BooksBarbecue
Back When Villains Rise
Chapters (52)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
  50. More Books from HMH Teen
  51. About the Author
  52. Connect with HMH on Social Media

Nita was silent a long time. She didn’t know how to use the information she had. These documents were probably worth far more than what Adair was giving her for them. But she needed what he had, she didn’t have the influence or power to make things happen. All she had was information, and valuable as it was, she didn’t have the knowledge to make a counteroffer. Things were only as valuable as they were useful to you.

So even though Nita knew she was getting the bad end of the deal, she said, “Fine. How do you want me to transfer the data?”

He sent instructions on how to upload her files to a private server of his, and she followed them carefully.

“It’s going to take a while,” Nita said, watching the progress bar crawl along. “There’s a lot.”

“That’s fine.” Adair was calm.

The sound of voices laughing in the hall drifted through the small hotel room, almost but not quite covering up the hum of the air-conditioning unit.

“So.” Nita kept her voice steady. “I want to know everything you know about Andrej and INHUP and the Dangerous Unnaturals List.”

“I see you’ve found some of the information on your own.” A hint of amusement laced his words.

“Yes.”

He sighed softly. “All right. So, here’s what I know for certain. Nadezhda Novikova had a lover, who was also a founding member of INHUP. He went by the name Andrej Smirnov, but that’s likely an alias. I don’t know what his real name was—he probably discarded it a long time ago.”

Nita turned this over, determined it wasn’t important, and said, “Go on.”

“They were in a long-term relationship, and they’re both listed as founders. Smirnov—no, I’ll call him Andrej, I feel like I’m talking about vodka when I say Smirnov—Andrej was never, and can never be, put on the Dangerous Unnaturals List because of all the public pictures of him at INHUP functions. The public doesn’t know he’s a vampire, but they certainly would if his face made the list. And wouldn’t that cause controversy.” Adair’s voice was bitterly entertained. “That’s why he wasn’t on the list even though he killed your father and why information on that case was classified. Speaking of, INHUP apparently found video of your father’s death. I’m still working to get it, but I should have it soon.”

“I see.” Nita pursed her lips, trying to push away all the emotions that wanted to boil back up when she thought of seeing a video of her father dying. A part of her wanted it desperately, wanted to see the truth for herself, wanted to know for sure she’d gotten his killer. And a part of her crumbled at the very idea of seeing him die. She didn’t want to watch that.