Proof of Life (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 4)

by Hailey Edwards

  “What happened?” I didn’t have the heart to tell Midas I couldn’t breathe past his hold. “A bomb?”

  “Oh yeah.” Grier dusted off her palms. “It smacked us all around like pinballs.”

  Uncertainty mingled with confusion, but everyone looked okay. “Did the sigil work?”

  “You wouldn’t know if it didn’t,” Linus said darkly. “You would be ash.”

  “Good to know.” Swallowing hard, I focused on the devastation. “I don’t get it. The pinball analogy.”

  Maybe my brain was still too rattled to make all the dots connect. No, wait, I couldn’t even find the dots.

  “I used a sigil on each individual person,” she explained patiently. “Think of it as a bulletproof bodysuit.”

  The impervious design, the one no one was supposed to know existed because in the wrong hands, para or human, invulnerability could prove world-ending.

  “I’ve never tested it under these conditions,” she admitted. “It seemed prudent to add another layer of protection.”

  Had I been able to move my arms, I might have smacked her for not telling me that in the first place.

  Linus must have read my mind or noticed the clench of my jaw, because he cut me a warning look.

  “The problem is, the explosion was so intense, it tripped the wards I set. Well, that’s not the problem.” A sigh moved through her. “The actual problem is, the wards activated a second after the initial blast, allowing the momentum to knock us off our feet and into the ward that sealed around us.” She checked with Linus, who nodded, then kept going. “The ward was solid, and usually people are…squishy…but we were all impervious at the time, so we kind of flounced around and knocked into each other.”

  “Like pinballs in a machine,” I finished for her.

  “Well, Teach?” Grier ribbed Linus. “Did I ace the test?”

  Smiling at her in a way I hadn’t known he could, with his whole face, sparkling eyes included, he promised, “I’ll let you know once my brain stops bouncing in my skull.”

  “Meanie.” She elbowed him harder. “It kept us alive, didn’t it?”

  “It would appear so,” he allowed, “but that might be the brain damage talking.”

  Fighting her own smile, Grier gestured to him. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”

  “I’m not sure this is the same Linus.” I wouldn’t have recognized him. “He’s so…”

  “Handsome?” Grier supplied. “Sexy? Brilliant? Clever?”

  It was interesting to watch Linus’s usually pale face cycle through so many shades of red. I hadn’t known he could blush, let alone so spectacularly. I was pretty impressed. It was almost like watching a laser light show cast over his features.

  “I was thinking happy, or maybe relaxed, which is weird considering a bomb just went off.”

  “Grier yanks the stick out of his butt.” Bishop picked his way closer. “That’s what you’re seeing.”

  “He’s not that bad.” Grier slid her arms around Linus’s narrow waist. “For the record, I like his butt.”

  “He’s my boss.” I found somewhere else to look. “I don’t want to know about his butt.”

  “Can we please stop talking about my butt?” Linus sounded pained. “And myself in general?”

  “The restaurant is clear,” Bishop announced. “The staff and guests are out on the street, safe and sound. Ford is corralling them until the EMTs arrive.”

  “Good.” An exhale shuddered through me. “We need to debrief them and send them home.”

  “EMTs,” Grier said thoughtfully. “We can pass the kit over to them and let them BS their way to getting us blood samples to test everyone who was in attendance.”

  “Except for Ares.” I fisted my hands in Midas’s shirt. “Tell me she didn’t walk in on you.”

  “Let’s get you home, and then I’ll show you what I found.”

  “But Ares—”

  “—got away.” Midas rubbed my arms. “I couldn’t reach her before she ducked back into her Swyft and vanished into traffic, and honestly, I wasn’t worried about her just then. All I could think about was you.”

  “Hey, I don’t get blown up that often,” I protested. “Hardly at all, really, if you divide the total number of times into my age.”

  “Hadley.” He spoke my name as if it weighed fifty pounds and he was afraid of dropping it on his foot.

