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“We’d have to know where to find them first.”
“Which brings us back to getting someone inside. I’m supposed to check in with Kim tomorrow. Is there someone else we could pretend to fire if they don’t want her?”
*
Kim was waiting at the bar when I arrived the following afternoon. She looked so dejected that I worried she was really feeling down about not being recruited and wasn’t just acting bummed about being out of work. “No leads,” she said with a weary sigh before I could ask. “It’s a really tough job market.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something,” I said, but I had a feeling that if they wanted her, they’d have grabbed her by now.
She downed her drink. “Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know. But you can tell the boss how I’m doing. I’m sure he cares.” If she was acting, she was doing a really convincing job. She even reeled a little when she climbed off her stool and headed off, leaving me alone to finish my glass of wine.
After I left, as I walked down the sidewalk toward the subway station, I reached into my pocket to get my gloves and encountered a piece of paper I didn’t recall being there before. I pulled it out and read, “Turn left on Fulton.”
It was a good thing I’d reached for my gloves when I had because Fulton was the next intersection. But should I follow the directions? It could be a trap. It would be a pretty weird trap, though. There were plenty of places someone could ambush me without sending me a written invitation.
I stopped at the street corner to wrestle with the decision. It could be dangerous. Or it could be a lead. When I looked up and saw a familiar gargoyle perched on top of a nearby lamppost, I made my decision and turned left. The gargoyle took off, flying behind me. If it turned out to be a trap, at least I had some backup. That’s what I’d tell Owen later if I got in trouble and he was mad at me for taking a risk.
The street was hardly vacant, so it wasn’t what I’d consider a great ambush spot. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do once I turned left on Fulton, so I kept walking. Just ahead of me, someone came out of a coffee shop with a paper cup in her hand. She had a shawl wrapped around her head and shoulders, obscuring her face, but that wasn’t too odd in this weather. She joined the flow of pedestrian traffic as I passed and maintained a steady pace just behind me. If we’d been in cars, she’d have been in my blind spot.
“Don’t turn around. Just keep walking,” a voice said from behind me. I was pretty sure it was Sylvia, but I resisted the temptation to turn and look.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I’m about to need that exit strategy your people promised me. Pass that on, will you?”
“Okay.”
“Your little ploy to get someone on the inside will never work. They’re not going to hire that one. She doesn’t come highly recommended. Too uptight. She’s the type who would squeal to the authorities the moment she realized what was going on. So you can let her have her regular job back.”
“That’s good to know.” Well, actually, it wasn’t, because we didn’t have much more of a plan than that, but at least we knew we could cut our losses and put Kim out of her misery.
“I hear they approached you.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybe about it. I know they did.”
“Is it a trap? Do they know we’re looking into them?”
“I don’t know. But I figure it’s on the level. If they wanted to get rid of you, they wouldn’t have to hire you.”
“What if they wanted my inside info on MSI?”
She gave a short, harsh laugh. “Oh, that’s so cute. You think they don’t already have inside info? As many people as they have there? There’s practically nothing you could tell them that they don’t already know. You’re a case of if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, or ask them to join you.”
“What makes them think I wouldn’t go straight to the authorities? Foiling evil magic schemes is basically my hobby. Well, other than baking, embroidery, and knitting.”
“I imagine they’re going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. You’d better be prepared for that.”
“Who said I was going to take them up on it?”
“What choice do you have? Now, remember, I want an exit. Tomorrow, if possible. Same place and time, have someone ready to whisk me away into obscurity.”
“Got it.”
There was no response, but I knew better than to turn and look for her. I walked to the next intersection, then turned to make my way back toward the office. It was a pretty safe bet that Merlin would still be around. I still wasn’t entirely sure he didn’t live in his office.
Once I was back in the MSI building, I hesitated as I passed the floor where Owen’s lab was, but decided to head straight to Merlin. This didn’t really have anything to do with Owen.
