“Is he the same man who came to the restaurant that night three weeks ago?” Vlad said.
Delroy flinched. He licked his lips nervously. “Yes. I heard him chanting something under his breath when he gave me the dolls.”
Cortes straightened where he stood near the door. “That guy is definitely our voodoo sorcerer.”
Delroy’s gaze found Vlad, his expression pleading. “Look, I didn’t know what they were planning to do to you! I was just told to keep the dolls on me during my shift. You saw the footage! I almost died during that attack!”
“And yet here you are, alive and well,” Vlad snapped.
“’Well’ is a matter of opinion,” Cortes murmured, glancing at Delphine.
“What happened to the dolls?” Delphine’s tone could have frozen hell.
“I— One of the men who attacked the restaurant took them off me before they left.” Delroy’s panicked gaze flicked to Vlad. “It was the guy who fought you.”
Vlad’s gut twisted as he recalled the masked man with the saber. Tarang growled.
Delphine lowered her brows. “And the security feeds from the restaurant? The ones that conveniently cut out before they attacked?”
“That wasn’t me!” Delroy protested. “Someone else took care of that!”
“Who?” Vlad demanded.
“I don’t know!” Terror made Delroy’s voice crack. “But that sorcerer guy, he—he works for Santana. That’s all I know, I swear!”
Delphine pushed off the wall. “Santana Isaacs?”
Delroy blanched. “You know about him?”
“Only the name.” The super soldier crossed the room and rested her hands on the armrests of Delroy’s chair. “Tell us about Isaacs.”
Delroy leaned back as far as he could, the blood draining from his face.
“Look! I don’t know shit about the guy, I swear!” he croaked. “The only thing I can tell you is that he’s bad news!”
Delphine studied the squirming man for several tense seconds. She straightened so suddenly Delroy yelped.
“He’s telling the truth.”
Frustration churned Vlad’s insides.
Shit. It’s like every inch of progress we make immediately hits a wall!
Time was running out. He now had under thirty-six hours to find the sorcerer who’d cursed him and undo his spell.
The sound of Vlad’s cell ringing had Delroy almost jumping out of his chair.
Vlad slipped his phone out of his jacket. He stilled when he saw the number on the screen.
It was Wei Chen.
“We need to talk,” the leader of theRed Dragontold him curtly when he answered the call.
“Indeed we do.” A muscle jumped in his cheek. “I keep hearing your name everywhere these days.”
Wei Chen sighed. “It’s not what you think it is. I assume you know Jared Dickson?”
“The NYPD Lieutenant?” Vlad’s pulse quickened. “What about him?”