"From Howard, no doubt. Now I know how those terrorists knew we were sending someone in at the British Embassy. Did you contact the same one for that particular piece of treason, or somebody else?"
"I called the number Wildrif gave me," Orderly Kelly Tharpe tried to make himself smaller. He was handcuffed and shackled to the chair beside Matt's desk. "Somebody answered. I gave the message Wildrif passed to me."
"And what was that message?" Matt was becoming angrier by the second.
"He said to tell them that if they wanted proof of what the boy could do, to go to the British Embassy at a certain date and time."
Matt cursed. Kicked the side of his desk and cursed again.
"What about the second message. To Congressman Howard?" Matt's agent asked the question, since Matt was still cursing under his breath.
"Wildrif said for him to leave the country. Said that Howard would know what he meant and would pay."
"Is Wildrif still at the hospital?" Matt looked at his agent.
"He was ten minutes ago."
"Call. Have him transferred to the maximum-security facility in Colorado. Do it now. Nobody talks to this guy, nobody listens to this guy. Got it? Move."
Ashe hadn't gone far. He'd stopped a quarter mile from the beach house and stood on the sand while waves sloshed around his feet. Briefly, he wondered what would happen if he hopped to the horizon, using his newly discovered talent. He wasn't planning to tell anyone about it, yet. It would just be another reason to keep him under surveillance. Trace had stepped out to the deck after Ashe left the others behind. No doubt to keep an eye on Ashe and make sure he didn't get away. Sharp hearing was always a plus—it let Ashe know many things. He'd heard Trace close the patio door behind him; even heard the creak of the chair when Trace settled into it. Shaking himself a little, Ashe turned to go back.
"I think I'll ask Dawn to come for a visit," Denise said, looking over the postcard while she drank coffee at Adele's kitchen island. "There's plenty of room at the house. She might enjoy being close to the gulf for a change."
"That's a great idea." Adele smiled. "Do you have her number?"
"I do." Denise pulled out her cell and flipped through the phone list.
"I know I gave you bogus news before, but I just found out that Dawn Smith is coming for a visit and Randy has vacation time, so he's coming too." Sali called Ashe again while Ashe sat in front of the computer inside his office, working on a few small assignments for Winkler.
"Sali, aren't you supposed to be working?" Ashe asked.
"Break time, dude."
"When are they coming?" Ashe asked, plugging in a password and revealing all sorts of sensitive information on a Savings and Loan.
"Coming in on Saturday. Leaving after the full moon. Mom talked Randy's mom into running with us."
"That's nice, dude. Gotta go. I think I just uncovered graft and corruption." Ashe hung up on Sali, ran out the door and was knocking on Winkler's office door in seconds.
"What is it?" Winkler was getting off the phone as well.
"Mr. Winkler, I think you ought to see this." Winkler rose and followed Ashe down the hall.
"See—this bonus was paid in December. And then a duplicate amount was issued in January, another in February, and once each month since then," Ashe pointed out. "It wouldn't have made me suspicious, except for the amounts."
"Yeah. I can see that a million dollar bonus in less than a year might be a little out of a vice president's league," Winkler agreed, leaning over Ashe's shoulder to examine the figures on the screen. "This is a small S and L. I wonder how this was hidden?"
"I don't know," Ashe shrugged. Winkler whipped out his cell and placed a call. Ashe listened in while someone at the FBI was given information. It wasn't a low ranking somebody, either. Winkler had more contacts than anybody knew, Ashe figured. He wondered how large Winkler Security actually was and if Winkler held government contracts. That's likely a big whopping yes, Ashe thought to himself. Yet another thing he didn't plan to tell anyone.
"We'll find out soon enough," Winkler clapped Ashe on the back. "Come on, kid. Come have a glass of juice or something." Ashe ended up having a snack in the kitchen. Jimmy, the cook, made a sandwich for Winkler and handed Ashe a small bowl of pretzels after Ashe said he didn't want a sandwich. Jimmy didn't talk much at all. Ashe knew the cook was werewolf. Jimmy was short—barely five-four or so. He was also the only werewolf Ashe had ever seen who shaved his head.
"Thanks, Jimmy," Ashe crunched into a pretzel.
"No prob, kiddo." Jimmy grinned at Ashe. Ashe couldn't help but grin back.
"I was asked to give this to you," Tony Hancock walked into the media room shortly after sundown, handing a manila envelope to Ashe, who stared at the vampire.
"What is it?" Ashe had avoided speaking with the former Director of the Joint NSA and Homeland Security Department.
"I had to pull a few strings to get this, and the Head of the Council has already seen it, as have I. That's what you get. All you get." Tony's face was shuttered, showing no emotion.
"You have a habit of avoiding direct questions?" Ashe said before he thought. Winkler, who'd just walked in, burst out laughing.
"Nailed you, Hancock," Winkler chuckled.
"I'll uh, just go to my room and look at this," Ashe stood, tapping the envelope against his chest.
Ashe's bedroom held a desk and chair. Settling into the chair and turning on the floor lamp beside it, Ashe opened the envelope. Three loose pages were inside. He pulled them out carefully. The pages appeared to be a computer generated copy of a handwritten manuscript. The top page made Ashe draw in a breath.
The contents herein, being an excerpt of Ekdi H'Morr, the Book of Prophecy belonging to the Elemaiyan Race, as translated by, and that part had been redacted. There was nothing there except blank space.
"So, I don't need to know," Ashe muttered, feeling a bit of anger. Were they afraid he'd attempt to find the translator? He flipped the cover page, anxious to learn more.
The Elemaiya, Bright and Dark, are a varied and talented race, Ashe read. Formed at one and the same moment, they are halves of a whole. Once they were a single race, although they have forgotten this, was handwritten on the page. Their talents are many, although any one of them who holds more than two talents is considered uncommon, and the few holding four or more are among the royalty of the race. The talents are thus, from most common to extremely rare: