Oracles' Light [PUP Squad Alpha 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

“It looks like the e-mail was sent from this very office. Maybe Higgins was
trying
to get caught. Maybe he didn’t want to kill those women but knew the only way to stop himself was for PUP Squad Alpha to catch him. Maybe he wasn’t the bad guy he seemed after all.”

Cassandra looked up in time to see Tory quickly hide a smirk. She must have realized that she’d been caught, because she smiled wryly and breathed out a deep breath.

“You’re an amazing woman, Cassandra Lipton. There aren’t many people who would even bother to try and see the good in a killer as vicious as Higgins was.” She was quiet for a moment, but then stood up and headed for the door. She glanced around the empty hallways and sighed. “Tomorrow will hopefully bring better news. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said with a soft smile. “Don’t stay all night.”

“I won’t,” Cassandra said, even though she intended to do just that.

But as she watched the woman walk away tiredly, guilt tore at Cassandra’s insides. She still didn’t want to put into a report what she knew from Jason, but it was probably something that would help the Judiciary to find the strength to keep fighting. She trusted Tory. The woman might even be able to advise her on what to do with the information. Cassandra lifted out of her chair and called to the Judiciary from her office doorway. Tory raised an eyebrow in question, not actually stepping away from the portal that would take her home.

Cassandra took a deep breath, shored up her courage, and spoke clearly.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

Five weeks earlier…

Kristen Haynes took one last look at the desk she’d sat at for the past six years. She’d received the notice ten days ago, so she’d known this day was coming, but now that the moment was here she didn’t quite know what to do next.

Being let go from a boring, mind-numbing, repetitive job probably should have made her happy, but it was the complete lack of notice from the people around her that hurt the most. It seemed almost comical. She’d spent six years working diligently, not rocking the boat, making certain nobody had anything to complain about her or her quality of work, just quietly and efficiently getting her job done. But it seemed that it was that very ability to stay off the radar that had led to her current situation. Not only was she no longer employed, apparently she wasn’t even going to be missed.

She glanced around the empty office and wondered how she’d managed to make herself so invisible.

Tears threatened as she reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out her purse for the final time. She vowed to hold herself together at least until she got home, but it was the light being switched off that did her in. A quiet sob tore from her throat as footsteps started to move away down the hallway.

“Is someone…” a female voice said as the light was switched back on. “Oh, sorry.” It was her supervisor, Debbie. “Didn’t see you there.”

“That’s okay,” Kristen managed to force out in a rough voice. “I was just going.”

“Oh, well, in that case have a great weekend. I’ll see you Mon—” Debbie cut off her words, obviously realizing that she wouldn’t see Kristen on Monday. She shuffled awkwardly in the doorway, and for the first time in her life, Kristen didn’t want to make the woman feel comfortable. She wasn’t going to give in to her natural reaction to help the people around her. She worked harder than anyone else in this office, yet she’d never once been given a pay raise, a promotion, or one scrap of recognition.

She stared the woman down, waiting for her to say something to try and extricate herself from the uncomfortable situation.

“I…um…do you have anoth—” But again she cut herself off, perhaps this time not wanting to hear the answer. No, Kristen didn’t have another job to go to, but it wasn’t something she was about to admit to a woman who basically knew nothing about her. She’d been the supervisor in this section for a little over a year, but Kristen was fairly certain the woman hadn’t addressed her directly more than once. And if she remembered correctly, Debbie had gotten her name wrong anyway. She’d called her Jocelyn or Pauline or something else that wasn’t even close to Kristen. But as always, Kristen hadn’t pointed out the woman’s mistake. She’d smiled, nodded, and then gone to do the work her boss had asked her to do.

But right now, Debbie squirmed in the doorway, obviously uncomfortable and desperately seeking a way out of the awkward conversation. She glanced at her watch, pretended to be surprised by the time, and gave Kristen an unconvincing regretful smile.

“I have to run, but it’s been great working with you. Good luck in whatever you…” But her words faded out as the woman practically ran down the hallway to the elevator. Kristen sighed, gathered her bag, and took a last look around an area that she hoped to somehow forget. She’d never really liked the way this place made her feel, but she’d always done her best to do her work properly. She hadn’t taken a sick day in all the years she’d been here. Hell, she’d barely even taken her holidays. Why on Earth was she the one to get retrenched? It didn’t make any sense.

By the time she reached her car in the parking lot, Kristen was angry. More angry than she could ever remember being in her life. She was a good girl, she worked hard, played by the rules, always tried to be nice to everyone around her. When the hell was she going to get the karma people talked about? Treat others as you’d like to be treated? Sure, that really worked. Not.

She climbed into her sensible, economical-to-run, environmentally sensitive car and slammed the door hard. She closed her eyes as she turned the key and started the engine. It made that “whizz” sound she’d once thought was cute, but now just annoyed the hell out of her.

She wanted fast, she wanted loud, she wanted something, anything. She wanted different. And she wanted it now.

When she got to the parking lot exit, she turned right, heading away from her home, turning away from every sensible decision she’d ever made. She’d always wanted to go on a road trip. This time she was damn well doing it!

* * * *

Dyson James stood in the living area of the safe house where Hannah was being protected and tried to stop his jaw from dropping to the floor. Ronan had just informed the gathered agents that they believed the women they’d been searching for were actually heading to Sugarvale. Without knowing what was going on, the Oracle’s receptacles were unconsciously seeking each other out.

But the most amazing part was that sweet, quietly spoken Hannah had blushed, mentioned the others by name even though no one had told her, and then rattled off the coordinates of their current locations. Stunned silence was followed by a flurry of activity as Benjamin gave them their orders and they moved to comply.

