“Somewhere I spotted on the satellite map before we left your place.” She met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Better to choose our battleground than let them choose it for us.”

Vlad nodded, something that looked a little like relief flitting in his eyes.

Delphine ignored the way her chest tightened at this display of trust. She knew it wasn’t easy for the incubus to surrender control in any situation, let alone a combat one where he normally excelled. The fact that he was willing to put his life in her hands made her feel things she shouldn’t be feeling about a client.

But now was not the time to mull over her confusing emotions.

She took another sharp turn and saw her target.

“Up ahead. Warehouse on the left with the loading dock. It has plenty of cover and multiple exit routes in case we need one.”

Vlad steadied his hands on the door and the roof. “Go for it!”

Cortes clenched his jaw and braced against the dashboard.

Delphine barely slowed as she swung the Range Rover sideways, using their momentum to slide them into the warehouse and between two rows of containers. She slammed the brakes and switched off the engine.

The move would buy them fifteen seconds, twenty at most.

It was more than enough for what she needed to do.

Delphine exited the vehicle and circled to the rear, Vlad and Cortes following. She popped the trunk and withdrew two vests.

They looked like standard tactical gear. Except body armor didn’t shimmer like it had a life of its own.

She tossed them at Vlad and Cortes.

“Put these on. They’re nanorobot vests. They will stop pretty much anything except for a tank.”

Cortes made a face as he shrugged into his. “You know, you people have an unhealthy obsession with tanks.”

“You try and be in a war zone where your enemy is actively trying to flatten you with one,” Delphine muttered.

Tires screeched somewhere outside. The sound of doors opening and slamming shut came next.

Delphine’s pulse quickened.Ten seconds.

Tarang growled softly beside Vlad. The incubus hastily slipped his vest on and accepted the extra magazines she handed to him and Cortes.

Voices reached them as the men outside began exploring the area.

They crouched wordlessly behind the Range Rover. Tarang and Popo grew still.

“Wait until the last minute to use your magic,” Delphine told Cortes in a low voice. “It will give away our position otherwise.”

The Colombian nodded grimly.

The pursuers’ footsteps grew close.

“They can’t have gone far,” someone said as they entered the warehouse. “They have to be hiding around here somewhere, like the rats that they are.”

Another man chuckled at that.

Delphine heard Vlad grind his teeth.

Armed figures appeared in a gap between the containers.

She counted nine men.