Memory Zero (Spook Squad 1)

So that’s exactly what she did.

GABRIEL STERN LEANED A SHOULDER against the wall and watched dawn color the sky a bright, almost bloody red. The rising sun played across his face and arms, pleasant and warm. But if the gathering clouds were anything to go by, it was going to be a bitch of a day. God, he hated Melbourne in winter.

He crossed his arms and studied the stark white building across the street. Situated on the western edge of the central business district, close to the law courts, the building housed both the State Police and the Special Investigations Unit. With the precision of ants, men and women clad in the stark black of the State Police moved in and out of the building—a tide that was occasionally interspersed by the dark gray favored by the SIU. As yet, there was no sign of the woman whose life he’d saved last night.

“It may be hours before she gets back. You know what the cops are like when one of their own gets shot.”

The voice rose like a demon out of the darkness, setting his teeth on edge. Gabriel turned from the window. Though it was still dark in the small office, he could see the old desk, chairs and recording units well enough. Martyn stood in the deeper shadows of the far corner, idly sipping a bottle of dark fluid.

Gabriel’s stomach rumbled a reminder that he hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to ignore it. “I want the SIU called in on this. Me, specifically.”

Martyn’s smile was fleeting. “That has been arranged.”

A fact Gabriel knew, simply because he’d started the arrangements earlier. Still, there was protocol to follow if he didn’t want too many suspicions raised. And, technically speaking, Martyn was supposedly his one and only link to the Federation, the covert group they both worked for. While Martyn was well aware that Gabriel talked to Stephan, he had no idea just how often. And Gabriel intended to keep it that way.

“Good.” At least he could get closer to the woman, and maybe he’d find out just how she’d been able to sense the presence of the kite-monster last night. From the little information they’d been able to glean about the creature, it was supposed to be invisible to humans—at least until the point of attack. Yet she had sensed it early enough to escape.

“If your interest in the woman develops into an obsession, Stephan’s not going to be happy.”

Gabriel glanced at Martyn sharply. He knew better than Martyn just what Stephan was, and wasn’t, going to be happy about. And he knew for a fact that Stephan more than agreed with his interest in this woman. So why would Martyn say otherwise?

“Twenty-four people have been killed by the kites since they appeared two months ago. She is the only person to ever escape. We need to know why.”

“We can sense them. Surely that’s all that matters.”

“We’re an extremely small group, and the kites are growing in number. We can’t hope to kill them all, nor can we hope to conceal their existence for much longer.”

“Worry about that when the time comes. For the moment, we have more important concerns.”

Yeah, like what the hell Sethanon—the man ultimately behind the attacks last night, and someone the Federation had been trying to stop for years—was up to. He glanced back out the window as movement caught his attention. A woman with red-gold hair walked up the steps of the opposite building, her slender figure almost lost in the sea of black-clad officers and camera crews that surrounded her.

Sympathy flashed through him. He knew what it was like to kill a partner. He’d done it himself, what seemed a lifetime ago. And he’d sworn at that moment never to take another partner—not when deaths ran in threes. It was a promise he’d kept to this day.

Once she’d walked through the main doors, he turned to face Martyn once more. “What intrigues me is the fact that she apparently sensed the presence of the kite—and her partner—yet showed no awareness that I was there.”

“Given you didn’t actually talk to her, you can’t be certain about that.”

No, he couldn’t. But instinct suggested that was the case, and he’d long ago learned to trust his instincts. At least when it came to issues like this.

“When I talked to Stephan earlier—”

“I’m your control,” Martyn said, voice sharp. “You’re supposed to talk to me first.”

“I’m reporting to you now.”

“In the future, you will report to me, and only me, or disciplinary action will be taken.”

Gabriel snorted softly. What were they going to do? Pull him off the job? Not likely—if only because it would take the Federation years to get someone else into his current position. And given the number of operatives that had been killed or uncovered of late, maybe the very reason he was still one of the Federation’s most effective plants was the very thing Martyn was bitching about—his lack of continuous reports.

Although, truth be told, Stephan himself would have to be classed as the most successful undercover operative. No one, beyond himself and Stephan’s wife, knew Stephan had an alter ego in the SIU. Not even Martyn.

“Have you found out any more about Jack Kazdan’s disappearance and subsequent reappearance?” Martyn continued.

Gabriel shook his head. “Other than the fact he resurfaced about a week ago, no.”

“Why was he meeting with his partner?”

“Trying to recruit her, apparently.”