Page 38 of Flesh and Fury
“Night?” Ari asked, sounding a little surprised.
The chief nodded. “She’s been my right hand in all of this here in the office. Ever since she found all that information on King John in the very beginning, I’ve had her watching my computer as I’ve already said. She’s been tracking Tillis Bradshaw’s goons and watched him take over one route after another, just as we predicted he’d do. We’re pretty sure we know how far his influence and his vampires have spread.”
“I like the girl a lot but you’re sure we can trust her?” Ari asked.
“Who is this Night person?” Invictus asked.
“She’s a snow leopard. She can’t shift because she’s only half cat. The other half is human,” the chief said. “And in answer to your question, Brown, yes, she’s as loyal as they come.”
“Okay, good,” Ari said. “I like her.”
“All right.” She reached into her jacket and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Eoghan. “There are your travel documents. You’re traveling under clean identities. I don’t want anyone in the office to know you’re flying out or where you’re going. Meanwhile, check out one of the Chargers. I’ve created a scenario where you and your partner are flying up to supposedly chasing down a report of an alien ship landing from M-3918 way up north near the Oregon border.”
“Sorry, but what’s M-3918?” Severin asked.
The chief turned toward him. “It’s a planet in a distant star system. We have one of their aliens down in the tombs—our version of a holding cell here in the I.S.R.’s basement.”She smiled. “Charlie Turner, one of our jailers, has named him Carmine.”
Severin and Invictus exchanged a glance and Eoghan spotted the excitement in their eyes when the orange glow intensified. Severin looked back at the chief and grinned, suddenly looking like a kid. “Can we see him? Neither of us has ever seen an alien before.”
Eoghan laughed. “That you know of.”
“Huh?”Invictus asked. “Oh, yeah, you’re probably right.” He grinned too. “Can we see Carmine?”
“Sure. I’ll take you down there when we’re done.” She looked at Eoghan and Ari. “I want the five of us to meet again in five days. I’ll have to find a place safe from prying eyes. By that time, I’ll have a final battle plan of attack.”
“And the other shifters and werewolves that are a part of this?” Eoghan asked.
“They’ll all be informed as well as King John,” she said. “I’ll contact you on your burners.”
“Okay, boss. You got it,” Ari said, glancing at Eoghan. “What time do we leave?”
Eoghan leafed through the paperwork in his hands. “Just after three, at Burbank.” Eoghan looked over at the two dragons before standing up and holding out his hand to them. They all shook. “I’m so glad we’re finally going to get to conclude this. I don’t like not knowing who the traitors are in our midst.”
“Nor do I, Sapphire,” she said. “Nor do I.”
Chapter Twelve
ARI
Ari was glad when they got off their direct Delta flight from Burbank into DEN, the airport in Denver. As soon as they walked out of the terminal, they spotted two Native American people together. A petite woman with long, dark hair, held a sign with the name Dave Goldfarb on it. Her much taller and younger companion glowered at both of them the moment Ari lifted a hand and waved, recognizing the false name Eoghan had been traveling under. He hoped she wouldn’t address him as Bob Dooley when they walked up.
Neither of them had been very happy with the names the chief had come up with but they needed to travel incognito. Both had trackers inserted underneath the skin but they had to be actively searched for if someone at the Agency was suspicious of them. Hopefully, they hadn’t raised any red flags with their traitor and the chief’s story about them going up north would stand up. Sure enough, as soon as they walked over to them, the woman called them by those ridiculous names.
“Mr. Goldfarb? Mr. Dooley?” she asked as Ari inwardly cringed. Outwardly, he smiled.
“Yes. Ms. Fields?” Eoghan asked.
“Oh, it’s just Rana,” she replied. “I’d actually prefer it.” She turned to the younger man. “This is Andy Red Crow from Denver.”
Ari’s eyes widened. Neither he nor Eoghan had been expecting to find him at the airport. They figured they’d have to be introduced to Rana’s tribe first and debriefed on how to handle Andy. He and Eoghan shook hands. He opened his mouth to say something but she spoke over him.
“Airport security won’t like the fact that we left our vehicle at the curb,” she said, pointing to the ceiling. “In fact, they’re probably watching us right now.”
“Sure,” Eoghan said, “please lead on.”
Ari listened to the conversation. Their chief had clearly taken precautions against them being identified on passenger manifests but Ari hadn’t even thought about airport security or what they’d have to deal with once they were on the ground. After all, the trip had been hastily planned. They’d barely had time to go home, pack a bag, and tell Bear they were going out of town again for a short trip before heading off to the airport. Airport security had cameras everywhere and, in his experience, they had audio.
If what they said couldn’t be picked up and isolated in a timely basis by whomever was analyzing a voice recording, Ari suspected that someone at the Agency could have a lip reader on hand to grab snippets if not whole parts of their conversations. The chief was smart but his training from the Army Rangers told him they’d have to be smarter than their nemesis at the Agency going forward. There were too many ways for this to go wrong.