Page 35 of Concluded
Dee lay quietly and thought about his words for a long time.
CHAPTER15
Achilles was settling in at the breakfast table.Although he still felt like shit, it was a big improvement over how he’d felt the evening before.A decent night’s sleep in a good bed could work wonders, even if that sleep was interrupted with nightmares.
If hedidsurvive all of this, he should probably talk to the Bureau’s shrink.Except, he remembered with a start, there was no Bureau anymore and thus no Bureau shrink.The enormity of Grimes’s news hit him, belatedly but hard.The Bureau had been around for a century, and he’d always thought of it as immortal and omnipotent.Yet apparently some clown had killed it with a few pen strokes.
“But it lives,” he muttered.
Across from him, Dee looked startled and froze with a forkful of food halfway to his mouth.“What?”
“The Bureau is the undead.Not a zombie or a vampire.Maybe it’s like one of Ferencz’s spirits.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Never mind.Thinking aloud.”
Achilles and Dee had awakened shortly after dawn and discovered that Jackie had rounded up clean clothes to fit each of them.After they dressed, she’d cheerfully cooked them a big meal of pan-fried venison steaks with a sauce made from dried berries.It tasted amazing.Dee and Achilles were both working on second helpings as she watched with approval.
“A good appetite’s a sign of good health,” she said.
Achilles smiled at her.“Thanks to you, I’m doing a lot better.I’m really indebted to you.”
“Last night my sister sang as well as she did when she was young.Better, even.I figure we’re even.”
Although her statement puzzled Achilles at first, he quickly worked out that she was referring to the wish Dee had granted.Dee seemed pleased about it too, with a shy smile that transformed his face from plain to beautiful.Achilles hadn’t seen him smile before, and he guessed it didn’t happen often, even when the world wasn’t ending.
After they finished their meal—and just as Achilles was wondering whether he had the energy to help wash up—there was a commotion outside.Jackie quickly ducked through the side door.When she returned a moment later, she didn’t seem alarmed.“Your boss is here.And he brought… a friend?”
“Does his friend have big black wings, by any chance?”
“He sure does.”
Grinning, Achilles stood.His feet hurt, but bearably so.“Let me go make some introductions.”
“Wings?”Dee asked as they made their way outside.“Is it a… a bird shifter?”
“No such thing.Some sort of issue with the mass conversion.”Honestly, Achilles didn’t really understand the science behind shifters or anything else he dealt with on the job.He also didn’t understand the science behind cell phones and airplanes, but he trusted them to work, just as he trusted shifters to change capably between their forms.
The sun pierced sharply through the cold morning air, making Achilles shiver despite his borrowed clothing.Seemingly all the members of the pack—some in human form and some as coyotes—were gathered in a circle around an SUV.Two figures waited beside the car.One of them, tall, thin, and pale, wore old-fashioned wool trousers and a white button-up shirt.The other had bronze skin and small horns and wore nothing at all, his glossy black wings fanning gently behind him.
“Holy shit,” Dee muttered, skidding to a halt.
But Achilles grabbed his arm and towed him along.“Allies.That’s my boss and his partner.Neither of them is human, at least not entirely.I’d trust either of them with my life.”He often didn’t understand Grimes, just as he’d rarely understood the former chief, but it was like not comprehending the science behind the things in his life.He simply knew they worked.
Dee sort of dragged his feet but did come.The crowd parted to let Achilles, Dee, and Jackie pass.
“You look like shit, Spanos,” was the first thing Grimes said.
“Thanks.”
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
Achilles dipped his head.Then, mindful of etiquette, he turned to Jackie.“This is Charles Grimes, chief of the West Coast Bureau, and Tenrael, his partner.Chief, Tenrael, please meet Jackie of the Gerard Pack, and Dee Martell.”
Tenrael gave Jackie a regal bow, and Grimes nodded toward her.“Ma’am.To be completely honest, I’m no longer chief of anything, although I’m continuing the Bureau’s work.Do we have your permission to remain briefly on pack lands?”
Despite her casual clothing, Jackie looked every inch a leader as she nodded back.“We welcome you and grant you permission.We continue to consider ourselves your allies.”
