Page 18 of Avenger of Sins

“What did the delivery guy drop off?” Caleb barked.

The agent seemed taken aback. “A smoothie for Ms. Lydell—she gets one for her dinner, same thing every day. You’d think as rich as she is, she’d be eating filet mignon every night, but?—”

“Make sure she’s okay. Now!”

A spark of fear lit in his eyes, and he touched his headpiece. “Is Ms. Lydell all right? I’ve got the contractor here, and—what? Oh shit.”

That was all the confirmation Caleb needed. “Open the gate!” he shouted, and ran full speed for the motorcycle.

Lydell moaned as John rolled her into the rescue position and felt her pulse. It beat erratically beneath his fingertips, and her breath rasped as she struggled to breathe. Her eyes flickered, then closed.

“Help!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “We need an ambulance!”

Her body stiffened, then went into a seizure, back arching and arms thrashing. He put himself between her and the coffeetable, making sure she didn’t accidentally hurt herself on its sleek, cold edges.

Then she went still. No seizing muscles. No breath. He took her pulse, but no life pumped against his fingers.

Fuck.

“Ambulance! Now!” he shouted again, even as he rolled her onto her back and began CPR.

“You’re trying to save her?”Ryan asked, aghast.“Why?”

The sudden intrusion of Ryan’s thoughts interrupted his rhythm. John gritted his teeth and focused on resuscitating her.

“Have you forgotten what she did to us? The demons she called forth, guiding them into our bodies? Our minds?”

There was a snap as a rib cracked beneath the force of his compressions.I remember. But I’m not going to sit by and watch anyone die!

The next few minutes passed in a blur. Other agents rushed in, Kaniyar among them. He answered their questions in short bursts as they worked. One of them put on latex gloves and retrieved the remains of the smoothie. Sirens grew louder and louder, and soon paramedics crowded into the room. Arms aching, John gratefully let them take over.

There was no sense of Ryan in his head. Maybe he’d gone out of range or was otherwise occupied. Where were Gray and Night?

“What happened?” Kaniyar asked as he moved out of the paramedics’ way.

He didn’t answer for a moment, watching the paramedics move Lydell onto the gurney and wheel her out, oxygen mask strapped over her face.

She was a terrible person. The world would be better off without her. And yet, when she had collapsed, he hadn’t been thinking of all the awful things she’d done to him.

He could have stood back, waiting a few critical minutes to make sure she was gone. Watched her suffer for once.

But the thought hadn’t crossed his mind, and it repelled him now. Maybe he could blame SPECTR indoctrination for that, but he didn’t really think so. It had simply been instinct to try and help someone dying in pain.

“I made a choice,” he said.

Gray rises to the surface, waiting to bloom outward the moment Ryan is in sight. It takes Caleb a few precious seconds to unsecure the motorcycle from its trailer. Then it roars to life beneath them, before shooting down the drive and out through the opening gate onto the tree-lined street.

Caleb leans forward; their hair whips out behind them in a black cloud. No time to put on the helmet, not while their quarry has such a head start.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it right away,”Caleb rages.“Scratch that—what the hell were the agents doing, letting her order out in the first place?”

There is no point to lash yourself or others. What is done is done. Now we hunt.

Not the sort of hunt he would prefer to be on—but if they can catch Ryan, stop him, perhaps some of the sadness will leave John’s eyes. Or perhaps a new sadness will replace it; mortals are endlessly creative in finding ways to suffer.

“That isn’t fair. You know it’s more complicated than that.”

It should not be,Gray replies stubbornly, even though Caleb is right.

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