Amanda put her hand on Edna’s arm. “For now, this arrangement will have to do. But I bet my mother will find a way to convince my brother to give it some further thought. It just doesn’t make sense to me that we can’t find a way for the two communities to coexist independently when there is no real conflict of interest between us.”
58
Eleanor
Eleanor hefted her suitcase into the trunk of her rental car, got behind the wheel, and turned the engine on.
Scrolling through the notes on her phone, she debated which address to input into the GPS first.
The Airbnb house that she’d rented was in San Mateo, only a fifteen-minute drive from the airport. The mansion was a little farther away, but she’d already decided that she was going there first.
The two-hour nap she’d caught on the plane wasn’t nearly enough, and she was fighting fatigue, but she could power through another hour. If she didn’t do at least a drive-by, she wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.
Checking the GPS, she found a drive-through Starbucks and headed there to load up on coffee first.
Half an hour later, she arrived at her destination, drove by it once, twice, three times, each time snapping more quick photos with her cheap burner phone. The quality didn’t matter. What mattered were the security cameras she’d noticed.
It was a good thing that she’d kept her sunglasses on, and her hair gathered in a ponytail. Tomorrow, she was going to get a different car and change her appearance, so even if she’d been caught on camera, they wouldn’t recognize her.
Parking one street over, she went over the photos she’d taken of the house, the fence surrounding it, and the street it was on.
The location was problematic.
The house was in the center of the small street, and the trees lining the pavement on both sides were mature, but not big enough to hide her even if she ditched the car.
Perhaps the other side of the house was more approachable. She needed to check that possibility and drove to the street where the back yard terminated.
As she’d expected, there were security cameras on the back fence as well.
She needed a cover, a disguise that would make her invisible.
Given how rich the neighborhood was, gardeners and housekeepers coming in and out of houses were probably a common sight, and no one paid them any attention. Perhaps she could pretend to be a new maid who had gotten the wrong address and just buzz the intercom?
Except, they wouldn’t let her in.
She needed to watch the house to figure out the best way to infiltrate it, and a maid’s costume wouldn’t help her with that.
What type of work justified street presence?
Eleanor chuckled. If she could get her hands on one of the vehicles that the city used for street cleaning, she could make rounds back and forth all day and no one would take any notice of her.
The problem was finding one. There weren’t many of those, and she didn’t have time to comb the streets for one she could commandeer. Perhaps she could call the municipality and ask? Her talent worked over the phone, so she would get the answers she needed provided that she reached the right department.
Yeah, good luck with that.
She could spend all day on the phone and never get to the person in charge of dispatching those vehicles.
She needed to come up with something better than that, but that wouldn’t happen while she was exhausted and her brain was foggy. She needed a good shower and a good night’s sleep.
With a sigh, Eleanor turned the ignition on and drove off.
59
Kalugal
“I don’t know why I’m doing this.” Kalugal puffed on Kian’s cigarillo. “I don’t even enjoy smoking.”
Kian leaned back and crossed his legs. “We are social animals, and we like sharing activities. I enjoy smoking alone, but it’s more fun in company. Same goes for a glass of good whiskey.”
“That, I like.” Kalugal lifted his glass from the side table and took a sip. “Whiskey is an acquired taste too.” He smiled at Kian. “I’ve been drinking much more of it since we became acquainted.”
Kian chuckled. “Don’t tell your mother. She’ll think I’m a bad influence.”
“On the contrary. My mother is overjoyed that we are cooperating and spending time together. She hopes that our ties will further strengthen.” Kalugal cast a quick glance at Rufsur, who was talking with Dalhu. “As do some of my men.”
“We are doing the best we can, cousin. Rome wasn’t built in a day either.”
Kalugal sighed. “I wish there were more of us. We could have built city-states like our ancestors did.”
“Someday, we might.” Kian took a puff. “Except, I doubt there will ever be enough of us to have our own sovereign country.”
“That would be nice.” Kalugal stubbed out his cigarillo. “We could find an unpopulated island like my father did. We could have our own unofficial country.”
Kian chuckled. “No, thank you. Navuh is, or rather was, in the business of war, so he can have his base wherever he wants. You and I are businessmen, and even in this internet-connected world, we need to be close to where things are happening. Besides, I don’t like the idea of living on a secluded island. I like to be able to go to a nice restaurant in the city or take my wife to see a show or a musical.” He grimaced. “Not that I get to do those things often. But having the option matters to me.”
“I feel the same way. When I was more involved with the stock market, my base was in New York. But when my interests shifted to new technologies, I moved to the Bay Area, where most of the startups are.”
Kian nodded. “My primary reason for choosing Los Angeles was its size and the movie industry. Our philosophy has always been that hiding in plain sight was the best strategy to avoid detection by your father. This village is a slight departure from that philosophy, but after one of our chief programmers was murdered in his home, I realized that it was not enough and that I needed a place where I could better protect my people.” Kian glanced at Dalhu. “The Fates have a really twisted sense of humor.”
Kalugal followed his cousin’s gaze. “Even though I wasn’t aware of the clan’s lore until you told me about the Fates, it seems like they decided to include my men and me in their grand scheme.”
“Lucky you.” Kian saluted with his drink. “Thanks to them, you have Jacki.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Kalugal clinked his glass with Kian’s. “By the way, did Nathalie speak to her ghost?”
“She couldn’t reach him, which reinforces my belief that it was the Fates’ doing.”
Kalugal wondered whether Rufsur and Edna’s relationship was also part of the Fates’ grand scheme.
Rufsur’s proposition had taken him by surprise. The guy had been a loud opponent of even coming to the village, and now he was pushing for unification.
Was he even in love with the judge?
He’d talked about having a child with Edna, but he hadn’t mentioned loving her.
Except, he’d compared his feelings for her to what Kalugal felt for Jacki, which meant that he thought of her as his one and only.