She was pretty confident that Neena wouldn’t divulge Sabrina’s own future, but there was something she wanted to know, something that would affect the whole world. “Okay, so tell me what’s going to happen to Feiru and human relations in the future?”
Neena’s face grew serious. “A lot of people will die, but eventually the Feiru will live side-by-side with the humans and the way we both live will change forever.”
She studied Neena’s features and body language, but if she were lying, she was damn good. Besides, Sabrina’s gut told her Neena believed her words to be true. She didn’t look forward to the “a lot of people will die” part of the prediction, but she only hoped the integration of the races would lead to a better tomorrow worth the sacrifice.
“Fine. I’ll talk with Jorge about going after Watkins tonight. For now, I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Neena smiled. “I have an ever-growing list of things to do, so I think I will leave. But I’ll see you again soon.”
Jorge moved on the ground and Sabrina looked at him a second before she glanced back to where Neena had been standing. The woman was gone.
She brushed off her irritation. The woman was annoying, but if she were right, tonight would be big. If Jorge could confirm that his powers were recharged and ready to use, she would finally finish this assignment. That thought sent a thrill through her—one mixed with relief and a little bit of fear. Now that her identity had been compromised, either she would spend the rest of her life at a desk job in some secret location, or the Feiru Liaison office would “relocate” her to who the hell knew where.
But at the moment, none of that mattered. She moved to Jorge’s location on the floor and sat beside him. He was restless and moving about as if he were having an active dream. She put a hand on his forehead and he calmed.
She stroked his hair and hoped he woke up soon. She wanted to finish this business with Watkins so she could talk to him about her revelation. She had no idea what he would think of her being human.
Part of her hoped he would accept her, but another part of her was afraid that this would be one lie too many and he’d never learn to trust her ever again.
Chapter Ten
Harry Watkins watched the woman with dark skin and short, curly black hair sitting in the chair in front of him. She was silent with her eyes closed, gripping the pillowcase his people had retrieved from Ono’s apartment. It wasn’t in his nature to be patient, but this woman was extremely valuable to the Collector. If he harmed her in any way, Watkins wouldn’t live to see tomorrow.
There were few people who could threaten him and mean it. The Collector was one of them.
So he waited with his arms crossed over his chest. The woman in the chair was a Locator. All she needed was something that had been worn or touched by a person in the last twenty-four hours, and she could pinpoint their approximate location down to twenty or thirty feet. It wasn’t an exact science, but Watkins would use whatever he could to find the traitor.
Earlier, his men had succeeded in breaking the waitress, and she’d told them as much as she knew about Sabrina Ono. The only important facts had been that Ono worked for the Feiru Liaison office, she’d had a meeting with her office’s boss this morning, and she was human.
His borrowed latent soldiers had fucked up this morning, which had led to him using the Locator’s abilities. Watkins needed to find Ono. She was the only real threat capable of ruining his plan against his rival, which he needed to succeed to please the Collector. Since Ono was determined to thwart his plans, he needed to find her before she could finish the job. The tricky part was the Shadow-Shifter, Jorge Salazar, seemed to be working with her. Feiru with latent abilities were always harder to catch, but since Salazar had used his shadow-shifting abilities to escape earlier today, he’d be easy to capture until tomorrow, when the man could shift again.
The woman in the chair gasped and opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and then looked Watkins in the eye. “I think I’ve pinpointed her location.”
“Where?”
“Not far from the zoo. I can see the row of small rectangular houses, but I won’t be able to pinpoint exactly which one until I see it.”
He nodded. “Right. Take my team of men and women, as well as the Siren. Use her if you need to, but just bring me Sabrina Ono. Salazar is secondary, but both I and the Collector would reward you if you could bring him in as well.”
The woman’s face was blank as she nodded, which was the normal expression for any of the Collector’s long-term soldiers. Watkins signaled to his men in the room to assist the Locator out. Once she was gone, he brought up the video conference program on his computer and waited for the Collector to answer. As always, her face was shielded from view, but her voice was clear when she asked, “Did you find the woman?”
“Yes. Your Locator is on her trail, and no doubt Salazar is with her. Did you need both of them alive?”
“For now. The Shadow-Shifter has his uses, but it’s the woman I want. Rumors have been floating around the Feiru Liaison offices about a tip from James Sinclair, and this woman might give me the edge I need to keep Sinclair otherwise occupied.”
Watkins didn’t know—nor care—about the Collector’s other plans, but in the interest of keeping civil, he nodded. “I’ll pass on the message. I wanted to ask for some reinforcements so I can focus on the bombing whilst your people take care of Ono and Salazar.”
“They’re already on their way. Contact me when everything is complete.”
The screen went blank and Watkins picked up his ce
ll phone to call his bomb makers. He just might be able to pull this all off before breakfast tomorrow.
Jorge waited behind the large wooden desk in his shadow form. Any minute now, his target would enter and he’d have only seconds to engulf the man, knock him unconscious, and absorb him into his mist.
The target was a local police detective sympathetic to the Feiru, a man named Julio Reyes. Jorge wasn’t supposed to know why Reyes was the target, but while sniffing around and determining the best way to kidnap the man, he’d learned of Reyes’s current investigation into some Feiru-related crimes.
He didn’t know all the particulars, but some of the crimes were by prominent gangs in the area, gangs that had been previous targets of the Collector. Jorge’s best guess was that the Collector didn’t want any of the human authorities putting their noses into her business.