Aubrey Rose Wren

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."What's up?" she said."You have an assignment," Olivier read off of the screen."What is this? Are you going back to school? Or is this for your dance class thing?"Uh oh.Wren didn’t know what the message was.She was retired, after all, and the most the CSE had asked her to do in the last year had been rewriting her case study files from when she had been in the field.Why would the CSE give her another assignment?"I gotta go." Wren grabbed the phone from his hand and stuffed it in her purse."What do you mean?""Sorry.I don't.I can't file a police report.Tell them you did it.Knocked him down." She definitely didn't need her name popping up on a police report; the Center for Shifter Elimination would have her ass for that.It wouldn't be the first time, but she was damned if she was going through the hassle of an official justification inquiry."Wren, are you kidding me?""Look, I'm sorry.I have to deal with this—uh, this assignment.Then I'll be all yours this weekend.I promise.""Wren." He crossed his arms."Olivier." She put her hands on her hips.“Wren.”“Olivier.”They stood, facing each other over the disarmed mugger.The man groaned again."I wouldn't go if it wasn't important," Wren said.Olivier opened his mouth to speak, but she pressed one finger to his lips to silence him."Please, honey.I'll explain later.""Fine," Olivier said."But I'm not lying to the police.""They won't care.It'll be a great story—senate official taking down crime and all.And you don't care, do you?" Wren bent down next to the man, who cringed back in fright."See, he doesn't care.""But I—""Bye, sweetie." Wren stood up and pressed a quick kiss on Olivier's lips before he could protest again.As she walked away, she turned to see him dialing the police, and she knew he would tell them that he had taken down the mugger.Never waste a chance for good press.Not in Washington, D.C., and certainly not if Olivier had anything to do with it.Wren just hoped that she would be able to finish whatever assignment the CSE had given her before their weekend getaway.Chapter FiveOn the main street, Wren found a taxi to take her back to her apartment."Wait here," she said."I'll just be a minute."The taxi driver eyed her elegant dress and leaned back in his seat.She took the stairs two at a time, barely managing not to fall over on her heels, and threw the door open.In her bedroom, on her half-empty suitcase, sat a large sealed manila envelope.She tucked it under her arm.At her desk, she scribbled out a note:Jessica - Gone for a couple days, be back soon.Love, W.The taxi honked outside."I knew I shouldn't have unpacked," Wren muttered to herself.She threw an armful of shirts into the suitcase, as well as a clean pair of jeans.She zipped up her suitcase, grabbed a pair of sneakers, and ran back down the stairs to the taxi."Airport," she said tersely, slamming the cab door behind her.The taxi driver hit the dash and pulled away from the curb.Wren kicked off her heels, tugged her dress off over her shoulders and pulled out a change of clothes from her suitcase.A T-shirt and jeans should do it.She unstrapped her leg holster and put it into the top pocket of her suitcase, leaving her gun on the other seat.She put on her socks and had just finished tugging up her jeans over her hips when she noticed the cab driver peering at her, eyes wide, through the rearview mirror."Can I help you?" she asked."Uh.yeah, uh.Just curious.""About my bra or my gun?" She held up the unloaded weapon and flashed it in the mirror."Uh, no.Just.uh.which terminal?"Wren sighed and tossed her gun back down on the seat."One second," she said, pushing her hair out of her face."Let me see."The manila envelope opened with one swipe of her fingernail, and out fell a new passport, gun registration, and cell phone, along with an airline ticket."American Airlines," Wren said.She glanced at the ticket – there was a five-hour stopover in Chicago on the way to California."He didn't have to do that," she murmured."Excuse me?" The cab driver looked again into the back seat, presumably to see if there was any more bare skin showing."Nothing," Wren said.She opened the passport.The name inside read Isabel Carson.Birth date, place of birth, citizenship, address.She memorized the new information quickly and tucked the passport into her back pocket along with the gun registration.She was about to put away the cell phone when it rang.She picked it up and leaned back in the cab seat."Who is this?" the voice on the other end asked.The voice was hoarse, throaty."Isabel," she said."I'm going on a long trip.""Are you going to the moon?""On my way now," Wren said.That was it.The passcode was complete."Marty.""Wren.""Marty, you fuck, it's been too long."Wren tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder and began to braid her hair back.It was time to get back to work."Hey, you're the one who decided to transfer to the sit-on-your-ass department.""That wasn't my decision," Wren said.She picked up her gun and swung it lightly between her fingers."You didn't fight it.""My boyfriend was going to leave me if I took off on him for another week." The hair tie snapped on her fingers as she tied off the end of her braid."We could run away together, Wren, you know.See Paris.""I've seen it.” Wren smiled despite herself.She’d never met Marty in person, but she imagined that he wouldn’t be quite as flirtatious face to face with her.Especially since he knew she had a gun."Why are you calling me? You have a lead?""A bear to put down." Marty coughed."In California?" She peered at the airplane ticket."Where's the information file on the subject?""We don't have any information on file.""Name?""No name.""Why are you contacting me now, Marty, if you don't even have a name yet? The tracker—""The tracker was killed.""Then send someone who can actually track," Wren said, exasperated."Send Chief.""It was Chief.""Chief?" The phone sounded fuzzy in Wren's ear."It was Chief?""The bastard got him," Marty said."I'm sorry, Wren."Wren swallowed hard."When?" she asked."Last week.""Is there a funeral?""You can't go," Marty said.His voice softened."You know that, Wren."Wren's heart pounded hard.Instead of feeling any hint of sadness, all she had inside of her was anger.Chief was a good tracker.A great tracker.And now he was gone.She couldn't believe it.She coughed to try and get rid of the sickening lump in her throat."So the guy knows we're onto him? He's probably gone already.""We don't think so," Marty said."There's been no sign of movement for the past week through any of the genetic scanners on the major highways.""So he took a side road up to Canada.Why am I going to the airport again? I was just getting settled down.""That'll be the day," Marty said."Seriously.With no info and no name? What are you sending me into?""We're throwing a hail Mary on this one, Wren, because we don't have much time." She could hear the tiredness in Marty's sigh on the other end of the line.“Tell me.”"This guy has been killing regularly over on the East Coast, one victim every two months, like clockwork.We intercepted a letter to a PO box with ursine hairs on it, and it led us to California.”“What’s the timeframe?”“It's been over five weeks since the last one, and we're thinking he'll kill again soon.""A bear." Wren murmured."So he's on the east coast?""That's where he kills.But California is the only lead we have for where he lives.And that's where Chief was killed."There it was again [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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