He pocketed the piece of paper. "You're lying. He hasn't been at that location for a week." Lars knew that for certain. He and the guys had busted into the room he'd used four days ago. It was the closest they'd gotten to him thus far.
She looked down at the floor as if she were trying to figure something out. "I guess it was a week ago." Her eyes glanced over at one of the mirrors hanging on the tattoo shop's wall that was framed by pictures of people's tattoos. She raised her hand up and tried to smooth down her disheveled hair some. She certainly looked like she could've been roaming around for a week and he started having doubts again.
"What were you doing if you left him a week ago?" he asked. He looked at her as his mind bounced between the possibilities, not feeling comfortable with either verdict.
"I was traveling through the woods to avoid being seen and then I got sick."
"You weren't sick. You're dead. You can't get sick now, only hurt. When he recruited you, didn't he bother explaining any of this?" he asked, the contempt leaking out in his voice. Not only was he getting Malokin's mess but now he had to school her, too?
She stopped fidgeting and straightened. "He might have if I'd stayed longer. And I assure you, I was sick."
Looked like she had a temper lurking under the nervous act.
"You weren't sick," he repeated sternly. "You were transitioning." And if she was telling the truth, sick was an understatement. He'd seen humans transition. The process looked closer to torture than a case of the flu. It wasn't pretty, and to have to do it by yourself, all alone out in the elements? He thought back to the wet weather they'd been having but then shook off the feelings of pity. It was probably a bullshit story anyway. Although her appearance made a little more sense if she'd gone through it by herself out there.
"Transitioning?" she asked.
"From mortal to what you are now, one of us."
"One of you?" she asked.
She looked like she really had no clue. "Don't change the subject. If he recruited you, why'd you leave?"
"I couldn't stay there with him. He was doing … " She started shaking her head as if she wanted to mentally rid herself of whatever she'd seen.
"What? He was doing what?"
"He had people, and he was doing horrible things to them. There was nothing I could do for them."
Her face told him everything he needed. Torture. Nothing surprising there. He'd get more information on that later but let it drop for now. She was a scattered mess as it was. He could get the details after he got the more important information. "How did you get away?"
She looked surprised at the question. "I just left. I guess he figured I wouldn't."
He leaned a hand on the counter beside him. "So, you're telling me you just walked out?"
"Yes."
He turned and took a couple of steps away from her as he digested the whole story. It was so unbelievable that it almost became plausible again. If Malokin had coached her, given her a story to tell him, this one was idiotic or brilliant, because he had no idea what to think anymore.
But he knew she was scared. He could smell it on her, hear it in the fluttering of her rapid heartbeat. At least that part was something he could be confident of. You can't fake scared. Pheromones didn't lie. Still, the idea of Malokin going to the bother of recruiting someone and then simply letting them have enough freedom to get up and walk out that easily made his suspicions rise up and stay there.
"Go over there and sit." He pointed to the free chair he used when he tattooed. She hesitated. He had to give it to her; she had some guts.
He barked out, "Sit," again, but with a bit more force, and it got her moving. He was scaring her more but a certain amount of fear would be beneficial to his cause now that he had some answers. He'd get cooperation easier.
She sat in the chair he'd told her to but was pretty sure it was because he'd shocked her into action. He barked out, "Don't move," in a deeper tone. The last thing he felt like doing today was chasing her through the parking lot.
He dug out his cell phone from his pocket as he kept an eye on her. He walked to the farthest part of the room he could and still keep her in his line of vision. He dialed Fate, the reason he was knee deep involved in any of this shit to begin with.
"Here," Fate said as he answered the phone.
"I got an unexpected visitor you will be interested in meeting," Lars said and then continued on to tell him everything he'd found out so far. "I need you and the guys to get over here and figure out what to do with her, because this is not going to be my problem. I want this mess out of my shop by tonight."
Chapter Three
Faith was still sitting in the chair he'd pointed to an hour ago, her heels perched on the edge of the seat and her knees up against her chest, arms wrapped tight around them. She looked scared.
Only someone with a death wish wouldn't be nervous in this situation. He knew what they were capable of, while she could only guess. Worse, they were all standing across the room, eyeing her up as if she were the main attraction in a circus sideshow, and she looked like she was expecting the knife throw to start soon.
They might look like trouble but these four guys were solid. He'd been through thick and thin with them. Most of them had defected out of the agency that ran the Universe within a short time of each other. Fate was the only one still working for the agency, doing exactly what his name implied, helping to shift people's fates. He was going along with the program but it was more of a ploy to keep an ear out and use any available inside information to find Malokin.
Recently it had been a rougher ride for the guys than it had been in a long time, and it didn't look likely to smooth out anytime soon. They'd all known something wasn't right with the Universe for a while, kind of the way you could sniff gas in the air before an explosion. But things were starting to get crazy out there. Violent crime rates were exploding. Stores were shutting their doors and boarding up their windows.
If it were up to Lars, he'd lie low and let things work out however they wanted. It was hard enough to keep their own shit together lately. But his friend Fate had an obsession with finding Malokin, the possible catalyst to it all. Fate didn't want to ride it out; he wanted to fix things. Lars was pulled in by association and loyalty.
Lars looked at Fate. "I know you've got this obsession with Malokin. That you think if we can get to him, the rest of this mess will calm down. I told you, we should just let the chips fall how they will and stay out of this mess. You know I've got your back but now this shit is leaking into my shop." Lars felt his irritation growing with each sentence.
"I know. What are you going to do with her? You can't let her loose," Fate said, looking at Lars like she was his problem.
Lars loved the guy like a brother but Fate was arrogant as all hell. "You mean what are you going to do with her." Lars shook his head. "This isn't my problem. You're the one that got us involved with this Malokin crap. You're going to deal with her." He tilted his head toward Faith.
Fate threw his hands into the air as he said, "Not unless you want her dead."
"You sick fuck, you'd just kill her?" Lars saw Faith's face go white even under all that dirt and realized he'd either spoken too loudly or her hearing had already started increasing with the change. He felt a moment of regret before he reminded himself she was a Malokin recruit. She couldn't be as innocent as she appeared and was probably going to try and kill one of them in their sleep tonight with a knife clenched in a tiny little hand.
"I wouldn't," Fate explained. "But Karma might. She's been trying to take out a lot of Malokin's recruits. It's sort of her twisted version of a bucket list. I'm not sure if this would meet her requirements but should we really put them under the same roof? I've tried to get blood out of grout before. It ain't pretty. Why do you think I got my floors all redone? That shit stains." Fate tucked his hands in his pockets and his nonchalance was a little alarming.
Karma, Fate's girlfriend-according to everyone but Fate and Karma-had been forced to work for Malokin not long ago and had been tasked with keeping certain people from dying. Lars thought about how aggravating it was that she'd decided to take it upon herself to start chipping away at Malokin's recruits now, just as he needed to dump one of them.