Then I thought about Jake. He was going to kill me. I could barely stand hanging out with Aspen. She’d drive him crazy.
I dialed his cell.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hello. Sorry I missed you coming in. Claire had some jumpers, and we were following them.”
“No problem. Is everything okay?”
“She has the problem under control.” He sounded a little distracted.
“Great. Uh, can I ask you something?”
Long pause. “Sure.” His tone was guarded.
“Actually, it’s two things. If you have time, I’d like you to sit in on my meeting with Master Kanashi and Kyle. I’d really value your input on what I’m going to propose to them.”
“When do you need me?” That’s what I liked about him. Always there, especially during the tough times. Aspen definitely constituted tough times.
Stop reading so much into his kindness. He’s hired to help, dork.
“I’m going downstairs to meet with them now.”
“Gerald just came in, so give me five minutes to catch him up on what’s been going on with your sister.”
“Great. Really, take your time.”
“What’s the other thing?”
I was suddenly nervous. What if he didn’t want to hang out with my friends? I mean, who could blame him? Aspen had a bad reputation as a prima donna. Even though she was trying to be a better person, she could get on the Dalai Lama’s last nerve.
“It’s—maybe you’ve seen Aspen around the house. She’s getting married, and she wants me to test the food. I can’t get out of it. I’ve been putting her off for days. Her fiancé, Lord Huffington, is coming in this afternoon—”
“And she wants to make it a double date?”
I sighed. “Yes. It’s silly. Really, we don’t have to do this.”
“So you want to make our
relationship
public with your friends?” His voice was flat like he had no expectation about the answer. I couldn’t tell if he was happy with the idea or not.
“Well, if it’s okay with you. I was thinking that the more people who know, the better chance we have of my mother believing it, if necessary. We’ll be in the tabloids by the end of the week if we aren’t already. But, I’m serious, only if it’s cool with you. I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness.
“And I understand if you don’t have time to do lunch. Things are crazy right now. No one knows that better than me—”
“I’ll make time,” he interrupted. “Besides, I’ve never been one to turn down a free meal.”
I laughed at that. “Thank you.”
It bothered me that the idea of spending a few hours with him made me positively cheery.
It’s not real. He’s doing you a favor.
The chastising didn’t work. I couldn’t wait for lunch.
A few minutes later I met Master K in one of the lower-level conference rooms. It seemed odd to see her in a black suit, wearing makeup and her spiky hair sporting a subtle red streak. She looked like an edgy version of a corporate executive. What always impressed me the most was her self-assured nature. Someday I hoped to have that kind of confidence.
I reached out my hand and shook hers.
“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.”
She nodded.
There was a knock on the door, and Kyle and Jake walked in. They were joking about something but stopped short when they saw us.
I waved them in.
They both greeted Master Kanashi. Kyle was dressed in the requisite white button-down and jeans, with a Yankees cap. I’d dated him for a few months when I was in college, but we realized pretty quick that we made great friends and lousy lovers. Actually, we never really got around to the lovers part. We were heavy drinkers back then. He was trying to deal with his job as an FBI investigator, where he had to track down some pretty nasty criminals.
I was going to school, building my first club, and working full-time as a Guardian. When we got together, we always ended up talking and drinking. We almost always passed out before things became too serious. I sometimes wondered if he planned it that way.
He’d become a trusted member of our little gang and was up on the weirdness of the universe.
“Jake knows all of this, but I want to bring you up to speed, Master K. Three of my employees were attacked last night.”
She leaned forward, concern on her face.
“It happened at the same time, but at two different locations: the club in Madrid and the one in London. All three were women. They are still in the hospital.” I sat back in my chair. “I don’t want this to ever happen again. These women were attacked because of me.”
Jake touched my shoulder. “You can’t blame yourself.”
I frowned at him. “Yes, I can.”
“How do you know you’re the reason?” Kyle asked. “These are nightclubs in the middle of large cities; could happen to anyone.”
I looked to Master K. “The attacks were otherworldly. Dragons, to be specific.”
