Unawakened (27 page)

“Bullets won’t stop many dae. Are you sure you want to do street work?”

“Sir, if it means a chance of finding Rob, I will poke my head down every single alley in the city. I’m aware of my limitations.”

“Personal involvement isn’t wise in our line of work. It impairs judgment.”

Desperation did, too, but I wasn’t about to open my mouth and betray Rob’s secret. While I worried about losing my freedom by forming a dependence on him, Rob already relied on me for his well-being.

I couldn’t afford to let any of the dae find out what I meant to Rob.

I could live without him, but the reverse wasn’t true, and the consequences of my failure scared me far more than any job or threat Kenneth had ever thrown my way. Rob needed to eat, even if he found his sustenance by keeping me company.

“True, but no one will be as motivated as me to get the job done. I have one goal, and that is to get him back, Sergeant, sir. Dealing with the culprit is your problem, not mine.” I patted my Beretta. “This is just an insurance policy, sir. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“A very lethal insurance policy.”

“I’ll only pull the trigger if I must.”

Sergeant Gildroy snorted, picked up my gun, and loaded in a fresh magazine before offering me the weapon back. “How do you feel about serving as bait?”

“Tell me where you want me to be, when, and I’ll be there.”

What Marlene and Analise didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. If the police didn’t notify them of my involvement in the case, they’d learn the hard way I did things my way. Anyone who thought I’d put my safety first was about to find out just how far I’d go to protect what was mine.

I smiled at the thought of turning the tables on Rob and staking my claim on him. When I did, I’d ignore every last one of his protests, just as he had ignored mine, and I’d enjoy every moment of it.

I spent the rest of my shift being fitted for equipment. The first tool in my arsenal was a tracking card for my wallet, which would report my location to the police. It matched the one Marlene and Analise had already given me. The cards would make sniffing around tricky if I decided to keep them with me.

Maybe I could talk Colby into carrying them around for me when I didn’t want anyone knowing where I was going.

In addition to the tracking card, they issued me a second handgun. It was a newer model, small enough to fit in my pocket. It lacked the ability to hold more than a single round in its chamber, which intrigued me. What was the point of a weapon I could only use once before it had more value being thrown than fired?

At least there was no chance of misfiring; it was calibrated to identify my finger print, and the trigger wouldn’t unlock unless I was the one using it. Still, after I fired its one measly round, I’d have to figure out what to do with the weapon.

I hoped I wouldn’t find out. I did like the fact it was small enough to hide in my cleavage. As soon as no one was looking, I relocated it to my bra.

Pockets and shoulder holsters would be the first place people checked for weapons. Most people wouldn’t dare to carry even one licensed gun. Two was asking for trouble.

If I ran into trouble, the tiny gun might make a difference, even if I was restricted to one round. I added a sleeve of six extra bullets to my unconventional holster. While I had worn my katana to the police station, I wasn’t confident with the blade. I’d gotten lucky with it once; I wasn’t ready to gamble away Rob’s life with my lack of skill.

I’d carry it, but I couldn’t see myself using it.

There were a few perks to being in my position. Instead of having to hike across the city, Sergeant Gildroy had a pair of officers drop me off at the college. With so many police on campus, he had suspended my surveillance during classes.

It was an idiotic move, but I kept my mouth shut. When I started sniffing around, I needed the police to fall in line with my needs. Their eyes needed to be elsewhere. Dropping out of their sight would be a challenge.

In a way, I enjoyed my return to class. I still had to hide my annoyance at the ease of the work, but the lectures gave me a chance to stop thinking about everything wrong with my life.

Despite so many things having changed, the science professor spoke of old facts, ones that didn’t account for dae who could breathe fire or change shapes on a whim. Teaching the laws of gravity in a world where werewolves could fly, dragons roamed the streets, and angels floated in the air without having to flap their wings seemed absurd to me.

What use was science in a world of magic and wonder? How would old theories help advance or preserve our society? Did the professor expect the world to snap back to its old mold?

Maybe it would, after the entire human race went extinct. Without humans, how long could the dae survive? How long would it take before unicorns, vampires, and sentient casseroles outnumbered people and ruled the world? How long would it be before I, along with every other human, became yet another line in some history book?

Would the government even allow us to be recorded as an extinct species, or would we be delegated to forbidden libraries, living on as some fairy tale?

Then again, it likely wouldn’t matter. Dae and human alike would all die out.

I didn’t want that day to come, not that I had any way to prevent it.

The gaping hole of Rob’s absence manifested in the empty hours I was scheduled to work for him. Under the guise of adjusting my schedule and meeting my quota of hours, I headed for Kenneth’s office building. The startled receptionist called my drug lord boss, who ordered me to come to his office.

Waiting until nightfall would’ve been wise, but if I was going to sell my soul to the devil, I wanted to do it beneath the brightly shining sun.

Kenneth’s gaze fixed on my bruised face. “You’ve seen better days, Collie.”

“Rob was kidnapped.” I dropped onto the chair in front of his desk and kicked my feet up. “You elite sure do have nice hospitals.”

“And you’re coming to me why? Him being out of the picture could quite possibly be the best news I’ve heard all month.”

“You’re going to help me find him, Kenneth.” I crossed my arms over my chest and made myself comfortable.

