Page 15 of Fool Me Twice (Redwater Demons #2)

15

I t’s an unseasonably cold Monday in mid-May when Ez saunters up to a particular Personnel Outpost uptown, squares her shoulders, and barges in without bothering to knock. “’Sup, Ricci?”

Gregorio Ricci cuts himself off mid-conversation with Micah to raise his eyebrows at her, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Ez. Nice to see you. Do you need a TX-203?”

Ez almost laughs at the thought of going on a campaign right now. Between yesterday’s dramatic prison break and the mega-rifts opening all over town and Roma Gutierrez’s stupid scowl haunting Ez’s every waking moment, she has all the action she never wanted right here in Redwater. “Not exactly,” she says, strolling over to lean her hip against his desk. “Actually, it’s a happy coincidence that I ran into both of you here. I was going to stop by Micah’s Outpost later today, but…” She gestures at the demon himself sitting on the other side of the desk. “Here we are.”

“You totally knew I was going to be here,” Micah says. “But that’s on me. I’m exceedingly obvious with how often I flaunt my duties to visit my husband at work.”

Gregorio casts his eyes to the ceiling like he’s praying to Nostringvadha for patience. “You’re not supposed to tell people that, Micah.”

Micah scoffs. “What’s Central Recordkeeping going to do, fire me? Please. They can’t replace the Keeper of the Forms that easily.” His eyes slide back to Ez, a note of seriousness dropping into his voice. “I haven’t forgotten what we talked about a few weeks ago, Ez. I’m still looking into it, but?—but there are a lot of moving pieces right now. And it’s not like we can just break into the Sanctum to snoop around.”

“Speak for yourselves,” Ez says. “I’ve broken into the Sanctum numerous times to snoop around recently.”

“So we’ve heard,” Gregorio says, and he snaps a soundproofing spell into place over the Outpost. “How are the demons you and Obie rescued yesterday?”

Ez’s eyebrows shoot up. “Wow. News travels fast.”

“Mina from Bibimbap House heard a hunter mention it,” Micah says, and his eyebrows furrow. “Did you find the three neophytes from Lakeside?”

A pang twists through Ez. “No. I’m?—I’m not sure if they’re still alive or not, but they weren’t in those holding cells.” She takes a deep breath. “But we saved a lot of other demons, so it was worth it.”

And it was. Getting nearly forty demons from the prison to an empty field across the country was a challenge?—especially since hunters can reopen rifts for up to twenty-eight minutes after they’re closed?—but Ez preemptively countered that by casting an anti-rifting zone over the area. After that, it was just a matter of Obie calling in every favor he had to get the demons sent to his old friends and colleagues, and their work was done within a few hours.

Kathleen ended up in Madrid instead of Portland. Personally, Ez thinks she got the better end of the deal.

Gregorio nods once. “Good. So what do you need? And, before you ask, we’re unavailable for any future jailbreaks.”

“Actually, funny story about that,” Ez says. “Not only did my contact in the Sanctum confirm that last week’s neophyte ended up in the Sanctum’s prison after I hand-delivered her to the Chain, but she also discovered the name of the extraordinary hunter who keeps diverting them there.”

Gregorio and Micah both straighten in their seats. “Well?” Micah asks, lowering his voice. “Who is it?”

“Goes by the name ‘G. Ricci,’ apparently,” Ez says, and she gives Gregorio her most charming smile.

For a moment, Gregorio looks honestly surprised.

And then his eyes darken. “I’m getting real tired of Central Office forging my signature,” he snaps, leaning back in his chair.

The words throw Ez for a loop. “You think Central Office is doing it?” she asks blankly, a trace of foreboding coiling down her spine. “Like, Central Central Office? The Chain’s actual administration?”

Gregorio’s jaw tightens. His eyes flicker to Micah.

Micah shrugs hopelessly back.

The unease twists even tighter. “Spill,” she demands, leaning forward. “What do you two bozos know that I don’t?”

“Loads of things,” Gregorio says. “I’m almost ten times older than you.”

Ez jabs a finger at him. “You know what I mean, Ricci. Why was your signature on those forms?”

Micah lets out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. “Wait. You don’t honestly think Gregorio was involved, do you?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore!” Ez bursts out, frustrated. “According to Cass, both of you know a lot more about the Sanctum than you’re saying, and you apparently know a lot more about this than you’re saying, too. And to pin the blame directly on Central Office, not a corrupt Outpost demon? What the hell is going on?”

