Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

Murder was a hell of a lot easier. Even with a good team to handle
     the snatch itself—and Little Mo’s bunch were competent; they’d have succeeded if they
     hadn’t been up against lupi—you had to keep your hostage alive, locked up, and hidden.
     Holding multiple people hostage for several days compounded the difficulty. Why would
     Friar do that?
    Lily didn’t think he was. Neither did Bergman. Chances were that Sean Friar and Adam
     King were already dead, but maybe not. They had no idea what Friar’s game plan was,
     so maybe he needed them alive. In any event, they had to proceed as if the hostages
     were still around to be rescued.
    At the end of the briefing Lily had turned to Special Agent Bergman and said, “This
     is a Unit case, both because of Friar’s probable involvement and because of the prototype.
     But we’ve got two kidnappings and one attempt, and you’ve got ten times my experience
     with that sort of thing. You know your people and you know the city. What do you want
     to do?”
    Bergman had taken off like a racehorse given its head. She was quick, she was precise,
     and she knew her stuff. In five minutes she’d outlined a course of action that included
     liaising with the locals on the attempt on Beth—one of Bergman’s men had worked with
     Detective Jones and had a good relationship with her; bringing Carrie Ann Rucker back
     for a second round of questions; putting more people on Sean Friar’s disappearance
     to find out when, where, and how he’d been snatched; and finding out what Peep was
     afraid of. “We can’t sweat him with threats of prosecution,”she said. “Prison’s his home away from home. We need to know what scares him and use
     that.”
    She also wanted to look for matches to the attempt on Beth because “those assholes
     knew what they were doing. This wasn’t their first tango, but nothing in their priors
     suggests that kind of expertise. I think they had help.” And she wanted to put a tap
     on Jasper Machek’s phone.
    “Help…as in training?” Lily nodded thoughtfully. “Well worth checking out. The tap’s
     in place as of two hours ago. I’ll see that you get transcripts. You’re in charge
     of investigating the kidnappings.”
    “What the hell are you doing?” Drummond demanded.
    He’d faded in to join them in a misty-white-cloud sort of way when Lily began the
     briefing. Now he was fully formed, floating, and fuming.
    It was really hard not to react.
    Bergman spoke levelly. “It’s a Unit case.”
    “Yes, it is, and you’ll report to me, but you don’t need me to tell you how to tie
     your shoes.”
    Drummond glared down at her. “No, I can do that! Dammit, Yu, with me to help, you
     can handle this just fine.”
    “Set things up,” Lily went on briskly to Bergman, “keep things moving, keep me informed.
     If your people get anything—anything at all—that gives a tug on Robert Friar’s whereabouts,
     call me that instant. Do not attempt him yourself.”
    Drummond announced that she was a goddamned idiot.
    Bergman nodded, still wary. “That’s standing orders for Friar. ‘Contact Unit Twelve
     immediately. Do not attempt to apprehend.’ ”
    “I’m underlining it. This is not about territory or who gets the collar.”
    “I’m not territorial.”
    Sure she was, but Lily didn’t have a problem with that. “Robert Friar can’t be handled
     without magical protections that your people don’t have, and I can’t give them.” She
     paused to glance around the small conference table at the four agents other than Bergman…
    Drummond sank to floor level and stomped silently up to Lily. “Dammit, you need to
     listen to me! Investigations like this are what I do, and I’m damn good at what I
     do. If you can’t handle an investigation this big, let me help so—”
    Shut up!
    He looked startled—and did. That disconcerted her as much as his yelling had. Lily
     hoped her reaction didn’t show as she finished her visual circuit of everyone present—everyone
     but Drummond. “Everyone clear on that? Okay. What do you need that you don’t have?”
    Bergman snorted. “A dozen senior agents, a car that doesn’t stall out when I try to
     go over fifty, and a vacation in the Bahamas.”
    “Can’t help with the vacation. Do you have an immediate need for a dozen senior agents,
     or was that number just for ha-ha?”
    Bergman’s eyes narrowed. “You can get me a dozen senior agents?”
    “To get Robert Friar?