Eternal (25 page)

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Authors: C. C. Hunter

BOOK: Eternal
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Della tilted her bruised chin back. “I … we want to know if they have anything on Liam.”

Burnett's expression hardened, but the look in his eyes said he wasn't going to give them a fight. He turned and looked at another agent standing by a front desk. “Take them into room six to watch the interviews.”

Chase moved beside Burnett. Della noticed that Burnett only had about an inch of height on Chase.

“I should do the interviews,” Chase said.

“Sorry.” Determination tightened Burnett's expression. “Hire on with us, and you'll get full privileges. Until then, you do only what I say you do.”

Chase's eyes grew a bit brighter, but he didn't respond. Remembering his negative response to Shawn earlier about signing on with the FRU, her curiosity about his employment with the Vampire Council piqued again. Why was he working for them? How had he come to work for them? Was there a reason for his loyalty to his employer?

The other agent, a were, walked up and motioned for her and Chase to follow. While Della did as requested, she recalled smelling the were at the restaurant.

The agent pushed open a door at the end of a drab, gray hallway. “They'll bring them in one at a time … in about three minutes. You can see and hear them, but they can't hear you.” The were motioned to the glass wall. Not that he needed to explain. Both Chase and she had been here once before. “Burnett will be doing the interviews.”

Once alone in the room, Della looked at Chase and her curiosity bit. “Why the loyalty to the Vampire Council?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You seem really loyal to them.”

His shoulders tightened. “They aren't the rogue group as you've been led to believe. We might not agree with all the FRU politics but—”

“I didn't say that. I'm simply asking why you're so loyal to them?”

He looked cornered by her inquiry.

“That's a strange question coming from you, who defends Burnett even when you hate it that he's coddling you.”

His counterattack, rather than giving her a straight answer, made her even more curious. Was he hiding something?

“Not so strange,” Della answered. “That's exactly why I'm curious. I'm loyal to Burnett because…” She paused, finding it just a bit hard to admit out loud. “He's more than just a route into my career, he's family. What's your excuse?”

He didn't answer right away. Was he thinking of a lie, or … “I like my job. I like the freedom the council allows me. It's no secret I find Burnett's micromanaging to be ridiculous.”

“Yeah, but that's Burnett—with me. We're talking about working for the FRU, not working for Burnett.”

“True, but I get the feeling he carries a lot of weight in the unit. And the rest of them are just like him.”

Della could have argued the point. No one cared as much as Burnett, and while she hated his coddling, she wasn't above caring for him right back. That said, she couldn't deny seeing reason in Chase's answer.

“How did you hire on with the Vampire Council?”

He looked at the glass wall into the empty interrogation room. “They became aware of me being a Reborn. They sought me out.”

Out of habit, she listened to his heart. It hadn't skipped, but she hadn't forgotten his ability to control that organ. Her suspicions grew. Had he turned away so she wouldn't note the telltale signs of him lying?

She was just about to call him on that fact, when she heard them: An agent, one of the vampires who'd come to help transport them here, brought one of the rogues into the room and forced him down in a chair.

A few seconds later, Burnett came in and sat across the table from the unhappy cuffed vamp. Burnett carried a file and opened it on the table. His gaze stayed on the paperwork. He didn't come across as violent, but being Burnett, just his presence carried a certain amount of intimidation.

He sat there without speaking. Never even looking up. Even hidden behind the one-way glass, Della could feel the tension building.

The vamp couldn't handle the silence any longer. “We weren't going to hurt them. We just wanted the blood.”

“Funny, it didn't seem that way, did it?” Chase asked Della.

“No,” Della admitted.

Slowly, Burnett looked up. “Tell that to the agent who got knifed and the one who got clipped in the jaw.”

“Hey, that chick kneed me in the balls.”

“You're lucky she didn't remove them to play badminton with.”

Chase chuckled lightly. “Burnett knows you well.”