Gregorio leans forward, his eyes hard. “Just to be perfectly clear,” he says, his voice curt and precise, “I wasn’t involved in this. And it’s frankly insulting that you thought I would be.”

“Uh-huh,” Ez says dismissively. “Stop being a secretive bastard, and we’ll stop accusing you of being a secretive bastard.” She plants her hands on Gregorio’s desk, meeting his glower head-on. “My question still stands. What’s going on? Why is Central Office?—or whoever this is?—forging your signature in particular?”

“Honestly? No idea,” Micah says. “The other forgeries were forms that could’ve feasibly crossed Gregorio’s desk, but this…” He shakes his head. “This is just bizarre. Maybe they’ve been getting away with it for so long that they got sloppy?”

Ez’s stomach lurches. “The other forgeries? How long has this been happening?”

Gregorio and Micah trade those same meaningful looks. Ez fights back a groan. She was happy for these two idiots when they finally got married, she really was, but their near-telepathic communication is infuriating. “A while,” Micah says at last, turning back to Ez. “About twelve years, actually.”

The words jolt through Ez. “Twelve years?” she repeats, aghast. “Someone from the Chain has been forging your signature for over a decade?”

Gregorio’s laugh is bitter. “Oh, they’ve been doing a lot worse than that.”

“Although we didn’t know about neophytes being smuggled to the Sanctum until you told me about it,” Micah adds, nodding at Ez. “That actually solved a huge mystery for us, but beyond that, we were looking into… other matters.”

Ez grits her teeth. “Micah. Gregorio. What other matters?”

Gregorio’s eyes narrow. “This hunter you’re seeing. Roma Gutierrez, right?”

Ez’s hackles rise. “Don’t make it sound like we’re dating. If anything, we’re in a fraught situationship.”

“Uh-huh,” Gregorio says. “Listen, there are a lot of things about the Sanctum and the Chain that you don’t understand?—a lot of things that almost no one understands. It’s not just isolated corruption. It’s??—?”

Abruptly, Micah grabs Gregorio’s forearm and squeezes hard. “Don’t.”

Ez turns her glare on Micah. “Ex cuse you?”

Micah glares straight back at her. Considering his usual friendly nature, it’s almost frightening. “We have sources to protect, Laguerre. We can’t compromise them?—not now, not ever.”

“Really? Because you two have been doing a whole lot of compromising over the past few months,” Ez bites out. “Listen, I’m grateful that you’re helping with the Cass and JJ situation, but what none of us understand is why. Why did you go out of your way to help them? Why did you put yourselves at risk then?—and apparently again now? What do the two of you have to do with any of this?”

“In a word? Everything,” Gregorio says shortly. “But Micah is right. We can’t put our people in danger.” His eyes glint dangerously. “And we can’t let you put them in danger, either. So understand this: if you try to go public with any of this to the Chain, we’ll throw Chin and Jackson under the bus so fast that they’ll never know what hit them.”

Ez jerks away, her stomach dropping. Micah’s eyes widen. “Gregorio.”

“No. No, Micah, I am tired of this,” Gregorio says. “Stay in your lane, Laguerre. Micah and I will handle the conspiracy, and you can handle closing the mega-rifts. Clear?”

“The conspiracy?” Ez repeats, feeling increasingly out of her depth. “Who said anything about a conspiracy?”

“No one,” Micah says, and before Ez can protest, he snaps his fingers, shattering Gregorio’s soundproofing spell. “Anything else we can do for you today, Esmeralda?”

His smile is tight. Gregorio isn’t making an attempt to smile at all, just glaring at Ez with the fire of someone who fought through the Roman Empire in his eyes.

Ez fights back a shiver. She jokes that Maggie Khan is the only demon who intimidates her, but she knows for a fact that Gregorio and Micah are a force to be reckoned with, too. “Nope,” she says shortly, pushing herself off the desk and stepping away. “Just keep me posted.”

“We might,” Gregorio says briskly, and he pulls out a stack of paperwork. “Have a nice day.”

Scowling, Ez stalks out of the Outpost. The instant the door closes behind her, the lock clicks shut and another soundproofing spell whips into place, and when Ez glances over her shoulder, it’s to see Micah and Gregorio already engrossed in a rapid-fire conversation, shoulders tense and expressions serious.

Yeah. Yeah, answers would be nice, but somehow, Ez thinks she’s not about to get them anytime soon. Feeling like she’s standing near the edge of a cliff with no idea how much solid ground she has left?—or how far she’s about to drop?—Ez lets out a slow breath, turns towards the afternoon sun, and starts her long trek towards home.