Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,42

nose. “That sounds bad for the teeth.”

The bond sang with Darren’s pleasure. “Well, you know, I like to make sure Anita has enough business to keep her busy.”

“I’d suspect that you were trying to hook up with her, only I happen to know you are stupidly in love with someone else,” Les said. “I’ll call Coretta and let her know you’re in.” He grabbed his desk phone, and Joe retreated to his chair. Anne Peters continued to type, but she watched with poorly hidden curiosity. If she had any sense, she’d worry about the number of injuries the team racked up.

“Call Brown over in Unit Three,” Kavon said. Since he was in the office, he wanted to check on his cases. As recent history had proved, adding new members to the unit could reduce efficiency. Like Traci Frane, Anne was an older agent who had transferred in from a less active division, but this time Kavon had managed to avoid hiring another saboteur. Maybe. “Any movement in our cases?” Kavon asked Anne.

“You mean in the half day you took off before blowing up a DC street?” Anne asked with an overly sweet smile.

Kavon shifted his gaze from Darren to Anne. She continued to type, and Ahtisham snorted before he returned to his own desk. Only then did Anne focus on Kavon. “We haven’t had any major breakthroughs, and if we do, I trust Coretta will handle them well.”

“I trust her without reservation. I still want an update.” Kavon loathed being questioned.

She studied him before saying, “We still don’t have any movement on the Sanchez kidnapping. Milton is trying to track financials in the Taylor case.”

“I thought the finances were a dead end.” Kavon didn’t like the thought of one of his people getting sent on a wild goose chase, and their witnesses had said Taylor kept all his betting records in his notebook. They needed a warrant and a pickpocket, not a hacker. Anne shrugged, but her expression suggested she hadn’t liked the assignment either.

Kavon headed for Milton’s desk. He had pulled it up against a wall and then used a spare bookcase to arrange an impressive array of computer guts and crystals. Kavon didn’t know much about crystal magic, but Coretta was impressed with his speed and accuracy, so Kavon trusted Milton to know his way around a spell, and he preferred Milton’s open insecurities and nasty attitude to someone like Joe who seemed to hide behind a quick smile.

“Milton, I need you to find a list of everyone who was at the scene yesterday,” Kavon said.

Milton looked up and his glasses, which had been perched on the top of his head slid backward. He grabbed them before they could fall. “I didn't think we were working that case.”

“Put in the request,” Kavon said. If they couldn’t stop Anzu, they would have to find his human partner. Since Anzu had grabbed the SUV and swept a tree out of his way, he saw Earth. That implied he watched through the eyes of his shaman partner.

Milton swiveled his chair around to face Kavon. “But if it's not our case, what right do I have to be requesting information? I’m sure someone else has the case.”

“Unit Three,” Darren said.

Kavon graced him with a withering glare, but Darren grinned back, unrepentant. Of course Darren would side with the newbie; it was his nature to protect younger agents. As much as the interference annoyed Kavon, he liked seeing the old pre-Traci Frane Darren making a return.

“Unit Three,” Milton repeated. “Right. Okay. If it’s not our case, I'm not supposed to be getting that information out of the database.” Milton’s fingers twisted around as if he was soldering something. Kavon understood that the man was nervous, but he needed Milton to do the work assigned as Kavon assigned it.

“We’re investigating the appearance of magical sinks. We now have the largest one yet. I need you to find a pattern—someone who appeared at every scene, and don’t leave out any group. Look at the first responders, witnesses, hell... look at FBI agents who responded to the scene. Kavon glanced toward one of their new team members and wondered if Joe had responded to the scenes. He was a shaman and had only outed himself as having Talent when Kavon and Coretta had posted the opening. Kavon wouldn’t have hired him, but Coretta liked him, and she needed someone with shamanic powers to fill out her team. Kavon couldn’t let go of his discomfort around him.

“I