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Protecting the Line
Chapter 01
“Finally,” I grumbled as the alpacas entered the restaurant. Their jet had landed twenty minutes ago, and it didn’t take that long to cross the tarmac and walk through the airport.
“I did offer to drag them in,” Tom said in my ear.
“This meeting is to establish goodwill,” Maximilian replied, also in my ear. “Not start an inter-family incident.”
The two of them sat at the bar, Max to offer emotional support and Tom… Well, he’d somehow managed to get a gun inside the airport.
Juan and his father, Antelmo, joined me while the infamous Pawqarqury stayed by the door, scanning the room and scowling. The capybara was Antelmo’s version of Tom, except he was far less restrained. Or Antelmo didn’t care about the people his enforcer killed. He’d made himself scarce the moment the fighting stopped at Milton’s house, when the tree-woman attacked it, which was why this was the first I saw of him, even if I’d read ample law-enforcement reports on him.
My plan had been for the meeting to take place on the tarmac. Have them land, drive the car to the jet, hand them the memory card containing their secrets, and send them packing. Tom rolled his eyes, brought up the airport’s layout, and seven positions where a sniper could hide and kill me. I had no interest in allowing the Santiagos to drive around Denver, so Tom suggested this restaurant. And to piss me off, Max agreed with him. It was a nice public space for me and the Santiago Elder to discuss the situation.
I was just happy Max hadn’t suggested setting up a bedroom in the airport for me and the alpaca to conduct the negotiation in traditional Society way. I was not having sex with them. I’d already done it with enough Elders who would rather throw me off a building than be in the same bed as me.
I stood as they reached me. “Elder Santiago,” I greeted Antelmo. “Juan, I hope Luis is doing well.”
The younger alpaca nodded his greeting. “He does not sleep well. The creaking of tree branches wakes him in terror. He has not left the house since our return, but the doctor says he is doing better.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Juan’s father snorted.
I motioned to the chairs opposite me. “Will you sit?”
“I am not here to eat,” the older alpaca snapped. “I do not sit at a Rasia’s table.”
And I really didn’t want him here either. Sucked to be either of us.
Juan spoke harshly to his father in Spanish. I fought the urge to listen to their minds during the resulting argument, not that I’d understand anything. Max’s ability didn’t offer translation, so I’d hear yet more Spanish.
The older alpaca yanked on a chair and sat, glaring at me. Juan shrugged and sat.
“Before we start,” I said, sitting, “I’d like you to notice the badger in the gray suit, seated at the bar. His name is Tom Marrows. I doubt you know him, but what you need to know, for the sake of this meeting reaching its conclusion, is that if I behave in any way that isn’t me--if we start getting along, for example, or should I nod off, anything out of the ordinary—he will stop you. Now, I didn’t specify how he is to do that, but I expect he would make it rather permanent, and he can do it before your capybara killer can react.” I smiled at them. “Are we clear?”
Antelmo growled something in Spanish. I made out “Rasia”, and the tone suggested I’d been insulted. Juan looked disappointed, but he stayed silent. “Have the Cormoran Elder join us,” the older alpaca instructed.
“No.” By now I had a lot of practice telling Elders no when they demanded Max join, or take over the meetings. One-hundred eighty-something families, and very few of them liked the name Rasia or wanted to deal with the sole surviving member. I’d wanted to let him handle them at first—I didn’t want nor need the aggravation—but Max stood his ground. I needed to assert my position as Elder if I wanted to gain their respect.
I hadn’t seen many signs of respect, but I’d gotten damned good at saying no.
“This is my meeting,” I told the glowering alpaca. “I told you to come, and I am the one you will be talking with. Max is here because he’s concerned I might decide to strangle you for the shit you caused in my city. Think of him as that voice in the back of your head screaming at you not to do something stupid, but that’s easy to ignore.” I smiled, baring my teeth. “Like the one that should have told you not to let your killer commit murder in my city.”
The Santiago Elder’s face darkened, but he stayed silent. So much for getting him to break and admit his capybara had acted on his orders.
I took the plastic memory and offered it to him.
He glared at it. “What is it?”
I threw it at him, and the alpaca reflexively caught as it bounced off his chest. “You fucking know what it is,” I hissed before regaining control. Hissing was definitely not how an Elder conducted business. “That’s the memory card containing the secrets the Rasia accumulated on your family.”