Brody opened a dragon vortex, and Adam and Thomas stepped through. Dyson and Angus followed using individual slip paths.

“Now what?” Angus asked as they turned toward the road. If they’d calculated correctly, Kristen Haynes would be driving past this very spot in a matter of moments. The trouble was they had no idea what the woman looked like, what she was driving, or how she would react to being pulled over on a disused roadway in the middle of nowhere.

They’d tried unsuccessfully to contact Kristen Haynes at both her registered workplace and the building in which she supposedly lived. Neither place had ever heard of the woman. In fact, the owner of the transport company had been shocked to realize he had the woman on his payroll. He’d sworn he knew every one of his staff by name and not one of them was named Kristen. They’d shown him the poorly lit, out-of-focus photograph of the woman’s driver’s license, and he’d simply shaken his head, showing absolutely no hint of recognition. The doorman of her building had been the same. It was pretty obvious that neither man was trying to protect her. They truly had no idea who Kristen Haynes was.

The only good news had been that if PUP Squad Alpha couldn’t find the woman, chances were the assassins couldn’t, either.

Finally, a car—hopefully the one they were waiting for—came into sight. It was the only vehicle for miles and seemed to be puttering along, rather than driving directly to a destination. It wasn’t even doing anywhere near the speed limit. This particular road had been replaced by a highway a long time ago. If the driver was in a hurry to get to Sugarvale, she’d certainly chosen the wrong route.

“Let’s see if we can flag her down first,” Thomas said with a broad smile that usually had women falling at his feet.

“Agreed,” Brody said with a nod. “There’s no reason to frighten the driver. Especially if she’s not Kristen.”

“Are we sure we’ll even recognize Kristen? The one and only photo we have is kind of crappy,” Angus said with a short bark of laughter. Dyson tried not to react to the man’s poorly timed humor. He’d known Angus for years—he often worked with PUP Squad Alpha as a contractor—but they’d never truly been friends. The man’s jovial attitude was grating at times and certainly in stark contrast to the quiet and watchful attitude of Dyson’s usual squad partner, Jason. All those times Dyson had wished for the young warlock to be more outgoing and less shy had certainly come back to bite him on the ass. Considering how much Angus annoyed him, there was definitely an argument for being careful what you wish for. Right now he found himself hoping that whatever family issue Jason needed to take leave for would be sorted out quickly, very, very quickly.

As the car approached, Thomas and Dyson stepped onto the road to try and get the driver to pull over. Dyson saw the woman’s worried frown, but she slowed the car to a stop and rolled her window down an inch or so.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a nervous smile.

“Well, that all depends,” Thomas said with that confident grin that usually had women swooning. “Are you Kristen Haynes?”

Dyson saw panic flash across the woman’s face before she shook her head and plastered on a polite smile. “Sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “Did you need something?” The woman grimaced and appeared to silently berate herself for what seemed to be an automatic inclination to help those around her.

It was obvious that Thomas scented her fear, but he was also smart enough to realize it wasn’t just the normal fear of a woman alone on a deserted road. His next words confirmed he’d noticed the reaction the woman had tried to hide. She was Kristen Haynes. She just didn’t want to admit it. Quite frankly, it wasn’t that hard to believe that she would lie. Nobody ever expected to be pulled over in the middle of nowhere and be addressed by name.

“Sweetheart,” Thomas said with the full power of his ladies’-man personality, “Kristen is in grave danger. We need to find her quickly so that we can protect her.”

“P–Protect her? What from?”

“We have a serial killer targeting women born twelfth of January,” Dyson said, going with the cover story they’d agreed upon. All five of them on this mission looked human, so it wasn’t necessary to freak the woman out until they actually had to.

“Sweetheart,” Thomas said again. His natural charm usually had women gazing at him as if he were the last man on Earth. Not so this one. She watched him closely, her suspicion obvious, as he explained. “All of the victims were twenty-seven. We need to find Kristen Haynes before the serial killer does.”

“H–How would he find m—” She cut her words off, glancing fearfully at the men. “How would he find Kristen if she was…” She let her words trail away, perhaps realizing that she wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Kristen,” Dyson said, his concern for the woman making his voice husky, “we can protect you. I promise we’ll keep you safe.”

She glanced from Dyson to Thomas and back again, her car window still only opened the smallest crack necessary for her to hear them. Her eyes widened when the others came up behind him and Thomas. It seemed introductions were definitely called for now.

“I’m Dyson,” he said, pressing a hand over his chest and then pointing to each of the others. “This is Thomas, Adam, Brody, and Angus. I promise, Kristen. We’re here to help you.”

“O–Okay,” she said as she wound her window down a fraction farther. “Should I…um…follow you or something?”

“How about I come with you?” Dyson suggested, wondering how they were going to explain the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere without a vehicle. Cover stories were all well and good, but the devil was in the details. “The others will meet us at the nearest safe house.”

She nodded again, hesitated one more moment, and then flipped the car locks open.

* * * *

Angus McPherson watched his temporary squad partner, Dyson James, drive away in Kristen’s car and had to admire the man’s smooth moves. It wasn’t often that Thomas didn’t get the girl, so Dyson probably had reason to be a little smug. Although, come to think of it, Thomas had been rather quiet lately, especially when it came to the ladies. In fact, he hadn’t really seemed his usual cocky self since the issue with Skye and her sister, Jennifer, several months ago.

“Who’s with me, then?” Angus asked, already knowing what the answer would be. Slip travel was uncomfortable for most creatures, except for the demons born to it, but he’d been told on numerous occasions that his particular form of travel was not only nauseating but freeze-ya-tits-off cold as well. Personally, he found the temperature quite refreshing, but judging by Thomas’s and Adam’s quick negative replies, it was too cold for pretty-boy werewolves.