Enforcer Ensnared (16 page)

It was a subtle
indication for her to move the conversation on to calmer and less argumentative
data. She glanced at the papers, then back at him. A quick, short tilt of her
head showed that she had understood his meaning.

“So why would Malone
bring all this to Martine?” she asked curiously, her words cutting through the
tension building between the group.

Blade beamed at her and
cocked an eyebrow. Questions and routine discussion would take their minds off
the pissing contest about who would get what in the breakdown of things.

“Martine is a bit loopy,”
Isobel replied finally when Elias waved his hand at her to answer. “A few
bricks shy of a load, I believe is the polite expression. She does have a
bucketload
of charisma and she has this manner of making
the most insane things sound like really good suggestions. She started to make
a name for herself in local magical politics, but finally her true colors shone
through. It wasn’t long after that she was unceremoniously dropped. Politicians
are expected to be…well, eccentric and not all there. Many don’t have an
exactly realistic view of the world, but their charisma and power usually make
up for it. Martine, on the other hand, just tipped the scales a little too far
onto the side of being a zealot, so she got dumped.”

Blade managed to see the
larger picture. “And so she decided if she couldn’t make it in the magical
world’s political realm, that left the human one wide open to her,” he
hypothesized.

Isobel nodded.

“From what we can
gather,” Elias added, “her charisma alone managed to get her through to where
she needed to be in the human world. Even though rumors circulate now and then
that she’s not quite all there, it just appears to have created intrigue and a
bit of mystery around her. That hasn’t hurt her chances and in some areas has
actually increased interest. Add on to that that she hasn’t made any huge
errors of judgment and all together that’s enabled her to hold on to the
position she’s carved out for herself.”

“So Martine knew the
mayor,” Flame extrapolated. “And the mayor has a boatload of money at his
disposal. Malone isn’t exactly hurting for liquid assets himself, but he and
Sarke
needed the connection to the human world. Malone just
happened to remember his wife’s rather crazy cousin has political standing
within the human world…”

“And A joins to B, which
joins to C,” Blade finished with a nod.

“Probably Malone realized
what an excellent niche they had discovered, and all but invisible to the
Enforcers,” Flame added thoughtfully. “So when the mayor pulled out they
decided they were onto such a good thing it didn’t matter. I mean, who would
the mayor complain to? Especially when he had been involved initially, helped
to finance it. All of them realize it would be career suicide for him to be vocal
about any of it, so they had a form of insurance to boot.”

“At this point it’s moot
whether
Sarke
or Malone, either or both, wanted to
continue,” Blade agreed. He turned to Isobel and Elias before continuing. “We
still definitely need Martine—at least a signed legal statement if not
permission to borrow her and her testimony for the trial. Her connections to
the human world are integral to how everything fits together.”

Isobel began to speak but
Blade held up a hand and cut her off.

“You can still physically
have Martine—she can make your case or whatever you need. But we will have
rights to question her, to get her testimony. We also need Jarred and his
files, plus signed affidavits from you both helping to solidify the case. Is
that acceptable?”

Isobel and Elias agreed.

Blade turned to Jarred.
“You nearly ready to move, buddy?”

“Almost,” he agreed. “I’d
better be tagging along with you, though. Don’t think you can use me then dump
my ass.”

“Oh
no.”
Blade
laughed. “I told Sage to warn
Will
you’d be coming
along with us. I figured you’d feel like that about it and I can’t blame you.
I’d not want to drop out of a mission at this point either. You might have come
late to the party, but it’s too interesting now to wander off home. Not now we
finally seem to be getting somewhere.”

“Good.”
Jarred nodded.

The small light stopped
flashing on his memory stick and Jarred pulled it from his laptop and put it
into a pocket of his army pants, which he buttoned up. With quick, economical motions
he powered down his laptop and closed the few gizmos that had been beeping and
collecting all the data they had managed to tap into.

In less than five minutes
Jarred had packed everything up and stood, ready to go. Blade nodded at the man
and turned to Elias and Isobel.

“Shall we return to
headquarters and get started on the wording of the affidavits? Will your team
leader need to be called in?”

Elias shook his head in
the negative. “We can empower the affidavits but we will need to go through the
wording.”

Blade frowned. “Won’t
pretty much what we’ve just said be enough?”

“Yes,” Elias agreed, “but
I’d feel better if we could all be present when it’s typed. That way there
won’t be any misunderstandings or recriminations down the track.”

Blade privately thought
Elias’ suggestion a bit cautious. The day was progressing and extending
anything seemed pointless to Blade, especially when he positively itched to get
moving on their new leads.

Blade held the distinct
impression that the evening ahead for him and Flame would be a long one, which
only served to ramp up the adrenaline surging through his body. He needed
action, not to sit around HQ while they fiddled with the legal wording of paperwork.

As if sensing his growing
agitation, Flame came to stand next to Blade. Her shoulder brushed his, just
innocently touching in a gesture of solidarity. Blade knew Flame didn’t mean
to, but she offered him silent comfort and he knew no matter what she privately
thought of any decision he made, she would support him fully and query him
about it later in seclusion.

The knowledge gave him
the power to squash his petty feelings.

“Okay,” Blade conceded,
pleased to have Flame by his side literally as well as emotionally. “We’ll head
back to headquarters right now and write those papers up. If we discover that
we’ve misunderstood something we can always re-write the contract and reseal it
down the track. I’m happy to add in the clause that the document is true and
correct to this date and time and only insofar as our knowledge goes.”

They all agreed this
would be best and Elias and Isobel departed. Blade turned to Jarred with a
raised eyebrow.

