She’d been around guns before—rifles, mostly. She knew how to shoot. But she had never, ever had a muzzle pressed to her, and the sensation was nearly as suffocating as Kincaid’s earlier torture session.
Would he keep it there once they were in? Her mind raced ahead—she would have to shove it aside long enough to escape when all hell broke loose—and probably shove him, too, to make sure he wouldn’t get a shot off at one of the men instead—and above all she couldn’t let anyone get out because then her parents—
“I said,is that understood?”
“Yes!” she squeaked. “Yes. It is.”
“Good. Now let us in. Quietly.”
She surreptitiously moved her right hand to her side, within striking distance of the gun, and turned the handle with her left. Crawford and Shaw slipped through the opening with the lithe speed of dancers, Kincaid pushing her in after them, fingers clamped on her shoulder.
They were met by a pitch-black room and heavy silence. One of the women—Emily couldn’t see which—shut the door behind them.
“No lights,” Crawford whispered, flicking the switch up and down.
“Conjure some up,” Kincaid said. “Focused beams so it blinds him, not us.”
Illumination shot out from both women’s palms—as bright as headlights. Their beams swept across the room, quickly enough to catch anyone skittering around to avoid detection, but they revealed nothing. The room appeared empty.
She practically vibrated with wild hope. Hartgrave had understood. He’d done something to the chandelier; he’d hidden himself, and Bernie and Willi besides. She wasn’t outnumbered three to one anymore, and she had lured the most dangerous members of the Organization to the one place where (she prayed) their advantages would not weigh so heavily against less-powerful opponents.
One of the hardest parts about doing magic was gathering enough of it to you. Wasn’t that what Willi had said? Mightn’t this room, with its abundant magic, even the playing field at least a little?
Heaven help them all if it had the opposite effect.
Shaw stomped back to them, no longer trying to be quiet. “So? Doyousee him?”
Kincaid, keeping his voice down, said, “Did you put a barrier around the room as I told you to do?”
“I did,” Crawford said. She sounded tense. “Sir, there’s something off about this room—it’s like we’re swimming in magic.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed,” Kincaid said. “Never mind that right now.”
“Well—if he really is in here, he’s not getting out,” Crawford said.
“If.” Shaw bared her teeth. The spillover from her partner’s beams transformed her face into a patchwork of harsh light and shadow. “Let me interrogate her. Let’s find out where hereallyis.”
Emily’s empty stomach churned, despite the imminent help. The earlier example of Organization interrogation had been bad enough.
“It’s my turn, and I’ll get something useful, you know I will,” Shaw added, reaching for her right thigh. She came away with a hunting knife, sleek lines spectacularly lit up by her spell. “Nothing gets people to spill their guts like actual gut-spilling.”
Emily flinched so violently that her head hit Kincaid’s shoulder, her back arched against his gun.
“I’ve every confidence in your abilities,” he said to Shaw. Emily couldn’t look away from the blade. “However,” he added—Shaw made a noise of protest—“perhaps you could first check this room with abitmore care?”
“Vicious fuckwit,” Crawford added to Shaw, stalking off to the beds.
Shaw, weapon still in hand, went with bad grace in the other direction, leaving Emily and Kincaid alone by the door.
This was more like it.
Any moment now, Hartgrave and Willi and maybe even Bernie (though she hoped not Bernie) would jump through the magic giving the impression of an abandoned room, startling Kincaid and allowing her to take him off guard.
Any moment now.
Any ... moment ...
Shaw walked the perimeter, lighting up corners, prodding the walls. Crawford, finished with the living area, inspected the bathroom. Between the two of them, they’d gone completely around the room. Hard to tell in the oppressive near-darkness, but it didn’t appear smaller the way it had when Hartgrave tried to fool her into going away, those many weeks ago.
