“Now go rest,” he ordered. “We will find them, Jason, I promise you. For your oath to our Queen, and for the sake of our dead, I promise you that.”
TALUS DROVE ME HOME. Given that the weather had yet to improve in the slightest, I was grateful, but we spent the drive in near silence. I had no idea what to say to a man who had lost two people he’d been friends with for longer than I’d been alive, and he was willing to keep his own peace.
I turned my cell phone back on shortly before we arrived at my apartment. I had a single message, a text from Mary asking me to call her when I could.
I put my phone aside and looked over at my driver.
“You going to be okay?” I finally asked as we pulled in next to my building.
“My son will live,” the fae noble said quietly. “Dave and Elena won’t. That’s going to take some wrapping my head around. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow, I’m afraid.”
“Drive safe, man,” I told him, offering him my hand. He took it and I squeezed. He nodded in acknowledgement, and I left him in the SUV.
I made it down to my apartment and then collapsed on my couch with exhaustion. After a long, long moment, I realized I was way too hot with the coat on, and took it off. With that done, I had to take the concealed holster off to be comfortable.
The Micro Uzi and its holster ended up on top of the black briefcase containing the Jericho, tucked down the side of my computer desk. The heavy Kevlar vest got tossed over the back of the couch, incongruous against its cheerful orange color.
The armor and weapon discarded, I collapsed back onto my couch, pulled my phone out and called Mary. It wasn’t until after the phone had rung three times that I realized it was almost midnight, and then the phone went to voice mail before I could hang up.
“Will someone please think of the cat girls?!” Mary’s voice demanded from the recording. “You’ve reached Mary Tenerim, I’m not available right now, please leave a message.”
“Hi, Mary,” I said awkwardly once it started recording. “Just letting you know I got your text and called; forgot how late it was when I got home. Call me tomorrow if you’re free to hang out?”
The message left, I slowly dragged myself to my feet, stiff and sore from an eight-story fall, however cushioned it may have been by a fae noble’s magic. I had to be at work in a little more than six hours.
16
THE NEXT DAY followed my normal routine. It was so normal, after the day before, as to be almost painful. I did my first rounds of drop-offs and pickups, and met Michael for my Enforcer pickup. He had a package for the airport and clearly didn’t know that I’d been at Sigrid REIT the night before, or I’m sure he’d have said something.
My airport delivery trip, including the extra delivery, went seamlessly, and I made it back to the office just in time for lunch and Mary calling to check up on me.
“Hey, are you okay?” were the first words she said when I answered the phone.
“I’m fine,” I said slowly. “Why do you ask?”
“When you tell me you have ‘Court business,’ and that night a building explodes and rumor in the community says a Court strike team were inside when it blew, I do have to wonder,” the shifter girl told me dryly.
I sighed. “You’re too smart for your own good,” I told her. “Yes, I was there.”
“Shit,” she said flatly. “Are you okay?”
“Barely,” I admitted. “I can’t say much more at work.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “Should I come over and cook you dinner and you can tell me about it?”
“You may have to order in,” I warned her, her offer bringing a smile even through my continuing weariness. “I don’t think I actually have enough pots to cook with.”
“That’s probably good,” she replied with a laugh. “I’m a terrible cook. I’m off at five; should be at your place at quarter to six?
“Sounds good,” I agreed.
I walked back out in the office, aware that Trysta was watching me. I returned her gaze calmly, and she glanced away. Sighing to myself, I went to load up my afternoon truck. I was pretty sure I knew what her issue was, and there was nothing I could really do about it.
BY A QUARTER to six that evening, I’d managed to clean up my apartment, clean all the dirty dishes, put away all the clothes, and generally make the place look less like a bachelor pad. I’d also checked my email and discovered that Oberis had organized a funeral for Dave and Elena on Monday afternoon.
I bounced an email to Bill letting him know I would need to get off work early that day, and then found myself looking at the two guns sitting beside my desk. The Jericho’s black carrying case would pass as a briefcase, but the Micro Uzi and its shoulder rig were a little harder to conceal, as was the Kevlar vest.
Both ended up being bundled into my closet as the buzzer for the front door of my building rang. I closed the closet door and made it back to my intercom as the buzzer rang again.
“Hello?”
“It’s Mary,” she told me cheerfully. “Its freezing out here, so can you let me in?”
“Of course!” I buzzed her in immediately and had to keep myself from racing to the door like a horny teenager. I still opened it while she was still halfway down the hall, and she greeted me with a brilliant smile as she closed the distance and kissed me very thoroughly.
“Good to see you,” she purred, snuggling into me through her heavy winter jacket, which, it finally processed, was really cold.
“Let’s get you inside and out of that coat,” I said, gently drawing her through the door and closing it behind her.
She quickly shed the coat and curled up, cat-like, on my couch. Smiling at me, Mary patted the couch next to her. As soon as I sat down, she uncurled slightly to snuggle up to me as I slid an arm around her.
For a minute or two, we cuddled in silence, and then she gave me a quick kiss and pulled back to look me in the eyes.
“So, what happened last night?” she asked.
“We were investigating a lead we had on the cabal,” I said quietly. “I think...” I paused, not sure if I was certain of what I was about to say, and then went gamely on ahead.
“I think someone told them we were coming,” I told her. “They destroyed too much rather than moving it for it to have been a planned move; they did it on short notice. And they knew it was fae coming, too—they used cold iron-loaded mines to start their explosions, to make sure any fae in the office were dead.”
“But you made it out,” she said, taking my hands in hers and squeezing gently.
“By luck, and timing, and the power of a fae noble with just enough warning,” I said, squeezing her in turn. “Two of the gentry who went in with us didn’t, and a third was badly wounded.”
“Damn,” Mary whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t even a fight we could win,” I whispered. “We were expecting that, initially. It was just a trap. Someone set us up and killed two good fae in the process.”
“Who?” she asked, although she had to know the answer in advance.
“I have no idea,” I told her. “I’m not even sure who knew we were going other than those of who went, and all of us nearly died.
“I’m going to find out,” I continued grimly. I was sure that between Oberis and me, we could manage it. And then someone was going to pay.
Mary squeezed my hands again, hard, bringing me back to the moment.
“Relax,” she told me. “You will find them. For now, let it rest for a bit and come here.” She pulled me to her, just wrapping me in her arms and holding me, letting me focus on something other than memories of explosions and blood.