“Why didn’t you tell me any of this when you came to see me at the Zetter? Or in Cornwall?”

He nodded, lips pursed and eyes lowered, as in admission of a weakness. “Fear and unpreparedness,” he said. “Grainer was supposed to meet me that morning at the Zetter. We knew you’d start to wonder if Harley’s cover was secure. The suits’ thinking was the story of the French idiot needed reinforcing. Then at the last minute I got a call from the office saying Grainer was tied up with something and that I should go ahead on my own. To this day I don’t know whether they were testing me. They could have bugged the room, or there was your escort, whatsername, Madeline, who for all I knew had been recruited. Anyway, I didn’t like the setup and I wasn’t going to put my head on the block. Too much riding on it.”

“Madeline’s not WOCOP, is she?” I asked, with a genuine feeling of fracture. Maddy not being what she seemed would be a uniquely dismal disappointment, the sort of thing that makes you say, Jesus, is nothing sacred?

“Pure civilian,” Ellis said. “A nobody. Forget her.”

Small mercies.

“Okay, but what about the stakeout in Cornwall?”

“That was just shit luck. I was literally just about to spill the beans to you when I got a message from the crew that two more vampires had been spotted. I had to go. FYI, we killed another three that night, but it took all night—and in the morning you hauled ass back to London before I had a chance to speak to you.”

“You’re not in charge of this, obviously,” I said.

“Holy crap, no way. Wouldn’t want the headache.”

A transparent lie—we both knew he was on the path to remote supremacy—but I ignored it. “So who is?”

“Come on, Jake, that’s classified. Why should you care?”

Madeline would have said: Because I want the organ-grinder, not his monkey .

“I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe it’s because you seem to move back and forth between sounding deeply rational and completely insane.”

He nodded. “It’s a difficulty of manner,” he said. “I’m oblique, they tell me. You know I’m an orphan, right?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“My mom left me in a Kmart in Los Angeles when I was less than a year old. I still dream of the place, a kind of blurry Christmas glitter.”

His consciousness was like a lethal ocean undertow. Before you knew it you were in colder water, miles from shore. I stood up. “Enough shit,” I said. “Just tell me what to do.”

“Cool your heels, Jacob. Nothing, yet. Seventeen days to full moon. Grainer still wants the animal. As far as he knows you’re off-radar. In a couple of weeks you’ll contact him and lay it out. Revenge for Harley. You and him, winner takes all. Stick with your original site in the Welsh forest. We’re set up for that. I’m leaving three guys with you in case the vamps pick up your trail, but keep your own wits about you, will you? Oh, and don’t waste your money trying to buy her location off my boys. They don’t know it. You’re on a flight to London tonight. Here’s a new phone and charger. You keep it clear 24/7. The only person ringing you on it will be me. For the time being you just go home and sit tight.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Trust me, Jake, everything’s going to be fine. We’re both going to come out of this winners.”

His own phone rang again. This time he answered, said, “Go,” then paused for a moment before holding it out to me. “Here,” he said. “Talk to your lady.”

48

THE SKY SUFFERED a particle surge, briefly went a deeper blue. Sweat bloomed in my palm as I took the phone.

“Lu?”

“Jake?”

“Are you all right?”

“I’m okay. Where are you?”

“You’re not hurt? They haven’t hurt you?”

“No, I’m not hurt.”

“Don’t be afraid. I’m going to get you out. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the villa still. You don’t know where you are?” I could sense Ellis peripherally with the face saying, Come on, Jake, don’t be silly.

“I don’t know. I think I was on a plane. It’s like a hospital. There’s a doctor here, or a least a guy dressed as a doctor.”

“What have they done to you?”

“Nothing. Took a blood sample, a urine sample. Everyone’s very solicitous.”

“Lu, listen. They’re going to keep you for seventeen days. I’ll be able to talk to you on and off—” I looked at Ellis. Not very often, his face said. “But just sit tight. I’m going to get you out, okay?”

There was a pause in which I felt, like a sudden drop in temperature, how afraid she was. “Promise?” she said.

I had to swallow. And turn away from Ellis. “I promise. I’m going to get you out. Just wait for me.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

“They want me to—” The line went dead.

I spun on Ellis. “Jesus fucking Christ , get her back. Get her back right now. ”

“Jake, Jake, calm down. Calm down . You know the way these things work. You’ve spoken to her. You’ve established it’s your woman. You know she’s okay. I promise you nothing’s going to happen to her. I’ve seen the room she’s being held in and you know what? It’s nice . She’s got a TV and a comfortable bed and her own little bathroom with a shower and everything right there. So seriously, stop fretting.”

He reached out for the phone but I held on to it. Her voice had come through it, felt still there in my hand.

“Come on now, Jacob. Don’t be an ass.”

I gave him back the phone. “You listen to me,” I said. “I’m not doing anything for you until I’ve seen her. Understand? With my own eyes, in the flesh. I see her in person or you get dick. Nonnegotiable.”

Ellis got to his feet. Looked at me curiously for a moment, then turned and rested his hands on the veranda’s rail, looking out over the red roofs and white boats to the shimmering blue of the Ionian. “Jake,” he said. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

I didn’t answer him. My head throbbed. A smell of raw fish came up from the village. A Jet Ski thumped across the bay. I was aware of having done something stupid.