TWENTY-ONE
Aiden realized he only had seconds to make a decision. He faced two immediate dangers: falling into the hands of the people raiding the Thai massage parlor, or being led into a trap by Hamish, the man he once called brother. Had he judged his friend too quickly? Could there really be a legitimate reason why he had disappeared and not backed him up on his last assignment?
Next to him, Leila fidgeted. “Why the dogs? Are they attack dogs?”
He took her hand and squeezed it. “No. Whoever is coming knows I can make you invisible, but the dogs will still be able to trace you, because they can smell you.”
“Oh, no!”
Her panicked expression made the decision for him. They had to escape right now. Once they were out of this mess, he could deal with Hamish. And he hoped for all their sakes that his old friend had an explanation he could believe. Because he wasn’t ready to lose him. They’d been through too much together.
“Where to?”
Hamish nodded. “Follow me.”
Leila freed herself from his grip and rushed to the bed where she snatched her handbag and slung it diagonally across her torso. As he took her hand in his again, she nodded at him, indicating she was ready.
Aiden used his powers to assure that he and Leila were invisible to all but Hamish as they followed him out the door and into the hallway. He gave her a sign to be silent by putting a finger across his lips.
The corridor was a chaos. Half-clad masseuses and their clients scrambled toward the emergency exits. Pulling Leila with him, he ran after Hamish, every so often evading people barreling toward them, not realizing that they would run into an obstacle. It was one disadvantage of being invisible, one he dealt with gladly if it would get them out in one piece.
Looking down one corridor as he passed it, he saw men in riot gear charge through the hallways, pushing door after door open, their dogs on leashes, sniffing out every room before they moved on.
Excited barking sounded all of a sudden. How the dogs could catch Leila’s scent was beyond him, unless whoever these people were, they had managed to salvage something with her smell on it from her burnt apartment or maybe her office.
He couldn’t worry about it right now as he tried to keep up with Hamish, who ran through the maze of corridors and stairs as if he knew exactly where he was going.
As they moved up another flight of stairs, Aiden grabbed Hamish’s shoulder and stopped him. “There’s no way out from up there,” he said in a low voice.
Hamish looked over his shoulder and gave him a serious look. “You’re gonna have to trust me. I’ll get us out.”
Aiden wished he had the same confidence in his former second that he’d once had, the knowledge that he could trust him with his life. Unfortunately, his doubts about Hamish’s motives hadn’t dissipated. “I wish I had more than your word on that.”
“My word is still as good as ever.”
Leila fidgeted next to him. “Better him than those men and their dogs,” she whispered.
It had gotten quieter up on the top floor with all the staff and their clients having scrambled for the fire exits. Eventually the intruders would reach them and the dogs would close in on the three of them, whether they were cloaked or not.
Aiden nodded his agreement to Hamish who turned and headed for a narrow flight of stairs. Roof Access, a sign on the wall said.
As Hamish reached for the door handle, Aiden put his hand over his and stopped him.
“What guarantee do I have that there are no demons waiting for us on the roof?”
His fellow Stealth Guardian tilted his head toward the green neon sign over the door that said ‘Exit’. It burned steadily.
Aiden breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Let’s go.”
“What?” Leila asked behind him. “Please, what’s going on?”
He turned to face her. “The aura of the demons reacts with two gases: neon and mercury, which are inside of fluorescent and neon light tubes. If they come too close, the light starts to flicker first, then it burns out.”
That fact had often alerted them to the presence of demons and given them a few seconds of advance warning in times of need. Just as that same fact confirmed now that no demons were waiting for them beyond that door. And it also made another thing absolutely certain: whoever the intruders were, they weren’t demons, otherwise the many neon signs in the Thai massage parlor would have flickered and burned out instantly.
But in order to be sure that the coast was truly clear, he stepped past Hamish.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered to Leila and released her hand, then passed through the closed door.
Outside, bright afternoon light shone into Aiden’s face. It took a fraction of a second for his eyes to adjust, but as soon as he took in the sight of the empty roof, he was satisfied and dove back inside the building.
“All clear,” he assured Leila and clasped her hand.
A look of relief covered her face, and it seemed as if she squeezed his hand tighter. But maybe he was just imagining it.
Aiden turned the handle of the door and pushed, but nothing happened. It was locked. He rattled it and tossed Hamish an inquisitive look.
“Shit!” Hamish cursed under his breath.
“Did you not check the door before you decided to use it as an escape route?” Aiden hissed.