  “Fine.” I looped my arms behind his head. “You may carry me home.” I hopped and locked my legs around his waist. “Well?” I snapped my fingers. “You are the slowest manservant I’ve ever ridden.”

  Midas cupped my cheeks in his palms, and yes, I mean those cheeks. The fact he did it beneath the dress had highly inappropriate chills dappling my arms. He stared down at me for a long moment then shook his head. “You’re still not funny.”

  “And yet your abs ripple.”

  His lips parted and then mashed shut and then flattened into an impenetrable line.

  “You were going to say it’s strain from holding me.” I hammered his shoulders with my fists. “Put me down.”

  He only held on tighter, which caused me to flush, given where he was holding, and started walking.

  It was a long, hot march back to the Faraday.

  Twelve

  Back at the apartment, we spread out to refresh, regroup, and reassure family and friends we survived. I was the only one with idle hands, given that most everyone I cared about had been involved. A few even had front row seats for the big boom.

  In another life, that might have depressed me.

  In this one, I was happy with quality over quantity.

  “Would you do the honors?” I passed Bishop Midas’s phone. “I need to change.”

  Bishop nodded and set to work syncing it with the new ginormous television we had mounted last week.

  Linus had, of course, not bought one during his tenure as potentate. He was all books, all the time. Me? Not so much. The recent addition made him pale as though pained to see technology creeping into what had once been his private haven of art and literature.

  Good thing he hadn’t noticed I turned his bookcases under the stairs into VHS and DVD storage.

  I mean, I didn’t want to see a grown man cry.

  Ducking into the bedroom, I changed into bleach-splattered jeans, a tee with faded bloodstains, and new sneakers. I scooped up my hair to get it out of the way then washed my face and brushed my teeth, all to avoid what Midas had to show us for a few seconds longer.

  Eventually, short of showering, I had run out of personal hygiene excuses and rejoined the others.

  Everyone turned to stare when I entered the living room. I wasn’t sure how long I had kept them waiting while I delayed the inevitable, but it was clear they had started to worry.

  Bishop handed over Midas’s phone so that I could control the flow of the video. “Just hit play.”

  “Here we go.” I went to stand with Midas. “Walk us through what we’re seeing.”

  “This is footage of the apartment Ares shares with her human mate,” he began, breaking it down so that Linus and Grier could keep up with the names in play. “Ares told us she and Liz were babysitting their nephew while his mother had gallbladder surgery, but I saw no signs an infant had been in the apartment. There was also no sign of Liz.”

  The footage, and his narration, was circumstantial evidence at best. But he hadn’t heard my side yet.

  After he finished, he gestured to me. “Your turn.”

  “I was keeping an eye on Ares at the memorial.” I started pacing. “She was drinking a lot—coffee, not wine—but she had this look. Hyperaware, even though she could barely keep her eyes open. Like she expected something to happen.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I don’t know what she saw, but she freaked. She dove for me, like she was going to tackle me, but I couldn’t risk waiting to find out if she was protecting me or attacking me. I used her momentum against her and threw her into the wall.”

  �
�Then she knew the gig was up.” Bishop scowled at the screen. “She got her legs working and bolted.”

  “The way she took off, I don’t think she was running from us. She looked like she was chasing someone.”

  “It all happened so fast.” Grier shook her head. “From my perspective, I couldn’t tell either way.”

  “I didn’t notice Ares until she attacked,” Linus said. “I was too late to see more than her swift exit.”

  “Get Reece on it,” I told Bishop. “Maybe his shiny new cameras captured who—or what—we missed.”

  Goddess knows the invoice I signed off on, for essentially disposable cameras given they wouldn’t survive the blast, had caused me heart palpitations. They owed me more than their brief lives, they owed me answers, and I expected them to pay up.

  Next on the list was another ugly possibility. “Midas, we need to locate Liz.”

  Odds were good that if Ares was compromised, she would have eliminated Liz to maintain her cover.

