Free Hell's Teeth (Phoebe Harkness Book 1) by James Fahy

a lot of weight at the Cabal Board to continue in her field. It would be a terrible shame for everything to fall apart without her.”
    I’d never been threatened with a promotion before. Hold a gun to my head and you might get a stubborn smart-arse remark. Threaten to take away my research, disband my team? That’s different. A doctor without access to Blue Lab, without resources? I’d be selling snake oil in two weeks. No hope for my research, no future for my team.
    The dead-eyed godfather smiled. “Congratulations, Dr Harkness. I’m sure you’ll be a most useful asset to us.”
    I did the only thing I could. Mustering what dignity I had, I stood, chin up, and smeared my palm the full length of the desk.

 
    11
     
    Lucy and Griff were both waiting for me in Blue Lab 4 which, after escaping the hideously oppressive depths of ‘upstairs’, felt like a breath of fresh air and a home away from home.
    They both stared at me in quizzical silence as I entered my own territory, finally shedding my winter coat and sliding into my lab whites. Both of them had faces like expectant puppies. Clearly the fact that I was two hours later than usual for work, and undoubtedly with only Miranda’s sketchy report of the scene in reception to go on, meant that they were waiting for me to spill the beans.
    Problem was, I was on strict orders not to. Level One security clearance meant that I knew what I did. It also meant that no one else did, and part of the job role I had just been very unwillingly ushered into was to ensure it stayed that way.
    “Morning,” Griff said eventually, when I was evidently not going to explain my tardiness.
    “Morning,” I replied, as normally as possible. “Look guys, Trevelyan … isn’t coming in again.”
    Lucy clapped her hands with glee at this news. “Yay! At least this means she hasn’t given the order to pull the plug on our funding yet. I told you things hadn’t gone as bad as you thought last night.” She paused mid-clap. “So did she turn up eventually then? I’m guessing too many margaritas and now a sick day.”
    “No idea,” I lied, trying to keep it brief. “She’s not here, though, so as far as I’m concerned it’s business as usual. You guys keep working on Epsilon. I want all the data we worked up for the presentation running parallel with the overnight strains, match what we know against whatever new data have come in during the few precious hours we weren’t actually here last night.”
    “I hear there was some excitement at reception this morning?” Griff probed, bringing me a coffee from the warming pot, which I took gratefully as I slid into my station and ran my hand across the screen, firing up the systems.
    “Yup,” I said as breezily as I could manage. “Just some Cabal admin, that’s all.” He didn’t move away. “Our noble leader normally deals with this, but as she isn’t here, looks like I have to shake all the hands and kiss all the babies’ heads.”
    Griff frowned at me. God, I am a terrible liar.
    “That’s all?” he said. “Huh. We thought the men in black had taken you away to put a chip in your brain or something, Doc.”
    I had a folder in my hand as I sat at my desk, and I slid it straight into my drawer, making sure neither of my team saw it. I was going to have to look through it ASAP, but I was doing everything in my power to keep Griff and Lucy out of this whole mess. The less they knew the better, as far as I was concerned.
    “Nothing out of the ordinary,” I said, amazed that I could even manage to say that, considering what I had just seen. As far as ordinary went, I was about as far out of it as I ever wanted to be.
    “What did you mean when you said ‘you guys’?” Lucy asked suddenly, looking confused as she perched on the edge of Griff’s desk.
    “What?” I asked distracted. I was staring at my screen, scrolling quickly through folders and sub-files.
    “Just now, you said you wanted us guys to work the Epsilon