Authors: Seressia Glass
“Yeah.” She suppressed a twinge of guilt. Khefar’s steadfast faith in her was reassuring even as she wondered if it was misplaced.
Her shoulders slumped. “Looks like I’m going to have to be careful around them, if I ever get the chance to be around them again. Zoo’s Gilead now, for better or worse. I mean, I figured that something like this was bound to happen. Didn’t think it would happen so soon, though.”
“What are you going to do about it?” he asked as they pushed out into the chill night.
“Save Wynne’s life, and everyone else’s,” she answered. “After that, I don’t know. See if Zoo will accept a transfer enabling them to become field agents reporting up the chain to Sanchez.”
“What if Wynne doesn’t want to do that? There’s no way she can blame you for this!”
“She won’t, but it doesn’t matter. Knowing how Zoo feels, there’s no way I can trust him to have my back now.”
“You sure you want to throw that friendship away?”
She stopped in her tracks. “You were ready to bash Zoo’s head in, and now you want to defend him?”
“I still want to bash his head in,” Khefar said easily. “If only because it may knock some sense into him. I want you to be sure of your decision. It’s a bridge-burning moment.”
She tilted her face skyward, allowing the cool winter night to seep into her. “I was sure before Cairo. I tried to push them away then. They went to Gilead and joined up. It was their idea to be my backup on the mission to return the Vessel of Nun,” she said, scanning the sidewalk. “I shouldn’t have brought them into my world to start with. But Zoo knew about Light and Shadow, since he worships an incarnation of the Great Lady, and Wynne … was Wynne.”
Kira sighed. Wynne had seemed like someone she could trust with her life. But she wasn’t sure why. Then again, when she’d first met her, Kira hadn’t valued her own life all that highly. Life was lonely and risky. Wynne and Zoo somehow made it less so.
“After I first met them,” she continued, “I had them tagged after the scrying mirror incident so that Gilead would keep an eye on them in case they were trafficking in magically enhanced artifacts instead of just accidentally receiving one.”
“You reported them to Gilead?” Khefar asked, surprise ringing in his voice. “Did they know?”
“I never told them,” she admitted. “I kept seeing them around Little Five Points after I cleansed the mirror. I could have had one of Gilead’s psychics put a mental block on them, but I really don’t like to do that unless it’s absolutely necessary. Besides, they’ve done a good job of keeping Zoo’s bloodline from being public knowledge. I figured they could keep my secret too. The Shadowchaser secret anyway.”
“What do you mean, Zoo’s bloodline?”
“Zoo’s a natural-born witch,” Kira explained as they headed for the parking deck. “He’s got hybrid blood from his Romanian ancestry. He does Wiccan charms and spells as a cover for the fact that he really can do magic. With them keeping that kind of secret even from the U.S. military, I figured they’d have no problem keeping my secrets. Anyway, they’re Gilead agents now, and cozy with Sanchez. Reason enough for some distance, especially considering my parentage.”
She pulled her coat tighter about herself. “I need to get my energy back. Tell me we still have some protein bars in the car.”
“We do, and bottles of water. But there’s an all-night burger place next to the parking deck. Would you rather go there?”
“No.” She shuddered. “I don’t know if I have enough reserves right now to blast my food clean and keep my shielding in place. This time of night, I don’t know who or what will be in there.”
He studied her. “Maybe we should swing back by the house, let you regroup.”
She shook her head. “There’s no time. Besides, Shadowchasers train for this. When the Chase is on, there’s no stopping. I’ll be fine with the bars and some water. I don’t want to give Hammond any more time than we already have.”
At the car, she quickly downed a couple of bars and a liter of water kept cool by the early morning temperature. “You know … we’re not all that far from the Congress Center.”
Khefar studied her. “You want to go after Hammond yourself.”
“Damn right I do. He deliberately gave Wynne that heart scarab. He knew what he was doing. He called me out. The least I can do is answer.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
His hesitation surprised her. “Why the hell not?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re down a demigod, a witch, and a firearms expert. You’re fatigued. The odds aren’t in our favor.”
“When have they ever been?” Khefar was right. Dammit. Hammond had a time advantage over them. He’d set things in motion on his own timetable from the moment he gave the scarab to Wynne.
