by R. D. Brady
“I might have him on the second floor,” a voice over the radio said.
“Hold until the SIA arrives,” another voice responded. And Laney realized with a shock that the second voice was Jake. Where the hell had he come from?
“He’s going for something in his pocket. Could be a gun. I’m going in.”
Shit. Laney sprinted for the stairs. Yells and screams sounded from the second floor, and a wave of people rushed down the stairs. Laney struggled to get past them, momentarily contemplating firing into the air to get everyone out of the way. But at last the crowd thinned and she dodged past them to the second floor.
An officer lay on the ground, blood seeping from a wound in his shoulder. He was conscious, but he was out of the fight. His gun lay a few feet from him. Rico Fuenes stood another thirty feet away. He looked at Laney with big eyes, blood still dripping from the knife in his hand.
She walked slowly toward him. And she felt nothing—no tingle of electricity. She smiled. Not a Fallen. Well, this is a nice change of pace.
Laney held up her hands. “Hey there, Rico. Why don’t you put down that knife?”
“Capitalist pig.”
Laney shrugged. “My pitiful wardrobe begs to differ.”
The scuff of a shoe behind her caused her to turn. A man lunged at her, a knife in his hand as well.
Damn it. Laney barely leaped out of the way in time. He lunged again, and she stepped to the side and simultaneously sent a front kick to the man’s groin. He screamed. She stepped toward him, placed her left hand on his knife arm, and turned his chin away from her. Then she kicked out his leg, still holding on to the knife hand.
He crashed to the ground, his arm contorted behind him. Laney stepped on his shoulder and yanked the arm back, dislocating the shoulder. He screamed again, and she quickly stripped the knife from his hand.
The man now lay crying in between her and Rico. Rico stared, his jaw slack, his eyes big.
Laney moved around the man, her attention now completely on Rico. “Like I said, put down the knife.”
Rico glared. “No.”
“Your choice.” She stepped forward, but Rico opened his coat. Underneath, he wore a suicide vest. “Now you’ll do what I—”
Laney moved before he could finish his thought. She kicked out his knee and turned his shoulders so his torso was twisted, his head turned to the side. Then, placing one hand on the back of his head and one on the front, she twisted hard.
Rico’s eyes bulged, and then he went still. Laney caught him and lowered him to the ground.
“There’s a bomb. Evacuate the building,” Laney yelled into her mike.
“Laney, get out of there,” Jake yelled into her ear.
“No time. This thing’s beeping.” She grabbed Rico’s knife and sliced through the straps on the vest. She sprinted for the window, pausing only to grab the officer’s gun and fire at the glass. She emptied the magazine, but the window didn’t break.
Shit. She looked around. She might be able to break the glass by flinging a heavy bench at it, but she would have a tough time explaining that. She had a better idea. She turned back to the window. Okay, let’s see how much my practice has worked.
She stepped to the side, her focus on the sky above. Clouds rolled in. Thunder clapped. Two bolts of lightning struck the glass, shattering it.
Laney threw the bag out the window. The swirling wind grabbed it and dragged it upward. Seconds later, the explosion ripped through the sky. Laney dove to the side as the concussive blast rolled through the open window and shook the building.
Car alarms went off outside. Laney got to her feet and peeked out the window. People were gaping up at the sky.
Laney turned around with a sigh. Well, I hope that was discreet enough for the captain.
CHAPTER 3
Baltimore, Maryland
Yoni Benjamin swung a right hook at Laney’s head. Laney ducked under it, aiming her own hook at his ribs. Then, grabbing his shoulders, she kicked him in the back of his knee and aimed a knife hand at the front of his throat, stopping an inch before making contact. She placed the palm of her hand under his chin and pushed it up, adding a kidney shot to his back with her other hand.
He crashed to the ground. She stepped back, breathing hard.
