neighbors. Instead, one of the humans and a chancellor from the vampire clan were conspiring to kill the human’s husband and Miranda, the heir to the vampire clan. They shot up her home in town and then blew up Ambrose’s condo. He brought Miranda here, thinking it would be safe.”
He gestured toward the walls polka-dotted with bullet holes. “Obviously, it wasn’t.”
She shuddered. “Since Ambrose is alive and well, things turned out okay for him. How about Miranda?”
“Depends on how you look at it.” Conlan shot her a wry look. “Ambrose married her. By all reports, they’re really happy together.”
Lucky them. Heck, she wouldn’t mind a little happily-ever-after in her own future. And she knew exactly who she’d like to be part of that scenario. Her mind filled with images of waking up next to Conlan every morning, of spending her nights in his arms, of making love to him over and over.
Then ugly reality returned. In truth, right now she’d settle for knowing she had a future at all.
* * *
Okay, they’d made some progress. Cyrus studied the email Richie had forwarded to him a few minutes ago. As ordered, the mercs had withdrawn to a safe distance from the sprawling O’Day estate. The place was too big to monitor the entire perimeter, but they’d know if someone left by the main gate. Meanwhile, they’d done some digging into Conlan Shea’s past.
Once he’d been dragged off to prison, most of his former associates had written him off as a lost cause. Evidently those chancellors Ambrose was so damn proud of had no loyalty to one of their members, only to the job. However, not all of his friends had jumped ship.
Right now, the mercs were reaching out to their usual contacts in the seedier side of New Eire to see if Shea had been heard from. So far, the results had been discouraging, but at least one likely suspect was on their radar. Apparently, one known associate of Conlan Shea’s named Lucius Domke had been out of town on business. But shortly after returning to New Eire, he’d taken off in a hurry for parts unknown. No flight plans had been filed, which meant he didn’t want to be followed or found. Interesting.
A brief check of the man’s file made it clear that he was the kind of lowlife who’d made a career of thumbing his nose at authority. Richie had issued orders that the man was to be watched, not apprehended. Unfortunately, this Lucius fellow had a helo at his disposal. If he’d picked up Shea and Kat, they could be anywhere by now.
Richie had indicated that his next step would be to do some digging in Lucius’s background. If he’d offered Shea a helping hand, they would most likely have headed for someplace familiar, someplace where Lucius had conducted business successfully in the past.
That made sense, but it wouldn’t do to focus on such a narrow target. Rafferty was still involved. Cyrus knew that to be true even though there was no indication that the vampire had set foot off his property. That didn’t mean he wasn’t offering aid in some other way.
Cyrus reached for his phone. His assistant answered before the second ring, a definite improvement. “You’ve done a great job so far, Richie. But while you’re doing some digging, check to see if Rafferty has any property in New Eire, maybe even something under his wife’s name.”
Then he hung up before Richie could respond. Petty of him, perhaps, but right now all he cared about was the fact that the noose was tightening on their targets. Cyrus could almost taste success, and he really loved the flavor.
* * *
After surveying the meager offerings in the tiny kitchen, Conlan considered their options. One box of stale cereal and an outdated can of beans left him little choice but to make a food run.
“There’s a small deli two blocks away. Will you be all right if I leave long enough to pick up something for dinner? We could both go, but they’re hunting for a couple. There’s no reason to think that they’ve tracked us this far, but I’d rather not risk it.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Despite her words, Conlan suspected that she didn’t like being separated even for the short time he’d be gone. The question was, why? They’d been through a lot, but they’d gotten this far. He wished like hell he could read Kat’s thoughts. Maybe there was one more question he needed to ask, but would