Still, not bad for an untrained kid. Good enough, in fact, to fool one sister, and piss the other off.
“I’m sorry if I offended you,” Max said, overenunciating each word just to be a bitch.
“And we’re sisters?” the kid asked. “Forever and ever?”
“Of course, we are,” Charlie said, rubbing Nat’s back with one hand and pointing at Max with the other. “Tell her we’re sisters.”
“Seriously?”
“Max,” Charlie bit out between clenched teeth.
“Yessss,” Max hissed. “We’re sisters.”
“Forever and ever?” Nat pushed, eyes wide and hopeful.
“Oh, come the fuck on!”
Charlie stood, placing the kid on her feet at the same time. “Max Genji Yang-MacKilligan, you be nice to our baby sister!”
“Fine. Forever and ever.”
Nat launched herself at Max, hugging her tight. “You’ve made me so happy!”
“You have a Chinese middle name?” Nelle asked, ignoring everything else. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Why would I tell you that? So we can bond as two Chinese chicks?”
“Yes!” She gestured to the kid still clinging to an unhappy Max. “Knowing that information could bring us closer together, Max . . . like sisters.”
“I hate all of you.”
Charlie motioned to the food. “You guys take what you want. After that, I’m giving the rest to the bears outside.” She turned away from her sisters and asked, “How are you feeling, Tock?”
Tock was so surprised by the question, it took her a few seconds to reply.
“Um . . . fine?”
“You don’t know?”
“No. I know. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
“Yeah. Sure. I’m going to go take a shower.”
“Van Holtz was looking for you,” Max threw in while trying to pry Nat off her.
“What? Why?”
“No idea. But he wants you to call him. I have his card—”
“Later. I need the shower first.” She grabbed a random muffin and walked out. Not a second later, Max and Nat began to struggle, each attempting to drag the other to the ground.
But the floor shook when Charlie slammed her foot down three times in the dining room to ensure everyone could “hear” her warning. The sisters pulled away from each other and Nat backed out of the room, both middle fingers raised at Max, a huge grin on her face and her tongue hanging out.
When she was gone, Mads announced, “If I wasn’t sure about you two being sisters before, Max . . .”
*
Van stopped in the middle of the doorway. “What’s happening here?”
He felt like he was being tricked. That this was an ambush.
“I think we should all talk,” Imani said. “Calmly.”
“Calmly? Really?”
“Niles!” the female greeted. “My old friend.”
“We are not friends, Mira.”
“We’re not enemies.”
He raised an eyebrow at that because both of them knew it was bullshit.
Van and Mira had a very long history. It wasn’t that she’d ever attacked him or hired anyone to attack him. But she did tend to make his job much more difficult. Even now, just seeing her sitting there in her black business suit and low-heeled shoes, legs crossed at the ankles, understated gold jewelry on her wrists and around her neck, simple diamond studs in her ears, and her hair cut in a fashionable bob, he might take her for any other stylish grandmother with a little money in the bank. A woman who loved to play with her grandchildren and make them Sunday dinner while donating to a conservative cause.
But that was only how Mira Lepstein looked. In reality . . . she was a killer. There wasn’t anyone or anything she wouldn’t hunt down and eradicate if it got in her way. Of course, Mira came from a long line of killers. Her parents hunted down Nazis after the war, and there were some ancient relatives in parts of Russia that used to take on the Cossacks. Even her shoes were a lie. She had higher heels in her car. She wore the low heels to fool people into thinking she was nothing more than a nice, simple grandmother. But she wasn’t.
That’s why Van knew that when all this started, she’d come. Especially when he’d seen her granddaughter standing there with Max and her other friends. He just hadn’t expected Mira to be here. In a lion’s den, with lion males right outside the door. These were not two species that were cozy.
“I just wanted to give you a heads-up,” Mira told him.
“A heads-up about what?”
She motioned him farther into the room. He took a step inside but stopped to examine the space, including the ceilings. Especially any vents or cabinets. Then he lifted his nose, sniffed the air.
“Come, little doggy,” she teased. “You are safe.”
“Like I was in Istanbul?”
“That was a long time ago—just a misunderstanding. You really need to get over it. We are older now. Smarter. You are a father and leader. I am a grandmother and soon, God willing, a great-grandmother for the second time. So let us put the past behind us and talk.” She patted a spot next to her on the couch. He sat in a chair across the room.
“Talk,” Van told her.
“Dogs,” she muttered under her breath. “Always so rude.” She let out a breath. “Fine. You know what situation we have.”
“I know your situation. It’s not like my situation.”
“But it is. You think the de Medicis are your only problem. But they are not.”
“And why is that?”
“Who do you think bankrolls this insanity?”
“Why do the de Medicis suddenly care about honey badgers?”
“I do not know. But they have become a problem for both of us.”
“Don’t you mean all of us?” Van asked, glancing at Imani.
“Imani no longer works for Katzenhaus,” Mira told him. “She works for you. She has her own little group that includes my granddaughter.”
Van began to lie but she held her hand up. “Don’t bother. I already know the truth, and we don’t have time to play any more games.”
“I may no longer work for Katzenhaus,” Imani cut in, “but I am still a retired leader. And I know that they will not challenge the de Medicis. Neither will the bears. They want nothing to do with any of this.”
“That seems foolish,” Mira remarked.
“I agree.” Imani gave a small shrug. “But I’m not in charge anymore. Katzenhaus is not going to fuck with the de Medicis. Not over badgers.”
“What about the schemes that have nothing to do with badgers?”
“I have tried, in vain, to get Katzenhaus involved in that situation as well, but they say they want more proof.”
“And proof will do what?”
“Probably nothing.”
“Just great.” Van stood, began to pace.
“As little as Katzenhaus cares about the honey badgers, they care even less about full-humans.”
“This whole thing with the badgers started when the de Medici father disappeared,” Ric noted. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you, Mira?”
“Me? Why would I kill that mean bastard? Personally, I think his sons did it. They wanted to be in charge and now they are.”
“He was their leash. If he’s dead . . .”
“Och!” Mira slashed her hand through the air. “I am tired of treating these bastards like they run the Holy Roman Empire.”
“No one sane, Mira, wants to go up against the de Medicis,” Imani insisted.