Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 17)

Chapter 38

GREGORY MINNS'S PROFESSION was listed as bouncer, but Victor had just flat-out told us that he was an enforcer for their clan and, by hint, maybe some not-so-legal activities for Victor's dad. Most of the wererats that guarded Jean-Claude's businesses had police records, or just hadn't been caught, so I really couldn't bitch. Lately, when I didn't have room to bitch, I didn't. Maturity, at last.

We had the guy on the metal shield with its little window leading the way. We even had one guy with the little battering ram, and the rest of the team in full gear, weapons at the ready. Each of us-Edward, Olaf, Bernardo, and I-were assigned to one of the team members. We would follow their lead and go where they went. The suburbs are not great for finding spots to put a sniper, but we had them in place, some in evacuated houses near Minns's house. He had to know we were out here, but with this many people and this much procedure, it was the best we could do. Good thing about this many people, though, was we had eyes on the back of the house the whole time, and he didn't run. They'd seen him in there, and no one had seen him leave, so he was still in there. Getting everyone in place took more time. That was the thing we had the least of, and I was having trouble staying calm about it. I wasn't bitching, but I wanted to start pacing and knew I couldn't. It was one of those moments when smoking seemed like an interesting idea, or just anything to do while we waited to do this. I watched the sun get lower in the sky and had to fight my pulse from speeding up. I did not want to tackle Vittorio and his people in full darkness. I admitted to myself, if to no one else, that the feeling in the pit of my stomach was fear. One serial killer sends me a human head in a box, and I get all spooked; go figure.

I tried one more time to explain how precious our time was, as we waited for yet another team member to get into some distant place. I was actually assigned to Hooper, which meant that I'd be in the front of the line. I don't know how they decided who went where.

"Hooper, they killed your men in daylight; once darkness falls, the vampires will be able to help them, and it will be worse, much worse."

"How much worse?" he asked.

"If we keep dicking around, we're going to find out."

"I can't go against orders, Blake."

I nodded. "I know it's not your fault, but it will be you and your men who are going to be at risk."

"My men and yours," he said.

I nodded. "I'm not sure they're exactly my men, but yeah. Your men and us."

"I'd heard that the preternatural marshals didn't have a strict command structure."

I laughed. "That's one way of putting it."

That earned me a smile. "Then how do you decide who does what?"

"Ted has the most experience, and I let him take the lead a lot. Sometimes he gives it to me. I've worked with Otto and Bernardo before, so we sort of know what our strengths and weaknesses are." I shrugged. "Mostly, we work by ourselves, and we end up being shoved into the command structure of whatever police force we're working with, but mostly it's just us, alone."

"Like the Lone Ranger," he said, and he held up his hand. "I remember what you told Spider, that the Lone Ranger was a Texas Ranger."

I smiled. "Yeah, but the whole lone-gunman mentality is pretty high in the preternatural branch. We worked alone for so many years that we just don't play well with others."

A boy who looked too young to be doing this, even to me, with huge blue eyes and his hair hidden completely under his helmet, as if he'd hoped a shorter haircut would make him look legal, said, "Rumor says you play real well with others."

"Georgie," Hooper said.

He looked embarrassed.

I said, "It's not just Shaw's personal issues, is it?"

Hooper managed to shrug under all the equipment. Maybe it was the tension of waiting, knowing that once this tension was over there was a whole new set of it coming down the road. "And what did you hear, exactly, Georgie?" I asked.

He looked uncomfortable then; apparently, it was one thing to hint, but another to tell me to my face in detail.

"Come on, Georgie Porgie, you have something to say to me, then say it. If you don't have anything to say to me, then shut the fuck up."

The other men were listening, watching us, waiting to see what happened. Cannibal was with the perimeter team, so he wasn't here to defend my honor, and apparently Hooper would only defend me against outsiders. Edward was quiet nearby, letting me fight my own battles. He knew I was a big girl.

Georgie's face hardened, and I realized he was going to tell me. I probably shouldn't have made fun of his name. Oh well. "I heard you're shacking up with your Master of the City."

"And," I said.

His angry face tried to frown and still be angry. "And what?" he asked.

"Exactly," I said.

It was Bernardo who said, "She means, Georgie, that, yeah, she's shacking up with her Master of the City, so what?"

"I heard she was doing you, too," he said.

Bernardo laughed. "Man, I've been trying to get into her pants since the first time I worked with her."

All I could do was shake my head. Olaf was scowling at him. Edward was trying for a neutral face and making it. Bernardo had the attention of all the guys, though.

It was Sanchez who said, "And?"

"Ask her, she's right there," Bernardo said.

They all looked at me. I smiled, not exactly amused. "No."

"No," Bernardo said, in a dramatic voice. "She said no, and she's been saying no. I've tried for over two years, and it's been no." He did a voila gesture, as if to say, Look at all of this. "Guys, if I can't get a piece of the action, how many of the bastards that said they hit the mark do you really think hit it?"

"I'm not an it," I said.

Bernardo gestured at me. "See, Anita is not easy, not in any sense of the word."

That made them laugh. In that moment, Bernardo came closer to getting a kiss from me than he ever had before. But, weirdly, for his defense of my honor to work, I couldn't even say thank you. I just had to shake my head in disgust and call him a horndog.

The radios crackled to life, and Hooper said, "We're up." Everyone gathered the equipment they'd put down and settled it in place. Hooper looked at me. "Anita, you're with me." You could taste the tension level rise hotter than the heat.

Sanchez said, "Try not to shoot any of us by accident, Anita." He said my first name with only the syllables it's supposed to have.

"If I shoot you, Sanchez, it won't be by accident."

The other men made noises of either encouragement or disparagement. Then the second order came down, and there was no more time for teasing. I'd been told how Hooper wanted me to enter behind him, because I was the only one of the four marshals who didn't have official tactical training. I did what I was told. I put my left hand on the back of Hooper's vest so that as he moved, I'd move. I kept my other hand on the MP5 on its tactical sling so that it wouldn't accidentally point at anyone, and away we went.