“Let’s head over to Gilead,” Khefar suggested, adjusting the car’s thermostat to a warmer temperature.
“Why?” Kira demanded, irritated. “So I can sit around with my thumb up my butt, waiting on the retrieval team to bring in my target?”
She crumpled the empty water bottle in her fist. “That supercilious son of a bitch! I completely bought that overeager, bumbling, barely-this-side-of-competent act!”
Khefar’s lips quirked as he started the car. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I’m angry. I’m angry because I’m supposed to be better than this. I’m supposed to know if something supernatural’s going on in my town.”
“You can’t know everything,” Khefar pointed out. “Even Gilead’s sweepers didn’t pick up on this.”
His mild tone did nothing to soothe her anger. “I should have known about this,” she argued. “Putting this exhibit together took months—on and off—of careful planning, paperwork, insurance, gathering permits, crating, transporting, and uncrating. I had to inspect each artifact brought in, making sure none of them had any nasty metaphysical surprises. I did everything I knew to do to make sure that the artifacts were safe for the public.”
She turned to him. “I worked with Hammond quite a bit over the last couple of months. Granted, none of it was in person until we started the installation and even then our encounters were brief. In retrospect, that may have been intentional on his part. Still, I should have realized something. I’ve let these friggin’ distractions get to me.”
“You have to admit, as far as distractions go, yours have been pretty huge.”
“You think? I’m ready for them to be over and done with so I can go back to doing my job.” She tapped her bottom lip. “I do have to wonder, though, what’s going on. Neither Ma’at nor Isis gave us any indication that this soul-snatching thing was happening.”
“Careful,” Khefar warned. “I strongly believe that our patronesses trust in our ability to figure things out for ourselves. Besides, if this comes from the mind of the Lord of the Desert, Isis would have good reason to steer clear.”
“Or work harder against him.” Kira wouldn’t admit it, not even to Khefar, but the silence from Ma’at worried her. No, she didn’t need hand-holding, but wasn’t it natural to want reassurance from above? “Balm’s still silent, and I get visited by the Ladies of Shadow and Between like it’s Christmas Eve and I’ve been a stingy bastard. Something’s up.”
“Something like what?”
“Think about it. Nansee decides to go visit his wife, something you say he hasn’t done in a couple of decades. Balm has that chest delivered, then goes all incommunicado on me. And neither Isis nor Ma’at warned us about this exhibit stealing souls. Why didn’t we get a heads-up? Why are they not giving us any guidance—especially since we had help up to our ears with the Vessel of Nun?” Kira shook her head. “Something reeks, and I don’t like it.”
“We’ve been on our own before.” Khefar exited the parking deck, made his way over to Peachtree Street, and then headed north for Midtown. “Maybe this means that we’re supposed to figure this out on our own.”
Kira remained silent. Now would be the perfect time to tell Khefar about being driven toward a choice by the Ladies of Light and Shadow, about having her Shadowling sire’s Shadowblade in her spare sheath. She had no idea why she’d impulsively strapped the blade on, especially given her initial revulsion to it. Khefar would argue against her carrying it. Then again, he would argue against her confronting Hammond, and she really wanted to confront Hammond.
“Great. And what if we make the wrong choice?”
“Then we fix it.”
Kira’s mobile chimed. “Crap. That’s Sanchez.” She touched her earpiece to answer the phone. “Solomon here.”
“The SRT was unsuccessful in retrieving Hammond,” the section chief said, her tone clipped.
“Dammit!”
“What is it?” Khefar asked as he slowed the car down.
“They didn’t find Hammond,” she mouthed before turning her attention back to the phone. “Chief, do you mean that they couldn’t locate him or he was already gone when they got there?”
“One of the sweepers managed to tag him. He’s renting one of the condos across from Olympic Park instead of staying in a hotel. By the time Spec Team One got there, he was gone. Looked like he left in a hurry, judging by the looks of the place. I’m en route to HQ. I want you and the Nubian to meet the SRT at Olympic Park Towers. See if you can get any hits off the place.”
“Ma’am, I really think we should go on to the Congress Center,” Kira said, keeping in mind Khefar’s suggestion of having more boots on the ground. “Hammond may be heading there.”
