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Authors: Yasmine Galenorn
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acted as our secretary without being asked.
“Your friend, Andrees? He was sent Earthside on a mission to discover what you are up to. But he’s vanished. We have no clue of what happened to him, no idea of where he might be. We need you to find him.”
Andrees.
He’d been in the OIA training class that the three of us had taken. We’d studied together, and he’d never treated us with anything but respect. Delilah had developed a crush on him, but he’d never known. He’d trained as ascout, and the OIA had originally planned for him to spy on Dredge, but he came down with a fever and had been laid out for a good month. So they’d pawned the assignment off onto me. He’d avoided me ever after that, and I could see the guilt in his eyes. I’d always wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, but never had the chance. Maybe now, I would.
“We’ll deal with the fact that the OIA was spying on us later.” Camille straightened her shoulders. “Where did they send him?”
Sephreh thumbed through a folder of papers. “Somewhere in…West Seattle. White Center area. We had a small store there, a massage parlor on Roxbury Street, owned by Iyor, one of our operatives. We sent Andrees there to connect with Iyor, and from there, he was supposed to work his way over to see what you were doing. We haven’t heard from him since he crossed over.”
“You sent Andrees to
White Center
? To a
massage parlor
? You know that’s a
brothel
?”
“A brothel? No—a massage parlor.” Father looked confused.
“Trust me, in that area? Doesn’t mean what you think it means.”
Sephreh blinked. “Well, our mistake again. But the massage parlor has closed and we can’t find our agent Iyor, either.”
“I can guarantee that if you guys don’t have contact anymore with your ‘masseur,’ either he’s dead or he went rogue and is turning tricks or dealing drugs or working with the gangs. And as far as Andrees…a newbie-to-Earthside OIA agent walking around there alone? Without being prepared? What time of day did you send him?”
Please don’t say “night”…please don’t say “night”…
Sephreh tossed the folder across the table. “Night. I assume a stupid move, as well? So, will you take the job? Will you work with us and help us find Andrees?”
I glanced at Camille and Delilah. They both gave me slight nods. “Fine, but on our terms, and with raises, full back pay, full reinstatement, and a free hand.
We
run the Earthside operations and
we
set up an OIA headquartersover there the way it was meant to be. If you can agree to that, we’ll knock out a deal. But we have to work fast. I need to get home.”
Sephreh coughed as both Roz and Vanzir began to laugh.
“They’ll get you every time, dude,” Vanzir said. “Just jump on the deal while it’s still on the table, man.”
Sephreh gave him a faint smile. “I have no doubt you speak wisely, Master Vanzir. No doubt at all.” He turned to me. “You have a deal. Whatever you want, you get. Andrees has been missing for three days. What do we do?”
I pushed back my chair and stood. “First, we knock out details of our agreement. Second, we head home to look for Andrees. And we’d better get moving because I don’t have long before I have to be in my lair, before sunrise.”
As the others stood and stretched, Father began to hand out dossiers and called in a secretary. We had a lot of work to do and very little time in which to do it. And that didn’t count keeping tabs on Darynal and his crew. Somehow, I had a feeling that we were going to be in for a busy week. Or month.
Chapter 4
We finished hammering out details ninety minutes before dawn, declining the invitation to spend another day and night there so we could visit our home. The night had evoked too many emotions as it was. By the stunned looks on Delilah and Camille’s faces, they needed a break. Hell,
I
needed a break. None of us were drama queens, and the whole night had been like
“Your friend, Andrees? He was sent Earthside on a mission to discover what you are up to. But he’s vanished. We have no clue of what happened to him, no idea of where he might be. We need you to find him.”
Andrees.
He’d been in the OIA training class that the three of us had taken. We’d studied together, and he’d never treated us with anything but respect. Delilah had developed a crush on him, but he’d never known. He’d trained as ascout, and the OIA had originally planned for him to spy on Dredge, but he came down with a fever and had been laid out for a good month. So they’d pawned the assignment off onto me. He’d avoided me ever after that, and I could see the guilt in his eyes. I’d always wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, but never had the chance. Maybe now, I would.
“We’ll deal with the fact that the OIA was spying on us later.” Camille straightened her shoulders. “Where did they send him?”
Sephreh thumbed through a folder of papers. “Somewhere in…West Seattle. White Center area. We had a small store there, a massage parlor on Roxbury Street, owned by Iyor, one of our operatives. We sent Andrees there to connect with Iyor, and from there, he was supposed to work his way over to see what you were doing. We haven’t heard from him since he crossed over.”
“You sent Andrees to
White Center
? To a
massage parlor
? You know that’s a
brothel
?”
“A brothel? No—a massage parlor.” Father looked confused.
“Trust me, in that area? Doesn’t mean what you think it means.”
Sephreh blinked. “Well, our mistake again. But the massage parlor has closed and we can’t find our agent Iyor, either.”
“I can guarantee that if you guys don’t have contact anymore with your ‘masseur,’ either he’s dead or he went rogue and is turning tricks or dealing drugs or working with the gangs. And as far as Andrees…a newbie-to-Earthside OIA agent walking around there alone? Without being prepared? What time of day did you send him?”
Please don’t say “night”…please don’t say “night”…
Sephreh tossed the folder across the table. “Night. I assume a stupid move, as well? So, will you take the job? Will you work with us and help us find Andrees?”
I glanced at Camille and Delilah. They both gave me slight nods. “Fine, but on our terms, and with raises, full back pay, full reinstatement, and a free hand.
We
run the Earthside operations and
we
set up an OIA headquartersover there the way it was meant to be. If you can agree to that, we’ll knock out a deal. But we have to work fast. I need to get home.”
Sephreh coughed as both Roz and Vanzir began to laugh.
“They’ll get you every time, dude,” Vanzir said. “Just jump on the deal while it’s still on the table, man.”
Sephreh gave him a faint smile. “I have no doubt you speak wisely, Master Vanzir. No doubt at all.” He turned to me. “You have a deal. Whatever you want, you get. Andrees has been missing for three days. What do we do?”
I pushed back my chair and stood. “First, we knock out details of our agreement. Second, we head home to look for Andrees. And we’d better get moving because I don’t have long before I have to be in my lair, before sunrise.”
As the others stood and stretched, Father began to hand out dossiers and called in a secretary. We had a lot of work to do and very little time in which to do it. And that didn’t count keeping tabs on Darynal and his crew. Somehow, I had a feeling that we were going to be in for a busy week. Or month.
Chapter 4
We finished hammering out details ninety minutes before dawn, declining the invitation to spend another day and night there so we could visit our home. The night had evoked too many emotions as it was. By the stunned looks on Delilah and Camille’s faces, they needed a break. Hell,
I
needed a break. None of us were drama queens, and the whole night had been like
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