“I hate to disagree,” Clay said, his familiar voice a comfort over the phone. “This is bigger than Aedan.”
“Black Hat involvement makes everything more complicated.”
“No truer words,” he agreed. “We’re earning a reputation for putting down rogue agents, which doesn’t help. Even the good ones will avoid us to prevent suspicion being cast their way. Chatting with us will be tantamount to tattooing rat on their foreheads. They’ll be seen as guilty by association.”
Agents would stop trusting agents, partners would stop trusting partners. Teams would fracture.
Convince everyone that everyone else is out to get them, and you can get away with almost anything.
Psychological warfare was a classic tactic for a reason.
“On one hand, we’ve got Agent Barker.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “On the other, we’ve got Delma.”
“And on the other, we’ve got a shit-ton of aquatic fae popping up all over the central part of the state.”
“I don’t have that many hands, and I was unaware you did, but yes. Some, if not all, of that must be connected.”
“I’m not sure how yet, Dollface.” He exhaled. “The sister found Aedan through a friend, right?”
“That’s the working theory. I watched the feed during the time they were scheduled to meet.” I blew out a breath. “The friend showed up with a truck. Aedan crossed the wards with the cage full of pups, greeted him with a handshake, and the friend took the opportunity to clock him while his hands were full. Aedan went down, the cage hit him in the jaw, and his friend started beating the stuffing out of him. Colby couldn’t stomach the fight, so she left the house to let Aedan back inside the wards.” I gave him a moment for that to sink in. “The friend saw Colby, Aedan killed him, and then he buried the scum in my yard.”
“I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.”
“Yeah, well, some things never change.” I sighed. “Anyway, the friend must have held out on Delma. She wasn’t waiting for me at the house, so he might not have given her my address, but it’s not like I’m hard to find. No one in town would give a stranger directions to my house, but she could find me if she looked hard enough.” I switched focus. “How are things on your end?”
“The kelpie was shot, and its body disposed of.” He sounded sad about that. “Beautiful creature.”
“Shame it eats people.”
“It’s not like it chose to come here,” he chided me. “They’re practically an endangered species.”
“What about the others?” I turned that over in my head. “Are they endangered too?”
“I’m not sure.” He made a thoughtful noise. “That reminds me. It had a tag in its ear.”
“Like a research tag?” A flash of memory hit me. “I think the dobhar-chú had one too.”
“I’ll touch base with the Kellies, tell them to dig deeper into the tags.”
“The dobhar-chú tag is ash. Can you send me a picture of the kelpie’s?”
“Sure.” He tapped a few keys in the background. “Email sent.”
“Thanks.” I opened the file on my phone. “Talk soon.”
We ended the call, and I went in search of my in-house Kelly.
“I have a research project for you,” I called to Colby. “You game?”
Slowly, she peered around the side of her chair. “Sure.”
“I told you I’m not mad.” I joined her at her rig. “You broke the rules, but it was for a good cause.”
And, white witch I might be, but I could still appreciate having one less enemy with my home address.
“Okay.” She kept an eye on me. “What’s the project?”
“Compile a list of endangered aquatic fae and where you can find them. Nesting sites, hunting grounds.”