to go to a higher-up for approval, and not so low that the handler would think the pages could wait. The handler took the bait, which told us something about him. He had some autonomy, he had ready access to funds, and, because it was still daylight, he wasn't a vamp, which made our plan much less dangerous and much more feasible. If he showed.
Minutes before we left the house, I dialed a number I hadn't called recently. "NOPD, Jodi Richoux," she answered.
Jodi was my contact with the New Orleans Police Department's supernatural crimes unit, in charge of all things paranormal and woo-woo. We were friends of a sort, but like most of my pals, we were going through a tough patch. My job was hard on friends. Or I was. "I might have a package for you soon."
"Jane Yellowrock. Why should I accept anything you throw my way?"
"Because you want to avert a vamp war in your town and I don't have a place to store a high-ranking enemy blood-sucker."
"War?" she said, half question, half demand.
"Yeah."
I filled her in, and when I was done, Jodi said, "I wish I'd never laid eyes on you, Yellowrock," and hung up the phone.
We left the house at different times, took three separate vehicles, and arrived at the rendezvous site from different directions. I was the most conspicuous of us - six-foot-tall Cherokee women are not common even in a city where racial and ethnic markers were all over the place - so I stayed in the van that Derek and his crew used for security gigs. I didn't like being out of the action, but I knew the others could handle a human.
Only, the handler didn't show. A woman did. And Angel didn't know her. As she approached, his spine straightened and his fingers curled under, the telltale actions of a trained fighter facing the unknown. I watched through the smoked windows as she approached Angel Tit, who was sitting on a bench, away from the tourists, on the Moonwalk. She was tiny, efficient, and brisk: all of five feet, business suit, rapid walk, and when Derek and Eli - both wearing ball caps with the brims pulled down low - raced in to take her, she put up a serviceable fight, though her defensive measures were no match for two guys trained by Uncle Sam. They picked her up, whisked her to the van, dumped her inside, secured her limbs with zip strips, taped her mouth shut with clear surgical tape, and flipped her over, all in the seconds it took us to pull sedately away from the curb. The woman, who was maybe forty-five and matronly, inspected the blade held under her nose, which was sucking breath so hard it whistled.
"Any lookouts, any witnesses?" I asked into the mic.
The three lookouts responded, "Clear Alpha." "Clear Beta." "Clear Delta."
I opened the woman's pocketbook to find a .22 with an illegal suppressor. The end of the barrel was attached to the end of the purse with a swiveling coupler like nothing I'd ever seen before. I maneuvered the gun. It didn't come lose. The .22 was hooked in, but attached in such a way that she couldn't have gotten her hand around the grip. Which was just plain weird. The only other things in the bottom of the purse were an extra magazine, a pair of reading glasses, and a tube of L'Oreal lipstick. I twirled the lipstick up. "Coral. An interesting shade. Sedate, maybe just a little bit saucy. A good choice for a woman who's looking less and less like Angel Tit's best pal."
I held the purse up, inspecting it closer, and accidentally slid my fingers through the side panel. I pushed on the panel and held it up to her. "Nice. Very nice. I like. You can be walking along, an office clerk on her lunch hour, maybe getting close to a guy on a park bench, shove your hand into the purse through here" - I showed the guys the panel, which was hinged with tiny brass jewelry hinges - "aim this little gun, swiveling it in the coupler, give a two-tap through this small hole on the other end" - I tapped my finger on the barrel - "and walk on."
I looked at Derek and Angel. "The handler sent someone to take Angel out. Seems he's become a problem, somehow. Let's drive." I handed Derek the purse, turned off the radio system, and took off the headpiece.