“How did you know they were here?” Layla asked.
“I masked the link one way only so I could look through Matt and Noah’s eyes. They’re so used to me blocking them out that they don’t bother to hide their thoughts from me anymore.”
“Careless,” she said in contempt. “Sentinel, the last time we met, I told you that I would not kill you that day. You stained my honor when you conspired to have my mate killed. Why should I not kill you now, rather than let you anywhere near him ever again?”
“He asked me to come back,” Ethan said simply.
Layla raised an eyebrow at that and remained silent.
“You will submit to a telepathic scan in order to verify your intentions before I let you get any closer, Ethan,” said Nick. “That’s not negotiable.”
Ethan met his eyes and lowered his mental defenses. “Go ahead.”
He felt the Daywalker’s thoughts insinuate themselves into his mind, rifling through his memories, and forced himself not to resist the intrusion. Eventually, Nick pulled back and withdrew. Ethan raised his defenses again with relief.
Nick turned to Layla. “He’s telling the truth. Toby did invite him to come back. Apparently, they had a long chat via the Wind Link.”
“Tobias is too tender-hearted for his own good,” said Layla. She considered Ethan through narrowed eyes. “Very well. If he invited you here, then you may speak to him. But you are not trusted, Ethan. If you take this opportunity to attack us, then I will gladly see you dead.”
Ethan nodded but said nothing. Then he raised his eyebrows when Nick produced a set of charmed restraints. “Are those really necessary?”
Nick snorted. “You’re the Wind of Fire, Ethan. I know how strong you are. We’re not taking any chances.”
Ethan sighed and held out his hands. When Nick fastened the restraints around his wrists, he felt the integrated ward deaden his abilities. Even after living without his magic for most of the last year, he was still acutely aware of the separation, as if he had lost a limb.
Nick and Layla led him upstairs until they reached the door of Toby’s apartment, glowing green with the light of the defense field. Nick spoke briefly to his AI, and the green light faded. Then Andrea opened the door and motioned them inside. Ethan followed the two vampires into the apartment, and then Andrea closed the door behind them and rearmed the security system.
Toby stood in the middle of the living room with his arms across his chest, Noah and Matt on either side of him. “Welcome back,” he said in a neutral voice. “What do you want?”
Ethan stepped forward, only to be brought up short by Layla’s claws on his arms. He glanced at her, meeting her red eyes. “That’s close enough, Ethan,” she said. “Say what you came to say.”
Ethan turned back to Toby. “I know I can’t change what I did. I used you to fuel my revenge. I endangered your life and the lives of your wife and son. You have no reason to forgive me, and I don’t expect you to. In spite of that, I’m hoping that you’ll give me a second chance.” He turned his attention to Noah. “That’s all I ask, another chance.”
They waited for a moment. Noah frowned when it became clear to him that Ethan had finished speaking. “That’s it? You want another chance? Not exactly a strong pitch, Eth.”
Ethan shrugged as best he could with his wrists locked together. “There was more, but there doesn’t seem to be any point in saying it. Either you’ll let me in or not. It’s your call.”
Organic Underground Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois
“The second asset is in position.”
“Then light it up.”
Marina District, San Francisco, California
Toby saw Nick and Layla stagger. Behind them, the green light of the defense field flickered and went out. “What the hell?”
Icarus spoke urgently to him. “Electromagnetic pulse detected. Get out, Toby!”
Toby’s eyes widened. “Group transit, Icarus. Now!”
“I can’t. The gateway is damaged.”
Reaper appeared in Nick’s hand as he drew on the Crown of Souls for power and furiously began casting the spell to jump them all away.
Then the walls buckled when a shockwave slammed into the building, and a roar of fire and thunder knocked Toby senseless.
Organic Underground Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois
Reese calmly took a drag on his cigarette. “Report.”
“Our spotters have confirmed deployment of the first asset with high-order detonation. Several of the surrounding buildings have been entirely destroyed, including the target structure.”
Reese blew smoke as he exhaled. “I said you’d be hearing from us, Ethan. Thanks for the assist.”
CHAPTER 36
Marina District, San Francisco, California
Layla shook her head to clear the ringing in her ears. Her hastily erected telekinetic shields around the room had shattered at several points, and the apartment was showered with debris from the destroyed building.
She cast her senses wide and found all six of the other life traces. She followed the strongest trace to Nick, who was throwing pieces of masonry off his legs to free himself. She moved to help him, grabbing a metal girder to help shift the largest piece of concrete. She cast the lever aside once the debris was cleared.
“The others are still alive. Can you keep the room from collapsing while I dig them out?”
Nick nodded, obviously in significant pain while he repaired the damage to his crushed limbs. “I can do that,” he said, his voice strained.