Antelmo’s face became even more disdainful, and I thought he’d throw it back at me, but suspicion replaced it. “A copy. You give it so I know how you will hurt me.”
“It’s the original,” I replied, which it was.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You have read it, memorized what it holds. This is a trick so I will think I am safe.”
I closed my hands to avoid digging my claws into the nice tabletop, and controlled my breathing. Just about every meeting had contained some version of this suspicion. I was getting fed up with it. Fortunately I was almost done here, and with the whole returning the secrets to their rightful owners.
“All I did was run a blind search to find out who was the recipient of the secrets. No one saw the contents. I don’t want to know what’s in it.”
He scoffed. “You lie. You are a Rasia. This is a trick.”
I ground my teeth and shifted my gaze to Juan. If I kept looking at his father, I’d pound his head on the tabletop. That addressing his son, who was closer to my age, was a show of disrespect to an Elder, helped too.
“Unless you’ve alienated every family out there, you’d know I’ve been returning their secrets.”
“For a price,” Antelmo snarled. Juan closed his eyes, pained.
With an effort, I kept my eyes on Juan. “I didn’t attach any conditions to their return. All I did was make an offer.”
“To have them work for you,” Juan said, his tone neutral.
“I own a security company,” I said. “I need people. I also believe it’s about time we all worked together instead of isolating ourselves. I’m not forcing anyone to work for me.”
“And you will make this offer to us?”
I couldn’t hold back the snort. “You? After what your family did here?” I shook my head. “You, the Saracens, and the Lewistons are not welcome in Denver.”
“You spoke to the mules before me?” Antelmo snarled.
“I did. Jordain was not happy about meeting with me. I wouldn’t go to Israel, so he had to leave his precious country. At least he had the decency of acting contrite during the meeting. One of his did steal from me.”
Juan studied me. “Did you tell him what happened to that Saracen?”
“No, it isn’t my job to create dissension within the families, but it isn’t like you need me to cause it. Jordain Saracen knows the man he sent to steal my briefcase was murdered. I doubt it was difficult for him to find out it ended up in your hands; after all, you called in a debt with the Odingas for their son who can break magic. Whatever trouble they might be causing you, that’s all on you.”
Juan nodded. “Is there anything—”
His father snapped in Spanish. Again, the Rasia name was all I understood of the exchange. I did my best not to smile at the spittle coming out of the Elder Santiago’s mouth as he raged. Juan stayed surprisingly calm.
“Is there anything else?” Juan asked.
I almost ended it, but I was the one who needed to know one thing, for the sake of future meetings with Juan. “What do you know about that capybara enforcer of your father’s?”
Juan frowned. “He keeps my family safe.”
“From whom? I’ve no doubt he’s effective against other hired killers and warlords who don’t like your family, but do you know about the other people he killed?” I searched Juan’s face for any signs he did know, and saw hints of surprise, maybe doubt. I really wanted to listen to his mind. If I thought I’d hear English, I might have done it. “I have no trouble believing your father is okay with the innocents your capybara has killed for his own amusement, but you need to think about the kind of family you will lead once you inherit the mantle of Elder.” I stood. “Tell Luis I am sorry for the way I treated him. I’m not proud of it. It’s not an excuse, but I was in a bad place that night. If he ever needs something from me, all he has to do is asked. Him,” I added as they stood, “not you, not your father. My debt is to him, so don’t try to use it in his stead.”
The older alpaca turned and left with words that were definitely insults.
Juan lingered. “You are not what I expected, Elder Rasia. I hope that once I am an Elder, we can work toward…how do you say? Mending the fence between us?” He offered his hand.
Batting it away was tempting. I didn’t believe him. They’d come to my city, stolen, and murdered. They had no interest in mending anything. I swallowed my own distrust and preconceptions, and shook his hand.
“We’ll see what the future brings.”
I watched them leave, the capybara glaring at me before being the last one out of the restaurant. I rested my hands on the table and let the breath out. Done, finally. If I was lucky—if they were smart—I’d never see them again.
