Jace swallowed the strong coffee and cursed. “And hard as hell to penetrate. What’s your plan?”
“There’s only one hotel. Here.” He pointed to another monitor with a map of the village. “We need to go in as German tourists.”
“Socks and sandals? Plaid shirts?”
“Exactly.” Jack smiled. “I have men asking around, but the locals are pretty closed mouthed.”
“Then how do you know she’s there?” He poured another cup of caffeine. Jet lag was a bitch.
Jack flashed a satellite view of a walled in area of Rome. “This is her college and here is a vehicle parked outside her dorm room, the day before she was last seen.”
He flashed another picture of the same car parked on a cobblestone street next to an old church. “Here it is again.”
“That’s pretty good. Anything else?”
Jack grinned and one more picture flooded the main monitor. Gregor Uragan exiting the same church by a back door.
“We’ve had men watching the village since finding the car. That was yesterday.”
Josh whistled through his teeth. “Good work.”
“It pays to hire the best.” He regarded his geeks fondly. “You guys need anything else, you just let me know.”
A couple nodded, but most just kept typing madly, eyes glued to their screen. Jack walked around and forced sandwiches into their hands, then put bottled waters nearby. Josh smiled. Jack was an awesome boss.
“What time do we leave?” Josh eyed one of the sandwiches and put down his half-eaten danish. Better choice.
“Tomorrow. Sunday. When everyone is in church, we go in and get her.” His eyebrows raised, waiting.
Josh wasn’t so sure this was a good idea. “What about Gregor?”
“Let’s focus on getting the girl out. Let the Council deal with Uragan. If he gets in the way, we blast his sorry ass to hell.”
Josh bit into the sandwich, chewing on chicken with mayonnaise. “I’m going to check up on Maya. See what the hell Jace said to her. If she’ll even talk to me.”
Jack raised his eyebrows, “Don’t look at me. I was asleep, too. I thought it was just sex with you two.”
“I did too.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Well, not really. To be honest, I really don’t know. She messes with my head. When she isn’t beside me, I want her there. When she is beside me, it isn’t enough. When we touch…”
“Like your body is on fire? Ready to combust?”
“Yeah. Just like that.”
“I sent you my research, right?” Jack tilted his head, one eyebrow cocked.
“About our history? Perfect mate? I got that. I know. I just don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of commitment.”
Jack nodded. “Go and get her, but go slowly. She just lost her dad.”
“Shit. If I go any slower, I’ll be peddling backwards.”
Chapter 26
Josh, dressed in plaid shorts and a canary polo, maneuvered the small Fiat through the lush Italian countryside. Rolling fields raced by, while occasional medieval towns popped up in the distance. Built on the tops of long dead volcanoes, one by one they came into view, faded, and disappeared.
During the last few kilometers, hazelnut tree branches met overhead and lined the road. An occasional gray stone farmhouse broke the sameness.
“We’re close.” Josh handed her a bottle of water and Maya gulped it down.
In the side mirror, she checked again. Jack and Josh followed close behind.
Today was the day she would get her revenge.
She just needed to make sure Josh and his brothers didn’t get in her way.
The car turned sharply at an intersection marked with blue wooden signs. After crossing an ancient bridge, they approached the outskirts of the medieval town. Windows and stone houses were woven tightly into the ancient brick wall that lined the river for several miles.
Church bells chimed as the small car shook and sputtered. Once under the main arch, they bumped up narrow cobblestone streets.
Other than a few stray cats, the street was quiet. Jack was right. The entire town of Soriano Nel Cimino shut down for Sunday mass.
Josh slowed, going up a street better suited for single file on horseback.
“You ready for this?”
More than ready. She wanted the bastard dead. “Yes.”
They parked their cars on a tiny cobblestone piazza, just outside an iron gate.
Jack and Jace wore white cotton tube socks with their sandals. Like Josh, they sported bright plaid shorts, plastic sunglasses, and held colorful tour books.