Layla followed the traces to find Andrea unconscious under a table next to Matt, who was trying to revive her, but his Gift obviously didn’t have much strength in healing magic. Layla assisted him with the more complex repairs, and Andrea’s eyes fluttered open.
“Andrea, I need you to reach out to the other minds in this room and see how badly they are injured.” Layla passed her the locations of the life traces she had identified.
Andrea concentrated. “Toby is buried in the rubble over there.” She pointed. “His mind is clouded with pain, and he can’t think coherently.” She pointed to the other side of the room. “Noah is unconscious, but Ethan is with him and says they’re okay, just trapped in an open space where one of the walls fell on them.”
Layla growled, her fangs showing. “Is he responsible for this?”
Andrea frowned. “No, he’s practically in shock, too dazed to hide anything from me. He was as taken by surprise as we were.”
“You two dig them out—and get those restraints off of Ethan as fast as you can. We might need another healer. I will see to Tobias.”
They split up, and Matt shifted form into a gorilla to toss the fallen slabs of concrete aside as if they were gravel. Layla followed the trace to Toby, finding his head and left arm sticking out from under a pile of metal support beams. She began pulling the beams off him, only to stop abruptly when he screamed. Probing the tangled metal with her mind, she realized that the spars had pierced his body at several points, and he was quickly bleeding out. She also saw the precarious balance of the internal tracery of the metal shards. If she tried to physically shift the weight of them, they would almost certainly finish him off.
“Nicholas!” she screamed. “Help me!”
Nick dragged himself to his feet and stumbled clumsily toward her. “What?” Then he saw Toby. “Oh, God.” He started pulling the beams off the pile and snarled when she grabbed his wrist.
“No! It’s unstable. If you disturb the load, the entire mass will shift and kill him. We have to clear the debris without upsetting its balance.”
Nick controlled his panic and examined the mound of rubble more carefully. “We can’t melt it down; he’ll fry. I could disintegrate it, piece by piece, but it’d be tricky to control, and he might be caught in the effect if I’m not careful. It’ll take time. Can you keep him alive while I work?”
“I will try,” she said, not allowing her doubts to show. Toby’s injuries were sev
ere, and she couldn’t heal them so long as the wounds were kept open by the shards of debris that held him impaled. At best, she could help him regenerate his blood volume, but that was a losing battle. Steeling herself against what she would find, she linked her mind to Toby’s. A wave of nauseating pain rolled over her, but she pushed through it to rouse him to consciousness.
* * *
Toby screamed in incoherent agony, and then he suddenly felt another presence. The pain receded somewhat, enough so he could think clearly.
“Hold on, Tobias. We are going to get you out.”
“Layla?” he asked, lucid but still groggy.
“Yes, Leshir. I am here.”
“How bad is it?”
Her voice was silent for a moment. “You have been stabbed by several pieces of debris. The damage to your body is extensive, but repairable if we can free you in time.”
“You can’t heal the wounds until I’m clear.” He swallowed. “Am I going to die?”
“Of course not. Don't be foolish.”
Toby smiled mentally. “You’ve never lied to me before. Why start now?”
“I—I can't say. We will do everything we can to save you.”
“But the odds are against me, aren’t they?”
“Nicholas is working as fast as he can. You have to hold on. Fight, Leshir. Do not leave me like this.”
Toby opened his eyes to see her kneeling next to him, covered with dust and the blood from her own injuries. “You’re beautiful.”
“Now I know you're delirious. Save your strength.”
“I’m serious, Layla. I won’t leave by choice, but if this is the end, then I want you to know that I love you. I just wish I had more time.”
“Not like this, Tobias. Stay with me.” Her focus slipped momentarily. “Ethan is here. He is helping Nicholas clear the rubble off you. We just need a little more time. You have to hold on.”
Toby felt his vision turn gray at the edges, his breath grow more labored. “There’s no more time, Leshir. Tell Antonio I loved him, and I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for him in the flesh, but a part of me will always be watching over both of you.”
Layla screamed in rage. “You will not abandon me, Tobias Jameson!”
A second voice joined hers when Andrea touched his mind over the link. “I’m here, Toby.”
Toby’s sight narrowed, becoming a tunnel surrounded by shadows, focusing only on his wife’s red eyes. “Take care of her for me, Andrea. Nick and Antonio, too. Tell Faith and my mom that I was thinking of them all.”
“I’ll take care of them, Toby. I promise.”
The world faded to black, and he was blind. He reached out desperately to Layla. “Please, Layla. Don’t forget about me.”
“Never.”
“I’m scared.”
“Do not be afraid, Leshir. I will love you forever.”
Darkness descended then, and the last thing he heard was the voice of Nexus White, speaking in machine code for his ears alone.
