Ian snapped his mouth shut and listened to Sam’s tirade in complete silence. Even if he’d wanted to respond, he couldn’t have. As much as he hated being chastised like an errant kid, he had to admit that Sam was right, on all accounts. He had acted childishly. He could excuse himself by noting that Fiona provoked him, but that would be both pointless and childish. Fiona always agitated him. It was what she did. It was as if it were a second career for her, irritating him to the ends of his sanity.
Just because she provoked him did not mean he had to respond. He was an educated man with better sense and decorum than that. Though, admittedly, both seemed to disappear every time he was in the same room as Fiona Moon. On one hand, he was sure that Sam’s assessment of the situation was right on. He’d also been right about how to solve the problem. Ian and Fiona would never be able to get their professional relationship on an even keel until they sorted out the attraction between them. They would sort it out, Ian was determined on that front, but it would have to wait. In the meantime, he needed to try to keep his common sense about him.
“You are right, Sam,” he said, and then turned to look at Fiona. “I apologize for acting like a juvenile.”
Fiona didn’t respond except to glare at him so hard he was sure that if she had telekinetic powers, his heart would have exploded.
“Fiona!” There was a low growl in Sam’s voice.
Sam was calm and rational so much of the time that it was easy for Ian to forget he was a shifter, that beneath the easygoing exterior lay the instincts and soul of an animal. The growl in his voice when he said Fiona’s name brought that reality home to Ian. Even though he trusted Sam completely, his human reaction to an animal’s growl was to go on alert, and even a little initial fear. That was normal and the type of reaction Ian would expect to have. What he didn’t expect was the overwhelming protectiveness for Fiona that erupted in him. The rumble in Sam’s throat had been nothing more than a gentle warning, yet it had been directed at Fiona and some deep, primal instinct flared inside Ian. It was all he could do to fight the urge to jump up and stand between them.
Fiona, however, did not seem the least bit fazed by Sam’s display of alpha power, nor did she seem to notice Ian’s reaction, though the tiny twitch in the corner of Sam’s mouth told Ian the were-jaguar had noticed.
Fiona slowly turned her icy, dagger-shooting gaze from Ian to Sam. “Don’t growl at me. I’ll mind my manners. Now, missing people, dead bodies, where do you want us to start?”
Sam shook his head as if defeated and sat back down. “There is a list of addresses in the files I gave you. Go check out the homes and work places of each of the victims.”
“We should probably check out the places each of them were last seen, and walk the streets and alleys nearby. Spirits often linger in an area if they experienced a traumatic death, or return to the last place they were before the trauma,” Ian interjected.
“Okay, but go to the Purcell’s first. The family is there now, and they are expecting the two of you. The lead Guard Detective on this case is also there now. He is to be kept in the loop. While we have full jurisdiction, we are affording the Guards every professional courtesy, so play nice.” Sam said the last with a pointed stare at Fiona.
“I always play nice,” she said, her icy tone from a few minutes earlier gone and replaced by her usual casual insolence. “But it doesn’t seem like going around, looking for spirits, is going to get us far. We should be doing something a little more proactive. And don’t get your undies in a knot, Barroes. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do that. I’m just saying that unless they are already dead, we won’t get much. We should be trying to do something to stop the guy before they get dead.”
“Okay, Miss Moon. What do you suggest we do?” He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the death stare she aimed at him for calling her “Miss Moon”. Perhaps it was a tad childish, and he had just promised to act with a little more decorum, but he couldn’t resist baiting her a little.
To her credit, she didn’t take the bait. “The second male victim should be high on our priority list.” She glanced down at the file in her hand, and then back up. “If Abel Evans was the offender, and the disappearance of Farah Purcell is related, then he had to have a partner. While it is possible it is a woman, it isn’t likely. The other missing man, York Reeder, would be the most likely place to start looking.”
“That’s a lot of ifs,” Sam said. “But you are right. I’ll have a full profile on Reeder worked up. Go by his house and workplace, but I’ll send agents out to do interviews of all his friends and family.”
“If neither of the two missing men are involved, then this case is going to be a lot harder to crack,” Ian said. “With both men and women missing, my first instinct is to look in the direction of a blood slavery ring. But the victims are all mages, some with very high levels of power. Vamp slave runners don’t usually target mages that have any significant level of power. Norms and low level mages are easier to control.”
“Agreed,” Sam said as he jotted something down on a notepad. “I’ll have an agent on the Anti-Slaver Task Force ask around and see if there are any new blood-slavers in town, but I agree with you, Ian, the likelihood of that is pretty low.”
“What about anti-mage or anti-paranorm groups? I know the Guard keeps a tight handle on that sort of thing in the city, but they run rampant in the Outer Zones. Could be a new cell moved in and set up shop?” Fiona suggested.
“Already on top of it. The Guard has the full Anti-Hate Task Force out rousting every known hate monger in the city. They are looking at anti-norm groups as well, as this could be an attempt to breed discord,” Sam told them.
Ian nodded. “Could be. Doesn’t quite feel right, though. It has been done so quietly. It seems like if hate groups were involved, it would have been a little more public. But, it’s foolish to try to give logic to people who think in terms of hate. Looks like until we have more evidence, everything that can be done is being done. Now we just have to get out there and find some evidence.”
