“I’d rather risk their wrath than lose my fucking balls,” our captive yelled back.
I smiled. “Have you worked for Luke before?”
“A couple of times.”
“In Glebe, perhaps? Did you help some old man drive over a cliff in a car?”
He didn’t answer. Ginny applied a little more pressure. He swore and said, “For fuck’s sake, yes.”
“Who was the man?”
“I don’t fucking know. We never do. We just get our orders, do the job, and get paid. Simple as that.”
“How did you know we were staying here, then?”
“Luke gave us the address. I have no idea how he knew it. We never get told that shit.”
Probably so they couldn’t reveal too much in this sort of situation. It did mean that either Luke or one of his partners had followed us here, or Monica had told them—though how she’d have known we were here was the big question.
As was—how had they known I even had the shard? I’d touched a piece of it, granted, but would that have told them I’d kept a piece alive magically? Doubtful. But even if it had, why would they presume it was here rather than handed over as evidence to forensics?
Of course, there was another possibility. Sienna and Janice both knew I’d found the piece; while I didn’t think either woman was working with the creeps behind all this, it wasn’t like I actually knew either of them. Besides, the woman from the USB conversation had mentioned contacts in the HCI, so it wasn’t beyond reason that they also had them with us. But if thatwerethe case, then we were dealing with something far bigger than a couple of fly-by-night baddies.
“If this is not the first time you’ve worked with Luke,” I said, “I take it you have his number in your phone?”
He glanced down at Ginny then swore. “Yes.”
“And your phone is where?”
“Cargos, right side.”
I patted him down, just to be sure he was telling the truth about the shard, then retrieved his phone from the side pocket. “Face or finger lock?” I asked.
“Face.”
I turned the phone on, shoved it into his face, and unlocked it. “What is he listed under?”
He snorted. “Luke. What else?”
What else indeed. Obviously, the whole secrecy gene had skipped this lad. I found the number, hit it, then photographed the various conversations they’d had along with the number, then tucked the phone back into his pants. Lowell and his crew could go through the thing more thoroughly once he was in custody.
“Agent Kang?” came a familiar voice from the front door. “It’s Tony and Leonie—you called for backup?”
“I did indeed. There’s one fellow caged just inside the hall there and another contained here in the bedroom.”
“We’ll deal with the man mountain first.” He paused. “Can you release the spell stones?”
“Hang on and I’ll come out.” I patted the young man’s arm. “Be a dear and don’t move.”
He snorted but otherwise didn’t reply. I pushed to my feet, swore softly at the various muscle aches that immediately accompanied the movement, and headed out. Tony was standing slightly to the side of the big man, his expression amused as he watched my captive, who was swearing like a trooper and attacking the containment shield with clenched fists, getting absolutely nowhere. Leonie was lowering what looked to be some sort of gun.
“Dart gun,” she said, obviously catching my surprise. “It’s silver coated, designed to punch through containment magic without destroying it. Once he drops, you can release the shield, and we’ll contain and transport him. What about the other man—will he be a problem?”
“Ginny is wearing her alternate form and currently clutching his jewels in her claws, so I very much doubt it.”
Leonie raised an eyebrow and headed in. A second later, her snort of laughter echoed. Once the substance on the dart had dropped the big man, I retracted my shield and gathered the spell stones. The magic within them would have to be refueled, but I could get that done in-house—I’d already checked with Lowell that it was possible. Once the two men were properly confined, Tony cast a spell that wrapped around the big man’s form and raised him from the floor.
“I did wonder how you two were going to get him out of here,” I commented.
