Black Is Back (Quentin Black Mystery #4) (24 page)

“Sort of?” Angel said. “What does that mean?”

“He says he knows the guy’s operating name, but the person he contacted has never met him in person. He doesn’t know what he looks like. And the name’s probably an alias.”

I smiled humorlessly. “And that helps us... how?” I said.

Nick gave me a hard look. “The guy’s definitely Archangel. Or was, anyway. Black says they know about him, too... and have pretty much since he started this. They’re letting him do it, but Black doesn’t think it’s a job. Not in the usual sense.”

“What does that mean?” I glanced at Angel, who looked as puzzled as I felt. “Like... they’re just letting him kill people for fun? Isn’t that kind of risky for them?”

“Black thinks it’s ideological. And that it might be a message of some kind.”

“What kind of message?” Angel said.

Nick waved his chopsticks, digging into the bowl of cold seaweed salad that the waitress had just brought him. “He’s trying to find that out, but said the guy he’s questioning might not know the specifics. It seems there’s some kind of power struggle going on though. Something to do with rich corporations that Archangel contracts with, including defense contractors. Black thinks these guys are really into what they perceive as ‘order’ and that they view the corporate culture as growing too anarchic in a sense. Too many wars. Too much instability and greed. This Templar guy might be a message around what Archangel could do if they feel the herd needs a bit of thinning... to bring things back to their idea of ‘order.’”

I stared at Nick, then at Angel, who also looked a little bewildered.

“They’re trying to remake corporate culture?” I said, that stunned note making it to my voice. “Seriously? What makes them think they can do that?”

Nick shrugged, swallowing a mouthful of seaweed.

“No idea. From what Black said... maybe they can. Maybe they have enough influence to try, at least. Black thinks so. They’re kind of ‘putting their foot down,’ is how Black phrased it, and not just here in the United States. But apparently they think a lot of the loss of stability started here. They want the 1% to start policing their own, I guess... to bring down some of the excesses. Or Archangel will do it for them.”

I let out another humorless sound. “By killing them?”

Nick shrugged, giving me a flat-eyed look. “It’s what they do, Miri.”

“But why would they need a person to do that?” Angel said. “They have drones for that kind of thing now, don’t they? Hell, they probably have space cannons by now.”

Nick shrugged. “You’d have to ask Black about that. I suspect it’s psychological though. For a lot of people, a drone is more abstract than a guy who’s going to cut off your head with a sword and quote the Bible at you.”

“Fair enough,” Angel muttered, pushing the fish and salmon around on her plate. From her expression she might’ve lost her appetite somewhat.

“So we’re not just talking about a security company, are we?” I pressed. “Not anymore. Even contractors don’t do this kind of thing. And if they’re making threats to create some kind of ‘new world order’ then they think they can counter the surveillance stuff, too. And the governments involved... not just the private groups.”

Nick shook his head, but I could tell he was agreeing with me. He finished swallowing his mouthful of food and glanced up at me.

“Definitely not just a security company. They might have started off as that, but from what Black said, they’ve branched out. Like... a lot. I have no idea what their connection is to the surveillance crowd.” Grunting a little, he glanced at me. “I’m almost afraid to ask my buddy at the Pentagon, after some of the stuff Black said. I don’t exactly want to disappear in the middle of the night, either.”

Angel spoke up from his other side, her voice even more incredulous than mine. “You think that might happen to Black?” Angel said.

I didn’t say anything.

I knew Angel asked for me as much as her.

Nick shrugged again, his eyes darting briefly around the room. I almost got the impression he was checking to make sure no one was near enough to overhear us.

“Black didn’t really say much about that,” he said, his voice lower than before. “But I assume he’s not being stupid. He mentioned he thought Archangel is using the Templar thing in some kind of talks they’re having. Like a ‘state of the world,’ summit-type thing, maybe something they hold every so often. He thought it might be going on now, or maybe it’s about to happen. Either way, the impression he got from his source is that Archangel hasn’t intervened with this guy because he’s part of their negotiation strategy for a directional change... intimating what might happen to others if that change weren’t to happen.”

“Who’s his source?” I said.

Nick snorted. “You think he gave me a name?”

“Are they going to stop this guy then?” Angel said. “When this summit of theirs is over or whatever? Are they going to bring Templar in?”

“Doubtful,” Nick said. “Black didn’t think so anyway. They’ve let it go too long. And apparently the guy who’s doing it has a rep for being tight-lipped. They’re not worried about him saying anything about Archangel itself, so they’re letting the police handle it.”

“And Black’s sure this guy isn’t lying to him?” I said, frowning.

Nick shrugged, looking at me. “It’s Black. Do you really think he got most of this from stuff the guy
told
him?”

When I only frowned harder in response, Nick lowered his voice still more.