“There’s cameras all over this place.” Josh tugged his cap’s visor over his eyes.
“My guys will be able to mess with their feed long enough to get to the front door. The alarm system is another matter.” Jack pointedly eyed Maya, down to the fake baby bump under her floral dress. “That’s where you come in.”
“I know what I have to do.” She patted it.
“Good.” Jack glanced back at Josh. “Your German up to snuff?”
Josh huffed. “Better than yours, Arschloch.”
Maya rolled her eyes. She didn’t speak the language, but was pretty sure he’d just called his brother an asshole.
Once past the gate, Jack and Jace separated. She and Josh strolled up to the front door, staring and pointing at the guide book.
She flinched when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Heat still sizzled and sparked when they touched. She needed to remind herself that it was all for show.
“If anything happens, stay behind me. Understand?”
Maya snorted. They’d already been through this a million times in the car.
His brows furrowed above an overly-concerned face. “I mean it. Your powers may exceed mine, but not on land.”
She started to protest, then shut her mouth. There was no sense arguing. She gave a noncommittal nod.
Josh exhaled heavily, then turned to the door where an antique lion held a gold circle in its mouth. He raised it and banged the knocker on the matching metal plate.
It seemed like an eternity before someone answered.
Dressed in black pants, t-shirt and shoulder holster, one of Gregor’s thugs opened the door and sneered.
As planned, Maya doubled over and wailed soulfully. Channeling all the pent-up pain and loss from last week, it sounded real, even to her.
“Hilfe. Bitte,” Josh said, rubbing Maya’s back. He continued to plead with the man in German.
“Va via,” the man growled, in what sounded to Maya like Italian.
“Please. My wife, she needs a doctor,” Josh begged, now in broken English. “Can I please use your phone?”
Maya let out another howl, allowing tears to slide down her cheeks. Strange how fake ones had come when beckoned, easier than the real.
Shit. The man put his hand on the door, preparing to close it. She had to do something. Anything. They couldn’t lose their chance. She needed to get to Gregor.
With one quick step forward, she gripped the man’s forearm.
“Please.” Concentrating on the water that flowed through his body, she willed it to seep out of his nose, ears, and even his pores.
His eyes sunk in and his face became gaunt. He was dying.
“Maya.” Giving her a horrified look, Josh slapped her hand away. The man collapsed to the ground, unconscious. “What the hell are you doing?”
“He wasn’t going to let us in.” She glowered.
“You could’ve killed him.”
If Josh hadn’t stopped her, she would’ve.
“Do you want to save the girl or not?” With a final hiss, she untied the fake baby bump and tossed it into the bushes.
“The plan was to immobilize them, not execute them. Understand?”
“Yeah.” Teeth clenched, she followed as he entered a large, gothic style foyer. Four marble columns guarded the corners of the room. Murals of saints graced every inch of the wall, and statues of cherubs s
miled down upon them. The effect, given the danger they were in, was unnerving.
Josh stuffed the man’s limp body into a huge oak wardrobe and shut the door.
“This place is enormous. We’re never going to find her in this maze.” Despite the whisper, her voice echoed and she grimaced.
Josh’s watchful expression said that he agreed. “Jack and Jace should be inside by now. Just stay behind me.”
A loud voice boomed from one of the rooms on the lower floor. The man shouted in a language Maya had never heard before. A series of crashes and loud bangs followed.
Josh pulled Maya back into the shadow of the cabinet.
“What is he saying?” she asked.
“My Romanian isn’t very good, but it seems like the Council was able to seize many of Gregor’s assets.”
Josh tilted his head to listen as the low voice bellowed on. He placed his finger to his lips, and a second later a stout elderly woman scurried down the hall.
He tugged on Maya’s arm. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Gregor just told some kind of servant to bring the girl to him. We follow her, we find Alex’s daughter.”
She tiptoed behind him on the parquet marble floor. “What about Gregor?”
