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No good deed goes unpunished

Roo as ever, but this time it smelled heavenly Frorease and onions and seafood Jodi had brought takeout food with her, thank God Despite rowled as I pushed open the door

The cops were sitting around the little table, Jodi and Rick and another guy I didn&039;t recognize, all with colas in sweating cans in front of theavetoo"

"I coulda More fun this way"

Jodi said, "You two flirt on your own time" Rick snorted I popped my Coke open so I didn&039;t have to respond "I&039;ve been offered this case because lanced at ood deed goes unpunished," I said Jodi and I had attended a council ether, a first for an NOPD cop at any level of authority Her boss had been peeved not to be invited, and in a childish reaction, had clearly been giving her scut cases

"I can&039;t promise it will help any of our careers, especially if any more witch children are taken, but I&039;ve been offered the witch child kidnapping cases, the newest and the cold cases Those previously investigated by my aunt Elizabeth We&039;ll be under the SCD, the special cases division," she said to ation - "

"There is no current investigation," the third guy growled

"Right Well, there is now And I&039;ve requested that you join lory and proood, you&039;ll stick around"

"I&039;uy said He leaned over the table and put out this hand to me "Sloan Rosen" I took it and shook He was huers, with jailhouse tats Which was very interesting They reminded me of LeShawn&039;s

"Jane Yellowrock" I looked at Rick and back, drawing conclusions "You were undercover too?"

"With the Crips Until last year when I was outed by arresting four of the top local boys

Now I have a bounty on et ure out where to put ure you&039;re here to ether with a twisted grin to shoas being ironic, not insulting "So, as far as the brass is concerned, having you on this teaer The va in line for you and would happily take us out to get you" He nodded slowly, lips pursed, and I said, "But if it makes you feel better, Leo Pellissier will probably plow through all of the near me is a death sentence Bet Leo wins"

"You two children can have a pissing contest about who has the biggest bounty on your heads later For noe have work to do Rick, pass out the food; Jane&039;s sto so loud I can&039;t hear s in front of each of us I s The kits were ht have a hard knot in my belly, but the Beast still had to be fed

"I want you all to study the info on the stolen witch children," Jodi said "Look for ties, connections, anything that ht have been missed previously" She flipped files at us the way a cardsharp flips cards and we all set them to the side of our paper plates of food and opened both I don&039;t kno Jodi was able to leave her bag closed, but she did, and kept talking

"Because there was never any proof the witch kids were killed, taken over state lines, and because no ransoms were ever demanded, neither FBI nor the state police has ever been called in Until now, local policy has been to shunt the disappearances to inactive juvie case files thinking that the kids just ran off and will be back, or that they were taken by huet them away from witch influence" She looked at me "Thanks to an official letter from the office of the Blood Master of the City, that policy has now changed"

OfficeBruiser Bruiser had done that

Hard delight gleamed in Jodi&039;s eyes "I&039;ve been told you had soht not advance her career, but she wanted them It wasn&039;t well-known, but Jodi&039;sthat so was her late aunt The relationships gave her a personal interest in discovering what had happened to thejustice for the Which it had been onto Jane," Jodi continued, "witch children are being killed in blackrogues Clan Pellissier would like the offenders &039;brought to the day&039; "

I looked up at that My current contract with the va e sent us a copy of your contract," she said to ives us official permission to carry silver rounds in our weapons and stake any vaic"

"Sweet," Sloan said through his sandwich It cauy He took down the CripsHe stole their books and put a stop to a lot of weapons and cocaine trafficking that had connections to a South A down three hu listened in on, he&039;s our man"

"If it helps at all," I said, "I think a Rousseau is responsible for young rogues being raised all over the city and for the witch children kidnappings" I filled theuessed I pointed at the file cabinets "The red folders helped"

Jodi gavehalf smile "Rick said you wanted copies of the oo files sent to your house They&039;ll be ered over by a marked unit ASAP"

Sloan drained his Coke can, set it on the table with an e To Jodi, he said,

"We done? &039;Cause I&039; all that?" Jodi said, swiveling so he could get his longer legs out

Sloan stood beside her, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin "Fast metabolism" He balled up all the empty papers and utensils I shoved the last bite of bread and oyster in just in tis Jodi cleaned the table with a disinfectant wipe she took from her pocket

"I&039;ll keep you up to date, Yellowrock," she said, "until we get the Trueblood kids back"

"And Bliss," I said "She was taken by the saht Bliss You did know her real naan, didn&039;t you?" When I shook my head no, she asked, "Do you know if she has any family? &039;Cause Katie&039;s bouncer has no record of any"

"No Bliss wasn&039;t very forthco about her past"

"Runaway?" Sloan asked "I&039;ll check old records and see if anything matches up"

"I&039;ll e- her arm to indicate room 666, she said, "Our official work area is here and next door The brass&039;s idea of a joke, I&039;et some PCs, a landline phone or two, an empty file cabinet, a whiteboard, and a map

"I&039;ll be here and at ht thirty Later"

She and Sloan Rosen walked out together I didn&039;t look at Rick as I got up and slid across from him to the warm seat just vacated

Out of curiosity, I said, "What do you know about a guy named Derek Lee, former marine? Lives - "

"I know Derek Lee Word on the streets is that he&039;s put together his own little ars We have a few unexplained bodies that ht be notched into his bedpost, like the bloodbath in Crips territory Jodi came from today How doyou know Derek Lee?" That last was a cop question, asked in a toneless, staccato voice, with an underlying threat

I shrugged Cop threats don&039;t is with va Derek works for Leo fros clicked in nized that soic, and a purge becaal by the Vampira Carta, ould happen to the clans?"

