“Have I met this Remy guy before?” he asked as we began walking toward the marina entrance.

“Not likely. He doesn’t, um, hang out with werewolves.”

“And what about the guy we are going to meet?”

I stopped walking. “You’re not going to meet him. When we get there, I’ll go in and you’ll wait outside.” Roland opened his mouth to argue and I held up a hand. “This guy won’t deal with me any other way. And we’ll be on a boat tied to the dock with you right outside. I’ll be fine.”

He made a grumbling sound. “I don’t like this.”

“You’re going to have to trust me on this. I know what I’m doing.” I looked down at my watch. “I have to meet him in five minutes. Come on.”

We entered the marina parking lot and passed between the office and the clubhouse to the main pier. Beyond the pier, a wooden dock extended into the water in a large L-shape and along the dock were four narrow docks with six slips on each side. Most of the slips had a boat secured to them. Anchored at the end of the main dock was the biggest yacht I’d ever seen. Most of the boats in the marina were cabin cruisers, sail boats, and powerboats and occasionally we got some small yachts in the summer. Nothing as big as that yacht though.

I caught Roland gaping at the boat and I laughed. “Yeah, in your dreams.”

There was a lot of activity on the pier as marina workers rushed around with ropes and tarps. I stopped one as he hurried by and asked him what was going on.

“Storm coming,” he said as if I should already know that. He lifted a coil of heavy rope to his shoulder. “We have to secure the boats so they don’t get banged around too much.”

I looked at the partly overcast sky and the calm water of the bay. “Really?”

“Yep. If you guys had any plans to go out, you’ll have to cancel them. Harbormaster sent out a weather warning.”

“Okay thanks,” I said as he started to hurry away.

“Hey,” Roland called after him. “Who owns the monster yacht out there?”

The man shrugged. “Some oil guy from what I heard. Putting in out of the weather.” He hoisted his rope again. “Gotta go.”

I grabbed Roland’s arm. “We’d better hurry up. They’ll shut this place down soon if it’s a bad storm.”

The Mary’s Hope was a forty foot cabin cruiser moored at slip twenty-eight and there was no sign of activity aboard when we reached it. I hoped Malloy was already here because he might not show if he arrived and saw Roland.

More dock hands passed us and I saw them head for the massive yacht where a tall olive-skinned man with black hair and a hawkish appearance directed them to their tasks. I wondered if he was the same oil guy Nate’s group was trying to keep from drilling in the area. The thought made me glare at the man before I turned back to the business at hand.

“Okay, I’m going in.” I hopped onto the deck. “I should only be a few minutes if he’s here.”

Roland nodded and I hurried down the two steps to the cabin that housed a small table, a tiny kitchenette, a bathroom and a small sleeping area. Tinted windows obscured the interior from the outside.

Malloy sat at the table waiting for me.

“Look at you on time for once,” I quipped making him scowl. I sat across from him even though I was in a hurry. Malloy liked to keep up the appearance of a formal sales transaction. His quirks didn’t bother me as long as he came through for me.

“Payment first as usual,” he said, watching me closely as if I was about to pull off a David Blaine act. I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and rooted around until my finger hooked the diamond.

“I don’t know what the big deal is with these but whatever.” I held out my hand with the red gemstone lying on my palm and Malloy twitched with anticipation. My other hand stretched toward him. “Your turn.”

He didn’t take his eyes off the diamond as he produced a tiny black vial and handed it to me. As soon as I had it in my possession, I extended my open hand to him and he picked up the red diamond almost reverently. I stuffed the precious vial in my front jeans pocket as he examined the gem.

“Perfect,” he gushed, holding the stone up to the light. “I almost didn’t believe it when you said you had one. But I figured someone who could get their hands on troll bile could get almost anything.” He stuck the diamond in his jeans pocket like I had and gave me a satisfied smile. “Listen I know there’s no way a kid your age can get this stuff on your own. Whoever you work for is bloody brilliant to have a nice normal looking girl like you running their goods for them. You let them know that I’m their man for whatever they need from now on.”

“As long as you keep coming through for them, they’ll keep doing business with you.” If he wanted to believe there was a boss man in the background, I had no problem with that. In fact, I liked the idea.

“Good to hear. I’m sure we –”

Malloy jumped to his feet as a thump sounded above us followed by footsteps and a body running down the steps. Roland burst into the cabin. “We gotta get out of here! Someone’s coming and they look like trouble.”

“Who the hell are you?” Malloy demanded, his eyes darting around for other intruders.

“This is my… lookout,” I replied, saying the first that that came to mind. “You didn’t think my boss would send me to these meetings alone, did you?”