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Surprised at being called into VIPER headquarters at noon for a group agent meeting, Ossian entered the underground amphitheater in his Emilio persona.

Sen had no respect for Emilio as a mage, thanks to Ossian’s bumbling on two missions. It was imperative for him to maintain a distant relationship with Sen, and being called in worked against his need to come and go at will.

Ossian had gained the attention of his queen and he would make her proud. His star was rising in the Medb. He intended to keep proving himself worthy to be the next person in line behind the queen and Cathbad.

His former Medb warrior team hated him. He could live with their jealousy. Anyone with a bit of ambition would jump to be in his place.

Queen Maeve had far less patience than Cathbad, but Ossian had to admit that he’d enjoyed receiving her entire focus on his last trip to the tower. He’d never considered who was specifically in charge once the queen and Cathbad reincarnated, but it was clear that his queen ran things. Ossian would make her happy and make Cathbad proud of him, but only if Sen did not screw up his mission.

What could have happened for Sen to call in so many agents for this meeting?

In fact, who were all of these people?

Ossian saw a couple of faces here and there he’d seen before, but none were Beladors. He didn’t recognize many of the other agents. Not that all VIPER agents were clean-cut, upstanding types, but the majority seemed to be similar, cookie-cutter versions.

These strangers dressed in an assortment of rugged jeans, weathered leather, tactical vests and wifebeaters, with everything from shaggy beards to shaved heads and tattooed sleeves. They carried everything from hatchets to swords, and they smelled odd, like some tool pulled from a shed left abandoned for years.

The simplest description he could assign to this group was predatory.

Most of them clearly didn’t like waiting, but Ossian could stand here for as long as was needed. The others rumbled in low conversations with the occasional curse or shout at each other.

“Listen up, people,” Sen called out, his voice cutting through the rumble of chatter.

Ossian jerked around at the sound and lowered his gaze to the stage where Sen stood way down below rows and rows of tiered seating cut into the stone. “We’ve had a large number of vacancies open up for VIPER agents due to the Beladors bailing on their responsibilities.”

Now that was interesting.

Sen didn’t slow down. “Thanks to VIPER’s relationship with Dakkar and his bounty service, we now have a large group of his bounty hunters willing to step in and help. Current VIPER agents are to offer any needed assistance to the new agents.”

So these new people were bounty hunters.

Ossian couldn’t wait to share that with the queen and Cathbad.

He mentally ran back over all he’d studied about VIPER, the Beladors and other groups he’d encountered as Emilio. Dakkar ran a large group of international bounty hunters and had an unusual deal in that he didn’t have to align himself officially with VIPER. The coalition allowed him to operate throughout this region as long as he performed occasional tasks for them.

But this was more than a task. A sea of deadly operators filled the room.

Bounty hunters as VIPER agents.

Dakkar didn’t have a reputation for taking on people burdened by principles.

His hunters were given free reign as long as they produced, and all of them were nonhuman.

What kind of nonhumans?

Sen continued running down the list of priorities and how it would be refreshing to be able to send them out on their own without the need for partnering.

Now Ossian understood what was going on.

Generally, the agents worked in teams whenever possible and lately that had been a requirement due to all the paranormal incidents that had popped up around Atlanta.

Ossian had heard more than one rumor about Medb witches and warlocks being behind the trouble, but not so much lately. Once Cathbad separated him from the Medb Scáth Force unit, allowing Ossian more mobility, he had less solid street intel. The unit now answered directly to Cathbad, and to be honest, Ossian didn’t mind the change at all.

The rest of the elite unit had made it clear they didn’t care for Ossian as a leader.

They just didn’t like that they were overlooked when Cathbad chose one warrior to become a polymorph.

“One more thing,” Sen said, holding everyone’s attention. “We do still have some Belador agents finishing up assignments, but they’re on thin ice with VIPER. If, or maybe I should say when, VIPER decides the Beladors have broken their agreement with the coalition, I will alert you to a change in their status from ally to enemy. Should that happen, I’ll issue a kill-on-sight notice. In the meantime, if you come across a Belador who appears to be on a VIPER project who is not doing his or her job, alert me. If you see Beladors breaking any of our laws, no matter how slight, you have the freedom to use any force you deem necessary to apprehend them and deliver them to me.”

That sounded like open season on Beladors.

The queen and Cathbad would be thrilled to hear this.

