All That Falls (8 page)

Moments later, there was another explosion that rocked the car. Merrick waited for a few moments and then dropped back in and closed the roof.

“It’s flash, not substance,” he told the driver. “I want you to punch it and hang to the right as you blow past.”

The car sped forward.

“Tony, you there?”

“Still here, boss. Lysander had already left Crimson so he doesn’t know, but the guys are on the way.”

They crashed through flaming debris, and Alissa clutched the armrest as the car jerked. Cerise tightened her muscles to keep herself from falling from the seat.

“Any more sedans with blackout glass come through the tunnel?”

“Haven’t seen any. There were two though,” Tony said.

“I know.”

“Did you take out one or two on your end?”

“One,” Merrick said, gaze swiveling from the windshield to the various windows and back. “Brake,” Merrick said.

“I’m clear,” the driver said and within the strain, Cerise’s muse ears detected a waver that felt like treachery.

“Merrick—” Alissa and Cerise both said at the same time.

“Brake!” Merrick snapped, but the driver hesitated. Merrick yanked a handgun free and pointed it at the driver’s head, but dropped his arm just as quickly. “Too late,” Merrick murmured, surging forward to wedge himself between her and Alissa.

Alissa sucked in a breath. Cerise clamped down on her lip. Merrick shoved their heads down, and Cerise’s body cramped at being bent in half. She felt Merrick’s arm shielding her neck.

“Ox, hang on,” Merrick said.

Suddenly, the tires didn’t grip the road anymore. Instead
they popped, and the car careened sideways and spun like a top until it rammed something hard, bounced off, rammed again, and slammed to a stop. It knocked the breath from her, rattling her teeth and bones.

As Merrick’s arm across the back of her body disappeared, Cerise heard the pop of gunfire.
In the car.

Cerise sat up sharply. The driver was slumped over the steering wheel, bleeding from the back of his head where Merrick had shot him.

“I don’t understand,” Alissa said, staring at the driver’s body.

“There was oil and a puncture strip on the road. He saw it,” Merrick said.

“He was working for the syndicate?” Alissa asked.

Merrick nodded, trying to open the smashed door that was farthest from the street, but the door was jammed.

“Ox, we’re a powder keg.” Merrick nodded at the partially shattered window. Ox went to work bashing out the remaining glass while Merrick raised the phone. “Tony?”

“Here, boss.”

“In about thirty seconds, we’re on the move on foot.”

“The guys are in a gun battle with the truck at Milano. At least two syndicate hit squads worth.”

“Keep eyes on Milano. Some of them will bug out when they get word we’re on foot. I want to know how many and which way they go,” Merrick said, replacing the earpiece and shoving it into the phone, taking Tony off speaker.

Ox dragged himself through the opening of the smashed door and window. He ignored his bleeding cuts as he said in a low voice, “Careful, Miss Xenakis.” He put his arm over the sharp frame so she could slide out unscathed.

Merrick glanced out the window. “Take them to that deep doorway, Ox.”

Ox nodded, but whispered, “Incoming, boss.”

Cerise jerked her head and spotted several armed ventala about a hundred and fifty feet away and advancing.

“Hang on, Liss,” Merrick said, coming out the opening in a flash. “Get her, Ox,” Merrick said before he moved to the front of the car.

Cerise crouched, following Merrick.

Merrick stood, drawing the fire toward him. From one knee, Cerise squeezed off several rounds. Between them, they dropped four assailants. The hail of returning fire made her drop to the ground, using the car for cover. Merrick was behind a tree and fired from either side. He was smooth and fast.

“Cerise,” Alissa hissed.

“Right with you,” Cerise murmured without taking her eyes from the street.

“Cover me,” Merrick said.

Pleased that he’d asked, Cerise rose slightly and squeezed off several rounds, not as accurately as she would’ve liked but well enough to cover Merrick so he could dive back behind the car.

Blood dripped from his left sleeve.

“You’re hit?”

“Paper cut,” he said. “Get to the doorway before they swarm.” Merrick held out a hand to prevent her from responding, and she knew he was listening to Tony. A moment later, he said, “If you decide to call Etherlin Security, I won’t hold a grudge.”

“It’ll be over by the time they could get here, won’t it?”

“Maybe, but for you they’ll come pretty fast. They can pick you up from the roof,” he said, nodding to the building.

