Page 58 of Soul Sucker

Vadim waited until the door shut until going back to check the clock.

“He can’t be serious. How can it take half an hour to get the information?” Vadim didn’t want to stay there for five more minutes, let alone another thirty. Somewhere deep in his mind he could feel his mother stirring, reaching for him…

“Because they can’t use the internet here,” Liz explained. She gestured at the rows of filing cabinets that lined the walls on both sides of the counter. “Everything has to be typed out on a manual typewriter, photocopied or faxed.”

“Don’t forget all the illegible handwritten notes, as well.” Ella leaned her chair back until it balanced on two legs. “But you must know all this already, Morosov. You’re from here, aren’t you?”

Vadim refused to rise to the bait and instead took another hasty walk around the office. “Is there anything in these more public files that might help us?”

Liz looked around. “I doubt it, but it would give us something to do while we wait for the information.”

“I’m not sure why Ms. Walsh and I have to be here,” Vadim said.

“Because the officials like to know who wants the information and decide if they are going to provide it.”

“We haven’t seen anyone except the desk clerk.”

“Oh, they’ve seen us,” Liz assured him. “Can’t you feel it?”

Vadim could feel it all too clearly, but he didn’t want Liz or Ella to know that. He concentrated on maintaining his shields. “What’s in these more public files?”

Liz rose from her seat and walked over to him. “It depends.”

“On what?”

“On what you are seeking.”

“Typical Otherworld logic,” Vadim snapped. He jumped as the filing cabinet closest to him rocked back and forth. He’d better be more careful or he’d be bringing far worse than the custodians of the records room down upon them. “Maybe I’ll start by looking up references to the Siren.”

He walked along the rows, looking for the relevant drawer and eventually found one that included the letters S—Sl. It opened easily and he considered the neatly labeled alphabetical paper files. He wasn’t really surprised to see there wasn’t a nice file ready for him telling him all he needed to know about his adversary. That would’ve been far too easy.

Ella was looking at some files on the other side of the room and Liz was somewhere else. The clock on the countertop ticked loudly and was the only sound apart from the rustling of paper. Vadim shut the drawer, then went across to Ella, who hurriedly put the files she was looking at back and moved away.

He considered the drawer she’d been searching through and pulled it open again. A corner of a file labeled Morosov stuck up above the neat row. He took it out and opened it, but there was nothing inside. Had Ella taken something, or had someone from his family removed all traces of him? If so, why not take the folder as well?

“Did you find something interesting, Ms. Walsh?” He turned to study Ella.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Nothing so far. How about you?”

He considered her for a moment and then shut the drawer. “I wonder if there is a file about you?”

“There are probably several. I’m not the most popular human in Otherworld.”

“I don’t think they like empaths, so I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“I don’t.” She opened another drawer. “There’s nothing about Alexei here either.”

“It seems that the powers-that-be don’t want to help us with anything.” Vadim looked impatiently back toward the counter. “I wonder if we’ll get the information we need?”

Liz surveyed the rows of filing cabinets. “I suppose it depends if they want us to catch this killer.”

“As they don’t like empaths for opening up their world to humans, they might be quite happy to see the whole lot of us exterminated,” Ella said.

“That’s also true but we have to ask.” Liz sat down at the table again and checked her cell. Ella joined her. “Dammit, I can’t even play games on my phone while we wait.”

He took the seat next to Ella. For some reason, when he was near her, his sense of danger dissipated. As his anxiety grew, he wasn’t averse to taking any help he could get.

He tensed as Ella slid a piece of paper in front of him. “Why is there a photocopy of a blurry bird in your file?”

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