Page 19 of Concluded (The Bureau #13)

A chilles was settling in at the breakfast table. Although he still felt like shit, it was a big improvement over how he’d felt the evening before. A decent night’s sleep in a good bed could work wonders, even if that sleep was interrupted with nightmares.

If he did survive all of this, he should probably talk to the Bureau’s shrink.

Except, he remembered with a start, there was no Bureau anymore and thus no Bureau shrink.

The enormity of Grimes’s news hit him, belatedly but hard.

The Bureau had been around for a century, and he’d always thought of it as immortal and omnipotent.

Yet apparently some clown had killed it with a few pen strokes.

“But it lives,” he muttered.

Across from him, Dee looked startled and froze with a forkful of food halfway to his mouth. “What?”

“The Bureau is the undead. Not a zombie or a vampire. Maybe it’s like one of Ferencz’s spirits.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Never mind. Thinking aloud.”

Achilles and Dee had awakened shortly after dawn and discovered that Jackie had rounded up clean clothes to fit each of them.

After they dressed, she’d cheerfully cooked them a big meal of pan-fried venison steaks with a sauce made from dried berries.

It tasted amazing. Dee and Achilles were both working on second helpings as she watched with approval.

“A good appetite’s a sign of good health,” she said.

Achilles smiled at her. “Thanks to you, I’m doing a lot better. I’m really indebted to you.”

“Last night my sister sang as well as she did when she was young. Better, even. I figure we’re even.”

Although her statement puzzled Achilles at first, he quickly worked out that she was referring to the wish Dee had granted.

Dee seemed pleased about it too, with a shy smile that transformed his face from plain to beautiful.

Achilles hadn’t seen him smile before, and he guessed it didn’t happen often, even when the world wasn’t ending.

After they finished their meal—and just as Achilles was wondering whether he had the energy to help wash up—there was a commotion outside. Jackie quickly ducked through the side door. When she returned a moment later, she didn’t seem alarmed. “Your boss is here. And he brought… a friend?”

“Does his friend have big black wings, by any chance?”

“He sure does.”

Grinning, Achilles stood. His feet hurt, but bearably so. “Let me go make some introductions.”

“Wings?” Dee asked as they made their way outside. “Is it a… a bird shifter?”

“No such thing. Some sort of issue with the mass conversion.” Honestly, Achilles didn’t really understand the science behind shifters or anything else he dealt with on the job.

He also didn’t understand the science behind cell phones and airplanes, but he trusted them to work, just as he trusted shifters to change capably between their forms.

The sun pierced sharply through the cold morning air, making Achilles shiver despite his borrowed clothing.

Seemingly all the members of the pack—some in human form and some as coyotes—were gathered in a circle around an SUV.

Two figures waited beside the car. One of them, tall, thin, and pale, wore old-fashioned wool trousers and a white button-up shirt.

The other had bronze skin and small horns and wore nothing at all, his glossy black wings fanning gently behind him.

“Holy shit,” Dee muttered, skidding to a halt.

But Achilles grabbed his arm and towed him along.

“Allies. That’s my boss and his partner.

Neither of them is human, at least not entirely.

I’d trust either of them with my life.” He often didn’t understand Grimes, just as he’d rarely understood the former chief, but it was like not comprehending the science behind the things in his life. He simply knew they worked.

Dee sort of dragged his feet but did come. The crowd parted to let Achilles, Dee, and Jackie pass.

“You look like shit, Spanos,” was the first thing Grimes said.

“Thanks.”

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

Achilles dipped his head. Then, mindful of etiquette, he turned to Jackie. “This is Charles Grimes, chief of the West Coast Bureau, and Tenrael, his partner. Chief, Tenrael, please meet Jackie of the Gerard Pack, and Dee Martell.”

Tenrael gave Jackie a regal bow, and Grimes nodded toward her. “Ma’am. To be completely honest, I’m no longer chief of anything, although I’m continuing the Bureau’s work. Do we have your permission to remain briefly on pack lands?”

Despite her casual clothing, Jackie looked every inch a leader as she nodded back. “We welcome you and grant you permission. We continue to consider ourselves your allies.”

