Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,96
his tongue flitting past its surface here and there. When he straightened up, he shook his head. “It’s mostly you, from when you were running with it. The other impressions are much duller. Nothing that tells how to open it.”
Of course the owner wouldn’t have been petting the computer while logging in or working out nefarious plans. If I’d thought to grab the keyboard too… But then, I’d barely made it out of the store with what I had carried.
I rubbed my mouth. “All right. We’re going to need a monitor and a keyboard, and I guess I’ll have to see if someone from the hacker cabal can talk me through breaking the password encryption… And fast.” It was past eleven. At best, we had eight or nine hours before the sword-star bunch realized what we’d taken off with and started cleaning up shop.
Ruse cocked his head. “Wouldn’t it be easier to bring the computer to the hackers and let them do the work?”
“I don’t know where they are. I guess they probably know someone who could handle it in a city this big.” I frowned. “If they’d agree to meet up with us anyway. If that would even be safe.”
The incubus’s eyes gleamed. “Get them on the phone, and I can handle the rest.”
Every minute it took to wait for a response felt like years, but it’d actually only been half an hour before the Fund’s contacts had hooked me up with a local associate who reluctantly agreed to a phone conversation. When the call came in, I handed the phone to Ruse.
“Hello there,” he said in his smooth voice, and shot me an amused glance as he covered the mic area. “They’re using a voice distorter—as if that’ll help.”
He sauntered around the room, rolling his cajoling words off his tongue, until he’d gotten an address and a promise that our new friend wouldn’t mention the visit to anyone. “I’ll return with all possible speed,” he said, handing me back my phone and hefting the computer.
“Take the devourer with you,” Thorn said abruptly.
Ruse looked at Snap, who blinked at the warrior. “What would I do there? I don’t know how to get anything out of that box.”
Thorn nodded toward Ruse. “He can pick up on whether this ‘hacker’ has had any contact with our enemies. If they have, we’ll want you to test their home and possessions for any useful impressions you can glean that way.”
The explanation sounded flimsy, and from the arch of Ruse’s eyebrow, he thought so too. He wasn’t inclined to fight with the larger shadowkind about it, though. “Come on then. My influence isn’t quite as potent without visuals. We want to make sure we get there before it wears off.”
Snap cast a concerned look my way, but the need for urgency cut off whatever arguments he might have made. “We’ll be back soon,” he assured me. “For now, get all the rest you can.”
“Believe me, I have zero interest in running any marathons for the next decade or so.”
They slipped out, leaving me with just Thorn, looming where he stood beside the bed. I raised my own eyebrows at him. “Couldn’t wait to get me alone, huh?”
There was that familiar glower. He appeared to be waiting for something—the rumble of the car engine as the other guys drove away. Then he folded his arms over his expansive chest, but I couldn’t feel all that intimidated just from his bulk when I’d seen what he really looked like.
“You won’t say anything to the others about what I am,” he said.
Interesting. “Why not?”
The glower deepened. “It’s simply easier not to get caught up in the questions that arise. Even my fellow shadowkind are generally… taken aback.”
So I wasn’t wrong in being startled that his specific kind existed at all anymore. I scooted away from the pillow to Pickle’s snort of dismay, gave the dragon a soothing pat, and gazed up at my avenging warrior. “All right, I’ll keep quiet—on one condition. I want you to show yourself again.”
Apparently it was Thorn’s turn to be startled. “What?”
“You heard me. I’d like to get a look at you when I’m not half out of my mind in pain. Since this seems to be a once-in-a-lifetime-if-that sort of experience and all.”
Thorn opened his mouth and shut it, appearing to think better of whatever protest he’d been going to make. He’d correctly labeled me as obstinate just an hour or so ago, after all. “Fine. But only if we’re agreed.”
“No