Her death landed us with an even bigger problem.
Which is not my fault. Who knew the bitch’s offspring would turn out to have stronger gifts than her fucking mother?Carla sniffed.What is being done to retrieve the box’s contents?
The usual,came the angry reply.Now answer the question—what was in there, Brídín?
Brídín? If that was the name she’d been born with, then we might have gotten our first useful clue.
No fucking names, remember? The witch may be listening in.
She is with Mathi. They are researching options to get past the guards stationed at the address registered with the bank.
How the fuck would he know that? Was Mathi’s car or home bugged?
You’ve taken measures to stop that, I gather.
I can only do so much without risking my cover. Now answer the question—what was in the box?
Birth records, passports, property documents, stuff like that.
Nothing incriminating in regard to me or our plans, then?
There was just the tiniest hesitation before she said,No.
Liar, instinct whispered, and that only made it more important than ever we got the thief before the IIT did. Because once they had him, Carla would no doubt erase him, as she had erased other IIT prisoners. Even if the IIT locked him down, it was hard to protect him from someone who could assume the identity of almost any woman she touched.
Which meant, of course, they simply had to make sure everyone who dealt with or protected him was male.
And the address listed with the bank? Anything there we should be worried about?
I wouldn’t have thought so, came Carla’s reply.I haven’t lived there for quite a while.
The witchling has second sight, remember. It might not take much to set it off.
The safe is empty, and there’s nothing in the office.
Personal items?
Nothing that would now hold any resonance or memory.
The man grunted. It remained an unhappy sound.If you lie?—
I have no reason to lie, and every reason to avoid capture, given it would ultimately mean my death. Trust that, even if you don’t trust me.
Another grunt.I will update once I have any news. I trust you will do the same.
Your every wish is my command,Carla said, a weird mix of amusement and bitterness in her voice. It was almost as if she herself had no choice but to obey. Had she been pixied? Possibly, though not even a pixie’s will could last the centuries that Carla had apparently been alive. Hell, I had no idea if it would even hold if she took on a completely different form. Technically, it should, but who really knew when it came to one form of magic against another?
The vision fell away, and the building’s song rose around me again, informing me that Mathi was downstairs in my living area. I took a deep breath to calm my still-racing pulse but didn’t immediately leave the loft, instead calling Sgott. He didn’t answer, so I left a message telling him our face shifter’s real name, and that one of her aliases owned the box that our thief had taken. Then I pushed to my feet and headed back down the ladder.
Mathi was in the process of making a pot of tea, but it was the heavenly scent of bacon that led my nose over to the living areaand the brown paper bag that sat on the coffee table. There was also a takeout cup of coffee but that obviously wasn’t meant for me, given he was making tea and he generally avoided it.
“Since when did you become so domesticated?” I picked up the bag and discovered two bacon butties along with the hot chips. “You’re spoiling me here.”
“It’s more self-preservation,” he drawled. “I have previous experience when it comes to you and a food-and-tea-deprived state, remember.”
I laughed, sat down on the sofa, and pulled out the food, munching on some chips while I unwrapped the butties. He placed a mug and the cozy-covered teapot beside my chips, then moved over to the other sofa and picked up his coffee.
“What did you see?”
