Blay came over with his Coke, sat next to John, and stayed quiet.
Awkward much, John thought as none of them said a thing.
Ten minutes later, the door marked STAFF ONLY swung wide and Trez came in from the back. "Sorry about the wait." He grabbed a hand towel from behind the bar and wiped the blood from his knuckles. "iAm's just dumping some trash in the alley. He'll be right in."
John signed, Do we know anything?
After Qhuinn translated, Trez's brows dropped and the Shadow's eyes grew calculating. "About what."
"Xhex," Qhuinn said.
Trez made elaborate work out of refolding the now red-stained towel. "Last thing I knew, Rehv was living at the compound with you."
"He is."
The Shadow planted his palms on the teak and leaned in, his shoulder muscles bunching up thick. "So why do you have to ask me about her search and rescue."
You know her very well, John signed.
After the translation, Trez's dark eyes flashed bright green. "I do. She is a sister, though not of mine blood."
So what's the problem? John signed.
As Qhuinn hesitated, like he wanted to be sure John really needed to say that to a Shadow, John motioned for the guy to get talking.
Qhuinn shook his head a little. "He said he understands that. He just wants to make sure all avenues are covered."
"Word up, I don't think that's what he signed." Trez's smile was cold. "And here's my problem. You coming here and being all what's-up suggests you and your king don't trust Rehv to tell you where it's at--or you don't think he's busting his balls to find her. And you know... that shit don't fly with me."
iAm came in through the staff door and just nodded as he stepped up to his brother--which was about as much welcome as you ever got from him. He didn't spare words. Or punches, going by how much blood had stained his gray T-shirt. And the guy didn't ask for a recap of the convo thus far. He seemed to be fully up to speed, which meant either he'd seen something on a security camera in the back, or he was accurately reading the tension in his brother's powerful body.
We didn't come here to fight or offend, John signed. We just want to find her.
There was a pause after Qhuinn did his bit. And then Trez asked the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. "Your king know you're here?"
When John shook his head, Trez narrowed his eyes even further. "And what precisely do you expect to get from us?"
Anything you know or believe to be true about where Xhex is. And any information on the drug trade here in Caldwell. He waited for Qhuinn to catch up, then continued. Assuming Rehv is right and Lash was the one knocking off those dealers in town, then it's damn obvious that he and the Lessening Society will fill the void they created. Another pause for Qhuinn. So where do people go for buys, apart from the clubs down on Trade? Is there a crack row? And who are the big suppliers Rehv worked with? If Lash is trying to deal, he's got to be getting the shit from someone. One last breather for Qhuinn. We've been down in the alleys, but up until now, it's getting us nowhere. Just humans dealing with humans.
Trez eased back off his palms and you could practically smell the wood burning as his brain worked. "Lemme ask you something."
Sure, John signed.
Trez looked around and then met John's eyes again. "Privately."
Chapter Five
As theShadow threw out the demand, John saw Qhuinn and Blay both stiffen and knew where his boys were coming from. Trez was an ally, but he was also dangerous by definition. Shadows ran by their own code and no one else's and they were capable of things that would make symphaths gag.
But when it came to Xhex, he was willing to walk into any ring of fire.
Long as I have a pad and pen, we're good to go, John signed. When neither Blay nor Qhuinn translated, he frowned and elbowed them both.
Qhuinn cleared his throat and stared across the bar at Trez. "As his ahstrux nohtrum, I go anywhere he does."
"Not in my house, you don't. Or in my brother's."
Qhuinn rose to his feet, like he would throw down with the Shadow if he had to. "That's the way it works."
John slid out of the booth and planted his body in Qhuinn's path before the motherfucker got all linebacker. With a nod toward the back, where he was assuming he and Trez would go, he waited for the Shadow to lead the way.
Naturally, Qhuinn just had to open his pie hole. "Fuck that, John."
John wheeled around and signed, Do I have to give you a goddamned order? I'm going with him and you're staying out here. Period. End of.
You suck, Qhuinn's hands spelled out. I'm not just jacking you for kicks and giggles--
The sound of a doorbell going off broke the argument up as they both looked to the Shadows. After iAm glanced at the security monitor under the bar, he said, "Our two-thirty meeting is here."
As he strode around the counter and headed out for the front door, Trez focused on Qhuinn for a long moment, then said to John, "Tell your boy it's hard to protect someone when you're dead."
Qhuinn's voice grew hard as a punch. "I'd go to the death for him."
"You keep up the attitude and that will not be a hypothetical."
Qhuinn bared his fangs and hissed down low in his throat, becoming the deadly animal that humans made up all kinds of horror mythology around. As he glared at Trez, it was pretty clear that in his mind, he was already mounting the bar and going for the Shadow's throat.
Trez smiled coldly and didn't budge an inch. "Tough guy, huh. Or are you all show."
Hard to know which fighter to back. The Shadow had tricks up his sleeve, and yet Qhuinn was looking like a bulldozer prepared to take down a building. But whatever, this was Caldwell, not Las Vegas, and John wasn't a bookie to take odds.
The right answer was to not let the unstoppable force meet the immovable object.
John balled up his fist and slammed it on the table. The crack was so loud, it brought everyone's head around, and Blay had to catch his Coke on the upswing as it bounced into the air.
After John grabbed the undivided attention of the combatants, he fingered up two birds and flashed one in each of their directions: Being mute, it was the closest he was going to get to telling them to chill the f**k out.
Qhuinn's mismatched stare swung back to the Shadow. "It's just like you would do for Rehv. Can't blame me for that."
There was a pause... and then the Shadow eased up a little. "True enough." As the testosterone surge faded to a dull roar, Trez nodded. "Yeah... true enough. And I'm not going to hurt him. If he's a gentleman, I'll be a gentleman. I give you my word."
Stay with Blay, John signed, before turning around and heading for the Shadow.
Trez led the way into a hall that was wide and stacked with cases of beer and liquor. The kitchen was at the far end, separated by a pair of flap- doors that made no sound when you went through them.
Brightly lit and with a red tile floor, the heart of the restaurant was neat as a pin and the size of a house, with a bank of stoves, a meat locker, and yards and yards of stainless-steel countertops. Pans hung up above and down below and something gorgeous was stewing on a front burner.
Trez went over and lifted the lid. After a deep inhale, he glanced over with a smile. "My brother is a helluva cook."
Sure was, John thought. Although with Shadows you always had to wonder what the protein was. Rumor had it they liked to eat their enemies.
The guy replaced the top and reached up to a stack of pads. Taking one of them off the pile, he slid the thing across the counter and snagged a pen from a cup.
"That's for you." Trez crossed his arms over his huge chest and leaned back against the stove. "When you called and asked to see us, I was surprised. Like I said, Rehv lives under the same roof you do, so it's not as if you aren't aware of what he's doing up north in the colony. Therefore you must know, as your bosses do, that he's searching the northern- most corner of the labyrinth this week... and you must also be aware that he's found absolutely, positively nothing that leads him to believe Xhex was captured by a symphath."
John didn't make a move, neither confirming nor denying.
"And I also find it curious that you want to ask me about drug deals, given that Rehv knows everything about the trade here in Caldwell."
At this point, iAm came into the kitchen. He went to the pot and gave it a stir as well, then braced himself next to his brother, assuming the same pose. John hadn't heard they were twins, but damn, you had to wonder.