After the bombing, Laney had gotten a nice long chewing-out by the captain. Jake had taken the opposite approach, and had given her the silent treatment all the way home. As a result, Laney was in a bad mood. She had saved hundreds of people’s lives, yet she was being treated like a misbehaving child. The only good thing to come out of this—well, besides saving those hundreds of lives, she reminded herself—was that due to security concerns, all the hearings they had scheduled with Congress for the week had been canceled.
So as soon as they got back from the Capitol, Laney had hopped in her truck to visit Cleo and let off some steam. Luckily, Yoni had been at the school and in the mood for a good workout.
He was probably reconsidering that right now.
Yoni stood up, eyeing her. He was technically a Chandler operative, but he was so much more than that. Israeli by birth, standing at five foot three with a completely bald dome, he’d served with Jake in the Navy SEALs. These days, though, he spent most of his time helping run the Chandler School. And he said he’d never been busier in his life.
“I know with Jake out of commission you need a sparring partner, but do you think you could save my male pride a little and let me win once in a while?”
“What? You took me down a few times.”
“Twice. And each time I was thankful I wore protection.” He paused. “You okay?”
Laney shrugged and turned away. “Yeah. Just working some stuff off.”
Yoni was quiet for a moment. “Look, Jake just needs a little time. It’s tough not being able to do the stuff he used to do. To not be—”
“Him,” Laney said.
“Yeah.”
Laney walked over to her bag, pulled out her water bottle, and took a long drink. Everybody told her she needed to give Jake time. But what about her? She was still struggling with Victoria’s and Ralph’s deaths, not to mention missing Kati, Max, and Maddox. And honestly? She was now annoyed. He needed to snap out of it. He would get better; it was just a matter of time. He was already in PT, and his strength was almost back. It was only his mobility that was a little hampered. And life went on. She couldn’t just sit by his side until he could get back in the field.
Laney twisted the cap onto her water bottle with a little more force than was necessary. Men and their stupid ideas of what makes them men.
“Lanes, I have to get going. I promised Sonya and Bear that we’d go out to dinner.”
Laney composed her face before turning around. “That sounds great. Have fun.”
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Now get going. That little boy of yours is practically changing by the minute.”
A smile spread across Yoni’s face. “Tell me about it. See you later.”
Laney waited until Yoni was out of the gym before turning back to her bag and grabbing her MMA gloves. Cleo looked up from her spot in the corner. Cleo was a Javan leopard—a giant one. She stood four feet tall at the shoulders and was almost ten feet long. She was completely black, and when you got close to her you noticed even darker black spots on her coat.
I’m okay.
Cleo gave her a look suggesting she didn’t even slightly believe her.
“How the hell did we get here, Cleo?” Laney wanted nothing more than to head home and make everything right. But if she went back to the cottage right now, she’d probably end up in a fight with Jake.
But she knew how they’d gotten here. Both of them had taken hits, and neither of them was whole. Jake’s injuries were just a little easier to see.
Laney pictured Victoria’s face. “Some things must happen in a certain way.” Laney couldn’t see why things had had to go this way though. She took a tremblin
g breath. I should have saved her. I should have found a way.
She was heading to the heavy bag when her cell phone rang. She hesitated, considered ignoring the call. But she knew she needed to at least check and see who it was. When she glanced at the screen, surprise filtered through her. Mikio Lachowski, the stepdad of one of the children she’d helped saved from the Grand Canyon last year. Mikio and his wife, Sheila, had responded well to James’s nature, even if they were a little shocked. But they loved their kids, and they were even helping some of the other families deal with the changes in their own kids.
Ripping off her gloves, Laney took a seat on a bench and answered the call. “Hi, Mikio. How are you doing?”
Mikio’s words came out in a frantic rush. “Laney, thank God.”
“What’s wrong? Is it James?” James was nine years old, with dark hair and a serious persona. He loved to read and play video games. And one day, he would develop the abilities of a nephilim.
Mikio’s usually reserved tone was choked in panic. “No, it’s Sheila. She’s missing.”
