Titan Song Dan Stout (top 20 books to read txt) 📖

early, or skip the final night. It barely moved the needle. Now we were on the penultimate night of the show, the last chance to put together a plan before time ran out.

To do that, I had to talk to Guyer. I spotted her in the hallway and I jogged to catch up.

“I’m busy, Carter.” She had an armful of folders and a scowl that made it clear she was about to walk into an unpleasant talk. I matched her pace.

“Look,” I whispered, putting my hand on her shoulder, redirecting her from the meeting room she’d been headed for. “You wanted to hear how I got this connection? Fine. I’ll tell you everything.”

She frowned, but allowed us to coast past the room. A group of impatient techs glared at us through the open door.

“What’s the catch?”

I took a breath. “I need you to cover for me at tomorrow’s medical exam.”

Guyer squinted at me. “You want me to write you a note? I’m not your doctor.”

“No, but you do have the clout to keep Baelen from sniffing at my heels for a day or two.”

One of the techs stuck his head out the door. Guyer waved him off with a curt, “One minute!”

“Guyer, I need a little freedom, and Baelen can’t be peering over my shoulder right now.” Exasperation was creeping into my voice. I gathered myself and continued. “Come on, the department’s going in circles because no one can figure out how to deal with the festival, and Vandie Cedrow’s real conspirators are running loose.”

She opened her mouth to protest, and I added, “Please.”

Guyer exhaled through flared nostrils as she sized me up.

“Can you have this wrapped by Friday?”

“One way or another,” I said. I didn’t mention that the other option might see me dead.

She leaned back, her shoulders to the wall, arms crossed between us. “Fine. I’ll come up with something that will keep Baelen busy for a couple days. Happy?”

“That’s all I ask.” I hesitated, and she frowned.

“What is it, Carter?”

“Well, there is one more thing.” I gave her my most winning smile. “What are you doing this evening?”

When I saw Jax I asked him to come by my apartment as well, then I put in a call to Jankowski, Paulus and Gellica’s lawyer. Next I grabbed some takeout and hustled home. I had a few hours to eat and prepare before anyone arrived. When the first knock came on my door, I opened it up and let Ajax inside.

“I hope this is worth it,” he said. He took a seat on the couch, where Rumple immediately began parading back and forth along the back cushions, as if showing off the apartment to a friend.

“It has to be,” I said. “Vandie says the next attack is tomorrow, the last day of the festival.”

“Since when do we believe her?”

“I think she’s lying about where, but not when,” I said. “She wants as many people out of town as possible on that specific date and time. There’s a reason for that.”

Another knock at the door, and I rose to let Guyer into my home. She waved hello to Ajax, then did a slow pirouette in the center of the room.

“I knew people who lived like this in school. At least the couch is nice.” She flopped down on the easy chair and held up a hand for Rumple to sniff in greeting. “So you got me here. Congratulations. Now what’s the big secret you want to talk about? Are we going to have to drag it out of you?”

“No, the time for secrets is long past.” I cocked my head. “Did you hear something?”

The sound came again. A tap, rather than a knock, and not from the door. I crossed to the room and opened the blinds. Gellica stood on the fire escape, arms crossed. I raised the window sash.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” I said, stepping back.

“Not sure why I did.” She kicked a leg up and over the window ledge, entering my apartment.

Gellica took two steps and paused at the edge of the room. Maybe it was seeing Jax and Guyer. Maybe it was seeing the couch she’d given me as a breakup letter. Maybe it was because the whole thing just kept getting weirder.

Jax’s biting jaws clacked. Rumple was no longer prowling the couch behind him. “Surprised to see you, Acting Ambassador. That’s an unusual way to make an entrance.”

“Hello, Ajax.” Gellica nodded to him. “I had to slip away from the press, as well as some of your colleagues who are watching me.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” I said. That surveillance was the reason I’d reached out to her through Jankowski. I took a moment to prop the window open, then took the only open seat, on the couch beside Gellica. “This is almost everyone we need.”

“Almost?”

“Enough to get started.” I made introductions between Guyer and Gellica. They looked at each other for two uncomfortable breaths, the DO with her head tilted, the diplomat straight-backed and calm.

“Huh.” Guyer turned back to me. “Interesting company you keep.”

I chuckled. “Weylan said something similar to me yesterday.”

All three of them stared.

Guyer held up both hands in a stop-right-there motion. “You spoke to Weylan?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s he like?”

“He’s a regular person. Just another asshole whose ego is going to get people killed.” I cleared my throat. “Speaking of which, Vandie Cedrow has everyone in the Bunker and City Hall panicked about an attack on the festival.”

“Not everyone,” said Guyer. Jax nodded agreement, rolling one of Rumple’s glittering toys across his palm.

“She’s got no reason to mess with the festival,” he said. “She wants change in the heat distribution, not to hurt people.”

“That hasn’t stopped her so far,” Guyer said.

“She hasn’t done any of this on her own,” I said. “And she’s not the one who poses a danger now.” I brought them up to speed on my conversation with Weylan, and his particular flavor of self-important delusion.

“Does he just want to destroy the city?” asked Guyer.

Jax had been silent