JOURNEY’S END
CHAPTER 37
Organic Underground Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois; Three days later
Reese took the call in his office. The virtual screen opened up above his desk to show Ethan’s face. “Mr. Clark. What can I do for you?”
Ethan stared at him with a level gaze. “When did you plant the bomb in my car?”
Reese smiled as he lit a cigarette. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ethan snorted in contempt. “Do you honestly think I’m recording this? Much as I’d love to hand you over to the human authorities, it would link me to the bombing. Currently, no one knows that it was my car that blew up, and I have no intention of taking the fall for all the people who died in the blast.”
“As I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about. My condolences on your loss, however.”
Ethan’s face darkened. “That was how you were going to strike at Toby all along, wasn’t it? You were going to use me to blow up the wedding. I was just supposed to be collateral damage.”
Reese laughed. “Goodbye, Ethan. Have a nice life.” Then he hung up and sat back in his chair. “What a chump.”
Armistice Security Headquarters, Anchorpoint City, Colorado
Ethan turned away from the phone terminal after the virtual screen closed. “Was that enough time?”
The iris of the holographic projection of the Nexus avatar glowed white. “Yes.”
Organic Underground Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois
Reese’s cigarette had burned halfway through its length when he felt the building shudder with the sound of a distant boom. He got to his feet just when one of his staff barged into his office. “What the hell is going on?”
The subordinate’s eyes were wide with panic. “We’re under attack. There are Armistice Security agents jumping in all over ground level. We’re trapped!”
Reese activated his terminal and accessed the security monitors. A virtual screen appeared above his desk, showing a pitched battle in the lobby of the building, the security staff vastly outnumbered by the gray-uniformed Armistice Security agents. Right in the thick of it were three figures he knew. Noah cut through his targets with a dueling saber in his right hand and a long flail in his left. Andrea was using targeted bursts of pure fire to destroy his forces’ hastily erected barricades. For a moment, he saw Matt, slashing the throat of one of his people with long and lethal claws before he roared. His form blurred into a griffin, leaping into the air over one of the remaining barricades to tear into the massed defenders on the other side.
Reese cursed. “How did they know where we were?”
“You shouldn’t have taken my call.”
Reese looked up to see Ethan standing in the doorway, his right hand wrapped tightly around the neck of the subordinate who had come to warn him. The terrorist leader dove for the gun in his desk drawer, and Ethan calmly raised his left hand and released a bolt of white-hot light that burned through the desk and vaporized the drawer and its contents, along with three of his enemy’s fingers. Reese howled in agony and backed up against the window, clutching his maimed hand to his chest. In the meantime, Ethan choked the other terrorist into unconsciousness, and let the limp body fall before leaning casually against the doorframe, his arms folded in front of him.
A virtual screen opened above the desk, showing two mismatched eyes, one with a white iris, the other violet. “Greetings, Reese Wahl. We are the Nexus.”
Reese stared at the apparition in horror. “How did you find us?”
Reese snarled. “And now you’re just calling to gloat?”
Reese swallowed. “What do you mean ‘eliminate’? Armistice Security can’t just execute us without trial.”
“Wait,” said Reese. “You can’t do this! We can negotiate.”
The white eye glowed while it laughed.
ve of the six members of the Nexus, including the younger brother of the Archangel, numerous Armistice Security agents, and countless humans. Did you think that any of us would show you mercy?”
“Then why are you still here?”
Reese just stood there in shock until Ethan raised his hand and burned him alive.
The White House, Washington, D.C.
Sebastian Avery looked up from his desk when Kevin Daniels entered the Oval Office. “Kevin, this is a surprise.”
“Hello, Sebastian. Working late?”
Avery smiled. “Always. You know how it is.”
“Yes, I do.” Daniels sat in one of the chairs across from him. “I had forgotten what the office looks like from this side of the desk.”
Avery smiled. “I’m sure it’s an adjustment. What can I do for you?”
“Mr. President, can you turn off the cameras in here? I need to speak to you off the record.”
President Avery frowned at him thoughtfully and then typed his security code into the small keypad on the desk and shut down the security monitors. “All right, General Daniels. We’re private. What do you need?”
The former President smiled pleasantly at his successor while he laid a data crystal on the desk between them. “I’m here to give you this and to deliver a message.”
Avery frowned at the data crystal. “What is it?”
“That crystal contains a copy of all the records of your covert support for the Organic Underground, both financial and military, as well as a recording of your conversation with Reese Wahl in which he supplied you with advance knowledge of his intention to assassinate Toby Jameson.”
Avery’s eyes bulged. “Kevin—”
Daniels continued as if the other man hadn’t spoken. “The Archangel has asked me to inform you that if you resign your post immediately, he’ll graciously allow you one week to settle your affairs before you will be required to leave the Armistice Zone. If you agree to those terms, then he’ll keep the information secret. If not, you’ll be executed.”
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