Must Love Hellhounds

every good idea that involved Maggie and handcuffs wouldn’t include Sir Pup. “Would he let you handcuff me and leave?”
    “I don’t know. He follows directions, but interprets them how he likes. If Mr. Ames-Beaumont told him to protect you—and Sir Pup agreed that you were safer handcuffed to a bed and away from James—he might not bite off my head for it.”
    Geoff tried to see Maggie through the hellhound again, but had to pull out when the three perspectives pushed his vision into a nauseating spin. She was scratching Sir Pup’s ears, and his eyes were glowing with a soft red light.
    Would the hellhound really hurt her? Or had the threat earlier been for show? Geoff had no doubt that his uncle had given Sir Pup orders to protect him—but the hellhound also apparently had a mind of his own. Like Maggie.
    Suddenly, he liked the hellhound much better.
    “Can you see through animals, Mr. Blake?”
    “No.” It wasn’t a lie. Sir Pup couldn’t be included among normal animals, and Geoff had never seen through any dog, horse, or cat.
    “Just through people?”
    “Yes. And no more ‘Mr. Blake.’ I am not your employer.”
    “Yes, sir.” She was smiling; he caught the edge of her reflection in the rearview mirror. “I plan to shower with my eyes closed, Mr. Geoffrey.”
    “Right.” Geoff sighed. “And now I wish doubly that you hadn’t found out the truth.”
     
     
     
    Blake took the first shower while Maggie set up her computer and called San Francisco on her encrypted line.
    To her relief, Savi was the one who answered it. Though Maggie liked Ames-Beaumont, she loved the young vampire he intended to marry. Maggie had never met anyone like Savi—who was as genuine as Savi. In her profession, that quality had been hard to come by, and Maggie adored her for it.
    Not that she would ever be so unprofessional as to admit it.
    After a few friendly inquiries about Maggie’s and Blake’s status, Savi got to work. Within minutes, all of the files Maggie had requested were being downloaded to her computer. She engaged the speakerphone so that she could use both hands to type; in the background, she could hear Savi’s fingers flying at super-speed over her own keyboard.
    After a few seconds, Savi gave a short “Woot!”
    Maggie blinked. “What did you find?”
    “Campground reservations. The entire state system is on-line. I’m in, so I’ll start running the registered plates.”
    “ All of them?”
    “Why not?” She could easily imagine Savi’s shrug. She’d seen it a million times, on both the young vampire and the brilliant geeks who made up the CIA’s tech support. “Something might pop. A plate that doesn’t match the vehicle make, or is listed as stolen.” Savi snorted out a little laugh. “Stealing a motor home. That takes some balls.”
    “More brains than balls,” Maggie said. “If it had been kept in storage, weeks might go by before the owner reports it missing.”
    “Good point.” The clacking stopped. “Hey, Maggie . . . Colin’s not here, but I can speak for both of us.”
    Her chest seemed to freeze. “Yes?”
    “Katherine’s still alive. Chances are, they’ll keep her that way because they want something.”
    “Yes,” Maggie agreed quietly. Her tongue felt numb. If she looked in the mirror, she was sure her face would be pale, her lips bloodless.
    “So we’re still cool now. And it’s not that we don’t trust—” Savi stopped. Started again with, “Geoff is good at what he does. And you were good at what you did.”
    “Killing people?”
    “Getting them out of bad situations,” Savi said. “Troubleshooting.”
    Usually by shooting whoever was causing the trouble. But Maggie wasn’t going to argue. “All right.”
    “You know we’ve got the pictures.”
    She closed her eyes. “Yes.”
    “We wouldn’t have hired you if we didn’t trust you, and it helps that James led you to Geoff.” The deep breath Savi took was audible over the speaker. “But if you betray that trust without good reason, I can’t— I won’t —protect you from Colin.”
    What was a good reason? But she only said, “I know. Thank you, Miss Murray.”
    “Jesus, Maggie, don’t thank me. Just make it back, okay?” She sighed when Maggie didn’t answer. “All right. I’m going to finish up here, and I’ll shoot you everything I find when I’ve finished. Give Sir Pup a kiss good night for me.”
    Maggie disconnected and looked over at the hellhound, taking up one