“We need to call it in to Sarge and the rest of the task force,” I said. “But I’d like to gather more information if possible.”
“That’s too great of a risk,” Tetiana said. “We shouldn’t risk ourselves just for information.”
“Normally, yes,” I agreed. “But in this case preparation might be key.”
Tetiana narrowed her eyes as she rubbed one of the buttons on her radio. “You don’t want to push forward just because bagging Gisila means finding Considine? Because allow me to illuminate you, Blood. Considine wouldnotbe happy if you waltzed into danger on the off chance it could free him a few hours earlier.”
“You take it for granted we’ll win, but Gisila ishere. If we don’t catch her now she could escape and we couldneverfind Considine.” The dark thought broke free from my mouth before I could stop it.
Tetiana was right—I was too emotional about this fight to be objective. But I didn’t care about objectivity with Considine being subjected to who knew what in captivity.
“Okay, then what kind of information could we possibly get that could be helpful?” Tetiana asked.
“For starters, Gisila might not be present,” I said. “She usually hires others to do her dirty work and keep her reputation clean.”
“She did,” Tetiana agreed. “Until she captured Considine.”
“Gisila oversees anything that is of personal importance to her,” Orrin said.
Tetiana’s eyebrows moved up and down as she worked through Orrin’s vague wording. “So you mean even if she hired cronies to break in, she’s definitely here.”
Orrin couldn’t answer that question, but I got the feeling Tetiana wasn’t expecting an answer anyway.
I fidgeted, finding it difficult to stay motionless. My insides burned with impatience—it felt like we were wasting time, when Iknewfrom my training that Tetiana was right.
“Call it in to Sarge,” I finally said. “Both of you. I’ll go in and see if I can get any kind of visual.”
Tetiana shook her head. “It’s too dangerous—”
“I know,” I said. “I know. But this is the biggest chance I’ve gotten at recovering Considine. I can’t just stand back.”
Tetiana’s gaze softened. “Be careful, Blood.”
“I will be,” I said. “I’ll be silencing my radio, though. I don’t want it giving my position away.”
“Understood,” Tetiana said.
Orrin shuffled his feet, his eyebrows furrowing as he opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the right words to say. “Don’t take risks,” he finally said. “And…it is not advisable that you touch…anything…from inside the vault system.”
He means don’t touch that elf weapon Gisila is after.
“Understood. Hopefully I won’t have to go that deep into Tutu’s.” I nodded to the duo.
Orrin pulled on one of the doors, widening the crack for me. I slipped inside, my nerves relaxing momentarily when I heard Orrin whisper to Tetiana. “If you are going to use the radio,pleaserefrain from yelling.”
I crouched, sticking to the shadows as I crept into the lobby area, the sensation of dragon shifter magic finally igniting in my mind—Gisila must have used her magic to break her sister’s seals.
I knew from my normal night patrols that the lobby usually only had one dim light on. Tonight, however, the lights that hung over the tellers’ stations were on as well, and the fancy iron gate that was pulled between the lobby and the loading station every night was lying on the ground.
I edged along the long side of the room, stopping to inspect the iron gate—it had been pulled off its hinges. I couldn’t tell if it was the work of a spell or raw strength since my magical senses weren’t good enough for that kind of precision work.
I crept into the loading station, trying to see if I was lucky and Gisila—or her cronies—had managed to call the vault or lockbox Gisila wanted to bust into.
If they had, they’d be in one of the viewing areas—which was where summoned vault blocks were sent. If they hadn’t, that meant they’d ventured into the vault system—which would be a lot trickier, and significantly more dangerous, to track them through.
The viewing rooms were at the back corners of the funnel shaped loading station—tucked out of sight from the main lobby.
I saw two darkened doors without surprise, then glanced at the opposite side of the room and almost fell over when I realized one of the doors had a crack of light escaping through the barely ajar door.
