by T. G. Ayer
“Nice speech. Doesn’t explain why you took Logan.”
He laughed, the sound echoing in my head. “If you only knew.”
I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant but Jess solidified next to me.
“I am here to take you to the High Council,” she told him without expression. “Your presence has been requested.” He stared at her, not moving a muscle. “Please come peacefully. I do not wish to shame you by taking you back in chains.”
“There is no such thing as peace,” Storm said. “Surely you know that you are all chasing a dream.”
“Is that the reason you have been killing paranormals. I am afraid I do not see the sense in it.”
“When every last one of them is removed from the earth, then and only then will there be peace. They are the reason the gods fell from favor.”
He paused to look at me.
“You people are the reason I have lost everything.”
Chapter 55
ONLY WHEN WE REMOVE EVERY paranormal from this plane, then there will be peace. The paranormals are the reason the Gods fell from favor.”
Jess shook her head. “You are confused. The paranormals were created at the same time normal humans were made. Why do you now want to kill them? They have existed all this time.”
His lips twisted in maniacal fury. “It would have been fine if they had just existed, but they are growing stronger. Soon they will rule.”
Jess stared at him without expression. “You are talking nonsense. Has your brain become addled?”
Storm shook his head. “What about Logan? You know his true identity. Do you not see that the power will be too much for him? Just like the Ni’amh had to be given to five different hosts, so the power he has should be disbursed.”
Jess frowned. “That’s why the power is dispersed between two hosts right now.”
Storm smiled. “I’ll have it all when I find her.”
“You won’t find her.”
“The High Council knows where she is. Sooner or later I will find out where they have been keeping her.”
Jess shook her head. “Not if I have anything to say about.”
“You cannot stop me. I am a God.”
“Watch me.” She raised her hand and lightning sparked from a fingertip. When she aimed her hand at Storm the lightning wove a cage of gold around him. Its energy throbbed as if in time with his heartbeat.
I grabbed her other arm before she could disappear with him. “Make him tell us where Logan is.”
The Titan looked at me over her shoulder. “Lily knows,” she said, and disappeared, taking Storm and the cage of lightning with her.
Or was that Ares and the cage of lightning?
Yeah, a total WTF moment.
Adrenaline buzzing again I shoved the door open and ran straight into a pacing Lily. “Can you remember where he kept you?”
Lily looked confused. She glanced at the open door, her eyes going round when she saw the office was empty. “Where—”
I raised a hand. “We don’t have time, Lily. Focus. Where did Storm keep you.”
She blinked, frowned. “Upstairs in his private apartment.”
“I thought he had an apartment down here?”
“Yes, he does,” she said. “But he also has one on the top floor of the building. Nobody is allowed to go up there. Only Storm has the access codes.”
With Jess gone and Saleem still unreachable, I rang Mel. She’d helped me find Greer in the Graylands and she was the only other person I knew who could jump us into the room without opening the door.
Mel arrived within minutes, her eyes dark with worry. She looked tired, her black hair almost lifeless, olive skin tinged green.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She nodded and gave a small smile. “I’m fine. Just a whole lot going on.” She tried to make me believe she was fine but the dark burgundy of her blouse just made her complexion all the more drained.
“Is Saleem okay? He hasn’t been answering our calls and I’m starting to worry.”
Mel shook her head. “He’s ok. He had to go home to see his brother.”
“Home as in Djinn-world home?” I asked, a little stunned.
Mel nodded and from the strain on her face I knew his absence was hard on her. There was more going on here than she was telling me, and I intended to ask. Later.
Right now, I led her upstairs and we confronted the locked door of Storm’s apartment.
“It’s made of steel,” said Lily.
Mel nodded. “I’ll check first.” She closed her eyes for a few moments, then opened it with a smile. “All clear. See you soon.” Then she was gone and we listened as she fiddled with a lock on the other side of the door.
She swung the door open and we entered, Lily hanging back. I suspected seeing this place again would be hard for her so I let her find her own pace.
A quick search revealed the place was empty. I turned to Lily. “Can you think where they would have taken him? Was there someplace else that you heard him mention?”
She frowned, her eyes going dark. Everyone’s stress levels were sky-high and I worried that she’d been through too much to be of any use to us now.
“If you can’t manage it, then don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” I said, bending close so she would look at me.
“I do remember Storm mentioning something about sending kids away to a special facility. I think they had something special planned for Logan.” Lily frowned. “I wish I could remember more. All I know is that Storm would email the people at some facility to keep them updated on Logan’s whereabouts.”
“Did he actually talk about this in front of you?” I asked, wondering at Storm’s carelessness. The only reason he’d do such a thing was if he considered her expendable. Thank Ailuros we’d gotten Lily out before Storm had killed her.
Lily was nodding. “Yes. It’s like he wanted me to know everything he was doing. Like it was a game. Sometimes he’d keep me tied up in the front room, facing all the monitors on the wall so that I could see what was happening.”
“Monitors,” I asked.
Lily nodded. “Yes.”
