“Holy shit,” I whisper.
“Holy shit is right. Get the area cleared while I brief my staff. Security Central has been notified.”
My stomach does a small, slow flip.
“Are they sending a detail?”
“They’re sending Magma to man a team himself. The Council is watching our every move. Word of thiscannotget out, Carla. Security is going to set up a perimeter team as well as put guards in place to watch the Red.”
Crap!
“You good?”
“I’m good. I’ll set up the lockdown room and brief Donna at the front desk. Where do you want Magma to base himself?”
“The empty consult room next to the trauma bay in the hangar. He’ll need a desk and a phone. I need you here tonight. I can’t trust this with anyone else. We’ll lock down the hangar, and you need to be our access to the outside.”
“On it.”
She squeezes my arm once as she pushes through the doors to the stairwell, heading for the roof.
I sigh and then get moving.
5
Magma
I pack up for the day. I’ll go and get a few hours of shuteye before the borders open at midnight. Grabbing my laptop bag, I walk toward the elevators when my phone starts ringing. In the next heartbeat, several phones start ringing all around me.
Shit!
This can’t be good.
“Magma,” I bark without checking caller ID.
“It’s Reed. We have an incident.”
I sigh, rubbing my eyes. “What happened?”
“A Red shifter crossed the frontline, and your team was forced to take action. He came over at the south coast, low and fast. Our patrol intercepted him but couldn’t get him to turn around, so they brought him down.”
“Did they kill him?”
“Thankfully not, but they injured him quite badly. It was unavoidable. He is unable to shift back into his human form. He is being airlifted by a helicopter on a flatbed to Draig Hospital as we speak. A Code Red has been called.”
“We already signed a peace treaty. This shouldn’t have happened. The borders open at midnight.”
“I’m well aware. We are currently in that gray zone where we still maintain the frontline but are at peace with Mistveil.”
“Our patrol was within their rights to take him down. It had to be done.”
“I know that, but it does put a spanner in the works when it comes to our very infant relationship with our neighbors. I need to inform them of this and to assure them that their citizen will be fine and escorted back as soon as possible.”
“We don’t know that he’ll be fine. It’s too soon for promises like that.”
“And yet, I am going to make them. He’s going to the best facility and will be under our best surgeon. Hecannotdie,” she says. “Not on the operating table and not by some vigilante or overzealous Draig guard.”
“That’s a tall order, Councilor, but one I am sure Dr. Keller and her team will strive to achieve. I’m assuming you need security on this.”
