean?”
“I don’t work with terrorists, the mafia, drug rings, or anything deemed taboo. While I have sources in shadier areas, I can’t risk losing my sanctions. Canada is one of my best partners, and their tolerance for such things is pretty low. The United States is willing to turn a blind eye to a lot of things compared to Canada. Right now, if Canada wants something from the United States under the table, they hire me. I consult for them, usually cleaning up one of their smaller offices in the process, which gives me a cover so I can smuggle in what they need. It’s a good arrangement for everyone.”
“Why do it at all? Can’t they handle their own shipments? Isn’t smuggling dangerous?”
“I make the arrangements. People I work with or hire run the actual operations. They do what I tell them, and things usually run smoothly. Sometimes I do the actual transaction myself, but I have people like Zachary who do the heavy lifting. I’m the top of the chain, so I am the one they want to catch—if they find out I’m around. I try to avoid that. Anyway, it lets me help my brother, for one. For two, it’s a challenge, and I like it. I also work with Richard’s pack. I supply things he needs for his Fenerec. I started working with him when I was ten, doing the dirty work for my father and the Inquisition. They decided if I wasn’t going to be eliminated as an inconvenient liability, I needed to be a useful risk worth keeping around.”
The only time my father or mother had acknowledged my existence was when they needed me to run some operation or another for the Inquisition—or when they checked in to make sure I hadn’t outlived my usefulness. While my father had given me my watch and was behind the Jag, I considered them momentary lapses in my father’s judgment and common sense.
Evelyn frowned before lifting my hand to kiss my palm. “You don’t have a very good relationship with your family, do you?”
“I’d call that the understatement of the year, I’m afraid,” I replied.
Letting me go, she turned her attention to the laptop. “Can I help?”
I cocked my head to the side and watched her, thinking it over for a few minutes. I worked with a lot of people all around the world, far too much work for any one man. Zachary and Brandon helped a lot, but I didn’t have a right hand man
or
woman to help keep things running smoothly. All of the responsibility fell to me. After being unable to come up with a single legitimate reason to exclude Evelyn from my work, I replied, “Sure. I can start training you once we’re in Yellowknife. It’s something we’ll have to work at, to see just what you’re good at. I’ll have to make a few secure calls as well, if I want to bring you into the loop.”
“I’m good at a lot of things,” she murmured.
“There are a lot of things you’re good at,” I agreed, making a grab at her to pull her across my lap. With a giggle, she snuggled against me. “You’ll be good at this line of work. If I could find excuses to hire more Fenerec, I would. I’ve seen Richard play the game a few times, and he’s good at it. He loves it; says it’s a satisfying hunt when he wins. He makes it a point to win often. That’s why he handles the Inquisition’s finances. Since he holds their purse, I end up working together with him quite often.”
“You two are old friends.”
“Yeah, we are. I still remember the first time I talked to him on the phone. I didn’t understand why people seemed so afraid of him then, and I still don’t understand it now. He’s a great guy. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have at my back,” I confessed.
“What about me?” Evelyn replied, pouting at me.
“I can think of a lot better places I’d rather have you,” I replied, kissing her forehead.
“Pervert.”
“With you, guilty as charged.”
She laughed. “It’s because you’re dominant, Jackson.”
“I’m not a Fenerec,” I reminded her. “And I hope it doesn’t disappoint you too much that I have no intentions of becoming one.”
Shaking her head, Evelyn replied, “That has nothing to do with it. You’re not afraid of him because you’re his equal. It’s established. You don’t have to prove anything to him, and he doesn’t have to prove anything to you. You don’t want his position, and he doesn’t want yours. You’re not a threat. If he needs to lower his eyes to you, he loses nothing.”
“We’re partners. That is how it works. There are times he sends me backpedaling.”
“That’s not how it works with Fenerec. We don’t enjoy that with many people. It’s always one contest or another. You’re outside of that. You’re like a rock or the ground. You’re something solid he—and I—can stand on. You’re also a witch. You embody stability. You’re dominant, but you can be trusted.”
“You, my dear, are supposed to rely on me for anything you need,” I pointed out.
“You’re not Richard’s mate,” she countered. “I’m right, and you’ll just have to accept that.”
Laughing at her brisk tone, I gave her a hug. “I’ll take your word for it.”
While I was used to getting what I wanted, I hadn’t put much thought into it. My job involved people doing what I told them. It kept them safe while working for me. They knew it, and they knew I did my best for anyone running an operation for me. It was the way I handled things. Her words did make me rethink my reactions to the Fenerec Inquisitors. I had assumed my standing with the team had been due to my being behind the wheel and driving fast enough to unnerve them. Did their claims of my dominance somehow factor into their behavior?
I didn’t feel very dominant, all things considered. If there had been any tests or challenges, I hadn’t noticed them.