She headed to the wall on the left and rifled around on the top of the mantelpiece for something. Found a remote control. She pressed a button and a whirring sound emanated from the wall. Then a panel shifted and slid upward, revealing a bank of monitors—all currently revealing live feeds.
One camera focused on a young woman, her red hair gleaming in the sunlight as she walked through a park, the evening sun giving her a strange glow. The happy, carefree expression on her face led me to believe that she had no idea that she was being watched.
So this was surveillance.
I had no time to waste wondering who the girl was and why Storm was watching her. Now, Logan was my only priority.
But, as I stared at the monitors my heart twisted.
The air in my lungs turned to ice as I stared at the screen. I could barely breathe as I stood there, frozen to the spot, tears surging to my eyes.
Now I knew why Anjelo hadn’t been answering me. I glanced away at Lily, and was glad to see that she hadn’t noticed that particular feed yet. I moved away, shifting around so that she would look at me and not the monitors.
I had my own feelings to deal with and I had to be selfish because dealing with Lily’s horror as well as my own would take far too much time. Time we didn’t have.
Mel came up to my side. “What do you need me to do?” She looked worried and I knew she understood how important the situation was.
“Just hold on for two seconds while I send a text.”
I gave a short nod in Lily’s direction and Mel seemed to understand. She slipped an arm around the girl, angling her away from the screens toward a sofa beside a picture window.
With Mel taking care of Lily, I concentrated on sending a text to myself, addressing it to Daniel Chou.
I typed his name and a brief message about getting together for drinks. I
hoped that it would be enough.
A few seconds passed and I was beginning to wonder whether the ghost had been messing with me.
When my phone beeped, I exhaled softly in relief. A text from Daniel filled the screen. ‘What do you need?’
‘Can you scan your communication lines for any information on where Logan is being kept.’
‘Logan, as in Logan Westin?’
‘Yes,’ I typed back annoyed with the back-and-forth. Why didn’t he just do what he was told?
‘One minute.’
With nothing to do but wait, I reluctantly shifted my gaze from the phone to the bank of screens, staring at Anjelo. He was being kept in a small room, strapped down to a metal table. The number of wires and tubes entering his body made my stomach turn. They were planning something for him, and I was afraid to consider what it could be.
As I watched, two orderly types entered the room, faces hidden as they closed in on Anjelo, who remained deathly still.
I watched in horror as they untied him and moved him onto a gurney then pushed him away.
What were they going to do with him?
Panic took over for a moment, and I could barely breathe. Was Anjelo going to die while I looked for Logan? And could I ever live with having made such a choice?
My cell phone beeped again, and when I looked at it my chest tightened.
‘Located mention of Logan at the Omega HQ.’
‘How did you find it so fast?’ I asked, then tapped again. ‘Floor?’
Daniel responded. ‘I tapped into the GPS on his phone. Although it’s not physically on, it still emits a low transmission, probably detected only by someone like me.’
Suddenly I was thanking Ailuros that I’d run into Daniel, however roving his eyes were.
I waved at Mel. “I know where he is.”
She got to her feet, and Lily followed close on her heels.
“Let’s get going then,” said Mel. She glanced at the monitors, giving me a questioning look. She’d never met Anjelo so she wasn’t aware of what I’d seen. But I didn’t have to worry anymore, because Lily wouldn’t see anything since he was no longer on the monitors.
Ailuros knew where he was right now.
I sent off another text Daniel. ‘Anything on the location of Anjelo Alvarez?’
Daniel came back almost immediately. ‘Will check and let you know.’
I said my thanks and then nodded at Mel. “We need to get to Omega. They’re keeping Logan in a facility within the building. Daniel couldn’t be any more specific than that, so we’ll have to do some searching.”
Mel nodded. “You two wait here I will do a quick recon.”
She closed eyes but didn’t go anywhere. Her astral plane thing. Fascinating stuff.
But, all I could think of was Logan and what was happening to him. From the looks of what was going on with Angelo, I had no hope in hell of getting Logan back unhurt.
Mel, inhaled harshly and opened her eyes. The shock in her expression was enough to make me feel sick. I didn’t want to ask her what was wrong.
“Come I found him.”
Lily and I both took hold of one of Mel’s hands, and we disappeared.
Although my stomach lurched the tiniest bit, I was fine when we arrived in a darkened room. Light glowed from beneath the door to our right.
“Where are we?” asked Lily, her eyes glowing, her lynx surfacing to allow her to see in the dark.
“We’re in the room next to the one where they’re keeping Logan. See, over there.” Mel pointed to our left at a window that gave on to the room next door.
I shifted closer and had to force myself to swallow a gasp of horror. We’d found Logan.
Dear Ailuros, what have they done to him?
Of all the things that I had wondered, I had not expected this.
“He’s frozen.” I said the words, but could barely believe it.
Chapter 56
LILY LET OUT A STRANGLED sound.
I knew how she felt, but I had to stay in control.
