Page 28 of Arresting the Warlord

I didn’t like where this was going. I nodded.

The old guy continued, “Are your minds linked?”

“That is none of your business,” I snapped.

The old guy grinned. “Do you know how to fight?”

“I’m a cop and a shaman. What do you think?”

He pulled a belt off the wall and held it out to Jake. “I like her. She’s feisty.”

“That she is.” He took the belt.

I gave Jake the stink eye. “Have you forgotten we have a murderer to catch?”

“No, ma’am.” Jake fastened the belt around my belt. “As promised, your body armor.”

“It’s just a belt.”

“Which can morph into body armor,” Jake replied.

I poked at it. “Are you kidding me?”

There was a tiny tic in Jake’s jaw. “No, buttercup, I’m not. This is Askole armor. The best in the galaxy.”

The Navajo nation was a tiny bit isolated from the rest of the world, and with my shaman duties I never had enough time to keep up with current events. “My bad. I never knew the Askole made armor.”

“If you had accepted Central Command’s offer to update your systems, none of this would be a surprise to you.”

“We’re a sovereign nation. Your upgrades came with too many stipulations,” I countered.

Jake shot back, “The Navajo nation is about to be dragged into the 21stcentury, whether they like it or not.”

“We have a treaty.”

“Which is about to be amended,” Jake stated.

“It’ll never happen.”

“You and your father are the harbingers of change.”

I stared at Jake in horror. “You gave my father Coletti blood?”

“It was the only way to save him,” Jake answered.

“Whose blood?”

“Zarek’s.”

Fuck.

“You two done?” The old guy asked.

Jake nodded. “For now.”

The old guy handed Jake a small bronze warrior’s bracelet. “For your lady. It has all the extra features you asked for.”

“Many thanks, Xan.”

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