The Angel of Death (The Soul Summoner Book 3) (31 page)

Nathan pressed the gas again. “You buckled?”

I clicked the belt back into place. “Yes.”

“Good.”

The engine roared as we sped down the interstate, weaving around the few cars we passed. There were more flashing lights behind us, but they were pretty far off in the distance, and they kept disappearing around the hills and curves through the mountains. Nathan took the exit to Black Mountain. It was a death trap of dangerous roads, but I kept my mouth shut till he dipped off the shoulder of the road and began driving through a field.
 

“Have you lost your mind?” I shouted, gripping the handle above my door.

“Obviously so,” he answered.

Just then, up ahead of us, lights descended from above. I bent and looked up to see a helicopter lowering toward the tall grass. “Where the hell did you get a helicopter?”

“Long story. When we stop, get ready to run,” he said. “And bring the bag because that may be the only change of clothes you get for a while.”

He slammed down hard on the brakes when we were closer, throwing me toward the dashboard. I cursed and caught myself with my arms.
 

“Go! Go! Go!” he was screaming.

Hugging the backpack to my chest, I pushed my door open and was knocked backward by the force of the wind from the propellers. Nathan grabbed my hand as we ran toward the chopper. The machine was as black as the night around us, except for the lights and the shiny gold letters down the tail:
Claymore.

Claymore Worldwide Security had employed Warren as a mercenary till he quit and moved in with me.
 

A man dressed all in black tactical clothes with an assault rifle slung across his chest, jumped down to the ground. Before I even saw his painted black face, I knew it was Warren. He grabbed my face and studied me for a second, relief evident in his eyes. Then he thrust me up into the open door on the side of the helicopter.
 

Nathan, who had already gotten in, pulled me up beside him. Warren climbed in behind me as Nathan pushed me into the very back seat. Warren closed the door, just as headlights and flashing blue lights lit up the field.

“Put these on!” Nathan shouted over the noise, handing me a headset.
 

Obediently, I slipped it over my head as he dropped into the seat next to me. Just then, the helicopter rocked slightly, then lifted into the air.

In the seats in front of us, Warren buckled himself in then watched carefully out the window as we rose into the air. In the cockpit, the pilot and co-pilot were dressed in full tactical gear. When the pilot turned toward the side window, I was surprised to see she was a woman.

When we were well into the air, Warren turned in his seat to look at me. He pulled the microphone on his headset up to his mouth. “Are you all right?”

I nodded. “I am now. You called Claymore?”

Warren exchanged a curious glance with Nathan, then he looked back at me and shook his head. “Azrael did.”

My head tilted to the side. “Azrael has connections at Claymore?”

“Sloan, Azrael
is
Claymore,” Warren said.

My mouth fell open. “What?”

Nathan leaned his shoulder against mine. “I was right about him hiding something from us. The name on his driver’s license is Damon Claymore.”

My brain was suffering from information whiplash. I gripped the sides of my skull. “You’re joking.”

Nathan shook his head. “Nope.”

I pointed at my boyfriend. “You didn’t know?”

He shook his head. “I’ve heard the name for years, but never met the man.”

I looked around the helicopter. “Well, where is he now?”

Warren shrugged. “We have no idea.”

Nathan looked at me. “He took off last night when I got the call from Sheriff Davis saying you’d been visited by a lawyer named Tuinstra,” he said. “What the heck was that about? Your dad said he sent a lawyer, a woman—”

I held up a hand to save his breath. “Tuinstra was Ysha,” I said. “Taiya’s father.”

Nathan’s head snapped back. “No shit? I assumed Ysha was a chick like Abigail.”

“Nope,” I told them. “He’s a lawyer, and he showed up to see me at the jail tonight.”

Nathan sat back in his seat, bewildered. “Az must’ve known, but he didn’t tell us.”

“He just left and told us to carry out the plan without him,” Warren said. “What did the lawyer want?”

“To gloat, I think,” I answered. “The only good thing about his visit is I now know why I was arrested.”

Warren nodded. “We found out too.”

“About the video?”

“Yeah,” Nathan said. “Care to explain?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I wish I could. All I know is Abigail once told me she has the ability to make people do things without them remembering it. That was her argument for not telling me who my father was.”

