When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,25
not for you, and I’m pretty sure Kovit’s the only thing besides yourself you care about.”
“Oh.” She looked away. “Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “Can you get rid of his information? Prevent him from going on the list? I know you have a lot of contacts in INHUP, especially in the Dangerous Unnaturals List section.”
He was already shaking his head. “It’s not possible.”
“I can pay.” Nita’s voice was tight. “I’ll have all of Tácunan Law’s information at my disposal soon.”
“It’s not about paying. It’s just something I can’t do.” Adair gave her a bitter smile. “If I had that kind of power, my life would be a lot easier. But even I have my limits.”
“Ah.” It had been worth a try.
He sighed and rose. Diana, who’d been standing off to the side, rushed to help him up. “I am willing to make you another offer, if you actually manage to steal Tácunan Law’s information.”
She blinked. “What offer?”
“You’re still looking for your father’s killer, right?” Adair stumbled over to the counter with some effort. Diana reached out to help him, but he brushed her hand aside. He came back to the table with a printout of a picture.
The picture had Zebra-stripes in it.
Nita’s eyes widened. “This is . . .”
“Is that him? The vampire you’re looking for?”
“Yes.” The picture had been blurred—it was a group shot, but all the other faces in it were blacked out. All the people were wearing semiprofessional clothes, but the style made her think older. She didn’t know her fashion styles well, but shoulder pads were the . . . seventies? Eighties?
Zebra-stripes was smiling in the photo, a normal, almost human smile, his white-and-brown-striped hair parted to one side as he draped his arm over the shoulder of one of the blacked-out people.
Adair smiled slightly. “So that is him? Interesting.”
“Who are the other people?” Nita asked.
Adair just continued smiling.
She sighed. “What’s the price?”
“This one has . . . a lot of interesting information. The price will be high. You won’t be able to pay it without getting something from Tácunan Law.”
“I see.” Nita considered the picture a moment before she met Adair’s eyes. “Well, I know how much everyone will want that information. And if—when—I succeed, I’ll have a lot of it. So since we’re talking business, I’d like to hire you for something else too.”
Adair raised his eyebrows. “Confident in your success, aren’t you?”
Nita shrugged. “People who don’t believe in their own plans never succeed.”
“Indeed.” He tapped a claw on the table. “What do you want, then?”
“I want you to find someone reliable to alter the video of me healing online to make it look like it’s a fake. Or even someone respected in the black market circles to point out things in the video that make it look like a fake.”
“You want to discredit the video?” he mused, and nodded slowly. “I know someone. The video is already up, altering it now would look suspicious. But he’s considered an expert in the field. If he said it was fake and pointed out why, his word would carry weight.”
“And you can make him say it’s fake.”
“For a price.”
“I figured.” Nita smiled softly and rose. “Well, think about what you want from Alberto Tácunan’s databases. I’ll be in contact.”
Nita turned to go, and Adair called, “Oh, Nita.”
She turned back. “Yes?”
“Our other deal still stands.”
Nita blinked. “Other deal?”
“Our information exchange. If you find out why Fabricio, the doted-upon heir to Alberto Tácunan and his fortune, is so desperate to go into hiding, desperate enough to sell the person who saved him on the black market”—Adair cocked his head—“if you find me those answers, I’ll tell you how the Dangerous Unnaturals List was created. How a list that is so blatantly about killing and selling certain valuable unnaturals for profit got legalized.”
Nita tilted her head. “Will that information help me now?”
He considered. “It might. I don’t know. But even if it doesn’t, you want to know, don’t you?”
She did. The idea of secrets fascinated her, and the information was one more piece of a giant puzzle that she was trying to piece together. She felt like she was starting to dissect a body, and Adair was offering her a bone saw. If only she let him use her scalpel in return.
“Fabricio’s been reticent,” Nita admitted. “But if I find anything out, I’ll make that trade.”
He smiled, thin and clever. “Good luck, Nita. Say goodbye to Kovit for me.”
Then Diana helped him to the back, and they vanished