Demon Accords 10: Rogues (11 page)

The sheriff moved forward, leading Adler and his team next door to the converted vault.

“Miss Reynolds?  Can I ask you a few questions?” one of the reporters, a female, asked.

“Yeah, why not,” she agreed, pulling off the wig and wig cap.  Her short platinum hair fell free as she itched her scalp.  The cheek scar peeled off and went into the nearest garbage as both reporters swarmed in. 

Almost three hundred miles away, a tall, lean young man walked through a busy college campus, looking at his smart phone and apparently talking on a Bluetooth headset.

“What’s the probability of abduction?” he asked, approaching the crosswalk on the busy street that bisected the campus.  He looked up to note two young women gawking at him suspiciously, clearly hearing his words.  “Criminal justice class,” he explained hastily, not slowing his forward motion.

Luckily for him, the light abruptly changed to red just as he stepped into the crosswalk, saving him from getting mowed down.  He didn’t appear to notice the close call.

“You will tell me if it goes higher?” he asked his mouthpiece.  “Or anything more happens?  And please tell me you can interfere with their helicopter if necessary?”

He nodded at the answer only he could hear.  “I’m planning on going up there,” he said.  “Well, right after I get done with that economics test tomorrow morning.

“No, I want to take it myself, at least if the feds are behaving themselves. I like economics. You said that the probability was low, right?” he continued.  “I’ll also text her a bit later.  Oh?  No, I don’t think springing your own analysis on her is a good idea… well, because I need to come clean with her about you first.  We agreed I’d only do that when you were okay with it.”

He paused to listen, veering over to the side of the closest building to get himself out of the congested foot traffic of his fellow students.

“You think so?  Yes, of course she suspects.  She’s smart and observant. And I’m sure I’ve dropped hints and made mistakes.  What?  Thanks a bunch, O. 
I’m
only human, you know.”

He listened some more, his mouth forming a smile.  “Well, good.  But I’ll do it in person.  More secure, and she needs to hear this face to face.”

A second’s pause to listen and then, “Great.  Now I just gotta meet the gang at the Marche for lunch, if they show up.  Oh, they’re already there?  Of course Mack is late; probably hitting on a hot girl.  Thanks O.”

“So Ken’s roommates, or trailermates or whatever, supposedly up and left?” Deputy Hampton asked.

“That’s what he told me,” Devany said. 

Hampton snorted.  “What’s genius got to say about their wallets in his dresser drawer?”

“He said he’s holding them for his buddies,” Devany replied.

“And he was lying,” Stacia said.  “Heartbeat went way up.”

“And now that the feds are here, we can’t get near him,” Buck said.  “So what?  Did he kill and eat his own friends?”

Stacia frowned, turning to Devany without answering Buck.  “Did you know them in school?” she asked.

“Yeah a little. Spitzer hung out with them,” he answered. “Kindred souls, so to speak.”

“So a little mad at the world?” she asked.  Devany nodded.  “Then my guess would be that they were also recruited but didn’t make the transformation.  Probably buried somewhere out in the woods.”

“Why would he keep their wallets?” Hampton asked.

“Because he was never the brightest bulb in the batch.  Carl Durham was the smartest of the three and Matt Marshall did okay, if I remember, but they pretty much dragged him along after them,” Devany said.  “Durham’s debit card was used recently but I bet you if we get the footage from the ATM, it’ll be Spitzer’s face staring back.”

“So this mystery Loki guy recruited three and ended up with the dumbest one,” Hampton mused.

Stacia’s phone buzzed with an incoming text.  Her hand snagged it in a blur.  Looking up at the others’ startled faces, she explained.  “Thought it might be from one of my Demidova contacts.  Not though.”

“Yet whoever it is caused you to smile,” Devany noted with a knowing smile of his own.

“Just a buddy,” she said, turning to the message on the screen.

How’s it going, Sherlock?
Declan wrote.

Digging through reports and stuff, trying to find a pattern,
she replied.

