The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6), Hailey Edwards [year 2 reading books TXT] 📗

Older vampires were often ignorant of modern technology, but new ones tended to be more tech savvy.

Just our luck, these had known enough to smash our quickest means of tracking Neely.

Hoping Midas had good news for me, I dialed him before updating Grier. “Hi, handsome.”

“Aww,” Ford replied. “You say the sweetest things.”

“Um.” I double-checked the number. “Where’s Midas?”

“Bathroom.”

“Oookay.” I gave him a second, but he chose not to enlighten me. “Why do you have his phone?”

“Midas had to handle some business.” He pitched his voice low. “In the bathroom.”

There were lines that Midas and I didn’t cross, and two of them involved toilet paper.

“We’re not married yet.” I mentally backed away from this conversation. “He can call me back later.”

“Hang on.” He grunted and then a vehicle door shut. “Midas is interrogating a witness.”

“In the bathroom?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t follow.”

“We’re at Marx’s.” The radio station playing country music in the background pegged him as being in his truck. “We got a tip from a gwyllgi EMT that a teenager filmed the whole thing. He was talking over the recording, like he was giving a live report. He even tried to interview witnesses.”

“Public exposure is the last thing we need right now.”

The footage wouldn’t be damning in and of itself. Humans wouldn’t watch it, point a trembling finger at the screen, and shout, “Vampires are real.” But word of Neely’s affiliations would get around to the para community, and that was what promised to cause a stir.

“Sorry, darlin’.” Ford turned down the music. “I wish I had better news.”

“Goddess, that sounded selfish.” I crushed my eyes shut for a count of five. “Neely is missing, and I—”

“—am stressed to the breaking point,” he soothed. “Don’t beat yourself up over a knee-jerk response.”

No chance of that, but his support helped me think clearer. “This could be a good thing.”

“We might have footage of the vampires responsible,” Ford agreed. “Assuming Mr. Torres was correct.”

“He’s had enough experience with the supernatural to make an educated guess.”

Superhuman strength, a flash of fang, hissing, snarling, snapping, could all point toward vampires.

Humans, being prey animals, had a sixth sense about them not so different from necromancers.

“Any news on that front?”

“That’s why I was calling.” I was happy to change topics. “We’ve located Mr. Torres. He’s at Gershwin Memorial Hospital. I’m not comfortable leaving him there, so we’re transferring him into Abbott’s care.”

The Faraday was now owned by the Atlanta gwyllgi pack, and the OPA had contracted out the use of one of its offices for me to host meetings with the heads of various factions within the city, since HQ was off-limits to non-OPA staff. We also brought on Abbott, who up to that point had been patching us up for free, like a sucker, and whom I trusted more than I ever thought possible, given he was a doctor and therefore suspect.

Highly suspect.

Even if he did stock my favorite lollipops for the rare occasions when I was a good little patient.

“Midas ought to finish up soon.” Ford slurped on a drink. “I’ll pass your message when he gets out.”

“Yeah.” I was still iffy on why the interrogation required a toilet. “Thanks.”

With that call behind me, I texted Abbott a heads-up that we were coming in hot then booked a Swyft.

A mixture of relief and dread swept through me while I dialed Grier as Bishop and I exited HQ.

“Have you found Cruz?”

Her words smushed together so tight, I had to separate them in my head before forming an answer. “Yes.”

“Thank the goddess,” she breathed. “How is he?”

“Stable,” Bishop said, loud enough for her to hear. “That’s all we know at this point.”

“We’re transferring him from Gershwin to the Faraday, into Abbott’s care.”

“Good.” Her voice wobbled. “That’s good.”

Bishop flagged down our driver, and we climbed in his car. A nice one. With passenger snacks and water bottles. Sadly, I was too jittery to partake. That didn’t stop me from admiring a bag of mini-Oreo cookies from afar.

With a few swipes from my modified pen, I drew a sigil on my hand, ensuring my conversation with Grier remained private. It meant excluding Bishop, but we couldn’t risk the information we discussed leaking to the public.

“We’ve got a possible lead on the persons responsible for kidnapping Neely.”

Fingers crossed the video didn’t prove me a liar after we watched it.

“Thank the goddess some more and again.”

“I’ll touch base as soon as we have anything.”

“Thanks.” Her exhale was shaky in my ear. “It’s hard sitting on my hands.”

“You’re not coming?” I heard the shock in my voice. “I thought…”

“I trust you to handle this.” Her surety shone through. “You’re days from your swearing in. It’s a critical time for you. You need to be seen as having this under control. I can’t upset your apple cart.”

Relief transformed my knees to jelly, and I was grateful to be sitting when they started wobbling.

“I won’t make you look weak,” she said, determination in every syllable. “You’ve worked too hard.”

Her arrival in my city would do exactly that. It would shout my incompetence.

“Thank you.” I took a breath and unintended words rushed out. “I’m doing everything I can.”

“He’s your friend too.” She forgot to use the past tense. “You’ll find him. For both of us. For all of us.”

Neely truly was a treasure. More than his husband and friends would miss him if…

There was no room for ifs. I was going to find him, and he would be okay. That was that.

“I won’t rest until I do,” I promised. “He’s my top priority.”

“Will you bring in the Atlanta Alliance?”

The Atlanta Alliance was my brainchild, but giving birth to it was threatening to rip me a new one.

The original idea had been for each faction to elect a representative to give them a voice, but that hope quickly flew out the window after every pack, clan, pride, etc., decided they required their own seat at the table. Meaning the AA was now more than twice its intended size and