Black Truth, White Lies (Black Hat Bureau 3)

“What about the young ones?”

“They’re half man, half snake, all instinct and no vocabulary.”

“That’s a big snake.”

That’s what she said.

Had Clay been here, he would have been unable to resist cracking the joke, but we were on our own.

“Its skin pattern reminds me of a water moccasin.” That would fit the aquatic theme. “Do you remember if they were listed as residents of the sanctuary?”

“Maybe?” A quiver threaded her voice. “There were so many, I might have forgotten.”

“It’s fine.” I kept my pace nice and slow. “We’ll check when we get home.”

We reached the car, and I slid in and shut the door. Colby flitted from my hair onto the passenger seat.

“What do we do?” She worried her hands. “The naga will eat people if they get too close to it.”

They were carnivorous, and if it hadn’t fed in weeks, it would be looking for an easy meal.

“We’re going to lure it away.” I pulled out my phone. “I need to let Clay and Asa know.”

A quick text spun the guys into a tizzy of worrying about us being in danger when they were too far away to help. Rusty I might still be, but I could handle this without them. I had Colby. We made our own team.

But first there was the teeny-tiny issue of jurisdiction.

A full-fledged agent could have waded in with bureau backing. A consultant? Not so much.

That meant citing special circumstances to request clearance. It would be handed upline to the director for his approval, but I wasn’t worried he would say no. The deeper I dug my hole, the easier it would be for him to bury me.

>>Can you and Colby handle it solo?

Clay replied first, so I chose him as the point man for this conversation.

>We can kill it.

>>I hate to greenlight that, but your safety is my priority. And the civilians. Sure. Those too.

>What do you mean you can greenlight it?

>>Asa is filing the paperwork to bring you on board as we speak.

A shiver of foreboding trickled down my spine, but it saved me from interacting with the director myself. We had grounds, based on Agent Barker’s special delivery, to have me brought in. Had I not insisted that we keep Samford’s killer otter infestation out of the database, Colby and I would have had our team at our backs.

>Let me know when I’m good.

>>Sit tight.

>>Won’t be long now.

Phone on my thigh, I angled toward Colby. “There’s only one way we can bring it down.”

The way it didn’t get back up again.

Ever.

The tips of her antennae wilted, but she nodded. “I know.”