The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Chapter 28: Ancient Hatreds, New Reasons

Vulcrum looked over at Lash, a frown of confusion marring his face.

"There are no councilors named Demaskeiros," he said in a low voice.

"An alias, perhaps?" Lash returned just as quietly to avoid breaking Fiadh's biochemically-induced rapport with Kanter. "They all seem to be working with at least one each."

Taking that as a bit of cue, the Irish lilith turned back to Kanter.

"Does Demaskeiros have another name?" she asked.

For a third time Kanter was initially silent. Then:

"I don't know, mistress," he confessed in that faraway voice.

"Who makes contact with Demaskeiros?" she quickly asked, changing tact slightly.

"High Lord Giovanni." The answer came swift and sure; Kanter had obviously witnessed Giovanni making the call to their mysterious superior.

"Who makes contact with Giovanni?"

Again the answer was quick in coming:

"Romanescu."

"Where is Romanescu?"

"I don't know."

While it came as quickly as the positive answers, this time Kanter openly admitted to not knowing. Which, if the former Qos Viran were playing according to the service's undercover book, made perfect sense. Keep valuable assets from knowing where each other is, in case one gets captured and interrogated. A situation, ironically enough, that was playing itself out right in front of their eyes.

Lash let that resonate inside his head for a moment as he compared it against his own experiences undercover. Then something occurred to him. If Kanter had seen Giovanni make the call to Demaskeiros, then he had to possess some means of either traveling to where Giovanni is. Or bringing the Italian High Lord to where he was.

"Ask him if he can contact Giovanni or Narvaez," he quietly directed. Nodding, Fiadh refocused on Kanter.

In doing so, Lash could see the growing fatigue in the Irish lilith's face. It was somewhat surprising that it took physical effort to control a pheromone cloud. But, seeing how tired she was getting with the constant level of effort needed to keep the level of the compulsion pheromone consistent in her cloud, he couldn't deny it. He needed to wrap this up before she was exhausted!

"Can you contact Giovanni or Narvaez?" she asked.

"Yes, mistress," Kanter answered, then oddly added: "But only in emergency situations."

Lash's eyes narrowed as he picked up Romanescu's phrasing and tonal accent in how Kanter said that. It was obviously a direct quote that Romanescu had said to him over and over, to make sure he retained it. And he had, burning it into his subconscious mind in the exact same way the Romanian had said it to him.

He looked over at a thoughtful Vulcrum, who had produced another tablet from somewhere and was taking notes.

"Did your team search his person after they took him?"

"Standard procedure, my lord Ingamon," the lean spymaster replied. He turned to pick up what looked like a clear plastic exhibit bag you would see being used for evidence storage by a law enforcement agency. In it was a Glock handgun, three spare magazines, a set of metal door keys, a rumpled pack of cheap Russian cigarettes, a lighter, and a smartphone.

After giving the contents a cursory look, Vulcrum handed the bag to a thoughtful Lash. Who quickly opened it, accepting a pair of latex gloves from his spymaster to pull one on and reach in to take hold of the phone.