unsuspecting women. Did he have a circle of friends? Go out to dinner? Did he have hobbies? She couldn’t see him painting or playing chess or collecting stamps. Or even hanging around a gym. He’d scare all the other customers away.
And why would MacGregor be willing to give him the night off so soon after joining the agency? She could ask MacGregor but he wouldn’t tell her. That man could keep a secret.
Curiosity gnawed at her until she finally got up and grabbed her coat. “Screw it.”
She raced to the elevator and out into the parking garage just in time to see him pull out.
CHAPTER SIX
M ax found Carl Hannaford in a booth at the far end of the Bronx bar. The place was dark, and smelled like stale beer and urine. There was a battered pool table in the back under a bare lightbulb. Country music squawked from speakers overhead. Two men hunched over the long bar, looking like permanent fixtures. A lone, homely bartender seemed annoyed at his intrusion.
Max got a beer at the bar before sliding into the booth across from his longtime friend and the man secretly responsible for getting him into XCEL. “Your meeting places get worse every week.”
Carl grinned under carefully sculpted black hair. His blue eyes pierced the dim light. A scotch on the rocks in front of him looked like it hadn’t been touched. He shook Max’s hand. “It’s all about the atmosphere, my friend. I don’t think we have to worry about anyone catching our conversation here.”
“Well, next time you might want to dress down for the occasion,” Max said. He noted that the bartender kept glancing at them. The man was definitely curious.
“So,” Carl said. “How’s it going?”
Max took a long draw from the bottle and set it down across from Carl’s drink. “I have a partner who doesn’t trust me as far as she can throw me. MacGregor wants me to finish my business and leave. And I’m no closer to the killer than I was when I started.”
Carl laughed. “That good, huh?”
Max eyed him over his bottle. “That was my best day this week.”
“And no one else knows you are a Shifter?”
“Just my partner and MacGregor. The rest of the agents don’t know, but I’m betting that day comes soon enough. They have their own brotherhood. What about you? Still keeping under the radar?”
“So far.” Carl nodded. “No one suspects that I’m not the real Carl Hannaford.”
Good, Max thought. Then they were both safe for the time being. Carl had managed to infiltrate the government branch responsible for XCEL and helped shape policy to put Max in a position where he could find the traitor responsible for betraying the Shifters on their last planet before escaping in their ship and landing here along with them. And then murdering Ell.
“How’s Apollo?” Carl asked out of the blue.
Max thought about their argument last night. “He thinks I should give up looking for Ell’s killer.”
“He doesn’t understand. He didn’t lose what you did.” Carl took a sip of his drink. “Remember the old days when you, me, and Apollo used to do this for fun?”
Max smiled. “And one of us would always end up saving Apollo from himself.”
“I thought we’d be doing that forever on Govan,” Carl said. “I guess it wasn’t meant to be there.”
It wasn’t meant to be anywhere. The shapeshifter race had been refugees for the last six generations after their own home planet had become uninhabitable due to climate change. Finding a new home, a place where they could resettle in peace, had proven impossible. Govan had nearly wiped them out.
“I miss the old days, as bad as they were. My family,” Carl said after swirling his drink.
He didn’t have to elaborate. They had both lost their entire families. All because one Shifter had decided to help the Govan government get rid of them all—the traitor, and ultimately, Ell’s murderer. Apollo just wanted to move forward and forget the past. But Max and Carl couldn’t. It was
And why would MacGregor be willing to give him the night off so soon after joining the agency? She could ask MacGregor but he wouldn’t tell her. That man could keep a secret.
Curiosity gnawed at her until she finally got up and grabbed her coat. “Screw it.”
She raced to the elevator and out into the parking garage just in time to see him pull out.
CHAPTER SIX
M ax found Carl Hannaford in a booth at the far end of the Bronx bar. The place was dark, and smelled like stale beer and urine. There was a battered pool table in the back under a bare lightbulb. Country music squawked from speakers overhead. Two men hunched over the long bar, looking like permanent fixtures. A lone, homely bartender seemed annoyed at his intrusion.
Max got a beer at the bar before sliding into the booth across from his longtime friend and the man secretly responsible for getting him into XCEL. “Your meeting places get worse every week.”
Carl grinned under carefully sculpted black hair. His blue eyes pierced the dim light. A scotch on the rocks in front of him looked like it hadn’t been touched. He shook Max’s hand. “It’s all about the atmosphere, my friend. I don’t think we have to worry about anyone catching our conversation here.”
“Well, next time you might want to dress down for the occasion,” Max said. He noted that the bartender kept glancing at them. The man was definitely curious.
“So,” Carl said. “How’s it going?”
Max took a long draw from the bottle and set it down across from Carl’s drink. “I have a partner who doesn’t trust me as far as she can throw me. MacGregor wants me to finish my business and leave. And I’m no closer to the killer than I was when I started.”
Carl laughed. “That good, huh?”
Max eyed him over his bottle. “That was my best day this week.”
“And no one else knows you are a Shifter?”
“Just my partner and MacGregor. The rest of the agents don’t know, but I’m betting that day comes soon enough. They have their own brotherhood. What about you? Still keeping under the radar?”
“So far.” Carl nodded. “No one suspects that I’m not the real Carl Hannaford.”
Good, Max thought. Then they were both safe for the time being. Carl had managed to infiltrate the government branch responsible for XCEL and helped shape policy to put Max in a position where he could find the traitor responsible for betraying the Shifters on their last planet before escaping in their ship and landing here along with them. And then murdering Ell.
“How’s Apollo?” Carl asked out of the blue.
Max thought about their argument last night. “He thinks I should give up looking for Ell’s killer.”
“He doesn’t understand. He didn’t lose what you did.” Carl took a sip of his drink. “Remember the old days when you, me, and Apollo used to do this for fun?”
Max smiled. “And one of us would always end up saving Apollo from himself.”
“I thought we’d be doing that forever on Govan,” Carl said. “I guess it wasn’t meant to be there.”
It wasn’t meant to be anywhere. The shapeshifter race had been refugees for the last six generations after their own home planet had become uninhabitable due to climate change. Finding a new home, a place where they could resettle in peace, had proven impossible. Govan had nearly wiped them out.
“I miss the old days, as bad as they were. My family,” Carl said after swirling his drink.
He didn’t have to elaborate. They had both lost their entire families. All because one Shifter had decided to help the Govan government get rid of them all—the traitor, and ultimately, Ell’s murderer. Apollo just wanted to move forward and forget the past. But Max and Carl couldn’t. It was
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