Page 18 of Countdown to Murder
“You wanted to make sure I know the makeup isn’t for my benefit?”
A blush happened — from the woman who doesn’t show emotions.Damn, that’d been downright rude. I had to do better. She turned away from me, looked into a mirror, and situated the hairpiece so it flowed around one side of her face. When she fluffed her hair around it, the look was subtle, but it gave her face even more of an angular look than the makeup had managed.
The blush was gone, but I needed to address what precipitated it.
“I apologize. That was uncalled for. I’ll do better.”
She sighed and turned back around. “You weren’t wrong.” Her gaze fell to the weapons on the lower part of the bed. “I’ll wear my AR on a sling, my SIG on my right thigh, and my forty-five as a front cross draw. I have a small Ruger on my ankle already, and my long-knife is on my spine. I have some throwing knives on my forearms. I’m wearing a lot of silver, so you’ll want to keep me away from those who are sensitive.”
While she finished weaponing up, I situated my eight-inch blade in the sheath on my right hip just behind one of my handguns. I slung my AR over my head and thenstrapped another handgun holster on my left thigh. I’ve worked hard to accurately shoot ambidextrously.
Our first stop was the control room, where we found out Ember was in the second-floor room with the client, and Sloan was stationed on the second-floor landing of the main marble staircase. Two of Jones’s men were in the attic, and the rest of those on duty were scattered in pairs inside and outside the house. The head geek confirmed all civilians were off the grounds and on the plane back to Beverly Hills, with the exception of our client.
Seven other private planes had landed at the Stowe airport in the past forty-eight hours. Looking at planes for surrounding airports brought the total up to nearly forty. Our data people in Chattanooga were trying to figure out who the vampire was by looking at all of them. No luck yet, but they’d have to dig through layers of corporations and holding companies.
Only three homes within fifty miles were listed in the vampire vacation directory available for rent. One was shown as occupied, and had been for six weeks, but that didn’t mean anything since our target could have rented space near all our client’s homes. Finding out who’d rented it meant hacking into a well-secured database, and our people were working on it. We had a backdoor at one time, but someone had found it and deleted it.
We had a backdoor into the active phone companies in the area, and no cell towers showed an extra cellphoneat the mansion while the vampire had been on the premises. I didn’t expect they would, but we’d had to check. Vampires can use telepathy to keep in touch with their people, and they’ve learned not to take cellphones with them if they don’t want to be tracked.
Jones wouldn’t put someone on the grill until an hour before the next shift started, which was still over an hour away, but I was capable of cooking.
“I’m going to fix bacon and eggs, and we’ll see what else is available,” I told Mira. “I wouldn’t be opposed to waffles if they have frozen ones we can pop in the oven.”
“I think I’d prefer steak and eggs if it’s an option. Perhaps some fruit.”
In less than five minutes, the counter by the grill had everything we wanted to eat. Steak for both of us, bacon for me, eggs for both of us. And then, also for me, frozen potatoes, frozen Belgian waffles, maple syrup, and a huge slab of butter. I started with the bacon because I intended to cook everything in bacon grease. Mira put the waffles in the oven, set the timer, and went looking for plates and silverware.
I was nearly to the point of plating everything when Mira said, “I overheard someone say you never work with a partner.”
“Neverisn’t accurate, obviously.”
“How often do you have one?”
“Most of my jobs are solo. There’s sometimes an outside team, but I’m frequently the only inside person. On bigger jobs, like this one, I’m in charge of a full team, but I’m rarely assigned a partner.” Never, except in extreme circumstances, butrarelywasn’t inaccurate.
“Were you given a choice when they assigned me to you?”
I flipped the eggs and kept my eyes on the stovetop. “No.”
“Considering the circumstances, you’ve been quite accommodating. Thank you.”
“Once I realized how competent you are, I haven’t minded having you close. We seem to work well together.”
“Perhaps that’s because I prefer to work alone, too? I knew going into this I’d have to deal with a partner and possibly a team, so I’ve tried not to let it chafe. Working with you hasn’t been awful.”
I grinned but stayed focused on the food.
“Two loners forced together? Probably shouldn’t work, but I’m glad it is. My plan is to keep Ember in the room with the client until she goes off the clock at noon, and then we’ll put you inside. Jones knows his men and I trust him to know where to put them within the frame I’ve given him. Sloan is in a good spot for his talents, so I see no reason to move him.”
“And where will we be?”
I wanted us outside the client’s window to start the night, but I was curious where she’d put us. “I have a plan, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.”
“In the woods, looking down. I’m lighter than you, so I can carry a treebark cape up, or maybe late season woodland, and surveil from a small branch. You can focus on her window, and I’ll focus on the roof and sky. Jones has two people on the roof, and I know we have cams set to watch, but if he’s going to fly in then I’d like more eyeballs watching the sky.”
“Snakes don’t have good vision. How’s yours in human form?”
“Better than the average human, but not as good as most shapeshifters. I can see infrared in both forms, though. If the vampire has fed recently, or if he’s been in a warm house and hasn’t been outside long, I’ll pick him up at about one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards, depending on temperature difference. I can see humans three to five hundred yards out, depending on ambient temperature.” I shrugged. “In snake form, it’s only around ten feet. The snake is sensing the heat and turning it into vision, while the human form is seeing in the infrared spectrum.”
