Owl and the Japanese Circus (30 page)

This time I had no problem looking him in the eye. “No, I think you’re one of the best friends I have. But I make a point of not trusting my own judgment anymore when it comes to people. Especially when I care about them. I usually get hurt.”

We stood there for I don’t know how long, eyes locked. I held my breath.

“OK,” he finally said. His brow was still furrowed, but he uncrossed his arms and took a step towards me.

“OK what?”

“OK, I can work with that,” he said, and kissed me. This time, instead of bolting for the escape route, I kissed back. We hadn’t figured anything out, but somehow I was OK with it.

Rynn was the one who broke it off. “Come on, let’s not keep Nadya waiting,” he said, and pulled two helmets out of the closet. I took one and raised my eyebrow.

“We’re taking my bike,” he said. “I’m dropping you off, then coming back here to pack.”

That caught me by surprise, until it dawned on me where he was going. It must have telegraphed across my face, because before I could say anything he added, “Yes, I’ve arranged to follow you to Vegas. Someone needs to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”

I was about to argue. I usually argue, but this wasn’t the battle to pick. Instead I said, “Let’s go see how much Nadya has really cooled off.”

Rynn placed a light hand on my arm as I tried to slip past him into the hallway.

“For the record, I’ve never met anyone like you.”

Ten minutes later we pulled up in front of Nadya’s apartment. I slid off the back, my legs shakier than I would have liked—Rynn’s version of driving was what I called street racing—and handed back the helmet.

“You sure you don’t want to come with me?” I said.

“You’ll be fine.”

I shook my head. “You’re getting to be a bad influence on me. Left to my own devices, I’d have let this cool for another week, at least.”

Rynn removed his helmet, a serious expression beneath it. “Alix, when I get to Vegas, there’s something we need to talk about—nothing bad, just important, and not something I want to discuss on the back of my motorbike.”

“Honestly, I’ve reached my serious talk quota for today. Can it wait until after I’ve gotten all the supernatural creatures off my case?”

He frowned. “I don’t think that’s likely to happen to you in the near future. I should be in Vegas late afternoon.”

I thought about it and nodded. “Make it evening. Oricho’s trying to get me to see Mr. Kurosawa.”

Rynn wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in. My heart rate and body temperature shot up.

“I think you like being difficult on purpose,” he said, and kissed me.

I snaked my fingers around Rynn’s neck and kissed back. As much as part of me hated admitting it, I liked Rynn, a lot. And If I was being completely honest with myself, I liked kissing him. There was something comforting and calming about Rynn, especially when he touched me. I’d never noticed it like this before, but then, I’d never spent this much time with him. I’d always had an escape route lined up.

I heard the front door to the apartment building open behind us. I broke off with Rynn to see who was there, though Rynn didn’t let go of my waist.

Nadya.

Instead of saying hello, I did a double take. Nadya was dressed in pink and black velour sweats and a matching pair of sneakers. Her face was bare of any makeup, and her usually fluorescent red hair was a decidedly natural color and tied in a ponytail. Not the Nadya I’m used to.

I recovered and untangled myself from Rynn. “That’s a new look.”

Captain appeared behind her, gave me a quick inspection, sniffed the air, and mrowled before sitting beside Nadya’s feet and cleaning himself.

I shot Captain a dirty look.
Turncoat
.

Nadya stared at me, her hand on her hip, and gave us the once-over. I did my best to not look sheepish. She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. The three of us stood like that for half a second, sizing each other up, as if we were still deciding whether we’d shown up to a gunfight or a housewarming party.

Nadya broke the stalemate first.

“Well? Don’t just stand there,” she said, and waved a folded sheet of paper. “Owl, stop messing around with Rynn and help me pack. Our flight leaves in four hours.”

I glanced at Rynn. “Guess we’re not fighting anymore,” I said.

He shrugged and passed me my bag. “If I’m right a few more times, maybe you’ll start listening.”

“Oh, I listen. It’s the believing part I have a hard time with.”

Rynn yelled something at Nadya in Russian, then gunned the engine. “Be careful this time. Straight to the airport,” he said.

I nodded. That one was easy. I had no intention of chasing after a mad, superpowered vampire.

“Tomorrow night, then,” he said. He winked, slid the visor down, and took off.

I made my way casually towards Nadya. Captain meowed and stood on his hind legs as I walked by. “Figures,” I said, and picked him up. “You’ll do anything for a can of tuna.”

Nadya wasn’t outwardly angry with me anymore. That was clear
enough. But it was the subtle changes, the harder set to her jaw and the guarded look she gave me, that told me we weren’t past this yet by a long shot.

“Nadya—” I started, trying to figure out what the hell I needed to say to make things go back to the way they were.

She stopped me with a shake of her head. “Save it. You can’t fix it this time. Not completely, and not right away.”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you about it, but I was so ashamed of the whole thing I just wanted it to go away.”

Hunh. Ironic when you look where that got me.

“That’s only part of it. Am I hurt you hid it from me? Of course. But you did something I never thought you capable of—me, who’s supposed to be your best friend. That scares me—that
side
of you scares me. Not because I can’t forgive you but because it’s going to get you killed, and I’ve been to enough friends’ funerals.”

She was right, about everything. “What do I have to do?” I said.