  “I’ll start making calls.” He stepped into the kitchen, dialing as he went. “This is Midas Kinase…”

  Blocking out his low conversation, I watched the video from the beginning, with my nose almost mashed to the screen like it would help me see what I had missed the first time. Like where she was keeping Boaz. Or Addie. Or their parents. Their because our made me all the more confused as to how I felt about either of them surviving…or dying.

  My mother wasn’t my mother, but she never had been really.

  My father wasn’t my father, but he never had been either.

  My twisted family tree gave me a headache.

  When I came up empty, I watched it again, and again, and again.

  Until Linus pried the phone from my hand and set it aside, forcing me to either step back or stand kissing close to him. He correctly guessed which option I would choose and shifted to farther block my view of the screen. “Have you heard from Ford?”

  “No.” I checked my pocket. “Wait.” I had been so zoned-in on the video, I had missed his text. “Yes.”

  The silent setting saved lives in my line of work, but it also caused a lot of calls and texts to languish until I remembered to check my phone. Someone ought to develop an app that sensed when the user was in mortal peril, muted all notifications, then flipped the switch again once the coast was clear.

  Hmm.

  Now I knew what to ask Reece for at Christmas.

  “He says everyone in attendance tested negative.” I read it out loud. “They’ve all been sent home.”

  “I’m sorry.” Grier leaned into Linus, but her eyes sought mine. “I know Ares was your friend.”

  Big difference between was and is, and grief slammed into me in a merciless wave.

  “I don’t see anything that points to Boaz or Addie,” I said quietly. “I thought when we found the bomber, we would find them. I let myself believe it was going to be okay, but that was silly, wasn’t it?” I trusted Linus to tell me the hard truths, always. “It’s not going to be okay, is it?”

  “It’s not silly.” Linus rested a cool hand on my shoulder. “One way or another, we’ll find them.”

  What he meant but didn’t say was dead or alive. I could read it in the grim set of his jaw.

  “They couldn’t keep hostages in an apartment in the Faraday,” Grier reasoned. “The doorman would have noticed and told someone.”

  “Unless they used the fire escape,” Bishop offered. “Hadley isn’t the only one enamored with them.”

  “I didn’t expect the bomber—” I couldn’t call Ares by name, “—to have put them in a box and tucked them under the bed.” I tapped my foot to burn nervous energy. “I don’t see anything that indicates she’s purchased more food, water, or other supplies necessary to keep them alive. I don’t see anything that points to another location. I don’t see anything period.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Grier snapped her fingers. “She wouldn’t have to have supplies delivered here. Think about it. There are apps for everything these days. I use the one for groceries all the time.”

  “We need her laptop.” Linus stared at it onscreen. “It woke without a password when Midas touched it.” A careless thing for a security expert, unless it wasn’t. “We can access any of her linked accounts through it.”

  “I’ll head down and grab it.” I wanted to move, and this would give me purpose. “I’ll be right back.”

  Midas caught me on the way out with a hand on my arm. “I’ll have Ford bring it up in a minute.”

  “He’s already there,” I guessed. “You posted guards at the apartment.”

  “We need to know if Liz, or anyone else, attempts to access it.”

  “Have you had any luck?” I gestured to his phone. “Locating Liz?”

  “The hospital confirmed she’s on leave, but according to them it’s been over a month and counting.”

  Recalling what Bishop said, I told him, “She was still seeing patients in the infirmary until last week.”

  “Why break from one job and not the other? And then flake on those patients without a word?”

  An uneasy sensation twisted my gut into intricate knots. “Liz may be compromised too.”

  For a couple as close as Liz and Ares, it would have been all or nothing with them.

  “Call Ford.” I touched his arm. “I need to chat with Hank.”

  Easing away from him to prevent our calls from overlapping, I dialed the front door and waited. “Hank.”

  “Hadley.”

  “Can you tell me when you last saw Liz?”

  There was zero hesitation in his answer, but he sounded wary. “Five days ago.”

  Since the night she missed her appointment with the gwyllgi teen.