A shrill whistle made me jump. I spun, reaching for the gun I wasn’t carrying, to see Tom standing. “Alright people, job’s over. You have the number to call to get paid.” He pointed to the back door. “Exit’s that way.” Every customer stood and headed for the door.
I looked at Tom, then glared as the badger beamed. “What the fuck is this?”
Tom patted my face. “Brislow, you have no idea how refreshing your naivete is. After the problems our supposed allies caused you, did you really think I’d let you have a meeting with an enemy without ensuring you had proper protection?” He smiled. “My accountant is paying them, not yours.”
I stared at the badger, trying to find my voice. “It was supposed to be a peaceful meeting!” I yelled. “To show I trusted them enough to speak with them without having guns pointed at everyone!” I cursed. “What if they’d realized everyone here was armed?”
Tom swiped through scenes on his phone. “Then they wouldn’t have felt so smug.” He smiled and turned his phone so I could see.
The Santiagos walking through the airport. The capybara motioned and men joined them, hard men, serious men, all carrying duffel bags or briefcases. I counted a dozen of them before they walked out of sight. I cursed. Why was I even surprised?
“Did you know?” I asked Max.
“I suspected Antelmo would do something like that. It’s why I warned Mister Marrows.”
“I meant inside the restaurant.”
The cougar shook his head. “Mister Marrows has become adept at not broadcasting his thoughts.”
“Meditation,” Tom said, grinning.
“And he ensured I have no interest in actively listening to his thoughts,” Max said.
“Tom,” I warned.
“What?” he replied innocently.
“No threats were made, Denton,” Max said. “It’s simply that a mind like his isn’t a pleasant thing to listen to.”
“Did you pull something like this for the Saracen meeting?” I asked, too tired to get angry anymore.
“I didn’t have to; those guys are inoffensive. They hardly ever leave their country. They must have been terrified for them to send one of their own after your briefcase.”
“Everyone was terrified of the Rasias,” Max said.
Still were, by the way I’d been treated over these last five months.
Tom patted my arm. “But don’t worry, when you have the meeting with the rat, I’m going to have armed men posted all over the airport.”
I sighed. Raphael was the last of the Elders I had to deal with, to return the secrets to. “Why can’t they just stop being scared?” I asked. “Are we good to leave?”
“You’re behaving in a markedly un-Rasia manner,” Max replied, while Tom looked at his phone. “They are wondering what you’re up to. Like Santiago, most can’t believe you don’t have an ulterior agenda, and worrying about when you’ll pull the rug out from under them isn’t helping their paranoia when it comes to your family.”
“I am so fucking fed up with the distrust.” I rubbed my temples. “At least enough families have sent me men so I can cover any of their visits and not end up putting someone who had a feud with them on the team.”
“You do know those guys are there to spy on you, right?” Tom said, putting his phone away.
“I don’t care!”
They stared at me.
I calmed myself. “I’m not playing their game. I mean, what am I even hiding? So I’m going to make sure the men they send me are properly trained, then include them within the teams. If all I get out of this is getting them to treat ‘common folks’ like decent beings, I’ll be happy.”
Tom led us out of the restaurant, regularly stopping me, until he was satisfied no threat hid among a group of travelers.
“I am so done with this,” I sighed. “I’m seriously considering making that other meeting the last one.”
“So, you decided to take my advice?” Max asked.
“No. I’m thinking of having the Lewiston memory card courier to them.”
“Denton, the Orrs will not take well to having been spied on. You should destroy it and let them remain ignorant of it.”
“If it was about any of them taking it well, I would have destroyed it all, but that wouldn’t solve anything,” I replied.
“The other families were aware the spying was happening. The Orrs don’t know what your family—”
“They aren’t my family! I shouldn’t have to remind you of that, Max. I’m a Brislow.”
“Nevertheless, the Rasias spied on the Orrs.”
“Arnold might be an asshole, but unlike the other Elders, he’ll see this as the goodwill gesture it is,” I hoped. “Which reminds me.”
I took out my phone and called the tiger.
“What the fuck do you want?” Arnold sounded out of breath.
“I figured I check in on your side of the search for your fathers. Did you—”
“Call Royal, I have more important things to deal with.” He disconnected.
Had that been fear in his voice? I groaned. Couldn’t there be one day without some emergency? I’d hoped to be able to rest now that this mess of secrets was all but dealt with. I called his company.