“It was open last time I was here, besides, I wouldn’t need it unlocked . . . ” He glanced at Leila.
“Aiden, can’t we just go through it the way you just did?” Leila gave him a hopeful look.
“We can, but you can’t.”
A Stealth Guardian’s power of dematerializing his body and rematerializing behind a solid object couldn’t be extended to a human body.
“A human’s body is too fragile to survive this. If I were to drag you through with me, your cells would never reassemble correctly on the other side. You would be . . . ” He couldn’t even say it.
And looking at Leila’s face, he knew he didn’t have to. She understood only too well.
He released her hand and looked at Hamish. “Tell me you brought tools.”
His fellow Stealth Guardian unzipped his jacket and reached inside, pulling out an array of metal tools any thief would have been proud of. “Anything here tickle your fancy?”
Aiden snatched a thin blade from his hand, then turned to the lock. “Watch our back.”
As he proceeded to pick the lock, Leila moved closer to him. “Have you ever done this before?”
“More often than you’d want to know,” he lied. Sure, he’d learned how to pick a lock, but he rarely needed to use this skill. In most cases, he simply walked through a closed door, but today was different, and occasions on which he’d had to break a door open to bring a charge through had been rare lately. He was a little out of practice.
“They’re coming closer,” Hamish whispered.
“Almost done.” Aiden twisted the blade inside the tumbler and turned until he heard a click. Instantly, he pressed the handle and pushed. The door eased open.
“Now!” Hamish ordered and pushed both him and Leila through the door.
Leila tripped, and Aiden caught her as they rushed outside, Hamish slamming the door shut behind them as loud voices and barking came from the inside.
“Shit!” Aiden cursed. The intruders were already hot on their heels.
Scanning the roof for anything to barricade the door with, his eyes fell on a two by four. He snatched it and jammed it through the door handle and the aligned iron loop next to the door. It would hold, if only for a few minutes.
“Let’s go!” Hamish ordered as their would-be attackers banged on the door.
Scanning the roof once more, Aiden assessed the situation: the roof was flat, and except for a few washing lines and a satellite dish, it was empty.
When he looked back at Leila, she gave him a scared look, her shoulders pulled up, her brow furrowed. He hated to see her like this.
“Over the other roof,” he called out to Hamish who looked over his shoulder, then pointed in the opposite direction, at a roof which was a floor lower than theirs.
Aiden was about to object and opt for the roof that was of the same height and would have been easier to navigate, when Hamish continued, “Trust me.”
He’d done a lot of that in the last few minutes: trust his former friend who had betrayed him. Would it come back to bite him?
But something in Hamish’s gaze made Aiden follow his friend’s suggestion. Or maybe he simply wanted to believe his friend. Taking Leila’s hand once more, he ran toward him. At the edge of the roof, he turned to Leila.
“We’ve done this before. You’ll be all right.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Without having to be prompted, she slung her arms around him. It felt good to feel her so close and for a moment all he wanted was to revel in her touch, but there was no time to lose. The rattling of the door a few yards behind them became more insistent. They would soon manage to open it.
Hamish jumped first, then turned and waved at Aiden to follow.
With Leila in his arms, he jumped down, landing squarely on his two feet, allowing his knees to take the impact. Instantly, he released her from his arms. They rushed after Hamish who was already rounding the makeshift structure on the neighboring roof.
As they reached the same spot, Aiden rocked to a halt. Hamish was gone.
Shit! If this was a trap—
“Aiden, here!” Hamish’s voice came from next to him.
He whirled his head toward the sound and saw Hamish peek out from a window in the rickety shed. Lifting up Leila, Aiden quickly heaved her through the opening and followed.
Inside, it was dark, but his superior vision adjusted and allowed him to see the staircase leading down. Hamish was already taking it.
He felt Leila reaching for him. “I can’t see anything.”
“I’ll be your eyes.”
In the darkness, he guided her downstairs, making sure she didn’t trip. When they reached the bottom, music drifted to them, together with loud cheering sounds.
Hamish pushed a door in front of them open. Dim light illuminated the corridor they found themselves in. The cheesy seventies tune, ‘Stayin’ Alive’ from the Bee Gees, became more distinct as they advanced.
Aiden was startled when a door to his left opened, and a barely-clothed young man, wearing a costume of some sort, stepped through it. He caught a glimpse of the room behind him and raised an eyebrow. It appeared that it was a changing room of a theater, even though he wasn’t aware that this part of town had any theaters.
