“Maybe. Or they might try and trade her for Roz.”
“How did they find her? Roz I mean?” Ryan asked. “I thought you said there was no connection and as long as she didn’t use the fire thing again they couldn’t locate her?”
“Maybe someone talked,” Piers said.
“If they did, I’ll rip their tongue out.” Christian prowled the room, but at least his eyes had returned to normal. He turned to Piers. “You need to take Roz and get away from here.”
“Why, she’s as safe at the Order as anywhere. The place is warded. They’ll never get to her.”
Ryan looked thoughtful. “Unless someone helps them.”
“Are you saying we have a traitor?” Piers frowned as though the idea was impossible.
“No,” Ryan said. “I’m saying if we don’t know where you and Roz are, then if they offer a trade, no one will be tempted to take them up on it.”
Ryan was suggesting that either he or Christian might betray them. What would he do faced with the choice? If they offered Tara’s life in exchange for Roz—would he give her up? He didn’t know, and the same confusion was echoed on Christian’s face.
If they hurt his daughter, tortured her, could he stand by when he had the means of saving her. “He’s right,” he said to Piers. “Take Roz and get the hell away from here. Don’t tell us where and don’t come back until this is over.”
Piers glanced from him to Christian and finally nodded. “We’ll go.”
“Good.” Ash tried to think what else they had to do but he was desperate to get away, start hunting. He needed to organize a meeting with Raphael, tell him he had the wrong woman. If he didn’t return her, he’d rip the bastard’s wings from his fucking shoulders and beat him to death with them.
What else did he need to do?
Faith. He didn’t think she was in danger but he wasn’t taking any chances.
“Tell Carl to set a round-the-clock guard on Faith.”
Ryan frowned. “You think someone might come after her.”
“No, but it can’t hurt.”
“What are you going to do?” Piers asked.
“Go down to the Abyss first. Send out some of my people to start asking questions. Then organize a meeting with Raphael. Tell him he fucked up.”
“I’m coming with you,” Christian said.
He glanced at the vampire. It was probably safer to keep Christian close by—the vampire wasn’t rational—but he’d never thought it would come to this. Babysitting a vampire. “Okay.”
Ash nodded to Piers. “Keep Roz safe.”
“I will.”
Then he opened a portal and dropped down into hell.
…
Faith discharged herself from hospital the following morning. The doctors didn’t want her to go, but she felt fine, and she could see that puzzled them.
Apparently, she’d lost a lot of blood and she shouldn’t feel fine. In fact, she shouldn’t even be able to get on her feet. But here she was. And apart from an ache when she raised her arm, the bullet wound wasn’t causing her any problems.
So it seemed like the doctors were wrong.
Maybe they could be wrong about other things as well. Like the fact that she had vein swelling in her brain that might burst at any moment leaving her dead—or worse—brain damaged.
The police had interviewed her last night after everyone else had left. She’d repeated the same as she’d told Christian. Which was everything except the fact that she was pretty sure she knew who was responsible for abducting Tara Roth.
She needed to get into the office and find out if what she suspected was true. If it was, she was going to be seriously pissed. Obviously, they were monitoring her phone calls. That had been a slick operation. They knew about the bodyguards, where to pick them up. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment job.
In her book, you didn’t spy on your own.
She’d had a call from the colonel that morning. Apparently, the police had informed him of her injuries. He’d been most sympathetic and told her to take as much time off as she needed.
Maybe he didn’t want her back at the office. Tough luck.
Were they keeping Tara in one of those off-limit areas far beneath the ground?
Tara didn’t deserve this. Whatever her husband had done, Tara wasn’t responsible. MI13 might be powerful, but they weren’t above the law. No one was.
And she now had a bodyguard. She wasn’t quite sure what she should do about that. Carl had introduced himself last night. Ash had arranged it.
Another stunningly gorgeous alpha male, Carl wasn’t quite so intimidating as the two men she’d met last night, probably because while he was as big, he was dressed casually in faded jeans and a khaki T-shirt that matched his eyes. There was an energy about him though, and the air around him crackled.