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fealty oaths from a dozen large nests, two covens of black witches in Scotland and several packs of Spanish weres had made him the subject of several of Pete's bulletins.
    "Not so far." Vayl ran his fingers across the black cane that lay beside him on the couch. A museum piece, it had been hand-carved in India and was almost as famous around the office as its owner. A procession of intricately detailed tigers marched around the leg of the cane up to a gold band, which separated it from the multifaceted blue jewel that topped it. When you twisted the head, the tigers shot away from it, revealing a hand-hammered sword whose maker had been dust for centuries. I hadn't expected to see the cane until the party. It was unusual for Vayl to carry it with him here, where he should've felt safe. Where I'd felt pretty cozy myself. I sat up straighter and looked around the room.
    "What aren't you telling me?" I demanded.
    "We are going to have to be very careful. Assan has powerful friends. And…"
    "What?"
    Vayl shook his head. "Just keep your eyes and ears open. Something about this feels… wrong."
    And that was really saying something, coming from the C.I.A.'s number one assassin.
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Chapter Two
     
    Half an hour later I'd rediscovered my femininity. It's fun occasionally, sort of like an archaeological dig without the sweating. I stood before the bathroom mirror resembling the pale, regal daughter my mother would've preferred, wondering how I was supposed to hide my modified Walther PPK, which I called Grief, underneath material that clung like an obsessive ex-boyfriend.
    I'd gone for an oriental look and discovered the red mandarin collar and short, half-moon sleeves suited me fine, especially with my hair pinned up and swirled around the way I'd seen it done in Cosmo. Fake diamonds dangled from my ears, and though no one could see, they matched my belly button ring perfectly. The hilarious bit was that Pete had been the one to give it to me.
    His face had slowly flooded with color as he'd handed me the case. "I understand this is an appropriate item for your, uh, I mean that since you've got that, uh, piercing—"
    "What's it do?" I'd asked as I'd taken the case and pulled out a faux diamond stud.
    "It's a homing device," he'd said, obviously relieved that I hadn't made him stutter through the whole setup. "You activate it by breaking the gem off the post. If you don't have a way to keep the gem on you once it's signaling, it has been tested safe on the digestive system, so you can swallow it."
    Oh goody
. "What happens after it's triggered?" I asked.
    "We have a team standing by in Miami. Once they receive the signal, their orders are to try to contact you and, failing that, to coordinate a massive search and rescue."
    So, with my jewelry firmly in place, I gave myself one last critical look. I'd been careful with the eyeliner, so my eyes looked larger, greener, more soulful than usual. I had fine, fragile features that fooled almost everyone I met, a real advantage in my line of work. And the fact that my body leaned harder towards bony than athletic didn't hurt either. My legs were by far my best feature. They occasionally peaked through the side slits of my calf-length, red satin skirt. I wore red, low-heeled sandals I could actually run in, and I'd chosen a sequined handbag to match, so that's where I finally stowed my weapon.
    When I came out, Vayl's bedroom doors were still shut. I rapped on one.
    "Yes?"
    "I'm going scouting. Back in thirty."
    "All right." I took off to find the address on our cleverly faked invitation.
    Diamond Suites was situated about fifteen minutes from Assan's location. The Lexus purred under me like a snoozing lioness as I drove there, but I resisted the urge to wake her up on the Interstate. Pete's blood pressure tended to spike when he thought I'd done any excessive spending, and I figured he'd stroke out if I showed up with a speeding ticket on the way to a location.
    I took a leisurely tour of