Warren let out a deep sigh. “If I didn’t know you so well, I’d never believe a word of this.”

“I fear a jury will feel the same way,” Nathan said.

Refusing to break down in tears yet again that day, I looked out the side of the helicopter and watched the red and blue flashing lights getting smaller and smaller in the distance. The pilot said something to Warren about positioning and rally points and he leaned toward the cockpit to talk to them.

Nathan nudged me with his arm. “I told you I wouldn’t let them have you. Sorry it took me so damn long to keep my word.”

“I still can’t believe you did it,” I said. “I was honestly beginning to wonder if I would ever see you again.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, next time just summon me. Or hell, call me on the phone. Don’t go and get yourself arrested by the FBI in hopes that I’ll stage a rescue. Geez.”

I laughed for the first time in days. “I missed you. I’ve been a wreck since you left.”

He patted his flat stomach. “I was so upset I couldn’t even eat Skittles.”

The tension eased in my neck and shoulders. I looked out over the dark mountains, barely lit by moonlight. “Where are we going?”

Nathan shook his head. “I actually have no idea.”

* * *

Sometime during the flight, I’d fallen asleep with my head against the vibrating wall of the helicopter. I woke up to Warren squeezing my shoulder. He turned the nob on my headphones as my eyes fluttered open. “We’re landing,” he said.

It was still dark out. I looked at his watch. I’d been asleep for over an hour which was pretty impressive considering helicopters are probably ranked among the worst places to take a nap.

The pilot looked back over her shoulder. “A car is waiting on the ground to take you to your next destination.”

“You’re not coming with us?” I asked.

The co-pilot shook his head. “No, ma’am. We have orders to return to headquarters.”

“We appreciate the safe ride,” Warren said to them.

They both nodded. “Our pleasure,” the man replied.

When the chopper was safely on the ground, Warren, Nathan, and I unbuckled our harnesses and thanked the pilots one more time. Another soldier in full uniform with green night vision glasses on, approached the side to help us out.
 

Warren grabbed him by the arm. “Enzo?”

The man smiled and nodded his head. He motioned back toward the black SUV that was waiting across the field. We all slowly jogged across the grass and out of the screaming wind from the propeller blades.

“Good to see you again, Parish,” the soldier said to Warren.

The two shook hands. Warren pointed to me and Nathan. “This is Detective McNamara and my girlfriend, Sloan.” Warren looked at us. “Enzo and I did field training together when I first went to work at Claymore.”

Enzo’s face was curious. “So I guess the secret is out now?”

Warren crossed his arms. “About our boss being my dad? Yeah, you can say that. You knew?”

Enzo nodded. “I’ve worked for Azrael almost since the beginning.”

“Of time?” Nathan asked.

I snickered.

Enzo apparently didn’t get the joke. “For a little over ten years, ma’am.”

Nathan was still chuckling.

“What’s the plan, Enzo?” Warren asked.

“I’ll be taking you to the compound,” he said.
 

“Is it close?” I asked.

He nodded, opening up the back door of a black SUV. “Thirty miles or so.”

I grimaced. “Can we stop and use the bathroom?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. My orders are to not stop till we reach the compound,” he said.

We were in the middle of nowhere. Nathan jerked his thumb toward the tree line. “You can go squat in the woods.”

“Ew. No,” I answered.

“Thirty miles,” Warren said. “Could be an hour before we get there.”

My mouth dropped open. “I
cannot
pee outside.”

Nathan smirked. “Of course you can. It’s not that hard.”

“Maybe not for you,” I said.

“Come on. You’re a mountain girl. It’s in your blood,” he said.

“That’s”—I wanted to say ‘sexist’, but that wasn’t the right term—“
regionalistic
! Stop assuming things about me because I live in Asheville. I don’t know how to shoot and I can’t pee in the woods!”
 

Nathan doubled over laughing. Warren and Enzo laughed too.

“Besides, I’m from Florida, remember?” I asked with my hands on my hips.

“So you’re gonna hold it?” Warren asked.

“Yes.” I turned toward the SUV. “No. Damn it!”

“Would you like a flashlight?” Enzo asked.

