Corian paused again, and the halfling didn’t bother checking her phone this time. “The best thing is for everyone in that house to vacate the property. Go somewhere safe. Get away from the threat. Which I’m sure you already know.”
“Yeah, and I’m also sure that’s not gonna happen. I’ll ask, but in case she refuses, what do I do?”
“The next best thing is to call in your F-force friends.”
Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Nice touch with the forum code over the phone, by the way.”
“Call them, Cheyenne. Have them send up a team to stand guard for a while, at the very least. If anything else tries to come through, they’ll handle it.”
“None of those magicals have made the crossing. They won’t know what the hell to do.”
“That doesn’t matter. They’re soldiers. Sort of. And their weapons are almost as powerful as m—as our weapons. Understand? Have them stand guard, and she’ll be fine.”
“Fine. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Can you get out here?”
“No. I’m neck-deep in trying to put together those parts we brought back yesterday, and we’re about to follow up with a lead on that name.”
“Oh, great. Thanks for telling me you found something.”
Corian cleared his throat. “It just happened, kid. I almost didn’t answer my phone. Make your other call, sit tight, and text me your address.”
“Really?”
“If I have time, I’ll stop by to pick up some things. Where’d you leave the box?”
“Nightstand. And hey, if you do end up sneaking into my apartment, grab the darktongue salve too. Please. I need to start keeping that stuff on me.”
“Have you used it yet?”
“Uh-huh.”
A low chuckle escaped the Nightstalker, then Persh’al’s voice came from somewhere else in the room. “I gotta go, kid. I’ll let you know if you need to expect me. Anything else comes up, send me another text. Clean. My phone’ll be on silent for a while tonight.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Cheyenne? If you took care of it the way you say you did, we’re close. Understand?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m proud of you.”
A wry laugh escaped the drow halfling. “Have fun following your lead.”
She hung up and took a deep breath. “Shit.”
“What’s up?” Ember sat rigid in her chair, staring at her friend with wide eyes.
“I can’t believe I’m upset that I don’t have that burner phone on me.”
The fae frowned. “I didn’t think all this stuff had much to do with the FRoE anymore.”
“Normally, it wouldn’t, but Corian seems to think they can handle it. At least better than not doing anything. And I’m out of options.”
“Hey, I’d offer to drive back home and grab it if that was even remotely possible.”
Cheyenne looked up and gave her friend a wan smile. “Thanks, Em. I don’t need the phone. I was just really trying not to taint this one by calling them with it.” The halfling tapped her temple. “I’ve seen that number come up so many times, it’s stuck in here.”
“That’s lucky, I guess.”
“Yeah. Hey, feel free to go hang out with them. They’re probably getting lit right now, so at least it’ll be laid back.”
Ember laughed. “You could just say you want some privacy, you know.”
“Stay if you want to. I don’t mind. It’s gonna be a...rough conversation.”
The fae blinked and smacked her lips. “I think there’s still some gin left in my glass. I’ll go find out.”
Cheyenne snorted and watched her friend wheel out of the foyer toward the broad hall leading down the side of the house. “Uh, just please don’t tell her who I’m calling right now, okay?”
“I seriously doubt any of us wanna talk about that.” The fae winked at her friend and paused. “That was a close one out there, wasn’t it?”
The halfling chewed the inside of her bottom lip and nodded. “Close, but no dice.”
Laughing, Ember shook her head and left the half-drow alone in the foyer to make one more call.
Cheyenne stared at the keypad on her phone and grimaced. “He owes me one, and he’ll owe me another one after this.”
She dialed Major Sir Carson’s FRoE number from memory and slowly lifted the phone to her ear. She thought he wasn’t going to answer when the call made it through five rings, but he picked up on the sixth.
“Where’s the goddamn phone I gave you, halfling?”
She frowned. Of course, he looked up my number. “Unavailable.”
“Well, make it available. That’s part of the deal.”
“Doesn’t matter now, does it? You’ve had my personal number for a while, and you can give up trying to explain that one. Right now, I don’t give a shit.”
Sir cleared his throat. “So, what happened?”
Here goes nothing. “I need a team at my mom’s house, like, ten minutes ago.”
He snorted. “Are you wasted right now or something? Maybe too much LSD, or you smoked too many magic mushrooms?”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s how—”
“‘Cause I can’t think of another goddamn reason why you’d call me from your personal number to make demands, halfling. And I don’t appreciate being drunk-dialed.”
Cheyenne paused and slowly closed her eyes. “You done?”
“Are you?”
“No, and you really wanna hear what I have to say right now.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Go.”
Jesus, he’s insane. “Just so you don’t accuse me of being on drugs again, I’m saying this the way it is because we’re on an open line.”
“Are you trying to tell me you haven’t done some fancy little trick with your phone to keep it extra-private?”
“No, I have. But I’m also pretty sure people you don’t know about might be able to tap it anyway, so just hear me out. There’s another opening.”
“A what?”
“Another place to cross.”
“Get your head out of your ass and say something intelligent.”
Cheyenne let out a little growl of frustration and forced herself not to chuck her phone across the house. “The whole reason you people started doing what you’re doing, man. Come on! The damn openings you guys regulate all over the world. Ring any bells?”
Sir paused for an unnervingly
