Chapter Twenty-Eight
Night settledin well before Bryce made his way back to the Crowley building. The ominous feeling had already dropped, but that could have been just Bryce’s impression. The world was always less scary when he wasn’t expecting other-worldly creatures to invade. But there was no lingering cold and he didn’t itch. Though he’d need a department psychic to officially clear the area, Bryce was pretty sure the building was returning to normal.
There were no news vans. No curious neighbors trying to get a closer glimpse at what was happening. Either no one cared that an ambulance had been through a few hours ago, only to get replaced by the DWO team, or no one thought the incidents were connected. If not for the copious amount of navy-blue SUVs and other vehicles, the building would seem sleepy. Empty. Nothing big going on.
Bryce nodded to the two agents guarding the entrance as he walked past and headed for the secret basement. The bandage around his waist tugged on him. The devourer hadn’t had much of a chance to eat him, but there had been enough damage that he should take it easy for the next few days. But resting meant leaving everything in the hands of others, and Bryce needed answers before he could sleep or face Jesse again. They had left too much undone in the basement.
As he descended the stairs, the uneasy feeling crept through him. He resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck, afraid that would turn into an itch he couldn’t stop. The farther he went, the more he could feel the press ofother.
Maybe the building wasn’t as cleared as he thought.
Bonnell stood in the center of the secret chamber. She was contemplating something at the bottom of the concrete arch. Other DWO agents had dragged in more lights, and their quiet murmurs while they worked to photograph the room and look for evidence helped break the spell of other-worldliness. Nothing moved inside the empty concrete portal.
While they had moved out the prisoners, the devourer’s body was still in the room. It was covered with a tarp, but it still seemed smaller than it should. Some aliens or outer-terrestrials vanished, leaving little-to-no trace they had ever visited Earth. One of the other agents picked up pieces of the broken statue and put them in a clear artifact bag. Thankfully, the statue wasn’t moving.
“Director,” Bryce called out.
Bonnell lifted her head. For a moment, Bryce thought he saw fear in his boss’s face, but it could have been a trick of the shadows. As she carefully crossed the room toward him, she asked, “Where’s Dawes?”
“Sent him on to HQ. Wasn’t sure how all this—” Bryce swirled a finger around, pointing at the ceiling and referring to the room “—would affect him. Hopefully he’ll get some sleep. How were the cultists we had to leave behind?”
“We have them secured and on the way to containment cells. You took a big risk leaving them here,” Bonnell said. “You’re lucky no one doubled back to slit their throats, and no more creatures slipped through the portal.”
“Didn’t have a lot of choice. The others were bolting. Jesse was running after them. With the shit reception down here, I didn’t have a way of communicating with the team, and we couldn’t know if they were going to run toward the team or away. Where are the other two statues?”
“I was hoping that was something you could answer,” Bonnell replied.
“They’re not here?”
“We haven’t found them, but we haven’t searched the whole building.”
That caused an uneasy knot to form in Bryce’s stomach. The last he’d seen of the statues, they were moving on their own. He’d hoped they had returned to their more inert state when left, but he wasn’t surprised to hear they were gone. He needed Celia—crap, not Celia, she was recovering. Someone needed to watch out for local social media. Short of happening upon them in the building, a randomly posted photo was going to be their best chance of finding the statues.
Unless, of course, Megan Valless or one of her lackeys had picked up the statues for their own purposes. The ritual had seemed precise, which meant there was a good chance another location wouldn’t work. However, there was also a chance another location might be suitable, or that Megan had another nefarious use for the statues.
“Careful, Reynolds, you’re turning green,” Bonnell said.
“Lot has gone on in the last couple of weeks. I’d chalk it all up to our kind of normal, but something’s not right. This feels different.”
Bonnell lowered her voice. “It might be.”
Shit. If the director thought there was a bigger pattern at play, then Bryce had cause to worry. They’d gotten lucky. If Jesse hadn’t pushed and been obnoxious about the case, then Bryce wasn’t sure they would have caught the connection between the building and the Valless cult. They might not have even known there was a cult until it was too late.
And Jesse had acquaintances in a larger network, one that was mostly obscure to the DWO. If he could work those like Celia did the podcast, they might be able to have more forewarning in the future.
“This feels like the start of something,” Bryce said.
“Things have already been shifting, or this wouldn’t have been possible,” Bonnell replied. “Portals don’t just open on a whim. Something is destabilizing reality entirely.”
“You think it’s already too late to make a difference?” Bryce asked.
“I think we’re at a tipping point, and I’m afraid we’ve already fallen over the edge of the cliff and just don’t know it.”
“We need him.” Bryce stepped closer to her and dropped his voice to the same quiet volume. “I know the way we came across him was unconventional, but he’s smart, director. Driven. He finds a duty in all this.”
“I’ll consider it.”
And it was up to Bonnell to make that decision. As much as Bryce longed to keep Jesse in his life, she was in charge of deciding who would or wouldn’t be in the DWO. If she chose not to hire Jesse, then they’d have to “deal with” him.
Bryce didn’t like those options. He folded his arms over his chest. If Jesse had to move, Bryce wasn’t sure he could stay with the DWO. After so long, he’d finally found his heart, his rock, and he didn’t want to give up Jesse in order to stick it out with the department.
Bonnell put her hand on Bryce’s arm and squeezed. “Everything will work out. Don’t worry.”
“Hmph.”
Before Bonnell could try to reassure him, another agent called her attention away.
Bryce wanted to have hope, and he’d keep as much of it as he could, but he couldn’t help worrying over what would come next.
God, he hoped he’d face it with Jesse.
