Authors: Carrie Vaughn
“No. To find out if maybe Franklin can start blizzards as well as hurricanes.”
“We don’t even know that he can start hurricanes.”
“Cormac said he was up to something. What if it’s this?” I pointed to the falling snow.
It wasn’t a blizzard. Not yet. In fact, it might have been slowing down—the gray clouds were only spitting flakes, which melted as soon as they touched down. Wet, messy—but not a blizzard.
“You’re—” He stopped.
“What? I’m what?”
“I was about to say paranoid. But sometimes, you’re right.”
“So I should call Cormac.”
“Maybe in just a minute,” he said, and wrapped his arms around me, trapping me against his body. I could feel his chest move with his breathing, and time stopped for a moment as we watched the snow fall. If only all mornings could be like this.
C
ORMAC WANTED
to meet and talk, which meant he had something. He came over to the condo midmorning, sheltering a manila folder inside his leather jacket. His brown hair was dark with damp from the falling snow.
Ben and I were dressed and ready for company by then. We gathered around the dining room table over hot coffee.
“What have you got?” Ben said.
“Two things: a lot of speculation, and this.” Cormac pulled a page from the folder. It showed a blurry photograph, low resolution, high angle—footage from a security camera, maybe. The setting seemed to be the lobby of an office building, at
night—polished granite floors, potted ferns in the corners and at a security desk. Lights flared in reflection off a row of glass doors.
Two figures were shaking hands. One of them was clearly Franklin, much as I’d seen him last week, in his expensive coat and confident bearing. The other was a blur, indistinguishable. As if the person was moving, maybe turning quickly at the sound of a noise.
But that wasn’t it. I had seen this before.
“It’s surveillance footage,” I said.
Cormac nodded. “From the lobby of the building in New York where Franklin has his offices.”
“How the hell did you get this?” Ben asked.
“You sure you want to know?” Cormac answered.
“This isn’t going to be admissible in court, is it?” Ben said.
“Probably not, but we’re past that. Here’s the speculation: I think Franklin’s a hired gun. But I don’t have a clue who he’s working for.”
“That’s a vampire,” I said, pointing to the mysterious blurry figure. Vampires didn’t always show up on camera—they could when they chose to. But they could also manipulate the way they interacted with light—traveling in shadow, seeming to appear and disappear magically. No reflections. And blurring their recorded images.
Cormac looked at me, his lips pressed in a line.
After a moment he said, “Yeah. Maybe. That’s more speculation.”
“Franklin’s a hit man?” Ben said, leaning over the table, looking confused. “But why? He owns a multimillion-dollar corporation.”
“You should know better than anybody, some guys don’t get into it for the money,” Cormac said. “If I’m right, then Kitty’s right, and Speedy Mart’s a front that lets Harold Franklin travel all over the country, anchoring his spells to do whatever he needs to do. And it always looks like an accident. A natural disaster. Collateral damage covers up the hit even better.”
“Isn’t it more likely that Franklin’s doing the hiring of whoever this guy is?” Ben’s inclination was to argue. To poke holes in arguments. I was grateful for that now, because Cormac’s story sounded crazy. Except that it made so much sense. I bet even Charles from Shreveport hadn’t considered this explanation.
“Anything’s possible,” Cormac said, and the phrase had never sounded truer. He nodded at me. “Except you look like you know who this vampire is.”
“Roman,” I said. Ben rubbed his hand through his hair. His shoulders had gone stiff, like hackles rising, and his body seemed poised to spring.
Cormac noticed it and glanced between us. “That guy you tangled with last year? The two-thousand-year-old vampire?”
“Yeah.”
“This sound like something he would do?”
“Yeah,” I said. And I wasn’t surprised, I couldn’t be. I knew Roman would be back, somehow. “So Franklin’s trying to kill me—”
“Or punish you. Show that he—and whoever hired him—has power over you. They waited for an opening, and you gave them one when you did your show. Discredit you with the lawsuit, punish you with whatever Franklin has cooking. They might even have planted some stories to encourage you.”
So I’d brought this on myself. If I’d just shut up, if I hadn’t gone poking the wasp’s nest . . . But no. I had every right to question Franklin. Because I was
right
, dammit. I said, “You guessed all this because this is how you would do it. The hit-man mentality.”
He nodded. “It’s when he came to see you. There are a couple of kinds of hit men. There are the pros, the ones who do the job quick and clean, no fuss, collect the pay and go home. Then you have the thrill seekers. They have to be clever. Look the target in the eye. Put some flash into the job. Taunt. Franklin’s a wizard first. He just hires out for the thrill. He wasn’t kidding when he said he just wanted to see you face to face.”
“So what do we do? How do we stop him?”
Ben and Cormac glanced at each other, then away.
“We don’t,” Ben said finally. “Because we have no proof.”
Cormac said, “All we have is speculation. We can’t do anything until he makes a move. Unless we want to take him down ourselves.”
Which put us in legal trouble, if we got caught.
I got up and went for my phone, in my bag on the coffee table.
“Who are you calling?” Ben said.
I’d already speed dialed the number; I held my hand up to ask Ben to wait. And the voice mail came up, which I expected. I left a message. “Hi, Rick. It’s Kitty. We may have a situation. I’ll explain later, when you’re awake. If I’m still here, that is.” I flipped the phone shut.
“Rick’s not going to be up until nightfall,” Ben said.
“I know, but at least he’ll know there’s trouble when he is up.” Then I dialed the second number.
Detective Hardin answered on the first ring. “Hardin here.”
Detective Jessi Hardin was my ally in the Denver PD, head of and pretty much only officer in the Paranatural Unit. She handled crimes involving the supernatural and had a generally open mind—and a hard nose.
