Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1)

CHAPTER Twenty-Nine

A slight smile played at the corners of Andreas’s mouth as he watched the team scatter. Whatever had put him in such a good mood, Ari hoped it would make him open-minded to the changes she wanted.

No one on the team said a word about their plans as they passed him on the way out. They trusted her to deal with Andreas, and she hoped she could pass this first hurdle. If she couldn’t, they’d never respect her as team leader.

“They cleared out in a hurry,” Andreas said when the door closed behind the last of them.

“Guess they had plans.” She knew exactly what those plans were. They were scaring up more firearms. She’d asked them to bring whatever they were comfortable using, and extra ammo. Natural abilities were great; weapons added another dimension.

“Any problems I should know about?”

“No, everything went smoothly. Got some ideas for improvements.”

“Would those have anything to do with Russell being outside the building so often?”

“Who told you?” Ari demanded. “You’ve got someone spying on us?”

He gave her a smug look. “No one told me. I saw him.”

“You couldn’t have. You were asleep.”

“I still saw him.” Andreas’s eyes crinkled with humor. “Come, I’ll show you.” He led her into the hallway and stopped in front of the locked storage room, producing a key.

When he swung the door inward, her mouth dropped open. “Wow, what is all this?”

The center of the room was filled with shiny equipment. A set of large screens covering all four walls displayed multiple views inside and outside the building. Andreas pushed a button and a picture of Russell walking up the alley appeared on one of the screens. The time and date displayed at the bottom. A different screen picked up Russell’s image each time he turned a corner.

Andreas grinned at Ari’s reaction and pushed more buttons. Hallway scenes began playing of the earlier building search.

“There are cameras all over the place.”

“They automatically record hallway and exterior activity each day. I often review the recordings by remote, like today.”

“And your security team knows nothing about this?” She frowned at him. Ari was incredulous—and indignant.

His mouth quirked. “They are now called the security team?” Not waiting for a response, he went on. “The camera system is new. Installed after the attack on the prince. By that time, we did not trust anyone. Only Daron, Lucien, Carmella, and I know about it.”

“So you were spying on the guards.”

Andreas shrugged. “I was being careful,” he said. “Of everyone who came near or into the building.”

“Can’t believe we didn’t notice the cameras.” As a matter of fact, Ari was more than a little embarrassed. True, they’d been looking for explosives hidden inside the rooms, not surveillance equipment in the hallways, but it was a bad start.

“You seem upset,” Andreas said. “I would be disappointed if you had found them. The cameras were designed and installed by surveillance experts with the latest equipment. The system was intended to be invisible.”

“Still…” Ari shook it off. “We can put this stuff to better use. The team should take over running it. And there’s other technology to consider, some that works for you, some that we need to guard against.”

She talked about cell phones, motion sensors—he’d already arranged to have them installed that night—and the need to secure landlines and the computer network, which she discovered had also been done. When she described the team’s brainstorming on new procedures and additional weaponry, Andreas appeared satisfied with their progress.

“Show me how the cameras work,” Ari said. “I’ll put Mike and Maleban on the system tomorrow. They seem to like tech toys. Mike’s pretty quiet. A hard man to know. What’s his background?”

Andreas’s answer was brief. “Ex-military, special forces. The rest is Mike’s story to tell or not. I should warn you that he hates werewolves.”

“But he is a werewolf. Oh, not natural-born, I guess.”

“Indeed.” Andreas busied himself with more dials, clearly closing the topic.

Before Ari finished learning the cameras’ operations, the crew arrived to install the motion sensors, and she got to play with those controls too. By eight o’clock everything was done and ready for tomorrow. She only needed one last piece of information before they left.

“So where’s the entrance to the prince’s tunnel?”

Andreas stilled, and for a moment, he said nothing. “I should have anticipated that question.” He slowly nodded. “Of course, you need to know.”

He led her into the main security room, where the poker game had been, and stopped before the west wall, one of two paneled in a dark knotty pine. Ari followed his pointing finger and saw what looked like a small nail head. It turned out to be a tiny latch hidden inside a dark knot. Andreas pulled it up with his fingernail. Ari heard a definite click, and a section of the paneling silently opened inward to a dark tunnel. He pushed the latch back in place and it closed. Simple but effective.

“Clever camouflage.” Ari wanted a peek inside, but the quick closing of the entrance reminded her the secret chambers were off limits to non-vampires, including witches.

* * *

Satisfied with her first day on the job, Ari was eager to get on with her hunt for the wolves. Maybe they could find and kill the enemy before they had a chance to attack the compound. She and Andreas stepped out of the warehouse, moving quickly down the street. A brief stop at Club Dintero, then they’d cruise through the bar district.

