He muttered something under his breath, then said, "Stane gave me a call this morning. He’s finally picked up the nanowires we asked for. He needs us to drop by his place ASAP so he can fit them."
"Fit them?" I said, frowning. "Don’t you just click them on like a necklace?"
"Not these, apparently. We did say cost was no object, so he’s gone for the latest technology."
I grunted. Cost wasn’t an object—not when we had vampires like Hunter to deal with. "I’ve got a couple of appointments I have to deal with first, so I won’t get there till midafternoon at the earliest."
"He’ll be there." He hesitated, then added in a softer tone, "Are you okay?"
I smiled at the concern so evident in both his voice and his expression. We might be long-time friends and past lovers, but that didn’t really do justice to the depth of our relationship. We weren’t soul mates, but I couldn’t ever imagine living without Tao—and Ilianna.
"Yes," I said. And, for the first time in weeks, almost meant it.
"Good," he said. "I’ll see you tonight, then."
"Wait!" I said. Then as he paused, I added, "Can get you get Stane to sweep our apartment for bugs? I’ve got a feeling either the council or the Directorate is listening in."
"Why the hell would they want to do that?"
"Because they’re after information about my father, just like everyone else."
He grunted. "You’d think they’d realize by now that we know jack-shit, but I’ll ask."
"Thanks. See you tonight."
I hung up, then shoved the phone back into my pocket and walked across to my bike. Once I’d tucked everything into the under-seat storage, I pulled on my helmet, then glanced at the house one final time. Good-bye, I thought. May you bring the next family better luck.
"A house is an inanimate object," Azriel commented, suddenly appearing beside me. "It can bring neither good luck nor bad."