“Nor I,” Liander said, and flashed me a bright smile. “And I probably use more makeup in a day than you use in a year.”
“When you’re naturally beautiful like me, you don’t need makeup,” I said, and ducked the fries thrown at me
“Considering Nashoba itself doesn’t seem to exist,” Jack commented, “I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”
“It’s a front for another company?” Quinn asked
Jack nodded. “The paper trail is a mile long. The computer system is working on it as we speak.”
“We seem to be hitting more than our fair share of paper trails lately,” Rhoan said
“And while the computer system searches, what are we going to do?” Quinn said
“Undertake our own search of both premises.”
“How well guarded are they?” I shoved some steak in my mouth and groaned when it all but melted in my mouth. Damn, I’d forgotten how good a properly cooked steak was. I gave a thumbs-up to Liander
“Nashoba is extremely well guarded. Rhoan and I will be tackling that. Hoyle-Brantin has foot patrols and wire fences. Nothing you can’t get around.”
I nodded. “You got floor plans?”
He pushed over some paperwork. “It’s pretty similar to what you saw in the plans you retrieved from Brown’s office though there’s a new wing added to the main building.”
I took a quick look at them, then kept eating
“What about the White Phantom Project—did you discover anything about that?” Quinn asked
Jack shook his head. “There’s nothing on the records, and Alex can’t recall the project. White Phantom might have been a code name for something else. I’ve scanned the contents through to her so she can cross-check.”
“And the disks?”
He looked at me. “I posted those. She doesn’t mind a bit of voyeurism.”
Normally, I didn’t either, but the thought of watching Brown doing the nasty over and over was enough to turn me off
“So when do we hit these places?” Rhoan asked
Jack gave him a wry smile. “Given the approaching full moon and the fact that three of my current staff are werewolves, as soon as possible.”
Rhoan pushed his empty plate away. “How are we stocked in the way of equipment?”
“You and I will have to stop by the Directorate.”
“That safe?”
“We’ll take the emergency tunnel. Only the directors can get into it, so if someone does attack us, it’ll narrow the field of suspects.” Jack glanced at me. “I’ll take that blood sample with me, too.”
I could feel Rhoan’s curious gaze but didn’t bother meeting it. If he ever found out what Talon had done, he’d kill him. And I wanted to throw the first punch. “Fine.”
Jack glanced at his watch. “We’ll leave in half an hour. Liander, you right for holding down the fort again?”
“Do I have any other choice?” His voice was dry, yet something in his pale eyes suggested he wanted action almost as badly as he wanted sex. Perhaps I’d been wrong in my estimation that he’d be as unwilling as I to get involved in Jack’s schemes
“Not on this you don’t.” Jack hesitated and glanced at Quinn. “You’ll have to stay here, too. Riley’s Directorate, and I can protect her if she gets into trouble. I can’t offer you that.”
“I’m not expecting you to. Nor will I be left behind on this.”
“I can’t let you go.”
“You can’t stop me, and we both know it.” The two men stared at each other for several seconds, then Quinn added, “You know my reasons for doing this.”
“Yes.” Jack hesitated. “Just don’t expect my help if things go wrong.”
Quinn’s smile was wry. “Forgive me for saying it, but I have more than enough politicians, judges, and lawyers ready and able to help me out of any situation. Being a multibillionaire has its advantages.”
Jack nodded and rose. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Ten minutes later, Quinn and I were in the car and heading back to Melbourne, him driving and me studying the plans for the old army base in Broadmeadows. “There’s an industrial estate on one side and an old graveyard on the other.”
Humor crinkled the corners of his eyes as he looked at me. “You’re voting the graveyard, aren’t you?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Can you think of a more appropriate entry point for the dead and half-dead?”
His soft laugh sent tremors of desire skimming my skin. “No one in his right mind would ever call you half- dead.”
I grinned. “You were pretty lively yourself, too.”
“And will be again, once we get this little jaunt over and done with.”
I couldn’t wait. I folded the plans and threw them on the backseat. “So, tell me, why can’t Jack stop you? Is it simply an age thing?”
“And the hierarchy system.”
“Vampires have a hierarchy?”
He glanced at me. “Of course. The older the vampire, the more powerful he is. Having a power system in place prevents an all-out war—which wouldn’t be good for
That was an understatement if ever I’d heard one. “Meaning the pecking order is merely a matter of waiting for those above to keel over?”
“Crudely put, but yes.”
“So what’s to stop an underling aiding that event?”
“The wrath of the others that would fall on him or her if it happened.”
I couldn’t see how that was going to prevent unexplained deaths, especially if the one bumping off the hierarchy was more powerful than everyone else. But then, vampires generally didn’t think like the rest of us. “Where do you stand in the pecking order?”
“There are three above me.”
“And I’m guessing Director Hunter is one of them? That’s why you phoned her—a vampire professional courtesy.”
He nodded. I frowned. “Jack said he was her brother—but if she’s older than you, and he’s younger, how can that be the case?”
He shrugged. “Madrilene and Jack come from shifter stock, and shifters, like werewolves, are extremely long- lived. Perhaps Jack didn’t turn until near the end of his life.”
My frown deepened. “Madrilene? Do you mean Alex?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Madrilene is the name she used when we first met.”
“Meaning vamps change names over the years?”
“Yes. And yes, I have also.”
“So Quinn is not your birth name?”
“First name, no. But Quinn is the anglicized form of my Irish surname, O’Cuinn.”
“Interesting.” But it wasn’t doing anything to explain how Jack could be just over eight hundred years old and Director Hunter more than Quinn’s twelve hundred. By my reckoning, there was at
“Given what you said about the vampire hierarchy, and the fact that you’re older and stronger than Jack is, what’s stopping you from putting commands into his mind?”
“He’s strong enough to keep me from controlling him. I could overwhelm him and kill him, mentally and physically, but I don’t have the strength to keep him under my control.”
“Of course, I only have your word on that.”
“My word not good enough?”
“A question I can’t answer as I don’t really know you.” I crossed my arms, for a moment regarding the rain- washed road ahead. “Why are you going so determinedly after the people behind the cloning?”