To her credit, she didn’t even blink. Though she’d been training us for years, we’d never explained what for until a few weeks ago when things had really gone down the crapper.
To our surprise, she’d known. She’d used sign language to explain to Claire that while she wasn’t aware of exactly what Guardians did, no one came back with the kind of injuries we did without being involved in something strange.
Like I mentioned before, she’d pretty much seen it all, so it wasn’t much of a stretch for her to understand what we were fighting in the rest of the universe.
“What I’m asking you to do is a massive undertaking. Since my employees are being targeted right now, I’d like to begin with them. I want everyone who works for me to have the basic self-defense techniques down. All of my security personnel, including the bouncers, are already trained. So you’d be focusing on the hosts, waitstaff, bartenders, and kitchen personnel.”
She nodded her agreement.
“Getting everyone to one location at the same time isn’t an option, so I’m going to need you to travel. Both of you.” I included Kyle. “I’d like you to put a team together to help so we can make this happen as fast as possible. Like today.”
She jotted a quick note on the pad in front of her. “I can have a team assembled and be ready to go in two hours.”
I smiled. “I knew you were the right woman for the job. I’d like you and Kyle to coordinate with Jake. Keep him informed about the progress.” I looked at Jake. “Sorry to add to your workload.”
“Not a problem. With Master Kanashi’s permission, I’d like to send along a few of my team members. I think it would be a good idea to put more cameras up around the perimeter of the clubs and to check on the alarm systems. We can also provide personal alarms for each employee. Your brother has devised a small one about the size of a quarter. Push it, and it sounds like someone just broke into Fort Knox.”
“Great idea. Master K, are you cool with Jake adding some folks to the team?”
She nodded.
“Kyle, I want your eyes on the scene. I want to make sure we don’t have any secret evil dudes mixing in our employee pool.”
“You think the Manteros might be involved?” The Manteros were a secret society of evil beings spread out all over the universe. They were helping the darkness seep into the various worlds.
“Honestly, I hope not. But they are pervasive, and we saw what happened with Gilly.” One of her exes had been overtaken by the evil and nearly killed her. We’d also found out the boyfriend of a close family friend, Aunt Juliet, was a part of the same secret society. She and my mother had made sure he was no longer around to cause trouble.
“I have no proof of this yet, but I’m thinking that the dragons aren’t kidnapping the humans for themselves. I’m betting the Manteros want the humans as slaves. We’re easily controlled. To the dragons, we’re nothing more than goods to trade.” I loved it when the gears finally clicked into place. Now that I had motive, it would be easier to convince Ginjin.
I stood. “I want you to know how much I appreciate this. If it goes as well as I think it will, this may be a program we institute for Caruthers Corporation as a whole. After what happened a few weeks ago and last night, it’s made me think that the people involved with our organization are targets of our enemies. While we can’t tell everyone what’s going on, we can do our best to protect them.”
I handed Master K an envelope with a check for several hundred thousand. “These are temporary funds to help with travel arrangements, salary, whatever you need. There’s also the number of one of my accountants, should you need anything else.”
She opened the envelope and stared inside. For the first time ever, I saw shock on her face. She shook her head and tried to hand it back.
I refused to take it. “Trust me, you’re going to be traveling the world the next couple of days. You’ll need it.”
“If you guys need anything, please don’t hesitate to call, and I want to know if you find anything.” I motioned to Kyle. “You know what to look for: anyone who has been acting strange or out of character. Gilly said Emilio”—that was her ex—“was pushier and would stare off into space. She thought he was being artistic and weird but never suspected he was possessed by pure evil.”
“Got it,” Kyle said. “I’ll be discreet.”
“I know you will.”
I looked to Jake. “I’ll see you upstairs in a few minutes.”
He gave me a strange smile. “I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 16
In the hour that it took me to meet with Master Kanashi, Jake, and Kyle and to change clothes, Aspen had worked magic. Well, Aspen and her minions had worked magic. The ballroom where we hosted many a benefit dinner had been transformed into wedding central. Twenty different round tables had been set up, each with different linens, china, crystal, and flower arrangements. Along the long bank of windows were tables with an assortment of wedding cakes, desserts, and appetizers.
