"Because there's nothing to report."
"You've been on this for over twelve hours and you have nothing?"
Simon licked his lips. His boss wouldn't believe him if he feigned incompetence. Maybe deflection would work.
"The intelligence was wrong," Simon said, keeping his voice low. "You know that. We both know that. Someone fed us bad information."
"Agreed. But that's irrelevant to the mission parameters."
"It's entirely relevant. Someone wanted us to eliminate this particular vampire. Why?"
Reuben was quiet for a moment. "You can eliminate the vampire andthenfind out."
"The thing is, I think someone's playing us." Simon watched the city lights below. "And I want to know who before I?—"
A sound from the bed cut him off.
Not quite a word, more a wounded noise. Charlie's breathing had changed. It came faster now, distressed.
Simon pressed the phone harder against his ear, willing Reuben not to have heard.
"Before you what?" Reuben asked.
"Before I move forward. I lost him after the convenience store. He disappeared before I could track him properly."
Another sound from the bed. Louder.
"Simon, is someone there?"
Before Simon could respond, Charlie whimpered.
Hells, why did that pathetic vampire have to choose this exact moment to have a nightmare?
Simon hadn't known vampires couldhavenightmares.
"Simon?" Reuben asked.
Fuck.
Simon made a decision fast. "Someone's at my door," he said into the phone. "Probably Mrs. Chen from 4B again. Hold on."
He muted the phone and crossed to Charlie in two strides, placing his hand firmly over Charlie's mouth just as he started to cry out. Charlie's eyes flew open, panicked and unfocused.
"Shh," Simon whispered harshly. "Stay quiet."
Charlie blinked up at him, confused and still half-caught in whatever nightmare had gripped him. Tears tracked down his face, pooling against Simon's fingers.
Simon unmuted the phone, keeping his hand in place. "Sorry about that. Mrs. Chen's convinced someone's been stealing her newspapers."
"At one in the morning?"
"She's... not all there anymore. I should go deal with this before she wakes the whole floor."
Charlie's breathing was hot against his palm, rapid and scared. But he'd gone still, those brown eyes locked on Simon's face like he was the only real thing in the world.
"The vampire," Reuben said, pulling Simon back. "I trust that you'll have something to report by morning."
"Of course I will."
