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“Good evening.”
Stefani removed the fake glasses she claimed made her look smart and placed them on the podium with a calculated amount of drama. It was her signature move. The longer it took her to take them off, the worse the news. Or, at least, the worse she wanted the audience tothinkit was.
“As you know, The Aegis and the Demonic Activity Response Team is currently working together to share ideas, technology, and resources.” She paused to glance down at her notes before once again addressing the camera. “Tonight, our agencies worked on its first joint operation to neutralize dangerous demons. At approximately ten-thirty a.m. local time in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, two Aegis Guardians and two DART agents engaged more than one Ufelskala Tier-Four Shedim demon. The demons were neutralized, and their spirits captured, but we regret to report that one Guardian was killed. We will bring you more information as we receive it.”
The hologram faded away, and for a moment, they all sat silently, stunned.
“Wow,” Carlos finally breathed. “Must havejusthappened, or I’d have heard about it by now.”
“Wonder who it was,” Sig said, taking a break from shoveling his food into his mouth. “I know people in a couple of the Boston cells.”
“Same,” Carlos said, but he was probably telling the truth. “I’ll see what I can find out. My buddy, Craig Shaeffer, is the Regional Director.” He tapped away at his comms device as Eva stared into the empty space where the hologram had been.
“Stefani looked great,” Sig said. “Don’t you think so, Eva?”
Keeley threw a chunk of bread at Sig. “Don’t be a dick.”
“No, it’s okay,” Eva said, although Keeley wasn’t wrong. Sig was definitely a dick. “Sig’s right. She did look great.”
Which pissed Eva the hell off. Stefani hadn’t stumbled once, and she’d even managed to look like she gave a shit about some nameless Guardian she’d never met.
“So,” Carlos began, “the dead Guardian is a twenty-four-year-old named Robert Lynch from the South Shore cell.” He cursed softly. “Damn, man. He has a toddler son with another Guardian. Craig says…oh, shit. The Guardians went to investigate a disturbance in the basement of an office building. When they got there, they were attacked by Shedims. They called for backup, but headquarters wanted DART in on it instead.”
“What?” Sig slammed his beer down. “So we didn’t send our people? Those guys had to wait on DART assholes, who probably can’t find their own dicks?” He spat a raw curse. “That Guardian is dead because of DART.”
“We don’t know that,” Eva said. “We don’t know anything.”
“We know one of our people is dead,” Sig snapped. “I’ll bet the DART guys didn’t do jack shit and are taking all the glory.”
Eva was about to tell Sig to shut up with his insanity when her comms beeped.
Stefani.
The holo-message popped up in a bright pink, loopy font that screamed spoiled ditz.
Did you see the presser? Jenn said I did great. Miss you!
And there were five—five!—kissy and heart emojis.
“Miss you,” Eva mocked. That bitch.
“Don’t worry about her,” Keeley said. “Everyone knows you’re the frontrunner for Jennifer’s job. No one can stand Stefani.”
“I like her.” Sig wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I think she wants me. And she just broke up with that producer she was dating.”
“You don’t have a shot with her.” Carlos popped a mussel out of its shell. “She’s got a type, and you ain’t it.”
Yeah, Stefani’s type was rich, handsome, and in a position to raise her social status.
Bitter much?
Okay, sure, Eva was a little bitter. But Stefani had undermined and sabotaged Eva half a dozen times in the last four months alone, from stealing assignments by lying about Eva being busy, to deleting a speech Eva had spent hours writing. No, she couldn’t prove Stefani had wiped the file, but she was one of the few people with access to the system, and the only one who would benefit from Eva making a fool of herself.
Taking a long, deep drink of her wine, she listened to her colleagues banter. Sig was right. This was the most fucked-up day ever.
And it wasn’t even over yet.
Chapter Six
