Page 22 of Tested
A door appears to her left, glossy black and surrounded by flames. She pushes it open and steps through, leaving us surrounded by sickly-sweet smelling smoke.
“You know,” Poole says, drumming his fingers on the table, “if you had just come the first time Brodie asked, we might have avoided some of this.”
“If he hadn’t wrecked my car, I might have been more agreeable.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” I sink into a seat, though I’d rather run. “So I’m really looking for the same princess who went missing two years ago?” Because calling us the Elites implies we’re good at what we do.
“Yes. Princess Tatiana Ivanova.”
“And no one picked up the investigation?”
Poole presses his lips together and stares off into space. I give him a couple beats to answer then move on to my next big point. “Does all this mean I’m back on the team?”
“Well, yes and no.” After a heavy exhale, he pulls a pen and a business card out of his pocket and scribbles something. “Here.”
I take it from him. The business card is his – Colonel Parker N. Poole etc. etc. – and the phone number on the back has a San Francisco area code.
“You are not back on the team, Mack, but you have all the resources of the Elites at your disposal.”
“Do I get to charge you my private eye rates?”
He huffs a laugh and puts the pen back in his pocket. “I want you to work fast, and I want you to keep this investigation a secret, especially from your boyfriend.”
“What?”
“Your memory can’t be that bad. You’re the one who uncovered a possible link between the princess and Jacques Betancourt.”
“But Trajan won’t tell Betancourt anything.”
“Are you sure? One hundred percent?” Poole’s aura hardens, turning a grim grey. “If a vampire’s maker demands something, the vampire has no choice but to comply. I’m asking you to honor the oath you made to my command.”
The oath I’d sworn when I was nineteen and had nowhere else to turn. He looks at me expectantly, but I can’t force out aYes, sirto save my life. Instead, I manage a tight, “I don’t like this.” More accurately, I hate that he’s playing the oath card.
The last time Poole thought I’d made Betancourt’s radar, I’d had to fake my own death.
Poole blinks, the faintest glimmer of pink threading through the ominous grey of his aura. “I know I’m asking a lot, but you’re the closest link to Betancourt that I’ve got. And I have to say”—he shrugs—“your great-whatever grandmother is scary as hell. I don’t want my team to have anything to do with her if I can help it.”
I clamp my jaw shut to keep from popping off with an inappropriate opinion.
He takes my silence as agreement and tries to smile. “Now get the hell out of here and go find that princess.”
Since I still can’t trust myself to speak, I head for the door.
“I’ll email you a packet with what little information we’ve gathered since you had the case,” he says. “Don’t hesitate to call me, but I’m serious when I say you need to keep this a secret.”
I leave without giving him the satisfaction of a response. I text Smith on my way to the car. He’s on his way to talk to the restaurant manager and we decide I can meet him there. Google says it’ll take me twenty minutes to get there on the freeway but like a good Angeleno, I take surface streets.
Rolling along Sunset Boulevard gives me time to think. I need a strategy, one that honors the promise Poole demanded without betraying Trajan’s trust. I mean, I’m not happy about any of this, but Poole’s not wrong about the influence Betancourt has over Trajan.
Although two years ago I’d believed Poole when he said he had intel that my cover had been blown. To keep me – and indirectly Trajan – safe, I needed to “die.” But if Jacques Betancourt really knew I’d been investigating him, he’d have taken me out of the game as soon as I reappeared.
Which means that either Poole’s intel was wrong or that Betancourt had nothing to do with the princess’s disappearance. Regardless, disappearing two years ago was a waste of time and effort.
Not that I can tell Trajan any of that.
The harsh reality makes me grimace. An hour ago, I wished I’d been honest with Trajan from the start and now I’m back in the business of keeping secrets. Just like last time.
