Part 32 (2/2)
His brows rose. ”Clever girl.”
”Will you do it?”
Hank smiled. ”Yes.”
Reed moved over to the kitchen, where Montevista had set up a satellite video phone. Eve wondered why they didn't just use a webcam, but that question would have to wait until later. Moving down the hall, she returned to the room where she'd seen Richens's laptop earlier. It was still there, as were all the rest of the men's bags. She closed the door and sat cross-legged on the floor. It only took a couple of minutes to power up the laptop, then she slid the CD into the drive and waited for the photos on it to load.
Her sister had once told her that she'd hacked a disposable digital camera and used it multiple times on vacation. Eve didn't ask Sophia how it was done, but she'd asked the Ghoul School kids if they knew. Mich.e.l.le was familiar with the process, so Eve left Claire's camera with them. The photos began to appear on screen, thumb-nailed within some type of photo editing software. Eve skipped over the two of Gadara Tower, and also the ones taken of Monterey Bay and the entrance sign to McCroskey. She clicked directly on the last known photo of Molenaar and Richens, the one taken that morning before they began their excursion into Anytown. With bright eyes and big smiles, the group was arranged like an old elementary school cla.s.s photo, with two rows of students-men at the top, women at the bottom. Raguel stood regally to the side, his elegance undiminished by his gray sweat suit. The students had all pulled up their sleeves, displaying their armbands for posterity. Eve blew up the photo and examined each student carefully.
”Bingo,” she whispered.
Her mother hadn't been able to see the mark on her arm, because it was undetectable by mortal eyes. Secular technology was also unable to register them. So when Eve's eyes discovered the edges of the mark peeking out around the silver plate of a student's armband she knew she'd found what she had secretly hoped she wouldn't-a fake Mark, hiding in plain sight. Only it wasn't whom she had suspected. It was worse.
Everything fell into place.
”Sneaky. But I caught you.”
She heard footsteps thudding atop the hardwood floor of the hallway. Hitting the eject b.u.t.ton on the disk drive, Eve closed the window for the photo software and folded the laptop shut. She scrambled to her feet just as the door opened and he walked in.
”Hollis. What are you doing in here?”
Eve tried to appear nonchalant. ”Just checking my e-mail.” But mental images of the corpses of Molenaar and Richens flashed incessantly and something must have shown on her face. His friendly mien changed. His lip curled and he snarled like a wolf. Another Mark appeared behind him. Eve feinted to the right, then bolted left, shouting for help. He lunged, tackling her to the floor. Her skull hit the hardwood and the lights went out.
Reed stared at the text messages on the screen of Raguel's smartphone and felt his stomach knot. KIEL, SARA-13:08-1K On my way. Will arrive at LAX early tomorrow A.M.
Ask Abel to turn on his phone.
He growled. There was so much s.h.i.+t piled on him right now, he could barely breathe through it. Cain was running through his brain on the periphery, using his experience to deal with the influx of information from the seraphim and handlers. It kept Reed edgy and infuriated. Why hadn't he been selected for advancement, when Cain obviously wasn't capable of functioning without his help? ”Montevista, I think-”
A yelp from Eve at the rear of the house stiffened his spine to the point of pain. Midpivot, a deluge of information poured into his mind, a confusing disjointed mora.s.s that made him stumble. He was in motion before his brain fully understood why, rounding the makes.h.i.+ft dining table and bolting toward the hallway. His shoulder b.u.mped into Hank's, who was also responding, and his heel was clipped by a pursuing Montevista. They were nearing a bottleneck when Eve stepped out to the hallway from one of the bedrooms. Seeing the stampede, she winced and looked sheepish.
”Are you all right?” Reed barked, hating the fear that gripped him.
”I'm fine.”
”What are you screaming for, then?”
”Uh . . .” She s.h.i.+fted nervously. ”Big spider. Huge.”
Montevista exhaled and leaned into the wall. ”You scared the c.r.a.p out of me, Hollis.”
Hank's voice came low and somber. ”Anything I should know?”
She frowned at him for the length of a heartbeat, then her face cleared. She smiled. ”No. Nothing.”
He nodded and walked away.
”You slayed a dragon,” Reed said, curious enough to probe her thoughts but finding her as calm as if she were dozing, ”but freak out over a spider?”
”I told you it was big,” she said defensively.
He released his tension with a frustrated exhale and caught her elbow. ”Come on, then. Show me where it is and I'll move it outside.”
He reached for the doork.n.o.b.
”No!” She stayed him with a viselike grip on his wrist. ”I'm over it. Forget it. Really.”
Reed stared for a long moment. ”You sure?”
She nodded. ”Yes, I'm sure.”