Della shrugged, but didn't answer, too busy studying what was happening in the other room in hopes of learning a thing or two.

Burnett leaned back in his chair, squaring his shoulders, making the guy sitting across from him appear smaller. Did he do that on purpose?

Finally, Burnett spoke, but looked back at the file. “She doesn't normally go so easy on lowlifes who threaten her life.”

“I told you we weren't—”

“Jason Von, right?”

When the kid didn't answer, Burnett leaned forward, his eyes glowing. “Is that your name?”

“Yes,” Jason said.

Burnett nodded. “Look, Jason, I'm not going to beat around the bush. All eight of you are going down for attempted robbery, two of you get the added bonus of assault. Our facilities are almost filled. We have two spots left at Burton. It's not a walk in the park, but Parkrow, our other facility, it's rough. Only about fifty percent who go in, come out. And twenty-five of those will end up killing themselves. And the first two of the five of you with the lesser counts who tell us what we need to know will get to go to Burton.”

He pulled a photograph out of the file and pushed it in front of the rogue. The rogue, who suddenly seemed too young to be up to his yin yang in this kind of trouble.

“Are you going to be one of the lucky Burton attendees?” Burnett tapped the picture with his index finger. “I need info on this kid.” He looked the guy straight in the eyes. “Do you know him? Have you ever seen him before? I know he was hanging out in your gang's territory.”

The vamp, probably no older than Della, glanced down at the image, and his eyes widened with recognition. In his round brown eyes, Della saw something else. Fear.

“He's afraid,” Della said.

“He should be,” Chase answered. “I've seen Parkrow, you might as well go to hell.”

“No,” Della said. “When he looked at the picture he was afraid. He knows something and is scared to tell.”

The kid looked back up at Burnett. “I…”

“Burton or Parkrow?” Burnett said.

“I … uh,” the vamp stuttered.

“Fine,” Burnett said. “Parkrow it is.” He stood to leave.

“No,” Della muttered. “He knows something.”

Yes, he knows something. Find Natasha.

The voice echoed in Della's mind. She looked at Chase to see if he'd heard it, but he didn't appear to have.

Still reeling from the voice, Della got a fresh scent of werewolf again. She looked behind her to see if a were had somehow snuck in the room, but nope.

She inhaled again to see if she'd been mistaken. The scent hung on. And the familiarity of it tickled her senses. This was the same scent she'd gotten back at the restaurant.

“Do you smell that?” she questioned Chase.

He looked confused, but lifted his face and inhaled. “Smell what?”

Damn!
The ghost was trying to tell her something. But what?

Her gaze shot back to the kid, to the fear in his eyes. “I don't know shit,” he said.

Della saw his left eyebrow wiggle. Just like Chase's wiggled when he lied.

Burnett stopped at the door. “You're going to regret this.”

He's lying.
The ghost spoke again.

Burnett turned the doorknob. “No!” Unable to stop herself, she took two steps to the wall and raised her fist.

“Don't!” Chase shot forward as if to stop her.

Too late, she pounded on the glass.

Both Burnett and the rogue vamp's gaze whipped toward the wall. The kid looked kind of shocked, but Burnett looked pissed, and not just kind of, but full-blown, over-the-top pissed.

He shot out of the door. No doubt coming to have a powwow with the person who'd dared to knock. But that was okay. She needed to see him, too. She started toward the door when it flung open and banged against the wall so hard that tiny white pieces of Sheetrock fell like snow from the ceiling.

“What the hell are you doing?” Burnett roared. “You never interrupt an interrogation.”

 

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chase moved closer to her, almost as if fearing Burnett would strike her. Della knew better. Not that she didn't fear Burnett. She feared disappointing him, feared he would see her weaknesses. But she never feared he would physically hurt her.

“I'm sorry, but he knows something,” Della snapped.

Burnett's scowl deepened. “I know he knows something!” He tossed up his hands in frustration. “And he was about to tell me what he knows!”

