“Good morning,” he said.
“To you, too.” She lifted the mug. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He managed a ghost of a smile. “I thought I’d come over early. Get the day started.”
“You’re always Welcome here.”
He moved to the futon. “I followed your orders. Looks like I’m too valuable to kill.”
“I could have told you that.” She smiled against the rim of her cup.
“But I would lose the firm.”
Eve swallowed a mouthful of perfectly creamed coffee, then set her mug down. “I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted it.”
Alec sat back and crossed his arms. “I want you, too. Can’t have both, so something’s got to give.”
She knew what that was like.
He sat with widespread legs, his booted feet resting flat on the carpeted floor. His jeans were worn in all the right places and the arms of his T-shirt stretched around gorgeous biceps. He hadn’t aged a day in the ten years since she’d first seen him.
“You’re not upset?” She studied him for hints of underlying disappointment or frustration.
“You know I’m not doing well with it,” he said gruffly. “I have to be collared like a dog to get a grip on myself.”
“Did you talk about that to whoever you went to see last night?”
Alec shook his head.
“Why not?”
“I thought he might change his mind and decide to knock me out of commission after all.”
Eve stood and moved to sit beside him. She set her hand on his thigh. “What is it with men not wanting to ask for help?”
“I’ve been asking for years, angel. No one’s talking.” His foot tapped restlessly atop the carpet. “For a long time there’s been speculation that my mother was unfaithful and the result was me.”
“Do you believe that?”
He glanced aside at her. “You won’t tell me about the necklace, and I couldn’t get anything out of my parents either. It’s never good when you can’t get answers. If there was nothing to worry about, there’d be nothing to hide.”
“Alec.” She squeezed his leg, which was like stone beneath her hand. “What are you thinking?”
“You said this necklace suppresses Infernal traits, and the ugliness inside me shuts up when I wear it. What does that tell you?”
“That you think you’re half-demon?”
“It’s not like my mom had a lot of choice in men back then,” he said dryly. He leaned into her. “Maybe the ascension triggered some repressed a**hole genetics. What if they can’t be locked up again? Like Pandora’s Box or something. I’d be too great a threat to keep around.”
Wrapping her arms around him, Eve pressed her lips to his forehead. The scent of his skin and the feel of him beside her was familiar and beloved. “I don’t know the answer to your question.”
“I can see that,” he said, reminding her that if she didn’t work actively to keep him out of her mind he had free access to everything.
She pushed him out, gently but firmly. “If there’s a story there, it’s not mine to tell. And I don’t want secrets like that between us.”
Alec slid an arm between her and the futon, then tugged her into his lap. “I don’t want anything between us. I want to fix us. You and me.”
“Are we broken?”
“Abel slipped into a crack, so we must be.”
“You wanted this promotion. My understanding is that you had to bargain for it, probably with unfavorable terms for you. Don’t give it up for me. I want you to be happy.”
“I’m unhappy without you. We’ll get Raguel back, and life will return to the way it was before and I’ll be okay with that. More than okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
The phone rang. Eve scrambled off his lap and returned to her desk, picking up the cordless handset. “Hello?”
“Ms. Hollis. Detective Ingram here.”
“Good morning, Detective.”
“Your secretary told me you wouldn’t be in the office today. It was your boyfriend’s car that was in that big wreck yesterday on Harbor, right? Shortly after you left the station?”
“His car was in a wreck, yes. Fortunately, neither of us was in it and he has good insurance.” She rushed forward, waylaying any further questions on the matter. “I know you need the rest of my statement, but you still have my car.”
“If you’re up to it, we’ll come to you. The first forty-eight hours after a disappearance are crucial, Ms. Hollis. You might have information we can use and not realize it.”
“When would be a good time for you?”
“My partner and I could come by in about an hour and a half, if that’s okay.”
“That’s fine. See you then.” She hung up and returned the receiver to its base. She looked at Alec. “Visitors in ninety minutes.”