That worked for him. He had enough to worry about without adding spiders-big or not-to his list. Like preparing both himself and Eve for Sara . . . If it was possible to do anything more than brace themselves for the impact. ”The conference call is about to start. You coming?”
”Wouldn't miss it,” she said, smiling.
They headed back to the dining room.
CHAPTER 17.
It seemed like hours before the kennel finally fell silent. Alec pushed up from the wheeled, black-leather office chair and s.h.i.+fted into the hallway. The destruction in the main area was plentiful. Blood and tissue covered every surface. Very few of the pups remained in recognizable form. Most were in pieces. Only two were capable of movement-a faint twitch of a tail and an ear. They'd be dead within minutes due to copious blood loss.
Alec tried to s.h.i.+ft into the underground dog run, but was prevented by more warding. He could s.h.i.+ft freely once he was inside, just as he was able to s.h.i.+ft within the kennel. It was the gaining entry part that caused trouble.
Returning to the office, he activated the hydraulic lifts in the cages and s.h.i.+fted to the nearest one. He was lowered into the maze, his nostrils flaring at the scent of death and decay that permeated the s.p.a.ce. He moved carefully through the vast underground complex, which was dimly lit and cooler than the kennel above. The walls here were metal, the ductwork-covered ceiling low, and the floor more polished concrete. He cursed when he found a liquid nitrogen tank where embryos were being stored.
”I don't want to know how Charles got the goods to make those,” he muttered to himself. He searched the lablike room and found a heating element. Five minutes later the various cans that held the embryo straws were sitting in a deep metal tray set atop the hot plate. Alec wasn't going to take the chance that they might be rescued. The last thing the world needed was a legion of rampaging, ravenous, indestructible-by-Marks h.e.l.lhounds running around. He would rather burn the place down, but until he killed Charles, he didn't want to risk any smoke signals. In this case, literal ones. Satisfied that he'd crippled the breeding operation, Alec took the subterranean tunnel that led to the garage of Charles's castlelike home. Because the structure was built atop a small rise in the center of the community, the Alpha was both cus.h.i.+oned from his enemies and able to view the extent of his domain. From the exterior, the home was majestic and lovely. Gray brick covered the exterior, which was distinguished by two turret-shaped corner staircases that connected the three stories. A large, rolling green lawn and imitation gas lamps lining the driveway gave the home a storybook quality. A coat of arms featuring a black diamond decorated the s.p.a.ce above the front double doors. There was nothing to tell mortals that a demon ruled from here, quietly biding his time until he could attempt to destroy the world. Pausing a moment, Alec took time to appreciate his situation. While there were plenty of mortals filtering through the gated community-postal workers, gardeners, pool cleaners, baby-sitters, and the occasional police patrol-it wouldn't have been easy for him to get this far as a Mark. And getting to the pups? That would have been impossible. Yet Jehovah had given him this task-a task he'd needed an archangel's gifts to accomplish.
The Lord worked in mysterious ways . . .
Alec s.h.i.+fted into a lower-floor guest bathroom. The stench of rotting souls was overwhelming in the house, as was to be expected. Every pack member traversed the halls here on a regular basis and Charles-an unmated wolf-was known for his insatiable appet.i.te for s.e.x, which kept a large quant.i.ty of women in the house.
That was why Alec started in the master bedroom.
The private domain of the Black Diamond Pack Alpha suited a wolf. Wood paneled walls, tan carpet, and forest green drapes gave the impression of the great outdoors. As Alec expected, two women lounged there, naked and decorated with details that betrayed one as a witch and the other as a wolf. A console at the foot of the bed was raised, revealing a hidden television. They were too busy giggling over a talk show to notice him standing in the shadows of the unlit sitting room. Charles was absent. Alec kept moving, s.h.i.+fting from room to room, growing more uneasy by the moment. Aside from servants, the home appeared to be empty. Where the h.e.l.l was everyone? When an Alpha was in residence, his home was usually crammed.
Pausing in the office, Alec searched the desk but found nothing of note. Just rosters, dues spreadsheets, mating and birth records-the tools of a healthy pack. So he returned to the bedroom, s.h.i.+fting to a seated position atop the console television with his legs dangling in front of the screen. He spread his ebony wings with their gold tips and waved at the naked ladies.
The women screamed.
He knocked out the spiky-haired blonde with a single burst of lightning from his fingertips to her chest. He leaped atop the brunette and covered her mouth with his hand. She stared up at him with wide, horrorfilled hazel eyes. Every infernal with the most basic of training knew who he was on sight.
”Howl,” he warned darkly, ”and I'll stab you through the heart with a flame-covered silver sword. Nod, if you understand.”
She moved her head in the affirmative, her tousled curls tumbling around a pretty face.
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