Mortal Ties (45 page)

Bergman had one of her people drop her off. She’d had a long night, and it showed
in the dark circles under her eyes, but those eyes were bright with anticipation.
She knew what this meant as well as Rule did.

Ed had found the scent at a bank.

Follow the money. Lily had said that often enough, and this was something Rule knew.
Something he understood. Something the Bureau understood, too. They had excellent
forensic accountants.

“I’ll do the talking,” Bergman told him.

“Of course.”

“Yeah, that’s why you called me. You want my badge.”

“Of course,” he said again, this time with the hint of a smile.

She almost smiled back. “Let’s go—and pray one of those tellers remembers something
or someone who was a little odd.”

“We won’t be relying on memory alone,” Rule said, pushing open the door and holding
it for her. “We’ll want the bank’s records of every transaction at this branch in
the past two days, whether through a teller or at the ATM. The scent is probably from
yesterday, but it might be as much as two days old. We’ll need names, addresses, everything
the bank has.”

She snorted. “You’ve got funny ideas about banks if you think they’ll hand all that
over just because we say pretty please.”

“Ruben is getting you a warrant.” Rule glanced at his watch. “It should arrive in
about thirty minutes.”

She stopped and frowned. “What does he do, wiggle his nose and poof, I’ve got a warrant?”

“That wouldn’t take thirty minutes. He’s having someone deliver it here.”

“Huh. I’m starting to like working with Unit Twelve.” They’d paused just inside the
doors. Bergman reached into her purse and took out a leather folder much like the
one Lily used for her ID. “Even if it’s just two days’ worth of
names, it’s going to be a long list. These elves could look like anyone, young or
old, male or female, right?”

“Right.” Rule slanted her a smile. “We’ll be able to trim the list by eliminating
those who’ve had accounts here for several years, but it will still require a lot
of resources to check out whoever is left. Which is why I like working with your Bureau.
You have resources.”

That time she did smile—the quick, hard grin of a hunter with a fresh trail to follow.

“I think I like you, Special Agent.”

She snorted and strode over to the nearest desk. “I need to talk to the manager.”
She slapped her ID down. “Now.”

They’d follow the money, see where it went…maybe to the third floor of a stucco building
on the east side of the city.

“S
O
this Benessarai is the one who wants the prototype.” Lily had long since finished
eating, and she’d sipped all the tea she could stand. She pushed the cup and saucer
away.

“She said so, didn’t she?” Drummond snapped. “This is no way to question a witness.
Make her get to the point.”

Drummond had pulled himself into his talkative shape a few minutes ago and was pacing
like a man whose patience was used up.

She’s not ready yet
, Lily told him.
Don’t distract me.

She and Alycithin were getting along like gangbusters…if gangbusters meant being terribly
polite and careful with each word. They had cautiously exchanged some information.
Alycithin had been embarrassed when Lily told her that Cullen had not refused to sell
the prototype—that he had never even received an offer. Benessarai had lied to her
about that. For some reason he wanted to obtain it the hard way, using theft and hostages
and a complicated plot. Lily thought Alycithin knew very well why he’d taken that
route, but she’d waved Lily’s question away with a vague comment about it making him
look more skilled. But
Alycithin had not known about the confrontation at the middle school, so she couldn’t
tell Lily what had happened there.

Lily still didn’t understand what the halfling woman wanted from her. Or what she
was offering in return. “Benessarai is responsible for holding Adam King, although
Friar’s the one actually doing the job. He’s supposed to be on your side, but he’s
lied to you, kept information from you, and undermined your mission. And yet you don’t
think he’ll violate your code.”

Alycithin grimaced. “Lies, however crude, are not dishonorable.”

“Just bad form.” In sidhe eyes, it seemed, you kept your word even if it killed you
and all your family, but deception and trickery were fine. Expected, even. Yet to
lie outright was on a par with farting loudly in church. “He’ll lose a lot of points
back home for lying.”

“That does not mean he will kill a hostage.”

“Friar would. In a snap.”

“Too damn right,” Drummond said.

Alycithin shrugged. “Robert Friar wishes for many things from Benessarai. He will
not anger him. However, if Jasper Machek did violate his agreement with Friar, who
is Benessarai’s agent in this, he has forfeited Adam King’s freedom. I will make sure
Benessarai does not leave him in Robert Friar’s custody, but the best I can do is
see that Adam King returns with us to our realm, where he will spend the rest of his
life as a hostage.”

“Even if Friar violated his end of their deal?”

“Do you believe Robert Friar will admit to Benessarai that he broke oath?”

Put that way, no. “Will Benessarai believe Friar over you?”

She spoke very dryly. “He has so far.”

“Because you two are rivals.” And a hair away from being enemies outright, Lily thought.
Benessarai did not trust Alycithin, or claimed he didn’t. He’d set up his own hostage-keeping
spot elsewhere in the city, though this apartment had originally been intended for
any hostages
either of them acquired. Lily had the idea that he and Alycithin were barely speaking
to each other.

“It is not so simple as that word suggests, but perhaps you do not need to understand
the nuances. It may be helpful to know that my position on the delegation is both
punishment and opportunity.”

“A punishment?”

“If the delegation does poorly, the blame will go to me.”

“Even though he’s in charge?”

A touch of impatience flickered in her green eyes. “We are coleaders. Did I not tell
you that?”

“You said you were both,
ah
…I’ve forgotten the word.”

“I failed to explain. Benessarai and I were given joint leadership of the delegation’s
goals, but he has far more authority than do I. You may confirm this with your own
eyes. He has six people. I have two. They are capable and loyal, but they are two
to his six.”