Josh turned his head and narrowed his gaze as if reading her mind. “The girl is our first priority. We need to make sure she’s safe first. Let Jack and Jace deal with Gregor.”
“Fine.” She didn’t like it.
The girl’s weeping directed them as they descended into a medieval-style dungeon. In one of the damp, brick cells, the elderly woman now hovered over a frail form, cooing in a foreign language.
Alex’s daughter was dirtier and thinner than in her photo, but she was clearly the one they wanted.
When she spied Josh, the older woman opened her mouth to scream. He inched closer, while gesturing with palms down, and spoke softly in Italian.
Concentrating, Maya made out a few words. Amico. Sicuro. Ragazza. Friend. Safe. Girl.
With the old woman’s eyes glued to Josh’s face, Maya approached the younger.
“Jenny?”
She nodded and glanced up, her muddy face filled with hope.
“We’re going to get you out of here. Can you walk?”
“Ye-yes.” She stood on shaky legs and took Maya’s hand.
Josh continued to speak with the elderly woman. The old domestic’s voice had taken on an edge of panic, and her eyes darted wildly to the stairs.
“Get her out of here.” Josh used his body as a shield.
“No. No. No.” The elderly woman swatted wildly. Then like a wild cat, began to scratch and claw.
“She’s going to alert Gregor’s men if you don’t get her to be quiet.” Dammit. This was all going to end badly if Josh didn’t up his game.
Maya pushed Jenny toward the stairs, but she hobbled and hopped as if she hadn’t been allowed to walk for some time.
His jaw clenched with his neck pulsing. Suddenly, he produced a large, flaming fireball in his palm. Jenny and the servant squealed and drew back.
“Va bene, va bene.” Okay. Okay. An old wrinkled finger pointed to the door. Eyes wide, filled with fear, she said, “Andare.” Go.
Josh closed his fingers, dousing the flame. “Now.”
Single file, they ran up the stairs. At the landing, Josh crashed into two men rushing down. Jenny halted. Maya bumped into her. After a half second of confusion, the first reached across his holstered chest, then the other.
Her heart raced, knowing she’d not be given a chance to touch them before bullets cut them down.
Josh must’ve had his energy still primed. Lightning fast, two baseball-sized fireballs streaked out from his palms, entered the gunmen’s upper bodies, and disappeared.
The two slammed back into the stairs and quivered as if electrocuted. Their wide eyes would stay forever etched on their dead faces. They excreted odors of burnt flesh and urine.
She gagged from behind as Josh took the lead, with Jenny in the middle.
Holding her breath, she stepped over the fallen thugs, then crept along the wall of a shabby chapel. There, a score of men played cards while they inched forward behind broken statuary. When one of Gregor’s witches shifted and looked their direction, she froze.
Apparently, with only dingy stained glass as lighting, they were left in dark shadows.
The man shook his head, said something in Russian, and put down a card. The others laughed coarsely, slapped down more. Red faced, he cursed as another used forearms to pull a pile of bills away.
Using the distraction, Maya followed as Josh led them past a two-burner stove, a half-sized refrigerator, and a stained sink.
He pushed her and Jenny toward an ancient oak door, under a keystone arch. “If Gregor doesn’t know we’re here, he will soon. Take her. Go to the car. I’ll meet you back at the hotel.”
Like hell I will. “I’m not leaving–”
“I’m not giving you a choice. Stick with the plan. Get the girl to safety.” His commanding tone and warrior stance left her with no other option.
Jenny watched and waited, fearful blue eyes wide.
“Fine,” Maya bit out.
The door opened, he kissed her roughly on the forehead and said, “Go. I’ll find my brothers.” Then, he disappeared back inside.
Damn it. Rain. And yet another flight of upward stairs. After a steep climb in the narrow recess, they raced across the open piazza, and slipped down wet cobblestones.