“Royal Security,” the man answered, “where we treat you like royalty.”
“This is Denton Brislow, can I speak to Ernest?”
The click of a transfer and then the giraffe’s calm voice. “Mister Brislow, how can I help you.”
“Arnold said to call you for an update. He sounded like he was in the middle of an emergency.”
“One of the mothers is having difficulties. Arnold and his brothers are each handling the prospect of their coming fatherhood, and the associated uncertainties, in different ways.”
“He—” He’d never mentioned anything about this in the calls we’d had. “He’s going to be a father?” I did not want to think about Arnold raising a kid.
“They all are,” Ernest said, “but you called for an update on the search, not their family lives.”
“Right.” All of them? “Has anyone on your side come up with places where those two could hide?”
“Unfortunately, no. Any holdings the family has outside San Francisco Bay have been investigated and show no signs of having been visited by them. Aaron was able to get his grandfather to reveal the existence of a library containing volumes about the magic he used, but it has already been emptied of anything of seeming use. While it is difficult to work out the order of events, evidence points to Mister Orr’s fathers returning to San Francisco Bay after they escaped for the books.”
“They have a precog with them; avoiding detection is easy with him.”
“Mister Brukammer. Yes, I have familiarized myself with the information you provided.
Why, Stefan? Why didn’t you come to me, to us? We’d have understood, you have to know that.
“The books they left, is Arnold keeping them?”
“Mister Orr has not given instructions in regard to them. Do you have a suggestion?”
“I have a friend who’s an expert on our magic. I’d like him to look at them.”
“I will inform Mister Orr when he returns.”
“Thanks. From our side, we confirmed they were in New Orleans as of two weeks ago, but we were too late there too. There were no clues indicating where they might have gone within the kill sites. We’ve handed it over to the local FBI office. As far as I can tell, they’re just randomly traveling around the country.”
“I am confident you will find your friend again,” Ernest said.
“Thanks. Tell Arnold I hope everything goes well with the moms.”
“I will.”
I put my phone away.
“That tiger is going to be a dad?” Tom asked.
“All of them, it seems.”
“That’s going to be fun to watch,” Tom replied.
Max sighed. “I’d like to say that fatherhood can do wonders to a man’s behavior, but there are generations of previous Orrs proving me wrong. I pity those children.”
I stopped. “Max, don’t do to them what every family’s doing to me. Judge Arnold and his brothers by what they do, not what every other man did before them. I’ll admit Arnold isn’t someone I like all that much, but dealing with him hasn’t been the horror show you threatened it would be.”
The cougar nodded, and we continued to the car.
Tom was behind the wheel before I’d formulated a desire to drive; there was no point getting into an argument over it. I sat in the back and Max joined me. I closed my eyes as the car moved and tried the will the headache away.
When I opened my eyes, Max smiled at me. “You know,” he said, “sex is a great remedy for headaches.”
“No,” I stated.
“Your meeting with the Santiago family went off without anyone dying. I’d say that counts as a success, and should be celebrated.”
“Max, celebrations happen between those involved with the meeting. There are no Santiagos here—not that I will ever fuck one of them.”
The sternness in my voice melted away, and I closed my eyes again. I wanted to have sex with Max. Not only was he hung and just plain great in bed, but he was comforting. If only he could get over this need to protect me—to make up for what he saw as him failing my father.
What I needed to do was find a way to get into negotiations with him. That way we could have sex as the usual celebration without the emotional baggage, but Max would agree to anything I proposed, making the negotiating pointless.
“Will you two just kiss and fuck already?” Tom suggested. “This tension is getting hard to endure.”
“Mister Marrows,” Max replied coolly, “can I kindly suggest you mind your own business?”
Tom grinned. “Fucking is my business, you know that.”
“I thought your business was killing.”
The badger’s smile broadened. “Can’t do that anymore, Brislow’s order. So now, when I’m not busy keeping the cheetah alive, it’s all about getting fucked.”
“I keep telling you, Tom, I don’t need you to—”
“I like you, Brislow.” Tom looked at me in the rearview mirror. “I really do, but you keep saying stupid things like that in spite of evidence to the contrary, and I’m going to have to reconsider my attitude toward you.”
