Black Truth, White Lies (Black Hat Bureau 3)

Another knock, this one more distant, drew all our attention.

“Where’s Colby?” I was hazy on the layout of our rooms. “Does she need to be let in?”

“She’s drooling on my pillow in a connected room.” He frowned. “Be right back.”

While Clay answered the door, I grabbed for my wand and secured it in my pajama pants. As I prepared for a confrontation, Asa hunched his shoulders, lowered his head, and began the process of making himself smaller, less frightening, unthreatening.

I hated it.

But it worked for him.

“Hey,” Clay greeted our unexpected guests. “Haven’t seen you guys in years.”

“Clay,” a man replied, his voice soft. “Good to see you, man. It’s been too long.”

“Clay,” a woman echoed. “It’s nice to see you.”

“Come on in.” He ushered them into the living room area. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

“Your teammate,” the woman answered. “Rue Hollis.”

“She attacked an agent,” the man said. “Cut off his hand.” He made a thwack noise. “The director wants her brought in for questioning.”

“You’ve got the wrong witch.” Clay kept his tone polite. “That’s not Rue’s style.”

“His partner saw it,” the woman countered. “Are you accusing him of lying?”

“We know you’re close to Rue,” the guy added. “You guys were partners back in the day.”

“But no agent is above Black Hat law,” she finished for him. “Where is she?”

“I am close to Rue, and we were partners.” Clay stayed jolly. “But you’re missing a key piece of information. Orion Pollux Stavros’s son and heir is fascinated with her. She’s been given a y’nai bodyguard to protect her most sacred self.” I heard the smile in his voice. “When the agent attacked her, he must have grabbed her hair, and the y’nai took exception to that.”

“We heard rumors.” Her tone soured. “They’re in fascination?” Her disgust was clear. “You’re certain?”

After pressing a finger to his lips, Asa padded into the bathroom, flushed the toilet, then left the room.

“Forgive me,” he murmured, shutting the door behind him. “I was in the bathroom.”

“Agent Montenegro.” A thready quality strained her greeting. “I’m Agent Mickelson, and this is my partner, Agent Ferragamo.”

“A pleasure to meet you both.” He remained cowed, lesser, whisper soft. “How can I help you?”

“We need to question your…Ms. Hollis…about an incident in Rainsville.”

“My partner has already explained what happened and why.” Asa let a tiny hint of his true power shine. “I’m more interested in why two agents tracked Agent Hollis to a remote location, threatened her, and then put hands on her.”

“We’re investigating both sides—” Agent Mickelson began.

“There is only one side,” Asa cut in. “She took action to protect humans in a populated area, and two agents confronted her after the fact.” A hint of temper flavored his rebuke. “They put hands on her. They were punished. No further inquest is necessary, unless you would like her to bring fellow agents up on charges of misconduct.”

“Given her recent track record for weeding out rogues,” Clay added, “I believe the director will rule in her favor.”

There was no hiding the fact cases I had been involved in up to this point had resulted in the deaths of fellow agents. We hadn’t advertised the cause behind those executions, but coups were common enough that agents would connect the dots without much effort.

“Does he know you’re here?” Asa pounced on Clay’s reasoning. “Does he know about the attack?”

“The director can’t be bothered with every infraction,” Agent Mickelson countered. “He’s far too busy.”