We were still kissing when a new voice came over the phone. “Is this Rafe?”
I pulled back and let Rafe breathe.
“Yes, Agent Biers, this is a surprise. What brings you to Colorado?”
“I think that’s obvious. Your spectacle last month was pretty damn hard to miss. I thought your work in Huntsville was pretty fucking awesome, except for all the damage you did to the town, and I figured that was going to be one tough act to follow, but then you topped it by a mile. Quite impressive.”
“Ah…thanks?” I said, unsure if that was a compliment or a statement on my ability to destroy things. I hadn’t destroyed the Garden of the Gods, just moved a few monoliths, and uprooted a few hundred trees. Diverting a river isn’t without consequences.
“Anyway, I’d have been here sooner, but you not only upset the apple cart, you poked a hornets’ nest.”
“Really? What nest is that?”
“DHS, the FBI, the CIA, hell, even DoD. The appearance of invaders in the middle of the country concerns the hell out of everyone in the government. The fact that the invaders were creatures that don’t exist on our planet blew the lid off of everything.”
“Sorry about that, it really couldn’t be helped,” Rafe said, with no sign of concern in his tone.
“Yeah, yeah, I know you would have stopped it if you could. It’s just unfortunate that it had to happen near a major city. If it had happened in the sticks, it might have gone unnoticed.”
“So, what’s your involvement in this?” Rafe asked.
“You remember what I’d been doing when we met?”
“Sure, you were investigating strange events, including murders that couldn’t be easily explained.”
“Well, after your show in Huntsville, I started getting more attention from a Deputy Director. He wanted briefings on just what was happening on my cases. I tried to keep you out of it, but there were too many reports that had your description in them. Then they got a good look at you and that woman with you. I had to admit that you were the same person I’d tracked to Huntsville.”
“Yes, that news’ helicopter sure screwed things up for us,” Rafe agreed.
“That’s an understatement. I’ve spent the last month since explaining your role in the Huntsville affair and the local invasion. I think I’ve convinced them that you’re one of the good guys, but you know how government bureaucracies are. They don’t like vigilantes.”
“Yeah? Well, the feeling is mutual, but as long as they stay out of my way we can maintain a peaceful coexistence.”
Biers chuckled. “I figured that would be your attitude.”
“And you told them that?” Rafe asked.
“Not in so many words, I couldn’t admit how much I knew about you, even if I don’t know very much. I’d have been in hot water if they’d found out just how much I’d tried to help you in Huntsville.”
“So, what’s their game plan? Are they going to try and arrest me?”
I grinned at him. I thought he was being cocky, like always, but I knew there was little they could do to Rafe.
“No, not arrest,” Biers hesitated, but then continued. “They want to control you.”
“Say what now?”
“They’ve created a task force to seek you out and attempt to bring you under government control.”
“And you’re on this task force?”
“No, the Deputy Director thinks I’m closer than anyone else to tracking you down. He has me reporting directly to him on anything I can learn about you. I’ve been given carte blanche to investigate any sightings of supernatural or mythological happenings and to try to get a dialogue going between you and the government.”
Rafe rolled his eyes and I had to slap a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
“You know I already have a boss. I don’t need another one,” Rafe said.
“I know, but I couldn’t exactly tell my Deputy Director that. Maybe after we’ve talked, officially not like this, I can tell him what I know, but for now I have to act like I know next to nothing about you.”
“That sounds wise,” Rafe said. “Give me a minute, stay on the phone. I have to do something, but I’ll be back.”
“Sure,” Biers said.
I hit the mute on the phone and raised an eyebrow toward Rafe. “What?”
“I just need a minute to think,” Rafe said. “I wasn’t expecting anything like this.”
“Are you considering working with her?” Rafe had told me a little about Biers involvement in his first fight with Rowle at Huntsville in the weeks before he took me from the military hospital in San Antonio. They’d apparently parted on good terms.
“Not really, but I don’t want to just flat out turn her down, or at least I don’t want her telling the government that. As long as they think I may play along, they won’t be as quick to try to interfere.”
“How did she know she could reach you through my Aunts?”
“That’s a good question for her. I could guess, but you should ask her. Keep her talking; I’m going to make coffee.” Rafe sat up and got off the bed.
“What should I say? She doesn’t know me.”
“You’re an Apprentice Wanderer, think of something,” Rafe said. He stopped at the bedroom’s door and turned to face me with a smile on his face.
My eyes couldn’t help roving over his nude body, but then I stuck my tongue out at him and cancelled my phone’s mute.
He was chuckling as he padded into the kitchen.
“Agent Biers, this is Tess. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions until Rafe gets back to the phone?”
“Tess Sylvan? No, go right ahead,” Biers responded.
“How did you know you could reach Rafe through