How about any miracle cures?
 

“Hey Buck.  Have we checked with any hospitals or medical people about seriously or terminally ill people suddenly getting better?” she asked, mentally kicking herself for not thinking of that.

“No. I didn’t know that was a thing,” he said.

“Mostly because I never mentioned it.  If your body accepts the LV virus, then the virus becomes a jealous guardian.  It’ll root out cancer and disease as it works its way through its new host,” she said.

“We can try the Mayo Regional.  But HIPPA makes it almost impossible to get that kind of thing out of hospitals anymore,” Buck said.

“My aunt works for the hospital administrator.  Maybe she can help.  You aren’t telling your friend about our case, are you?” Hampton asked.

“No, but he already figured out why I’m here,” she said.  “He’s gifted with computers.  Actually, he could probably find out the answer to our question for us… if he hasn’t already,” she said wryly.

“That’s why he prompted you?  He, what, hacked the hospital already?  That’s criminal,” Buck said.

She gave him a level look that he returned.  Seeing that he was maintaining the straight and narrow, she shrugged.  “Don’t know that he did anything.  It’s just an idea he suggested.”

“If I find out he’s been illegally hacking private medical information…” Buck said, leaving the threat open-ended.

“One, you’d never find a trace of evidence. Two, he’s several states away. Three, you’ve got enough on your plate with a potential pack of rogue werewolves,” she said, meeting his stare. 

“Let’s approach your aunt or whoever.  Let them know why we’re looking for what we’re looking for.  Story’s already broken.  Scared people might cooperate?” Devany suggested, trying to break the stare down that was suddenly occurring.

“No.  I’ll contact the hospital administrator directly.  Scared people on a witch hunt is exactly what we don’t need,” Thompson said.  “And if he breaks the law here, however remotely, I’ll see him in jail.”

Her phone buzzed again in her hand. 
Gotta run.  I’ll check in later. I wonder if hospitals and doctors are part of the pattern DOAA looks for?

She was a little disappointed that he had to go so fast. 
Thanks for the idea.  We’ll chat later.

“He had to run. Never mentioned hacking anything. He
did
wonder if the feds look through local medical records for just this kind of thing,” she said.

Before anyone could comment, her phone buzzed again, this time with a call.

She read the name on the screen, then hurriedly accepted the call.  “Hey,” she said.

“Hey yourself. Got your text. Loki’s Spawn?  Seriously? I thought I was done with those guys,” Chris Gordon said.

“Well, the one werewolf we grabbed admitted to a pack alpha who insisted he be called Loki’s First,” she said.

“Egomaniac much?  Listen, it’s easily possible that a few slipped away from us, especially at the end in Mexico,” he said.

“What were they doing down there?” she asked.

“Some weird kind of breeding program.  Trying to mix were and witch genetics.  Build a super army, you know, standard evil villain take-over-the-world stuff,” he said.

“Can that happen?  Weres and witches interbreeding?” she asked, suddenly intensely interested.

“Doc Singh says yes, but it’s iffy.  An LV-infected man and a normal woman seem to have low odds of producing a were offspring.  Most witches are women and most of the Lokis were male, so they were facing an uphill battle,” he said.

“What about a female were and a male witch?” she asked, then suddenly realized what she had said, immediately glad he couldn’t see her face flush through the phone.

“I don’t know.  Female weres having kids with regular males tend to have a higher number of were kids.  Not sure about the witch genetics, though.  I’ll ask.  Speaking of male witches, is yours up there yet?” he asked.

“Mine?  You mean
ours
?  No, he’s not,” she said.

“Hmmpf.  Give him time.  He won’t like DOAA being up there, eyeing you as a target.  I know that
I’m
not crazy about it,” he said.

“I just texted with him.  He suggested looking at the medical community for any miracle cures,” she said.

“That’s pretty slick.  I could run it through Omega and see what it comes up with,” he suggested.

“What would it do?  Hack the records?” she asked, watching Buck’s attention perk up at the work
hack
.

