“If you think that’s going to be enough to put me off, you haven’t learned anything about me in the last several eons.” The smoothly modulated tone of the Sentinel’s voice only made his words more disturbing. “Discovering a few hundred armed minions in a heavily populated metropolis is a big fucking problem. Tell Syre if he can’t get a handle on his ranks, I’ll take the necessary steps to manage it myself.”
“Why don’t?—”
“You and the six minions who arrived today have forty-eight hours to wrap it up and clear out.”
The line died, leaving Raze cursing at an angel who couldn’t hear him.
There were times when he thought there was no way to clean up the mess the Fallen had made, and even damage control was out of their reach. There were tens of thousands of vampires policed by less than four hundred combined Fallen and Sentinels, plus a few thousand lycans. The odds were against them in every way.
He’d felt helpless before, but now he had something he couldn’t bear to lose. He would hunt down the ones whose names he found here in Baron’s safe house, but that wouldn’t make Kim any safer. As long as they were connected in any way, she would be a target.
18
Back in his hotel room, Raze looked into the video feed of Vash’s office on his brand-new iPad and caught her up. “I got the list of Baron’s followers off his laptop, and most of the team is out hunting them now. They had me tailed from the moment I arrived at the airport. While I was killing Baron at the ballpark, the baroness was planting bugs in my room.”
“So now we know why she wasn’t there that night.”
“Right. That’s what I couldn’t get: Why the hell did they draw my attention? If they hadn’t dumped that body on my porch, we wouldn’t be on to them now. Reviving Grimm’s doctrine was a ruse. They used it to round up enough minions to put on that show at Wrigley Field, but their real agenda was to get those bugs on me for future intel gathering. We found them in every room of my suite and on my iPad. They planted tracking devices on my bags. They knew every move I made and would have continued to know if she hadn’t fucked up and gone after Kim this morning. The baroness hadn’t planned on my being there.”
Vash pushed her hair back from her face and looked grim. “I hate to say it, but your Kim will be a problem for you unless you’re planning on Changing her and taking the risk that shewon’t lose herself in the process. You’ve made a lot of enemies over the years.”
Everything inside him recoiled at the thought of losing Kim in any way, by his actions or someone else’s. “That hasn’t escaped me. But I wasn’t their only target. They had rudimentary plans to lure you and Salem out, too.”
“Well, fuckin’ A.” Her amber eyes were hard and cold. “They’re lucky they went with you first. They wouldn’t have liked dealing with me.”
“I thought the same thing,” he said wryly. “In a related matter, Adrian called me today. He’s ordered the team and me out of Chicago by Tuesday. To say he’s not happy about armed minions in the city would be an understatement.”
“Fuck him and the high horse he rides,” she snapped.
He smiled. “You’re just pissed because he’s got us by the balls with this one.”
“Whatever. The fucker shouldn’t always be right.” She took a deep breath. “Listen, I don’t want to distract you from what you’re doing, especially while you’ve got Adrian breathing down your neck, but… Nikki’s gone missing.”
Raze froze. Torque’s wife. “What do you mean by ‘missing’?”
“She was supposed to pick up Torque in Shreveport last night but never made it.”
“You’ll need me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah. But take care of what’s on your plate there first. We need to put a lid on that mess, and I need your head in the game when you get back here.”
“Keep me posted.”
“Of course.”
He signed off and stood, methodically packing up his things. There wasn’t much.
“The room is yours,” he told Crash. “I’ll call you when I get out in the field. I have something to take care of.”
Crash waved absently, his attention riveted to the data on Baron’s laptop.
19
Raze had barely knocked on Kim’s door when it was yanked open, and she threw herself into his arms.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, pressing her face into his chest.
With one arm around her waist, he lifted her feet from the floor and carried her into the apartment, closing them inside by leaning back against the door. “For now.”
