"I killed her. She displeased me by producing very uninteresting visions."
She hated the seers. Strange little women in black clothes who sat in dark rooms predicting the future or seeing the present. The Boss used to love his seers, but he'd been getting even more specific about what he wanted from his employees. Nobody was safe at the Company anymore.
When she didn't say anything for a moment, he continued. "Is there a problem?"
She licked her suddenly dry lips. "No, no problems. I have the vampire leading me to it right now."
"You haven't killed him yet?"
Was that his answer for everything?
"Well, if I killed him, how could he lead me to the Eye? Then I'd have to raise his corpse, and he'd go all vampire zombie on me, and as you know, that never turns out very well."
He sighed, a dry, hoarse little sound that would have made her feel worried for the overall health of anyone else.
"Have I entrusted this mission to the wrong person, Parker? Are you going to make me follow through with my threat toward your beloved sister?"
His tone made her feel more angry than scared. "No. Everything is fine. It won't be long now."
"I will be inLas Vegas tomorrow and will contact you when I arrive. You will meet me there and bring the Eye. Don't fail me, Parker."
"I won't."
The phone went dead. Janie had the urge to hurl it at the nearest cactus, but destroying electronic gadgetry never solved anything. It felt really good, but it wasn't the answer.
She turned back to Quinn, who now had his back to her. She marched up beside him.
"Let's go." There was no more friendliness in her voice. Not that there had been before. In fact, if she'd been remotely friendly before this, lame penguin joke or not, then it was a mistake.
Taken by surprise, he shoved something back into his pocket. A piece of paper.
She frowned. "What's that?"
"Nothing."
"Show me."
He turned to look directly at her. Standing next to her, he was about four inches taller than Janie. She was five-six, and she was wearing low-heeled boots. The hot sun reflected in his black sunglasses.
He didn't make a move to show her the paper.
"Don't try me, Quinn." Eyeing him, she flipped open her cell phone and pressed a number, then held it to her ear.
Quinn's eyes narrowed and his expression grew colder, but his Adam's apple worked as he swallowed hard. No sweat, though. She didn't have him sweating yet. Vampires weren't affected by the heat. They maintained their body temperature in extreme heat or cold, but they would sweat if nervous or scared… or turned on.
She'd made a few vamps sweat. And it wasn't because of her bedroom eyes.
After a couple of rings, she was greeted with a "Yello?"
"Lenny, it's me."
"Do you have it yet?"
"No, not yet."
"Uh. There's a little problem with the wolf." Lenny sounded nervous.
She cleared her throat and kept her face neutral. "What is it?"
"He… uh… sort of shifted."
"Shifted?"
"He turned into a big black dog. Wolf. Whatever. Anyhow, he said he felt sick, so I pulled the car off the highway. He ran to the side of the road, puked, and then shifted."
"Great. Just great. What's happening now?"
Quinn frowned at her.
"He's curled up in the back seat. I can hear him snoring. He reminds me of a dog I had when I was a kid. BigNewfoundland . Like the ones you see on the ski hills that have the whiskey in a little barrel around their necks? Except those are SaintBernards . Like in that movieBeethoven . They made a ton of sequels for that movie."
She looked directly at Quinn to make sure he was paying attention. "Lenny, Quinn isn't cooperating with me. I think you should cut off one of the werewolf's fingers."
She was lying. They didn't do torture, nor did she want to start now. But Quinn didn't have to know that.
Besides, in wolf form he wouldn't really have fingers.
"But he's a big cute wolf dog." Lenny sounded a little distressed by the suggestion. "I can't hurt a dog."
"Janie—" Quinn's voice sounded strained. "Just hang up."
She put her hand over the receiver. "Sorry, what?"
"Hang up the phone."
She held out her hand. "Show me the paper."
His jaw clenched, and he gave her a look that would send lesser women running away. She didn't even back up a step but felt the blood throbbing in her head.
Stress. She definitely didn't need this. Why couldn't everyone just cooperate? It would make life so much easier.
He didn't say another word but instead thrust his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out the ratty piece of paper. She snatched it away from him.
"Thank you," she said. And then in the phone, "Never mind, Lenny. You two just… I don't know… go on a long walk or something. Buy a Frisbee. That should keep you busy for hours."
He let out a long breath. "Oh, good. Thanks Janie."