“What do you mean, missing?”
“I got a call from the doctor. She missed an appointment with the pediatrician for Jillian. I called, but got no answer. I rushed home. I knew something was wrong.”
“Okay, Mikio, I need you to calm down and tell me what happened.”
Mikio’s voice was shaking. “I could hear Jillian screaming from the car. The front door was unlocked. I saw the kitchen right away. Plates were broken on the floor. And her car’s gone. Someone took her, Laney.”
“Have you called the police?”
“Yes, but they don’t think she’s missing. They think she just walked away. Please, Laney, you know she wouldn’t just disappear. She wouldn’t leave Jillian all alone. Something’s happened.”
Laney knew Mikio was right—Sheila loved her family fiercely. Even if for some reason she wanted to leave them, she would never do it this way.
“Give me her cell phone. I’ll track her.”
Laney scribbled down the number as Mikio rattled it off.
“You’ll look for her?” Mikio asked.
“Yes, I’ll look for her. I’ll call you when I know something.”
She sent a quick text to an analyst to have them track the phone and check if Sheila’s car had GPS. Then she shoved her issues with Jake into the back corner of her mind and hurried out of the gym. Sheila Lachowski was missing. And right now, that took precedence over her difficult love life.
CHAPTER 4
Laney called Henry from the school to let him know what was happening. Then she managed the twenty-minute drive to the estate in fifteen minutes with Yoni next to her and Cleo in the back. The whole way she told herself there was a rational explanation for Sheila going missing. But she didn’t believe that.
The guards opened the gates as soon as they saw Laney coming down the road. She barreled past and pulled up to the main house a few minutes later.
Yoni jumped out at the main house. “I’ll get the chopper ready.” Yoni had volunteered as soon as he had learned of Sheila’s disappearance. Laney knew he was trying to spend more time away from the action, but Sheila was part of the Chandler family.
Laney watched him run off and hoped they would soon have somewhere to take the chopper.
“Come on, girl.” Laney leapt from the car and Cleo slunk out behind her.
As she sprinted up the stairs to the main house, she thought about how many times she had done exactly this—learned of horrible news and rushed to see if there was something she could do to prevent something even worse from happening.
She pictured Sheila Lachowski. She’d just had her daughter four months ago. Sheila loved being a mom the second time round. Laney and Jen had gone to her baby shower, and Laney had seen no signs of post partum depression, no signs that Sheila had been anything but happy about the birth of her daughter. Sheila had even managed to maintain her trips with James to the Chandler School for Children.
And now she was missing.
Laney burst through the doors of the Chandler main house with Cleo at her side. When she’d first arrived at Chandler, the sight of the three-story round entryway had blown her mind. Now she sprinted up the spiral stairs without a thought to the perfectly restored historic home.
She strode into Henry’s office. “What have we got?”
Jake looked up from the conference table. “She went missing about two hours ago, according to the police files. The back door was broken into, and there were signs of a struggle.”
Laney ignored the lurch of her heart at Jake’s cool face and kept her focus on Sheila. “Why wouldn’t the police consider her a missing persons case?”
“I don’t know,” Jake said.
“Any history of problems we don’t know about?”
Jake shook his head. “Nope. Nothing in the neighborhood or the town that suggests a serial. And there’s no information on anyone specifically targeting them.”
“So there’s nothing?”
“Danny’s running a trace.”
Henry Chandler, Laney’s brother, walked in. Standing seven-foot-two, he towered above Laney’s five-foot-four frame, and with dark hair and violet eyes, he looked nothing like her. But Laney saw Victoria in his eyes. “Yoni’s got the helicopter warmed up and ready. Danny will patch you any info as he gets it on the trace. Jen’s en route. She’ll be about twenty minutes behind you.”
Sheila and Mikio lived in Virginia—only about forty minutes away by chopper.
Jake sat at the table with his arms crossed, his face expressionless. Laney tensed, but all he said was, “Be careful.”