“Internal political
bullshit, I think.” Blade shrugged. “But man, what can you do?”

“Struggle through it,”
Jarred replied understandingly. “So where is this legendary Enforcers’
headquarters?”

Blade recited the
address. Jarred looked startled for a moment and Blade laughed aloud. “I know,
right under everyone’s noses. Trust me, we find it highly amusing too.”

“There’s a public parking
lot just on that corner, if I recall correctly,” Jarred said. “I’ll meet you
guys out front of the building?”

Blade shook his head.
“We’ll be parking in the private lot underneath. It’s far simpler to use our
passes and catch the lift directly up. We’ll call security from inside, thought,
have them set up a temporary tag for you and put you on the recognition list.
They’ll let you through.”

When Jarred looked a
little skeptical Blade recited his pager number. “That’s for my pager. I’ll
have it on me or near me in audio range until the case closes. Any trouble, you
can catch me on that, but trust me, there won’t be any difficulties. Our
security is good and it works. You’ll get through.”

“Okay.”
Jarred nodded.
“Well, then, I guess I’ll see you at HQ.”

Blade winked. “You’re in
for a treat, buddy. See you there.”

Jarred turned and left
the park, headed back in the same direction he had come from earlier. Blade turned
to Flame and took her hand in his.

“Think they’ll cause us
grief?” he asked, genuinely curious for her take on the matter.

“Malone and
Sarke
, or Elias and Isobel?” she asked impishly. Blade
chuckled and slapped her ass lightly.

“I meant Elias and Isobel,”
he said, but then added more thoughtfully.
“Though I’d be
interested in your take on both couples.”

“Malone and
Sarke
I’d want to wait to make a judgment call on,” she
answered cautiously as they returned to where they had parked the bike. “
Sarke
is a slippery, twisty little fiend. He’s already
escaped capture twice that we know of—once at the club, once at the annex. And
both times he had explosives pre-planted and set for detonation. He’s sharp,
savvy and I would guess a pro at wriggling his way out of any given situation.
I have a feeling he’s one of those sorts of wizards who always manages to twist
and turn everything to his own advantage regardless of what it is.”

“A born hustler,” Blade
added. Flame’s insight solidified his own impressions and cemented his belief
in his intuition about
Sarke
. Once again Blade felt
respect for her brains and intellect and desire for her as a witch and a
partner.

“Exactly,” Flame agreed.
“Malone, on the other hand, was born to power. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d
been using and abusing his privileges from the cradle onward. He’s not slippery
in the same sense as
Sarke
. Indeed, I’d almost
hypothesize that
Sarke
is the more dangerous of the
two, if anything. Malone is by far the more powerful, though. His magic is
potent and strong. He’s also very used to keeping his hands clean. Moreover he
has a hell of a lot to lose—more than anyone else in this situation. A rabbit
can fight off the most amazing animals when it’s cornered and its life is at
risk.”

“And Malone is no fluffy,
cute bunny rabbit,” Blade pointed out. “So while
Sarke
might end up smelling like a rose, or at least getting the best out of the
situation, Malone is still our greatest threat.”

“That’s certainly how I
see it right now,” Flame agreed as they came to the large bike.

“And Elias and Isobel?”
he continued, still curious. They stood on the sidewalk, their helmets in their
hands as they talked.

“Isobel is angling for
something—likely the collar and promotion. Elias is along for the ride. He
seems to like Isobel for a partner well enough, but she’s the burning ambition,
he’s the cool one who
smooths
over her roughness and
helps calm the waves. They seem like a good enough pair, and they work well
together. I think we started off on the wrong foot simply because we’re
treading on each other’s toes, and you know Enforcer egos clash at the best of
times. Two dogs fighting over one bone is not the best way to lay a solid
impression or start a friendship.”

Blade threw his head back
and laughed. With his free hand he drew Flame to him and kissed her
passionately.

“My love, you are smart,
beautiful,
insightful
and most of all think along
similar lines to myself. I could not have put it better no matter how long I tried.
I do love you so much.”

Flame flushed and cast a
few quick looks around them before relaxing.

“You’re insane,” she
muttered, though she didn’t actually pull from his hold. Standing on her
tiptoes, she planted a soft, brief kiss to his lips and gave a slight squeeze
to his hand.

“I love you too,” she
said, “but if you ever do that in front of our colleagues, I’ll…well, I won’t
knee you in the balls. I’m rather fond of your body. But I will think of
something hideously embarrassing and public and do that. And you will regret
it.”

Blade laughed and kissed
her once more before pulling his helmet on. “You’re still amazing,” he
insisted, and she flipped him off before donning her helmet and climbing onto
the bike. Blade wrapped his arms around her waist and the engine roared to
life, vibrating wonderfully beneath him. With a small squeal of tires, they
once again pulled out and headed back to the main offices of the Enforcers.

Blade marveled at the
risk Jarred had taken. Once again his laptop was out and powered up, though
this time it sat on the desk next to Isobel and her computer. Blade wondered
idly just how long the man figured he could tempt fate and use the device
before it started to become wonky.

Jarred had emailed
Isobel, Elias, Flame and Blade screen caps of the relevant files he had copied,
and now Isobel was typing up their paperwork. She would pause every few moments
to check a date or number with Jarred, or when Flame interrupted to offer a
better wording than whatever had been typed.

Elias and Blade stood
nearby but well out of the women’s way. When it became obvious Flame and Isobel
were down to discussing the
nitty
gritty details of
the report and what phrasing would be best, Jarred stood up and joined the
other two men.