“What is that?” Bruno asked again. They were the attention of most of the room, though there were a few quiet conversations around the edges.
Juliette handed him the binder. “It’s an investigation journal. Most of the parents of Tiny Paws are in here, and several other colorful local characters.”
“I didn’t know who any of you were,” Clarice protested. “But even I could tell that there was something going on. I didn’t swallow the cult Kool-aid that Veronica’s unsavory friends were peddling, but there wassomethingthat logic couldn’t explain, and I wanted to know what it was before I got in…too deep.” Her face was flushed. Shame? Guilt? A spike of emotion, certainly.
There was a whole spread on Bruno. It included all of the publicly available information on him, plus a few personal observations, notes about Gil (teleports?) and the houses he’d been shown. Bruno wrestled with his feelings of betrayal. Were they valid? Would he do the same, in her shoes? Was that hishigh school graduationphoto? She had told him she was investigating, but for some reason, Bruno hadn’t expected such athoroughbinder.
Clarice was bright red now, all the way up to the roots of her hair, and Bruno realized that she’d put hearts around his name. “I’m sorry,” she said meekly. “I didn’t realize what I was uncovering.” They had everyone’s full attention now, and Bruno could feel the prickly judgementand mistrust in their gazes. He wished he could wrap Clarice in something to protect her. Curtains, maybe.
“It makes sense,” he said, his voice carefully neutral. Too neutral. “She didn’t do anything wrong.” Bruno wasn’t sure that was better.
There was a spread on Theo, too. “Personal escort from LV - met him at Lonnie’s birthday party, doesn’t remember me THANK GOD!” was scrawled across the top.
Juliette took the binder back and flipped several pages, slowly. “You’ve got intriguing notes. It’s enlightening to see what can be dug up without any agency resources or back doors.” She paused. “These are Veronica Chase’s contacts in the Stork Foundation. And this is a profile for Hunter.”
“I didn’t know who to trust,” Clarice explained desperately. “And I didn’t know who was connected to who. I was trying to figure out all the sides of the story. I only used the contacts that had come through the main office, I didn’t use any of Veronica’spersonalinformation.”
“It’s thorough,” Juliette said approvingly, “even if it’s not anything we didn’t already know.” She handed the binder back to Clarice. “I hope that you’ve made up your mind which side you’re on.”
“Obviously I’m not rooting for the gene company that wants to put little kids in cages, or the obsessive ex-boyfriend.” Clarice said smartly. “Shifters are just people, magic tricks aside. I’m not going to hate you by default because you’redifferent.”
Bruno could not have been more proud of her in that moment, and he wondered if it would be too presumptuous to take her hand. They had been too late to get seats, so they were still standing, and Juliette gestured to a free space on the floor as she sat in the last kitchen chair. Bruno slid down to sit next to Clarice, leaning against a bookcase.
“This raid on Tiny Paws means the administration is finally willing to take action. I’m authorized to bring some of you—someof you!—on board because you would be valuable assets to an assault. The office is still trying to figure out where these guys went to ground, but we need a head count of participants in order to coordinate our efforts once we have that intel.”
“Oh!” At Bruno’s side, Clarice suddenly startled and dug into her pocket. “I have Veronica’s phone!”
“Does that help us somehow?” Juliette asked impatiently.
“Yes,” Clarice said defiantly. “She had Find My Phone on it.”
“Butwehave her phone,” Juliette pointed out, irritated.
“But they havemyphone, and she’s been trackingme.” Clarice unlocked the phone and stretched to hand it to Juliette. “That’s where they are, probably.”
Juliette looked briefly surprised, then pulled out her own phone, dialed it, and started relaying information to Aiden. “Yeah? That could be it. Anders Canyon, at the decommissioned military base. Let me know.”
Conversation sprung up when she hung up, with volunteers and questions. Juliette put up a commanding hand. “Thank you, Clarice. Thatwashelpful. Aiden is sending a drone to look over the location now.”
“I could go,” Kendra and Alan said in unison, shooting their hands into the air.
Juliette shook her head. “They have shifters working for them, or at least shifter-sensers. A drone isn’t going to tap their spidey sense. And you aren’t a full agent yet, Kendra.”
“I can still be useful in the raid,” Kendra said.
“I’ll do whatever you need,” Olivia said confidently.
“I could make room in my busy social schedule,” Theosaid. “Myunique skillsmight come in handy for extractions.”
“I can help heat things up,” Ian offered.
“A wolf could be useful,” Roderick said, crossing his arms.
“You might need me,” Becket volunteered.
Juliette frowned at him. “Our objective is to destroy as much of Stork’s data as we can and round up the ringleaders. We’re hoping to minimize casualties that would require a doctor’s services.”
“Don’t underestimate myparticularservices,” Becket said grimly. “I’m the one that Hunter is after, and the reason he’s after Tara.”
