“Perhaps, but my friend here can keep you alive indefinitely, which means I can take my time making you pay for all the shit you’ve put me through these past few years. We could start with the broken arm or the five bullets I took for you in Oklahoma.” Felipe pushed the knife into the bullet wound for emphasis, eliciting a hiss of pain from Jed. “Or I can carvecowardinto your chest and drop your corpse at your sister’s door.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I very much would, especially since I suspect you gave Agatha Pfeiffer’s name to the priest.” Twisting the knife, he added, “Your sister still lives in the Bowery, right? She works at that bar—”
“Fine, fine. But don’t make trouble for her.” Releasing a huff that whistled through the wound, Jed finally met Felipe’s hardened gaze. “I don’t know exactly what the priest is planning. He confided in Newman; I was just the errand boy.”
“And would-be assassin.”
“Only after Newman fucked up. The thing they got from the dead nun only works on Thursdays, what good that does. I was supposed to kill you both and lay low until Thursday night when I was going to meet them on South Brother Island. They paid a guy to take me over at eight. The card with the address is in my pocket if you don’t believe me.”
“And what was in it for you?”
Jed looked at him like he was stupid. “What else? Money. And he said my powers would get stronger. I just wanted to get the hell out of here.”
“You could have retired.”
“People like us don’t retire. They suck us dry ‘til there’s nothing left. We done here?”
“Yeah. Goodbye, Jed. Oliver, cut him loose.”
Letting the thinner tether run between his fingers, Oliver flinched at the sudden pain in his chest as Jed fell still. The muscle twisted ineffectively as Oliver coughed, and the laboratory tilted dangerously. The last thing Oliver remembered before the world went black was the look of alarm on Felipe’s face as their gazes met.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Love v. Duty
Felipe didn’t knowit was possible for Oliver to look paler, but when he felt the tether reeling Jed’s soul back into his body let go, Oliver turned a shade of grey Felipe had never seen on a living person. Leaping across the corner of the table, he managed to catch Oliver by the arms before he toppled. He swayed unsteadily on his feet and crashed straight into Felipe’s shoulder. Carefully lowering him to the floor with a string of curses, Felipe patted Oliver’s clammy cheek and rubbed his sternum with the heel of his hand. Panic-laced regret flared through him. He shouldn’t have insisted Oliver revive Jed after everything he went through the day before. He had pushed him too far. Luckily, his heart pumped loudly across the tether, and he was still breathing, even if it was shallow and fast. When the color came back to Oliver’s lips and he opened his eyes less than a minute later, Felipe let out a tense breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.
“Why am I on the dirty floor?” Oliver asked and immediately started to get up.
“No, no, you need to stay down.”
“Why?”
“You passed out. I assume that doesn’t normally happen when you cut the tether.”
