“This, my friends, is a semi-intelligent spybot, and the latest in nanotechnology.”
“It’s a robot?” I said, touching it lightly. What looked like bug-skin was actually cold metal. “How does it work?”
“I give it basic commands from here, and it go
es to work. In this case, you drop it inside the Phoenix, and I’ll program it to go into the office area and hide in some corner. It’ll then send through everything that goes on in that office.”
“And what if someone spots it?” Tao asked. “You couldn’t afford to get something like this squashed by a well-placed boot.”
“That’s where the intelligence comes in. If it senses a threat, it scuttles.”
“Amazing,” I murmured. And scary. No one would ever suspect that an everyday-looking bug could be a spy camera. It made me wonder just what else was out there. I glanced at him. “How the hell did you get hold of it?”
“Ask no secrets and you’ll be told no lies.” He grinned and dropped it into my palm. “I’ll program it as you’re heading to the bar. Just be sure to place it near the office. Otherwise the walk will drain it and it won’t be able to transmit immediately.”
“So it recharges itself?”
He nodded. “With whatever is the closest power source—in this case it’ll be either body heat or heat from the lights.”
I wrapped my fingers around it. Its little legs made my skin itch, and it felt for all the world like I was holding a real bug. I shuddered and carefully dropped it into the unused coin section of my purse. At least it wouldn’t get lost there.
Tao glanced at his watch, then said, “We’d better get going. You’ve got the morning shift tomorrow, remember?” When I groaned, he slapped me lightly on the back, adding with a smile, “It’s Wednesday. Wednesdays are always slow.”
For him maybe. I was the one who did all the paperwork, and Wednesday was paperwork day. But I was betting that all the little numbers were not going to make sense after tonight.
“Thanks for all this, Stane. I really appreciate it.”
“Thank you for the Bollinger. I shall enjoy it at my leisure. Or swap it for something shiny.” He nodded toward the screen. “I’ll switch off the shield when you get down there.”
Tao touched a hand to my back and guided me down the stairs. The night air seemed fresher after the mustiness of the shop, but it was no less noisy. The heavy beat of music seemed to vibrate through my body, and the sheer loudness hurt my ears. It was going to be hell inside but if it helped get some answers, then it’d be worth it.
Two heavyset men were standing on either side of the iron gates that served as an entrance. One was a bird shifter of some kind, and the other smelled of cat. They looked us up and down, then the grimier of the two flashed some teeth and opened the door.
“Enjoy your night,” cat boy said, his voice sounding as if it were coming from the vicinity of his toes.
Tao grunted. It seemed to fit the atmosphere.
Surprisingly, the noise inside wasn’t actually any worse than outside, but the overwhelming scent of humanity and alcohol had me wishing for nose plugs. The Phoenix was an old-fashioned bar—meaning people basically stood around drinking. There was a three-piece band huddled in one corner pumping out noise, and at the rear there seemed to be half a dozen billiard tables, most of them occupied. The bar dominated the left-hand side of the room, and the crowd before it was three deep. If there was an office, I couldn’t immediately see it.
“Let’s see what’s at the rear,” Tao said, his lips close to my ear. Wolf hearing or not, I probably wouldn’t have heard him otherwise.
We weaved our way through the crowded shadows and billiards tables to the small, tabled area at the back of the bar. The smell of alcohol was thicker here, but this seemed to be more a “couples” area, if the pairings at the tables were anything to go by. There were three tables free, and one of them was nice and close to both the back wall and a somewhat battered-looking door. It had to be the office, given it had a burly, bronzed beefcake type standing watchfully next to it. Either that, or it was a storeroom. In this noisy, boozy crowd, there was probably good reason to keep an eye on the supplies.
“I’ll go get us a beer,” Tao said as I sat down. “Try not to cause too many problems.”
I snorted softly. “I’m not the one who enjoys a fight, boyo.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” He grinned and cracked his knuckles, then spun around, whistling softly as he made his way back to the bar.
I shook my head and hoped like hell people stayed out of his way. These days, Tao never backed away from a fight—in fact, he often went looking for them. It was almost as if he needed to keep proving himself—and not to anyone else, but to himself.
I leaned back in the chair and tried not to breathe too deeply. Even so, it was hard to ignore the scents that swam around me. Everyone in here was human—even the burly guard at the door. My gaze flicked down. Light crept out from the crack between the door and the floor. Somebody was obviously in.
I drew the bug out of my purse and carefully placed it near the wall. Its little feelers twitched for several seconds, then it scuttled away, getting temporarily lost in the shadows before something small and black ran between the guard’s feet and under the door. The bug was in.
With nothing else to do, I tapped my fingers against the somewhat grimy tabletop and tried not to think about how badly I wanted to get out of this place. Or the fact that I’d given up an undoubtedly amazing night of sex to come here.
Tao returned with two glasses of beer, handing me one as he sat down. “At least it’s cold,” I said, licking the froth from my lips. In a place like this, that had to be a bonus. I nodded toward the doorway. “Looks like Handberry is in.”