“I’m grateful for that, and also for the help you’ve given to my agent. His work is important to me. He’s important to me. So thank you.”

Maybe this was all just a load of political sweet talk, but Grimes’s words warmed Achilles’ heart. He was important.

Tenrael reached into the SUV’s back seat via an open window, pulled out a paper accordion file, and held it toward Jackie. “A gift for you,” he said with another bow. He was very good at bowing, managing to be graceful, powerful, and respectful all at once. The wings helped.

She took the file but seemed puzzled until Grimes explained.

“That contains the contact information for a lawyer who’ll be sympathetic to the pack’s cause.

She’s a shifter herself, in fact—dog. The Bureau rescued her and several others from a really bad situation when she was a pup, and although she’s never been an agent, she works on our behalf now and then. ”

“Dogs aren’t bad,” said Jackie. “We’ve had a few join the pack now and then. My cousin married one. But I dunno about lawyers.”

“I understand. This is just in case you need an attorney. If encroachments on your land become intolerable, maybe she can help. The folder also contains some relevant paperwork about your land. Our tech guy was able to download it before we got shut down.”

Yay, Becker , Achilles silently cheered. The guy could work wonders.

Now Jackie clutched the folder to her chest. “That’s real nice of you.”

“We owe you a great deal. The lawyer’s fees are paid in advance, by the way, so no worries about that.”

She smiled widely, and several members of the pack quietly expressed their approval as well. Achilles was impressed with the chief’s ability to get this gift accomplished in a short period of time while so much else was going down. Or maybe it had been Tenrael’s doing; he was an efficient demon.

Afterward there was a short conversation between Jackie and Grimes, mostly about how the pack was doing.

Achilles lost the thread of it. Despite a decent night’s sleep and good food, he wasn’t in anywhere near top shape, and all of him hurt.

Especially his feet. He wobbled a little and might have fallen if Tenrael hadn’t darted forward to steady him.

Grimes looked slightly chagrined. “Sorry, Spanos. Ma’am, we’re going to get out of your hair now. But thank you again, and good luck.” He sighed. “We may need to call on your help again sometimes.”

“We’ll be glad to give it.”

Achilles and Dee had just a moment or two to give their own thanks before Tenrael and Grimes herded them into the SUV’s back seat. Tenrael took the front passenger spot, although he didn’t seem especially pleased about it. Car seats were likely uncomfortable for people with wings.

It wasn’t until they were out of the little valley and winding down the other side of a hill that Achilles realized that, aside from good-byes to Jackie, Dee hadn’t spoken.

And Grimes hadn’t addressed him at all. Dee was folded in on himself, his gaze on the floor rather than the scenery, his expression bleak.

Achilles wanted to talk to him about it… but not with their front seat audience.

“Where are we headed?” he asked Grimes instead.

“Not far. A temporary refuge where we can debrief and you can get some rest.”

That sounded good, if not very specific. Then Achilles asked a question that had been haunting him since the previous evening. “The other agents…. Everyone else…. Are they safe now that the Bureau?—”

“Nobody’s safe now,” Grimes interrupted. “But we’re not in any more danger than we were before. The Bureau has always operated with minimal direction from Washington. We mostly took their money. And luckily, Townsend stuck a lot in reserve.”

Of course he did. The former chief always seemed three moves ahead of everyone else. Until he got killed. Achilles suspected there had been something strategic about that as well.

He slumped in the back seat. He didn’t like strategizing and wasn’t good at it, as evidenced by his inability to get himself out of the recent mess.

If Dee hadn’t decided to help him, Achilles would still be in Dunn’s talons, experiencing torture or worse.

He might even have given in eventually and agreed to help her side, although he hoped that wouldn’t have been the case.

“Are you ill?” Tenrael asked. He’d twisted in his seat to stare at Achilles with his intense red eyes.

Realizing that he was shivering again, Achilles tried to get hold of himself. “No. Just…. Sorry.”

“You have been through great difficulties lately.”

“You could say that. But, I mean, so have lots of people.” Achilles couldn’t meet that gaze anymore and turned to look out the window instead. But he could still feel Tenrael’s scrutiny.

“Do you know the circumstances under which I met my master?” Tenrael asked.