Rowan looked at Erik and Ben, who hadn’t moved from the SUV, still trying to process the horror of what they had just witnessed. “We need to go.”
Erik thought he felt a nudge of compulsion in her voice, enough to break through the mental fog.
“We’ll lead the way. Follow us,” Rowan said. “There was a turn about a mile back that should take us to an alternate route. Go straight home. We’ll head for Charleston.” Rowan watched them intently as if to ensure they were listening.
Erik glanced at the cars and guns, avoiding another look at what remained of Barone and Gusev.
“Leave them. There is nothing to implicate you. Let them be a warning,” Rowan answered his unvoiced question. “We need to go. The magic and blood have awakened more than ghosts. We shouldn’t linger.”
Erik didn’t want to know what entities were fearsome enough to make their protectors flee the scene. He didn’t need to beconvinced to leave, and from the shellshocked look on Ben’s face, Erik knew his partner agreed. Rowan’s magic cleared away the roadblock and the other vehicles enough for them to pass.
Released from the magic, the Highlander shifted into gear without issue. Erik followed the SUV with Sorren and the others until they reached the ramp to the highway. Erik turned back toward Cape May, while the others turned south. He assumed the truck was already well on its way.
“Are you okay?” Erik ventured when they had ridden in silence for several minutes.
“Hell no. You?” Ben replied.
“Trying to figure out if we have enough whiskey at home to ever let me sleep again,” Erik admitted.
“Not sure there’s enough whiskey in the world for that,” Ben replied.
Erik reached over and took Ben’s hand. “We’re alive. Barone, Gusev, and their goons will never hurt anyone again. The dome and the window will be locked away where they can’t cause more harm. We’re safe.”
“I knew Rowan and the others were powerful,” Ben said. “But I didn’t realize?—”
“Neither did I. For a couple of minutes there, when I wasn’t sure we were going to die, I felt like I’d been dropped into an action movie,” Erik admitted.
“Except not the fun kind of movie,” Ben replied. “The kind that gives you PTSD with a side order of night terrors.”
“Yeah.” Erik paused. “You know we need to call Hendricks.”
“I figured you were going to say that,” Ben replied. “And I wish I could argue, but I can’t.”
The clock said midnight, but Erik felt like it was much later.
“I want to report a multi-vehicle accident,” Erik said when the dispatcher answered. He gave the road and approximate location. “Cars blocking the road, but no one in sight.”
He hung up without giving his name, but he knew his number would show up in the system and that Hendricks would call in the morning.
They rode in silence for a while. Erik figured it was a combination of exhaustion and decompression after all the recent danger and tension. When no one appeared to be following them, he breathed a sigh of relief. “So…after all that, what’s on your mind?”
“Ask me in the morning. Right now, I can barely remember my name,” Ben admitted.
NINE
BEN
Early the next morning, Hendricks showed up at their door. “You’ve got some serious explaining to do.” He barely waited for Erik to invite him in.
“We called you,” Erik replied. “Gave you a heads up.”
Hendricks looked at them incredulously. “You called the station, and nothing about that scene was a normal multi-vehicle accident except that it looked like several of the vehicles had rammed into each other. The cars track back to the Newark Mob and Bratva. The weapons are unregistered, highly illegal, and still loaded with ammunition. A dozen corpses were floating in the marsh, and piles of bloody goop and bones were in the road, as well as a bunch of dead goons—some without a mark on them. Forensics is working on the teeth and DNA to get solid IDs. How in the hell?—”
“We called in reinforcements with special abilities to help us safely move the dome to where it couldn’t hurt anyone else,” Erik said.
“What do you mean by ‘special abilities’?” Hendricks demanded.
Ben took it as a good sign that Hendricks had come to them instead of having them brought down to the station. He figured that the chief suspected supernatural elements were involved.
