Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

from the
     VP in charge of development. The really weird part was how little it bothered him.
     He clearly remembered seeing those rats flapping along beside the plane when he flew
     in that morning—he’d had a window seat—but the memory didn’t strike him as odd. After
     we talked things out, he agreed that there couldn’t really be any flying rats, so
     it had to be a hallucinatory memory, but he seemed to think I was making a lot of
     fuss about something pretty trivial. So did the other two.”
    “The other two?”
    “I did the demo for four execs from T-Corp. Three of them were nulls, not a whiff
     of magic to ’em. One was a practicing Wiccan—Air Gift, not strong, but well trained.
     The Gifted guy didn’t experience any hallucinogenic memories. The three nulls did.
     The fabricated memories all involved events that really occurred on that day between
     seven and four hours prior to the demo.”
    “If they didn’t recognize the, uh, fabricated memories as bizarre, how did you find
     out about them? No, wait—I want to know that and a bunch of other things, like what
     the prototype looks like. But I need to call the CSI team first.” She reached for
     the phone in her jacket pocket. “Do you have a photo of it?’
    “No photo.”
    “What does it—”
    “I’m afraid you can’t call CSI,” Rule said from the shadows partway up the slope.
    She frowned at him. “Sure I can. If I don’t have any bars here I’ll head up the hill.”
    “Isen forbids it. That means less to you than to the rest of us, but this isn’t a
     Unit matter. No magic was used in the crime.”
    Her first reaction was to call it in anyway. Rule waswrong; MCD could only investigate felonies committed using magic, but she was Unit.
     She could investigate anything connected with magic, including the theft of a magical
     object. But if he wanted to, Isen could make investigation impossible. If their Rho
     told them to, every lupus at Clanhome would insist there had been no explosion, no
     intruder, and nothing was missing. Every damn one of them, including Cullen.
    Including Rule.
    “Cullen,” she said, her voice tight, “how about you go burn something while I chat
     with Rule?”
    “Oh, stop and think, Lily,” Cullen said crossly as he brushed past her. “It’s obvious
     why Isen doesn’t want outsiders involved.”
    Not to her, it wasn’t. “Well?” she said to Rule.
    He sighed. “How did the thief know where to find the prototype?”
    Ah, shit. Double shit. She should have thought of that.
    There were other possibilities than the obvious. The thief might have conducted aerial
     surveillance. Photos that showed Cullen going to and from the workshop, for example,
     would locate it. But that was not the only way for him to find out. Not the easiest
     way, nor the most certain. Not the likeliest way. Her stomach hurt when she said it
     out loud. “Isen thinks there’s a traitor in the clan.”
    “He believes it likely, yes. Or among our guests. Isen has called all three clans
     present at Clanhome to the meeting ground.”
    Her eyes widened. “All of them? Will everyone fit?”
    “Some of the tenders are excused to care for the children, as are those guards needed
     for patrol and those still fighting the fire on Big Sister—which was under control
     but not out, the last I heard. Otherwise, every adult must attend. He asked that I
     include my Leidolf guards. I agreed, with the stipulation that Leidolf be questioned
     first.”
    Rule was Lu Nuncio to Nokolai—heir and enforcer, basically. Obedient to his Rho. He
     was, however, also a Rho in his own right. Rho to Leidolf, Nokolai’s longtime enemy.Two-mantled, some were calling him. Even at Nokolai Clanhome, Isen couldn’t command
     the Leidolf guards. He couldn’t order his son to bring them. He could only request.
     “Why first?”
    “Most of those present will already be blaming my Leidolf guards. They must be shown
     quickly and publicly to be untainted. Lily, we need to go to the meeting field
now
.”
    “In just a minute. First I need to—”
    “This isn’t the time to argue. We have to go. My father is very angry.”
    “He would be.”
    “You don’t understand. You’ve never seen him deeply angry.”
    No, she hadn’t. She’d seen Isen laughing, kind, ruthless, annoyed, tender, and ready
     to kill. But deeply angry…“How mad is he? Are you worried he’ll lose control?”
    He hesitated. Only for a second, but that scared her