“Tell me we don’t have to eat all this. I’ll never fit in my jeans,” I joked to Aspen, who was ordering people around—although more kindly than usual.
“Of course not, silly. I want us to pick a few favorites from each course and try them. I thought maybe we could bundle the leftovers and take it to a homeless shelter when we’re done,” she said abstractedly.
What?
“Aspen, what the hell has happened to you?”
She looked down and examined her clothes. “What do you mean?”
“You’re different.”
“Oh.” She smiled. “I told you. Between Huff and your friend Penny, well, they’ve sort of opened my eyes. Do you know that there are children, little bitty babies, who go hungry every day? All over the world, and even here in America? Here in our own country! That’s just ridiculous.
“I told Penny about Huff’s charities to raise money for the children in Africa. She took me to a place in the Bronx where they give free meals to kids that are hungry. Anyway, between the two of them, I can’t promise not to be the most selfish woman in the world, but I’ll be damned if babies are going to go hungry if I can do something about it.”
“You are absolutely right about that,” Jake said as he entered the room. “Hi.” He held out his hand to her. “I’m Jake.”
She put her hand in his and then looked at me. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m so happy you could join us this afternoon.”
“Well, from the looks of things, it’s not going to be much of a hardship. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much food in one place before. And for the record, feeding the homeless and children in need are both great causes.”
Aspen’s smile upped in wattage at that last comment. “Thanks. Huff says I have a lot of karma making up to do.”
My opinion of Huff was changing by the second. Aspen wasn’t the only one who’d undergone a personality overhaul. The Huff I remembered from years ago was interested in nothing but sex, yachts, and booze. In that order.
She waved a hand around. “I tend to go overboard, but well, this is important to me. I was telling Alex that what we don’t eat I plan to donate.”
“Excellent idea.” Huff walked in dressed in Armani and looking very Wall Street. “How’s my scrumptious pumpkin?”
“Huffy,” she squealed, “I missed you.”
He took her in his arms. Jake and I both glanced away as the pair lip-locked. He smiled at me and grabbed for my hand. I guess if we were going to pretend, he wanted to make it as real as possible.
When his hand touched mine, my breath caught.
Stop acting like a Catholic schoolgirl on her first date.
Jake kissed my cheek. “Missed you.”
I laughed, especially since he’d just seen me. “Missed you, too.”
The embrace ended, and Aspen and Huff were both blushing. I realized I’d never seen her so happy.
“Babe, this is Jake. He’s Alex’s—” Aspen wasn’t sure what to say.
“Friend.” Jake and I said at the same time. Then we both laughed.
He wrapped his left arm around me and stuck his right hand out to Huff. “It’s still kind of new for us,” he explained. That was no lie. “We’re taking it slow.”
Huff shook Jake’s hand. “It’s obvious you care a great deal for Alex, because no sane man would put himself through this.” Huff pointed to the clipboard in his fiancée’s hand.
Aspen punched his arm. “Hey. This is our wedding and—”
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Everything has to be perfect,” he finished her sentence.
My opinion of Lord Huffington rose in that moment. He cared about her and wanted her to be happy.
“I don’t know about that. There’s free food involved, so it can’t be all bad.” We all laughed at Jake’s joke. I liked the fact that he fit right in.
“So the faster you write down your choices, the quicker we can sample food.” Aspen handed us each a clipboard. “Each couple can start on a different side of the room and move toward the center.” Aspen gave us directions, and we set off to do as she asked. “Oh, and please don’t forget to make notes. We can also mix things from different tables. So keep that in mind.”
Jake whispered to me as we moved to the right side of the room, “This is not what I imagined when you said we were going to help pick out food.”
I touched his arm, and the muscles underneath flexed. I didn’t think he did it on purpose; it was likely more his body responding to mine. “I’m going to owe you big for this.”