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That seemed inevitable.
* * *
Morgan, in his usual jeans and T-shirt, sat in one of the leather chairs in Ethan’s office. Ethan and Malik chatted quietly in the corner, and they looked up when we entered.
“A moment, Sire?” Luc asked, gesturing them into the hallway.
“Excuse us,” Ethan said to the room, not waiting for a response before we stepped outside and closed the door.
“Something new?” he asked, scanning our faces.
“We think we’ve found Balthasar’s new home, and I’ve got Juliet and Brody on the location. They won’t move unless we say. But your Sentinel, who has a pretty good memory, made a connection between the Circle and the condos.”
Ethan looked at me. “Oh?”
“Both condos are owned by companies Malik found in the Navarre House records.”
“The Circle’s LLCs?” Malik asked.
“Yep. And the LLCs have comped both stays.”
Ethan looked at Luc. “Coincidence?”
“You know my position on those.”
Ethan crossed his arms. “So we think the Circle is funding Balthasar’s stay in Chicago. Why? Because they want him here? Because he’s part of their efforts to rule the city’s vampires?”
Luc nodded. “That’s what we were thinking.”
Silence, then, “I don’t know why that would surprise me. He loves power, but never sought to attain it through traditional channels . . . and yet . . .”
“They’re humans,” I said, voicing something that bothered me about the entire thing. Ethan glanced at me, nodded briskly.
“That’s it precisely. Balthasar thinks humans are weaker, less, than us. They are mice to his cat, things to be toyed with and discarded. I find it hard to believe he’d willingly partner with them.”
“Maybe he doesn’t think it’s a partnership,” Malik suggested.
“We’re missing part of the story,” Ethan said. “But it makes tonight’s negotiations that much more important. Let’s get to it.”
We all turned at the sound of footsteps in the hallway, found Jeff, Catcher, my grandfather, and Detective Jacobs walking toward us.
“The cavalry has arrived,” Ethan said, extending a hand to my grandfather and Detective Jacobs. “Gentlemen.”
“We understand the Navarre evacuation is complete,” Jacobs said.
“It is,” he said, “and Morgan’s in my office, ready to begin. And we’ve gleaned one additional bit of information. The Circle is apparently paying for Balthasar’s condo while he’s in town. The entities that own the two condos are on the Navarre list.”
My grandfather’s eyes widened appreciatively. “Isn’t that interesting?”
“We thought so,” Ethan agreed. “We don’t yet know how much they’re in bed together, but there’s certainly some connection.” He gestured toward the door. “Shall we?”
Morgan stood when we walked in. I gave him credit for not objecting to the CPD’s involvement, although the flash of irritation in his eyes was impossible to ignore.
But Ethan did a pretty good job of it. “Morgan, I believe you know Arthur Jacobs.”
Morgan nodded. “Sure. What’s the plan? Am I going to call him? Set up a meet?”
“That depends, in part, on the Circle,” Jacobs said.