“No he wasn't. He was going to vague up the truth because he's afraid.”

“No, he's going to tell me the truth because he's afraid!” Burnett demanded.

She shook her head. “You need to ask about the werewolf.”

“What werewolf?”

“I … don't know. But if you ask … Wait, just let me ask him, I'll act like I know more and I'll get the truth out of him.”

“What?” Burnett seethed, and when she didn't answer instantly, he shifted his glare to Chase. “What the hell is she talking about?”

Chase appeared confused, but then his light green eyes met hers and he almost smiled. “I'm clueless, but I'd bet my right arm that she's onto something. If you're smart, you'll trust her.”

Burnett looked back at Della. “I do trust her. But I still need an explanation.”

Della gave one. One word. “Ghost.”

*   *   *

Della stood outside the door gathering her courage and pulling the elastic band of her big-girl panties up. She'd asked for this, now she had to come through.

Even with the core temperature of a vampire, she felt little pin-sized drops of sweat appear on her brow. Nerves. Nothing but nerves.

What if she was wrong? What if she'd only imagined the smell of were? What if the kid didn't know crap? What if she failed? Both Burnett and Chase were watching back in the room with the glass wall.

Lordy! What had inspired her to do this?

Find Natasha.

Oh, yeah, that was what. The voice. The ghost.

Stiffening her spine, remembering Natasha and Liam's lives were on the line, then cramming any sign of insecurity deep inside, she opened the door.

Remembering how Burnett's presence had filled the room, she stepped inside. She didn't immediately look at the vamp.

“They sent
you
in?” he asked in a condescending voice.

She crossed her arms and finally looked at him. “It's because of what I know.”

“What do you know?” he asked, his brown eyes not showing the same fear as they did with Burnett.

She swallowed a lump of doubt. She considered picking him up and slamming him against a wall. But she suspected Burnett wouldn't respect that.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asked, almost smiling.

Failure loomed right ahead, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

She pulled out the chair across from him, letting it screech across the tile floor, and dropped down into the seat. “I know that you were about to vague up the truth when answering the agent.”

“You know that, huh?” He smirked.

She wanted to smack him. “Yeah, you weren't planning on telling him about the weres.”

The look in his brown eyes told Della she was going to be able to walk out of here with her head held high.

“You don't understand…” He paused, then added, “Shit!”

“Give me the names now and you'll be placed in the best facility.”

He actually seemed to cringe. “I think I'd rather take my chances at the bad prison.”

“Really?” She leaned in, purposely getting into his space, hoping to push him to talk. “'Cause I'm imagining about half the convicts in Parkrow are werewolves. And from gangs,” she added, hoping like hell the weres he feared were wrapped up in a gang. “And you know we're going to find answers and they'll assume you were the snitch.”

He jumped up, grabbed the chair with his chained hands, and tossed it against the wall. It clattered against the floor a few inches from where she stood. It wasn't so much an attack on her, as an expression of fury.

Della held out one hand to the wall where she knew Burnett and Chase watched, hoping they'd realize she was asking them not to come in. Getting the rogue angry was part of her plan.

She went over, carefully picked up his chair, and dropped it back down by the table. “Sit down!” she ordered, and when she stared him in the eyes, she was reminded how young he was. Being young didn't excuse his behavior, but she again felt fortunate that she'd had her cousin to help her through the turn, then Shadow Falls to keep her grounded. Had this guy had anyone?

When he didn't immediately respond, she tried another tactic. “Look, I know you're pissed. And you're probably scared. But tell us what we need to know, and I'm thinking the FRU will make sure you stay alive long enough to make something out of your life.”

He practically flung himself into the chair. His pride looked chipped, he looked … desperate. She knew that feeling too well.

“I … don't know much. I saw a group of weres with that kid. I think his name was Liam. Marco was going to try to recruit him when we spotted the weres with him. He backed away really quick like. He said the weres were bad ass, said they collected fresh turns and it wasn't worth fighting for him.”

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