Page 81 of Rogue Wolf Hunter

Alone with Damon, Jace continued his trek into the facility. The only sign of intelligent life from Ash over the earpiece. A few grunts as he took out whatever poor security guard happened to be in the control room over their shared feed.

For all the voices of the dead in his head that haunted him, the way Ash Devereaux could move undetected through a room was downright ghostly. Jace had heard a rumor once, long before he’d met his friend, that the Ragin’ Cajun could do more than simply communicate with the dead, though he’d never had the chance to put that to the test. There was talk Ash had left the New Orleans E.U division because his fellow hunters had been too spooked by his abilities.

It was rumored he could move between planes. Not the skills of a simple mortal medium, but something more akin to a god of dead, though Ash was fully human as far as Jace knew, and Jace had never witnessed it for himself.

But he hadn’t ever forgotten the rumor.

Not with the way Ash’s eyes sometimes looked as if he always had one foot inside the grave.

“I’m in,” Ash said over the headset. “Only took a blow to the head.”

“Keep your eyes on the screens,” Damon said.

“I’ve got you,ami,” Ash drawled. “Incoming. On your right.”

Jace and Damon ducked into an alcove, side-by-side, as they heard a set of footsteps hurry past.

“Clear,” Ash said.

They continued on, making their way slowly, careful enough to not draw attention, but also heeding Shane’s warnings that their time was limited. With Ash and Shane’s guidance, there was no one in their way to inhibit them.

When they reached the first of the office suites, they ducked in. All they needed was one internal computer to gain access to Headquarters’ main database, enough time for Shane to make a full download of their system, and for Trent to create enough of a distraction to keep the guards busy until they could to get the hell outta there. Then they’d be good as gold.

Easy enough, though it shouldn’t have been.

Jace couldn’t shake the feeling something, or maybe someone, was watching them.

It all felt too easy. Though who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

The thought sent gooseflesh prickling across his skin, despite that adrenaline coursed through him, making his pulse race. They needed to take care of this, and fast.

“Three minutes,” Shane warned.

That was barely enough time. Shit.

But Jace couldn’t allow himself to panic. Not now.

What the hell did he have to lose anyway?

Anything he’d already had, he’d lost. Save for the friends he’d made along the way.

Once he and Damon were safely sealed inside the office, Ash and Shane continued to keep guard muttering updates into their ears, whilst David let out the occasional grumble telling them to hurry the hell up. Jace wasn’t saying it was David’s Jewish upbringing that made him a worrier, but he also wasn’tnotsaying it.

David himself had made the joke plenty of times before.

Jace sat down in desk chair, entering several passwords, that should have worked only to find them failing. “They’ve wiped all my codes.” He wasn’t certain why that should have surprised him. Of course, they had.

“Move out of my way,” Damon grumbled, nudging him aside. Seconds later, the vampire hunter was logged in, using something other than his personal code.

He was inside the database within seconds as if...

Jace swore. “Holy fuck, you’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

Damon shot Jace a look that was somewhere betweenwe’ll discuss this later, anddon’t ever mention that again, before he plucked the thumb drive from Jace’s hand and loaded it into the computer. Once the drive was inserted, over their earpieces Jace could hear Shane’s fingers flying across the keyboard as he raced to download the information.

“Shit,” Ash swore. “Incoming.”

“Who?” Damon growled, while Jace swore in unison. “Not now damn it.”

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