“Don’t sell yourself short,” Wade immediately said, always Riordan’s defender.
Riordan rolled his eyes, a fond look on his face as he shoved Wade toward the sidewalk. “I never do.”
Their relationship was something Jono heartily approved of, as dideveryone else in the pack. Riordan was a selkie whose clan had split for business purposes to break into the New York City restaurant business. They all still considered Boston home, and Riordan commuted between the two cities every other week. He was fiercely dedicated to his people and to Wade, and Jono was happy the two had found each other.
Jono shoved open the car door and flipped off the driver behind them who honked their horn. It was anyone’s guess if the bloke understood what the two-fingered salute meant. Riordan ducked around the front of the SUV and slid into the driver’s seat. “I’ll find a place to park nearby.”
“Not too close. We don’t know what’s going on, and Patrick used to have a tendency toward property destruction,” Jono said.
Riordan winced. “Duly noted.”
Jono left him to navigate the now bumper-to-bumper traffic and went to join Wade on the sidewalk. Wade bounced on his heels, waiting impatiently, mobile in hand. “Apparently, it’s a hostage situation.”
“How the bloody hell do you know that?” Jono asked as they hurried down the street, going in the opposite direction of everyone else.
“It’s all over social media. The SOA building is on lockdown, along with the other ones around it. Everyone outside the block is being told to evacuate.” Wade had his eyes glued to his mobile but was keeping up. “How are you going to get through the police line?”
Jono had his own mobile in hand, scrolling through his contacts for the one person who had the authority to clear them. “Who do you think?”
The line rang out and picked up after the first ring, the voice of the NYPD Police Commissioner Giovanni Casale coming through gruffly. “How’d I know you’d be calling?”
“Who’s being held hostage?” Jono asked, figuring Casale’s question was rhetorical.
“Social media will be the bane of my existence.” The sound of traffic on Casale’s side of the line sounded similar to the area Jono andWade walked through. His gaze swept the street, looking for where Casale might be. “Aaron Javic somehow got through the SOA’s security and took the defense team working his coven’s case hostage.”
Jono went cold, the soulbond still a tense line drawing him forward. “Is Patrick one of the hostages?”
“We have snipers on the roof with eyes on the conference room where the hostages are, and they confirmed he’s one of them.”
“That’s a rookie move with all those windows,” Wade muttered, clearly listening in. “Someone could easily blow the asshole’s brain out.”
“Why isn’t the guy in jail?” Jono asked, ignoring Wade. They were half a block from the police line, and Jono was fully prepared to argue his way past it. For that matter, he wondered why Patrick hadn’t fought his way out of the situation yet.
“Javic escaped arrest some months back and went on the run. My understanding, based on news reports, is the SOA has been searching for him but had no luck in finding him,” Casale said.
“So who is in charge of negotiations?”
“SOA is working in tandem with the NYPD to handle the situation. I’m on the way to the scene right now. Patrick has a direct line to me and the SOA headquarters in DC. He convinced Javic to let him act as a mediator of sorts to pass on his demands.”
Jono sighed. “Of course he did. And what are Javic’s demands?”
“He wants his wife freed from jail and a flight to a country that doesn’t extradite.”
Wade gave Jono an incredulous look. “Does he really think that willwork? This isn’t a movie.”
“Is anyone going to free his wife?” Jono asked.
Casale snorted. “Hell no. Javic is coming out of this mess in handcuffs or a body bag. What do you know about the case Patrick is working on?”
“Nothing that hasn’t been in the news because of confidentiality. Patrick doesn’t talk about the cases he’s called in to act as an expert for.”
“The Javics head up the Evergreen Coven, which controls othercovens in roughly half a dozen states. Alleged criminal enterprise that sells off magical artifacts powered by mining people’s souls for their magic, sometimes until the victims die. The coven then fences the artifacts through supposedly legitimate sellers.”
“Sounds like the government followed the money.”
“It’s why there’s a RICO charge. None of the magic users in the Evergreen Coven or the ones they control are mages. They couldn’t tap a ley line for the work.”
“So instead, they tapped people.”