At the Fiat, she handed Jenny the keys. “There’s a hotel about a quarter mile from here, Palazzo Catalani. Ask the guard in the village piazza for directions. Here’s the card. Room three-ten. We’ll be back soon.”
“Di-did my mom really send you?” With hopeful eyes wide, she seemed more like a lost waif than a college student.
Maya flinched as huge drops of water soaked her to the skin. She didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. “Yes. Now drive quickly, and lock yourself in.”
“Thank you.” For the first time, a small smile brightened the young woman’s face.
Maya managed to spare a weak smile. Then with her heart pounding, she swiveled on the rough path and sprinted back toward the estate.
Halfway up the hill, she shot palms to her ears, stumbled, and fell to her knees. Two more massive explosions rocked the ground. Medieval stones and roof tiles crashed onto the narrow road from all directions.
Chapter 27
After leading the women safely out of the house, Josh ran into the kitchen, up the stairs, and exited at the top. He crossed what appeared to be the foyer of an ancient church and checked his watch.
Shit. Six minutes off schedule.
Three loud blasts from out in the courtyard sent a wad of plaster raining down upon his head.
Thank God I sent Maya back to the hotel.
He inched inside the nave and hid in the shadows. His brothers stood between broken pews, surrounded by a whirling vortex of purple wind. Overhead, saints, surrounded by fat cherubs and gold halos stared down with pity, as if waiting for the upcoming battle.
Small side chapels lay completely void, as did the altar area up front.
Where is he?
Gregor stepped out from behind the pulpit. In the choir loft, five others followed suit. One witch stared out a jagged window, lobbing some kind of Molotov cocktail into the piazza below.
Normally, with the combined Fialko powers, the Russians wouldn’t stand a chance, but a nauseating odor of gasoline permeated the church.
Fire was not an option. Not unless he wanted to burn down the whole building, and probably the village as well.
“It’s over, Uragan.” Jack shouted over the deafening wind. “Surrender before anyone else is harmed.”
I need to get closer.
Gregor let out a roar of pain when Jack’s special blend of wind laced with fire hit him in the chest. Mating with a wind talent had made him almost invisible. The Russian fell to his knees,
panting and weak.
“I give you one chance to leave or we all die now.” He rose slowly and sneered as he flicked a lighter and held it high.
“No!” Maya screamed from behind him.
What the fuck?
All turned toward her as she thrust out her hands.
Energy buzzed right through him, then water rose from a baptismal font by the altar. The giant blob streaked across the room and collapsed over Gregor’s head, dousing the flame.
“I told you to get the girl to safety and stay put.” Josh fumed. His heart pounded as anger turned to fear. She had no idea of the danger she was in.
“Jenny is fine.” He jumped in front of her as she moved into the center of the church, just outside the safety of Jack’s shield.
“Dammit. Get behind me, Maya.” Adrenaline coursed through his veins.
“Get her back,” Jack yelled, expanding the vortex to encompass her. Shit. The bigger the shield, the less resilient. “I can’t hold this forever.”
“You killed my father.” Her gaze was almost manic as it focused on Gregor.
Gregor chuckled and clicked his lighter again. “A daughter seeking revenge. How sweet. Dah? Now things are more interesting. And what do you plan on doing about it, little girl?”
“Kill you.” Hands up, she rushed out of the safety of the vortex and slammed two palms against his chest.
“Maya, no,” Josh screamed. If she succeeded in draining his life force, she’d face criminal charges by the Council. Not to mention they’d find out about her unique talent.
Momentarily stunned, Gregor froze, his face pale, eyes bulging as she manipulated the water in his body.
This has to end.
He broke through the vortex.
Gregor regained his senses. A flicker of indigo wind flickered in his palms, then circled his body. Spikes shot out, sharp as glass.
Shit.
Gregor roared. Wind burst forth plastering them to the walls, and breaking apart Jack’s shield.
“You know what is Uragan?” he asked, distorted by the swirling blue vortex. “Big wind. Is hurricane. It mean you all die.”
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