Gerard nodded. “Yes. We are remembered better than others. There are paths to Tír na nÓg that are always open to the fae, you just need to know where to find them.”
“Do you want us to go with you?” Emma asked.
Patrick shook his head. “No. Time moves differently past the veil. Minutes there are hours here. Marek should probably get you guys that protective order just in case. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”
“I’ll have Tiarnán draw it up and get it filed today,” Sage said, already pulling out her cell phone.
“The Hellraisers can be here tonight. We have a sorcerer on the team who can stay with your pack for extra protection, Emma,” Gerard offered.
“We have space for a few extra people. We can cover the hotel costs for the ones we can’t house,” Emma said.
“And food, if Wade doesn’t eat it all,” Leon added.
“Hey,” Wade mumbled around a mouthful of chorizo and eggs. He’d claimed one of the plates on the coffee table as his and was already halfway done with it. “I’m going with them.”
“You’re still grounded,” Jono said.
“But you said pack needed to stick together.”
Patrick dug out his cell phone and dialed a number he knew by heart. He let it ring three times before hanging up. He repeated that two more times, waited for thirty seconds, then called one more time. Setsuna answered almost immediately.
“Line and location are secure,” Patrick said.
“I hope you’re calling with news about the missing Wisteria child,” SOA Director Setsuna Abuku said.
“We’d have more luck winning the lottery every day for a year than finding their daughter.”
“That’s not a conclusion their lawyers will accept.”
“Shame. Listen, I’m going across the veil with my old captain. The Dominion Sect kidnapped the Summer Lady, and we need to find her.”
“The Wisteria child should be your focus, Patrick.”
“I’ll ask about her for you when we cross over if you want, but if the State Department can’t get answers out of the fae, I don’t know how you think I will.”
Setsuna sighed irritably, but Patrick didn’t really care that he was making her job harder. Their personal and professional relationship, already strained over the years, had only gotten worse since Patrick first set foot in New York City.
Persephone might have tricked him into a soul debt in order to save his life as a kid, but Setsuna had been the one who’d taken it upon herself to hide him and raise him from a distance. A name change, boarding school at an Academy, and intermittent checkups didn’t necessarily equate to a familial relationship. Setsuna was his boss, and she’d been his guardian, but that didn’t mean he trusted her.
“Have the Wild Hunt and the Sluagh been dealt with?”
“No.”
“I’ll inform SAIC Ng that you’re following a lead and are going off the grid and he needs to assign someone to the fae issue in your absence. Don’t spend long past the veil, Patrick.”
“I’m hoping we’ll only be gone for a couple of days. I’ll call you when I get back.”
Patrick ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He looked over at Gerard, who was still on the phone calling his team. Gerard flashed him a thumbs-up, and Patrick nodded.
“Hey, Razzle Dazzle. If we’re going past the veil, I’m not going without a weapon. Tell me you have something I can borrow,” Keith said.
The only physical weapons Patrick had were his semiautomatic HK USP 9mm tactical pistol and his dagger, neither of which he could give up. Requisitioning extra weapons from the SOA would take too long and involve way too much paperwork.
“No, but I know a guy.”
Whether or not Lucien would be willing to help them out was the million-dollar question.
10
