I perched on the edge of the sofa, feeling more than a little out of place in all this richness. Which, given I’d had mates who were far wealthier than Dia, was weird. They’d never made me feel inadequate in any way when it came to money—or the lack of it—so why did this woman? Or did it have nothing to do wealth, and everything to do with the overwhelming sense of power I was getting from her?
But if she was so powerful, why was she doing Starr’s bidding? It made no sense.
“I take it you are here about the job offer?”
I nodded. “The hotel I stayed in last night solidified the need for quick cash.”
“And you wish to remain under the radar at the moment, thanks to the arrest warrant that’s outstanding in Sydney?”
I gave her my best “outraged” look. Which, considering she was blind, was pretty dumb. But then, this woman was psychic, so who knew what other senses she relied on to help her “see”? “Is this what the invite was about? Hand me in and earn a quick couple of grand?”
Her smile was wry. “Look around you. I hardly think a mere couple of thousand is worth the effort of luring you here.”
“Maybe that’s how you got all this richness—trapping not only the suckers, but runaways.”
“I always run background checks on people I’m about to employ. It’s standard procedure.”
“And having a warrant out on me makes me undesirable?” I snorted and thrust to my feet. “Your loss, lady.”
I swung my pack over my shoulder and headed for the door—hoping all the while I wasn’t about to blow it. But Poppy was the indignant type who fired at the drop of a hat, so anything else might have been seen as odd behavior.
“It wasn’t the warrant that caused the problem,” she said.
I stopped and looked around. She wasn’t even looking at me, but staring instead somewhere to my left. It was almost as if she wasn’t sure of my exact whereabouts, and again, that ran against everything I’d seen last night.
“Then what is the problem?”
“The fact that Poppy Burns doesn’t actually exist.”
Fuck. So much for Jack’s clever paperwork. “I don’t? Well, gee, thanks for the tip.”
I forced my feet on. She hadn’t locked the front door when I entered, so at least I could get out of the house. And it didn’t matter if the gates were locked, because the fence was within a wolf’s jumping range.
“I have a deal to offer you and the Directorate, Riley,” she said softly.
“Stop,” Jack said into my ear.
I mentally cursed him, but turned around and crossed my arms. Tension coiled through every muscle as I readied for action, readied to fight. Fight who, I had no idea, because Dia herself was offering no threat. No physical threat, anyway. “Why do you think I’m this Riley?”
“I touched your hand last night. It told me many secrets.” She smiled. “You can drop the pretense. I know the truth.”
How, when she hadn’t actually read my mind? Did that mean her gift was some form of precognition that came online whenever she touched someone? “So why not mention something, then?”
“Because I had to make sure I was right, that I didn’t have the wrong name.”
Meaning not all her predictions came true? That admission had to be first in the world of psychics. “And this is important because?”
“Because Riley Jenson is the only person known to have either escaped or frustrated Deshon Starr’s plans.”
Her words did little to ease the tension running through my limbs, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I could sense or smell no one else in the house, I might have run. Yes, I wanted an end to the madness, but that wasn’t going to happen when I was standing here, far away from Starr.
“Ask her what she wants,” Jack said.
If he’d been standing next to me rather than jabbering in my ear, I would have been tempted to kick him, boss or not. There were more important worries—like how much she might have told Starr, and whether or not Rhoan was in danger of discovery.
“And what have you done with this knowledge?”
“Not gone to my would-be master, you can be sure of that.” Her voice was dry, but there was something in the way her blind eyes flashed that had me believing her.
Which might just mean I was nothing more than a fool, and easily taken in by a bit of sincerity combined with contempt and anger.
“And why wouldn’t you do that? He killed Misha for attempting to double-cross him. He’d do the same to you without a second thought.”
“I know. But things cannot remain the way they are.”
“What things?”
She gave me a cool smile. “Before we go into details, I need to know if the Directorate would be willing to deal.”
“Yes,” Jack and I said together. He added in my ear, “Depending, of course, on what she wants.”
She raised a pale eyebrow. “You don’t need to speak to your boss first?”
“I don’t have to. I can hear him in my head.” I was tempted to add, “and no, I’m not mad,” but restrained the impulse. A, because she’d “seen” me in action last night, and B, because I actually think insanity had a lot to do with my current situation. After all, no one sane would willingly step into hell’s den with the intent of fucking his lieutenants for information, no matter how pissed off and in need of revenge they were.
“Telepathy.” She nodded. “A handy tool for those in your line of work, though I’m surprised they haven’t taught you more control.”
“We would have if we’d known it was needed.” Jack’s voice was sarcastic. “But someone forgot to mention an apparent increase in power since our last lesson.”I ignored him. Anything I said was only going to count against me, anyway. “What sort of deal would you like to broker?”
She smiled and waved a hand to the sofa. “Please, come and sit down.”
“I’m fine, thanks.” Flight-or-fight mode was far easier standing up.
She raised her eyebrows again. “I sense distrust.”
“That’s because there is.”
“Honest. I like that.”
“And I’d like for you to quit fucking around and just get to the point.”
She crossed one elegant leg over the other, and clasped her hands around her knees. “Okay. I want immunity from everything I have done on behalf of Starr.”
“That depends greatly on what she wants to give us in return,” Jack said.
“And?” I asked, sensing there was more to Dia’s list of demands.
“He cannot know that I am helping you. Which means I will never testify against him.”
She was more than a little naive if she thought Starr was ever going to reach the courts. The Directorate had the power to be judge, jury, and executioner, and it was a power they regularly abused. In my time with them, I’d seen a total of five cases make it to the human justice system—and only because those behind the deeds were partially human. Those with an ounce of human blood could claim the full protection of the courts and the law. Nonhumans had no such rights. Which pretty much smacked of a legal form of racism, I’d always thought.
“Those terms I can live with,” Jack said.
“Anything else?” I asked.
She paused. “I wish to continue living here. I want this house exempt when the Government sells off Starr’s assets.”
“No guarantee on that one,” Jack said.
I repeated his statement, and she nodded. “I guess I can deal with that if it happens.”
“And what do we get in return?”
She smiled, and waved at the sofa again. “Please. It is uncomfortable talking like this.”
Why? Because her senses couldn’t pinpoint me accurately from such a distance? I suspected that might be the case, which meant I was better off staying where I was.
“Go sit,” Jack said, as if he was reading my mind. Which he wasn’t, because I’d have at least felt it. Whether I could have actually stopped it was another matter entirely. Jack was not someone I ever wanted to test myself against for real. Though until yesterday, I’d never have thought I’d have the power to blow through Quinn’s shields, either—even with the advantage of surprise.
I blew out a breath that did nothing to release the tension still riding my limbs, but did as I was told and walked across to the sofa.
“I gather from the profile set up for you that the Directorate knows about my recruitment drives for Starr?”
“Yes.” I took off the backpack, and once again perched on the edge of the sofa.
“How?”
“Don’t tell her about Gautier,” Jack said. “Just in case.”
Just in case? Just in case of what? Things go ass up? God, wasn’t that a confidence builder! Not that I was expecting it all to go to plan—I mean, nothing else had over the last four months, so why would things change now?
I shrugged. “They didn’t actually tell me. I just know you managed to catch their attention.”
She nodded. Whether that meant she believed me or not was anyone’s guess. “And they planned to get you into the mansion via this method?”
“Obviously.”
“Then what?”
I studied her for a moment, still wary about providing information to someone who had yet to prove her worth. Or reliability. “You realize that if you double-cross the Directorate, they’ll kill you as quickly and as surely as Starr.”