Jo clutched her chest and pushed out a squeaky sigh. “Thank God.”
I grabbed her other hand and squeezed. “Dad will be okay too.” I infused as much confidence into my tone as I could.
“Jonah, Webb, and a team of guardians are trying to move rubble to get to your father,” Tripp said.
Jonah, my father’s personal guardian, wouldn’t let my old man die. Jonah and my father had become friends when they were both in prison. My father had been accused of murdering the secretary of the navy, and Jonah had been our enemy, working under Edmund Rain until Jonah learned Edmund had killed his soulmate.
“Any word on Roman?” I asked.
Jonah had called Tripp when we boarded the chopper to give him an update. Apparently, the explosion had taken out the tunnel that connected the prison cells to the transport loading dock. “Nothing yet,” Tripp said.
Hopefully, the fucker croaked.I leaned back in my seat and gazed out, praying my old man would make it and that Abbey’s vision wouldn’t come true.
A 747 approached the runway at Logan Airport to our right, and to our left, the skyscrapers stood tall and ominous. The traffic below was at a standstill for rush hour. I was grateful we had the chopper. Otherwise, we would have had no chance of saving my father.
The pilot banked left, skirting past Logan Airport and over the Charles River. Our headquarters weren’t far from Fenway Park.
Jo bounced her knee, ready to tear out as soon as the helicopter touched down.
I squeezed her hand again and gave her a reassuring grin.
She feigned a smile as her anxiety seeped from her pores. “Did you get ahold of the scout in Montana?”
“Yeah.” I’d called Conrad, a scout on our payroll, just before boarding the helo. “Conrad says he hasn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. But he’s investigating.”
About two minutes later, the pilot landed on the eight-story building that was home to the Council of Elders and all of the vampire administration services for North America. The stone structure spanned a city block and was enclosed with a high security fence and guards who patrolled the grounds. Humans thought the building was home to a data center owned by one of the bigger cable companies in the country.
Webb stood by the open door of the building, waiting for the pilot to power down the engine. Jo, on the other hand, didn’t. She took off her seat belt and jumped out with the rotor blades still spinning. She threw herself at Webb. He caught her in an emotional embrace, as though they’d been separated for years.
Sighing at the knowledge that at least one person I loved wasn’t dead, I climbed out, threading my fingers through my hair. I stalked up to my brother-in-law while Tripp talked to the pilot.
Webb gave Jo a hard and fast kiss before the two separated. Then Webb and I exchanged a quick hug.
“I’m glad you’re okay, man,” I said. “And my father?”
Webb frowned as he regarded his wife. “We’re still clearing the rubble.”
Jo bolted inside.
Webb clutched my shoulder. “I need to talk to Tripp. Take the stairs down to the basement. The elevators aren’t working.”
I darted in. “Sis, the elevators aren’t working,” I said loudly.
Her footsteps echoed as she pounded down at a rapid rate. I wasn’t that far behind her, jumping several steps at a time.
An hour had passed since Abbey told us about my dad. I hoped we weren’t too late.
In less than five minutes, Jo and I were in a hallway in the basement. To my left, things were clear. To my right, it was chaos, with five vampires all covered in stone dust as they’d formed a line, handing off large pieces of the building to one another. The vamp at the tail end tossed a large boulder into a hole in the wall that led into an interrogation room.
Jo plowed through the line, pushing each of the men out of the way until she reached Jonah. His curly blond hair was tied back with a leather strap. His blue eyes stood out beneath the dust covering his face.
“I hear his heartbeat,” Jonah said. “It’s weak.”
Jo leaned into a small opening at the top of the pile of debris and listened. After a second, she briefly closed her eyes. “I hear it too.” Then she started to lift rocks.
I was about to join the fray when my phone rang. I snagged it from the side pocket of my cargo pants. The number on the screen was a Montana area code and not Layla’s. It was probably Conrad with news about Layla.
“Hey, man,” I answered.
