“Only my friends call me Dani,” I snapped. “You no longer qualify.”
Silence. Then she stepped a little closer. I glanced over my shoulder.
“I know you’re mad now,” she said. “But this is all going to work out. We’ll look back and laugh at this one day.”
I gaped at her. Since I was staring at her, I saw the moment her head exploded.
Fuck. I hit the ground, but I was a sitting duck.
Rose stepped forward. She held a gun in her hand, her face ashen.
“Are you going to shoot me?”
“No. God no.” She looked at Cara and swallowed, reaching out one hand to lean against the wall.
“What are you doing here?”
She swallowed. “I don’t sleep. I came to catch up on paperwork and heard them talking. I hid under my desk.” Her gaze slid to Cara again.
I stepped into her line of sight.
“Don’t look at her,” I said. If I lived through this, I’d mourn the loss of the friend I’d thought Cara had been. But I had more important things to worry about now. “Do you know where Bruce took my weapons?”
“No.” She reached for her knife, still in its sheath and handed it to me.
I struggled with the Naud chains until I could shove it down the back of my jeans, and immediately felt more in control.
“Do you have your phone?”
She shook her head. “They’ve done something. Some kind of spell or something. There’s no service.”
“How many others are here?”
“That new contractor… uh… Wes, I think his name is. And Ben.”
I rolled my eyes and she nodded. “I know, right.” We shared a look. The first time Rose and I had been on the same page in our lives.
“Ben’s in charge. They’re going to take you to the portal, Danica.” She looked slightly sick at the thought.
“Okay. I need you to go and get help.”
She gaped at me. “You want me to leave you? I knew you were crazy, Amana…”
“When Cara doesn’t take me to Ben, he’s going to either come looking himself, send Bruce, or both. They need me alive at least long enough to hand me over to Lucifer, but they don’t need you. If they find you, you’re dead.”
She nodded, eyes turning wild. “Oh God, it feels like a nightmare. How could they do this?”
“Let’s ask ourselves those kinds of deep questions if we’re still alive an hour from now. Here’s what we do. You take the elevator, I’ll head for the stairs. One of us will get out.”
I had to believe that.
“Okay. Okay. God. Okay.”
“I need you to contact Samael.”
Her face paled and I reached out, giving her a shake. “Tell the demons. Promise me.”
“I promise.” She took a long look at my face. “Good luck.”