“Listen,” Drummond said. “I’m not doing you any good here. I’m going to see what else
I can learn, but you’ll have to call me again to get me through those walls.”

Lily drummed her fingers, careful to look at her hand, not the ghost. She didn’t want
him to go, but he was right. He wasn’t helping here…except for making her feel less
alone.
Go on, then.

“Call me in thirty minutes.” He evaporated.

Lily looked up at the halfling again. “I think I understand. On paper, you and Benessarai
are coleaders. In reality, he’s running the show.”

Alycithin nodded. “If I understand your idiom, that is the case. His father is Lord
Thierath; his mother is Lord Sessena. My own breeding is…” Her smile flashed, quick
and charming. Very nearly a grin. “You may have noticed, Lily, that I am not elfin.”

“I had noticed that, yes.”

“There is some overt prejudice in my realm and a good deal of stereotyping. A most
useful word, that,” she added with a lazy smile. “For all its limitations in some
areas,
English provides an excellent framework for certain concepts. My father is Rekklat.
His people are honored as worthy and excellent warriors, but they are not considered
capable of the subtleties of
dtha
through which one may rise in…but now I arrive at those limitations. The closest
English word I can think of is
society
, yet that does not convey my meaning well.”

“Status?” Lily suggested. “Or caste?”

She tipped her head, considering. “Perhaps caste is closer, as it partakes of elements
of status as well as power. I am ambitious, you see. Some do not believe ambition
is fitting in a halfling. Lord Thierath is one such. Lord Sessena, however, is my
sponsor.”

Lily’s eyebrows rose. “Benessarai’s father doesn’t approve of you, but his mother
is your sponsor? What does that mean?”

“You have not an equivalent status. I am life-sworn to her. She arranged for me to
be coleader with her son. I will speak now with a degree of bluntness that would be
considered stupid and absurd by my mother’s people.” She paused as if waiting for
Lily to give her permission to be blunt.

“Okay.”

“Benessarai is a fool. His mother knows this. She wished to have one with him who
owes her much. One who is, perhaps, not a fool.”

Carefully Lily asked, “Is that the opportunity part of the deal?”

Again a quick smile. “Very good. If the delegation is sufficiently successful that
Benessarai is not disgraced, I will receive little public credit, but Lord Sessena
will have reason to be very pleased with me.”

“And Lord Sessena has the whole package—authority, power, breeding.”

“She is very high caste.” She selected a grape. “Perhaps you are wondering why I tell
you so much about myself.”

“If you were one of my people, I’d say you were trying to enlist me. Convince me we
were on the same side in some ways so that I’ll do something you want.”

Alycithin peeled the grape slowly. Her nails were a little longer than Lily’s, well-shaped,
but just a bit off. Narrow, as if they’d considered being claws at one point, but
changed their minds. “I would say we are negotiating. I wish you to understand why
I would negotiate with one who seems to be without power in this situation.” She contemplated
the grape she’d peeled, put it in her mouth, and bit. “I must tell you something more,
I believe. Lord Rethna’s realm is in chaos. Not simply his land, but the entire realm.
The Queens are there. Both of them. You do not know how…astounding…this is. The Queens
have not left Thalinol together in over three thousand years.”

“Since the Great War?”

The eyebrows lifted. “Yes.” She paused. “I do not know what your word, your promise,
means to you. You seemed surprised I would consider mine binding.”

“Not surprised, exactly. Lupi consider their word binding in an absolute sense like
you do. They’re very careful what they promise. Ah…my culture places a high value
on honoring one’s word, but it is not absolute. We believe there can be mitigating
circumstances. If breaking my word was the only way to save lives, I would do that.
But it would truly have to be the only way.”

Alycithin looked at her hands. She smoothed an invisible crease from the yellow silk
of her gown then looked up and met Lily’s eyes. “Will you give me your word you will
not repeat what I tell you now?”

“No.”

“No? You give me that single, naked response?”

“I’m careful where I give my promises, too. First, I don’t withhold information from
Rule. That’s firm. I very seldom withhold things from my boss, and only when there’s…you
might call it a conflict of honor. When I think honor is better served by my silence.
You asked for too broad a promise.”

A smile tucked itself into the corners of Alycithin’s lips, making her look more catlike
than ever. “Will you promise
not to repeat what I tell you to any sidhe, and to withhold it as much as you honorably
may from your own people?”

Lily thought that over, looked for trouble spots, and found one. “I will promise not
to reveal it to any out-realm sidhe, and to withhold it as much as I honorably can
from my own people.”

“Out-realm sidhe? But Earth has no…I see that you do not intend to explain.”

Lily shook her head. Arjenie’s secret wasn’t hers to reveal.

“Very well. I accept those terms. Do you so promise?”

“I do.”

“Benessarai and Lord Rethna were friends of the third degree. This is not known in
my realm. This is not known by his father, Lord Thierath. Benessarai is known to have
been friends with Lord Rethna, but all think it was of the fifth degree. He is not
the only one now tainted in this way, for Rethna entertained widely among the lords
of many realms, but there is no real danger from such an association. Fifth-degree
friends have liking for each other, but very limited bonds of obligation. Third degree
is quite different.” She took a slow breath. “That is the real reason Lord Sessena
ensured I was coleader of this delegation. Benessarai needs a success to redeem himself,
yes, but he also needs to be watched. Above all, it cannot be known that he had such
close ties to Lord Rethna.”

Lily tried to think herself into Alycithin’s shoes. Her big fear was the Queens, Lily
thought. Her people were scared that whatever was happening in Rethna’s realm would
spill over into theirs. “It must have come as a shock when I told you that Friar,
who is allied with or working for Benessarai, is the Great Bitch’s creature.”