Victor appeared the moment they walked into the door and pulled Andreas aside to confer on some management crisis. Ari slipped into an empty booth, ordering a sandwich while she waited. Andreas returned with a bottle of wine just as her sandwich was served.

“We have plenty of time. It is early yet for the bar crowd,” he explained. “Do you recognize our waiter?”

Ari studied the silent young man. “Lorenzo?”

He gave her a boyish grin. “Hello, Ms. Calin. I hope you enjoy your dinner.” He blushed and left.

Ari laughed at his formal speech. “Such a change. So that’s what caused the big grins when we left the caves. I suppose Reno works here too.”

Andreas smiled and poured two glasses of wine. “He does. I wanted to ensure they suffered no harm from our visit. Have you decided where we should start our search?”

“The strip, for sure.” She listed several vampire hangouts, including the Second Chance and the Bloody Stake, and threw in a couple of wolf clubs. “And Goshen Park. The wolves are bound to run sometime.”

“There are other woods.”

“Yeah, but we can’t hit them all. At least not tonight.”

Victor reappeared with another question for Andreas, and the two men left with their heads together. This time it was something about missing receipts.

Ari leaned back in the booth, rested her head against the cushioned surface, trying to relax. It had been a tense day. The club’s dim lighting, the soft music, began to have an effect. The events of the last days floated in her head like remembered scraps of a dream. And for a moment she almost grabbed onto something important to the case. Something Andreas had said. But she couldn’t hang onto the thread. They had discussed so much.

“Sleeping or day dreaming?” Andreas said without warning.

Ari sat up with a jerk. “Do you have to do that?”

“Do what?” He slid into the booth, retrieving his wineglass.

“Creep up on me like that.”

“I am a vampire, Arianna. What would you have me do? Wear a bell?”

“Might not be a bad idea. Do I detect sarcasm?” she teased. “I thought you said vampires had no humor.”

“I said some vampires would not understand your brand of humor.” His smile was contagious, and Ari found herself grinning back. The moment was broken by the ring of her phone. Ryan. Considering the ongoing interruptions, Ari figured they’d never finish the wine.

Ryan had the report on Dubrey’s flash drive. The data was damaged beyond full recovery. Only a few e-mail headings and spotty words or phrases had been recaptured.

“But they counted more than forty e-mails between Dubrey and Molyneux.”

Another link confirmed, Ari thought.

“The word ‘doses’ appears twice in the text,” Ryan said. “And references to ‘the deliveries’ and ‘the vampire.’ Sorry, it’s not much.”

“Except for the confirmed contact between the two men,” she amended. “That’s a biggie.” Ari repeated the conversation to Andreas and then returned to the phone. “It’s more than we had. Thanks, I know you put a rush on it. Um, Ryan,” she said, watching Andreas, “there’s something else. The vampires have had more trouble than we knew. Other attacks. And they seem pretty sure Sebastian’s behind it. The drugs, the violence. All part of a scheme for him to take control of the Riverdale vampires.”

“Where’d you hear this?”

“From the vampires. They’re expecting another attack. Not Sebastian directly, but from the wolves working for him.”

“And knowing this, Andreas let you go to Canada alone?” Ryan’s voice was loud enough that Andreas heard him.

The vampire held out his hand for the phone. Ari shook her head. She wasn’t about to let them start another argument.

“He didn’t know for sure until I got back,” she told the indignant cop. “Sebastian’s contact with me was what raised their suspicions.”

Ryan didn’t speak for several heartbeats. “It would have been nice if Andreas had shared this earlier.”

“Yeah, well, we know now. Our job doesn’t change. We find the wolves, stop the drugs. And leave Sebastian to Prince Daron.”

When she disconnected Andreas sat with his arms crossed, staring at the table. His face was unreadable except for the tight jaw line.

“You’re not mad about what Ryan said, are you?”

“No.” He unfolded his arms. “I was thinking about Sebastian. How he and the wolves have used my people, his people. Tortured them.” Andreas finished his wine and stood. “Shall we be on our way?”

His calm exterior didn’t fool her. Ari felt his energy vibrate with anger. Andreas wanted someone to pay. She and the vampire agreed on that. She hoped she got to Sheila before he did. Otherwise, there might not be much left for Ari to kill.

* * *

Later that night, after unsuccessful hours of searching, Ari slipped out to the woods where Yana was buried. She felt more peaceful there, more in control of the pain. She wanted Yana to know she was hunting her killers. That she wouldn’t give up until they were found. It would be a week tomorrow, and Ari missed her.

It was a long time before she made her way home.