“Can I take her with me?”

“If I’m not there to object, you should.”

Her expression softened. “When I get to the doorway, should I send your man back to you to help hold them off?”

“No, he stays with her.”

“Good luck,” she said.

He nodded. She crouched and ran for the doorway. She heard the pop of gunfire and felt a stinging pain in her calf. Inside the doorway, she checked her leg and found a small scratch. She flicked off the fragment of ricocheted bullet.

“Merrick wants us to go to the roof,” she told Ox and Alissa. They looked up as they heard a series of explosions.

Ox didn’t hesitate. He slammed his body against the heavy door, popping it open, and ushered them inside. Cerise pulled her phone from her pocket, but couldn’t get a signal in the dark stairwell.

They hustled up the stairs. The door to the roof was locked, but Ox, a one-man battering ram, busted it open.

She checked her phone again, but there was still no signal. She held the phone up, waving it over her head. “What the hell?” she mumbled.

“They took out the cell towers,” Alissa said, pointing. Cerise spun and saw the columns of smoke where the cell towers in the Sliver were burning.

“Shit,” Cerise said. “We have to go back down. Right now. There’s nowhere for us to go from here.”

Two more explosions from the street drew their attention. Cerise jogged to the edge of the roof and looked down.

Merrick abandoned the rocket launcher, grabbed something from the limo’s trunk, and sprinted to the doorway of the building whose roof they were on.

“He doesn’t realize the towers are down,” Cerise said, grabbing Alissa’s arm and dragging her toward the stairwell. “He meant for me to call ES to come get us.”

By the time they reached the door to the stairs, Merrick burst through it.

“They took out the cell towers,” he and Cerise said at the same time.

“We have to go down,” Cerise added.

Merrick shook his head, dropping to a knee and opening an enormous black duffel bag. “Ox, secure that door,” Merrick said, tossing him a handheld welding torch.

She raised her brows. “Eagle Scout were you?”

“Exactly,” he murmured with a thin layer of sarcasm.

“Cerise, I’m so sorry I let you come,” Alissa said with a bereft expression. “I thought we’d be out and back before anyone ever realized that we’d left Merrick’s territory. I should have warned you.”

Cerise squeezed Alissa’s arm. “It’s okay.”

Merrick quickly assembled something that looked like a harpoon gun.

Several shafts of light moved over the roof like spotlights, and Cerise jerked her head up, expecting to see a syndicate assault team dropping from the sky. Instead there was an enormous shadow. A moment later, she could make out a winged man.

Lysander.

“You’re here?” the angel asked Cerise upon landing. “Why are you here?”

“This is Cerise. My friend,” Alissa added when Lysander took a step backward. “I’m so glad to see you, Lysander.”

Lysander glanced once more at Cerise, then walked over to Merrick.

“You know what’s interesting?” Lysander said to him.

“Your timing’s excellent as always, Lyse. I want you to take the women up into the clouds for cover and then fly over and drop them in the Etherlin.”

“No,” Alissa said. “Drop Cerise in the Etherlin and drop Alissa at the penthouse.”

“What’s interesting,” Lysander said, “is that Richard told me what was happening here. I’m not sure if it’s a sixth sense or if he has premonitions that precede actual events by a very small increment of time.”

“Yeah, interesting, but not a priority discussion at the moment,” Merrick said. “Do me a favor, and get Alissa off the roof before Victor and Tamberi Jacobi send another helicopter with heavy artillery.”

Lysander, who could’ve been having a cup of tea for all the emotion he betrayed, glanced at the cable Merrick was unspooling. Lysander walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. “Switching rooftops is a good idea. How much cable have you got?”

“Enough for two moves and then down.”

“Why don’t I take you and Alissa? Your bodyguard can take Alissa’s friend over and down. I’ll come back and help them reach the Etherlin gates, then bring him home.”

Cerise’s heart slammed inside her chest. The bastard wanted to leave her in the middle of a war zone?

To his credit, Merrick shook his head instantly.

Cerise’s mind raced, almost not able to process how insulting and frustrating his attitude was. She was a muse, used to being the center of attention in her circles, used to being surrounded by Etherlin Security officers whose sole purpose in life was to protect her. To be made so acutely aware that to an archangel she meant absolutely nothing cut her. Especially since he intrigued her, and if their roles had been reversed, she
wouldn’t have agreed to leave him. She’d never have risked the loss of his talent.

