Shards of Hope (Psy-Changeling 14)

“I think,” Judd said slowly, “you should seed sensors even deeper out.”

Lucas crouched at the edge of the plascrete, looking at the water that kept its secrets. “Yes. These allies are a little too quiet to trust just yet.”

•   •   •

ZAIRA looked around Jim Savua’s small apartment. It was anonymous, the furniture the kind of hard-wearing and inexpensive pieces a landlord might use to furnish a place. Zaira was no expert, but she’d learned how to judge such things as part of her Arrow training. A person’s surroundings could tell you a great deal about that individual.

What this apartment told her was that the man hadn’t lived here long. When he had, it had been a place to sleep, nothing else. His clothes still lay in his suitcase and his cooler held no food, though there were a couple of take-out containers in the trash. Also in the trash were multiple disposable injectors.

Like long-use injectors, these could be placed against the skin or pulse point, depending on the drug involved, and the drug punched painlessly into the bloodstream. The only difference was that they were much cheaper and sold by the box. While disposable injectors did have legitimate medical uses, they were also popular with recreational drug users.

“Did his body show signs of long-term drug abuse?” she asked Blake Stratton, who’d been on watch with his partner at the time of the incident. She hadn’t been pleased to discover his presence. Nerida had made a last-minute substitution when the squadmate Zaira had cleared for the op broke a femur quite badly. The other woman should’ve contacted her, but hadn’t—a mistake Zaira would make sure Nerida knew not to make again.

She didn’t trust Blake, did not want him in her city.

When he came to stand beside her, the tiny hairs on her neck and arms rose in primal warning. “It was difficult to tell with the damage caused by the cobblestones, as well as the blood,” he said. “But I did notice he had scars from what appeared to be healed scratch marks, and his skin was yellowish, in the way that occurs with users of Halcyon.”

Halcyon was the street name for a highly addictive substance that worked on all three races, though on Psy, it had a tendency to lead very quickly to psychosis. It did also cause some users to scratch their skin bloody. Breaking away to make a call to the pathologist, she asked him to do a complete drug profile.

“Thank you,” she said to Blake afterward. “Your shift is complete. Return to Central Command and check in.”

The other Arrow left without comment, but she didn’t turn her back until he was gone. About to return to her survey of the apartment, she glimpsed Yuri coming toward her. He was one of the people she’d chosen, a forty-seven-year-old Arrow who’d been with her in Venice since the start. Pragmatic and reliable, he wasn’t flashy in his abilities or even in the way he carried himself, but she knew if she asked Yuri to do something, it would get done and get done well.

Zaira, we may have a problem.

Chapter 47

SINCE, OTHER THAN Yuri, the room held only her and two trusted forensic people, the fact that he’d used telepathy was a sign of something serious. What is it?

I was on watch with Blake when this happened. I was on the street side, Blake on the other side so we could cover all exits.

Zaira didn’t need him to spell it out. Do you think he pushed the dead male?

I don’t know. Yuri put his hands behind his back. I know we considered that the victim might’ve been thrown dead over the balcony, but from my perspective, it appeared as if he jumped. However, he could’ve been trying to get away from a threat inside the room.

Alert to the fact that her strong dislike of Blake could color her viewpoint, she said, See if you can find any surveillance images from street cameras.

I’ll do it now. A pause. I apologize. I should’ve kept him in my sights.

Zaira’s eyes met Yuri’s and she saw in them the same deep unease she felt when it came to Blake. If it was him, we’ll make sure he doesn’t have a chance to do it again.

A nod of agreement.

As the older Arrow walked away, Zaira considered whether to pass on Yuri’s suspicions to Aden and decided he had to know. If the squad had a traitor in their midst, he had to be rooted out.

She called in a quick report once she was out on the street alone. “We need to watch him.”

“I’ll make sure of it. He’s down to run combat sessions over the next three days, so he’ll be under the eye of a number of senior people.”

Zaira wanted to smash Blake’s mind open, uncover the truth, but she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. “He’s too well trained to break under interrogation, but he is arrogant enough to lead us to his handlers if he’s somehow part of a larger conspiracy.” They both knew that even if he had caused Jim to die, Blake might simply have been acting on his own distasteful urges.

“Yes. What about the woman?”

“Safe and alive, though she is acting erratically.” Zaira was aware that if they showed their hand, they’d lose all hope of tracking the woman back to a handler, but they also wouldn’t have anything if she was dead. “I say we bring her in.”

“Do it,” Aden said. “Judd’s also just passed on the information that Olivia Coletti has a child aged two. Look for any signs of her.”

That data immediately affirmed Zaira’s decision to act. She did not want a vulnerable child in the hands of a Halcyon user. Giving the order to the team watching Olivia, she walked back to the compound through the early morning streets. It was only four thirty; even the bakers didn’t appear to be up yet.