Sacrifice the Wicked by Karina Cooper Read Free Book Online

through her could be so . . .
    So evil.
    “Ma’am?”
    But why else would he be here? Just spying didn’t seem enough.
    “He’s the only link we have to the data from Wayward Rose,” she said crisply. “With Nelson dead, we have no way of knowing who else may be working for Lauderdale.”
    Jonas sucked in a breath, the air hissing between his teeth. “You’re talking full-scale conspiracy.”
    “At this point in time, I’m willing to track down any leads. No matter how—” Terrifying. Infuriating. “—disheartening.”
    “Aw, man.” She could hear the worry as thick as paste on the line; a worry she echoed. “All right. Where should I look?”
    Parker frowned, pushing the heel of her hand against the needling threat of a headache centered behind her forehead. Where should Jonas look? Simon was the only stamped agent she knew of.
    She needed an inspection. But all inspections were done by qualified medical personnel, and she couldn’t just order her missionaries to strip for her. Well, she could, as she’d done when Simon and his partner had first been placed with her, but that had been to inspect the seal specifically.
    And she’d skirted a few regulations in doing so.
    All medical personnel came from the labs, which meant Sector Three influence there, too.
    Damn it. And that was even supposing all of Sector Three’s spies wore the bar code.
    She needed Simon’s help.
    Wouldn’t get it.
    “Start with everyone Simon’s age, give or take a year or two,” Parker said, calculating quickly. “Disqualify anyone assigned before—” She hesitated.
    “I’d start with sixteen months,” Jonas cut in quietly.
    Her mind made the connection immediately. “Peterson’s exposure?”
    “I don’t know,” Jonas said, “but if I wanted to slip a mickey into a drink, I’d wait for a little confusion to serve as distraction, right?”
    “Good point.” And that would mean Sector Three had launched its campaign almost immediately upon her appointment. It was, she had to admit, what she would have done. If she were a backbiting political snake. “Do that.”
    The sign on the line echoed the one she wanted to give. “Okay, I’ll start running background checks on any agents acquired in the last sixteen months. I’ll bring up medical records, too. This’ll take a bit.”
    “I want you to go over the murdered agents with a fine-toothed comb, too,” she ordered. “We weren’t looking at them very closely. See if there’s a link between them.”
    “Aside from a tendency to hunt down witches?”
    A flicker of a smile tugged at her lips. “Aside from that.”
    “I’m on it.”
    “Good.” That was one thing covered. “Be in—”
    “There’s something else.”
    She raised an eyebrow as she studied the unit on the desk, raising a finger to the bridge of her nose. “What is it?”
    Jonas cleared his throat. “Are you, um, somewhere safe?”
    The other eyebrow joined the first. “Safe?”
    “I mean private,” he amended quickly. His voice, normally fairly casual even when talking to her, now strained. “Somewhere, you know, without ears.”
    “Yes,” she said slowly, glance flicking around her empty office. Bookshelves, coatrack, chairs. Lamps. “What’s going on?”
    He took a deep, audible breath. “While we’re on the subject, I have some information about that . . . thing. With the bar-code tattoos and stuff.”
    Her chest tightened with anticipation. “GeneCorp.”
    “Yeah.” He drew the word out slowly, and for the first time, Parker realized he’d stopped typing. As if he needed to focus intently on what he said.
    Or what she said.
    She worked to keep her eagerness out of her voice. “Well? What about it?”
    “So, you know that I . . . know people,” Jonas hedged. “I mean, you sort of have to, in this line, right?”
    “Get to the point, Mr. Stone.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” She could practically hear the wince in the acknowledgement. “I have a lead in to something