His brother Jared pounded down the stairs.
Jace stopped his pacing. “Any news?”
Jared had a fistful of papers in one hand and tablet in the other. He slowed his rush into the room and examined Jace for a moment. “Nothing about Piper. But I might have a trace on Agent Smith.”
Jaxson, who had been talking in the kitchen with Olivia, must’ve heard because the two of them quickly strolled into the room. “What do you have?” he asked.
“He’s definitely still in the Seattle Metro area,” said Jared. “I’ve got three separate pings on him: a convenience store, a McDonald’s, and an ATM. All on the south side of Seattle.”
“So he’s a resident,” Jace said. “Any way to nail down his identity? What about the ATM? Can we pull bank records and tie him to an account?”
Jared grimaced. “Yeah, but you’re not gonna believe this. It’s registered to a John Smith.”
Jace groaned. “So this is deep, deep cover for him.”
“And probably going on for some time,” Jaxson added.
“I’ll see if I can nail down some patterns of activity. Maybe, if we get lucky, we can intercept Agent Smith on the way to the dry cleaners.”
Jace snorted. “Somehow I don’t think our luck is that good.” He sighed.
Jaxson shrugged. “I still think we should go to the witches.”
Olivia nodded—she had been standing quietly behind him, listening to the conversation. “I’m sure my aunt Gwen and her coven could do a better job with a seeking spell than I did. But I would have to go down to the coven.”
“I don’t want to put Piper through that again.” Jace folded his arms across his chest. “What did you see during the spell that freaked her out so badly?”
Olivia pursed her lips, hesitated, then said, “It’s not my place to tell you, Jace. But I agree—it would not be good to put her through that again.”
A crunch of tires on the gravel road outside the safehouse drew everyone’s attention to the window. The sun was setting, and it was nearly dark as a small black sedan pulled up. Piper jumped out and hurried to the front door. Jace unlocked his arms and ran to open the door before she got there.
“Piper,” he said as she arrived. “Are you all right—”
He cut off as she rushed up to him—she seemed like she was going to throw her arms around him, but then pulled back at the last second.
Instead, she just gripped his arm. “Jace.” She was breathless. “This is bad. Really bad.”
Jace frowned. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. Together.” He tugged her inside and closed the door. Then he slipped his hand into hers—he was a little surprised she didn’t object, but she had a thoroughly freaked-out look on her face, and he didn’t like that one bit. He ushered her into the great room where his brothers and Olivia were watching them with quiet, intense expressions.
Jace gestured to them. “We’ve been working on another way to find Noah, as well as Agent Smith.” He pulled her closer with their clasped hands. “What did you find the Senator’s office?”
She scanned the faces in the room, hesitating—once again, she seemed to be calculating who she could trust and who she couldn’t.
She shook her head and blurted out, “Senator Krepky is planning on calling for registration for all shifters.”
“Registration?” Jaxson frowned. “You mean the kind where we have to come in and register openly as shifters?”
“But…” Olivia looked vaguely horrified. “There’s a reason why you guys keep it secret, right?”
“The reason being that most people fear and hate us? Yes.” Jared’s voice was cold and harsh. But it was the truth.
“But that would ruin Riverwise,” Olivia said, the horror becoming more plain. “And every other shifter business. How can he even propose doing that? What about civil rights? What about—”
“Krepky doesn’t give a shit about any of that.” Piper cut her off, but not in a mean way—more like she was just trying to get to the point. “It’s all about politics for him. He’s just playing off the fears of the people. I don’t even know if he would have the votes to put something like that through, or if it would sustain in the courts, but he’s going to do it. And when he does…” Her lovely face paled.
“And when he does, the pressure will be on,” Jace finished for her. “Shifters will be outed anyway. Friends, neighbors, anyone… a proposal like that would just fan their fears. It could endanger everything in the shifter community.” Shit. This was even worse than he thought. He turned back to Piper. “Did you find anything more about the military shifters who are missing?”