Sen began handing out assignments to the motley group. The new agents took them and walked out without another word. There might be something to say for agents who wasted no time getting a job done.

As everyone dispersed, Ossian moved down the stairs and waited nearby for Sen to recognize him as the Italian mage, Emilio. When it happened, Sen seemed to pause, then muttered something to himself. He shoved an assignment at Emilio without so much as a hello, then continued on to pass out instructions to the rest of the bounty hunters.

Finding a place off to the side, Ossian leaned against a wall and lifted his document to appear as though he were reading his assignment details.

In truth, he powered up his hearing to catch what Sen was saying to each of the last hunters.

Each one was given an assignment in a different part of the city.

Come on, Sen, get to the one I need.

Finally, Sen turned to one scruffy looking guy with a thick beard who wore a long duster battered enough to suggest he had plenty of street cred to back up his deadly appearance.

“What’s your name?” Sen asked.

“Bull.”

“You take the next guard duty in our high-risk area. Shift starts in fifteen minutes.”

“What? I’m a bounty hunter, not a babysitter. I don’t do guard work.”

Standing eight inches taller than the six-foot-tall bounty hunter, Sen snarled down at him, “I will deduct a premium from Dakkar’s payment for any of his girls who whine.”

“Fuck.” Bull muttered something else, then said, “Fine. How long am I stuck down there and what do I have to do?”

“You’ve got a twelve-hour shift. We have three high-risk criminals.” Sen told him where the three were located on that lower level. “Don’t take your mobile phone down there. I just increased the security. The power will fry any electronics. Be sure to get the ID badge from the guard you relieve and keep it on except when you patrol. You patrol that area every hour. When you do, leave the badge on the chair each time. If you go missing, we’ll know you didn’t leave the building.”

“What kind of security does it have?”

“I infused a special energy into the walls on that level. You’ll see it when you get there. If something goes wrong, touch a wall and call out the problem. I’ll hear you. Think you can handle that, Bull?”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” Bull turned to leave.

Sen called out, “Where are you going?”

“To my truck. Luckily I have a magazine that doesn’t need a WIFI connection,” he smarted back.

Shaking his head, Sen watched Bull for a moment, then vanished.

Ossian had his opening.

He left quickly, but not so fast he’d draw attention. When he reached the nearby wooded area where vehicles were parked, he waited as the agents left, except for Bull, who slammed his door, cursing to himself about arrogant pricks.

Standing still, Ossian listened for anyone else approaching, but it was just him and Bull. When the bounty hunter realized he wasn’t alone, he looked Ossian up and down with a narrow gaze. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Emilio. I’m a mage with VIPER.”

“Get out of my way, Emilio the mage, or I’m going to twist your head off just to brighten my day.”

Drawing on the power Cathbad had given him, Ossian murmured a spell and pushed power into it.

Bull leaned in with his ear cocked, then pulled back. “You bastard.”  By the time he lifted his hands to unleash whatever preternatural weapon he possessed, Ossian had blinded and muted him.

Grabbing at his eyes as if that would turn them back to brown from the milky white they now were, Bull made odd noises behind his lips, which wouldn’t open.

Ossian couldn’t use more of his power. He had a limit and needed the majority of it for morphing into different physical appearances. But he did have enough to knock Bull onto his back and drag him to Ossian’s nondescript white sedan and shove him into the trunk. Lifting a folded blanket, he smothered Bull until he was deathly still.

Once he changed into the image of Bull, Ossian pulled on the hunter’s clothes. They stank, but to alter that might give him away. He made his way down to the high-security level beneath VIPER’s mountain.

He recognized the man on duty right away.

His last name was Jordan, but his friends called him Casper for some reason. He had the easygoing attitude and boots that branded him a cowboy, but Ossian had little intel on this man. He’d like to find out just what power this cowboy wielded.  

Casper was friendly with the Beladors, often working with Evalle and Quinn, which made him the enemy. Emilio had not been part of a team with Casper yet, but he’d noticed that the man seemed perpetually happy.

Ossian suffered a moment of jealousy over Casper’s easygoing life and freedom.

Medb members were subject to a queen’s rule from the moment they were born. Ossian’s first chance of stepping above all Medb warlocks, even their Scáth Force, had come when Cathbad singled Ossian out to be a special operative.

