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A pained expression flashed across her face, and I nearly laughed "I will call the others," she said "Best to get this over with before we lose our nerve"

Chapter 21

Our plan wasn’t quite as reckless as "storm Tracy’s house and throw a cat at him" First Ryan, Eilahn, and I did a drive-by of his address to get a sense of what protections he had in place But to everyone’s surprise, there was nothing--no wards or arcane protections of any sort that we could see Or rather, that Eilahn could see I was still effectively blind due to the cuff I had no trouble seeing the physical, though: a single-story house with brick façade and beige vinyl siding on the other three sides Well-groo Some very basic plastic patio furniture in the back Two vehicles in the driveway--his Beaulac Police Departer And blinds in all the s that kept us fro any of the interior

"No wards here sis somewhere else," I told the others, but I couldn’t co intoto think he’s not the su twice now I don’t knohat to think," I confessed as I eyed the house Even if he did summon elsewhere, surely he’d have some sort of protections on his house? "Of course, if he’s wanting to hide the fact that he has arcane skills, then it would be pretty pointless to have glowy sigils visible to anyone with othersight"

"So Fuzzykins is our way in?" he asked with a ist of histo tip our hand no lanced into the back seat where Eilahn sat with the carrier "Sorry, Fuzzykins Looks like it’s all up to you" I pursed avewith her current name?"

"Well, it’s not very tough-sounding," I said "And she’s turning out to be a pretty kick-ass cat Even if she does hate me"

Eilahn shook her head as she nuzzled the cat "Her name suits her," she stated fir knives of justice"

Yep, that naave o knock on his door?"

I grimaced "I don’t exactly have a SWAT tea hiht now he has no reason to think we’re on to hi to know so on Hopefully this e’ll catch hiree this is not a perfect plan, but we are running out of tioing to wear a wire And at the first hint of trouble, I’ave him a smile "I would expect no less"

Before we approached the house Ryan pulled into a parking lot, retrieved a case out of the trunk of his car, and quickly rigged me up with a tiny little button-mike and a discreet earpiece Once we tested it and adjusted things accordingly, we climbed back into the car, and continued to the house, while I fought the urge to touch the mike to reassure myself it was still there

Ryan parked and let us out directly in front of the house--a thoroughly non-tactical position, but anted to give Tracy the impression ere clueless about hiood view of Tracy’s back yard in case he made a run for it in that direction Jill was still at Tessa’s--after she and Zack nearly got into a knock-down drag-out fight over the fact that she was pregnant and didn’t need to be in the ing nerves, I walked up to the house and knocked on the door A few seconds later I heard footsteps, and then Tracy Gordon pulled the door open

I watched as he took note of us as well as the car out front Then his eyes crinkled in a smile "Two beautiful worin "I sure hope you think so after I ask you the big favor that I want to ask you"

He gave a deep chuckle and stepped back "Coet warlie before Tracy closed the door Eilahn set the carrier down and crouched by it Fuzzykins hadn’t reacted yet And if it turns out she loves him, does this mean he’s not a summoner or does it mean that she’s simply an ornery beast?

I did a quick scan of the house Neat as the proverbial pin, and no weapons out in plain sight The place was si a singleroom were painted in a dark rust, but the hallway that led to the kitchen was a light tan, which helped keep the rooloomy A few bookcases lined one wall, and décor pieces like fossils and agates were interspersed with books, h I did see one shelf of science fiction--Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, James SA Corey, to name a few On the opposite wall a widescreen TV was h both were off now A dark oak coffee table with a dish full of decorative stones of assorted colors was centered in front of a brown leather sofa No pictures of any sort that I could see If there was any possible way that this could turn out so that he was not our bad guy, I was totally going to invite him over toout of town for a few days, and I ondering if there’s any possible way you could cat-sit for rin as the demon pulled the cat out of the carrier

Wary curiosity flickered in his expression "Seriously?"

"Seriously!" I cheerfully lied "Here, meet our cat!" I said as Eilahn thrust the feline into his face