Free When Darkness Hungers: A Shadow Keepers Novel (Shadow Keepers 5) by J.K. Beck Page A

the under-the-breath comments that were just a little too loud.
“Guess he thinks that tinfoil hat can protect him from Sanders, too.” “Maybe he’s made a deal and Sanders is going to bite it at the next full moon.”
    Shit
.
    Yeah, he was trying to ignore it. But it pissed him off. Couldn’t help it. And when he burst through Sanders’s door, it was Edgar who was in the ripe fury. Sanders was simply kicked back, feet up, barking orders into the phone.
    Two long strides, and Edgar was at his desk. One firm motion, and he’d disconnected his call.
    “What the fuck?” Sanders yelled. “Goddammit, Garvey, you just hung up on the mayor.”
    “Am I, or am I not, the liaison between this office and the FBI’s task force?” He said it calmly, without raising his voice. Inside, though, he was cursing a blue streak.
    “You burst into my office and then have the gall to ask me if I remember your fucking job? How can I forget it with you waving the fed card every time it suits you?”
    Edgar ignored the dig. The rivalry between the feds and the local cops was legendary. And that meant that Edgar was now a traitor to his kind. Considering his kind hadn’t ever really wanted him, Edgar was okay with that. “A dead female in Franklin Canyon. Fatal wound to the neck. I talked to Gus on the way up, Sanders, and he knew enough to know that’s got task force written all over it. So why the hell didn’t you call me?”
    He knew he was getting worked up, but this was important. For years he’d been labeled a crackpot, but now he finally knew that he’d been right all along. There really were monsters out there in the world, and tinfoil hats weren’t going to keep them away. Ignorant detectives like Sanders weren’t going to, either. “Well?” he demanded. “Or did a federal task force simply slip your memory?”
    In front of him, Sanders’s face was cycling through a series of expressions, the changes so fast and furious it was almost comic.
    “I have never,” he sputtered, “
never
kept you or the FBI away from a case. But Penny Martinez has nothing to do with the task force investigation,” he said, referring to the victim by name.
    “That isn’t a call you’re authorized to make.”
    “And I didn’t. The feds did. Maybe you need to stay in better touch with your team, Garvey.”
    “You’re saying the FBI said that the Penny Martinez case has no relevancy to the task force investigation?” Edgar pressed. “That’s insane.”
    “Not the FBI,” he said. “Homeland Security.”
    Edgar took an involuntary step back, startled. “Homeland?”
    “They’re all feds to me,” Sanders was saying, unaware of the effect of his words. “Different injury. Different details.” His brow furrowed, as if he was trying to remember something. Edgar’s heart pounded against his rib cage. He wondered if Sanders could hear it.
    After a second, Sanders shook his head. “Anyway, they were very clear. All my officers were sent packing. And a high-ranking agent spoke to me personally. Apparently, this is a matter of national security. What the fuck is wrong with you?” His diatribe ended with narrowed eyes and intense scrutiny. Edgar felt his face heat. He tugged at his collar, trying to catch his breath.
    “Indigestion.”
Suck it up, Garvey. This isn’t new; it’s just confirmation
. He squared his shoulders, trying to gather himself, then pointed a finger at Sanders. “If I find out you’re screwing with me—”
    “Yeah, take your best shot,” his lieutenant said. “Shit, Garvey. You’re out of here in six months. Can’t you just try not to ruffle any feathers until then?”
    Oh, hell, he wished he could just sit back, especially now that the truth was squeezing the air out of his lungs. Gilli had always believed that they’d worked their way into the government. The dark things. The evil ones. That they’d climbed all the way up to the White House.That they were well positioned for a coup. Edgar