  “Are you sure?” I hated to press him for details when it must seem he was about to get in trouble for his earlier line of questions. “Ares told me she’s home on vacation.”

  “It was my little brother’s birthday, and my relief was late. I was thinking how our dads were going to kill me if I showed up without the ice cream cake when Liz approached me. I called her a cab, but I didn’t catch where she told him to go. Five minutes later, my relief arrived. I handed him the keys, called a Swyft, and left. I haven’t seen her since.” He must have decided it was better to ask now than get blindsided later. “I asked Ares about this earlier, but she blew me off. Am I in trouble? With Ares?”

  “No,” I rushed to assure him. “You did nothing wrong.”

  His usual frustration with me shone through, reassuring me Hank was himself. “Then why—?”

  “I can’t talk right now, but we’ll brief you later.” I ended the call and returned to Midas, who stood waiting for me. “You heard?”

  “That means Liz left under her own power.”

  “Ares could have invited her out to get rid of her away from the Faraday.” I tapped my cell against my chin. “Do we know if Liz has family we can call?”

  The nonexistent baby had me doubting she even had siblings, but I didn’t know Liz as well as Ares.

  As well as I thought I knew her, anyway.

  If it came down to it, Reece could dig up the answers for me, but first things first.

  A knock on the door announced Ford’s arrival before he let himself in with a bag slung over his shoulder.

  “Howdy, y’all.” He lifted a hand. “Good to see you again.”

  Ford playing the aww shucks card on Linus and Grier made me feel like I was a member of a special club, one who maybe had a secret decoder ring. It was pretty cool being on the inside while they were on the outside for a change, but we were all friends here, so I shot Ford a stare that clearly said to knock it off.

  “I’m not sure you should be eyeballing me like that,” he drawled. “I have a girlfriend.”

  Okay, so maybe I needed to work on my warning looks if they screamed come hither.

  “I was very intimidated.” Midas smothered a grin. “I shook in my boots.”

  “With laughter,
” Ford muttered out of the side of his mouth.

  “You two think you’re so cute.” I walked over, relieved Ford of the bag, and headed to the dining table to lay out what he brought for us. “Bishop, the laptop’s yours.”

  “Cool.” He settled into a chair in front of it. “I needed a new one of these.”

  “Not to keep.” I growled at him. “To interrogate.”

  Snickering ensued from Ford’s general direction, and I suspected Midas was laughing on the inside.

  Lip curling, I announced, “I hate you all.”

  “You can always come home with us,” Grier offered, “to Savannah.”

  The offhand comment floored me, and I dropped the bag with a clunk. “What?”

  “If they keep being mean to you,” she said clearly, “we’ll take you home with us.”

  This time, the growl in the room wasn’t mine.

  “As much as I appreciate the offer—” even if she was joking, “—Savannah isn’t big enough for two potentates.” I slid my gaze to Linus. “Or is that three? Two point five, maybe?”

  “I’m almost retired.” His lips curved at that. “I would prefer not to re-up, but I will if called upon.”

  Fine hairs lifted down my nape as the growl changed pitch.

  Leaning a hip against the tabletop, I angled toward Midas. “I’ve worked too hard to stop now.”

  “I agree,” Linus said, pride warming his voice.

  “And I guess I like a couple of people who live here.” I shrugged. “Like one or two.”

  “Don’t poke the gwyllgi,” Bishop said absently, fingers clicking over the keys. “It won’t end well.”

  Chin high, I corrected him, “The gwyllgi shouldn’t poke me.”

  Actually, I wouldn’t mind if one particular gwyllgi poked me, but that wasn’t for public consumption.

  “Before this escalates further,” Ford drawled, “I would like to apologize for my bad behavior.”

  “Suck-up,” Bishop muttered. “You’re not one of the two.”

  Hand to his heart, Ford demanded, “How do you know?”

  “I bring her café mochas every night before shift.” He grinned. “What have you done for her lately?”

  “I started dating her friend,” he said defensively.