“You sound pretty confident. Why would I help you? What could you possibly have that I want?”

“What if I told you I’m being authorized for street work?”

Kenneth’s brows rose. “I’d say you’ve lost your mind.”

“I can be quite convincing when I want to be.”

“You’ll need to do better than that. His disappearance helps far more than harms me. Why should I do anything about such a beneficial situation?”

Smiling until it hurt, I pulled out the memory chip containing Terry Moore’s videos. “I know what those invoices were for, I have evidence you’re the main supplier, and I can link you to Dean Lewis. I can sink your ship so fast it’ll leave your head spinning—and I will, unless you shut up and help me find him.”

Only one part of my threat was a bluff, and once I played the card linking the invoices with the murders, I doubted Kenneth would risk exposing my lie. I’d play my biggest and best card first, but the risk would be worth the reward.

“You’re not acting very much like a helpful collie right now.”

“I am a hound of war, Mr. Smith, and I am not above blackmailing you to get Rob back. You wanted information on Dean Lewis, well, I can provide it. Rob’s my price.”

“Tell me what you have. I’ll think about it.”

“This is a copy of a selection of videos recorded by Terry Moore,
supposedly
on behalf of Dean Lewis. You’re aware of the timing of Dean Lewis hiring Terry, I’m sure.”

Falsifying my doubts over who was actually responsible for the murders was a feint, a lie to throw the drug lord off his game. I hoped Kenneth would assume I meant I thought
he
was behind the killings since he had provided the drug used on each of the women.

He frowned. “I’m aware. Continue.”

Smiling until it hurt, I waved the memory chip in Kenneth’s direction. “These videos depict the rapes and murders of women. Each one of them was under the influence of a certain new, red drug—the one you’ve developed. Unfortunately, thanks to the Dawn of Dae, many of the government databases have been compromised, especially regarding missing individuals. I don’t have identifications on them yet, but I’m working on it.”

“You have my undivided attention.”

“Cooperate, and I’ll make certain the links tying you to that new drug and these videos disappear. You’ll have all of the information you need to get the upper hand on Dean Lewis.”

Kenneth’s laughter rang out in his office, and he leaned back in his chair. “I taught you far too well.”

“I don’t care what method you use. I want Rob back alive. Understood?”

“Let me see a sampling of those videos. I’ll consider your offer.”

I tossed the memory chip to him. “I’ll wait. Pick whatever one you want; they all end the same way.”

“How many of these do you have?”

“Fifty or so.”

He had the decency to wince. “That’s a lot of bodies.”

I gave him the identification number of the video associated with the woman Rob and I had found in Terry Moore’s refrigerator. “I believe she was Moore’s final target. I don’t have an identification for the last victim Dean Lewis had hired him to deal with.”

“Do you think you can find out?”

“It’s on my list.”

Kenneth sat up straight, plugged the memory chip into his laptop, and whistled at the opening of the video. “I can tell you she’s not an elite of any sort. Middle caste at best.”

I had already determined that much on my own, but I kept my mouth shut while he watched.

When it reached the woman’s murder, Kenneth scowled. “What a waste of a good woman. Damn, could she give quite the ride. I’d be willing to bet she was a brothel worker at some point. You don’t learn tricks like that without experience.”

I hadn’t clued in on the possible ties to the brothels, not that the information did me any good. A lot of women worked the brothels, and for good reason.

Hell, if it weren’t for my allergies to other people, I probably would have done my time in one, too.

“She’s not one of yours?”

“No, she’s not.”

“Well? Are we going to make a deal?”

Kenneth snorted. “Maybe Mr. Lucrage pisses me off, but I value my life and my reputation. We’ll deal. This works in my favor. Dean Lewis has dipped his toes in the wrong pool this time. I’m not a shining example of purity, but I have lines I won’t cross.” Pulling out the memory card from his computer, he tossed it back to me. “That’s one of them. Dead users can’t pay more money for the goods.”

“How considerate of you.”

“I’ll get people sniffing out his whereabouts. I trust our other arrangement is still in effect?”

“If I’m exposed to relevant information, yes. I keep my word. That said, I’ll likely be working the streets for a while, so there is no guarantee I will be able to give you advance notice.”

“One day you’ll have to tell me just how Lucrage won you, Collie.”

I slid my feet off Kenneth’s desk and stood. “Ask him once you find him. You can ask him all the questions you want in the time it takes you to pick him up and deliver him to our home. It’s not my problem if he chooses not to answer you, though. Oh, and Kenneth? Don’t think of trying to get rid of me to keep those videos secret. If I disappear or turn up dead somewhere, I have a contingency plan, one bigger than you and your little empire.”

It was even the truth, as far as I was concerned. The complete copy of the videos along with the copies of the invoices Rob had made were in a place Marlene and Analise would find them if I disappeared, along with Kenneth’s name.

They would act, especially if they believed the videos were at all tied to Rob’s disappearance. Maybe I wasn’t quite ready to fully trust the two women, but I needed to pick my battles, and we wanted the same thing.

They wanted their employer back, and so did I. Dirtying my hands wasn’t new to me, but at least I’d be doing it for my own purposes instead of someone else’s.

It wasn’t much, but it was all I had.

Kenneth scowled at me. “Clever bitch.”