I opened my mouth and realized I had nothing to say. This was what Ben and Cormac meant by not having proof. What did I tell her, that the respected
president of a major company was really a wizard hit man out for my blood and that the entire city might be in danger? That was crazy even by my standards. Hardin was usually sympathetic, but this might be pushing my luck.
“Hi, Detective. How are you?” I said instead.
“Kitty, I’m a little swamped here. Do you need something?” I heard the sounds of traffic and yelling in the background.
“I don’t know,” I said, wincing. “I have some . . . suspicions. I’m afraid something might be up.” Was that vague enough?
She sighed. “I’m sure it’s very interesting, but unless you have an actual crime for me to investigate, can it wait?”
In other words, until we had something we could arrest Franklin for, she couldn’t do anything. “Yeah, sure. Sorry to bother you.”
I wasn’t sure she heard me—she was shouting at someone about getting a car off the road. “Kitty, I’ll talk to you later, okay?” she said into the phone.
“Sure. Hey, take care, it sounds rough out there.”
“You have no idea. Later,” she said, and hung up.
I closed the phone. Ben and Cormac were both looking at me, smug in their lack of expressions. They didn’t even have to say
I told you so.
“The question still stands,” I said. “What are we going to do?”
“It’s a full moon tonight,” Cormac said. “I assumed you’d both be busy.”
Shitty timing, as usual. But if Cormac was right, it was all part of the plan. I returned to my seat; my coffee had gone cold.
“We’ll just keep our eyes open, as usual,” Ben said, and gave a fatalistic shrug.
“You’ll keep an eye on Franklin while we’re out?” I said.
“I’m stuck on him like a burr,” Cormac said, getting up and grabbing his coat off the back of his chair. He left the photo on the table.
“Be careful,” I said. He nodded, and closed the condo door behind him.
T
HE SKY
hadn’t done more than spit snow all afternoon. Meteorologist predictions didn’t call for anything worse than that, but I wasn’t making any bets. Low cloud cover made for a depressing trip out; the sky seemed darker than it should have been, settling over the city like a lead blanket.
Cormac called once to say he didn’t have any more news—Franklin was lying low. He told us to be careful, which indicated that he was, in fact, worried.
Well before sunset, Ben and I picked up Tyler and Walters at the VA hospital. Dr. Shumacher met us at the door. She wore jeans, a sweater, and a heavy down parka and looked like she was getting ready for an Arctic expedition. Fair enough; it was cold out. But it was so incongruous, so unlike her usual prim appearance and bearing. It set me on edge.
“Hello, Doctor,” I said. “Are they ready to go?”
“Just about, I think. I’ve asked them wait inside while we talk.”
I glanced at Ben; his expression was neutral. One of his courtroom faces, which made me pretty sure he wasn’t going to like what Shumacher was about to say any more than I would. She had a tension to her—tight lips and stiff shoulders.
“What’s the problem?” I said.
“I need to know where you’ll be tonight,”
Of course she did. I shook my head. “I can’t tell you that, Doctor.”
“I have to know where you’re taking my patients.” She straightened, trying to make herself look taller; we were about the same height. She’d probably been working herself up to this conversation all day. She smelled nervous, sweating under her coat.
“I’m sorry, but this isn’t just about your patients. It’s about my pack. I need to keep them safe and that means no outsiders. As long as Tyler and Walters are with me they’re part of my pack.”
“But I have to monitor them, I have to record their progress, and if something were to go wrong—”
“So you can have Colonel Stafford there with the tranquilizer guns? Around my wolves? No.” And I realized that she’d probably been planning it. Stafford and his soldiers were probably on alert, waiting for Shumacher’s call in their van or troop carrier or whatever they used. They’d expected to be able to watch our full-moon adventures. I had to rein
in my frustration, my anger. Next to me, Ben’s shoulder brushed mine, a brief touch to anchor me:
settle down, now
.
“How can you call them
your
wolves?” she said. She’d probably thought of them as hers.
“Because they’re my responsibility. I’ve promised to protect them.”
“Can you even do that?”
I asked myself that every day. How the hell did I end up here? With this responsibility? Who was I to deserve that kind of loyalty? To demand that kind of respect? Because I was the one who was there. Because I could.
“You don’t understand, do you? All the research you’ve done, everything you’ve learned, and you don’t understand. I’m the alpha of this pack. And you’ll never find out where we’re going.”
Her gaze flickered away for a moment. Her authority wasn’t working on me.
“I can refuse to release them to your custody,” she said. “I don’t have to let them go.”
I suppressed a growl. I almost exclaimed, shouted a denial in my panic. After all we’d accomplished, she wouldn’t do that, would she? She just couldn’t. I almost begged. But I stopped myself and took a deep breath.
I said, “Then you’re going to have to be the one to tell them that they get to spend the full moon locked up in a concrete cell. You’re going to have to deal
with them when they go crazy and try to break out.”
“We have procedures for that. This wouldn’t be their first full moon in custody,” she said, but her voice wavered, like she wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t have wanted to tell Tyler and Walters—I could just about see the looks on their faces. Disappointment, betrayal, rage, and no reason to hold back.
“I don’t want to argue with you,” I said. “You’re the one who asked me to help, and I told you what I think will help—getting them outside and showing them how to control themselves. I promise I’ll bring them back in the morning, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just—” Instead of finishing the thought, she bowed her head and sighed. “I want to be there. I want to watch.”
Ben spoke up. “Has it occurred to you how dangerous that could be?”
“But to see a werewolf pack during the full moon, to record it . . .” Again, she trailed off. Of course she knew how dangerous it could be. That was why she was never going to see it for herself.
“I suppose you could try one of those cages that the guys who study polar bears use, but I’m not sure how much good it would do you,” I said.