“Does that mean you’ll stop following me around everywhere?” I asked hopefully.
“Sure, after I’ve locked you up in a tower without a door.”
“I did offer to drag them in,” Tom said in my ear.
“This meeting is to establish goodwill,” Maximilian replied, also in my ear. “Not start an inter-family incident.”
The two of them sat at the bar, Max to offer emotional support and Tom… Well, he’d somehow managed to get a gun inside the airport.
Juan and his father, Antelmo, joined me while the infamous Pawqarqury stayed by the door, scanning the room and scowling. The capybara was Antelmo’s version of Tom, except he was far less restrained. Or Antelmo didn’t care about the people his enforcer killed. He’d made himself scarce the moment the fighting stopped at Milton’s house, when the tree-woman attacked it, which was why this was the first I saw of him, even if I’d read ample law-enforcement reports on him.
My plan had been for the meeting to take place on the tarmac. Have them land, drive the car to the jet, hand them the memory card containing their secrets, and send them packing. Tom rolled his eyes, brought up the airport’s layout, and seven positions where a sniper could hide and kill me. I had no interest in allowing the Santiagos to drive around Denver, so Tom suggested this restaurant. And to piss me off, Max agreed with him. It was a nice public space for me and the Santiago Elder to discuss the situation.
I was just happy Max hadn’t suggested setting up a bedroom in the airport for me and the alpaca to conduct the negotiation in traditional Society way. I was not having sex with them. I’d already done it with enough Elders who would rather throw me off a building than be in the same bed as me.
I stood as they reached me. “Elder Santiago,” I greeted Antelmo. “Juan, I hope Luis is doing well.”
The younger alpaca nodded his greeting. “He does not sleep well. The creaking of tree branches wakes him in terror. He has not left the house since our return, but the doctor says he is doing better.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Juan’s father snorted.
I motioned to the chairs opposite me. “Will you sit?”
“I am not here to eat,” the older alpaca snapped. “I do not sit at a Rasia’s table.”
And I really didn’t want him here either. Sucked to be either of us.
Juan spoke harshly to his father in Spanish. I fought the urge to listen to their minds during the resulting argument, not that I’d understand anything. Max’s ability didn’t offer translation, so I’d hear yet more Spanish.
The older alpaca yanked on a chair and sat, glaring at me. Juan shrugged and sat.
“Before we start,” I said, sitting, “I’d like you to notice the badger in the gray suit, seated at the bar. His name is Tom Marrows. I doubt you know him, but what you need to know, for the sake of this meeting reaching its conclusion, is that if I behave in any way that isn’t me--if we start getting along, for example, or should I nod off, anything out of the ordinary—he will stop you. Now, I didn’t specify how he is to do that, but I expect he would make it rather permanent, and he can do it before your capybara killer can react.” I smiled at them. “Are we clear?”
Antelmo growled something in Spanish. I made out “Rasia”, and the tone suggested I’d been insulted. Juan looked disappointed, but he stayed silent. “Have the Cormoran Elder join us,” the older alpaca instructed.
“No.” By now I had a lot of practice telling Elders no when they demanded Max join, or take over the meetings. One-hundred eighty-something families, and very few of them liked the name Rasia or wanted to deal with the sole surviving member. I’d wanted to let him handle them at first—I didn’t want nor need the aggravation—but Max stood his ground. I needed to assert my position as Elder if I wanted to gain their respect.
I hadn’t seen many signs of respect, but I’d gotten damned good at saying no.
“This is my meeting,” I told the glowering alpaca. “I told you to come, and I am the one you will be talking with. Max is here because he’s concerned I might decide to strangle you for the shit you caused in my city. Think of him as that voice in the back of your head screaming at you not to do something stupid, but that’s easy to ignore.” I smiled, baring my teeth. “Like the one that should have told you not to let your killer commit murder in my city.”
The Santiago Elder’s face darkened, but he stayed silent. So much for getting him to break and admit his capybara had acted on his orders.
I took the plastic memory and offered it to him.
He glared at it. “What is it?”
I threw it at him, and the alpaca reflexively caught as it bounced off his chest. “You fucking know what it is,” I hissed before regaining control. Hissing was definitely not how an Elder conducted business. “That’s the memory card containing the secrets the Rasia accumulated on your family.”
