Page 66 of Red Rooster

“A notebook?” Nikita asked, voice mostly a growl.

“Don’t knock the process,” Lanny said. “We can’t all just barge into a house with Stalin’s blessings and steal everybody’s vodka.”

Nikita said something soft and vicious under his breath.

“What the hell did you guys drag me into?” Jamie asked, but he seemed to be talking to himself, and sounded resigned besides.

Colette returned bearing a leather-bound journal that seemed too special to write in, and an honest-to-goodness fountain pen.

Trina opened up the cover and started a detailed case outline, from the night she and Lanny found Chad Edwards’ body in the alley to just a half hour ago, and Sasha’s abduction. Everyone save Nikita – who kept pacing like a madman – crowded around her chair and studied the notebook over her shoulder.

“Okay,” she said when she was done, sitting back and reviewing her tidy notes. “I’m going to assume that Chad isn’t the first person Alexei’s taken too far.” She glanced at him for confirmation and received a tight, blushing nod. “But I think he must be the first person who’s made the news for getting up off a morgue slab and walking out into the street. That got the Institute’s attention. They had their pet wolves start sniffing around, and they found not just one, but several vamps in town, and a wolf. Which, judging by their own wolves, and their ‘Project Kashnikov,’ they’ve been trying unsuccessfully to create some mentally-sound, fully-functional wolves for a while now.”

She glanced up, giving the others a chance to chime in. Nikita had come to stand at the far end of the table, she saw, arms folded, scowling down at the wood grain of the tabletop.

“Okay, so,” she continued. “They tracked us here. Colette’s wards worked, obviously” – she would have loved to know how, after watching the burning herb ritual Colette had performed – “but they knew we were close. And if they had tranqs, that means they had a trap. My question is this: did the mean to catch Sasha? Or is he just the first one to take the bait?”

“My question,” Nikita said, “iswhere is he?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious he’s at the Institute,” Trina said, careful to keep her tone neutral. “What sort of containment unit would they need to hold him?”

Nikita made a face, shook his head. He looked like a man struggling to think in the midst of mind-numbing rage. “Concrete. Strong metal. He can take most doors down – silver.” He glanced up at her, and the look in his eyes made her want to shiver. “You can control immortal things with silver.”

“The old silver bullet trick, huh?” Lanny said.

Trina elbowed him. “Nothelping.”

Nikita started to pace again.

Trina said, “I’m going to call Dr. Fowler and set up a meeting.”

That got a reaction. “What?” everyone said in unison.

All but Lanny, who nodded beside her. “Yeah.”

“You can’t–” Nikita started, the same moment Jamie said, “That sounds like areallybad idea.”

Trina sliced a hand through the air, and, miraculously, they fell silent. “Hear me out. I’m going to meet with Dr. Fowler alone, in public, while the rest of you get into the Institute and see if you can find Sasha.” When there were no immediate protests, only thoughtful silence, she offered a bare smile. “I can’t sniff anyone out, or Jedi Mindtrick anyone, but I can cause a distraction. And get some useful intel out of the idiot. What do you say?”

Lanny sent her an approving look.

Jamie buried his face in his hands.

Alexei looked at her appraisingly, head cocked to the side.

Nikita sighed, and finally nodded. “Carry a gun.”

She felt her smile widen. “I’m nevernotcarrying a gun.”