My bottom lip poked out. “Please.”

Enzo reached into the front of the SUV and came out with a flashlight as long as my arm. “Here you are, ma’am.”

“Come on,” Warren said, offering me his hand.
 

“Dude, be sure to check for bears,” Nathan said.

I glared back at him. “I hate you.”

He just grinned.

“Don’t worry ma’am,” Enzo called after us. “We haven’t seen any bears around here in almost two years!”

Warren and I walked through the tall, dead grass. “If that kid calls me ‘ma’am’ one more time, I’ll beat him with his giant flashlight.”

Warren grinned down at me. “Aw, did prison make you tough?”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

When we reached the tree line, he scoured the area with the flashlight. “The area is clear, just don’t fall down the hill,” he said.

“Did you check for snakes?” I asked as he handed me the flashlight and walked past me toward the car.

“It’s December, babe,” he said.

“That doesn’t answer my question, Warren!”

“Yes, it does. Hurry up. It’s cold!”

I shined the flashlight over the area and decided to go far enough downhill so my butt would be hidden if anyone tried to peek. I laid the flashlight in the grass and pushed down my prison pants. Squatting with my backside against the hill, so I wouldn’t roll backward, I waited. And waited. And waited.

“Sloan!” Nathan yelled. “You’re gonna get frostbite on your ass if you don’t hurry!”

I ignored him, but my butt
was
numb, hanging out in the cold. Finally relief came, soaking my white socks as it ran down the hill. I screamed.

I heard feet pounding in my direction. “No! No! Stop! I’m fine!” I yelled before they reached me.

“What’s going on?” Warren asked.

“Are you all right, ma’am?” Enzo called.

“Ugh.” I yanked up my pants. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?” I could almost hear Nathan trying not to smile.

I pulled off my wet socks, exposing my toes to the icy air. “I hate my life.”

Thankfully, by some miracle, my pants were completely dry. I prayed for forgiveness for littering and left my socks in the grass before trudging back to my waiting companions. “We can go now,” I said, walking past them.

“You OK?” Warren’s tone was more curious than concerned.

“Yes. Let’s just go.” I opened the back door and climbed inside.

Warren followed me. Enzo got behind the wheel and Nathan got in the passenger’s seat in front of me.

Before he closed the door, Warren dropped my backpack on the floorboard and his eyes fell on my bare feet. “Sloan, where are your socks?”

I balanced my elbow on the armrest and rested my chin into my hand. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Chuckling, he closed his door and the interior light flickered out.

* * *

We drove for a while on small, narrow roads that aggravated a case of car sickness I didn’t know I had. Maybe it was yet another pregnancy side-effect. We passed a feed store and The Honey Pot Cafe, and then there was nothing but trees for miles and miles. At some point, I began whistling the theme song to
Deliverance
, and Nathan told me to knock it off.

A road sign caught my attention. “Did that sign say ‘Calfkiller Highway’?”

“It’s named after Calfkiller River,” Enzo answered.

I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Oh, boy.”

“Where are we?” Nathan asked.

“Halifax County, sir. Between Raleigh and the coast, about ninety miles away from headquarters.”

Warren stretched his arm across the back of my seat. “Claymore uses this place for escape and evasion training.”

“You’ve been here before?” I asked.

He nodded.

“And sometimes we get to deer hunt,” Enzo added.

After what felt like an eternity, he turned left onto a dirt road that was blocked by a metal chain strung between two wooden posts. “Sit tight,” Enzo told us as he got out of the car. In front of the headlights, he used a key to open a single padlock.

“Very secure. That will keep demons and the FBI out for sure,” I said, looking at Warren with wide eyes.

He grinned.

The truck bounced over a washed out dirt road for another mile before lights speckled the darkness. He rolled to a stop in front of a handful of pull-behind campers that looked like set props from a National Lampoon movie. They were arranged in a semicircle with a fire pit in the middle.

I looked around. “This is it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Enzo answered. “You’ll want to watch your step getting out.”

When my feet hit the ground, they sank down into a deep hole filled with squishy, cold mud. I groaned and pulled my feet up. The mud sucked off one of my flip flops. “Nathan, help,” I whined.