She stopped in front of the ornately carved French doors into her mom’s study. The room beyond looked like it belonged in an eighteenth-century manor with a lord sitting behind the cherrywood desk instead of Cheyenne’s mom. “Hey!”
“Now, before you say anything else, I want you to know I haven’t thought about this in a very long time.” Bianca looked up from her computer screen and raised her eyebrows. “Not that I was trying to remember, but…what is it?”
“I’m sorry.” Cheyenne readjusted the straps of her backpack. “Something came up.”
“Did it?” Her mom’s face showed surprise mixed with relief, and somehow, a little bit of disappointment thrown in, just to make things interesting.
“Yeah. I have to go take care of it. Kind of a time-sensitive…thing.” Like I can’t drop in with the element of surprise if I’m late to the magical crime-ring party.
Bianca pursed her lips and flicked her gaze toward her computer. “I understand.”
“Can we reschedule, maybe? Whenever you have time, Mom. I know you’re busy. I still want to—”
“I know. Trust me, I’m just as ready to put this out in the open as you are.” After she turned off the monitor, Bianca stepped around her desk and approached her daughter in the doorway. “Go do what you have to do. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Cheyenne let her mom hug her a little longer than she wanted, but she managed not to fidget.
When her mom released her, the woman seemed to have regained most of her composure. “Be safe. And careful.”
She has no idea. “I will. Love you.”
“I love you.”
Cheyenne turned away and hurried back through the house toward the foyer. The door opened without a sound on well-oiled hinges and clicked gently shut behind her before she skipped down the steps to her car.
Whatever she was about to show me, it can wait. It waited twenty-one years. And I have to nail these guys tonight.
* * *
Just outside Bianca Summerlin’s office, Eleanor stopped in front of the open French doors with that second bottle of wine and her empty glass. With tightly pressed lips and wide eyes, Bianca regarded her housekeeper and friend of over two decades. Eleanor lifted the bottle and opened her mouth.
“Oh, you know you don’t even have to ask.” Bianca turned away from the woman, snatched her wineglass off the desk, and settled herself on the divan beside the massive fireplace against the west wall. “Open it.”
Despite her employer’s well-contained but still obvious stress, Eleanor grinned and brought the bottle with her to the low table in front of the hearth. She wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity for a night of drinking with Bianca, and she was fairly certain the woman had more than enough to get off her chest.
Chapter Thirty-One
Cheyenne couldn’t get to her apartment fast enough. When she did, she made sure every program on her computer was closed and switched her monitor connection to the second tower she used as a backup, just in case. Whoever wanted her to back off would have to wait a little longer to see her next move. They’re watching.
She logged into the GRND0 app she had built and Todd had perfected, the only one they used for sharing information that needed to stay between them, and clicked on the links to her program results.
Todd’s message popped up on her screen before she’d read through anything.
T-rexifus088L: What the hell did you send me?
“Oh, come on. It couldn’t have been that bad.”
ShyHand71: Pet project. Thanks for renting out the space.
T-rexifus088L: Yeah, I should charge you for that one. Do you know what you’re getting into?
ShyHand71: Don’t I always?
T-rexifus088L: Well, I thought so. Until your little coded buddies started sending out alarm signals. I had to shut everything down just to keep the entire world from seeing the smoke.
ShyHand71: Sorry. I won’t ask again.
Cheyenne wrinkled her nose and waited for his reply. Todd enjoyed pretending he was a hardass, but he had a soft spot for anyone who could help him tighten the security encryption on the Y2Kickass server. So far, Cheyenne was the only person who fit that description.
T-rexifus088L: Don’t be like that. I’m not mad. Just threw me for a second.
ShyHand71: But you took care of it, ‘cause that’s what you do. I owe you one.
T-rexifus088L: You do.
Smiling, Cheyenne closed out of the chat and dove into what her programs had put together while nesting in Todd’s private space on their group’s server. She read it twice before she let herself believe what she was seeing.
These idiots had put together a roster of everyone who was planning to show up tonight. She didn’t see Durg’s name, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t find someone who could tell her where to find the scumbag. And Durg didn’t need to be there for an anonymous drow halfling to do what no one expected.
No one had asked for her help this time, and this wasn’t a case of being in the right place at the right time, like at the gas station. Victims couldn’t ask for help before they knew they needed it.
If these gangs are trying to toss other magicals across the Border with no one’s consent, that’s a problem that applies to me. Not the kinda thing I can refuse to help with, either.
And now, Cheyenne had everything she needed to find these guys before they got their hands on anyone else. Her programs had pulled up a location for their meeting tonight, which was at 11:00 p.m. in the back room of an old event center on the southeast end of Richmond. It was far enough away from most of the population that nobody would walk in on them, but it wasn’t in the middle of nowhere.
Lights and lots of cars and a big group of people out in the middle of nowhere is always suspicious, and a lot to take on.
She wrote down the address,
