Sui Generis – 45

 

"Enough," Antton roared, glaring at them. "Lew, you'll work with whoever I decide, and it will not be Mag. He's not trained yet."

"I can take care of myself," Mag muttered. "I did on the streets."

"That's entirely different, I think," Brand told him.

"Yeah, I guess, but still…"

"Good Lord, you all are worse than a room full of kindergarteners." Antton waited until he had their attention again. "I'm putting both Ulrik and Randulf with you, Lew. Alanna is a force to be reckoned with. If you'd have done your homework, you'd know that. She's a female alpha and insane."

"Aren't 'female' and 'insane' synonyms?" Lew asked with a straight face.

At the same time, Mag leaned in to ask Brand, "In that case, why are we here?"

Ignoring Lew's comment, Antton turned his attention on Mag. "You two need to see how we do things. Even if—" he glanced sourly at Lew and the others, "—they don't always run as smoothly as they did when we were planning Fedor's demise."

Brand nodded. "If I can help in any way…"

"We'll see. First we have to come up with something more than just Lew hitting up clubs night after night and hoping he connects with Alanna before she kills again."

"With three of us—or four if we use Brand—we could cover the ground much faster. If one of us spots her, we let Lew know," Ulrik suggested.

"And if she spots you, she'll flip you the bird and move on. Don't forget, she's powerful in her own right."

"What does she look like?" Brand asked.

"Average height. Five-six or so. We have the few pictures of her we've managed to get since she went rogue, all from security cameras at clubs. Randulf has seen them and he says her face hasn't changed since he knew her."

"Except to get harder," Randulf said. "Physically, she's much thinner and sexier. The last time I saw her in person, she was cute but decidedly not svelte and not voluptuously sexy either. She was, as un-PC as it is to say, pleasingly plump and she radiated child-like innocence."

"Hair, eyes?" Brand asked.

"Blonde hair, usually straight and shoulder length," Antton replied. "Blue eyes, bordering on lavender. Her nose is… Hell, why am I describing her?" He went over to his desk, taking out a file. Extracting several pictures of Alanna he passed them around.

Lew whistled in appreciation. "Even as bad as these are, she still comes off as a real looker. Yep, she can try to seduce me anytime."

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there wasn't anything between him and Randulf except a job gone bad. Mag glanced at Randulf. Nope. If he looked any angrier at Lew's words, he'd be off the sofa attacking him. Or walking out, telling us he wasn't going to be involved as long a Lew is.

::He's bi, and as Vesper would put it, a right bastard.:: Randulf's words echoed tightly in Mag's mind. ::So get that questioning look off your face, and the compassion as well. I don't need it or want it.:: All the time he was mind-speaking to Mag, Randulf was glowering down at his tightly fisted hands.

"That is the idea behind what we're planning," Antton said in reply to Lew's comment. "Let her come on to you, or you to her, then get her somewhere safe so we can deal with her without endangering anyone else."

"No problem." Lew smirked. "I'm more than capable of getting her attention and taking it from there."

"Conceited ass," Brand muttered under his breath.

"It's not conceit," Lew responded, "if you're aware of your abilities and can carry through on them, which I do. Ask Randulf. He knows."

"What I know is, you're going to go down in a ball of flames if you come on to her flashing that kind of attitude," Randulf replied caustically. "She is not stupid. She'll pick up on the fact it's a trap before you can get past the 'Your eyes are like the sunset… beautiful, inspiring…"

Lew glared at him. "I'd never use a cheesy line like that and you know it."

Randulf just cocked an eyebrow contemptuously before going back to studying his clenched hands.