“Or I’ll take your bodyguard and Alissa, and I’ll come back and help you escort the girl back to the gates.”

I have a name, you prick!

Merrick looked sharply at Lysander, then he strode to Cerise, grabbed her arm, and leaned toward her, inhaling.

“I don’t smell it,” Merrick said.

“Smell what?” Cerise said, trying to snatch her arm from his grip.

“That’s ridiculous,” Alissa said. “Cerise is not a demon. We grew up together.”

“I never said she was a demon,” Lysander said mildly.

Merrick released Cerise’s arm. “Lyse, time’s running out. What’s this about?” Merrick demanded.

Lysander glanced at Cerise, then tilted his head sideways to beckon Merrick over to him. They took a few more steps away and spoke in low voices.

When Merrick turned to look at her, his smile pissed Cerise off even more. Lysander had talked about leaving her to fend for herself against armed gunmen—what could be amusing in the explanation for that?

She also hated feeling like an outsider, even though she should’ve been glad she was. She wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with the fallen. Unfortunately, these members of the fallen were exciting and compelling, and she was drawn to them. She wanted to be part of their inner circle.

“Ox, how much do you weigh?” Merrick asked.

You have got to be kidding!

“Two-eighty…three hundred,” Ox speculated with a shrug.

Lysander had convinced Merrick? Just when she’d started to rethink her position on Merrick, he was actually going to send his bodyguard to safety rather than her?

“What do you say, Lyse?” Merrick asked.

“You’ll have to leave the gear.”

“Sure,” Merrick said with a shrug. Merrick grabbed a belt that looked like it belonged to Batman and tossed it to Lysander. The angel hooked it to his low-riding leather pants and cinched it around his waist. Then Merrick put another belt around
himself. He hooked a length of cable between them and inserted several hooks along its length.

“Ox, take that hook in the middle and secure it to your belt and hang on to the hold. Cerise, come here.”

She strode to him, her jaw still clenched angrily. He hooked cable through her belt loops.

Alissa glanced down at her dress, which obviously had no belt loops, but she didn’t seem concerned. And why should she? Of course, no one would ever suggest leaving Alissa behind. As if on cue, Lysander stretched out a hand to the ethereal blonde.

Cerise stared daggers at the angel. “So now he thinks he can carry us all? When he initially wanted to leave me on the roof?” Cerise reflected coldly.

“It’s not what you think,” Merrick said, the corner of his mouth curving up.

“I think he’s an ass.”

Lysander glanced at her.

“You’re an ass,” she said.

In Latin to Merrick, Lysander said, “She misunderstands. Let her.”

Merrick grinned and returned in Latin, “You don’t want her to know that you find her dangerously beautiful? And that her skin’s gorgeous scent stays with you for weeks?”

What?

Cerise’s brows shot up, but she quickly covered her shock with a neutral expression.

Lysander’s eyes narrowed. After a moment’s contemplation, he asked in Latin, “Alissa, does your friend speak Latin?”

Alissa fought the smile that threatened. “She’s a muse. Like archangels, we have the gift of tongues.”

Lysander’s frosty gaze settled on Merrick for a moment, then the angel moved very close to Alissa. Lysander whispered something in her ear, and Alissa’s blush was evident from several feet away. Merrick’s amusement faded.

Lysander’s arm snaked around Alissa’s waist and pulled her body against his. “This amount of weight will be a strain. You should hold on to me,” Lysander said.

Alissa slid her arms around Lysander’s neck. Merrick rolled his eyes.

With his free hand, Lysander wrapped the cable around his
arm and held it tight. Lysander pushed off the ground, his wings beating hard as he and Alissa rose eight feet in the air. When the cable was stretched taut against Ox’s weight, she watched Lysander rise against it and lift the massive bodyguard.

“Shit,” Ox murmured, holding the cable in a white-knuckled grip.

The sound of bullets hitting the roof door made Cerise and Merrick whip their attention to it.

“Can he manage it?” she asked, glancing up when Lysander’s body halted midair as he tried to pull her and Merrick off the roof, too. The cable around her waist tightened as they rose a few inches above the cement.