And she couldn't dismiss the troubling conversation she'd overheard. Ler"zive cargo shipments arriving any day now. Whispered requests for exotic offerings that would command hefty prices and ignite the hunger of Reiver's lascivious society friends.
The very idea chilled her to her marrow.
Although it was forbidden by Breed law, Reiver wouldn't be the first of their kind to peddle humans as if they were nothing more than cattle meant for slaughter. Skin traders were a despicable scourge, usually ranking among the lowest of the low in Breed society. Base street scum like that generally didn't stay in business for very long.
But if someone with Reiver's reputed power and connections had decided to deal in mortal suffering and death, how many innocent lives would he be allowed to steal and destroy before someone had the courage to take him down?
It was that disturbing thought that had Danika dialing a scrambled phone number in the States while she sat alone inside an Edinburgh coffee shop the next morning.
"Gideon, it's Danika," she told the Breed warrior on the other end of the line, in Boston.
"Hey," he replied. The British-born vampire ran the command center of the Order's compound. "You all right? You need anything? I hope things are good in Denmark."
Normally quick with wry humor, today Gideon seemed cautious, an odd intensity edging his voice. "I'm fine," she said. "Everything's fine. And I'm in Scotland, actually. I decided it might be nice to spend the holidays here in Edinburgh with Connor."
"Ah. That's good." Relief in his answering exhalation. "How is the little guy?"
She couldn't help smiling when she thought of her sweet baby boy, back at the cottage with Emma this morning while Danika ran daytime errands in the city. Her son was Breed; for him and the rest of his kind, sunlight was a deadly threat. "Connor's great. Getting bigger all the time. He's so much like his father already. Calm and good-natured. I'm blessed to have him."
"It's good to hear you're both okay." There was a question in the warrior's slight pause now. "But that's not why you called, is it?"
"No," she admitted. As a fresh wave of customers strolled in to place their orders, Danika got up from her table and walked outside for a little privacy. "Do you know anything about a vampire from the Edinburgh area named Reiver?"
"Let me check the IID." The clack of a keyboard sounded in the background as Gideon tapped into the Breed's international identification database. "Not much on record. Looks like he's been around since the 1700s. Currently holds several properties in the Highlands and a handful of businesses in and around Edinburgh."
"What kind of businesses?" She crossed the street and headed for the car lent to her for the day by Conlan's kin. "Anything out of the ordinary?"
"Import/export companies, couple of antiques shops. And a private gentleman's club on South Bridge. Appears the place has been registered to him for the past century and a half."
She knew that area, a historically notorious part of the Old Town now clogged with tourist shops and pubs. She was only a few blocks away. Danika got into the car and turned the key. "Do you have the name and address of that club, Gideon?"
His answer came in the form of a prolonged silence. Then: "What's this really about, Danika? You're not being straight with me."
She told him about the incident at the party last night, including the snippet of conversation she'd overheard. "I can't be sure, but I think he was talking about human cargo, Gideon."
"Jesus," the warrior hissed on the other end of the line. "And you put yourself within arm's length of this guy? I don't need to tell you what Conlan would say about that-"
"Con's gone. And I'm fine. I just wanted to make you and the rest of the Order aware of what happened."
"You did the right thing," he told her. "Now do us all a favor and steer clear of the whole situation. We'll take a closer look at Reiver. Don't mention this to anyone-not even the Enforcement Agency. Shit, especially them. The way things are going around here right now, we have to assume that no one can be trusted."
"That bad?"
"I'm not sure how it could get worse, unfortunately." The uncharacteristically grave edge to Gideon's voice had taken on an even darker tone. Although the time she'd been away from the Order had kept her removed from their day-to-day operations, she was still in touch with her old friends and was aware of the war they'd been embroiled in with a powerful enemy named Dragos. The fact that Gideon was unable to make light of that battle now, even to dismiss some of her worry, could only mean bad news. "The compound's location has been compromised. We're scrambling for temporary headquarters, but the whole plan got more complicated yesterday when Dante and Tess's baby arrived ahead of schedule."
Danika wanted to be happy for Dante and his Breedmate, whom she had yet to meet, but she'd been a part of the Order long enough to understand that a newborn was both a blessing and a burden to a group of warriors who lived-and sometimes died-to make the world a better place.
"As if that wasn't enough," Gideon went on, "one of our own is AWOL. Chase disappeared the other night. Based on the way he's been acting lately, we're all dreading that we've lost him to Bloodlust."
"I'm sorry," she said. Of all the warriors, she never would have guessed the most rigid, by-the-book enforcer of Breed law would be the one to fall victim to an irreversible blood addiction. In light of everything the Order was dealing with now, she regretted that she'd called to trouble them with her suspicions about a petty gworut a peangster like Reiver. "I wish I were there with you all, Gideon. I wish there was something more I could do."