“From what his source knows, they’re using this Templar thing as a warning. But it’s opportunistic... meaning, they likely didn’t put him on this directly. Black thinks there’s a specific group they’re targeting for large scale policy changes. The ones they blame for causing instability in the overall system. Apparently, Archangel envisions themselves as the enforcers of the health of that system as a whole. They’re framing this as ‘self-policing’ or as a ‘system self-correction action’ or something to that effect. For the benefit of all, but yeah, they’re willing to muscle that change in, if they have to. The message is, we have a lot more where he came from, and we can and will wield that sword any way we see fit. Particularly if it means the bettering of security and stability for the system as a whole...”

I stared at Nick.

Suddenly, I found myself thinking about something else.

Maybe it was the language he was using.

“Is my uncle involved in any of this?” I said.

Nick gave me another of those flat-eyed stares. “You’d have to ask Black that too, doc. But from what he said, Uncle Charlie isn’t
un-
involved, if you catch my drift.”

I did. Catch his drift. As I turned over Nick’s words in the silence that followed, it occurred to me, not for the first time, that I didn’t really know how the world worked. Not really. Not in the ways that mattered.

Maybe none of us did.

“How does this help us?” I said finally. “Does this even help us?”

Nick sighed at that, combing his hand through his straight black hair as he looked up from the maki roll he’d just started eating.

“Honestly?” he said. “I don’t know. Black said it’s unlikely he’d be able to get close enough to anyone who could actually ID the guy. I got the impression he thinks he needs to walk away from this pretty soon as it is.” Maybe feeling me stiffen, he added, “He seems to think he’ll walk away clean, if he doesn’t go any higher in the food chain... he’s got some protection via your uncle as well. But he doesn’t want to risk himself or his team by getting too close. Not until he knows a lot more. His intel confirms the killer’s got a pretty scary amount of training under his belt, and that we’re dealing with a serious pro... but it probably won’t help us ID him beyond that. I think we’re back to trying to find him through the victims.”

“Did you tell him?” I said. “About Dougal? About me?”

Nick gave me a level stare.

Sighing, I nodded. “Thanks, Nick.”

“Don’t thank me,” he grunted. “I’m regretting it already.”

“When is he coming back? Black. Did he say?”

Nick met my gaze over the plates of sushi that the waitress had placed around him strategically, filling all the empty spots of table. I could tell he was studying me again, like he couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on with me. I could also tell that something about how I was acting was really starting to annoy him.

After a pause where he seemed to be thinking, he scowled.

“I don’t know, doc.” His voice twisted into a harder sarcasm. “Why don’t you call him and ask? Maybe you could tell him about Dougal
yourself,
while you’re at it, so he has time to think about not wringing my neck for not mentioning it the last three times he’s called?”

I looked up, surprised. When I realized he was serious, I felt my jaw harden.

“The phone goes both ways, Nick.”

“Yeah, I know that.” Nick gave me a harder look. “But I’m not dumb, Miri. And I might not know him very well, but I know you. He’s not blowing you off, is he? If he is, he’s doing a really good impression of the guy who feels like he’s getting the brush-off.”

I stared at him, unable to keep the incredulousness out of my voice. “Are you kidding me right now? What is this, guy code crap?”

“Maybe,” Nick growled. “Or maybe I just don’t like lying to someone who seems to be being straight with me. Someone I’ve hired to help me solve a case... who I’m withholding information from solely because you’ve got some kind of personal issue you’ve put me in the middle of. Or are you delusional enough to think he’s
not
going to find out, Miri? And that he’s not going to blame
me
for not telling him when he asked how the case was going the last three times we talked?”

Pressing my lips together, I didn’t answer.

I think I was too blown away to answer him, honestly.

Even so, as I sat there, watching Nick eat, I couldn’t help thinking I liked it better when he and Black weren’t getting along.

THE NEXT FEW days went by painfully slowly. There were no more deaths, but I had the strangest feeling of eyes on me anyway. That feeling got worse the longer Black was gone and the worse that pain thing got from me missing him... or from being disconnected from him... or whatever it was that caused that horrible feeling from not having him around.

Angel told me a few times I looked pale. She also grumped at me about Black, and that I should call Black and that both of us were acting like idiots.

I could barely hear her though. Those eyes and Black himself seemed to be the only two things my mind had room for. That and working on the case.

Whatever and whoever those eyes were, it felt like they were waiting.

I felt like I was waiting too.

For a lot of things.

I woke up every morning expecting to hear about another death.

When it didn’t happen, I went to my office and did research on alchemical symbols, and on personality types who typically went into mercenary work of various kinds, whether for organized crime or the government or private security, like Archangel and Black.

I went through the forensics info Nick and Glen fed me as well, comparing what I found and what I felt with the full profiling work-up of the Templar I got from Mozar the same day they found Dougal’s body. The FBI guy who did it was good. I didn’t really find any issues with it, but I still felt like we were missing something, or that some of the assumptions there didn’t hold true for this guy for some reason.

I never heard from Black.