door was a security camera.
The area was dark and grubby, so the camera may not have captured anything Oscar-worthy, but at least it was a lead. First things first, I needed to find Jeff.
I ran back through the alley, but Jeff hadn’t yet emerged from the bar. Since I wasn’t about to head inside and jump into the middle of CPD drama, I decided to check in with Lindsey.
I hadn’t gone two feet when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Is everything okay?”
The voice was familiar, but he’d startled me enough to merit a full-body shiver. I turned around and found Jonah standing behind me in a snug T-shirt and jeans. Two vampires I didn’t know stood beside him. One wore a blue and yellow jersey with a number on the front. The Grey House uniform, I assumed.
Jonah was here with friends, which meant we were playing Sentinel and captain, minus the RG connection. And in those roles, since no one had seen us together at Grey House, we hadn’t met. I could play along with that.
“You’re Merit, right? Cadogan Sentinel.”
“Yeah. And you are?”
“Jonah. Captain. Grey House.” He glanced back at the bar. “You need help here?”
“I think we’re okay. There was a fight at the bar.”
Jonah’s eyes widened. “A fight?”
I glanced back to the guys behind him. I might give Jonah information, but these two were complete strangers. “I don’t know your friends.”
“Danny and Jeremy,” he said, pointing to each of them in turn. “They’re Grey House guards.”
Danny smiled and nodded his head; Jeremy offered a half wave. “What’s up?” he said.
“You can be candid,” Jonah said, and I had a sense he was talking to me as a potential RG member, not just a witness to chaos.
In that case, “There were a lot of vamps in there. They got riled up over relatively nothing, then went crazy. The bar practically exploded with it.”
“We’ve heard there’ve been some gatherings.
Violent ones.”
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” I glanced from him to the guys behind him. “What are you guys doing out here?”
“We were in the neighborhood, but we’re heading back to the House.” He pulled a white card from his pocket and handed it to me. It was a business card with his name, position, and phone number on it. “My landline’s on there.
Feel free to call me if you need anything.”
“Thanks. I appreciate the offer.”
“Nothing like a little inter-House cooperation,” he said. “Best of luck.”
“I appreciate it.”
With a nod, the captain of Grey House and his employees moved on and disappeared into the crowd. It would have been nice to ask him for help again—but what could he have done tonight?
I tucked the card into my pocket and, when I turned around again, found Catcher behind me.
“You know Jonah?”
“I do now,” I said, my stomach clenching at the lie. “He’s the Grey House captain.”
“So I’ve heard.” He stared at me for a moment.
“What?” I asked, my own curiosity aroused.
Did he suspect I knew Jonah? Did he suspect Jonah knew more than he was admitting?
But Catcher stayed silent, keeping whatever suspicions he might have had to himself.
That’s when I saw him—only a shadow at the edge of my eyesight at first, but then a distinguishable man standing across the street, one of his soldiers behind him.
It was McKetrick, dressed in black running pants and a black T-shirt. No obvious weapons, but with all the cops nearby, it was impossible to tell if he was carrying something concealed. He did have a small pair of binoculars in hand, and the man behind him scribbled in a small notebook. Apparently our friendly neighborhood anti-vampire militiaman was working a little recon tonight. He scanned the crowd, apparently unaware that I was nearby with a couple of vampire sympathizers. I can’t imagine he’d have had anything pleasant to say about that.
I leaned toward Catcher. “Across the street on the corner. That’s McKetrick and one of his goons.”
With all the slickness of a CIA operative, Catcher pointed at a building in McKetrick’s direction. “Did you know that building was created by a monkey that lived in the top of Tribune Tower?”
“I did not know that. A monkey, you say?”
“Fur, bananas, crap throwing, the whole bit.”
He turned back again and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Don’t know the face. But he’s in black, and he’s got binoculars and an underling.
Former military?”
“Given the way he was outfitted the other day, that was my guess. What do you think he’s doing out here?”
“He probably has a police scanner,” Catcher said, the grumble in his voice giving me all the info I needed about his opinion of them. “He probably heard the call and decided to come out and see what kind of trouble vamps were getting into tonight.”
“Damn vampires,” I muttered.
“Always getting into something,” he agreed.
“Since he’s focused on the vamps, I’ll run a Chicago Shuffle and get eyes on him.”
“Chicago Shuffle?”
“I’ll head in the opposite direction and catch him from the back.”
“Sure thing, boss,” I said. “Just watch out for the brass and any dames with nice gams.”
Catcher gave me a dark look. “Sometimes, I don’t know why I bother.”
“Because I’m awesome, and you supplanted me in my own home.”
He smiled slyly. “That does lessen the sting.
You keep an eye on him from here and give me a text if it looks like he’s planning on joining in the fun.”
“Will do.”
Catcher pulled down his ball cap, then slunk into the darkness of the street in the opposite direction.
“Chicago Shuffle,” I quietly murmured, just wanting to say the phrase aloud. I decided all future operations needed names as slick as that one.
Jeff popped back over as soon as Catcher disappeared. “Where’s he off to?”
“We saw McKetrick—the vamp hater—across the street. Catcher went to gather some intel.
What did you find out inside?”
“There’re a lot of dopey vamps in there, and the cops aren’t thrilled they’re causing trouble in public. They’re going to want to pin this on Cadogan, you know.”
“I know. I’m not looking forward to talking to Ethan about it.”
“I wouldn’t be, either. The cops were talking to Chuck about calling Mayor Tate, advising him of what’s up.”
“Kind of a small-beans matter to bother the mayor with, isn’t it?”
“Apparently not when vampires are involved.”
He gestured toward the paparazzi, still snapping photos, now of the humans who’d been inside the bar.
“Not much we can do about it now,” I said.
“But there is something you can do for me.” I held up a hand before he could remind me about Fallon again. “And it’s nothing prurient. But it will require your technological prowess.”
“That’s my second-favorite prowess.”
“There’s a camera at the back door of the bar.
Can you check with Colin and find out if they’re recording the video?”