“If he is, we need to have a better idea of what we’re facing, Chaser Solomon,” Sanchez replied, her voice stern. “I’m not risking you or any of the response teams because we didn’t take the time to gather more information. The exhibit is closed for now. We have eyes on the scene, and there has been no activity since we left the hospital. Take the time to do this right, Solomon, so we can minimize the collateral damage.”
Kira ground her teeth in frustration. She knew the section chief was right. Going off half-cocked would only get them in a whole world of trouble. The last thing she wanted to do was lose any more people. “Yes, ma’am.”
“All right.” Sanchez seemed surprised that Kira hadn’t argued further. Kira was a little surprised herself. “Report back to HQ the minute you have information.”
“Of course. Solomon out.” She disconnected.
Khefar sped the car back up. “Did you just agree to follow one of Sanchez’s orders?”
“Yeah, don’t rub it in. They came up empty at the condo Hammond is renting. Sanchez wants me over there to see what sort of lead I can pick up. The SRT is already waiting on us there.”
“How are we going to find him?” Khefar asked. “Do you think he found out that we were onto him?”
“He knew from the moment he gave Wynne that scarab that I would be coming after him,” Kira said, curling her hands into fists. She jammed her knuckles into her knees. “He’s probably at the exhibit now, waiting for us. Daring us to come after him, that supercilious son of a bitch!”
“All the more reason to go in with a team, fully prepared for whatever he decides to throw at us.” Khefar paused. “Are you going to tell Sanchez about your dream?”
“About Set wanting me to join him or die?” Kira shook her head. “Me and Sanchez seem to be on good terms right now. I’m pretty sure that knowing that an Egyptian god of chaos thinks I’m part of his family at the same time that an exhibit on the Egyptian afterlife is stealing souls would strain my credibility with the section chief.”
“You’re probably right. Where to?”
“Olympic Park. We’re meeting the SRT at the Olympic Towers. Hammond rented a condo there for the duration of the exhibit.”
Khefar darted a look at her before looking for a way to backtrack from Midtown to Olympic Park. “You know it might come out when we get to the exhibit. If Set is going to make an appearance anywhere, it will be there.”
“I know.” She stared at the window as downtown Atlanta swept by. “I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.”
“But—”
“But nothing. I’m not giving up my Lightblade without a fight. Trust me, if the god of storms and chaos is wanting me on his side, I’m going to fight with everything I’ve got to ruin his plans.”
K
ira’s cell rang again. She touched her headset. “Solomon here.”
“Kira, darling,” Bale’s smooth voice purred in her ear. “How much do you love me?”
“Jessen didn’t waste any time contacting you, I see,” she said, torn between admiration and irritation. “Can you make this quick? While I appreciate the information you gave me, I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” he chided her.
“Fine. I love you when you’re useful,” she retorted, ignoring Khefar’s jerk of the steering wheel in reaction. “Now, do you have something for me?”
“I do indeed, my dear Shadowchaser.” Laughter lined the banaranjan’s voice. “Unlike your Special Response Team, my people had a most successful hunt.”
She motioned for Khefar to stop the car. “Bale, what did you do?” The banaranjan laughed again, and Kira realized he was on an adrenaline high. “Bale. Are you saying that you found Hammond?”
“Found him and am on the way to delivering him.”
Dread filled Kira’s stomach. “Delivering him where?”
“To Gilead, of course.”
“Dammit, Bale! Don’t you realize that if you show up with Hammond at Gilead, security will shoot first and ask questions later?”
“Hammond hurt my people,” Bale said, completely unfazed by Kira’s warning. “You are lucky you’re getting him at all. It is only because of the regard I have for you and the continued goodwill of the human community that you are getting such excellent prey.”
“Khefar, we need to get to Gilead, now.”
The car leapt forward as Khefar depressed the pedal. “Are you flying or driving, Bale?”
“Which do you think?”
“Bale. Snap the hell out of your adrenaline high and give me some details here. I’m trying to keep you from getting killed in your absolutely fucking stupidity!”
Bale sighed. “You sure know how to be a buzz kill, Kira, my dear. It is hardly my fault that your Mr. Hammond is so adrenaline rich. His taste is … delicious.”
“You scared him, didn’t you? Did you at least get some information out of him?”