Free Omega by Susannah Sandlin Page A

in hunger, an oversized beak of a nose, and stringy white-blond hair that fell over his forehead in the shape of a comma. Definitely Matthias’s second-in-command.
    “You better have a good reason for being here.” Shelton’s drawl carried authority, but Cage recalled Will’s account of how cowed the man had been when Will had arrived at Matthias’s Virginia estate to rescue Mirren and Glory six weeks ago. Will had easily gotten the jump on him. Mr. Porterfield could be intimidated.
    “I’m here to see Matthias Ludlam.” Shelton assumed his most formal upper-class accent and stiff-upper-lip demeanor. “As an envoy from the Tribunal’s UK representative, Edward Simmons.” He and Edward had come up with the alibi in case he ever ran into trouble. He figured if this situation wasn’t trouble, nothing qualified.
    Shelton frowned and looked him over. Cage assumed a casual stance but threw his shoulders back and never dropped his gaze. He studied Shelton for telltale body language and was satisfied. Shelton had lost his swagger. He wet his lips, jiggled his hands, frowned, and looked down the street. The man was trying to decide what to do with his sudden, unexpected visitor.
    “Stay here while I talk to Matthias and see when he’s available. Mr. Ludlam’s a busy man; he can’t just talk to anyone who wanders up.”
    Cage shrugged. “No problem. I’ll ring up Edward at his New York office and tell him Matthias will see me
when he has time
. Pity, that. The United Kingdom organization has been a supporter of Matthias’s work here in Penton. Edward will be disappointed that Matthias doesn’t have time for one of his staunchest allies.”
    He turned back in the direction from which he’d entered town and walked away. When Shelton called after him, he allowed himself a brief smile before turning to respond.
    “Wait.” Shelton’s voice rose with a quiver. “No sense in running off. Matthias is here. Come on, we’ll find him. But”—Shelton wet his lips again, a nervous tell—“I…Well, how do I know you’re who you say? You might be one of Aidan Murphy’s scathe.”
    What an idiot.
Cage gave him a level look. “Do you scent Murphy’s scathe on me? Come a little closer, Mr. Porterfield.”
    The fool actually took a step backward. “How’d you know my name? Mr. Simmons wouldn’t know me.”
    “Edward makes it his business to know the major players. We know that Shelton Porterfield, formerly of Virginia, is Matthias’s second here. I had your description and, in fact, knew you were the perfect man to expedite my meeting with Matthias. You have a reputation for being very efficient.” And he had some swampland in the Scottish Highlands to sell if the man bought that lie.
    Cage reached in his pack and pulled out a forged British passport with his photo and a real letter of introduction from Edward, including the leader’s personal seal and the stamped insignia of the Vampire Tribunal. All quite legitimate, except, of course, for his real business here and Edward’s true allegiance.
    He handed the papers to Shelton, who read the letter with a gradual relaxation of tense shoulders. “Sorry for doubting you. We’ve got to be careful around here—these goddamned rebels are ruthless. They’d not hesitate to take Matthias down, and the Tribunal is relying on him to take care of Penton so they can focus on how to meet this pandemic vaccine crisis.”
    Yeah, more likely so they could continue their graft and corruption and, judging from his last conversation with Edward, formalize a policy that would allow the black market sale of unvaccinated humans. If the vampire ruling body was seriously considering sanctioned human trafficking, they were all beyond fucked. Edward thought if they could get Aidan on the Tribunal, he’d have enough charisma and persuasion skills to turn them around. But first, Aidan had to survive and they had to turn enough Tribunal members to get him a fair hearing.
    Which meant