Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

Diego.
    It is good to strike the serpent's head with your enemy's hand. To help you strike this serpent, I tell you one more thing about this man. He has a small tattoo beneath his left nipple. This mark cannot be seen with ordinary vision. It is a word, but uses a character I do not know. I write it for you here.
     
    Below that was a character written the old-fashioned way - with ink and brush. Lily scowled at it. She for damned sure didn't know the word, either. She spoke some Chinese, sure - though Grandmother said her accent was terrible - but she didn't read it at all.
    I wish you success, the note ended. Though this may surprise you, I hope you live through your battle with our common enemy. Please convey my respect to your esteemed grandmother. It wasn't signed.
    She glanced at her watch. Damn. She was tempted to call Cody and tell him she couldn't make it... but if this snitch of his did know anything, she needed to be there. Cody wouldn't know the right questions to ask.
    If she hurried, she had time to throw together a sandwich, but there was no time for a shower. Pushing to her feet, she hurried to Rule's office - the actual office, not the dining table he usually used. She scanned the letter with its hanzi characters, printed it, then booted up Rule's desktop and sent the image to herself, to Ida, and to Ruben.
    Seven minutes later she headed out the door - pausing to frown at the two men standing outside. "Where's Jose and Jacob?"
    Mark grinned. "Truth is, Jacob had a hot date. Steve and I were already here, so when Jacob, uh, mentioned his scheduling conflict to Jose, we agreed to finish the watch so he could get there on time."
    The explanation sounded reasonable, yet it bothered her. On impulse she grabbed Mark's hand.
    This alarmed him. "Uh... ma'am?"
    She shook her head and let him go. "Nothing." Just the usual furry magic, which she should have known without checking. Illusions didn't work on her. "Tell Rule I already gave Harry his ham, okay?"
    "Will do."
    She hurried off down the hall, purse on her shoulder, jacket once more covering her shoulder harness, with a Diet Coke in the purse and a ham sandwich in one hand. And thought about names.
    Cullen had said that Grandmother had said - damn, this got convoluted - that the Chimei marked her lover in some way. Could this unknown word inscribed beneath the sorcerer's left nipple be the secret name? Could it be that simple?
    Of course, there was still the business of pronouncing that word correctly, which that unknown character made tricky. Then - if it was a name, or part of one - they had to figure out what to do with it. Just saying it probably wasn't enough. Magic always needed intention. She knew that much.
    But this could be a break. Plus now they had an idea about what the sorcerer wanted. Lily had a feeling the criminal empire he had in mind wasn't the Chimei's goal. Maybe she could play that, find a way to work the two against each other.
    Things were looking up.

 
    THIRTY-THREE

    "Why do snitches never want to meet someplace comfortable?" Lily complained as she got out of her car.
    Cody grinned. "I think someone didn't get any supper."
    "I had supper." She'd eaten the sandwich in the car and downed half the soda. "What I didn't get was a shower."
    They were in the parking lot of the Oceanview Mall - which completely lacked a view of the ocean, offering instead acres of concrete that had been soaking up heat all day. Having received in abundance, it was now giving back. A bit of a breeze was kicking up, though, carrying a teasing whisper of coolness. Lily glanced off to the west, where the stalled cloud-bank looked like a massively bad bruise, all black and purple. Maybe the storm would move in, after all. "What now?"
    "Having parked in the boonies, we now walk to section A12, where we look for a 2007 red Ford pickup, California license 3NQS750. Lowrider, orange flame on the sides." Cody glanced at her. "For some reason Javier thinks my ride's too distinctive. He didn't want me parking anywhere near him."
    They started for the congested section he'd indicated. Privately, Lily admitted that, from a snitch's point of view, the setup made sense in a paranoid sort of way. Public spots were better than dark alleys or bars, and what could be more public yet anonymous than a mall parking lot? The light was fading, but not yet gone. If he was a smart snitch, he'd shown up early and would be watching to make sure they followed instructions - and