… somewhere else.”
“San Antonio,” Rico said.
“That’s right.” Cole’s thumbs flew over his phone’s screen as he tapped through several different Web pages. “And as far as I can tell, none of those cities have been hit in this crime wave.”
“So that could mean Hope was heading out there to get the ball rolling.” For the first time in what seemed like a decade, Paige grinned. “Sounds like a good prospect for ‘Next on the List.’” Slipping into the kung fu master voice she’d used for a good portion of their weapons training, she added, “I see the pupil is finally worthy of his teacher.”
Cole barely looked at her before dryly replying, “Yeah. Sure.” When he arrived at the right note in his phone’s planner, he sat up a little straighter and turned it around in case anyone else wanted to examine the screen. “Prophet’s boss, Stan Velasco, already knows about these Denver Nymar and will
“Screw that,” the big man snarled. “Last thing I wanna do is bring a Nymar in. It was too much fun gouging that striped bitch’s eye out. After tonight, I’m comin’ around to Lancroft’s thinking. Only good bloodsucker is a dead one. No offense, Daniels.”
The balding Nymar tossed an offhanded wave at the Skinners and said, “I’ve learned to stop taking offense to what you guys say a long time ago. Keeps my nose from being permanently out of joint.”
“But some Skinner somewhere would have put a red flag on Hope by now if they knew she was gathering this sort of a following, right?” Cole asked hopefully.
Unfortunately, Rico could only grunt, “Not necessarily.”
“Do we at least know something about the Denver Nymar?” Cole asked.
“I’ve done a little checking since Prophet’s been talking them up and found out they’re into a lot of different things,” Paige told him, “but nothing worth the trip to put them all down. They are organized enough to be ready for an attack.”
“How can you be sure about that?”
“Because there used to be a Skinner who worked in the Rockies,” Rico said. “Went missing some time ago— and before you ask, yeah, that is pretty common. Also before you ask, yeah, it mighta been the Denver Nymar who did it.”
Cole tapped his phone some more as he said, “So they’ve been busy and have still managed to keep from being taken out by Skinners. Sounds to me like they’re more organized than you think.”
“What do you mean by that?” Paige asked.
“Well, we’ve got MEG. What’s keeping the Nymar from using some sort of hub for their communications?”
“They’re all over the Internet,” she reminded him.
“But those are just the sites we know about. If anyone’s going to put a system like that to use, it’s going to be someone with plenty of reason to want to stay hidden.” Jabbing a thick finger at Cole, Rico said, “I like the way this boy thinks.”
“And not only that,” Cole continued, “Denver was mentioned as a stopping point for Hope, and she obviously hasn’t set off whatever’s about to pop there. If it’s anything like what’s already happened, there’s bound to be more innocent humans there to take a fall. Possibly more cops. And if we’re right about any of what they’re doing, the Nymar are going to want to make this public.”
“Or,” Paige said, “it’s a trap.”
“They fucked us good,” Rico sighed. “Got us to stop looking for markings, jammed the place with bloodsuckers so we couldn’t tell who was who, even got us riled up enough to go in guns blazing. Not that that’s tough to do, right, Bloodhound?”
“Yeah, you got me there,” she snapped. “What was it you got arrested for again?”
Dancing around that particular land mine, Rico said, “We fell into a trap, so Denver’s probably a trap that just ain’t been sprung yet.”
“We deal with plenty of traps,” Cole said. “We set them up. We set them off. We stumble into them like idiots. What’s one more if it could mean saving some cops’ lives?”
“Those cops could be crooked,” Paige said.
“Does that mean we should let them be executed?”
Visibly shaken by the sharp, accusatory tone in Cole’s voice, Paige blinked and said, “Of course it doesn’t. I’m just saying they may be ready to kill us the moment we walk in the door. Who knows what the Nymar told them?”
“I can tell you there’s a reason those four places were saved for last,” Cole said.
Rico studied him with a critical eye. The other was pinched shut in a grimace of pain as he reached under his jacket to examine a wound he’d picked up somewhere during the night. “How do you know that?”
“Because otherwise the thing Hope was setting up would have happened by now. It would have been lumped in with all the smaller incidents instead of being saved for the next act, whatever that may be. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, this is coming from the part of my brain that plots video games. It still makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Although he obviously hated to admit as much, Rico nodded.
“We might be able to defuse some of this, though,” Cole continued. “Paige happens to be friends with a cop in Kansas City. Maybe even real good friends.”
“Not that good, Cole,” she replied sternly. “I told you that already. Besides, Stanze’s just a city police officer. And in case you need me to remind you, it’s the wrong city.”
“Stanze’s a smart guy. Plus, he’s got to be in someone’s sights since he’s the one other departments have been going to regarding all the wild dog attacks, right?”
Although Paige’s nod started off like Rico’s, it was soon accented by a crooked little smile. “Right.”
“You’re the one who’s so close to Stanze, so why don’t you have a chat with him and see what he can tell us. At the very least, he might know how to get a message to any undercover cops in those four cities to let them know what they might be in for.”
“What do you want her to do?” Rico asked. “Have her cop buddy type up a memo in regards to Skinners and any Skinnerlike activities?”
“He could figure out something and get it to the right people. If anyone’s got a shot,” Cole added, “Stanze would do better than one of us.”
“He’s right,” Paige said. “I’ll try to get to him right away. In fact, it might be better if I saw him in person. Tristan, can you get me to KC?”
The Dryad closed her eyes and swayed ever so slightly in perfect harmony with what had seemed like so much random background noise. Before long she stood up and said, “We should be able to send all of you out of here, but only once, whether it’s together or separate. After that you’ll have to take your chances with the temples wherever you may wind up.”
Sifting through the contact list on her phone, Paige said, “Might as well get me out to KC now. Catching up to Stanze shouldn’t be too tough, whether he’s on the clock or off.”
Tristan opened the door to show a stunningly beautiful brown-haired dancer wearing a tight pinstripe suit from the Naughty Secretary collection. “Elle, make sure Paige gets to Kansas City as soon as possible. What about the rest of you?”
“I’m not going anywhere except by car,” Daniels said as he hopped to his feet. “If you want me to examine these spore remains, then I’ll need to do it at my apartment.”
“Fine,” Paige said. “Go ahead.”
“You might not want to go out there,” Elle warned. “Those Nymar are trying to get to the back rooms. I think they know you guys are here.”
“Lead them here,” Cole said. “Make sure nobody follows and give us some privacy.”
“You sure you’re up for that?” Paige asked.
“We want to see why they’re here, right? Rico and I should be able to take two Nymar.”
“Actually,” Elle said, “there’s three of them now.”
“Three. Fine. Whatever. Just go on to KC and get the ball rolling.”
Either Paige didn’t know what to make of the sharpness to Cole’s voice or didn’t want to get into it at that
