desk.
“Do you have anything to report? Did they get her?” He already knew the answer. If the mission had been successful, the man would be gloating, not shifting uneasily in his chair.
“Not yet, sir. I know you’ll be shocked to hear that Rafferty’s security chief had one of his chancellors fire a rocket launcher at our men when they tried to serve the warrant at the front gate. After they withdrew, someone shot out their back tires.” He frowned. “I’m sure Rafferty will deny any knowledge of it since it happened away from his estate, but you know it had to be one of his men pulling the trigger. Our men were late reporting in because they had to walk a couple of miles to call for help and then wait for someone to bring them new tires. We’ll be getting the bill for the additional expenses, I’m sure.”
“No doubt.”
This made no sense. Rafferty wasn’t anybody’s fool, so why would he risk so much for one human woman? As far as Cyrus could tell, there’d been no contact between Kat and the vampire prior to the shoot-out in the valley near the O’Day estate. It wasn’t hard to guess that she’d learned that Rafferty had a soft spot for strays and had gone there hoping for asylum.
Vampires were all territorial and were prone to attacking when they felt threatened, but that didn’t feel right in this case. No, there had to be a connection or some bit of knowledge that Cyrus was missing. Time to fall back and regroup.
“Okay, call our men off for the moment. I want you to hunt through the files we have on Kat Karr. She has to have ties to someone on Rafferty’s estate. That’s the only explanation that makes any sense. Find out who it is, and we’ll go from there.”
The younger man sat forward, resting his elbows on Cyrus’s desk. “I might be able to help with that already. When the Karr woman went missing three years ago, she left a Coalition chancellor by the name of Conlan Shea high and dry. He should’ve been executed in her place, but he was one of Ambrose’s favorites. The head man pulled some strings, so Shea only spent two years in prison. When he got out, Rafferty hired Shea to head up his security team on the estate.”
“So you think Kat would dare come to this guy for help? Considering what she did to him, that seems unlikely.”
His assistant responded with a careless shrug. “No way to know if she even knew he was there. I agree that any other chancellor would’ve killed the woman on sight, but what if Shea was still harboring some feelings for her? She fooled him once, so there’s no reason to think she couldn’t do it again.”
Cyrus poked and prodded the idea, but it seemed more plausible than Rafferty going all protective over a total stranger. “Okay, so this guy knows that her life expectancy is zero if Ambrose gets his hands on her. Does he really think his employer will take on the whole Coalition to save one human life?”
Hell, no, Rafferty wouldn’t be that much of an idiot, so the chancellor had to know Kat’s time was running out. If she still meant something to Shea, he’d do anything to keep that from happening. Yeah, that felt right. Cyrus didn’t often get premonitions, but he listened when it happened.
For the first time in hours, he felt a rising tide of excitement. “I’m betting Shea will take the woman and bolt. Tell your men to start a search for his known friends and associates. He’ll reach out to one of them and soon, if he hasn’t already. If we can find the right one, we stand a good chance of catching them.”
His assistant knew a dismissal when he heard one. “I’ll get right on it, and I’ll keep you posted on any progress we make.”
“See that you do.”
When the door was closed, Cyrus pulled out his report and started reading again. After all, they needed to make sure everything was in place when they finally found the information she’d stolen three years ago. At long last, the pieces were coming together. Soon the humans would be able to regain control of the Coalition, and their world would be swept clean of all species of fanged vermin.
* * *
Conlan decided to give Kat some time to regroup. Claiming he wanted to reconnoiter, he left her sitting at the table