Page 95 of Heart and Soul
“Is that an official reprimand?”
“On the contrary, it’s a commendation.”
“Great. Were you there tonight, or not?”
“I was not. I’ve been here all night with Parker and Oliver. They can witness.”
“No good. Sorcerers and vampires aren’t exactly on my nice list right now.”
“I can’t say I feel any different at the moment. Obviously, I was wrong to trust Theo Coltrane. Very wrong. And now Windsor will also retaliate. War is coming, and Detroit will be the battlefield.”
“Well, you can count me out of that fight. The band is officially broken up. Jay is…” My voice threatens to break again. I shift in my seat, summoning anger for strength. “He’s gone. Russo’s down. And Hillerman—”
“I thought you hated Hillerman,” she interrupts.
“Yeah, I do, but she’s…useful. And now I’m sure she’ll be taken off the case.”
“It’s already done. Hillerman’s been called back to Washington, reassigned to a desk job, effective immediately.”
My throat tightens again. For Hillerman, this is a fate worse than death. And I don’t care so much that she’ll blame me. I just…I don’t know, I guess what I’m feeling is that I might,maybe, have something close to a negative-like feeling if I never see her again.
“Unsurprisingly, Washington is having a severe reaction to all this. All kinds of new oversight will be the natural result, I’m sure. Tightening our leash. They’re already insisting that I keep a bodyguard around the clock. Security’s not just going to be tight, it’s going to be a choke hold.”
“Great. The office will be hell for everybody, and it’s all my fault.”
“You know, if any of us needs a bodyguard, it might be you, Shayne. Do you think anybody at the masquerade might have recognized you?”
My mind flashes to the image of me sitting at the poker table without a mask on, announcing my name to the entire place before putting them all under arrest. “Um…yeah, it’s safe to say I was made.”
Director West stares down at the beer in her hand. “Shayne, I wonder if I could trust you to discuss a delicate matter with me? It couldn’t ever leave this room.”
“That’s fine. It sounds like I shouldn’t ever leave this room, either.”
“It would be safer.”
“I’mnotgetting a bodyguard.”
“I don’t blame you.”
I slump back into my seat, pulling the blanket tighter around my neck. “I’m not really thedelicate subjecttype, you know. I don’t see why you’d tell me.”
“A couple reasons, one of which is simple: you were at a secret meeting, and I am wondering if you might have seen a certain individual there. The second reason is that this individual creates a certaincomplication—for me—in a way that you, given what has happened tonight, might understand.”
“I don’t even understand anything you just said, so I don’t think I’ll be much help.”
“Do you remember back to the Christmas party at the Pauls’, when King Paul addressed me directly? He said something very…specific.”
I’m surprised to find that I do remember that moment. I mean, I don’t remember the words, but he looked right into West’s eyes and said something that made others in the crowd murmur as if it were significant. “I don’t remember what he said. Sorry.”
“He said, ‘The Agency giveth, and the Agency taketh away.’”
“Okay, yeah. Something like that.”
“Notlikethat.Exactlythat. I know, because I had heard those words before. Many of us at that party had. Those were the last words of Marco Deus, right before I killed him in front of our friends and colleagues.”
The name sparks in my brain. “Marco Deus? Wait, that’s a name? I thought it was Latin for something.”
“You’ve seen it?”