Antelmo’s face became even more disdainful, and I thought he’d throw it back at me, but suspicion replaced it. “A copy. You give it so I know how you will hurt me.”
“It’s the original,” I replied, which it was.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You have read it, memorized what it holds. This is a trick so I will think I am safe.”
I closed my hands to avoid digging my claws into the nice tabletop, and controlled my breathing. Just about every meeting had contained some version of this suspicion. I was getting fed up with it. Fortunately I was almost done here, and with the whole returning the secrets to their rightful owners.
“All I did was run a blind search to find out who was the recipient of the secrets. No one saw the contents. I don’t want to know what’s in it.”
He scoffed. “You lie. You are a Rasia. This is a trick.”
I ground my teeth and shifted my gaze to Juan. If I kept looking at his father, I’d pound his head on the tabletop. That addressing his son, who was closer to my age, was a show of disrespect to an Elder, helped too.
“Unless you’ve alienated every family out there, you’d know I’ve been returning their secrets.”
“For a price,” Antelmo snarled. Juan closed his eyes, pained.
With an effort, I kept my eyes on Juan. “I didn’t attach any conditions to their return. All I did was make an offer.”
“To have them work for you,” Juan said, his tone neutral.
“I own a security company,” I said. “I need people. I also believe it’s about time we all worked together instead of isolating ourselves. I’m not forcing anyone to work for me.”
“And you will make this offer to us?”
I couldn’t hold back the snort. “You? After what your family did here?” I shook my head. “You, the Saracens, and the Lewistons are not welcome in Denver.”
“You spoke to the mules before me?” Antelmo snarled.
“I did. Jordain was not happy about meeting with me. I wouldn’t go to Israel, so he had to leave his precious country. At least he had the decency of acting contrite during the meeting. One of his did steal from me.”
Juan studied me. “Did you tell him what happened to that Saracen?”
“No, it isn’t my job to create dissension within the families, but it isn’t like you need me to cause it. Jordain Saracen knows the man he sent to steal my briefcase was murdered. I doubt it was difficult for him to find out it ended up in your hands; after all, you called in a debt with the Odingas for their son who can break magic. Whatever trouble they might be causing you, that’s all on you.”
Juan nodded. “Is there anything—”
His father snapped in Spanish. Again, the Rasia name was all I understood of the exchange. I did my best not to smile at the spittle coming out of the Elder Santiago’s mouth as he raged. Juan stayed surprisingly calm.
“Is there anything else?” Juan asked.
I almost ended it, but I was the one who needed to know one thing, for the sake of future meetings with Juan. “What do you know about that capybara enforcer of your father’s?”
Juan frowned. “He keeps my family safe.”
“From whom? I’ve no doubt he’s effective against other hired killers and warlords who don’t like your family, but do you know about the other people he killed?” I searched Juan’s face for any signs he did know, and saw hints of surprise, maybe doubt. I really wanted to listen to his mind. If I thought I’d hear English, I might have done it. “I have no trouble believing your father is okay with the innocents your capybara has killed for his own amusement, but you need to think about the kind of family you will lead once you inherit the mantle of Elder.” I stood. “Tell Luis I am sorry for the way I treated him. I’m not proud of it. It’s not an excuse, but I was in a bad place that night. If he ever needs something from me, all he has to do is asked. Him,” I added as they stood, “not you, not your father. My debt is to him, so don’t try to use it in his stead.”
The older alpaca turned and left with words that were definitely insults.
Juan lingered. “You are not what I expected, Elder Rasia. I hope that once I am an Elder, we can work toward…how do you say? Mending the fence between us?” He offered his hand.
Batting it away was tempting. I didn’t believe him. They’d come to my city, stolen, and murdered. They had no interest in mending anything. I swallowed my own distrust and preconceptions, and shook his hand.
“We’ll see what the future brings.”
I watched them leave, the capybara glaring at me before being the last one out of the restaurant. I rested my hands on the table and let the breath out. Done, finally. If I was lucky—if they were smart—I’d never see them again.
A shrill whistle made me jump. I spun, reaching for the gun I wasn’t carrying, to see Tom standing. “Alright people, job’s over. You have the number to call to get paid.” He pointed to the back door. “Exit’s that way.” Every customer stood and headed for the door.
