The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 33: Dancing with the Dragon

Dee frowned as she looked at the updated list of Brotherhood moles that a smugly satisfied Lash had delivered to her that morning, wearing dark shades and trying not to look like the massively powerful vampire that he was. He had strolled into the homicide squad room around ten that morning, a mere two hours ago, a smile dancing on his lips, a visitor's badge on his chest, and the file folder with the dossiers of the moles in his hands. She could tell that he was incredibly excited by his walk in the sunshine, the first ever of his long vampiric life, a true test of the EMF shield generator that Mordecai had given him and his Qos Viran the night before.

But Dee was even more excited when she had flipped open the file folder to see that the vampires had managed to track down everybody on the list, confirming that ten of the sixteen she and Duffy had found, were indeed Brotherhood moles. Scribbled notes in a smooth, flowing hand on each of the confirmed moles' dossiers outlined the depth of psionic residue that the healer, Olira had sensed in each individual.

Some had just been lightly touched, to guide them to do what the Brotherhood had wanted them to. While others had been deeply manipulated, turned into unknowing puppets that would perform whatever task the Brotherhood had for them. Overall, the combined abilities of the moles had turned them into a very effective tool for the underground psionic organization, one that had worked tirelessly to insure that the Brotherhood had remained out of public sight.

That tool, however, had been roughly removed by a more than willing Qos Viran strike team. In fact, according to Lash's report, the final mole had been taken out just 30 minutes before he strolled into the squad room, snatched away as she had gone to the parking garage at her building to get into her car and go to work.

Unlike the Brotherhood and the other psionics that she had seen in action, there was no brute force involved in the vampires' forays into the city. Instead, they were smooth, flawless operations that quickly and quietly achieved their objectives, raising no suspicion or curiosity. Even knowing that the moles had been removed, Dee had yet to hear the department itself wonder where it's missing members were. Smooth and flawless!

For a moment, Dee had let herself idly wonder how many of the city's, the world's even, missing persons were due to the vampires' expert hunt. Then, almost grimly, she had pushed that aside to concentrate on the updated list that Lash had brought her.

Calling up the original list on her computer, Dee had quickly run a comparison and had isolated the files belonging to the confirmed moles, including the dates of their hiring and promotions. Once that was done, it was simple to pick up her cell phone.

"Duffy here,"  the ex-patriot Brit's gruff voice answered and Dee quickly got down to business. With the cell phone cradled to her ear via her shoulder, she began to speak as her fingers continued to move over the keyboard, examining details in each of the files she had isolated.

"Duffy, it's Dee. Lash and his team have finished their run through the names that we gave them and they pulled ten confirmed moles from the list of sixteen we gave them. Did you make it to City Hall last night?"

"I tried, but they were closed by the time I got there. That's why I'm here, right now, in the deeds office," Duffy reported. "What dates do you have there?"

Using her finger to point them out on her screen, Dee quickly read the dates off, keeping her voice low enough to prevent from attracting the attention of the handful of other detectives working quietly at their desks. No use in stirring them into awareness of what she was doing!

Jotting down each set of dates on his rumpled notepad, Duffy nodded, his cell phone also in the crook of his shoulder and neck.

"Right, right," he said as he scribbled down the last one. "Hopefully that'll give us what we need to narrow a couple of things down here."