Dez

 

Saying goodnight to Mya, I left the Warimber Building and stood across the street from it. The air was heavy, threatening either rain or snow, and I pulled out my phone, dialing Beni.

“Have you lost your mind?” I demanded.

“What’s wrong now, Dezzy?” Beni asked, sounding distracted. “Too helpful?”

“Why would you hire her? Why do you even need an assistant?” I hissed, then took a deep breath. “Beni, with everything that is going on, this is a bad idea. A very bad idea.”

"I disagree," he said mildly. "You mentioned you wanted to keep an eye on her, I needed help around the office and saw that she'd put her name in for work and it works out. What're you complaining about? She's gorgeous and brilliant."

“I wanted to keep an eye on her because I’m trying to see if she has any connection to what is going on in this city. If she does…” I trailed off.

“If she does, better to keep her close. There's nothing in that office but the stacks of research belonging to two mad professors. Let her waste her time digging through that and organizing my files. It will be one less thing I have to do and I can work on my book and help you.”

I went to argue again and drew a hand over my face. Beni did have a point.

“Did Meghan find anything?” I asked, naming the chemist we'd given the pills to analyze.

“Not yet, kid,” Beni replied. “Now if you’re done, I have work to do.”

The phone clicked off and I stared at the screen until it shut off. I was about to shove it in my pocket when it buzzed and a text from Balt came through.

I haven’t heard anything about SOA getting put anywhere but the front-lines. Not the Northeast, that’s for sure. Everything is about containment. There was a hybrid outbreak in Bangladesh yesterday. It was bad, to put it mildly.

“Jesus,” I muttered as my fingers flew across the keyboard.

Balt’s response to my condolences was blunt and to the point. Why are you asking?

Hesitating, I wrote back, Rumors, that’s all. False ones by any account. Don’t worry about me, I’m keeping my head down and working, that’s all. Just wanted to check in on you guys.

Instead of a response, Balt sent a picture of Kesari and Isla each holding one of the twins. A smile pulled onto my face and I sighed.

You should be here with us, Dez. The twins need to meet their uncle, brother.

Soon, I wrote back, before I stashed my phone away.

 

“I want to talk to you.”

I’d been crouching at the edge of a building roof, back in gear and waiting for the lights to go out in a lab below. Slowly, I stood up and turned around.

She had me, the mystery Anubis woman. Or rather, she could have. I hadn’t even heard her sneak up on me, but she hadn’t attacked or taken me out. Instead, she stood there, hands on her hips.

“Hey, it’s my shadow,” I said, grinning. “Wondered if you’d be back.”

“What are you after?” she asked.

“The TLO, of course,” I said in a low voice.

“Why?”

I blinked at her in surprise. “Surely you know what they are capable of.”

“I do,” she said a hard note in her voice. “I'm just not sure how you do.”

“I’ve seen it firsthand,” I replied grimly.

“Where? California? Hawaii?” She moved closer and I cast around for escape routes. “And if you know how dangerous they are, why are you going up against them alone?”

“I have my reasons,” I growled.

“Okay, Batman, nice try,” she folded her arms and stuck a hip out. “I’m one of the good guys. I’ve spent years tracking them down and I can tell you, they’re not here. They’re in–”

“Bangladesh at the moment?” I asked and she stood up straighter. “Until they decide to move on and create havoc elsewhere? Ever wonder how they can hop around the globe so easily?”

The Anubis woman didn’t answer, but I knew I’d piqued her with my information. And I knew I was playing a dangerous game, but I couldn’t help it. In a way, I was enjoying myself.

“How did you know about Crane?” she finally asked.

“I didn’t,” I replied and she shot me a glare. “I saw him.” Gesturing behind me, I said. “He’s right down there, about to leave his lab and go home for the night. Talk to his pet snakes.”

I’d expected her to demand proof.

I hadn’t expected her to launch herself off the roof.

“Dammit!” I snarled under my breath as she vanished into the shadows, sneaking up to the lab. Feeling as though I’d brought this on myself, I followed suit and caught up to her at the window.

“I don’t need backup, Batman,” she said caustically.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. “He has guards. If he hears you or sees you–”

“I’m well aware of what the snake-charmer can accomplish,” she whispered back. “So, where is he?”

Straightening, I stared inside and saw the brightly lit lab was empty. My instincts jumped into action and I grabbed the Anubis woman’s arm.

