Страница 32 из 64
“Or you’ll be packed on ice next to Switch.”
“Not going to happen, pet. Make the call.”
Bones handed me his phone for the fifth time. With a withering glare, I finally took it and dialed. Here went nothing.
“Don, it’s me,” I said when he answered.
“Cat, are you hurt?” To his credit, he sounded genuinely concerned.
“No, but someone’s trying to change that. Look, I’m coming in; I’ll see you in an hour. Don’t let anyone, and I mean anyone, leave until I get there. Call in whoever’s out. We have a rat.”
“Of course, come in at once. We’ll discuss it when you get here. But no one here could possibly be involved-”
“Do you want me to come in or not? These are my terms, and I’m pretty goddamn inflexible about them, since my head nearly parted company with my shoulders last night.”
He paused and then sighed. “If that’s what makes you feel safe. Where is, ah, your companion?”
“He went out, I don’t know where. Right now I’m more worried about my own ass.”
“Hurry in. I’ll recall the teams, but if you don’t arrive in an hour, I’m sending them back out.”
I hung up and almost flung the phone at Bones. “Happy now?”
He pressed his lips over the scab on my temple. “Not yet, but I will be. Go straight there; don’t stop for anything.”
I started to leave, but then paused.
“Bones, before we do this, I have to tell you something. You know I still care about you, obviously, but it’s more than that. I’m…I still love you. I’ve never stopped, actually, even though I tried to snap out of it over the years. I don’t expect you to feel the same way, but-”
“I’ve never stopped loving you,” he cut me off, coming over to take me in his arms. “Not for an instant. Even when I was so angry at you for leaving me, I’ve always loved you, Kitten.”
He kissed me, a slow, deep kiss, like we had all the time in the world. I wished we did, but right now, I was afraid I might never see him again.
With a shuddering sigh, I pushed him back. “I’ll give you another kiss later. Right now I’m too scared about what you’re doing.”
Bones smiled, undisturbed, and traced my lower lip with his finger. “I’ll look forward to it. There’s one more thing, and you must swear to do exactly as I tell you. Take this.” He placed a sealed envelope in my hand. “Hide this in your clothes and don’t open it until I tell you. This is the information I’d been waiting for, and I need to be there when you see it. Swear to me you’ll wait.”
“Quit being melodramatic.” I thrust the envelope down the front of my shirt, tucking it in my bra. “Scout’s honor, okay?”
“I love you.” He made it difficult to stay mad at him.
That stopped me by the door, my hand on the knob. “Don’t get killed. No matter what.”
From the look in my eyes, he knew what I meant.
“It shouldn’t come to that, but if it does, I’ll try not to kill any of them.”
“Right.” My tone was brittle. “I don’t know if they’ll show you the same courtesy.”
This time, when I drove up to the guard gates on a motorcycle and took off my helmet, I was rushed through without hesitation. After all, I couldn’t exactly hide a vampire on the handlebars, could I? I rode straight through to the entrance, literally leaving the bike by the door, and was met by Tate and Juan. They both looked awful.
“Christos, querida, we thought the worst,” Juan exclaimed. Tate was less expressive, but he stared at the scratch on my forehead as if transfixed.
“Jesus. Is that from the bullet?”
“Sure is.” Flippantly. “Were you one of my spies last night? Or did you get the report secondhand?”
We headed for Don’s office. To my relief, I saw the building’s doors seal promptly behind me. Good, Don was keeping everyone inside.
Tate still looked rattled. “Actually, I saw it on video. You were being recorded. Don has the tapes.”
“At least I’ll get to see how my dress looked, even though it’s toast now.”
“You looked beautiful, querida.” Trust Juan never to miss an opportunity, no matter the circumstances. “Throw away that pulseless pale man and I’ll take care of you.”
“That ‘pulseless pale man’ saved my life, Juan,” I bleakly reminded him. “I wouldn’t be pretty with three holes plugged in my head, would I?”
Don stood when we entered, a rarity. He stared at me for a moment, and something flashed across his face I couldn’t name.
“Let me see it,” I began without pleasantries.
He knew what I was referring to, and clicked a button that flicked on the plasma screen as Tate shut the door.
Whoever had been filming me had a better vantage point than my would-be assassin. This looked to be from a neighboring building, since the slant was less steep. Dispassionately I watched the silent footage of Bones and me at our seats, the waiter bringing us the wine, him leaning forward, and me stroking his hand. The next scene was a blur of volatile movement that defied tracking with the naked eye. Then there was the unbelievable sight of the window exploding outward and a black-draped form free-falling with me before zooming off to wreck the van below.
The cameraman had apparently stopped filming and started moving, because the next footage was far more mundane. It showed the dead body of Ellis Pierson, and a close-up on the puncture wounds in the throat. Bones hadn’t bothered to heal them. He knew my team would scoop up the evidence.
Don clicked off the film and regarded me with guarded expectancy.
“I take it that was the hired gun?”
“Yeah. My date wasn’t happy at his di
“Oh, your date got his di
“You know, Tate, I can’t say I minded much at the time. After all, I’d just listened to a detailed description of how he was paid to blow my head off.”
“Cat.” Don rested his hands on his desk as he sat down. “You need to tell us about this vampire you’re with. You start dating the undead, and suddenly you’re targeted for assassination? From someone who knew exactly where you’d be? It’s too coincidental.”
“Did you just miss what you saw?” Exasperation filled my tone. “That vampire took a fucking bullet in the head for me! Explain to me how that’s hostile!”
“I’ve studied this recording frame by frame, Cat,” Tate answered flatly. “He moved faster than a speeding bullet, literally, and then he jumped from a building and flew! So not only does he have to be a Master vampire, but he also has to be the most powerful fucking Master we’ve ever encountered.”
Good thing Tate still hadn’t recognized Bones from Ohio, even though he’d studied the film footage from last night. Maybe it was like the old prejudiced saying went, except for Tate, it was all vampires who looked the same. Still, that was an issue for another time. Let them keep thinking Bones was just some new vamp I’d met. Later they’d learn the truth, but for now, it fit the plan to keep them ignorant of who he was.
“I’m not an idiot, Tate. I realized the same thing after he was finished with the hit man, but as I said, he obviously doesn’t want me dead. He thinks someone close to me does, though, just from a different angle. He thinks it’s someone here, and that Don is the key.”
“What? Huh? Que?”
They spoke at once, and I waved a hand.
“He wouldn’t tell me much, but said he had to confirm it. I have his cell-he’ll call when he’s finished. But he did mention a name, and said this person was co
This part Bones had been very specific about. I didn’t blink as my eyes met the older man’s. “Maximillian. Ever heard of him?”
Something happened to Don’s face I’d never seen. He blanched and almost looked like he’d faint. Motherfucker. For Don to look that sick, he recognized the name, all right.