“You couldn’t put them off?”
“They’re all over me. If I delay any longer, it might get ugly.”
Asmodeus had already stated his desire for the cleanest extraction possible. If he was coming, he’d wait until the coast was clear.
“Angel—”
Eve stood. “You’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
“I hate this,” he growled, rising in a fluid ripple of power. “I hate not knowing when to duck.”
“You love it,” she retorted, stepping close enough to set one hand on the taut muscles of his abdomen. “Unpredictability is your forte.”
“I’ve had enough of that the last few weeks.” Alec caught her hand and moved it over his heart. “I’m ready for stability.”
“Haven’t you noticed that I’m normalcy- challenged? Chaos reigns in my life. If I’m your best shot at stability, you’re in trouble.”
He grinned. “Don’t I know it.”
* * *
The police arrived before an hour had passed. Eve suspected they’d done so as a way to keep her unnerved.
Montevista and Sydney rode the elevator down with her and Alec, but they separated on the ground floor. The guards headed toward the open-air courtyard where the pool was. Eve and Alec went to the glass entrance door and let the detectives in.
“I hope you don’t mind that we’re early.” Jones said as they stepped into the foyer. He was sporting an avocado green suit and the grimly assessing gaze she was getting too familiar with. “We were in the neighborhood.”
Ingram shook Eve’s hand with a palm made cold and wet by the chilled water bottle he carried. He shot a sidelong glance at her when he greeted Alec the same way, betraying his dubious view of her dual boyfriend situation.
“I see firemen around the building,” Jones noted. “What’s going on?”
“Suspected gas leak on one of the floors,” she lied, becoming irritated when her mark burned.
Is that really necessary? she complained, with a glare sent skyward. It’s a white lie.
“Should we go somewhere else?” Ingram asked.
“My floor is clear, but we can sit in the courtyard.” She gestured in that direction and they moved ahead of her. She and Alec exchanged glances.
They gathered around a circular glass patio table, one of the few that lacked an umbrella since the temperature was cool and the sun warm. The pool was being topped off. A small spigot released a stream of tap water, raising the water level. The tinkling sound created a tranquil atmosphere. Eve deliberately chose a seat that kept her back to a planter bordering a wall. Montevista and Sydney, professionals that they were, were inconspicuous.
Jones was lugging around the briefcase Eve had come to dread. He set it on the pebbled cement and withdrew her unfinished statement. After pushing it across the table toward her, he leaned back in the cushioned metal chair.
“I’ve been going over our previous discussions,” he said.
Eve picked up the pen he provided. “Yes?”
“And I think—”
A burst of crimson. A scattering of black feathers. Alec’s chair rocked back onto its rear legs before toppling him completely. The gun’s report echoed.
He was sprawled across the patio before anyone registered the ambush.
***
Reed was waiting at Sara’s desk when she came in. Her dangerously short pinstriped skirt was paired with a fitted white dress shirt and four-inch stilettos that matched her red lipstick. The length of leg exposed and the lack of a bra weren’t lost on him, but neither did they impress.
She paused just inside the threshold, eyeing him warily. “Abel. What are you doing?”
He smiled. The chair he occupied was angled parallel to the length of the desk. His right arm draped along it, his fingers drumming into the stained walnut top. “Didn’t I tell you that showing that video to Evangeline would be counterproductive?”
She stepped closer, her gaze moving to the computer monitor. She saw that the “sent” folder of her e-mail client was on display and murmured, “You go too far.”
“You think so? But I haven’t gone nearly as far as you have. For example, I haven’t yet offered to trade you to a king of Hell to be rid of you.”
Reed had to give her credit, she didn’t even blink.
“We match today, mon chéri. We look so good together. Perfect for one another.” Sara reached him and settled into his lap, her slim arms encircling his shoulders. “I would never wish to be rid of you.”
He caught her close and whispered, “I can’t say the same about you.”
