jinn 01 - ember (5 page)

Our order arrived, saving me from further questioning, and she continued to talk about her friends and work, letting me off the hook while I planned how I was going to dump her before our trouble found its way to her. After lunch, I walked her back to her office building. She looked at me for a long moment, sadness flickering over her face. She threw her arms around my neck, making my heart squeeze, and pressed her sweet lips to my bruised mouth. “I’ll miss you, Baker.”

She walked away. A mixture of guilt and hope filled me. I was tired of being alone. I hadn’t known it until I’d been faced with the happiest couple in the whole fucking world day in and day out. Sure, they fought like two hobos battling over the last bottle of booze, but there was no denying that Olivia and Holden began where the other ended.

In my life, the only things that came close to being that important to me were my friends. They were more important than any dame would ever be. Dysfunctional as they might be, Holden and Olivia were the only family I’d had in quite some time. I would do anything for them—including letting Maggie go. I went back to Gunther’s looking more like myself. My shoes stuck to the floor and made a thrrpt sound as I walked to the bar.

“Gunther.” I shook the bartender’s hand. “How the hell have you been?”

“Living and breathing. Can’t ask for more. Haven’t seen you around in a while, Baker. How’s it hanging?”

“To the left.” Gunther laughed and sloshed a beer across the counter to me. “What’s new? What’s the word? Where’s the game?” I asked.

“That depends on what you’re looking for.”

“What I’m always looking for: opportunity.”

He picked up a napkin and scrawled something on the back of it. He scooted it toward me but kept his palm flat over it. “Same terms and conditions.”

I slipped him a few bills and gave him a single nod.

“This conversation never happened.”

“What conversation?” I took the napkin and headed for the door. A silver spike heel on a black leather boot popped up in front of me, blocking my way. I looked over at Femi.
Shit.

She stood with catlike grace and stretched, following me out. “I would just love to know where you’ve been.”

I winked at her. “I have a lead.”

“The one you got in there or somewhere else? Why did you try so hard to ditch me, Baker?”

“I didn’t ditch you, kitten. Everything is jake.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know what that means, but I know you ditched me.” She jabbed a sharp fingernail into my rib. “You don’t have to tell me what you did, but if it comes back on us, your mine.” Her tongue ran over her teeth.

“I had some personal business to take care of.”

“Right now was the only time you could do it?”

I nodded. “It had to be done before Hell becomes a wet blanket.”

She tapped a foot. “And it’s done?”

“I stuck a fork in it.” Or at least I would very soon.

“Let’s see this lead?” She plucked the napkin from my hand. “It’s just an address.”

I took it back from her. “Time to check in with the boss.”

We started back toward Olivia and Holden’s apartment. “Why do you do this for chuckles?”

I smiled at her nickname. Besides Olivia, Femi was quite possibly the only person in the world who had enough balls to call Holden chuckles. “I don’t do it just for him.”

“Well you sure as hell aren’t doing it for you. Holden may have been protection at one point, but right now he has more shit raining down on him than a sewer. What’s your angle, Baker?”

“I thought if anyone understood it would be you.” She raised an eyebrow. “My reasons aren’t so different from yours.”

“Sy and Olivia are my family. Scratch that—they are better than my family. They accept me just as I am and don’t try to make me fit into their idea of what I should do or how I should act.”

“What about Holden?”

“Olivia loves Holden so I do as well. But he’s not exactly easy to love, is he? He’s like that sociopathic family member you try not to stare at during the holidays.”

I laughed. Holden wasn’t that bad. He put on a good front, but underneath it all, he had honor. Not something many jinn could say. “Friendship means a lot to me. Olivia, Holden, you—you all mean the world. I got your back no matter what.”

“Well aren’t you a charmer?” Femi threaded her arm through mine with a pleased expression. “So friend, friends talk about their personal lives, right?”

“Not with the kind of friends I have.”

She laughed. “How old are you?”

“Older than I look.”

She rubbed her forefinger and thumb over her chin, flipping her long golden ponytail over her shoulder. “Sixty-five?”

I shook my head and pointed up.

“One hundred and twenty?”

I pointed up again.

“You’re lying.”

“You’ll never know, kitten.” She elbowed me and I groaned. “Damn it, woman. That rib’s already been broken once today.”

She kissed my cheek. “Don’t call me kitten.”

“WHY DID THEY send you a message?” Olivia asked from the chair while I cleaned my gun and waited for Baker and Femi to get back.

My hand paused as I considered what she’d asked. They’d given up the element of surprise and had given us time to react—stupid. The fact that I hadn’t thought of it first made it clear that I was distracted. That was never going to work. I had leaned on a few of my sources but no one had given me anything. I had one more person I needed to see, but I wanted to talk to Baker myself before I went. Asking questions was fine and all, but it also let people know how in the know you were. The cold, hard truth was we were coming into this blind. The less people who knew that, the better.

“They must want something,” she said. “Either they’re anticipating your reaction and mean to trap with it or they’re reminding you that you have something to lose, but I’d think killing Baker would have been more effective at that than sending him back.”

“What did I ever do to you, angel,” Baker said as he walked in. “Kill me? Horsefeathers! I was toying with them.”

