We headed towards them, Lincoln spotting me straight away. I could almost see him relax as I felt myself do the same. In that instant I knew that whatever my concerns had been earlier tonight, they were meaningless. He might be mad at me for not doing what he said, but it was more important that we were both okay.
Spence and I stopped a discreet distance away, not wanting to interrupt, but close enough to hear what they were saying.
The girl must have been the one Olivier was after. Griffin and Lincoln had already fought him off – I could see their fresh bruises – but neither of them seemed satisfied.
They were telling the mother that she and her daughter were at risk in their apartment and would be taken somewhere secure tonight. Tomorrow they would be moved to a safe-house. Griffin was pushing a lot of truth into his words to get past her disbelief and uncertainty about not contacting the police.
Another car arrived and Rainer stepped out, holding the door open for the woman and her daughter. She glanced at me briefly and then away again as she followed them into the back seat wordlessly. I couldn’t read whether she was pissed with me or not but my next training session was only a few hours away. I’d find out soon enough.
Griffin and Lincoln joined us. Griffin gave me a disapproving up-and-down. ‘Fun night?’
I put my hands on my hips to cover my flush of guilt and focused on the problem at hand. ‘We discovered a maze of glamoured tunnels connected to the subway under the city. And we found Phoenix in them, too.’
‘Are you okay?’ Lincoln asked, his face blank, despite the tension in his stance.
I nodded.
Griffin looked from me to Spence.
‘What she said, boss,’ Spence said.
I didn’t need to look at him to know he was smiling.
‘You get him?’ Spence asked.
Griffin rubbed a tired hand over his face in typical Griff fashion. ‘No. He actually ran. First time for everything, I suppose.’
‘He’d already been shaken up by Phoenix,’ I said. No wonder Griffin was keen to get the young family to a safe place. Olivier would be back.
‘Did you get the kid?’ Lincoln asked.
I shook my head. ‘It was too risky. Phoenix took him, but he’s still alive. I think Evelyn was right – they’re collecting the children for some sort of mass execution.’
We stood for a few beats, all of us speechless. Things went to another level entirely when you were talking about innocent kids being slaughtered.
Griffin spoke up first. ‘You three really landed yourselves in it tonight. Josephine’s probably allocated a cell for the two of you down with your parents by now.’
‘Griff, you might want to hold off on the lecture until we’ve told you everything,’ Spence said, oh so casual, milking the fact that we’d come away from our night with some of the best intel in months.
It really did help, having a pro rule-breaker on one’s side.
Griffin nodded, looking around. He was a leader but he wasn’t averse to rule-breaking either. ‘We can’t talk here. A team’s on the way to watch the building in case Olivier or any other exiles come back.’ He passed what looked like a black credit card to Lincoln. ‘Take them back to Ascension. I’ll meet you there once I’ve handed over.’
Lincoln was already hailing a taxi.
‘Why Ascension?’ I asked Lincoln when we were in the car.
‘You’ll see.’ His body was tense as he focused on the window.
‘We had to follow him, Linc,’ I said, assuming he was about to launch a verbal attack at me.
‘I know,’ he said, and then, as if he couldn’t fight it any longer, he grabbed my hand and pulled it into his lap. He exhaled, his tension seeming to ease.
When I looked up, confused by his response, he shook his head and gave me a knowing smile. ‘I wasn’t keen on you tracking Olivier. I thought it could be a trap, Phoenix or Lilith luring you in. But when you told me he had a kid …’ he shrugged. ‘You did the right thing.’
I scrolled through my phone and selected the unopened text message I’d ignored after I’d told him Olivier had a kid.
Be careful.
There was no stopping the flutter in my heart or my hand that was squeezing his back, and not letting go.
Later that night, or rather morning, I discovered that Ascension was one of the only Grigori places over which the Assembly didn’t have control and exactly why Lincoln had hidden behind a mask in one of the club’s exclusive private rooms.
They were sound-proof. And free from prying eyes.
Ever since we’d arrived in New York, while I’d been stuck within Academy walls, Griffin and Lincoln had been using the privacy offered by the club to discuss all of their theories and plans. It turned out they’d been rather busy.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
‘Evil draws men together.’
Aristotle
Determining whether or not Rainer was upset with me proved more difficult than I’d imagined. Judging it by the fact she still turned up at my room at 5 a.m., devoid of sympathy and clearly expecting me to be on my feet and running then, yeah, she was pissed.