An instant later, they occupied a sofa in Michael’s office. It was after six in the evening in Jerusalem, and the head of the Asian firm was literally on his way out the door when he spotted his visitors.
“Abel. Sarakiel.” The archangel paused and pushed his hands into the pockets of his Western business slacks. His voice was deeply resonant, powerful in a way even some seraphs never achieved. “I suggest you find another place to play your games.”
Reed pushed Sara unceremoniously onto the couch beside him and stood. He withdrew the jump drive he’d brought with him and tossed it. “Sara’s latest game is one you may not want her to continue playing.”
Michael caught the drive with a fluid outstretching of his arm. He looked at the item in his palm, then back at Reed. One dark brow arched in silent inquiry.
“It seems,” Reed explained, “that our lovely Sarakiel has taken to making deals with demons.”
Michael’s eyes shimmered with blue flame. He looked at Sara, who tilted her chin defiantly while tugging her skirt back into place.
Reed crossed his arms and prepared to enjoy the show. Then Eve hit him like a freight train. He stumbled from the blow.
“Gotta run,” he said.
Sara straightened. “You cannot leave me here! It will take at least a day to get back—”
He shifted away before she finished her sentence.
***
As Alec rolled out of his chair, Ingram yelled and reached into his jacket for his holstered gun. A bullet caught him in the back, exploding through his right shoulder in a shower of flesh and blood. His chair tumbled to the left. His arms flailed, then his skull hit the edge of a stucco planter with a sickening thud. He crumpled to the ground, still as death.
Eve slid under the table in a limbo like glide. Arching over the metal legs, she scrambled for Ingram’s gun. Her hand circled the grip and she yanked the weapon free of its shoulder holster. Another shot rang out and Jones jerked violently. He crashed headfirst into the tabletop, shattering the glass on impact. The slivers rained down on her, prickling across her bare arms and skittering along the patio.
A battle cry preceded the snapping deployment of Alec’s wings. He launched from the courtyard floor in a streak of ebony, his ascent propelled with such force that the downdraft shoved Eve into the planter.
As he targeted a marksman in an open third-floor window, she struggled to her knees. He disappeared into the building and a moment later, a horrendous scream cut off abruptly.
Sydney appeared at the end of the courtyard. She darted toward Eve, weaving around the obstacles between them. Bursts of green hellfire dotted the ground behind her, mimicking her footsteps and urging her to a faster pace. Montevista shouted and ran the length of the opposite side of the pool, deliberately drawing fire away from both Eve and his partner.
Eve scrambled out and upright, slipping in the blood pooling beneath Detective Jones. His body hung over the broken table, folded at the waist with his arms, torso, and head inverted inside the empty frame.
She hopped into the planter behind her and took cover behind a mature palm tree. Hugging the trunk, she aimed Ingram’s gun around it. Windows along the upper floor were dotted with demons. She and the two Mark guards were in a fishbowl, with enemies positioned all around the rim.
By clearing out the building to protect the mortals, they’d opened the entire complex to an Infernal infestation. Eve didn’t wonder how they’d gotten past the perimeter guards. She’d made it possible, after all.
Sydney jumped into the planter behind Eve, shielding her back with a flame-covered sword. Montevista was pinned behind a trash can, crouched low and holding two flameless daggers in his hands. He popped up occasionally, hurtling the weapons at strategic windows, then ducking to summon replacements for the next salvo.
“He’s covering us,” Eve bit out. “So we can get to the lobby.”
“On your count,” Sydney said. “We’ll make a run for it.”
Eve fought off the emotions she didn’t have time to feel and revealed the whole of her plan to her handler in one powerful surge of thought.
A massive shadow swept over the courtyard. Alec. Flying across the expanse from one window to another. Another scream rent the morning calm, followed by another trail of black as he darted back to the other side. Creating a canopy of sorts with his body, a barrier between her and the Infernals above.