He quickly brushed away any lingering envy of Casper. That would be the last thing he wanted Cathbad or the queen to find if either one entered Ossian’s mind, which had happened twice already. Cathbad said the mental invasion was so that the druid could be sure Ossian’s polymorph ability continued to be strong and precise. Failing to morph entirely into a new person would expose his gift to their enemies.

That sounded reasonable, but Ossian believed there was more to Cathbad’s searching Ossian’s mind than maintaining his abilities.

It didn’t matter. One did not question those two beings.

The initial adjustment to becoming a polymorph had been painful, and the agony had persisted for weeks.

Still, he had no regrets.

Cathbad had also bestowed additional power on Ossian that was woven into his very being. He would never match the levels of power Cathbad or Queen Maeve controlled, but he wouldn’t need to match them as long as he was the top man on their team.

“You’re new,” Casper said in a southern drawl, leaning against the wall next to an empty chair. He dropped a rolled-up magazine on the chair.

The action reminded Ossian that Bull had failed to get the reading material he’d gone to retrieve. Ossian cared nothing about casual reading, but he’d rather not leave a tiny detail for Sen to notice after Ossian completed his mission successfully. The perfect outcome depended upon blaming the escape on someone else. Casper had a magazine, but then most people would bring something to read during a boring assignment.  

Time to switch mentally from Ossian to Bull, right down to the belligerent voice.

“I’m Bull. One of Dakkar’s men.” 

Suspicion entered Casper’s voice. “You an agent with VIPER?”

“I am now, dickwad. You got a problem with that? Take it up with Sen.”

Casper eyed Bull up and down, but who would dare to come down here without Sen’s permission? He must have concluded Bull was telling the truth, because Casper said, “No problem. It’s all yours.”

When Casper leaned down to pick up the magazine, Bull said, “Shit, left my magazine in the truck.”

Giving an exaggerated sigh, Casper offered, “You can have this one ... dickwad.”

Bull chuckled, because that seemed like a good way to defuse the tension. “You’re okay, asshole.”

Not acknowledging that comment, Casper gave Bull the usual end-of-duty debrief. “Everything has been fine. I just made a walk-through before you got here, which reminds me...” Casper lifted the lanyard over his head and handed Bull the ID badge. “A word to the wise. When you go on patrol, don’t slow down near that Veronika. We’ve had some crazy bad stuff locked up down here in the past, but she’s in a league all her own. Sings crazy shit on and off. A loony bird, that one. I swear I can feel her nasty shit touching me through that damn wall when I slow down.”

Giving a shudder for effect, Bull said, “Thanks for the warning, cowboy. Think she can get out?”

“Not with the system Sen has in place.”

Bull made a point of cutting his eyes at the energy flowing across the walls. He’d seen it the first time he’d changed from Ossian to a Belador named Lionel Macaffey. He’d killed the Belador and taken Macaffey’s place as guard in this area.

The rock surface had some kind of shiny coating that moved like a wide stream of energy from floor to ceiling, and reflected light in a sparkling array of colors. It wasn’t as if he had to touch the walls, which were twelve feet apart, but he had walked dead center to avoid the energy Sen had injected into the rock itself.

Dismissing it as unimportant, Bull said, “I’m glad that crazy bastard has decent security. I’ve heard rumors about Veronika. Someone said she crippled one guy. Might be true, might not, but either way I got things to do when this gig is done. I got no reason to risk bleeding over some bitch.”

Casper just said, “With any luck, she’ll never get out, or she’ll mow down everyone with any power.”

“Shit, she can try,” Bull boasted, making it clear he wouldn’t be run over. Ossian could get used to this beefy body and killer attitude.

A knowing smile ghosted Casper’s lips. “I’m outta here.” Walking past Bull, Casper said, “Not sure I can say you’re okay, asshole.”

“Good for you to realize that,” Bull quipped.

Casper didn’t even acknowledge his words.

Perfect.

Waiting ten minutes, Ossian placed his ID badge on the chair. Evidently in the past, some guards had disappeared, and VIPER wanted to be sure they disappeared inside the tunnels. Not that it would help the poor guard who hadn’t made it out alive. Sen just wanted to know for sure that someone had entered the tunnels willingly.

Ossian had never heard of a prisoner escaping, which made what he had to do today seem impossible.

But he was not just anybody and he had a plan.