“Not quite everything. I was actually thinking of something we can do that is a bit more proactive,” Fiona said.
Ian shifted in his chair. “Such as?” he asked, not sure he really wanted to know.
“Well, we know at least four people have gone missing in eight weeks, six if the two missing men aren’t the offenders. There could be any number of unreported victims. This means whoever is responsible is hunting at least every two weeks, but most likely more often. Farah Purcell went missing three days ago, which was just one day after Millie was attacked. If it is slavers, they may have some sort of quota to fill. I say put a little bait out.”
Ian had been right. He hadn’t wanted to know. Fiona’s idea made sense, putting some undercover Blades out in the streets in area the victims had been last seen was the fastest way to find the offender, but if he knew her, she wanted to be the bait.
“I’ll put together a couple of teams to patrol the streets and bars. We’ll have one mage on each team as bait, and vampire or shifter backup for each since all the missing are mages. I’ll also have a few extra vamps and shifters milling around. It will likely be a mix of Guard and Blades to get enough manpower. I assume you will pitch a fit if I don’t put you on one of the teams?” he said the last with a pointed look in Fiona’s direction.
Fiona grinned. “Ahh, you know me so well. And I want Jarrett as my backup, if you can authorize pulling him off leave for this case, Sam.”
“I can authorize it, and I don’t think he will mind putting his leave on hold.”
Ian stiffened. He didn’t like the pang of irrational jealousy the man’s name invoked, but it was there, nonetheless. “I will be there too. We are partners, after all,” he said, before he could think twice about it.
Fiona rolled her eyes, but Sam was the one to voice the obvious objection. “You would be a potential target. You can’t watch her back if you are a target. I agree you sh
ould be close by though.”
“We can use Pinky’s as a staging area,” Fiona offered. “Barroes can help us coordinate from there.”
“Fine,” Sam said. “I’ll get it all set up. I’ll scry with the details. You two get out to the Purcell house and see what you can find out. Then grab a couple of hours sleep. It’s going to be a long night.”
Ian and Fiona rose to leave the office, but Sam stopped them. “Oh, Fiona, you were right about those three boys you brought in.”
“I usually am right, but I never tire of hearing you say it, Sam,” she said, saucily. “So, not a gang?”
Sam laughed. “No, not a gang. They were taking care of four other orphans. We found a girl about the same age as the boys, along with a boy a few years younger, and two toddlers at an abandoned cabin a couple of miles from where you encountered them. They have been brought in and are being housed in one of the empty Blade apartments until a better situation can be figured out. The agent that picked them up said they were pretty ragtag and skinny, but the first thing the older girl did was ask for a job.”
Fiona thought a minute. “Let me know if she can’t find one, or if they don’t have somewhere to go when they can’t stay here anymore.”
Sam smiled. “Don’t worry. They will be fine. I think they are considering her for a maid position in the barracks and apartments, which would qualify her for a worker’s apartment.”
“And you got the tribunal waved for the boys?”
“Yes, with the stipulation that they spend two years at the Academy of Science and Magic. The boys agreed as long as we agreed to make sure the other four were taken care of. At the end of the two years, the boys will take the same test as other paranorm students, and if they pass, they’ll have the option of entering the Guard, or the Blades, if they are extremely exceptional.” Sam winked at Fiona as he said the last sentence.
Ian was completely lost in this conversation, as he had no idea who they were talking about. But he did know what Sam was referring to about exceptional students. The Academy had a two-year regular program. All students took the same basic courses the first two years. At the end of two years, all students took a test that had both intellectual and physical components. Students who passed it with marks above a certain level could enter City Guard training.
Those students then moved to the City Guard barracks for another year of training, which was mostly physical. After two to four years of service, City Guard soldiers who showed exemplary intelligence and skill could take a test to apply for either City Guard detective training or Blade training. Most took the test every two years, but few qualified. If they qualified for Blade training, they would move to the Blade Training Facilities, housed in the Blade Headquarters building, and go through two years of intense training that also included more classes at the Academy.
Very rarely, a student showed an exceptional level of intellect, power, and physical skill after their first two years at the Academy and was offered the chance to skip City Guard training and service and go right into Blade training. Though there had been a few to qualify after only two years of Guard service, Fiona had been the only student in the last twenty years to score so high on her Academy finals that she went directly into Blade Training. What made her case even more exceptional was the fact that she’d started the Academy two years earlier than was normal, no doubt due to her power level and a little string pulling by Sam. She had only been eighteen years old when she’d went through her graduation ceremony and became a Blade six years ago.
“Yeah, well, not everyone can be spectacular. It can be quite exhausting,” she said, twirling the end of her braid around her finger.
Sam laughed. “Yeah, well, get your spectacular ass out of here and solve this case for me, so I can get some rest!”
Fiona turned and walked out of the office. On the other side of the threshold, she stopped and turned, “Well, come on, Barroes. We don’t have time for your dilly-dallying.” Then she turned and strode down the hall.
Without looking at Sam, who was undoubtedly doing his best not to laugh, Ian followed. Though he knew the other man had not truly been assessing Fiona’s body parts, as he followed her, Ian couldn’t help but agree with Sam. Fiona Moon had one spectacular ass.