There was a grunt as one of the men hit the shield, then as one, they began to fire. The metal desks were abnormallythick, suggesting Cathy might have used them for protection before, but the rapid, concentrated firing soon had the front desk’s metal skirt buckling and splitting.
Then one of the men screamed; another shot echoed, but this time it wasn’t aimed at us. I risked poking my head up above the desk, saw one man writhing on the ground, face shredded and an eye hanging out of its socket, while the other slowly turned, trying to track Ginny with his gun as she swooped and soared around him.
She was fast, but even she could not outfly a bullet if he got a lock on her.
In a rapid-fire motion, I cast two more leash spells; with one, I ripped the gun free from his hands and lashed it to the ceiling, and the other I wrapped around his body, locking his arms and legs together before sending him tumbling to the floor.
I hoped it hurt like hell.
Ginny’s screech had me looking up—just in time to see Cathy lunging at me with a knife. I pushed back hard, then grabbed the nearby chair and pulled it down between us. The blade sank into the padded cushion rather than my flesh, but Cathy didn’t get a chance to pull it free and strike again. Ginny had silently shifted shape behind her and wrapped a hand around the other woman’s neck while keeping out of stabbing range.
“Lose the weaponnow,” she said, in a flat, deadly voice, “or the talon that sits at your jugular will rip your fucking neck apart.”
The knife clattered to the ground, but Ginny didn’t immediately release her, her gaze meeting mine. “You okay?”
“A bullet clipped my right calf, but other than that, yeah.”
“Good. You want to leash her?”
“I won’t—” Cathy stopped and gulped as Ginny pressed her claw a little harder into the woman’s neck. Blood trickled from the wound.
“Why on earth would we believe you, given my partner here saved your stupid life and you repaid the favor by trying to kill her? You’ll be fucking lucky to get out of jail before you’re ninety.”
Cathy’s eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything. I cast another leash spell, wound it up her body, then motioned for Ginny to release her. Once she had, I wound the rest of my leash up Cathy’s face, magically gagging her—a neat trick Samuel taught me years ago.
“Okay, she’s leashed and silenced. You want to call it in? I’ll check on the felon missing the eye, then go through her files upstairs.”
No needcame Atticus’s comment.I have taken care of the third fellow?—
“Did you smite him?” I asked aloud, as he was broadcasting wide again. “Because that sure was one hell of a magical battle going on up there.”
He is not dead, though he may wish to be right now.
“Why?” Ginny said. “What did you do?”
I may have sunk a claw or two into his more delicate parts.
I laughed, pushed to my feet, and almost immediately went down again as pain shot up my leg. The only reason I didn’t end up on the floor was because I grabbed the edge of the desk. I hissed and glanced down at my leg; the back of my jeans was sodden with blood, and every nerve ending burned. I swore, sat down on the desk’s top, and reached into my handbag for the souped-up painkillers the hospital had given me, but I hadn’t really used.
“How about you sit there, keep that leg elevated, and call it in while I head upstairs and help Atticus search her files?”
I nodded and swallowed the tablets dry. Ginny walked around the desks to check the two men. The one I’d bound was alive and kicking—or at least trying to—but the other... he wasn’t moving. Didn’t seem to be breathing, either.
Ginny knelt beside him, pressed two fingers against his bloodied neck, then grimaced. “Looks like I got a little too deep with a claw. DOA, I’m afraid.”
“It’s not your fault. They were trying to kill us, after all.”
“Oh, I know that. I’m just thinking of all the paperwork.”
While it was lightly said, I knew her well enough to understand the death would haunt her. Hawks were by nature killers, but they were also very deliberate in their kills, and this unintended mistake was one she would replay and worry over.
“This death is not your fault,” I repeated softly. “And your actions saved my life.”
“I know. It’s just—” She shrugged, gave me a quick, slightly tense smile, then rose and headed out of the room.
I sucked in a breath, silently wished the painkillers would hurry up and kick in, then started making calls. I didn’t bother removing Cathy’s gag and trying to question her—it was pretty obvious she couldn’t be trusted—but I did search the few desk drawers I could reach. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be found other than the usual business invoices for lights, heating, etc., as well as invoices and payment receipts for the legit part of her business. Obviously, the receipts from the other half of her contracting business were kept hidden in the upstairs office.
Cathy was making frustrated sounds by the time the medics and the Society team turned up, but I continued to ignore her.
