Chapter 5 #3
I continued to watch the tape. René didn’t wait for his accomplice.
The minute she was in and the door had closed, he turned and strode back down the hall to the stairs.
With only a few minutes left until my arrival, the door opened and closed again.
I increased the image size and saw the suspicious shimmer.
It was almost impossible to see who or what lay underneath it, but the overall shape was on the small and somewhat shapely side.
It did tie in with Tane’s assertions that he’d talked to a woman, because invisibility shields needed to cling to one’s form in order to provide the best coverage.
I went to tap the earwig, remembered it had been smashed, and picked up my phone instead.
“Hey,” I said when comms answered. “It’s Agent Kang here—”
“Yeah, I know that,” Jack said dryly. “Every call that comes in here has all necessary call information attached. Heard you ended up in hospital, so why the fuck are you calling rather than resting?”
“Because I was bored and going through the security tapes I got from Ashworth’s building manager and need additional information.”
“Just as well nothing else interesting is happening right now, then. What do you need?”
I smiled. “I need the security tapes from Tane’s building manager for the forty-eight hours prior to Tane’s arrival, and then I need someone to go through them and see who—if anyone—goes into his apartment.
Also, given the telepath who entered before me used an invisibility spell, you’ll need to watch for that. ”
“Well, that always makes things interesting. I’ll get on to it.”
“Thanks.” I paused. “Did forensics pull anything interesting from any of our current crime scenes?”
“Not that I’ve heard, but then, I don’t get updated on that sort of stuff.”
“Could you put in a request I be notified the minute anything does come through?”
“I can and even will.”
“Thanks.”
“No probs.”
I hung up, then ejected the USB and reached for the one Tane had given me.
I kept it partially covered by the glove to avoid adding additional prints, but one fingertip nevertheless slipped across the metal shielding over the connector.
Magic tickled my skin but didn’t in any way feel dangerous.
Hell, as spells went, it didn’t even feel complete.
And yet, alarm stirred. I mean, why would anyone want to spell a USB?
I briefly debated the wisdom of looking at it when I wasn’t in any sort of controlled environment, but Tane’s warning echoed through my mind.
That, more than anything, had me shoving it into the slot.
I waited for the audio file to load, then hit Play.
For several seconds, there was nothing but static, then a sharp voice said, “Is everything ready?”
The question came through so loudly I jumped and hastily turned the laptop’s sound down.
“Just about” came the reply. “She won’t know anything is wrong until it’s all too late.”
The first speaker was female, the second male, though it was hard to get a true feel for either of their voices because they both sounded very tinny—a situation not helped by the continuing background hiss.
Either they were using some sort of voice modulation or whoever was recording the conversation didn’t have very good equipment.
“Monica is not to be killed or harmed in any way until I say—you do understand that, don’t you?” the woman said. “She is mine to kill, not yours. Mine.”
There was something deeply disturbing in the way that was said.
Despite the modulator and the background hiss, a thick sense of underlying hunger seemed to leach through the woman’s tone.
I could often sense that sort of stuff if I was in the room with someone, but it had never happened in a situation like this.
“Yeah, well, don’t take too fucking long, because she’s driving me insane.”
“Which hasn’t stopped you fucking her, I notice” came the woman’s retort.
“I’m a man. I have needs.”
“And what I need is for you to remember who ultimately runs this little show.”
The response was a derisive snort. “I’m the one with the fucking contacts, so don’t get too fucking mouthy, or you might find yourself suddenly being investigated. Or dead.”
“Try either and you’ll regret it.” It was mildly said but nevertheless sent a shiver down my spine. This woman, whoever she was, was not someone you’d want to mess about.
Her companion obviously did not feel that way, because he once again snorted. “Try anything and you’ll regret it. I’m not fool enough to glide by without any form of insurance. Not after the Glebe incident.”
What the hell was the Glebe incident? I hadn’t heard or seen anything about something untoward happening in the Sydney suburb, either via the Society grapevine or through the various news outlets, but if it had involved a high-profile witch, that was no surprise.
It did at least give us another possible lead to work with, though.