"I don&039;t have a degree in Mithran Law, They could be disbanded or reorganized by the master of the city Why?"

An unconsciousHoly crap sounded in my mind At my adrenaline spike, Beast stirred and stared across the table "Derek said so the"

I had called Derek before I left the house I wasthe ex-marine and his crew soon, to raid a fearehouses in the district, looking for the lair of a vamp who kept her children chained for the safety of the public Not so I wanted Leo to know Unless Leo had been pushingHad I been herded like prey? Beast snorted in affront

"I don&039;t knohat the hell you&039;re thinking, lady, but you&039;re startin&039; to scareat me just the way a wo I could put into words, but a look I recognized when I saw it He reached out a hand and I placedI was probably screwing up soave it half a chance, I said, "Did Leo tell you to seduceit in the middle of the table He wiped hisbeer - or the remembered taste of my mouth - away

"No one tells me who to sleep with" And he left me alone in room 666

I pulled my hand back into h I stood I had work to do, raphed and sent to myself, the files from this very room Odd how I ended up back here all the time, in the oo room On the way out of the NOPD, I discovered that I had missed a call from Derek Lee And what he told me made me smile

Half an hour before dusk, I roared into the Breaux Mart grocery store where Derek had told me to meet him and set my booted feet on the pavement The black steel-walled van that pulled in beside ht have worried a lesser wos, none of the a wo off with her I reached over un, ready to pull I wasn&039;t frightened, just cautious Really cautious A faint click sounded and the tinted ered with electronic sine and set the kickstand Derek pushed back dark glasses "Jane with the funny last na with Leo Pellissier?" Me and my smart mouth

"Six months Ever since the Crips decided to ht better of the offer Why? You got a problem with it?"

This wasn&039;t the first time I&039;d heard mention of the Crips Another coincidence? Not likely It was all starting to coether Not that I had any idea what the final picture would look like "Not really I&039; that allies with a practitioner of darkready to start a va?"

"I&039; yes"

"You ain&039;t stupid, Injun Princess I&039;-heads But the devil you know" he said with a bitter sot with you?"

The side door slid open, revealing six youngterritory in their neighborhood - kneeling in the back open space, all but one dressed in black coues and armed to the teeth with uns, one assault rifle, nu in the way of body armor When I commented on that, one of the men unbuttoned his black shirt to reveal a chain-mail vest and a neck choker, a T-shirt beneath to protect his skin "Silver-plated steel works better in combat with a vamp than arun strapped to un is a Benelli M4 Super 90, loaded with silver-flechette, hand-packed rounds"

"The nated by the un? That M4?" I half s as if he quoted fro off "Steel components have a matte-black, phosphated, corrosion-resistant finish The alu the weapon&039;s visibility during night operations"

Froun is considered by many experts to be nearly idiot-proof, and requires little or no maintenance, operates in all climates and weather conditions, can be du periods of time and not corrode It can fire twenty-five thousand rounds of standard a reed, h, I just like the fact that it&039;s idiot-proof" The men shared a masculine chuckle for the little lady and her nice, safe weapon "All you guys ex-?" the first man asked His tonetheir na the ue maker himself, of course But there&039;s no rooe Local laon&039;t turn a blind eye tofor the best of the best, which ers Shooters have to be sure - absolutely sure - what you fire at"

"Not a probleles "One oes in alone and quiet - recon Places all huo in and take out anything dead and cold"

I bules I hadn&039;t known for sure that va new every day "Sweet," I said, tossing theot us for the va If they orking with or for Leo, why hadn&039;t he paid for their gear? Questions for another tieant?" When he nodded, I said, "I&039;ll ot ears?"

The sauy tossed me a headset I pulled off my helmet and settled the headset on

"Now, this is what I&039; about" I had used civilian-style headsets once before in Asheville, when I worked a dicey run to track thefts from a secure warehouse with the security firm where I did "

"Copy, Princess," a voice said into the earpieces

"I e-mailed you the street addresses of the likely warehouses," I said

He turned a s a ht have to do on-foot recon You got too many weapons to pull it off Hicklin here looks the part"

I finally got a name, or half of one It was a start I looked Hicklin over, a twentyso with slicked-back hair and a shaped Vandyke beard "Nice suit"

"Itches," he complained