“Uh-uh. I said after we brought those thugs down, halfling. You haven’t even taken down one.”
“What?”
“That was the deal. Don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere.”
She snarled at him and stormed away from the table, feeling all those agents’ eyes prickling her skin as she went. He’s too scared to say L’zar’s name where they can hear it. I can be scary too.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cheyenne leaned against the wall, her arms folded, and listened to Sir’s little meeting for the next five minutes. Nobody asked her opinion or even looked at her until Sir stood and thumped his fist on the table.
“We all have work to do, people. Get to it. And don’t make me come after you for results.” The man spun sharply and stormed out of the common room, his thick boots clomping across the floors.
The table burst into multiple conversations at once, agents groaning and rolling their eyes, nodding and heading off to their own tasks, leaning toward each other and muttering. Some looked at Cheyenne with nods of approval or a quick, apologetic shrug.
The halfling stayed where she was, glaring at Rhynehart as he moved around the awkward shape of two round tables pushed together. He headed toward her.
“Just the way things have to be done around here, rookie.”
“You made me sound like an idiot.”
“Hey, no one thinks you’re an idiot. Pretty much the opposite. You really stepped up your game at the site this morning.” He gestured behind him toward the other FRoE agents, slowly clearing out of the common room. “You didn’t have to, but you proved yourself to my guys. They trust you now. That’s a big deal.”
“And what about who I can trust?”
Rhynehart just frowned at her.
“How am I supposed to keep going out there with you to take these assholes down if you won’t back me up?”
“Hey, I’ve backed you up plenty.”
“No. You just bring a gun with you and hope you won’t have to use it while I’m around.” Cheyenne shook her head. “First you have a healer stick a tracking device in my—”
“Those were my orders, rookie.”
“Sure. Just like you had your orders to make me think we were bursting into some goblin woman’s house to take her out for selling love potions. You had orders to lie to me then too. Just for one last test, right?”
His eyes narrowed. “Right. A test you passed with flying colors, so I don’t know why you’re whining about it.”
“Nobody ordered you to sit at the table next to your master and tear down everything I said. That was all on you.”
“We don’t have proof—”
“Bullshit. You saw that pile of clothes. You agreed with me at the site before your ogre with oatmeal for brains opened the crate. I know the people we’re looking for took those kids, Rhynehart, and you know it too.”
“Okay.” The agent lifted a hand toward her and turned halfway around to look at the agents still in the common room. Some of them were watching the tense conversation. Most of them clearly tried not to. “Keep it down, huh?”
“If being loud saves those kids from whatever they did to the kid in the church, I’ll scream all damn day.”
“Come on, rookie. Look. I can’t tell you your theory is just plain wrong—”
She snorted. “It’s not a theory.”
“Fine. What I’m trying to say is I don’t think you’re wrong. I agree with you. That pile of stuff wasn’t just dumped there by some random person for fun. And sure, maybe a whole bunch of kids got lured onto the construction site and…I don’t know. Magicked into tossing all their clothes away. Whatever. But we don’t have any leads, kid. Not a single piece of evidence that ties any kids to the magicals trying to sell them that crap, so we can’t follow it.”
Cheyenne pressed her lips together and let out a slow, furious breath through her nose. Breathing fire would be some nice surprise magic right now. “What if we did have proof?”
Rhynehart blinked and leaned toward her. “You have something you didn’t share at the table?”
“No. Not yet. But what if I brought you guys something that proves those kids are missing? Kidnapped. What then?”
“Then we follow it down the rabbit hole. For now, we have to go with what we’ve got.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Tracking down those dealers is the priority right now. If you can find proof about the kids, great. And if you’re right, we’ll find the kids when we find the scumbag dealers, won’t we?”
The halfling looked away from him, forcing her rage back down just enough to keep from socking him in the face. “It better be fast. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Yeah, me too, rookie. Me too.” Looking her up and down, Rhynehart shook his head and stepped hesitantly away. “Go get some rest or something. Let off a little steam. Whatever you gotta do to pull yourself together. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find what we can’t.”
Averting his gaze, he nodded and headed for the other side of the common room. The halfling glared after him until he turned the corner toward the side of the compound where they kept the padded training room and whatever else went on in this place.
I will. Just wait.
“Hey, halfling!”
Cheyenne slowly turned her head to see Yurik, Bhandi, and another troll with black and dark-blue tattoos swirling up both sides of his neck. The agents moved quickly toward her, taking their chance now that Sir and Rhynehart were both out of the picture.
“Don’t let the higher-ups ruffle your feathers, yeah?” The metal ring through Yurik’s nose wobbled a little when he nodded. “Sir only knows how to give orders. He sucks at taking suggestions.”
“I noticed.”
“We’re with you, though,” Bhandi added, her dark-purple lips pressed together in determination. “There’s definitely something going on with those kids. We just gotta find out what it is.”
“Yeah. Well, thanks.” The