I looked at Tom, then glared as the badger beamed. “What the fuck is this?”
Tom patted my face. “Brislow, you have no idea how refreshing your naivete is. After the problems our supposed allies caused you, did you really think I’d let you have a meeting with an enemy without ensuring you had proper protection?” He smiled. “My accountant is paying them, not yours.”
I stared at the badger, trying to find my voice. “It was supposed to be a peaceful meeting!” I yelled. “To show I trusted them enough to speak with them without having guns pointed at everyone!” I cursed. “What if they’d realized everyone here was armed?”
Tom swiped through scenes on his phone. “Then they wouldn’t have felt so smug.” He smiled and turned his phone so I could see.
The Santiagos walking through the airport. The capybara motioned and men joined them, hard men, serious men, all carrying duffel bags or briefcases. I counted a dozen of them before they walked out of sight. I cursed. Why was I even surprised?
“Did you know?” I asked Max.
“I suspected Antelmo would do something like that. It’s why I warned Mister Marrows.”
“I meant inside the restaurant.”
The cougar shook his head. “Mister Marrows has become adept at not broadcasting his thoughts.”
“Meditation,” Tom said, grinning.
“And he ensured I have no interest in actively listening to his thoughts,” Max said.
“Tom,” I warned.
“What?” he replied innocently.
“No threats were made, Denton,” Max said. “It’s simply that a mind like his isn’t a pleasant thing to listen to.”
“Did you pull something like this for the Saracen meeting?” I asked, too tired to get angry anymore.
“I didn’t have to; those guys are inoffensive. They hardly ever leave their country. They must have been terrified for them to send one of their own after your briefcase.”
“Everyone was terrified of the Rasias,” Max said.
Still were, by the way I’d been treated over these last five months.
Tom patted my arm. “But don’t worry, when you have the meeting with the rat, I’m going to have armed men posted all over the airport.”
I sighed. Raphael was the last of the Elders I had to deal with, to return the secrets to. “Why can’t they just stop being scared?” I asked. “Are we good to leave?”
“You’re behaving in a markedly un-Rasia manner,” Max replied, while Tom looked at his phone. “They are wondering what you’re up to. Like Santiago, most can’t believe you don’t have an ulterior agenda, and worrying about when you’ll pull the rug out from under them isn’t helping their paranoia when it comes to your family.”
“I am so fucking fed up with the distrust.” I rubbed my temples. “At least enough families have sent me men so I can cover any of their visits and not end up putting someone who had a feud with them on the team.”
“You do know those guys are there to spy on you, right?” Tom said, putting his phone away.
“I don’t care!”
They stared at me.
I calmed myself. “I’m not playing their game. I mean, what am I even hiding? So I’m going to make sure the men they send me are properly trained, then include them within the teams. If all I get out of this is getting them to treat ‘common folks’ like decent beings, I’ll be happy.”
Tom led us out of the restaurant, regularly stopping me, until he was satisfied no threat hid among a group of travelers.
“I am so done with this,” I sighed. “I’m seriously considering making that other meeting the last one.”
“So, you decided to take my advice?” Max asked.
“No. I’m thinking of having the Lewiston memory card courier to them.”
“Denton, the Orrs will not take well to having been spied on. You should destroy it and let them remain ignorant of it.”
“If it was about any of them taking it well, I would have destroyed it all, but that wouldn’t solve anything,” I replied.
“The other families were aware the spying was happening. The Orrs don’t know what your family—”
“They aren’t my family! I shouldn’t have to remind you of that, Max. I’m a Brislow.”
“Nevertheless, the Rasias spied on the Orrs.”
“Arnold might be an asshole, but unlike the other Elders, he’ll see this as the goodwill gesture it is,” I hoped. “Which reminds me.”
I took out my phone and called the tiger.
“What the fuck do you want?” Arnold sounded out of breath.
“I figured I check in on your side of the search for your fathers. Did you—”
“Call Royal, I have more important things to deal with.” He disconnected.
Had that been fear in his voice? I groaned. Couldn’t there be one day without some emergency? I’d hoped to be able to rest now that this mess of secrets was all but dealt with. I called his company.
“Royal Security,” the man answered, “where we treat you like royalty.”
