Crimson Rogue by Liz Maverick

Author:Liz Maverick [Maverick, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780505526250
Published: 2009-04-04T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The headquarters for the human government was visible from the road leading out of the housing complex, but distance didn't do the place justice. LAX might have been significantly damaged, but the massive I-Ops compound still gleamed proudly out of the scorched wasteland all around. There was something creepy about its survival in the face of so much destruction; it was like a whitewashed cockroach that refused to die.

Liquid silver ran up and down a transparent piping system built into the glass and stucco. A web of red lasers and blinding floodlights remained in place—security measures designed to combat vampire and werewolf intruders. It made Cyd wonder what new security measures they'd implemented in her absence to combat the demons… and if those could somehow detect where she'd been.

She might be able to sympathize with Finn's reasons for leading her back here, to this job and life she'd so wanted to escape, but that didn't stop her from resentsing it; it didn't stop her from fearing what lay in front of her; and it didn't stop her from fumbling in her pocket for a drug-popper. The action was out of habit more than desire.

You don't do that anymore, Cyd. Meet life bead on. You can do this. You have to do this. Forget about what Finn wants for a moment, and for that matter, forget about what your boss wants. Remember that some of your own answers might lie inside this building.

Cyd took a couple of deep calming breaths and headed inside, silently cursing as she submitted to a battery of security checks and was finally allowed through the gates. Hoisting her bag over her shoulder, she entered, mumbling a stream-of-consciousness pep talk as she went through all the old familiar motions: plugging a security chip into her comm device, running her new I-Ops badge through the reader, flashing it at the latest receptionist, heading down a familiar hallway.

Doing fine, doing fine, keep going…

A couple of turns, through the double doors of the Department of Paranormal Research & Development, down the hall once more to a faded black door labeled CLEANING SUPPLIES, through that closet and out the back into the secret lab for demon research.

It wasn't secured, and Cyd didn't give herself time to get psyched out; she just pushed the door open and walked in. Most of the things that had been in the room before still seemed to be present and accounted for, though it was now significantly more organized. There was one notable addition: A long card table had been set up against the wall, and was currently piled high with file boxes.

The books in the small library were dusted and shelved alphabetically. The Bunsen burners, chemical testers and forensics equipment were cleaned, rinsed, labeled. Small mechanical parts and miscellaneous bits and pieces of machinery were sorted in a row of clear, labeled boxes. The broken glass that had littered the floor the last time she was here was now catalogued and placed in a covered plastic bin.

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