Bound by Light (39 page)

Tonight? Right now?

Would Andy kick off the destruction of the world as they knew it?

Think.
She rubbed the sides of her head.
I’ve got to think!

Where would Andy go? What should she do next? The situation seemed too huge to handle. Merilee felt completely alone, cut adrift in a windstorm like she’d never known before. Her thoughts reeled and fragmented as she tried to decide the next best step, the first action she should take.

Jake hadn’t come out of Freeman’s office, but Creed and Nick had pulled on their body armor, and they were zipping their raid jackets.

More OCU officers and Sibyls filed through the front entrance. Merilee checked each face, half-dreading, half-hopeful, but Andy wasn’t among them. The incoming forces lined up on either side of the hallway, and soon they were shouting at one another about tactics and strategies and who was in charge.

Riana and Cynda pushed past Merilee, crammed into their maternity leathers, weapons sheathed in belts that barely fit around their pregnant bellies.

The sight of her triad sisters acting like they were about to hit the streets jarred Merilee into action and offered her a sudden, very clear perspective on what course to follow.

"Oh, no way." She grabbed Riana’s elbow before Riana took another step. "You absolutely
cannot
be serious."

When Riana didn’t answer or even look apologetic or repentant, Merilee’s heart crawled into her throat at the mere idea of two more people she loved so much putting themselves at such risk. "For the sake of all the goddesses, you two can’t even zip your jumpsuits all the way up."

"Whatever," said Cynda, smoking more than usual as she grabbed Riana’s other arm and pulled against Merilee. "Andy’s going to be beyond crushed. Somebody’s got to go get her and be with her when she hears the news about Sal."

Merilee blew out a breath and kept hold of Riana. "Well it’s sure as fuck not going to be you."

"We can do it," Riana said. "We won’t fight—we’ll just go to the Carter headquarters and pick up Andy and bring her home."

With her free hand, Merilee gestured to the hallway full of Sibyls and officers. She made sure her voice was as loud as possible, hoping her words would carry over the din and attract Creed and Nick’s attention. "There are plenty of people to go after Andy. We don’t need to have to come rescue you after you drop babies on the sidewalk!"

As Merilee had hoped, Creed and Nick stared in their direction.

Both men gaped.

Matching furious expressions spread across their faces at the sight of Riana and Cynda dressed for battle, and they started to glow gold as their Curson demon halves surged forward in a protective rage.

"Shit," Cynda grumbled as Nick started for her at the same moment Creed started for Riana. "You fucking tattletale. Merilee. Riana and I need to do
something
."

"Yeah. Keep your pregnant ass right here in case Andy shows up." Merilee felt comfortable letting go of Riana as the brothers reached her triad sisters and took over the argument.

Merilee was pretty sure the guys would win, so she went to meet Jake, who was finally emerging from Freeman’s office, Glock secured in his holster. Just the sight of him still human and seeming so normal, so in control, gave her a measure of relief.

Still, as she made her way down the hallway, she was uncomfortably aware of the increasing conflict in the hallway, with the OCU officers on one side of the space and Sibyls on the other.

Grim faces. Rising voices.

Not good
.

Without Freeman, this carefully woven collaboration was coming apart quickly.

Technically, as Freeman’s second in command, Andy should be in charge now, but that didn’t seem likely any time soon. Merilee thought Creed and Nick were next down the hierarchy, but Nick clearly had his hands full, hauling his pregnant, flame-spitting wife toward the stairs to the stone basement, as if he planned to lock her in the fireproof space for the night. Creed wasn’t in much better shape, urging Riana toward the stairs, perhaps intending to take her to their room and convince her to stay behind.

Besides, when the captain of a unit that wasn’t even officially supposed to exist got torn apart by a mythical demon—well. Was there any such thing as standard police procedures to cover this situation? Probably not. Somebody needed to step up and get the OCU officers and Sibyls back on track—and back on the streets.

Merilee glanced from them to the divided forces, then at Jake.

At first, Jake didn’t take her meaning.

He stopped in the hallway and looked to his right and left, and seemed to note how the force was beginning to divide. Then he checked all directions, probably seeking his brothers, but finding nothing.

When Jake’s gaze shifted back to Merilee, she saw his shock and worry. He went back to studying the unrest around him, and his shoulders sagged a fraction.

I know you can do this
. Merilee said nothing, but she hoped her face conveyed her message.
You
have
to. For us. For Freeman. Trust yourself.

As if hearing every unspoken word, Jake stared at her with an intensity that made her stomach flip. Resignation colored his expression, replaced quickly by determination.

"It had to be a power play," one officer near Merilee shouted to another. "The Legion’s desperate. Scared. We need to move now and wipe them out."

"Off the face of the earth," another agreed.

"Freeman deserves that," said a third.

A Sibyl disagreed, pointing out that she had heard Freeman’s murderer had significant power, and that he might have hostages—including Sibyls. "It’s too much risk. We can’t go blasting in without planning, without consideration."

"Fuck that," said the first officer who spoke. "That’s Sibyl thinking. We can plan this raid in the van on the way. It’s a takedown, not a tea party."

Jake stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled, the sound earsplitting despite all the noise and motion in the hallway.

Which stopped, immediately.

When all eyes turned to Jake, he announced, "We do have a suspect, and, yes, he’s dangerous in ways we don’t even understand. It’s Bartholomew August."

Angry whispers hissed like one of Cynda’s fires, burning up and down the ranks of officers and warriors.

"Are you saying he’s the ancient demon we’ve been trying to find?" Bela Argos asked, her dark eyes skeptical. "The Old One?"

An officer shook his head. "But he stopped the riots. That doesn’t make any sense."

