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“No, because I took Aedh form to get here fast.”
It also enabled him to get around the usual sunlight restriction, although as one of the old ones, he could actually stand huge amounts of daylight.
“So where is she?”
“Waiting at home, medi-kit in hand.” His gaze moved to Jak, and his voice lost some of its warmth as he added, “Are you all right?”
“There’s nothing a Band-Aid and a stiff drink won’t fix.” Amusement ran through Jak’s voice. He’d obviously noted the temperature change, too.
Quinn’s dark gaze swept the room, and narrowed slightly as it settled briefly on the pillars. He knows what they are, I thought. But he said nothing, and looked down at our captive instead. “Who’s this?”
“According to his ID, he’s either Henry Mack or Jason Marks, and he’s a Razan.”
His gaze leapt to mine again. “A Razan? Whose?”
“That, indeed, is the question.” I shrugged. “We suspect he was talking to his master before we knocked him out, but the number was blocked and we dare not call it back.”
A wry smile touched Quinn’s lips. “In other words, you want me to read his thoughts.”
“Well, yeah, that would be nice.”
Quinn considered me for a moment, then said, “As long as you agree to come back home with me, so Riley can reassure herself that you’re alive and well.”
“And then tell me off.”
“Undoubtedly. But seeing as you refuse to seek help from those of us who have more experience with things such as hellhounds, it’s well deserved.”
A point I didn’t argue with, although I could have. Easily. He and Riley had been through enough shit in their time together—they didn’t deserve to get hit with mine now that their life was relatively sane and quiet. Besides, I’d already lost my mom. I wasn’t about to lose anyone else I was close to. It was bad enough that I’d involved Ilianna and Tao as much as I had.
“You have a deal.”
He nodded, then glanced at Jak. It took me several moments to realize that awareness had slipped from Jak’s eyes.
I raised an eyebrow. “There was no need—”
“There was. You trust him too much.”
Yet another comment people kept making. “Jak’s under threat from Rhoan. Trust me, he’s not going to print anything without clearing it first through him.”
“And now he can’t even consider writing about it because he won’t even be aware of it.” He knelt beside the Razan and appeared to be doing nothing more than simply looking at him—although I knew from past experience that he was riffling through the man’s thoughts. Then his gaze met mine again. “An Aedh has been active in this man’s thoughts.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that while he knows the name and location of his master, any effort on my part to access it would immediately notify said master of the intrusion.”
“Well, damn.”
“Yes.” He paused. “It is possible to circumvent such blocks, but it takes time.”
“Which we don’t have. I suspect that if he doesn’t report back soon, it’ll make our quarry suspicious.”
“Which might just draw him out.”
“He’s not that type. He’s more likely to cover his tracks and start somewhere fresh.”
Although the ley intersection was near here, so he wasn’t likely to go too far from it. Still, we needed to avoid warning him just how close we were. “You can’t get anything useful from him at all?”
Quinn hesitated, and glanced down at the Razan again. “There’s three of them left. They live together in an old warehouse in Dawson Street, Brunswick West, and he’s more than a little pissed about running these sorts of errands when he was trained as a soldier. He believes he could take care of any intruders and be a hell of a lot less conspicuous about it than hellhounds.”
