Though she was also with Kovit, and people might be too busy being distracted by their fear of him to notice her.
Quispe was still talking. “The police there use tasers more often than guns. There’s less of a problem with police brutality too.”
Nita noticed Quispe didn’t say there was no problem. Just less of one. Somehow, that didn’t comfort her.
“Please.” Nita’s voice was soft. “Can you just explain what happened so they can go after the shooter?”
Quispe sighed. “It’s not going to be that simple.”
Nita’s jaw clenched.
“Look, I have some good news.” Quispe’s voice lightened. “I wasn’t going to tell you until he’d arrived, but I think you could use the pick-me-up.”
Nita swallowed. “He?”
“We were all so touched by your and Fabricio’s sweet messages to each other that we decided to relocate him to Toronto for a bit so you two could reconnect. He requested that INHUP place him in the protection program and begged us to help him get as far away from everything that happened as possible. He has a new name and identity now, which means he can travel. While we set up the conditions of his protection program, we thought moving him to Toronto so you two could meet would be nice.”
Nita’s mouth went dry. “Fabricio’s coming to Toronto?”
“Yes. We surprised him with the news this morning. He’ll be there tomorrow.” Quispe’s voice was a smile. “Why don’t I come back to Toronto, and we’ll talk to the police together. Then you can spend some time with Fabricio?”
Nita just stared blankly at the wall of her room before she smiled and lied, “Yes, of course, we’ll do that.”
She made some excuse, then hung up, still staring at the wall.
Fabricio was coming to Toronto. Her mind tried to process that information, failed, and tried again.
Nita’s eyes narrowed.
He’d been using other people, staying safe behind a computer screen on the other side of the world, but now, with this, he was within shooting distance.
Nita’s mouth curled up in a smile.
It was time to end this.
Murdering the dealers hadn’t been the right move. Adair was right. Mass murder had worked in Death Market because it was isolated, and she eliminated everyone. That kind of strategy simply wasn’t possible here. The whole world was involved, there was no way she could kill everyone.
Indiscriminate violence wasn’t the answer. Nita was trying to dig out the heart of her enemies with an axe, and all it did was spread gore and make a mess. She needed to be a scalpel, neat and precise.
Adair’s point was well taken. You never go for the pawns when you can go for the king. And who was more of a king in this game than Fabricio right now? He’d set this whole mess up, he was the one paying people to kill her.
She needed to end things with him, before he revealed her to INHUP and made everything worse.
Finally, a stroke of luck had come her way. Because the top of her murder list was coming right to her, gift-wrapped by INHUP.
Fabricio wouldn’t leave Toronto alive.
Twenty-Five
NITA TOOK A DEEP BREATH and rose from the bed, her mind already full of plans for dealing with Fabricio. She stretched, letting them swirl around before looking down at her phone.
There was one more thing she needed to check.
Her conversation with Kovit earlier had left her with questions about her father’s death, and it was past time she started looking for answers.
Her hands were sweaty as she went online and found INHUP’s Dangerous Unnaturals List.
She felt a strange hesitation when she clicked on the link. She didn’t know why—it wasn’t like there was any chance she’d be on the list, and Kovit would have known very quickly if he’d been found out.
The page opened with a list of the different dangerous unnaturals and how to recognize them. Kappa and their bald spots, vampires and their silvered hair. Zannies and their shivers.
At the bottom of the page was the link to the current wanted list, where information about any confirmed but still free unnaturals was posted.
The list wasn’t actually that long, only five faces. She supposed it was easy for INHUP to get rid of their most wanted monsters when they had the whole world hunting for them.
Nita looked at each face, eyes searching for Zebra-stripes. Quispe had confirmed that he was a vampire, which meant INHUP had confirmed it. Vampires were on the list. So it made sense, since Zebra-stripes was still alive, that he’d be on the public wanted list.
He wasn’t.
Nita blinked when she got to the bottom and went back to the top of the page and looked through it again, but with the same result. Zebra-stripes hadn’t been publicized as a monster and put on the kill list.
Nita clicked off her phone and frowned. Why? She’d never heard of someone not being put on the list.
Unless he was already dead?
Possible, but she doubted it.
Chewing her lip, she tucked her phone in her pocket. She was going to need a new plan to find information.
She headed toward the stairs, hoping Kovit was back. She wanted to discuss options with him.
She descended the stairs, but stopped when the bell on the front door jingled, announcing a customer. Did people still go to pawnshops? Nita had thought the whole thing was a money-laundering front and assumed they didn’t actually sell anything.
Which, in hindsight, was silly. It had to at least look like it was a real business.
Nita didn’t want to be seen by someone who might recognize her from the news, so she peered around the door to the shop to see who was there.
Diana was at the front counter with the laptop, silently working. Nita couldn’t see if anyone else was in the store.
A footstep in the silence, then a voice. “Is Adair in?”
Nita blinked. She knew that voice.
Gold stepped into view. One side of her face and neck was covered in bandages. A sharp grin crossed Nita’s face. Gold shouldn’t have messed with Nita if she didn’t want acid burns.
“He’s just stepped out.” Diana looked up from her laptop. “I can call his cell? He just went for a walk, so he’s not far.”
“Please.”
Diana pulled out her cell phone and called. “Who shall I say is calling?”
“Gold.”
Diana repeated the message and hung up. Nita crouched in the silence, hidden behind the door, and realized Kovit was checking on Adair. If Adair returned, so would Kovit.
Nita pulled out her phone and texted him. Gold is in Adair’s shop. DO NOT COME BACK.
There was no response.
She resisted the urge to swear. He probably wasn’t looking at his phone, but she didn’t dare risk calling because she didn’t want Gold to know anyone else was here.
The door jingled again, and Adair walked in with a half-eaten ice cream cone. Nita hadn’t realized that when he said he needed to cool down, he literally meant he wanted to eat ice cream. But hey, to each their own.
“Gold. You cut your hair.” Adair eyed her for a moment, then opened his mouth and put the entire ice cream cone in. He swallowed without chewing. His cheeks didn’t puff out, his face didn’t even change.
Gold, Nita, and Diana all flinched when he ate it. There was something decidedly wrong about seeing it. He shouldn’t have been able to fit it in his mouth, and there was no evidence he had, except the swallow. It was the first time Nita had seen the flaws on the human part of his glamour—not the shifting, changing features, but the simple impossibility.