“Nothing I can come up with. I did some mind reading and inserted a little compulsion and they’re going to look into it some more. See if they can come up with some names,” Christian said.
Piers turned to where Ash lounged against the back wall. “What about your girlfriend? Has she come up with anything useful?”
“The truth is she doesn’t know anything. Yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, she’s actually a very good employee and refuses to talk about the job—apparently she had to sign a whole load of confidentiality agreements—but yesterday she was a little pissed off.” He grinned. He liked Faith when she was angry; she positively sizzled.
“Get the grin off your face and get to the point,” Piers suggested.
“They promised her on day one that as soon as the big boss had cleared her, she’d get access to all sorts of interesting stuff. So far—nothing. She’s convinced that they only took her on to get to Ryan and now me and that’s pissed her off even more. And she’s bored and that doesn’t help.”
“No, Faith doesn’t do bored,” Ryan said.
“You’re sure she doesn’t know anything?” Piers asked. “That she’s not playing you along. She could have told them that you came on to her and they’ve ordered her to keep seeing you as a way to get to Christian.”
That couldn’t be true. Could it? Though it would explain why she agreed to see him, but still refused to take their relationship a step further and sleep with him. He stopped short. Had he just used the “relationship” word? Since when was this a relationship? It was supposed to be him getting close to a woman in order to find out what she knew. And sex. Instead, it was no sex and a relationship?
He ran a hand through his hair. No, she liked him—didn’t she?
“Ash?” Piers prompted.
“I don’t know.”
Piers stared at him, eyes narrowed. Then he laughed. “That hadn’t occurred to you, had it? That a mere woman might be using you, the great Demon of Lust.”
Ash scowled. He knew Piers hated him, but there was no need to sound so amused. “Piss off.”
“Could she be playing you?”
He decided to ignore the question. In some ways, he could sympathize with Piers. If he thought Ryan had had an affair with Faith, he’d probably hate him as well. Again, the thought shocked him. Since when had Faith mattered to him?
Probably since the night he’d watched her sleeping. Ever since then he’d had to fight a weird urge to protect her. To ask how she was.
But could she really be playing him, pretending the attraction? He felt slightly panicked at the idea.
“Maybe it’s time for me to give her a call,” Tara said. “I can say Ryan asked me to talk to her. Give her the rundown on the job. She might open up more to someone a little less intimidating.”
“I’ll come along as well,” Roz said. “Everything has been quiet on the angel front.”
Piers didn’t appear too happy about that, but he’d no doubt learned by now that it did no good to tell Roz outright no—because it would just piss her off. Of course, Ash had been able to, because she’d worn his sigil and so she’d had to do as he ordered. That’s probably why she hated being ordered around so much now. He rubbed the sigil on his own arm. He couldn’t blame her.
“Do you think it’s safe?” Piers asked him.
“There have been no other sightings of Raphael, they’ll have their security detail with them, and Tara’s talisman will glow if there’s an angel anywhere near. That will give them enough time to get back here.”
“I still don’t get this,” Ryan said. “Aren’t angels the good guys? Can’t we talk to them—explain that Roz isn’t evil or something?”
Ash smiled at the pitying glances cast Ryan’s way.
Ryan saw them as well. “What?” he snarled. “You’re telling me they’re not good?”
He sounded like Faith. They’d had a few discussions on good and evil. She was so set in her ways.
“Sort of good,” Piers said.
“Some of the time,” Christian added.
“Great, just great,” Ryan muttered.
“So that’s settled,” Piers said. “Tara and Roz will contact your friend Faith and see if they can get anything useful. At the least, she might get the lowdown on what Faith really thinks about you.”
“Ha-ha.”
“I’m sure they’ll let you know,” Piers said. “So how are your meetings going so far?”
“The pair of you look pretty nifty,” Roz said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryan in a suit. Or you.”
“The meetings are going fine,” Ash said, trying to focus his mind on business instead of Faith. “The first one was pointless—the guy was an asshole. Yesterday’s was an idiot, but the meeting today went well. I think we might have a candidate.”
They were searching for potential people to invite to a meeting where they would reveal themselves to the select few. First though, they needed to make sure the select few were the right people for the job.
“You agree?” Piers asked Ryan.
“Yeah, the first guy was an asshole, the second lacked a brain cell. But we met a woman today. She seemed…open-minded.”