"Yeah, he leads the Peace Warriors," said an earth Sibyl armed with daggers like the ones Riana carried. "They were way helpful during all the fighting."

A second officer raised his hand. "I heard a rumor that he’s joining forces with Jensen’s camp this afternoon. There’s a press conference."

Merilee twitched at the mention of the conference, remembering the note asking her to meet the heinous bastard after it was over. Jake’s frown was monstrous, too, as he obviously was thinking about the same thing.

After he let the Sibyls and officers talk a little more, Jake interrupted with, "We have good evidence from the Mothers and August himself tying him to Freeman’s murder, but not the kind of proof that would stand up in court." He kept his arms loose at his sides, sounding more authoritative with each word. "August is a major player on the political scene. With the media scrutiny and the city ready to explode over even the hint of paranormal involvement, we have to move carefully."

"Why?" The question came from Bela, though she was starting to look too battered and exhausted to keep standing much longer. "That’s what he—it—wants, isn’t it? For us to think he’s invulnerable. Unapproachable. He killed Freeman to paralyze us, didn’t he?"

And to force us to strike at him so he can get to me,
Merilee added in her mind. The truth of that stabbed at her, just as painful as her worries over Jake, but she had no time to dwell on it.

One of the air Sibyls Merilee had patched up during the riots lifted her bow. "Let’s see how well an arrow approaches his skull."

Murmurs of agreement broke out among the youngest officers and Sibyls, but Jake tamped them down by holding up his hands like Freeman used to do. Then he gazed at his own outstretched fingers and seemed to realize who he was imitating, and the lines of his face tightened with sadness.

Merilee’s heart twisted. She wanted to walk the last few steps to him and put her arms around him, ease his pain—but she knew she couldn’t.

"We’ve suffered a brutal loss." Jake’s quiet, dignified voice eased the darkness hanging over the townhouse. "But we can’t let that divide us or send us off in crazy directions. We must be a unit. We must act together, or more of us will end up like Freeman—torn apart on a table, leaving our friends and loved ones to grieve. And leaving us one more warrior down in a battle we can’t afford to lose."

This time, nobody called out or argued. A few officers and Sibyls looked at the floor.

Jake moved forward, a fraction more confident. "I need everybody to cooperate, and I’ve got three or four jobs we need to split up to accomplish."

For one bad moment, Merilee thought the challenging and grumbling might start again, but the air in the hallway shifted. The three Astaroths Jake had been training materialized beside him like an honor guard, still in jeans and T-shirts, muscled arms folded, pale faces stern.

"We are ready for assignment," Darian said, and Merilee was gratified by the expressions of surprise she saw on the faces of officers and Sibyls alike. "What would you have us do, Jake?"

Jake gave Darian a grateful look. "The only way to bring August down is to get him alone, so we need to cut off his support. Discredit him and isolate him from his followers. And for that, we need evidence. Bartholomew August is connected to Derek Holston’s murder and the disappearances, but we have no proof to show people. Can you get us evidence—something concrete—anything that would tie him to these crimes in the eyes of the human public?"

Darian nodded, and immediately, the three Astaroths vanished before Merilee could tell them to be careful.

Jake turned back to the gathered crowd. "I need a group of officers to stay here at the townhouse—four, maybe five—to look after the housebound Sibyls and inform and assign any officers or warriors who arrive and haven’t been briefed."

On the OCU side of the hallway, several officers stepped forward, then several more, and Merilee told them that they could use the kitchen for a base, since the M.E. hadn’t arrived to retrieve Freeman’s body from the conference room.

Behind her, Jake was speaking again, telling the remaining forces, "I need a couple of pairs of OCU officers to roust the D.A.s and judges sympathetic to us, the ones used to our kind of—well, paranormal evidence. Get me warrants to search August’s properties in New York." He kept his expression firm but hopeful as a number of officers nodded. "We suspect he has hostages, but we don’t know where—so we can’t claim exigent circumstances and bust down his doors without attracting a shitload of attention."

Jake scrubbed a hand across his chin, and Merilee knew he was thinking on his feet, making this up as he went—but doing a fantastic job. "When we get those warrants, we’ll need raid teams to move hard and fast and hit all the locations at the same time."

"Use the library as a staging area." Merilee pointed to the steps. "Plenty of room, tables, and telephones, too, to coordinate the teams."

About two thirds of the Sibyls and officers present immediately headed in that direction, leaving ten officers and five Sibyls, including Bela Argos, in the hallway with Merilee and Jake. As Merilee took stock of their reduced group, Jake said, "I need a team to double-time it to Carter’s headquarters, find Andy Myles and bring her in—without telling her the bad news about Freeman. She might be a danger to herself and others, and we need to help her."

He glanced at Merilee, as if hopeful she would go for that assignment.

Damn him.

He knew she couldn’t, that she wouldn’t—but still, duty pulled against affection so hard Merilee wondered if she could tear in half. She wanted to find Andy, needed to locate her and be with her, but she knew, as Jake knew somewhere in his heart, that she was their best ticket to an immediate audience with August.

Jake frowned.

Anger and frustration passed over his face like clouds, but he wasn’t stupid enough to forbid her or try to talk her out of what they both knew she had to do. Merilee felt a little swell of appreciation for his respect, for the fact that he really did grasp that she was a warrior and not some fragile flower he had to protect.

Thankfully, when Merilee didn’t volunteer to go on the search detail, Bela did, and Merilee gave the earth Sibyl a grateful look.

"Even if Andy does piece things together, I think I’m strong enough to balance and contain her water power long enough to get her here." Bela straightened her leathers and smoothed her hair, and Merilee hoped the little bit of energy shining from Bela’s dark eyes wasn’t bravado. "I’ll bring her back to the townhouse as fast as I can. That’ll be the best thing."