Page 34 of Vanish Into Light

“Uh. Yeah,” Gavin said.

Gallo said, “What?”

Beck chuckled. A blur of black overhead proved to be him, leaping from the ledge, wings unfurling, tail snapping out like a rudder. He hovered a moment, great wings flapping. “You’ll find out soon, little one.”

“Hey,” Tris muttered.

Beck chuckled again, and took off, a demonic silhouette against the iron clouds.

~*~

“It’s awhat?” Rose demanded, when they were parked inside a ruined, vacated bodega four doors down from the Highwater Club.

“You heard me – a sex club,” Gavin said, making a face. “Don’t play the virgin now, Greer. Your boyfriend’s got atail.”

She glared at him, and earned a smirk.

“It doesn’t matter what it is,” Lance said, in that voice he used when he thought they were being children. “The usual recon rules apply: we get in, assess the situation, find the target, engage with him, and get out.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, and the others murmured their assent.

Rose glanced toward Beck, who was leaned negligently up against a moldering shelf of long out-of-date cereal, tail held aloft and curved like a question mark. His eyes were half-lidded, assessing, and fixed on Lance; he met Rose’s gaze, briefly, one corner of his mouth pressing faintly in one of his more secretive smiles.

She had to resist the urge to smile back; she’d never been one for smiling on ops, but Beck had that effect on her.

And Beck, she realized, hadn’t acquiesced. Nostrils flaring, expression warring toward patience – and failing – Lance turned to him and said, “Copy?”

“No, actually,” Beck said, lazily.

“Excuse me?”

“Holy shit,” Gavin whispered. He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned around, shaking his head.

Tris, Rose noted, sent Lance a disappointed look. One that wasn’t seen, because Lance was caught up in Beck’s golden gaze – as was becoming a habit.

Beck said, “Lieutenant, I’m assuming you want to leave me here to guard the bikes? Or to offer aerial surveillance? Your plan is to take the conduit in with you, yes? Let’s think about that for a moment, shall we? She looks like a child.” Beck’s tail flicked toward Morgan. “Even if her eyes weren’t glowing, and she wasn’t so clearly a conduit, the bouncers wouldn’t allow her in. The Highwater Club is adults only –seriousadults, only. In there, you can buy anything from a little cuddling to hardcore BDSM. Everyone in there knows why everyone else is in there; we can’t afford to take in anyone who looks like a gawking innocent.” His gaze shifted toward Gallo.

And Gallo – always so underestimated by people – folded his arms, tipped his chin down, and sent Beck a look that clearly saidtry me. “You think I’m afraid of sex?”

“No,” Beck said, grinning, “I think that’s your partner.”

Tris’s scowl was a subtle thing, but ferocious.

Gallo smirked.

Beck chuckled. To Lance, he said, “A proposition, if you will, Lieutenant.”

Rose didn’t miss the way Lance shifted his weight; the subtle flicker of muscle at his jaw in response toproposition. She knew then what Beck had said to him in the dining room, before they’d left the house.Don’t push him too fast, Beck, she thought.He’s not like us.

“Leave Morgan here with the bikes, to guard them and keep a lookout. She’s certainly strong enough to handle anyone dumb enough to challenge her,” Beck continued. “The rest of us will go into the club: the more sets of eyes the better.”

“You’ll go into the club?” Lance asked, tone disbelieving. “Looking like” – he gestured toward Beck – “that?”

Beck’s grin widened a fraction. “Oh, did I forget to mention? I know the manager.”

~*~

“Know him how?” Rose whispered, as they left the bodega and strode down the sidewalk. She and Beck walked ahead of the others, side-by-side. When Lance had finally ceded control of the situation to Beck – grudgingly, and ungracefully – Beck had folded his wings into a cape, tidied his hair, and told them all to look as casual as they could. Which meant ditching their body armor, but keeping their holsters, and black tac jackets. They still looked painfully militant.

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