“What about Prophet?”
Tristan smiled with so much warmth that it cheapened her previous attempts. “He’s a cutie,” she said. “He had plenty of chances to make things tough for me, but worked to smooth them out instead. He’s got a free pass too.” Placing her hand on Cole’s arm, she quickly added, “But don’t tell him I said that. Just tell him he can come and check with us if he needs to.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Should I get things set up for Denver? I’ll need to make a few calls but should be able to get you there.”
“Yeah, do that. I really appreciate it, Tristan.”
“I know you do. That’s why you still get the VIP treatment, and the rest of those cocky, stick-wielding jerks have to go to the back of the line.”
Watching a Dryad walk away was an event unto itself. No matter what was going on with the rest of the world, Cole felt his muscles loosen as his eyes followed the mesmerizing sway of her hips. Well, some of his muscles loosened. It was definitely easy to see how a shipload of sailors from centuries past could be drawn off course by catching sight of similar creatures frolicking topless in the waves.
“Paige already talked to Stanze,” Rico announced as he stomped down the hall from the opposite direction. “She’s meeting up with him now.” He slapped the phone against Cole’s chest and said, “Here. You call Prophet and I’ll tidy up the back room. I’ll convince that other one what a bad idea it would be to bring any of his buddies back here. There’s an art to these things,” he declared with a grin.
No matter how badly Rico obviously wanted to discuss his art, Cole wasn’t in the mood. He let the big man go and then dialed Prophet’s number. The bounty hunter answered on the third ring.
Completely stepping past any hellos or how-are-yous, Prophet said, “Tell me you guys ain’t involved with this cop shooting business.”
“I could tell you that, but …”
“Aww, Jesus Christ. How bad is it?”
“It’s a setup. I can tell you the rest later. How about we meet in Denver?”
“Only if we go after those Nymar that Stanley’s been on my ass about.”
“You talked me into it,” Cole said. “What can you tell us about those guys?”
“I’ve got a whole damn file. They’re more of a gang than anything else. Maybe even like a crime family. No, that’s giving them too much credit. I’ll go with gang. Not just some street gang, but more like—”
“It’s so much easier when you just have some crazy dream and give us a warning,” Cole grumbled. “Remember that? I miss those days.”
Prophet’s tone shifted into something that allowed him to scowl across a digital phone line. “Funny thing about those dreams. I need to sleep in order for them to hit. Ever since you asked me to watch your back in some creepy-as-hell basement in Philadelphia so we could steal a prized possession from a bunch of armed and dangerous, lunatic monster hunters, my sleep schedule ain’t been too great. Oh, and finding out that the possession we were taking was the mutilated chunks of a werewolf, any dreams I might have had after that ain’t exactly the ones I want either.”
“Point taken. What did you mean before when you said ‘wait for us to get there’?”
After a short pause, Prophet continued without the gruff tone in his voice. “Me and the Amriany.”
“You’re still following them?”
“Actually, they’re following me. From a real close distance.”
“They caught you, didn’t they?”
“Caught sounds so sinister. They’re after the same thing you are, anyway.”
“Really? What might that be?”
“They want to recover some of that Lancroft crap, but they also caught wind of some Nymar taking their business overseas. One of them named Hope is traveling with a group that’s been putting together some sort of organization. They already got their communications set up. They’ve been collecting weapons. They got plenty of intelligence on Skinners and now they’re looking to take you out.”
“So if they’re getting so comfortable here, why would they want to leave the U.S.?” Cole asked.
“That’s what these Amriany want to find out. Drina, she’s the blonde, she thinks one of the Nymar groups that are definitely involved in this uprising will have a computer with some good intel on it or numbers on their phones they can use. I’ve been trying to steer them to Denver, but they got a line on a group down in Texas.”
“San Antonio?”
“Yeah,” Prophet said in a voice that made it easy for Cole to picture the surprised look on his face. “How’d you know about that?”
“Never mind. How’d the Amriany get out of Philly?”
“Drove, then flew. They got a real nice setup, Cole. Kind of puts you guys to shame. Not that it’s too hard to put a shit-box Chevy to shame, but I’m talking charter planes and the works. These Gypsies have some serious funding.”
“You might not want to let them hear you call them that. They’re a bit sensitive about the G word.”
“Believe me, I understand that kind of aggravation. I still need to check the African-American box on more official forms than I can count. My dad’s Jamaican and Mom’s from Cuba. How the hell does that make me African American? You’re rolling your eyes now, right?”
“Yeah, Prophet. Big-time.”
“I’ll see about getting us to Denver.”
“Tell them we’re planning on hitting them hard. The last thing those Nymar will be expecting is another team sneaking in while the fireworks are going. Even below that on the list would be a team of Amriany. As long as your new buddies are willing to cooperate and share what they find, we don’t have any problem with letting them in on this.”
“You’ve got the pull to guarantee that?” Prophet asked cautiously.
“There’s just me and Rico here, so yeah. I’ve got the pull.”
“What about Paige?”
“I’m sure she’ll find a way to get there.”
“You don’t sound thrilled about that.”
“Can you get to Denver or not?” Cole quickly asked. “Considering everything they’ve been saying about you guys, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“What have they been saying?”
“‘Bye.”
Cole looked at the phone as if Prophet might somehow be looking back at him. All he saw was a reflection of his face and a red message telling him his call had come to an end.
“You done out here?” Rico asked as he stepped into the hall.
The latest round of dance mixes had come to an end, which meant the dancers were starting to hustle backstage again. A few of the Dryads were among them. They stood out like finely cut crystal goblets scattered among a collection of free cups collected from fast-food movie tie-ins. Considering how attractive Pinups’ human dancers were, that was saying a lot. Elle whispered something to the ladies in her group, which kept the whole procession moving right past the Skinners.
“Yeah,” Cole said as he tucked his phone away. “I’m done.”
They tagged along with the trio of girls heading for the main stages, savoring the mixed scents of body sprays and female skin. All three were human, and drinking them in was like a welcome bit of familiar cooking. Hooray for the home team.
The procession stopped at a door that would have blended in perfectly with the black wall if not for the handle outlined in white tape. The girls opened it without having to look at what they were doing, and Cole stopped in his tracks when he saw Tristan in the main room. She leaned against a table in a pose that wasn’t quite the same as the one she struck when prowling for lap dances. Shifting her eyes toward the door at the back of the room, she looked straight past the three dancers and locked eyes with Cole.