She released a breath.“I guess we’re about to find out just how much worse this is going to get.”
ChapterFive
Because Pru’scondo was closer to Delia’s office than either of their houses, Caleb had to drive straight there rather than swing by Delia’s home to get her.He didn’t much like having to go by himself, mainly because parking was tight in Pru’s neighborhood, and this would have been a lot easier if they’d been able to carpool.
Well, that and he knew he’d been hoping that maybe he and Delia would have a chance to slip off together for dinner or something once this meeting was over.
The condo was located on the sixth floor of a twelve-story building, which meant he had to take the elevator.Just as the doors were closing, Ty appeared and slipped inside.
“You got the invite, too, huh?”Caleb said sourly.
Ty shrugged.“It sounds like Pru found something important.”
The elevator climbed slowly, each floor seeming to take forever, and Caleb found himself drumming his fingers against the metal railing.
“You seem tense,” Ty remarked.
“Just thinking about everything else I’d rather be doing right now.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open on the sixth floor.Pru’s place was halfway down the hall, and when Caleb knocked, she opened the door almost immediately.Her dark green hair was pulled back into a haphazard ponytail, and she wore skinny black jeans and a black tank top with a graffiti-style font that spelled out “Final Girl.”
“About time,” she said, even though they weren’t remotely late, and stepped back to let them in.“Delia got here about five minutes ago.”
Delia sat on Pru’s big black sectional, a glass of water cradled in her hands.She glanced over when he and Ty entered, and despite his cranky mood, Caleb still experienced that familiar little jolt of warmth at seeing her.
“Hey,” she said, although her smile didn’t seem to have its usual brilliance.“How was your day of poking around?”
“Educational,” he replied as he settled beside her, close enough that their thighs almost touched.“I’ll tell you about it in a minute.”He looked over at Prudence.“So, what’s this big discovery you made?”
Pru was already moving toward her laptop on the dining room table, which was covered in printouts and hand-drawn charts.“Remember how I said I started tracking the power grid anomalies?”She turned the screen toward them, which showed a map of Las Vegas dotted with colored markers.“Every single location that’s had infrastructure failures is on a ley line.Thirty-five locations so far.And they’re all wedding venues.”
Caleb sort of doubted that was a coincidence.“So…they’re not just targeting the quickie chapels.”
“They’re targeting every place in the city where someone might hold a wedding,” Delia said quietly.
Ty moved closer to examine the map, eyes narrowing.“Whoever’s orchestrating this must have been planning it for months.”
That observation matched what Caleb had found today — EMF readings spiking in too exact patterns, test runs like yesterday’s water main break at the Venetian and this morning’s transformer explosion at City Hall.It sure looked as if whoever was behind all this, it was someone with intimate knowledge of both ley line magic and modern infrastructure.
“There’s more,” Pru said as she clicked to another tab.“The incidents aren’t random.They’re following a specific schedule.”She pulled up a timeline showing the frequency spiking dramatically over the past week.“By Olivia’s wedding, every major venue except Angel’s Dream will be compromised.”
“Forcing everyone into the chapel,” Delia said.She looked calm enough, but her lips pressed together for a second, enough to tell Caleb that she was deeply worried.“Funneling as many people as possible into their convergence point.”
His jaw tightened.“Were you able to find anything about who’s behind it?”
A nod.“The permits for the electrical work causing these ‘malfunctions’?They all trace back to shell companies owned by subsidiaries of — ”
“The Styx Group,” Ty finished for her.
Pru didn’t seem overly annoyed by the way he’d cut in, although Caleb guessed if he’d done the same thing, she probably would have bitten his head off.“They’ve been systematically sabotaging their competition while positioning themselves as the only viable option.”
“Right,” Ty said.“They probably possessed some maintenance workers to cause the accidents.That kind of meddling would be very difficult to trace.”
Caleb’s phone let out a ping right then, and he pulled it out of his jeans pocket.The number wasn’t one he recognized.
Having fun playing detective?You have no idea what you’re dealing with, boy.Stop now, or we’ll make sure tonight’s emergencies become tomorrow’s tragedies.
