“The hiixoyooniiheiht seems to be holdin’ it at bay,” Rawls said, feeling the slight burn of the colorful amulet beneath his T-shirt.
Faith fixed determined eyes on Wolf’s face. “These charms are fascinating. I understand only the person who mak— creates them, is aware of how they work. I’d like to speak with whoever this person is. Perhaps—”
The shoulder Wolf turned on her was answer enough, and she stumbled into silence.
Rawls remained silent, but he had questions as well. Wearing the thing triggered the strangest sensation, not just the scratchy burn, but the way it vibrated every now and then. When it quivered, the burning intensified, never enough to prove painful, but enough to be noticeable. He hoped that meant it was working and Pachico’s reign of frustration was officially over.
Wolf turned back to Rawls. “This biitei took orders from your enemy. Is this not true?”
“He worked for them, if that’s what you’re gettin’ at.”
“Then it carries answers to many of our questions.” Thick black eyebrows rose in a quizzical expression. “Does it not?”
Rawls shrugged. “He’s not exactly forthcomin’ with what he knows.”
Hell, Pachico had bled out without giving up any of his knowledge. And death hadn’t softened his disposition. Why would he answer their questions now, when they had nothing with which to entice him or hold over his head in threat?
“Even if the biitei”—Rawls said the word carefully—“decided to answer our questions, we couldn’t trust what it tells us. He wasn’t much help alive; he’s even less help dead.”
Wolf’s smile was slow and deadly. “Your biitei will answer the questions you put to it and speak with truth.”
“How can you possibly promise that? It just has to say no thanks and vamoose,” Faith protested.
Wolf shrugged, his gaze never leaving Rawls’s face. “The binding ceremony will give it no choice. It will answer your questions. It will speak the truth.”
“The binding ceremony?” Faith repeated with interest in her voice. “Is that along the same lines as this?” She nodded toward the amulet beneath Rawls’s shirt.
For the first time, Wolf looked uneasy. It reminded Rawls of Jude’s expression in the cavern when he’d quizzed him on how the amulet worked.
“It is best not to speak of such strong medicine,” Wolf said. He turned back to Rawls, his expression flat. “The elders are preparing for the ceremony. You will call the biitei once the circle has closed.”
Yeah . . . Rawls had no idea what the guy had just said or whether this binding ceremony, whatever it was, would work—but what the heck, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. Besides, Wolf and his people certainly knew a lot more about the workings of ghosts than he did.
“Fine. When do you want to do this?”
“Soon. I will return when they are ready for you.” With that announcement, Wolf pivoted and disappeared out the swinging door. When the door swung back open, Zane came through it.
He paused just inside the viewing room and nodded at Faith, but his flat, unreadable gaze never budged from Rawls’s face. “You got a minute?”
Faith caught Rawls’s gaze, her own eyes soft and filled with sympathy. No question that she’d picked up on how much he’d been dreading this moment.
The fallout from his admission had been postponed by Wolf’s arrival and the withdrawal from the hub. But it had been clear a reckoning was in his future. This seemed hardly the time to settle things. But the confrontation was upon him and he wasn’t going to bail on it.
Rawls gave Faith’s hand a squeeze and let it go. He followed Zane out of the control room and through the medical bay. The electric entrance slid open and then closed behind them with an airy whoosh, expelling them into a diminutive, gun-metal gray parking area of maybe twenty by twenty-five feet. Most of the striped parking slots, which were barely large enough to accommodate the facility’s golf carts and ATVs, sat empty beneath the sputtering glow of a malfunctioning fluorescent light. Zane paused to scan the deserted backdrop before swinging around to face him.
Rawls braced himself.
“Mac wants to huddle.”
Okay, that wasn’t what he’d been expecting. “When?”
“Tonight. After we’ve had a chance to look things over. Keep your eyes open, and your ears sharp.”
Rawls simply nodded. The order was redundant. By now, years into their careers, it was impossible to turn their scrutiny off. Hell, his eyes were open and his ears sharp while snacking at a company barbeque.
“This is why you’ve been climbing the walls? This ghost?” Zane abruptly asked, his face neutral. Voice calm.
And there it was.
“Pretty much,” Rawls admitted, holding his LC’s eyes steadily.
Zane frowned, shook his head, a glint of anger sparking in his eyes. “You forget who the fuck I am?”