Bayou Moon - Andrews, Ilona [10]
William shifted, a light transfer of weight from one foot to the next, and hid a smile when Erwin tensed in response. As a changeling, William had no flash, but he’d spent enough years in a unit full of superb flashers. If Erwin flashed pale blue or white, he was likely a blueblood or extremely talented, like Rose. If he managed a green or a yellow, he wasn’t very high up the food chain.
The hotter Erwin’s flash, the higher up the ladder of command the woman was. No sense wasting a good flasher to guard a mid-level paper pusher.
“Can you flash?” William asked.
Erwin offered him a mild smile.
“He wants to know who he is dealing with,” the woman said. “You have my permission to demonstrate.”
Erwin inclined his head to her and looked at William. “Name the target.”
“Wasp nest, twenty feet to the left, on the oak. Second branch up.”
It would have to be a hell of shot to hit that damn thing. Declan probably could, but he’d blow half the tree away with it.
Erwin turned. “Ah.”
A white glow drenched his eyes. Tiny tendrils of white lightning sparked off his right hand and flared, combining into a current. A beam of pure white shot from him, severing the wasp nest in half, as if with a knife.
Erwin wasn’t just a flasher. He was a sniper. Figured.
“You’ve heard of Virai,” the woman said.
Most Red Legionnaires knew of Virai. The Red Legion did black ops, so when the Mirror needed muscle and raw numbers, they tapped the Red Legion first. Virai was the head of the Mirror, the power behind the agency. His name was whispered.
“Sure.”
The woman raised her chin. “I am Virai.”
William blinked. “The Virai?”
“Yes. You may call me Nancy, if you would like.”
Nancy. Right. “Why did you bring me pictures of dead children?”
“Because you have spent the last two years living here, safe and cozy. You needed a reminder of who you are.”
Arrogant crone. William bared his teeth in a slow wolf smile. “Your pet sniper won’t stop me. I’ve taken his kind before.” In his mind William leapt over his action figures, hit Erwin, breaking his neck on the way down, rolled . . .
“Perhaps,” Nancy said. “But can you take two at once?”
Her eyes blazed with white. Magic unfurled from her in a glowing shroud, held for a long breath, and vanished.
The imaginary attack died as imaginary William got sliced in two by Nancy’s flash. They had him. One superior flasher he could handle. Between the two of them, they would mince him into pieces before he got his fingers around anyone’s throat.
William crossed his arms. “What is it you want?”
The woman raised her head. “I want you to go deeper into the Edge and find Spider. I want you to take away the object he’s looking for and bring it to me. If you kill him, I would consider it a bonus.”
Well, he did ask. “Why me?”
“Because he knows my agents. He knows the way they think, and he kills them. You’ve tangled with him twice and survived. So far, it’s a record.” She locked her teeth, making the muscles on her jaw stand out. “Spider is the worst kind of enemy. He’s a true believer, convinced that he’s serving a higher cause. He won’t stop until he’s dead.”
“And you’re here because you don’t want to waste your people hunting him,” William said. As a changeling, he was expendable. Nothing new there.
Nancy’s voice cracked like a whip. “I’m here, because of all of the operatives available to me, you are the best man for the job and I can’t suffer another failure. I can’t compel you to help me. I have no authority over you. I can only ask.”
If that was the way she asked, he hated to hear what her order sounded like.
She did ask all the same. That was new. He’d been given orders all his life. Declan was the only one who bothered to ask him anything. The dumb blueblood insisted on treating