“I’m not sure
hack
is a word that applies to Omega.  Near as we can tell, it just sorta
owns
any other computer it comes in contact with. I’m telling you, this thing is kinda spooky.  Chet is, of course, in love with it, and Tanya thinks it’s awesome, but sometimes I feel like it has a mind of its own,” he said.

“Really?  Why?” she asked.

“Nothing I can put a finger on.  Just a lot of little observations that are kinda hard to put into words,” he said.

“How much contact does Declan have with it?” she asked.

“Declan?  I don’t know if he has any with it,” he said, sounding puzzled.

“Really?  The kid is the whole reason it exists in the first place. He’s a comp sci student, and he got that whole freaky talks-to-computers thing,” she said, turning away from the others and lowering her voice at the end of her sentence.

“Um, I hadn’t thought too much about it.  I mean, he’s at school and it’s here, right?” Chris asked, not sounding very sure.

“Wow, really?  You think he needs a keypad and monitor to get in touch with the computer that
owns
other computers?  You don’t think his cell phone is enough?”

“Well, when you put it that way, then yes, I’m sure he can contact Omega.  I could ask it.”

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t hold my breath.  He’s like the closest thing to its creator other than that creepy computer genius you had working there till he sold you out and ran off,” she said.

“
That
guy’s not a problem anymore.  But listen, speaking of Declan, he’s eventually going to show up.  I’d bet a lot of money on it.  So if I could give you a piece of advice, it would be to stay low key, especially around DOAA.  If they got stupid,
we
would use every channel we have to get you safe.  Declan… well, I think he’s a bit sensitive where you’re concerned and I think his response would be… rash,” Chris said, trying to sound diplomatic.

She sighed.  “Burn the town down rash?  I know.  I’m staying low key.  But on a side note, the local sheriff and his people definitely have my back,” she said, meeting the deputies’ eyes as they heard her say it.

“Damn right,” Devany said before flushing slightly and looking back down at his files.

“Sounds like you have at least one admirer on staff,” Chris said, somehow expressing both amusement and concern in one sentence.

“Relax, I can manage,” she said.

“Yes, I know you’ve dealt with admirers before.  Most of them can’t rearrange the local geography with a thought and a wave of the hand, though,” he said.

“He’s very… controlled.  I think that scary aunt of his drummed it into him,” she said.

“So here’s another thing.  When a wolf comes into the Pack’s territory, what happens?” he asked in a teaching voice.

“Well, they have two days to present themselves to the Alpha to declare their intentions.  Why?” she asked.

“What do witches do?” he asked her back.

“I don’t… oh.  Oh, you think I should alert the local circle or practitioners if Declan shows up?” she asked.

“Not sure.  Just wondering. A local witch might also have an idea or two about your rogues as well.  But think about the introduction part, especially if Declan shows up. If you’re sensitive to these things, that kid glows like a nuclear power plant,” he said.

She laughed.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s nothing.  He just said the same thing about you once.  I’ll check into it. Listen, if you want to ask your Skynet about the medical thing, be my guest,” she said.

“Okay, will do,” he said, sounding distracted. “Got to go.  Tanya’s up.  The babies move around inside a lot and make her really uncomfortable.  Bye,” and he hung up.

Babies?  As in more than one? 

“That your brother?” Buck asked.

“What?  Brother?  No, it was Chris,” she said, confused.

“Chris Gordon?” Buck asked, eyes wide.  “You sounded like my wife when she talks to her brother, but her brother isn’t the Hammer of God.”

“You know I’m part of his team; you said you watched some of the Washington stuff,” she said, annoyed by the brother comparison.

“Yeah, but I guess I didn’t realize that he’d call to check up on you like, well…” he trailed off.

“Like a brother,” Hampton said without looking up from the file he was reading.

“So what did he say?” Devany asked.

She realized that they couldn’t hear both sides of her conversation with Chris like most of her team and coworkers could have.