“Good, meanwhile, let's look into that pilot,” I said to Mark.
“Would you mind if I used your laptop, Councilman?” Extinguisher Mark asked Teagan.
“By all means,” Councilman Teagan got up to make his phone call. “You seem to get more out of it than I do.”
“And if the pilot is alive when we find him,” Alexis added.
“We'll get more out of him too,” Alex finished for her.
“I'm going to go see if I can round up some refreshments for us,” I said as I stood. “I think it's going to be a long night.” I waved Alexis over to me as I headed for the door. Before I even asked her my question, she answered.
“No, Elder Watsuke is not behind this.”
Chapter Forty
The pilot's name was Extinguisher Nolan Kavanaugh, no direct relation to the twins, and he had an exemplary record. He had scored high in all his psychic and physical tests, had completed twenty-eight warrants, had mentored young extinguishers who had lost their immediate family units, and had earned his pilot license at age twenty-six. Since then, he had flown exclusively, leaving fairy chasing to the other extinguishers. There had never been an issue with his flying and on the one occasion that he experienced a mechanical malfunction, he heroically landed the plane in a cornfield, saving the lives of all aboard as well as those upon the ground.
It was hard to see him as a traitor.
His body had not been found, nor were any unidentified remains found in the area. So if he wasn't a traitor, he must have been taken aboard the plane. Which meant that he was probably dead since a hostage would have looked suspicious to the raven mockers. That alone had me stressed. Not just because we may have lost an excellent extinguisher but because it meant that whomever was behind this found killing to be an easy option.
“Do you think my son is still alive?” Raza seemed to echo my thoughts.
“I don't know but I sincerely hope so,” I whispered as I looked around the quiet room.
People had formed groups to conduct research and talk things over in. Unsurprisingly, the groups were defined by race and this stressed me even more. It was like no matter what realm I was in, I was constantly trying to overcome segregation. First between the Seelie and Unseelie, and now in HR it was between the Fey, the Humans, and the Witches.
“I can be monstrous,” Raza lowered his voice too. “I can be horribly cruel. But never would I hurt a child and there were children with my son.”
“I know,” I swallowed hard. “Whomever is behind this, they're far more monstrous than we are.”
“You think you're monstrous?” His face went blank with surprise.
“I think I could be,” my whisper went even lower. “I think at times, I want to be.”
“Like when you hear that your grandmother forced you and your mother to be sent from Fairy?” His metallic eyes warmed and softened.
“Yes,” I admitted. “But is vengeance upon her worth the price of becoming her?”
“You will never become your grandmother,” he said with deep sincerity. “She has always been as she is, even when she was a child. You have a kinder heart, one that can conquer any monster.”
I blinked, unsure which monster he was referring to; mine or his. The warmth in his eyes turned into heat and I cleared my throat, looking away from it before I caught fire.
“It cannot be a fairy,” Raza went back to our original conversation blithely. “At least not one of the old ones. No one who has ever been in a magical war would want to start another.”
“I get that,” I sighed. “Just that little glimpse of fighting between us and the Coven was horrible.”
“Now imagine battles like that a hundred times larger, going on for years,” Raza's jaw clenched. “No, they can't possibly know what they're trying to bring about. If they do, they are more evil than even child killers.”
“So you fought in the Human-Fey war?” I asked him.
“We both did,” Tiernan said as he placed a cup of coffee down before me and resumed his seat beside mine.
“Really?” I looked over to my boyfriend. “You've never talked about it.”
“It's not something one wants to speak of,” Raza answered for him.
“So youarepretty old,” I teased Tiernan, trying to get the frown off his face.
