Bitter Black Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Listen, we’ll keep an eye on Stone. Despite what you think, we haven’t written him off completely. It’s just that nothing ever sticks.”
    “It’s cool. I’ve got a new angle to work.”
    She smiled. “Is that why you didn’t get to bed until four a.m.?”
    Brody didn’t bother to correct her assumptions. Let her think what she wanted, it kept the department off his back. Besides, if they knew he was right under Stone’s nose, they would throw a fit. He strode over to his ’65 Mustang, angered that nothing concrete ever stuck to the magnate.
    Vasquez rolled away in her nondescript sedan. Brody knew there was a limit to what she could tell him. If the word got back to the department that she asked for his help or had given him information, it would be bad for her. His career was ruined. There was no reason to do the same to hers.
    Sure, he’d lost his job at the department, but he still had a few friends in uniform. Some of the old school cops who had opposed him and his kind had retired or been shoved out of the system. A few of the younger cops, those who were rookies when he was around, were still there. Now that the outbreak had taken hold, most were willing to listen and learn.
    Things used to be easy. That was before everyone got the idea to test for the virus. Brody had been one of the fastest rising stars on the force. He’d moved from uniform to detective in only a year. He solved the crimes they were unable to wrap their heads around, the ones that had no answers. Once upon a time, he was their golden boy.
    None of that mattered.
    Once they’d gotten wind of what he was — what he’d been and would be — they’d done all they could to make him look bad. They made the workplace intolerable in hopes of forcing him out.
    An L-virus outbreak took place three months after he made detective. There were public outcries and the government implemented mandatory blood tests. Not just for the military or law enforcement, but hospitals and all public service entities were required to perform the analysis. They couldn’t ignore rumors that there might be werewolves amongst them, or worse, that they might need to call upon them for aid.
    The San Diego police department performed their assessments and found out he carried the Lycan virus. He went up before the review board and admitted to having the virus for over fifteen years. They were shocked, even amazed that he kept it under control. Still, the department had demanded he take a drug test every month in hopes of catching BST in his system. They hadn’t.
    They played it cool and didn’t fire him right away though. He suspected they feared a discrimination lawsuit. He stayed on for over a year and solved the difficult cases. He was shoved out three years ago. Someone had put the idea that he was a dirty cop into Internal Affairs head, and they performed an extensive investigation. That hadn’t worked, so the higher-ups blamed office politics, layoffs and the like, but everyone knew the truth. He was a Lycanthrope and no one but Vasquez would work with him for fear of getting hurt or worse. It translated into the same old ridiculous bigotry, and everyone was eager to turn a blind eye.
    A year after they gave him the boot, the department discovered they needed help controlling the influx of people affected by BST and Lycanthropy. They even had the gall to ask him to come back, to be part of the special crimes unit. He’d be the most logical choice, they’d said. He could be trusted. Who better to help control the freaks than one of their own? He’d refused the bittersweet offer.
    His watch said he had ten minutes to get to Bitter Black. A quick glance through the folder was all he could afford.
    Pausing at the red light, he studied a photocopy of Hank’s faceless body. On the next page, he found an inventory of numbers Vasquez had found on the dead man’s phone. One in particular looked familiar.
    Cursing, he snatched his cell phone and dialed the