“I wouldn’t let our so-called boss know about said insurance” came the calm response, “because he does not regard your presence in his life as highly as you seem to think, and he certainly would not appreciate anyone drawing deeper attention to his cause.”
The faint sound of a third voice came through the background hiss; I frowned, rewound the audio, and fiddled with the volume, but couldn’t quite make out what was being said. It did sound like some sort of announcement, and that suggested they might be meeting somewhere very public.
“That is a statement you had best remember, too. Stephan owns you.”
“Oh, I know exactly where I stand in this world and who I owe my soul to,” she replied. “And trust me, it’s not Stephan or the organization he works for.”
The static returned full force. I wrinkled my nose and hit Replay so I could listen to the whole thing again.
As I did, the trickle of magic flared to life, and smoke began to issue from the port.
I swore, yanked out the USB, and tossed it onto the floor, where it not only continued to smoke but also disintegrate, until there was nothing left other than a few bits of metal and the rancid scent of burned plastic drifting on the air.
Thankfully, it didn’t appear to reach as high as the smoke detectors, because no alarms or sprinklers went off.
I swore again, then quickly opened the notes section on my phone and jotted everything I remembered from the conversation down.
With that saved, I did a search for any recent incidents in Glebe.
Other than the usual assortment of minor traffic accidents, the only truly noteworthy event was the death of a man whose car went through a barrier and dropped down a ten-meter cliff.
According to the all-too-brief report, the man was elderly and there were no suspicious circumstances.
A statement that could not always be taken at face value when it came to magic and the witch world.
I phoned Jack again.
“Still not resting I see,” he said dryly. “What is it this time?”
“Glebe. What do you know about it?”
“Fuck all. Why?”
“It came up in a conversation I was listening to. Could you do a news search and see if there’s a witch-related incident in that area recently?”
“Define recently.”
“Maybe within the last six months?” It was a guess, but the way they’d spoken about the Glebe incident had made it sound fairly recent. “Also, can you do a background on a man who was killed there recently when his vehicle went over a cliff?”
“We looking for anything specific?”
“Anything that twitches your radar.”
“I don’t have a radar when it comes to incidents. It’s why I’m a tech nerd and you’re the investigator.”
I laughed, but before I could reply, my phone beeped, telling me there was another call on the line. “Gotta go. You’ll let me know if you uncover anything?”
“With the way you keep repeating that question, anyone would think I never did.” His voice was dry. “Get some rest, Agent Kang, while you can.”
“And that doesn’t sound ominous at all.”
He laughed and hung up, and I accepted the other call. It was my brother Michael. “Hey, bro, how’s the family?”
“In better shape than you, apparently.”
His warm tones held a mix of concern and amusement, and I couldn’t help but smile. “That news travelled fast.”
“You are my sister, so of course they’re going to notify me when you land in hospital. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was hit by a small truck, but otherwise fine.”
“Part of me wishes to advise avoiding said trucks in future, but they are a hazard of the job, unfortunately. Why were you ringing? Anything urgent?”
“Initially, it was just curiosity as to why the board gave orders that I, and no one else, go see Tane—”
“They did? When?” he cut in.
“Lowell received the order last night, apparently.”
“Neither Sophie nor I were advised of the fact, and that is extremely unusual. I shall run a trace on the call and see if it was indeed a Society number.”
“It could have been a board member using a personal phone. They must have them, mysterious beings or not.”
“They would never compromise their anonymity by using a personal phone. Their secrecy is vital for the Society’s continuing operation.”
Because if no one knew who was in charge, no one could figure out a means of compromising them. Plenty wanted to, of that I had no doubt. “Tane has been telepathically compromised, too, so we need to get him checked as a matter of urgency.”
“Damn, that is not good news.”
“Especially when the sole reason I was apparently sent to him was to receive a USB containing a conversation between two unknown people about keeping Monica alive until the operation was complete. Tane, by the way, had no idea what was on the USB or even who gave it to him and when.”
“You still have this USB?”
“Nope. Played it through once and the damn thing disintegrated via an embedded spell. Whoever sent it has obviously been watching too much Mission: Impossible.”
He half laughed. “Was there anything on it that might provide a concrete lead or two?”