She sighed. “We move on, and I hope to hell you show me you’re the person I always thought you were, the person I know is inside there somewhere. Deal?”

I nodded. “Deal.”

Nadya’s mood lightened, and she nodded back towards her building. “Now, help me pack. We leave for the airport in two hours. Dish about last night and I’ll put it towards calling it even.”

“Yeah, what’s this about ‘we’?”

“Something is fishy about all this.” She held up her hand as I started to protest. “Someone has to figure out what the hell is going on while you’re running around. Marie is dangerous, and my nose tells me something else is going on besides just an artifact retrieval.”

“It’s going to be dangerous—” I tried.

Nadya ignored me. “Besides, I have all Nuroshi’s old documents and jump drives. I’ve only scratched the surface, but there’s some good stuff in here. You need me. And I haven’t been to Vegas in a while.”

I sighed. I knew that look. There was no dissuading Nadya once
she set her mind to something. A number of Japanese hosts had found that out the hard way. “What flight are we on?”

“Oh, no—your boss is taking this very seriously. We’re going on a private jet.”

Private jet? Wow. Well, hell, maybe I’d even get some work done. “Provided they have coffee and Corona on board, they can bring me in on the Goodyear blimp.”

“By the way, where did you stay last night?” Nadya asked, trying to sound less interested than she was.

“Rynn’s,” I said as offhandedly as I could.

Nadya grinned as she opened her apartment door.

“What?” I said, following her in.

“Sooo, you finally came to your senses and followed Rynn home?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Tough, I do,” she said, and tossed me a bag of jump-stick hard drives.

I sighed and began sliding them into my bag. I tried to keep them in order with Nadya’s color-coded tape. With luck we’d have a chance to get through most of them on the plane.

I searched through the various pockets in my bag. I could have sworn I’d put the scroll and vase in here last night . . . I found a folded note with my name on the front tucked in a side pocket.

It’s not stealing, it’s finding. I’ll return this to the university.

“Son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. We’re just down twenty grand is all,” I said, and tossed her Rynn’s note.

“You mean you’re down twenty.”

“What?”

“Your boyfriend, your problem.” She shrugged. “Only fair.”

“He’s not my boyfriend—”

“Close enough.”

“Goddamn it. One night and he’s already cost me twenty grand.”
I headed into the kitchen for a coffee, pulled out my cell, and texted Rynn.

We need to have a talk about boundaries.

It’s a date. Tomorrow night in Vegas.

I snorted and wrote back.
Just please say you still have that scroll. Otherwise I’m down twenty grand to Nadya.

I closed my phone and headed back into the living room. “Everything OK?” Nadya asked.

I sighed. “You know me. I attract trouble.”

Fanatics and computers don’t go together.

Most people put a couple passwords in and toss in a few extra firewalls if they’re really paranoid.

Fanatics add booby traps.

Nadya swore and shut Bindi’s laptop. I glanced up from the binders and pictures laid out in a circle around me. We’d only been at it for six hours, but Nadya had bags under her eyes and looked like she was about ready for a nap or shower or both.

Well, at least the private plane was a nice touch. The seats were comfortable, and there was plenty of room . . . that, and the stewardesses weren’t skimping with the Corona. “Anything?” I asked.

Nadya shook her head. “Someone didn’t want anyone in these files. I’m terrified to open most of it, because I think there are self-destruct sequences built in, not only to wipe the hard drive—those are in here, too—but also for the computer to explode.” She ran her hand through her hair and took a sip from her tea. She spit it back into
the cup. The flight attendant had left it with her over an hour ago; it had to be cold.

“How about you?” she asked.

I swirled what was left of my Corona. I’d spent the last three hours comparing my pictures of the dig against Nuroshi’s students’ files. “I’m not any closer to a translation, but I know I’m right about there being a template stuck in here. There has to be.” I made a face and started flipping through a file I’d discarded hours ago. “I just need to puzzle all the pieces together.”

Nadya cradled a bottle of water in her lap and chewed her lower lip. “I may have found one thing, but,” she said, holding up her hand as I sat up, more alert than I’d been in hours, “
if
it is anything, it is
only
a hint. Some of her emails were left open. It may be nothing, but she keeps referring to a ‘device.’ It’s all ramblings, mind you, but I think Mr. Kurosawa’s artifact and this device are one and the same.” Then she showed me the emails.

Sure enough, in between the ravings of a Sabine/Marie-worshiping fanatic, there were references to a “device of blood and destruction, a great equalizer” they’d been looking for in all the same places I’d been.

“Any other mentions of this great equalizer?”

Nadya shrugged. “Beyond those emails it’s gibberish. As you said, this girl is ‘batshit crazy.’ ”

I couldn’t help thinking what Alexander had told me about Marie and what she did to her flunkies.

“It sounds like a weapon more than a device,” I said. I really didn’t like the idea of Marie, or Mr. Kurosawa, for that matter, getting their hands on any kind of “great equalizer.” Something about the mention of blood got me thinking. I opened my laptop and pulled up the blood pictographs from the first site. There was something about them that didn’t quite fit with the other sets; they were more picture than writing, if that makes sense.

“Hmmm?” I said. I’d completely missed something Nadya had said.

“Do you have something?”