Page 40 of Etched in Stone
“Can we do something about Pablo before we leave?”
“Want me to snap his neck?”
“I... no. Maybe frame him for some crime so he ends up in jail where that sociopath belongs. Or maybe just set fire to all his pastel suits.”
Good. He was hoping Jesse would never be that bloodthirsty.
“Speaking of belongings, there's no guarantee you'll be able to take anything with you. It might just be you, me and a beam.”
“What makes you think I need anything else?”
He loved the way that she smiled up at him.
Ray heard it this time, Jesse's phone ringing from her apartment.
“That's probably Luis again. He won't be satisfied until you talk to him personally.”
Jesse hopped up and headed over to her apartment. Ray headed to his computer to set up some of the plans he needed to make in the week and half before Halloween. It wasn't exactly easy these days to charter an international flight into an airfield mostly reserved for mining traffic. That seemed to be the closest point to anywhere near the coordinates. What he hadn't laid out to Jesse was the third coordinate. They'd have to be up high enough to be swept up in the transfer beam.
Jesse came sprinting back with a look of concern in her face. “That wasn't Luis. It was Pablo on
Luis's phone.”
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“What does he want?” There was a cold chill in Ray’s voice.
All the excitement about their future adventure was seeping out through the cracks.
“He wants the sigil.”
“We can’t give him the sigil.”
“I know, but we can’t leave Luis out to dry.”
“The last time you tried to make a deal with Pablo, he threw you off a roof. What makes you think he’s going to do any better this time?”
“I know!” Jesse started pacing. The panic was creeping up in her gut. “You told Luis to stay out of the way. Why the hell didn’t he stay out of the way?”
“Because he’s a man. And he was probably trying to impress you. How much time do we have?”
“He wants us to come down in the elevator.”
“I’ll go down.”
“He’s expecting me. Alone.”
“I’ve got wings. I can fly.”
“And who’s to say he won’t start shooting the second he sees you? No, it would be better if you hid around the corner or something and I tried to find out where Luis is, so you can rescue him.” It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was the best she could come up with at this late notice.
“I’m not putting you in the line of fire!”
“I’m putting myself there!”
Ray wrapped himself around her wings and all. She suddenly realized that if he turned to stone, she’d have no way of actually going down the elevator. She’d be caught in a stone embrace until he decided she was out of danger.
