Derek and Stiles got a room and dropped their things off, and then went to the diner, which was surprisingly full. They were told their burgers would take about half an hour, so Stiles suggested Derek go take a shower while Stiles waited, and he would bring their dinner to the room when it was ready.
He was unloading the food from the big paper bag onto the little table when Derek left the bathroom, smelling a whole lot fresher and dressed in blue boxers and a white tank top. "That smells amazing," Derek said.
"Who are you and what have you done with Sourwolf?"
"Less teasing, more cooked meat," Derek growled.
"…And he's back," Stiles said. He was hungry, too, so he opened the wrapping around his burger and took a few bites. "I got us three burgers. I thought you could probably handle two. And fries. And pie."
Derek made an inarticulate sound of pleasure as he ate. He paused. "What's the drink?"
"Milkshake. I never have them because I never let my dad have them, but I thought we deserved some liquid ice-cream," Stiles said.
Derek took a drink from his milkshake and groaned in appreciation, then resumed eating. Stiles looked at him thoughtfully. "So, what's the story on the Desert Wolf? I've never seen you run away from a threat, Derek. What's so scary about some human woman?"
"Kate was a human woman once."
"She's not like Kate, is she?"
"I don't think so. Kate wanted to kill werewolves for what we are. Desert Wolf just wants to kill Braeden and me so that we can't ever reveal how we found her."
"How did you find her?"
"It was a combination of things that Peter told me about her and things that Braeden had found out over the years. And I used my werewolf senses," Derek said.
"So why was she in trouble in the first place? Why was Braeden looking for her?"
"Braeden used to be a U.S. Marshal. Desert Wolf was the code name of a CIA asset who was being held in a prison in High Desert State Prison in Nevada. She escaped, and Braeden was one of the people assigned to look for her."
"Was this before or after she gave birth to Malia?"
"Apparently Malia was born in the prison. That's why she was adopted out. For whatever reason, Desert Wolf never revealed that Peter was Malia's father."
"Kind of a coincidence that she would be given to a family in Beacon Hills, isn't it?"
"I think Peter may have manipulated the adoption somehow so he could keep an eye on her. He was married at the time to someone else, so he probably didn't want to reveal the affair—but back then he wouldn't have been as heartless about his own daughter as he seems to be now."
"So…CIA asset? What's that, like a spy? Or an informant?"
"Braeden thinks she was an assassin. Makes a lot of sense, given her skill-set."
"Jesus. Okay. So you think the CIA was forcing her to assassinate people or something? Maybe take the fall for something she was ordered to do, and the only way to get free of them was just to disappear?"
Derek sighed. "We think…we think that she was charged with finding and assassinating the leaders of the most powerful supernatural families in America."
"Wait, the CIA knows about werewolves?"
"We think. Our theory is that she came to kill my mom, but fell for Peter in the process of trying to get close to her. Her handlers realized she was going soft and put her in prison," Derek said.
"So why isn't the CIA after you and Scott?"
"We're nowhere near as powerful now as the Hales were at full strength. We were awesomely powerful, rich, well-known…which was as bad as it was good. There were always challengers. Always people who were jealous and who wanted what we had. Kate wouldn't have bothered with something as spectacular as that fire with a little pack. She wanted to send supernatural families a message," Derek said.
"So if the Desert Wolf hadn't fallen for Peter, she might have killed your mom, which would have made you less powerful, and then Kate might not have noticed you as much, and might not have burned your house down," Stiles said.
"While it's tempting to blame everything on Peter, in this case I don't think it's justified."
"Let's do it anyway," Stiles said.
"So…we have to find out what the CIA has on this woman to make her kill for them," Derek said. "Any clue how we could possibly do that?"
"Well, I guess we'd have to know who her handler is. I imagine the big thing you'd blackmail a professional killer with is just people they've killed in the past. I mean that's how I'd do it. Convince them to kill one person, and then record it somehow, and blackmail them using that until you don't need them anymore," Stiles said.
"You are pretty ruthless, aren't you?"
"We both are, Derek. But then we're only ruthless when we need to be. And we're only ruthless to get things done."
"Okay. Well, I know Braeden's contact at the CIA. I assume he's the handler."
"Tell me everything you know about him," Stiles said.
"His name is Davis Peterson. He works out of Las Vegas. He works alone."
"That's it?"
"It's not like I have a dossier on everyone I meet," Derek said.
"You say that like it's a preposterous idea. Think about how useful a dossier on this Peterson guy would be to us right now," Stiles asked.
"Do you have files on everyone you know? Is that what you're saying?"
Stiles declined to answer. "So we have to go to Vegas and see if we can find him."
"And then what?"
"I don't know. We ask him what he wants with the Desert Wolf. Maybe try to find out what he wants with werewolves," Stiles said.
"How's that going to help us?"
"I don't know! But sitting here isn't going to help us, is it? Maybe you can do that thing where you threaten to rip his throat out with your teeth," Stiles said.
"This isn't your problem, Stiles," Derek said.
"I'm making it my problem. Actually, considering the shit we've dealt with the last few years, the CIA sounds like some good, clean, wholesome fun. I think we can handle this."
