Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress 1)

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Jack interjected with a raised brow. “That another Arcadian is in the picture.”

I didn’t comment. My stomach was too busy churning with dread. Kyrin had known Harte, had dated her. Even Lilla had admitted to that. Having an entire A.I.R. squad know it, though, didn’t bode well for Kyrin.

“Mia,” Jack said. “Tell us what you learned from Lilla.”

I drew in a calming breath, then pushed the air from my lips. “She mostly glossed over things we already know. However, I did learn that there’s another Arcadian female involved. Her name’s Atlanna en Arr, and she was seeing one of the abducted men, SullivanBay. She’s also the leader of a band of Arcadian exiles.”

“Mandalay?” Jack said with a quick glance to our computer expert.

“Already on it, sir.” Mandalay’s fingertips flew over the keyboard in front of her. Curly locks of red hair fell around her temples and brushed her wrists. By appearance, she was a commanding woman, tall, big boned. By nature, she was not a fighter. She worked better with probabilities and possibilities. She paused, faced Jack. “There’s no Atlanna en Arr mentioned in our database.”

“What about this Kyrin guy?” I asked, trying to be subtle.

“He’s not listed either,” Jaxon said. “We already checked.”

“Did Lilla give any clue as to where this Atlanna is?” Jack asked me.

“No,” I answered honestly.

“Think you can find her?”

What I thought didn’t matter. I would find her. “Give me two days.”

“Done. Okay, let’s recap the rest of what Snow missed.” Jack shot me an irritated glance, and I hoped that would be my only chastisement for my tardiness. “Ghost and Kittie questioned Isabel and Sherry yesterday evening. Nothing was learned from Isabel, now deceased.”

I heard several men mutter, “Bitch.”

“From Sherry we learned a bit more,” Jack continued. “According to her, she’s known Hudson for three months. Apparently, Lilla paid her to have sex with him regularly, and the man never knew. Sherry said Lilla promised to pay her a huge bonus if she got pregnant. No luck, though.”

Very interesting. “Why did Lilla want Sherry to have Hudson’s baby?”

“Sherry didn’t know,” Kittie said. “Lilla introduced the two at Club Ecstasy.” He tapped his blue lighter against the table surface. “Hudson had no problem screwing the two women, but the moment Lilla started seeing Steele, the man flipped.”

“Possible motive for Steele’s death,” I said. “Hudson was jealous.”

“Possible, yes,” Ghost said. “But it doesn’t explain the other abductions.”

I said, “Anyone talked to Hudson? Maybe he can help us wade through the crap and find the diamonds.”

“He won’t help willingly, that’s for sure. But no, no one’s talked to him yet.” A frown marred Jack’s face as he twisted a pencil between his fingers. “He had his nose repaired this morning, and only returned to his cell a little while ago. Jaxon plans to question him after this meeting.”

I eyed my boss, gauging his reaction. “So Hudson doesn’t know about Isabel?”

“Oh, he knows,” Jack said. “The good doc let it slip before surgery. Hudson didn’t give a flying rat’s ass, though. Said his life would be calmer now that the girl was gone.”

My eyelids twitched at such blatant heartlessness. “I want to be there when Jaxon questions him.” Maybe I’d destroy a little of Hudson’s attitude while I was there.

Because he knew me so well, Jack shook his head. “I don’t want you in the room. You’re not his favorite person right now, and the sight of you may make him violent. Worse, he might refuse to talk. I’m not budging on this,” he added when I opened my mouth to argue. “I’d say the same thing to a man.”

I needed to be there for that interview. I needed to know what Hudson knew—and I didn’t want to wait for Jaxon’s formal report. “I’ll observe from a two-way,” I suggested.

Jack studied me for a long while. I fluttered my lashes, trying to appear innocent. A sigh slipped from him. “All right. You can go, but if I find out you stepped one foot”—he held up one finger—“one damn foot out of observation, I’ll kick your ass into next week. Understand?”

“Absolutely.”

Jack turned his attention to Jaxon. “What did you learn from Steele’s family?”

“When I reinterviewed her, the wife admitted that he was seeing another woman, but she doesn’t know who it was.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “She claimed they were happily married in her first interview. If she knew about his infidelity, why did she stay?”

“I asked the same question. Says she was pregnant when she found out and couldn’t stand the thought of raising her baby alone. Says she loved him.”

“Could have been lying,” Mandalay said.

“True,” Jaxon acknowledged.

“Does she have an alibi?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. Since Steele’s disappearance, she’s been staying with her mother. Already verified. I learned something else, though. Steele had dinner with an Arcadian male the night before he was kidnapped. Kyrin,” he said, checking his notes. “The same Kyrin who dated Rianne Harte, is my bet.”

My stomach rolled. This was what Lilla had warned me about. This was what she feared would implicate him. And by God, it did.

“We need to find this man,” Jack said. “I want him questioned ASAP.”

I couldn’t allow other agents to search for him, not with Kyrin’s warning ringing in my head. If anyone other than me searched for him, he’d slip into hiding so fast he’d have wind-burn.

“What do you have for us?” I asked Jaffe, hoping to change the subject.

“Well,” Jaffe said, speaking for the first time since I’d entered the room. He was a small, nervous man, with thinning ash blond hair and wide-spaced hazel eyes. Those eyes always darted left and right, as if trying to judge his escape route. He was damn good with numbers and patterns. “There’s no obvious MO for the killer. There were two weeks between the first two abductions, but the third was taken only three days later. And eight days passed between the third and fourth.”

“Keep searching,” Jack commanded. “You’re missing something. Even chaos can form a pattern.” He turned his attention to Mandalay. “What about the victim’s body?”