After passing the first two incarcerated beings, the second of which made his skin crawl even though it never made a sound, Ossian slowed his approach as he neared Veronika’s cell.

He couldn’t clear the rock covering without Sen’s approval.

That created one obstacle he had to work around.

“Veronika?” he called softly as he approached the area of her cell. He knew the minute the witch realized she had company. The hair on his arms spiked and his skin felt too tight all of a sudden. Was she doing that?

She hadn’t responded otherwise.

His skin tightened more.

How was she getting to him from inside a stone-covered and warded cell?

Taking a shallow breath, since he had trouble breathing at all, he said, “Veronika. I’ve come to help you.”

Now he felt on fire.

What was she doing to him? Was this a test he had to pass before she would talk to him?

His eyes burned and floated in liquid. Moisture ran down his cheek. He sniffed at the coppery scent. He couldn’t move his hand to check, but he felt sure his eyes were bleeding.

“I tell ... the truth, Veronika. I would never ... risk ... your wrath. Please allow me ...” He forced out the last words, “To help free you.”

All the pressure and heat on his skin vanished.

He grabbed his throat and breathed in and out, just to be sure he could still do it.

Her words floated out on a tune. “Tell me, tell me, who dares enter my domain. Tell me, tell me, why I should trust that you are sane?”

Licking his dry lips, he said, “I come to present an opportunity offered by my queen.”

Seconds ticked off as he waited for her reply, but she did not sing this time. “You are here because you need me.”

What should he say to that?

He’d expected her to jump at the chance to escape. Cathbad had trained him to be an emissary, an assassin and a negotiator. Drawing on all that he’d been taught, Ossian said, “Every good agreement is based on two parties who have something of value to trade. I am authorized to offer you assistance to escape in return for your sharing information my queen believes you possess.”

“Do you really believe I will share anything while I am still in here?”

What had Queen Maeve said? That she would be disappointed if Veronika made it easy? She’d been right about that.

He said, “My queen realizes you would not do so, which is why I will help you escape, but you must give me your word to work with her in gaining what she’s after.”

Another long pause, then Veronika said, “Why should I believe that you can help me?”

“Because I am a very special operative created just for this mission. This is the second time I’ve been a guard for the high-security level in the past six weeks.”  He gave her a moment for that to sink in. “I’m sure you’ve figured out that VIPER does not allow anyone to repeat guard duty more than once in six months and seldom twice in a year. If we come to an agreement, I will launch my plan to get you out of here.”

“What plan? How can you do this?”

Her answer was quick.

He’d clearly gotten her attention.

Smiling now, he said, “I have told you enough. If I do not free you, then you will have lost nothing in giving your word and allowing me to try. I have one question I must have answered first.”

“What would that be?”

“You often sing that you know the Belador Maistir’s secret. Are you singing about Vladimir Quinn, and is his secret one that Kizira also knew?”

Again, Ossian waited patiently, but for almost ten minutes this time, for her to answer.

“You are still here. You are determined,” she said.

“Yes. I am loyal to my queen and will face any threat to complete my mission.” Something odd just dawned on him. “You haven’t asked me my name or that of my queen.”

“I know who you are and that you have been here recently. You were pretending to be a Belador warrior the day Quinn and the Sterling witch visited.”

She’d realized he’d been impersonating a guard? Even without seeing him?

This time, the hair on his arms stood up sharply out of an emotional reaction to her words. He didn’t want to call it fear, but serious respect.

She said, “You can tell Queen Maeve the answer to both of her questions is yes. I sing about the Belador Maistir, Quinn, and the secret he shared with Kizira. If you free me, I give you my word to tell your queen that secret.”

Queen Maeve would be so proud of him, but did his queen realize he was dealing with someone truly insane?

He shook his head at himself. Who am I to question someone as powerful as Queen Maeve? She knows what she’s doing.

Right now, he had to keep his excitement under control. The mission was not yet complete.

He told Veronika, “The moment we leave, I’ll take you to Queen Maeve and allow you to share the secret with her. You can join forces with her and she will be able to protect you when VIPER sends an army to hunt you.”

Veronika said, “What are you waiting for?”

What a churlish attitude. This witch had no manners. She should show her appreciation for all that he was about to do.

She’d agreed to share her secret, which was step one.

Once Queen Maeve had Veronika in TÅμr Medb, this witch would soften her attitude if she hoped to survive.

Ossian said, “Here’s the plan.”