“I will,” she said and then took off at a run, Cleo on her heels. Hold on, Sheila. I’m coming.
CHAPTER 5
Norton, Virginia
Laney scanned the ground below her, looking for any sign of movement, but the tree coverage and the fading sunlight were making it impossible. They had tracked the GPS on Sheila’s SUV to this area before it had cut out. Danny thought someone had disabled it. Laney leaned a little farther out. Come on. Come on.
“Anything?” Yoni asked from the pilot seat.
“No, but there could be a dozen people down there and I still wouldn’t be able to see them. There are too many shadows.”
“Only another minute and we’ll be at the park.”
“And don’t you even think about going in there until you have backup,” Jen Witt ordered over Laney’s headset.
Laney shook her head. “Jen, you’re ten minutes away. Sheila doesn’t have ten minutes.”
“Damn it, Laney. You don’t know that. It’ll take Yoni time to shut down the chopper. He won’t be able to go in with you right away. You don’t have any backup.”
Cleo raised her head in the back of the chopper and Laney grinned. “Yeah I do.”
Jen cursed over the radio.
“Hey, my virgin ears,” Yoni complained.
“Sorry, Yoni,” Jen said, not sounding even slightly contrite. “But you need to make her wait.”
“Sure, no problem. See you in a few.” Yoni snapped off the radio.
Laney raised an eyebrow. “You going to try to get me to wait for backup?”
“Will you wait for backup?”
“No.”
Yoni shrugged. “Well, I can honestly say I tried. Just do me a favor and don’t get killed. Jake will be really mad at me.”
“I promise.”
“Ten seconds. We’re going to come in hard.”
Laney held on as the chopper veered toward the ground. They were above an old park that had been closed due to too many kids getting into some old mines. The place had been closed for decades and the trees and shrubs had overtaken it.
“Yoni, look!” Laney pointed to a silver SUV that had been left halfway into the trees. She tensed. “That’s Sheila’s car.”
“There’s nowhere to land here, Laney. The nearest clearing is a mile away.”
“Just get me over it.” L
aney looked at Cleo. “You coming?”
Cleo stretched her back as she stood. Laney climbed into the back of the chopper.
Yoni hovered thirty feet off the ground. “This is as close as I can get,” he said. “After you drop, I’ll go park this thing and double-time it over to you.”
“No problem.” Laney slid open the side of the chopper. “Let’s go, girl.”
Laney hesitated for only a second. Oh, I hate this part. Then she stepped out into nothingness.
After a toe-curling plunge, she called on the wind to buffer her and Cleo. An updraft caught her, stopping both her descent and Cleo’s next to her. Then she began a controlled fall as the wind reduced its power. They landed softly on the ground only twenty feet from the SUV.
Laney couldn’t sense anyone around, but she pulled her Beretta from her holster anyway as she heard the chopper recede in the distance.
Silently, she moved up to the truck. Cleo slunk around the other side, but Laney got no sense of danger from her. She looked in the back window. No one. She moved to the side, peeked in, and blanched. She tapped her mic. “I’ve got Sheila’s car. There’s blood. Lots of it.”
Next to her, Cleo sniffed the air and went still.
“Cleo’s got a scent.”
“Do not go anywhere until Yoni reaches you,” Jen ordered.
Go, Cleo. Laney sprinted behind her. “No time.”
“Laney—” Jen warned.
“There’s too much blood, Jen. If Sheila’s here, we need to reach her now.”
Jen paused. “Be careful.”
“Will do,” Laney said as she sprinted through the trees after Cleo. She frowned as she pictured the map she’d seen of the park. She knew there was an old mine three hundred yards away.
Anyone? she asked Cleo.
No.
Laney picked up her pace, trusting Cleo to warn her of danger. Together, they ran through the trees and up a small rocky incline. Ahead, Laney could see the entrance to the mine. But there were no people. There was nothing.