“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 long time. “Are you telling me there’s one on your mom’s fancy ranch right now?”
Finally. “Yes.”
“Are you—”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Goddammit!” Sir roared.
The halfling jerked the phone away from her ear and could still hear every curse and made-up half-curse the FRoE director bellowed. When it died down, Cheyenne slowly pressed the phone to her ear again and heard his heavy breathing.
“I already checked it out,” she told him. “And it’s not...normal. That’s why I need some people up here. My mom’s not leaving her house, as I’m sure you already know, and I can’t keep watch on it by myself.”
“What do you mean, ‘not normal?’”
“Stuff coming out that shouldn’t be able to come out. Again, I can’t tell you over the phone. But I’m all for telling your guys in person once you send them.”
“If I send them.”
“We don’t have time to fuck around with your superiority complex, Sir. I didn’t have to call you and tell you about this.”
“And I don’t have to send you shit.”
Cheyenne nodded slowly. “Okay, fine. You’re right. We’ll call it a fair trade, then, huh? Your guys get full control of this thing for as long as you need to.”
“We already have full control over all of them anyway. That’s our goddamn job.”
“Not the ones you don’t know about.”
Sir growled. “Watch it, halfling. You’re this close to being cut off.”
“No, I’m not. You need me, and I’m pretty sure you need to get this new opening under control if you don’t want the whole secret world to know you guys screwed up and can’t keep a handle on every single one of them anymore.”
“You’re a goddamn Venus Flytrap, Cheyenne. You know that?”
“Actually, you’re the first person to say it quite like that, but thanks anyway.”
“What about your mother? She made it pretty damn clear she doesn’t want me anywhere near that property.”
“She’s not leaving. I know she won’t. But she saw what happened with that thing, and she won’t try to stop you, either.”
Sir sighed, and the clink of ice against glass came over the line. “You better give these guys every single scrap of info you have. Got it?”
“Yeah. No problem.”
“One hour. And do me a favor, huh? Don’t ever call this number again, telling me what to do with my organization. I call the shots. You’re expendable.”
“Get back to your drink.” Cheyenne hung up and felt quite a bit lighter because of it. Asshole.
Chapter One Hundred
“I most certainly will not leave my home, Cheyenne.” Bianca sat back in the armchair on the south side of the house, one leg crossed elegantly over the other as she held her daughter’s gaze. Eleanor glanced quickly between them and grabbed a pillow from the settee beside her before squeezing it tightly in her lap.
Sitting on the sofa with Ember beside her, the halfling took a small sip of her watered-down bourbon and nodded. “That’s what I figured, but I had to ask.”
“I hope your foresight led you to consider an alternative.”
“Yeah, and I went ahead and put it in motion.”
A small smile crept across Bianca Summerlin’s tightly pressed lips. “I knew you would.”
“They’ll be here in an hour.”
When her daughter didn’t offer any more than that, Bianca uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in the armchair. “If I’m to be entertaining guests, I expect to know who they are ahead of time.”
“You won’t be entertaining anyone. They’re coming for that thing outside. To keep it from doing anything worse than what you guys saw earlier.”
“It was very impressive,” Eleanor added, nodding at the halfling until her employer shot her a quick, expressionless glance. The housekeeper lowered her gaze and squeezed the pillow even tighter. “Mmhmm.”
“Cheyenne.” Bianca raised an eyebrow.
“FRoE agents, Mom. They’re the only ones who have the ability to handle something like that. I’ll have to fill them in, but they’ll keep you safe until we’re sure that thing outside isn’t a danger to you or anyone else in this house. I promise.”
“Will that obnoxious man who insists on withholding his name be joining them?”
“I doubt it. At least not tonight.”
“Good. I really don’t like him.”
Eleanor laughed and changed it into a fake cough.
“I don’t like him either, Mom, but this is all I