We stared through the window into the silent room next door. The walls were lined with glass shelves containing dozens of bottles of liquids, probably chemicals. Countertops ran against the wall, circling the room, covered with paperwork, bottles, and all sorts of strange equipment.
Against the far wall, a strange device emitted a blue glow, the fluorescent aqua light from within revealing Logan’s shadowed features.
A layer of ice covered his skin, and frost crept up the glass windows of the cryo-pod.
“How the hell do we get him out of there?” I whispered.
“I had a look,” said Mel. She shook her head. “It’s very secure. It also has a self-destruct. We need to enter the correct code or the cryo-chamber will kill him.”
I stared at Mel, shocked. I was filled with dread for Anjelo and now I stared at Logan, unsure if he’d make it out of this alive.
Could it get any worse?
“Kai?” Mel said. “What do we do?”
Who knew about codes? “There’s someone that may be able to help us,” I told her. “He’s at my parent’s place at Tukats. Bring him here as fast as possible. I think he may be the only person who can crack the code without tripping the self-destruct.”
Mel nodded. “Be back in a sec.”
It only took a few minutes to return, but they were minutes that dragged like an eternity as I watched Logan’s frosted face through the glass. Lily’s pacing only amplified the feeling that my world was teetering.
Mel reappeared beside me, holding onto Baz whose expression indicated he was struggling not to throw up.
“Geez,” he croaked. “How come that was worse than when Jess took us to—” He broke off when his gaze came to rest on Logan in the pod on the other side of the mirror. His eyes widened. “Can you get me in there now?” he asked Mel, not wasting a single second.
The tracker nodded and jumped Baz into the room, landing right beside the cryo-pod. He’d certainly come prepared. He was already opening his laptop and connecting his device to the keypad on the pod with a cable he’d drawn from his rucksack.
He went to work and Mel disappeared, arriving beside me her expression pale and concerned. She held out her hand and took both Lily and me into the room to join Baz.
“Aren’t we worried about sensors picking up our presence?” I asked.
Baz looked up from his screen. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve disabled the sensors. They only had one at the door to detect people entering the room.”
I nodded and watched him work, my heart thudding in time to the tapping of his fingers on the keys.
Only seconds went by before I began to stress. “How much longer?” I asked, needing to ask something, needing to know that we were going to succeed.
“Give me a minute,” said Baz. “The cryo-process has already begun. Unplugging him now without being super-careful, may hurt him if not kill him.”
I swallowed hard, and began to pray.
Then I turned to Mel. “Is it possible to transport him out of the room to safety?”
Mel nodded. “Yes, I could do that fairly easily as long as I don’t have to transport the whole pod. I don’t have the energy right now for such a huge jump.”
Baz looked up. “You don’t need to take the pod. As long as you take the wiring and the generator he will survive.”
Before Mel could respond, the panel began counting down.
“Crap. You must have set something off.”
Baz nodded, neither hurt nor insulted by my criticism. “Take him now.”
I looked at Mel. “As soon as you leave him, come straight back for Lily.”
She nodded. “You guys ready?”
Everyone nodded and Mel jumped. She disappeared from beside me and I saw her inside the pod with Logan for the briefest second.
And then they both disappeared.
A few minutes later Mel materialized again. “Lily, you can come and look after Logan for me?”
Lily gave me an odd look, but she didn’t complain. Within seconds Mel transported her away. When she returned, her face was pale, blue veins dark at her temples.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, waving the question off. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Baz stowed his keyboard and got to his feet, his expression asking the same question.
“Anjelo.” I found it hard to say his name. Just voicing it made me want to cry. “He’s somewhere here in this facility. When I last saw him on the monitors in Storm’s apartment, it didn’t look good.”
Mel nodded. “Let me go and have a look. I might be a few minutes because I have no idea how big the place is.”
As she disappeared, I looked at Baz feeling like I needed to say something. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much your help has meant to us.”
He just grinned. “It’s a pleasure. You saved my life. I’ll always be willing to help you.”
I could feel my mind wanting to shut down. Fatigue, grief, relief and fear, not a very comfortable mix.
Mel reappeared before things got any more emotional. “I found him,” she whispered, and held out her hands.
We materialized in a darkened room—a mirror of the one in which they’d been keeping Logan. The only difference was that Anjelo lay on a gurney—probably the same one I’d seen them take him away on—and there were no beeping machines.
My stomach tightened. “Are there any sensors in here?” I asked Baz softly.
He studied his laptop screen. Nodded. “But it doesn’t matter now. The facility is empty. There’s no sign of anyone around.”
“Maybe they found out that Storm has been taken?” I suggested, reluctant to look at Anjelo. My panther sensors had heightened, and I could not detect a heartbeat.
No. Please, no.
I moved to the side of the gurney on legs that felt like wool, and placed two fingers on Anjelo’s neck. I didn’t know why I was doing it.
His skin was cold against my shaking fingers. I wanted to flinch. I wanted to cry. We’d discovered too late that Storm had taken him. We’d found out too late where he was.
He was gone.
This was my fault. I’d given priority to finding Logan and in the process, I’d lost Anjelo.
