Eyes narrowing, Garrick headed in the direction of that voice, and as he approached, an older guy—balding, with big, bushy brows and a tattoo of a spider crawling up the side of his neck—poked his head from behind the bar.
“Didn’t you hear me?” the guy groused. He was thin and tall, but he hunched over, losing a few inches. “The bar’s closed. Dawn’s nearly here. This shit is shut down.”
Garrick tossed his ID down on the scarred bar top. “I’m looking for a woman.”
The bartender laughed and the spider on his neck seemed to move—a trick of the poor light, surely. “Son, ain’t we all?”
Garrick leaned toward the guy. “A specific woman. Black hair, the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen, about five foot four—”
“Yeah, yeah…” The bartender waved his hand and turned away. “Like I don’t get hundreds of broads in this place every single day—”
He grabbed the bartender’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t forget her. Not after you heard her voice.” After all, Mina James had a very, very unique voice.
The bartender stiffened. “Get your hand off me, buddy.”
“I’m not your buddy.” But he moved his hand back. His fingers tapped near his ID. “If you’d bothered to look, you’d see that I’m Special Agent Garrick Mc—”
“Big fucking deal.” The bartender rubbed his hand over his neck. “You can be Special Agent Fuck Off for all I care. My bar is closed and you need to leave.”
The bartender’s hand fell away.
And the spider tattoo on his neck…it was about two inches away from the spot it had been in before.
Garrick smiled at the guy. “What’s your name?”
The bartender was sweating. A little moisture above his upper lip. A little on his high forehead. “My name’s Screw Off.”
Garrick lifted his brows. “Okay, Screw Off…let me tell you how this is going to work…” He rolled back his shoulders. “You’re going to tell me where Mina James is—”
“I don’t know any fucking Mina James—”
“Or the agents I have waiting outside are going to storm in here.” His voice lowered, heavy with a threat that he completely meant. “And they’re going to take your paranormal freak-ass into custody.”
The bartender blinked.
“They’ll throw you into a cell, and they’ll keep you there until they find out exactly what kind of secrets you’re keeping. They’ll lock you in tight and you won’t—” He broke off, swearing, because a big, black spider had just scuttled across the bar top and headed for him.
The bartender shot back, running toward the rear of the place.
“Got a runner,” Garrick snarled. He was wearing a very small ear piece, one that would have picked up and transmitted his whole conversation with the fleeing man. He knew the other agents outside would take immediate action. “Seal the back exit.” He leapt over the bar top. His feet slammed into the floor and he gave chase, ducking through a small storage room and then flying to tackle the bartender before the guy could grab for the back door.
“Not ditching me, not until I get what I want,” Garrick snapped. He hauled the bartender to his feet. The spider that had been on the guy’s neck?
It was gone.
Because that damn thing came across the bar at me. Nervous now, Garrick looked around the dimly lit storage room.
“You need to let me go,” the guy huffed. “You don’t even want to mess with the friend I’ve got.”
Friend? As in…singular? Like one friend was supposed to intimidate him?
“My friends are all waiting just behind that door.” Garrick inclined his head toward the rear exit. “And one word from me and they’ll throw you into that pit I mentioned. And soon enough, you will be talking.” They always talked.
The guy’s eyes were bulging from his head.
“Your name,” Garrick demanded.
“Eli.”
They were making progress. “Where’s the woman, Eli? Because I know she came here.” He’d already tracked her movements to the dive bar. He just didn’t know where Mina had gone once she left the place. “Let me tell you more about Mina. She’s a woman who sounded like every wet dream you’ve ever had. She would have looked like pure sin and when you heard her talk…you would have been ready to do anything for her.”
He’d fallen into her trap a time or two himself.
Paranormals. They couldn’t be trusted.
Eli was shaking. “H-he’ll kill me…”
“Death is easy.” Garrick’s voice was hard and he made sure his face showed no emotion. In his line of work, emotion just got in the way. “What you’ll have with us won’t be easy.” The words sounded like a promise. They were. “I have to find Mina James. Tell me where she is, now.”
“I-I don’t know!”
He yanked the guy closer. Shit…was that another spider tattoo on the back of the guy’s hand? It had better not start moving toward him. “Mina was here tonight.”
And…Eli gave a grim nod. “But she left! I swear! She left!”
The spider had moved just a little, a bare inch.
Garrick shoved the bartender away from him. “Did she leave alone?”
Eli hesitated.