Lupi 08 - Death Magic

now.”
    “Hmm.”
    “Not that I know what I can do. I’m not a cop, not a lupus or a trained witch or a spy or—or anything useful.”
    “You don’t have to be a warrior to be part of this fight. You do have to want and intend to oppose her . You can’t join the Shadow Unit as a form of marital therapy.”
    “Is that what you think I’m doing?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “I’m making you uncomfortable.”
    “This is a conversation you should have with Ruben, not me.”
    Her sudden smile woke the dimple in her cheek. “I’m making you uncomfortable.”
    He had to smile back. “Yes, you are. You seem pleased by that.”
    “I feel quite daring. I’m used to worrying about what others think, or what I think they might think, or what I think about what I think they think. That doesn’t seem to matter right now. I wonder why?”
    “Perhaps because it doesn’t matter what I think.”
    “That might be it.” She was quietly delighted. “That might just be it. Would you like some coffee? Or something else to drink?”
    They’d reached the back door. “Coffee would be lovely.” He knew from previous visits that Deborah made excellent coffee.
    “I’ll bring some in. It will just take a few minutes. Ruben should be in his study.”
    Apparently she no longer felt the need to escort him personally to her husband. Rule smiled wryly as he made his way to the book-lined room. He spoke before he reached the open door so Ruben would know it was him. Humans could seldom identify someone from the sound of their footsteps. “Deborah let me in. She’s going to bring us some coffee.”
    “Ah. Good.” Ruben was at his desk with his laptop in front of him. He moved it to one side, but didn’t rise, which meant he wasn’t feeling well. “Thank you for coming. Do sit down. I was just reading an interesting article about a new synthetic polymer they believe may make a good insulator against magic.”
    “Really? I thought plastic was transparent to magic—as are most synthetics.”
    “Apparently this is more akin to rubber than plastic, but has different properties than rubber.”
    “Cullen will want to hear about that.” They continued to discuss the various approaches different corporations were taking toward developing an inexpensive magical insulator for tech. It made an interesting and innocuous topic while they waited.
    Deborah arrived with a tray holding two steaming mugs and a sugar bowl. Ruben took his coffee sweet. She reminded Ruben of a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. He grimaced. “Cardiologist,” he said briefly to Rule, rising as soon as Deborah left. He went to the inset circle on the floor, crouched, and activated it. “I think we won’t bother with the magic bomb this time,” he said as he straightened and returned to his desk. “Your presence should be sufficient. Mika said you have news. About the Bixton investigation?”
    “No. I should have made that clear—sorry. Though I can update you on what Lily knows.” He felt a twinge of guilt, but it was probably not called for. Lily must suspect he’d keep Ruben informed. She’d made a point of informing Mika, after all, even if she had done it in a roundabout way.
    Ruben waved that away. “I’d better hear what brought you here first.”
    “It requires discussion, which is why I didn’t pass the details through Mika.” Mika could “speak” to anyone within the metro area without leaving his lair, and he checked in with Ruben frequently. For the rest of the ghosts, however, it wasn’t so easy. Unless the sender had mindspeech—which none of them did—Mika had to be fairly close to read his or her mind. Even then, the amount of mental noise in the city made it difficult for him to focus in on a single thought, so they’d been told to use a nonsense word to get Mika’s attention—a string of syllables that no one else on the planet would be concentrating on.
    Fortunately, Mika was keeping to a schedule on his overflights of the city, which limited the amount of time Rule had to spend saying, “nininfalaha” to get Mika’s attention. “We lost Chittenden.”
    “What happened?”
    “He went to the mall. My men followed him, but lost visual contact. His scent led to an exit, but he was gone. That was four days ago, and he hasn’t returned to his condo. His car is still at the mall parking lot.”
    “Ah.” Ruben tented his fingers. “I’ll have flights and car rentals checked. He may not travel under his