Page 70 of The Firebrand
That’s what I thought. Now what?Rein paused.We’ll be right there. Send in the Geek Squad to toss this place for intel. Also, a clean-up crew to take care of the bodies. There’s a dead vamp here, too. Mine got away. Silas.
Kole’s expletives exploded in Rein’s head. He put a palm on his temple to stop the pain as it rocketed from side to side.I’m aware he’s a mean sonofabitch since the bludfrenzy. I just fought him, and he went all psycho on my ass.
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Reinchilled beside his ylve partner in a chair facing Kole’s desk where the commander had been ranting for several minutes. When an animus demon popped angry, shit burned.
“I hate mysteries. Give me a good clean fight any day.” Sparks flew from Kole’s fingers. But when the flames settled, he got down to business. “This crap requires political finessing. A dead advisor to the king and queen of Amori. Fuck. Wiping politicians’ asses is my least favorite pastime. I’d rather face a thundering herd of gagans.”
He examined the jumper, turning it over and over. “Two devices, both with the same ID number. This from Stefan must be the real gadget. That means, the one the Kalli stole from Melia was a copy. Why? How?” More flames shot from his digits.
“You better not be torching anything in there.” Bounty’s voice carried in from the outer office. “If you scorch the walls, you’re going to be repairing them.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Kole checked out the plasterboard.
Rein grinned, his eyeballs also scanning the room. “Lucky bastard. No damage.”
Chay sprawled in his chair, clunking his boots onto Kole’s desk. “If Melia’s jumper is a copy, it might explain why Silas and the other vamp killed Stefan.”
Rein and Kole furrowed their brows, questioning the ylve’s logic.
“To silence him. Either he was ass-deep in the copy business, or Silas and crew wanted to steal his jumper to hide the fact that there are two of these suckers.”
Rein shrugged. “Off-realm travel logs. Have the ministry examine them. See what pops. They should reveal where and when these jumpers were used.”
“Good idea,” said Kole.
“What about Jax’s device? Did it belong to Gunner?” Rein rubbed his temples where his head was pounding drums on his skull. He was bloody and aching. His wounds itched like hell as they knitted together, but he needed to get in the game. Instead, his mind flashed on the female who was waiting at his condo.
Kole stuck his thumb down. “Gunner showed his to Dax and Ram. So, Jax’s was a copy as well.”
“Add that number to the log check. When did they use them? Where did they go? The works,” said Chay.
“Let’s get Logan in here. He’ll unravel this cluster-fuck better than the Ministry of Compliance. If I give it to them, Boden will drag ass, trying to cover his pecker. When word gets out that duplicate jumpers are being manufactured, the lawgivers’ heads will be so high up his ministry’s ass he won’t be able to shit for months.” Kole punched the button on his phone. “Bounty, get Logan up here. Double double-time.” He nodded at Chay and Rein. “On his way.”
Barreling through the doorway, Logan slammed to a halt when he eyed Chay and Rein. “Damn. Looks like we’ve got a FUBAR situation. How can I help?” He squinted. “Or is this about me? I swear, I haven’t been anywhere in cyberworld without permission for … um … a week.”
“Logan, I’m not a fucking priest. No confessions,” groaned Kole.
“Really? ’Cause you’re usually the one who wants me to hack something somewhere. I’m wearing the white hat here.”
Kole frowned.
“What? We’re among friends. It’s not like thefreronsdon’t know what I do for you.”
“Now that we’ve cleared the air, I need you to burgle the Ministry of Compliance’s off-realm travel logs.”
The computer whiz stroked his chin. “Serious firewalls there.”
“Are you saying you can’t do it?” asked Kole.
“Fuck, no. I just want you to appreciate what I do.”
“Appreciated, Logan. Here are the facts. Portal jumpers are being duplicated. We know of two instances. Here is Advisor Stefan’s actual device. Rein and Chay found it under his dead body.”
The resident computer Einstein reached for the jumper. “Any more skinny for me?”
Kole slapped the device into Logan’s hand. “The nymph Melia had the copy of Stefan’s. Malok stole it from her, but Rein snagged it from him. You’ve got Jax’s, which is a copy of Gunner’s. The exporter still has the original. Once you break into the logs, see if you can distinguish between real and fake jumpers. And maybe these aren’t the only ones. If not, we need to find all of them. Most important dirt? Why are they being used, and who’s using them?”
