Page 25 of Avenger of Sins

It hadn’t turned out well for him, and Harlow had given the matter little thought, except to raise a toast to his old friend’s ambition. But now it seemed Kaniyar’s drakul was in play.

Why did she have it chasing down the telepath? Was it immune to mental manipulation?

“All that power will soon be ours for the taking.”

Harlow glanced at the two exorcists on the couch, but neither had moved, all of their concentration still focused on him. The errant thought belonged to him, then. And it was true, was it not? If the drakul was coming here, the funnel would serve to get it inside the tunnels as well. A few misdirections and obstacles to keep it from actually catching the telepath, and it would be firmly in his grasp. And if SPECTR came looking for it…well, this wasn’t an official operation, so there would be no paper trail. The spokeswoman for Armaros Corporate Solutions could simply spread her hands in bafflement and explain that neither the telepath they’d been warned about, nor any possessed persons, had shown up. Something must have happened to them along the way; had SPECTR tried retracing their steps?

Harlow leaned back in his chair with a smile. The drakul would be the perfect fit for Project Solomon, and Fifteen would be a valuable asset once he realized it was in his best interests to cooperate.

SPECTR might have wasted them both, but Armaros wouldn’t make the same mistake.

Dinner consisted of what they could grab at the Sheetz where they stopped to get gas: a hot dog for John, a bowl of fruit for Caleb. Despite the bitter cold, John said, “Let’s eat at one of the tables outside.”

It was an odd choice, but Caleb didn’t question it. They were on I-81, just north of the Virginia border. Another hour or so driving on the interstate, then they’d have to take winding side roads through the mountains to reach the Armaros compound.

What they’d find when they got there, he didn’t know, but he pictured it like the black ops base Forsyth had taken him to. Guards, drones, electric fences, and Christ knew what else.

It was a good thing he was hard to kill. Ryan was a lot more fragile; this could all end in finding his body out in the woods, shot to pieces by a drone.

Instead of going straight to the outside tables, John held up his phone silently, then went to the SUV and tossed it inside. Caleb did the same. Night lay on the back seat, dormant, and didn’t respond.

The wind whipped across the parking lot, and scattered flakes of snow spit from the darkening sky. John had to be fucking freezing in his light jacket from New Orleans. “Here,” Caleb said, taking off his heavy elk hide coat. The wind tried to bite him, but it felt refreshing rather than cold. He draped the coat around John’s shoulders and received a smile in return.

“Thanks, babe. I wish we’d had time to go back to the apartment in New Orleans and grab some of my heavier clothes.”

“We were in sort of a rush, if you recall.” Caleb sat down across from him at one of the outdoor tables and opened his fruit bowl. “So why did you want to eat out here in the freezing cold?”

“Because I don’t want Kaniyar listening in.” John took a bite from his hotdog.

“Fair enough. What do you want to talk about?”

John turned his attention to his food. “I’m coming with you to confront Ryan.”

“Like hell!” Had John lost his senses? “He already mind-controlled you once! You don’t want that again.”

“Of course not.” John lifted his chin. “I want to talk to him. Face to face. I think I can convince him to stand down.”

“He’s never going to surrender.”

“Not as things have been, no.” John met his gaze steadily. “When I talked to Jo, she said she was done letting other people make all the decisions for her. She’s going to act for herself, try to use her murder trial as a chance to blow the lid off what SPECTR did to us all those years ago. I want to help her, and I think Ryan will, too.”

There was a spark in his eyes that Caleb hadn’t seen since Ryan betrayed him. Maybe before that. John’s plan, such as it was, might not work. Ryan might try to take control again, or Kaniyar might intervene, or…

“It is his decision to make.”Gray cut through his inner ruminations.“We must help him, whatever he chooses.”A pause.“You told me as much yourself, back in New Orleans.”

Damn drakul, using his own words against him. “How can we help?”

“I’m not sure yet. We need to set this up so the truth will come out one way or another. Some of it will depend on what happens with Jo, but however her trial goes, I’m not going to let them cover up what happened again.” His eyes sharpened into blue diamonds. “We deserve better than that.”

Caleb nodded his agreement, even though it sent a chill of fear through him. He was all for defying SPECTR, but these were dangerous waters. If Kaniyar decided they were more trouble than they were worth…

A worry for another time. “Fuck yeah,” he said instead of voicing any of his concerns. “We’ll figure it out one way or another. It’s all going to come out once we’re done.”

“Thanks.” John reached across and took their hand. “For now, let’s get out of the cold and back on the road. We need to find Ryan before he gets himself killed.”

Ryan crouched on the ridge and peered through the gathering dusk at the Armaros Corporate Solutions Virginia Headquarters. The icy mountain wind caused him to shiver, and rhododendron branches snagged in his hair and clothes. At least he didn’t have to worry about ticks in the winter.

He did, however, need to worry about security cameras. He hadn’t spotted any yet, but what did that mean? It wasn’t as if his telepathic ability allowed him to override electronics, or control some distant viewer. It only worked up close and personal.

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