Drummond was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, watching and listening. Or that’s what he seemed to be doing. Could a ghost be supported by a wall?
Rule had assured Machek that the suite had been swept for bugs and Friar couldn’t eavesdrop here magically. Machek hadn’t believed him, but it was clear that either Rule was correct or it was too late to worry about it. Once he’d wriggled out of his hole in the wall, Rule had had Todd pat him down. Not that he could conceal much with all the Lycra in his clothes—they were skin-tight, even the handy-dandy vest he wore with its interesting pockets. All the better for crawling through very tight spaces, Lily assumed.
In the vest’s pockets Todd had found two phones, a set of lockpicks, and a small, top-of-the-line bug detector. There was also a wallet with five hundred in cash and an ID that claimed he was Richard Spallings. No weapons. Rule gave everything back to Jasper, then invited him to have a seat while he called Scott. He filled Scott in quickly, told him to alert the other guards—those with Cullen and the two Laban with Beth—and return to the suite. He said he’d call the guards at Machek’s house himself.
Machek sat bolt upright. “Don’t pull them off my house! If Friar knows you’ve pulled them, he’ll—”
“I need to know they’re alive and well,” Rule said.
Machek smiled bitterly. “Did you think I could overcome werewolves? I suppose I should be flattered. They’re fine. They didn’t see me leave because I used an alternative exit.”
“Did you, now? Perhaps you’ll tell me about that in a moment.” Rule tapped on the screen of his phone.
Lily was standing beneath the hole Machek had crawled out of, studying it. “I can’t believe you fit. It’s wide enough, but it’s not even a foot high.”
“Twelve point two inches,” Machek said absently. “Tight but doable.”
“You measured?”
“I did a job here once. That was years ago, but I took a chance they hadn’t refitted their ducts. People don’t, mostly. Costs too much.”
The hotel hadn’t cleaned their ducts, either. Jasper Machek’s black, stretchy clothes were covered in dust. Lily had hurriedly tossed a blanket on the couch before he sat down. They’d managed not to break any furniture so far. Why add a big cleaning bill to their tab?
Rule finished talking to whichever guard he’d called and disconnected. “Chris and Alan are fine, if chagrinned that you evaded them. They’ll continue to watch the house. What can I offer you to eat or drink? The bar here is reasonably well stocked.”
“Nothing.” After a moment he remembered to add, “Thank you.”
Rule looked at Patrick, who’d hastily pulled on a pair of jeans. “Have room service send up four pots of coffee and an assortment of—”
“Don’t call room service! They can’t know I’m here. If they—”
“Jasper,” Rule said, “There are eight adults registered to this suite, seven of whom are lupi. It’s barely past ten o’clock. Room service will not be amazed by an order for refreshments.”
“Of course.” Machek rubbed his face. “I’m panicking. I don’t usually, but this is…I need to tell you why I’m here.”
“You do, yes,” Rule said, and moved to sit in the chair facing his brother. “Has Friar called?”
Machek shook his head.
“Sandwiches and fruit okay?” Patrick asked, picking up the hotel phone.
“That would be fine. Jasper, am I to assume you came through the ductwork to avoid being seen, rather than from some hope of surprising and slaughtering us?”
“Absolutely.”
“It’s usually a bad idea to surprise lupi,” Lily said. “It can be a bad idea to surprise me, too.”
Machek glanced at her shoulder holster. She’d put her gun up when Todd didn’t find any weapons on him. “I didn’t have many options. I had to talk to you. The prototype is missing.”
Dead silence. Rule broke it to say dryly, “Does that mean it wasn’t missing before?”
“Yes. I mean no, it wasn’t.” He rubbed his face again. “Maybe I do need some coffee. I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ll start over. Most of what I told you was true, but even the true parts were carefully selected. I was given a script to follow. I did as I was told, and I’m not apologizing for it. He has Adam. You were right about that. He…they hurt him once, while I was on the phone. Friar wanted me to hear.”
Lily exchanged a glance with Rule. He nodded, meaning she could take it for now. “You’ve talked with Adam.”
He nodded. “Every day. I refused to do anything unless I spoke to him every day. I made sure they weren’t using a recording. I asked questions they couldn’t have anticipated.”
“When was Adam taken?”
“Nine days ago. That’s a hellishly short time to plan and execute the kind of job he wanted me to do, but it’s hellishly long in every other way.”
“How did Friar know you could do that kind of job?”
“I’ve got an idea about that, but—look, can I just tell you what happened without questions for a minute?”
“Go ahead.”
“There was an attempt to get the prototype from me last night. That part was true. Three men, one armed—at least I only saw one gun. It loomed large in my sight at the time, but I think it was a smallish 9 mm. They were waiting for me when I got home. The one with the gun was on the stairs between me and the door. The other two came up behind me, blocking me. They demanded the prototype. I’d allowed for the possibility that Friar would double-cross me, so I’d stashed it elsewhere. They assured themselves I was telling the truth about that, then demanded I tell them where it was. I refused. They made the obligatory threats. I refused again. They weren’t going to kill me, not when I was the only person who knew where the damn thing was, and we were on a public street. It was late, but we were too public for them to hurt me badly. Or so I hoped.” He paused. “I got lucky. Mr. Peterson’s dog had gotten out again. He’s a Great Dane with a low boredom threshold, thinks he’s a puppy. He came racing up, all excited at these new playmates, and jumped up on one of the men. It was enough of a distraction for me to get away.”
Lily had quietly retrieved her notebook while he was talking. “Where did you go?”
“At first I just ran. Once I was sure I’d lost them…there’s a little coffee shop on Bradbury that stays open all night. I was close enough, so I went there. They’d searched me, but they hadn’t taken anything. I still had both phones—”
“Both?” The door to the hall opened. A quick glance told her it was Scott; Rule asked him something using hand-talk, and he left again. Lily focused on Jasper.
“My phone and the throwaway Friar sent me. I contacted Friar.”
“You have his number.”
“No, he calls me. To contact him, I log on to a chat board and leave a message. I was told what name to use. They look for posts from handydog12 and for certain key words. That’s how I let him know I had the prototype—I used ‘success’ in a post. To get him to call me I posted ‘disregard my last message.’ Thirty minutes later he called me. I told him about the attempt.”
“Did you tell him the thieves weren’t successful?”
“Yes.” He leaned forward, looking at the hands he clasped between his knees. “I thought about lying, but if those were his men, he’d know, wouldn’t he? I couldn’t take the chance. If I lie, he punishes Adam. That’s why they hurt Adam before. Friar caught me in a lie.”
Drummond stirred. “I’ve got a couple questions for him.”
In a few minutes, she told him, if I haven’t asked your questions already, you’ll get a shot. It was getting easier all the time to talk to him this way. Out loud she said, “You told Friar what happened, but you didn’t go get the prototype and give it to him.”