Baker looked better, but he was still hurt. I should have sent him away—Femi too. Damn it. A niggling worry that was usually reserved for Olivia hit me. I didn’t want Baker to die, even if he was annoying. I cared and it irritated me. “What’d you find?”

“How are you feeling?” Olivia asked at nearly at the same time.

Why did she always want to talk about feelings? Baker had taken a few punches, we were all in danger, and no amount of talking would change that. We had more important things to worry about—like saving all of our asses. Baker was obviously fine. He was walking around, so he’d probably live. She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.

“I’m fine, doll. Thanks for asking.” Baker patted her knee as he sat down with a grimace. She looked at him more closely, concern popping up in her mind like a dull ache in my head, which only made me more irritable. “I have an address for a possible place where vessels would be ripe for the plucking. According to Gunther, someone there is looking for bodies and offering a lot of dough. I think this could be the racket we’re looking for. You?”

Olivia hadn’t been wrong in her earlier reasoning. Why would they let Baker live? The message would have been the same either way, but had they killed him, I would have had one less person to rely on. Unless we had the message wrong.

My eyes met Olivia’s and she nodded. “That makes sense.”

It did make sense.

“It always feels like we’re missing something with the two of you,” Femi said.

“This wasn’t an attack. It was a warning,” I told them. “They never intended to kill you, Baker. They wanted to get my attention.”

“No offense, boss, but I think if it takes something like this to get your attention, you need to get your head out of your as—”

Olivia clamped a hand down on his leg and shook her head. Baker snapped his mouth shut, which almost made me smile.

“It makes sense. Why else would they warn Holden that Hell is about to make its move?” Liv said.

“Another ally?” I leaned back in my chair. The thought settled into my mind. Who would align themselves with us and what did they want? Nothing in life was free.

“With friends like this, who needs enemies?” Baker crossed his arms over this chest, gingerly wiggling his jaw.

“But who?” Femi asked. “Are you sure you can trust them? Maybe their plan is to make you think they are on your side.”

“Probably another jinni.” I paced a few steps. A jinni made sense. They knew what Olivia had done to free me. It would be the perfect motive to offer to help me now. But they could also be playing both sides—feeding Hell information on us while making us believe they were working with us. This whole situation had the very distinct smell of strategy. My head throbbed, making it hard to focus. There were too many people in here clouding my mind with their feelings. Baker felt mopey, Femi’s curiosity was relentless, and Olivia, well, she wasn’t really a problem—I was used to her.

“Has anyone spoken with Phoenix?” Olivia brushed a piece of hair from her face. “He isn’t my favorite person, but he and his people have left us alone since he took Holden’s position. This could be a subtle warning from him.”

“Subtle my ass. I lost all of my teeth.” Baker pointed to his mouth. “All of them.”

“Be a man, Baker. You have them back.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Olivia and I will talk to him. You and Femi can check out that address.”

Baker stood. “Actually, boss, I think it would be better the other way around.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You and Femi want to talk to Phoenix?”

“No. I think Femi should go with you and Olivia should come with me. I don’t like the idea of sending the angel into a place swarming with jinn, you know what I mean?”

I did know what he meant. Olivia couldn’t always keep the angel part of her reined in. Sometimes, for no good reason at all, she lashed out at jinn—and especially demons—when she encountered them. Control was something we were still working on mastering.

Baker nodded. “Besides, Femi can’t really help me much on a human recognizance mission, but Olivia could.”

“I’m okay with that.” Olivia smiled and stood next to him. “I’ll protect you, Baker.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Femi pursed her lips and looked at Baker like she didn’t quite trust him.

Baker slung an arm over Liv’s shoulder. “My guardian angel? Boss-man might get suspicious,” he said in a loud, conspiratorial whisper.

Something was definitely off about Baker. Sure, he was joking, but it felt shallow. His emotions actually seemed carefully controlled, which wasn’t like him. He was hiding something. He also was a little too eager to take Olivia away from me. They were friends, but most of the time, Baker preferred to be on his own. He rarely volunteered to partner with anyone. Olivia raised an eyebrow, eavesdropping on my thoughts. The look in her eye told me she would figure it out, and I had no doubt she would. She had a way about her that made sharing easy. I had no doubt that Baker would tell her whatever she wanted to know by the end of the day. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s just do this.”

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Femi pulled Olivia into the bedroom. Baker lounged back on the couch with his head back. I took Olivia’s seat next to him.

I kicked his leg, not too hard, but enough to get his attention. “What’s your problem?”

Baker ran his finger over his eyebrows, smoothing them. “Why would I have a problem?”

“Damn, Baker, stop acting like a girl. If you have a fucking problem, just say it.”

He looked over at me for a long moment, the corner of his mouth twitching. “There’s no problem.”

“Good.” He laid his head back down. “But if you don’t have one, then why is Femi in there warning Olivia to keep an eye on you.”

He sighed. “Do you trust me?”

I looked at him. I hated questions like that. Trust wasn’t all or nothing. Most people lied. However, I couldn’t imagine Baker working against me either. He was loyal enough and would have nothing to gain by my death or by hurting Olivia. “Sure.”

“Then you’ll believe me when I say, it’s personal and has nothing to do with what we are working on. The skirt in there doesn’t respect boundaries.”