Frost Burned

Tony.
    “No.”
    Tony frowned at him. “Then how—” Then he shook his head. “Never mind. But those aren’t the only bodies.”
    Adam’s face became even more expressionless. “There will be no other bodies. After we escaped, there was a fire at the winery.”
    Another silence followed.
    “I can accept a separate justice,” Tony said, finally. “I’ve known you. I and my department have called you for help, and you have never failed us. I’ve seen you meet violence with soft words. And I’ve never seen you lie. I’m in agreement with Agent Armstrong. I have a few ideas, and I think if Armstrong is willing to help, we can sell this to the department.”
    “You said there was a fire at the winery?” asked Armstrong.
    Adam sat down and rubbed his hands over his face. “Yes. We are used to cleaning up our own messes. We’ve found fire to be very effective.”
    “Teeth and the denser bones,” said Tony with extreme neutrality, “tend to show up after a fire.”
    “I’d be very surprised if there are any teeth or bones,” I told him half-apologetically. Adam had left Elizaveta out of his explanation. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
    Armstrong gave me a sharp look, but he didn’t say anything further. Instead he asked, “What about the mercenaries the renegades were working with? Did you identify them?”
    “No,” Adam said. “They’re out of it, and of no more concern to me. I think there are only three players left.”
    Asil held up a finger. “The money man.” He held up another finger. “The turncoat in Senator Campbell’s security detail.” And a third. “The person who gave the Cantrip agents the contact information for the mercenaries and the dossiers about your pack and werewolves in general.”
    “I have a friend looking into the information man,” Adam said. “He’s pretty sure that he can find the contact name from the mercenaries without causing an international incident.”
    On Kyle’s landline, Adam had been able to get in touch with Charles. Charles was scary good at finding out things no one wanted anyone to know. Charles was just plain scary in general.
    “But,” Adam continued, “I think the damage the information man can do is done. So there is no great urgency in running him down.”
    “Let’s be clear here, in this room,” said Armstrong. “Are you talking about killing him?”
    Adam shook his head. “Killing him is a lot more problematic than just keeping an eye on him. The past few days aside, we try our best not to go around killing humans, Mr. Armstrong.”
    “You don’t consider yourself human?” asked Armstrong.
    Asil raised his eyebrows at Adam, who shrugged, and said, “ ‘Humans who are not werewolves’ is too wordy to say more than once. We are as human as we can be.”
    “So we’re left with the money man and the potential assassin in Senator Campbell’s security team.” Tony was leaning forward intently.
    Adam leaned back and stretched out his legs. The tension in the room ratcheted down four notches, proof that werewolves aren’t the only ones who can read body language. “Let’s deal with Senator Campbell’s problem as the more manageable evil. I’ve sent word to Senator Campbell through people I know in the security industry, but it might be better, Agent Armstrong, if you warned the senator yourself. Keep in mind that whoever this traitor on his security detail is, he is not necessarily driven by any agenda other than money. If he is only a gun for hire, taking out the Cantrip people who wanted to kill Senator Campbell might be enough to stop him. If he is a zealot, of whatever stripe, he’s likely to get impatient and try on his own.” Adam paused and raised an eyebrow. “You can tell the senator that I am happy to send a couple of trained security professionals who are werewolves to ensure his safety if he would allow it. No charge.”
    Armstrong’s mouth quirked. “Have you ever met the senator?”
    “No, sir.”
    “I have. He might just take you up on your offer. He is not as anti-werewolf as he is painted. He just doesn’t like it when they go around eating people.”
    Put like that, he didn’t sound so bad. But I’d heard some of his speeches.
    Adam nodded, but his voice was reserved when he said, “It would please me if he accepted. If something happens to him at this point, it will cause people to blame the werewolves. I’d rather he and his family be safe and sound for years to