Still cloaked, he flattened himself against the wall and motioned for Leila to do the same, so the man wouldn’t bump into them. From the corner of his eye, he caught how Leila let her gaze run over the man’s semi-nude body. An odd twinge of something he couldn’t quite identify coursed through him: he didn’t like the way she looked at this, admittedly very perfect male form. Hell, he didn’t want her to even look at a fully dressed man, let alone a half-naked one.
For a moment, the fact that they were still trying to escape their enemies faded into the background. Aiden pulled Leila’s hand toward his chest and dragged her against him. Her hip connected with his thigh. When she lifted her head to give him a surprised look, he noticed her breath catch. Before she could lower her lids to hide the expression in them, he tipped her chin up and forced her to acknowledge him.
Her lips parted, and her breath ghosted over his face. Without thinking, he lowered his head.
“No time to waste.”
Hamish’s harsh command jolted him, making him release her instantly. A faint rose blush stole over her cheeks.
“Where to?” Aiden asked, clearing his throat. He’d nearly kissed her, right there in front of Hamish. If that wasn’t screwed up, then what was?
Hamish motioned his head to a door that said Stage. He opened it and slipped in. Aiden did likewise, pulling Leila with him.
A curtain obstructed the view, but lights flashed behind it, and music blared from large speakers all around them.
“I’m stayin’ alive,” the audience joined in the chorus.
“We have to get to the other side of the stage,” Hamish whispered into his ear. “There’s a portal over there.”
Aiden wasn’t sure he’d understood correctly over the noise of the music, because for sure there would be no portal in this joint. Only compounds had portals. He shrugged it off and followed as Hamish moved the curtain aside and slipped onto the stage.
As he walked past the curtain and took two steps onto the stage, Aiden felt Leila stop in her tracks. A quick glance at her confirmed that her mouth had dropped open as she stared at the performance.
There, on a stage bathed in glittering lights, five barely dressed hunks danced a seductive striptease. They looked like Chippendales, albeit a little less classy, strutting their junk like a bunch of dogs at a dog show. Their string-clad asses reflected the lights that bounced off the tacky eighties disco ball that hung from the ceiling. Nothing but tassels covered their precious jewels, shifting as the dancers moved with the music.
The audience, a few women and a lot more guys, cheered every time a tassel revealed the flesh beneath. Now, a male spectator leaned over the stage, where one performer dropped down lower, allowing the audience member to stick a twenty-dollar bill into his string. But the spectator’s hand quickly drifted off course, copping a feel. The performer slapped him playfully on the hand and simply laughed, eliciting raucous laughter from the audience.
Aiden had seen enough. He pulled on Leila’s hand and dragged her across the stage, evading the dancers as best he could. None too gently, he tugged on her hand, finally getting Leila to focus her attention on him and not on the semi-nude dancers.
As they reached the other side of the stage, Hamish was waiting impatiently.
“What took you so long?”
Aiden aimed an annoyed look at Leila. “Somebody was a little too fascinated with the show.”
Leila huffed and eased her hand from his grip. “That is not true!”
Hamish rolled his eyes. “Sorry to cut the party short.”
“Where to from here?” Aiden asked.
“There’s a portal.”
“What?” This time he was sure he hadn’t misheard. “Here?”
Hamish nodded.
“That’s not possible. There are no portals outside the compounds.” Every Stealth Guardian knew that.
“Well, then be prepared for a surprise.” He waved him to a staircase that led down.
Reluctantly, Aiden followed, Leila by his side. Hamish had to be crazy if he thought that he’d found a portal outside of the compounds. Something was fishy. His hand slid to the dagger he’d tugged into the waistband of his pants after nearly attacking Hamish with it in the Thai massage parlor. If he needed to use it now, he wouldn’t hesitate.
In the dimly lit basement that was filled with old costumes, stage furniture and boxes upon boxes, his fellow Stealth Guardian navigated them to the back of the building before turning to a barely-visible indentation in the dust covered stone wall.
Hamish laid his palm flat against the indentation that looked as if it could be simply an imperfection in the stone. However, on closer inspection, as his friend brushed the dust off it, Aiden recognized it as their secret symbol: an ancient blade.
“Oh, my God! How can there be a portal outside of the compounds?”
Aiden brushed his hands over the symbol, then pressed his palm against it. As the warmth of his skin flooded the symbol, it began to glow beneath his hand. A moment later, the wall disintegrated and a dark tunnel appeared before them.
The portal was open.