“This is Denton Brislow, can I speak to Ernest?”
The click of a transfer and then the giraffe’s calm voice. “Mister Brislow, how can I help you.”
“Arnold said to call you for an update. He sounded like he was in the middle of an emergency.”
“One of the mothers is having difficulties. Arnold and his brothers are each handling the prospect of their coming fatherhood, and the associated uncertainties, in different ways.”
“He—” He’d never mentioned anything about this in the calls we’d had. “He’s going to be a father?” I did not want to think about Arnold raising a kid.
“They all are,” Ernest said, “but you called for an update on the search, not their family lives.”
“Right.” All of them? “Has anyone on your side come up with places where those two could hide?”
“Unfortunately, no. Any holdings the family has outside San Francisco Bay have been investigated and show no signs of having been visited by them. Aaron was able to get his grandfather to reveal the existence of a library containing volumes about the magic he used, but it has already been emptied of anything of seeming use. While it is difficult to work out the order of events, evidence points to Mister Orr’s fathers returning to San Francisco Bay after they escaped for the books.”
“They have a precog with them; avoiding detection is easy with him.”
“Mister Brukammer. Yes, I have familiarized myself with the information you provided.
Why, Stefan? Why didn’t you come to me, to us? We’d have understood, you have to know that.
“The books they left, is Arnold keeping them?”
“Mister Orr has not given instructions in regard to them. Do you have a suggestion?”
“I have a friend who’s an expert on our magic. I’d like him to look at them.”
“I will inform Mister Orr when he returns.”
“Thanks. From our side, we confirmed they were in New Orleans as of two weeks ago, but we were too late there too. There were no clues indicating where they might have gone within the kill sites. We’ve handed it over to the local FBI office. As far as I can tell, they’re just randomly traveling around the country.”
“I am confident you will find your friend again,” Ernest said.
“Thanks. Tell Arnold I hope everything goes well with the moms.”
“I will.”
I put my phone away.
“That tiger is going to be a dad?” Tom asked.
“All of them, it seems.”
“That’s going to be fun to watch,” Tom replied.
Max sighed. “I’d like to say that fatherhood can do wonders to a man’s behavior, but there are generations of previous Orrs proving me wrong. I pity those children.”
I stopped. “Max, don’t do to them what every family’s doing to me. Judge Arnold and his brothers by what they do, not what every other man did before them. I’ll admit Arnold isn’t someone I like all that much, but dealing with him hasn’t been the horror show you threatened it would be.”
The cougar nodded, and we continued to the car.
Tom was behind the wheel before I’d formulated a desire to drive; there was no point getting into an argument over it. I sat in the back and Max joined me. I closed my eyes as the car moved and tried the will the headache away.
When I opened my eyes, Max smiled at me. “You know,” he said, “sex is a great remedy for headaches.”
“No,” I stated.
“Your meeting with the Santiago family went off without anyone dying. I’d say that counts as a success, and should be celebrated.”
“Max, celebrations happen between those involved with the meeting. There are no Santiagos here—not that I will ever fuck one of them.”
The sternness in my voice melted away, and I closed my eyes again. I wanted to have sex with Max. Not only was he hung and just plain great in bed, but he was comforting. If only he could get over this need to protect me—to make up for what he saw as him failing my father.
What I needed to do was find a way to get into negotiations with him. That way we could have sex as the usual celebration without the emotional baggage, but Max would agree to anything I proposed, making the negotiating pointless.
“Will you two just kiss and fuck already?” Tom suggested. “This tension is getting hard to endure.”
“Mister Marrows,” Max replied coolly, “can I kindly suggest you mind your own business?”
Tom grinned. “Fucking is my business, you know that.”
“I thought your business was killing.”
The badger’s smile broadened. “Can’t do that anymore, Brislow’s order. So now, when I’m not busy keeping the cheetah alive, it’s all about getting fucked.”
“I keep telling you, Tom, I don’t need you to—”
“I like you, Brislow.” Tom looked at me in the rearview mirror. “I really do, but you keep saying stupid things like that in spite of evidence to the contrary, and I’m going to have to reconsider my attitude toward you.”
“Does that mean you’ll stop following me around everywhere?” I asked hopefully.
“Sure, after I’ve locked you up in a tower without a door.”
