No. No, no, no, he had to be in the room,hadto. The lights were off. Surely that meant something.
But as Crawford and Shaw finished their search, as she was once more about to be surrounded, she remembered Hartgrave had turned on the lights with a wave of his hand every morning. They weren’t electric. They were magic. And magic spells wore off.
She swallowed, throat closing in on her. Hartgrave wasn’t here. He had to have seen Kincaid, Crawford and Shaw on his map, had to have guessed they’d brought her with them, and he’d chosen to leave.
What would they do to her? More importantly, what would they do to her parents?
The gun shifted against the small of her back as Kincaid let out a frustrated breath. “Well?”
“It’s his quarters,” Crawford said. Emily wondered how she could tell. The books? The clothing? His aftershave on the sink?
The stab of jealousy that came with these thoughts was so patently ridiculous considering the circumstances that she laughed. It sounded like a sob.
“The point is, he’s scarpered.” Shaw tapped the flat of the blade against her thigh in a staccato beat. “Give me a go—come on.”
Emily’s knees buckled. Only Kincaid’s hand on her shoulder kept her upright.
“No,” he said. “As a source of information, she’s past her usefulness.”
Before Shaw could protest, Crawford did. “You mean to let him get away? Hasn’t it occurred to you that she could be lying about his tracking system to allow him to do just that?”
“Naturally. But I don’t think he would have run, had he been here.”
Crawford looked as if she wanted to argue this point, but Kincaid pressed on. “I admit that catching him unawares was the best strategy, but I do have a substitute. While you searched for Dr. Daggett earlier, I reached an accommodating administrative assistant here who gave me Alexander’s mobile number.”
Shaw laughed. “What’s your plan, ring him up and say, ‘Hallo old boy, awfully sugar-and-spice to hear your voice again—why don’t we schedule lunch tomorrow with your execution for afters?’”
“No, Verity,” he said a touch impatiently, “because if he’s dead, he cannot replace the tracking system.Besides, I rather had in mind, ‘Give yourself up if you don’t want your lover to suffer for your misdeeds.’”
Crawford fell back a step. “You must be joking.Her?”
The insult cut through Emily’s haze of despair. She opened her mouth automatically to say—well, something—but Kincaid beat her to it.
“You didn’t see his face when he realized too late that I had her. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s right now trying to break into headquarters in a misguided attempt at rescue.”
Emily sighed. If only she could believe that.
“Let’s go.” Kincaid’s painful grip on her shoulder eased, and he stopped pressing the gun to her back. “Aim for—”
The lights snapped on, blindingly bright.
Before she could react or even see, Kincaid gave an earsplitting yelp. The sound traveled—he was moving. She blinked rapidly and enough vision returned for her to see him forcibly propelled across the room.
His lieutenants, swatted backward a different direction, nearly plowed into the stone table. Shaw grabbed Crawford, knife clattering to the floor, and jerked them out of the way a second before impact.
The man responsible for this feat teleported directly in front of Emily from wherever in the room he’d been concealed, long black coat billowing around him.
Holy crap, she was glad her doubts had been wrong.
Hartgrave made a swooping motion. Dozens,hundredsof stone blocks tore loose from the floor, ceiling and walls, careening like an avalanche toward their foes. She gasped. How was that possible?
Crawford and Shaw, both flat on their back, cast shields to save themselves—stones piling over their protective dome. But Kincaid stood amid the maelstrom with his arms crossed, working no counterspells.
“It’s an illusion,” he called out. “He couldn’t manage these stones if they were real.”
An instant later, a melon-sized chunk struck him in the chest and knocked him sprawling.
“Managed that one,” Hartgrave snarled. Then he leaned in and whispered: “Destroy their barrier so we can teleport. We have to get out right now.”