"It's funny. Maybe it's because I was born a werewolf, but I find human problems like this a lot harder to figure out than supernatural ones."
"Is that why you ran?"
"I thought Braeden knew best in this situation," Derek said. "That was partially because I don't know a lot about the CIA and assassins, I guess."
"Why do you trust her?"
Derek gave Stiles a look. "I'm not sure that I do."
"Do you have a way to get in touch with her?"
"No, she has the number of the burner phone but she hasn't called me on it," Derek said.
"Did you disable the GPS on it?"
"I didn't know you could."
"The internet is a tool, Derek, but only if you use it. That's part of the reason drug dealers love them. Hand it over," he said.
Derek did, and Stiles scrolled through and found the GPS and disabled it.
"Now wherever we go, Braeden can't find us. Or maybe we should ditch the phone. I don't know," Stiles said. "I think as long as it's turned off, no one can trace it. But it's just a burner, so maybe we should get rid of it…and the one I called you on it from."
"Why don't we trust Braeden?"
"I don't know. Based on your past experience with girlfriends, she's probably a serial killer," Stiles said.
Derek rolled his eyes but didn't argue.
Stiles looked at the phone. "I'm the only one who called you? How many people did you text that number to?"
Derek shrugged, and Stiles let it go. Stiles imagined that Derek had texted Scott, but the chances of Scott ever figuring something like that out were about a zillion to one.
"So we go to Vegas, and then what?"
"We confront this guy in his home. But first we have to find out where he lives."
"How do we do that?"
"Internet," Stiles said.
"You don't think a CIA agent would be unlisted?"
"He would be. But if he's married or has kids, there'll be traces. Facebook, reverse directories…People's personal information is surprisingly easy to find. And it's not like he's undercover. I don't claim I'd be able to find a CIA agent living abroad undercover. But this guy is probably some kind of glorified civil servant," Stiles said.
"You say that like you know it to be true but you don't know anything about this guy," Derek said.
"I never know anything about anything," Stiles said. "Hasn't stopped me from being the guy with all the answers most of the time."
"So you think we should just…wing it?"
"What's the worst that could happen?"
"We get murdered by the CIA, put in jail for stalking…get arrested…Maybe I get put in a shady government laboratory where they do experiments on supernatural creatures…"
"There's that optimism you're famous for," Stiles said. He sighed. "Look, I understand if you don't want my help. I mean, you wanted me to bring you some money, and I brought it. It's your life. You can just say forget about it if you want."
"No. You're right. I don't run and hide. To be honest, I think part of me just wanted a break from all the conflict, you know?"
"You know, you don't have to have a CIA assassin trying to kill you to go on vacation."
Derek smiled wryly. "So, wow me with you internet skills. You can really find this guy?"
Stiles got out his iPad and went to work. They found out Davis Peterson was married to Jessica Peterson on Facebook, and then found out she owned a business called Peterson Yoga that operated out of her home.
"That was crazy-easy. If this guy is so easy to find, why doesn't the Desert Wolf just go there and kill him?"
"That's not how blackmail works, Derek. You know he probably told her if anything happens to him whatever he has on her goes to the authorities. Anyway, we're not going there to kill this guy. We just want to talk to him."
"But I'm supposed to threaten him?"
"Maybe. If we need to. I'm so full! That was like the biggest burger I've ever seen."
"Have you checked your email lately?"
"I'm scared to. I know people can track your email through the IP it's sent from and I'm worried that checking email might leave me open to the same thing considering law enforcement might be looking for me. And besides, all I'd get would be a bunch of pissed off emails from people who're mad at me for leaving."
"No wonder. Essentially you're a runaway right now," Derek said.
Stiles rolled his eyes. "They know I'm coming back. So what would you have done if I hadn't come here? What was your plan?"
"I had one plan. It wasn't a good one," Derek said.
"Let me have it," Stiles said.
"I was waffling between calling Davis Peterson and telling him what we knew about the Desert Wolf so he could put her away, and going to an alpha I know and asking for advice," Derek said.
"You know another alpha? Where? Who is it?"
"He was my father's alpha when my father was young. He's an old man now, but no one will challenge him because he's really respected. I didn't want to go to him because I didn't want to bring him any trouble."
"So, which plan do you like best?"
"I'd say yours, but yours isn't really a plan," Derek said.
"Well…is there some reason we shouldn't turn this woman in? I mean, as tempting as it is to believe in conspiracy theories, maybe she's just an evil bitch. The fact that she seems willing to kill you to save herself isn't a great argument in her favor," Stiles said.
"It's Malia's mom," Derek said.
"There is that," Stiles said. "I guess we have to know more of the story. I think we should approach this Peterson guy as if he's a good guy. I mean, he could have sent an assassin after the Desert Wolf, but he sent a Marshal. That's got to speak to his intentions, right?"
Derek shrugged, and yawned. "I guess so. Listen, my bed is calling me. Maybe we after a good night's sleep the answer will come to us?"
"Sure," Stiles said. "I'll go to sleep in a little while. Will it bother you if I keep the light on?"
"No, not at all," Derek said.
"Good," Stiles said.
He had a file to start on agent Davis Peterson.