In the second snippet of Nightmare City, Captain Ganner of the Somni Order has a proposition for Eden to help in finding the shade she’s hunting – but Eden’s not going to like it.
The ring of my phone interrupted Sean’s struggle for words. Thankful for the distraction, I answered without looking at the caller screen.
“It got away,” a voice barked into my ear like a general issuing orders.
“Captain Ganner?”
“Who were you expecting, your Fairy Godmother? You called in the doppelgänger forty-five minutes ago.”
“I did, yes.” Over the hotline. How the heck had she gotten wind of it so quickly?
“Well, it got away. One of my teams stayed on its tail through half the city after it came out of that garage. Until it set my team’s vehicle on fire and disappeared. Did you know it could do that?”
“I’ve seen it torch things, yes.” I’d almost been one of them.
“Then you know you’re outmatched.”
I didn’t like the direction in which she was steamrolling the conversation. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“As much as I want to ask you about those tricks, it’s not why I called. I have a proposition for you. I want you to partner up with one of my hunters.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Please reconsider,” she said, uncharacteristically civil. “It’s only a matter of time until this case is blown wide open because the doppelgänger is obviously targeting the Baptistes. It will become known that you’re the hunter on the case, and the public will expect results. They’ll hold you responsible, and me by extension because it got away from us first and we’re sitting on our hands, waiting for Miss Private Hunter to take it down. So I’m sending a hunter after the doppelgänger, whether you agree or not. But it makes sense for you to partner up.”
It did make sense. It also set a precedent I didn’t like. Agreeing to work with the Order on this case was one step closer to joining it.
But I wanted this doppelgänger caught. I wanted David, Bella, and Cecelia to be safe, to end my working relationship with Sean, and to eliminate this shade that had mocked me and was hell-bent on killing innocent people.
“Okay,” I said. “I agree to an Order partner. For the duration of this case. Are we clear on that?”
“Crystal. When and where can you meet him?”
“I’m kind of in the middle of–”
“He will start now, with or without you. I can give you his number, but you’ll end up chasing him through the city. He’s not one to wait.”
Oh heck. “Tell him to meet me at the Pit in forty-five minutes.” We might as well start where I’d figured to go next.
“Why the Pit?”
“Just send him there. Oh, and while you’re at it, I’ll need a permit to get onto Pit grounds.”
“Done,” she said. “I’ll send it with Taylor.”
Wait, what? “Sergeant Vaughn Taylor? I’m not teaming up with him.” I didn’t have enough fingers to count off the reasons. He loathed my kind. He’d seen Greyson. He was a loose cannon. He–
“Well, he’s the one you’re getting,” Ganner said, her voice as final as mine. “He volunteered.”
“To work with me? I doubt that.”
“No, he’s as unhappy about this pairing as you are. But he wants to catch the doppelgänger, so he’s willing to overlook your differences.”
How mature of him.
“He’s my best hunter,” Ganner continued through my struggling silence. “He could be a great asset.”
He would be a great pain in my asset. But I was fighting a lost battle. My number one priority was to catch this doppelgänger. Having a partner, even one like Taylor, would raise my chances. I couldn’t refuse.
“Fine. The Pit, forty-five minutes. I’ll meet him there.”
Preorder Nightmare City as ebook or paperback here to find out if Eden and Taylor ever learn to get along on their hunt for the doppelgänger as soon as the book is published on November 26.
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P.S. Newman - Urban Fantasy Author 