Page 80 of Tooth and Nail

“This is not funny, Deputy Marshal Brown!” she said.

“I’m sorry. I was just going for levity.”

“Well, I’m definitely not laughing.” She sighed, and Ari could see she was visibly upset by all of it. “Someone is either desperate enough to bug a chief deputy marshal’s office because they think I actually know something, or they’re simply trying to prove I really don’t. This all means my feeling that there’s someone down at the Agency HQ which helped Tillis Bradshaw take over the Flagstaff vampire clan was correct. Someone helped Bradshaw wipe out the rightful king John Townsend’s entire family. Whatever is going on down there is significant, though. Of that I have no doubt, gentlemen.”

“So, what do we do, Chief?” Ari asked.

“Until we figure out what’s really going on here, I need the two of you to take precautions that you’re not being bugged as well. Go to Wordy and pick up a bug sweeper,” she said. “Tell him your neighbor is convinced he’s being bugged and that he begged you to sweep his place.” Ari watched her reach into her jacket and pull out a folded paper. “Here’s a requisition signed by me. Fill it out in your own handwriting and put the neighbor’s story as the reason for it.”

Eoghan took it from her. “Don’t worry, ma’am. We’ll figure out what’s going on here.”

“Don’t talk on the phone about this and as soon as you get a chance, head down to a security store and buy a bug sweeper. I want you to sweep rooms in your own home constantly. If anyone goes in when you didn’t give them permission, I want to know about it.” Ari exchanged a glance with Eoghan. They both knew Bear would report anyone trespassing, so there was no chance of that.

The chief pulled a phone out of her pocket and handed it to Eoghan, pointing to it. “That’s a burner. Get another one for Brown and then each of you send me a spam textwith the subject line Get Bigger Tits. I’ll know it’s you and I’ll reply from my burner using the same tag line. We’ll use these to communicate when you’re out in the field but only about this development. All other communications go through normal channels. We can’t alert anyone to the fact that we suspect anything about Townsend and Bradshaw. Above all, be careful. I have a suspicion we’ll all be in danger until this thing is solved. If someone at the Agency is involved with Bradshaw because of the meth trade or what you reported about him taking over the synthetic blood business, there’s a shit ton of money and things can get dicey.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Eoghan said, taking the phone from her.

Ari stepped forward and hugged her. She immediately stiffened in his arms, but as soon as he let go and stepped back, she offered him the smallest nod, breathing out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Deputy Marshal Brown. Now, I need to get back and you two have reports to write.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The three of them walked out of the room a moment later. When they got back to their desks and sat down, Ari glanced over at Eoghan. He seemed quite calm even though Ari’s heart was beating a rapid tattoo in his chest. When he’d sat down at his desk across from his lover, the warmest feelings had coursed through his veins. Ari knew deep down in his soul they’d figure all this crap out. Whatever happened in the future would be okay.

Because they had each other.

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