“We have to go, now,” I said.

The moment I’d said it, something whistled through the air and I shoved her down, catching it between two fingers. A yellow tranquilizer dart, filled with the potent Q-Cocktail of the TLO.

“Damn, I missed,” muttered a female voice I knew. Looking up, I saw the woman from the docks, Evie, taking aim again. She was wearing a chunky coat with a ruffled fur collar and smoking a cigar. In the washed-out streetlights against the snow, she gave off a 30’s noir look.

It would have been impressive if she wasn’t aiming a gun at my head.

As she fired again, I shifted and melted back into the shadows.

“You know, I heard there was a King Cheetah running around. Vigilante, right? Especially since the Order doesn’t have any in the ranks currently. And who’s your little girlfriend?”

I couldn’t quite place her accent. It almost sounded like she was an ex-pat from Britain.

The two bear shifters from the other night rolled up, both of them glancing around with hard looks on their flat, wide-jawed faces. “Evie, what is it?”

“King came back,” she replied. “Brought a friend. Think she’s a clouded leopard.”

Clouded leopard, I thought to myself. Why does that sound familiar?

“Rr, that pain in the ass again,” rumbled the other bear, shifting and roaring. He was running straight at me and I was boxed in. Backing up, I was preparing to leap over him when a gold blur slammed into his back flank and knocked him over. He roared again, spinning around.

For a moment, I temporarily realized how bizarre this was. Shifter fighting in the middle of a city. But that quickly passed as I realized the Order agent had given me a way out.

Running hard, I slipped out, narrowly missing the darts from Evie’s gun. The Anubis shifter was on my tail and together we escaped, running up to a rooftop together and shifting back.

I glanced down. Evie was scanning the area, her eyes darting everywhere and I pulled back. Damn, this place was compromised and all thanks to Shadow. They’d probably take the whole thing underground now.

“We should get out of here,” she said from behind me.

I turned and grimaced. “Why did you do that? Now they’re going to go clean house!”

“Do you know who that was?” she asked coldly, drawing herself up to her full height. She must have been about 5’6 or so, I realized absently. “That woman?”

“Evie, right?” I asked.

“Evelyn Valspar. She was once one of the most wanted criminals of the Order. Her and her brothers. And it’s rare that she misses! You got lucky tonight, vigilante, but you need to leave this to me.”

“You wouldn’t even know they were here if it wasn’t for me,” I said, outraged.

“Fine, yes, the Order thanks you for your service. In exchange for not arresting you, I’ll be happy to take everything you have on the TLO’s presence in Boston.”

“I saved your life,” I said flatly.

“Ha!” she said with a sharp, bitter laugh. “I’m not one to ever need saving. I do the saving.”

“I had your back out there and you can’t do anything but threaten me with arrest?” She didn’t respond. “Fine, I’ll tell you everything, but you have to answer this. Why didn’t anyone know Dr. Crane was missing from the Order holding cells? Why is no one looking for him?”

I watched as she briefly glanced down. “You’re not in a position to ask questions.”

“You’re not in a position to arrest me,” I replied icily. “That’s not happening. I have too much work to do here. And thank you, very much, Ms. Shadow, for making it that much harder.”

“You’re not going anywhere, King,” she snapped.

“Try not to get shot again,” I said, walking backward.

“Wait,” she said. “I-I won’t arrest you. Just tell me this, what are you trying to do here?”

“Stop them,” I said.

“Why here, though? What’s going on?” she asked.

“Oh no,” I said. “You have to prove yourself first. Come to the Reflection Pool on Huntington, alone and maybe I’ll give you a sample of what’s going on in this city. But it will come at a price.”

My heart was beating throughout my body. What was I doing? Beni said to keep this close to the chest, to not even tell him the full extent of what was going on if I hoped to be successful.

“When and what time?” she asked after a moment.

I blinked at her. “Tomorrow, 10 p.m. Wear a white scarf and I’ll wear blue.”

“What is this, a date in Paris?” she muttered. “Fine.”

“It’s a date then,” I couldn’t help but say roguishly and began to walk away. “They’re coming, Shadow. Time for us to go our separate ways.”

“Tell me one more thing before you go,” she said. “Why are you doing this alone?”

I glanced at her over my shoulder. She was standing there with a hand outstretched, as though attempting to stop me and the snow framed her silhouette.

“It’s simple. I don’t trust the Order. And neither should you.”