“Not really,” she argued, the stress and worry clearly taking a toll. “If he thinks you’ve got the money, then what’s to stop him from just shooting you dead on sight?”

  He winced. “I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t do that,” he quipped, a laugh in his voice.

  She glared at him. “It’s hardly a laughing matter.”

  “I told you to stay with Larry and the others.”

  “Yeah. Well, I didn’t,” she muttered. “Believe me. You’re beginning to make me wish I had.”

  He groaned. “I don’t think Terk needs to listen to us squabbling.”

  “No, but it’s more interesting than anything I had going on here,” Terk added, with a note of humor. “You guys do need to get your relationship between yourselves settled. It’ll make it a lot easier if you do it before you get here and find yourselves doing it in front of everybody.”

  At that, she stopped, stared, and asked, “Meaning?”

  “You know perfectly well what I mean,” he said in a gentler tone. “It’s one thing to have a family dispute on your own,” Terk added, “but in a place like this? Everybody’ll know, and more than that, they’ll know what the details are too. We do our best to keep to ourselves, but it isn’t something that happens easily.”

  She winced, as she looked over at Legend. “Well, thanks for the warning,” she muttered.

  “You know perfectly well what it’s like when you’re around other psychics. When you were with Clary or close to Clary, your own abilities increased, did they not?”

  “Yes, but I wasn’t sure whether it was because of her or not.”

  “Yeah, and Brody, plus Legend, have their own skills of course. Skills that I’m still hoping Legend will put to use here with our team.”

  “I don’t know that he’s all that cooperative,” she shared. “He can be difficult.”

  At that, Legend sighed. “Hey, I’m still here. Terk, we’ll talk later.” Moments later, his phone rang again. He quickly answered with a bark to his tone.

  “You want to meet. I want to meet,” a stranger said on the phone. “I’m half an hour away. Leave the lady behind.”

  “She doesn’t want to be left behind,” Blair stated in a snappy voice. “She wants Larry safe.”

  At that, the stranger laughed. “Larry has definitely earned himself some saviors,” he noted, “which I find very interesting. Now why would anybody give a damn, I wonder.”

  “No need to overwork your brain,” she declared, her voice darkening. “It would be enough to know that we care about people.”

  “Caring about people will get you killed, so, if you haven’t learned that by now, come at your own peril. You damn-well better bring all that cash and preferably any other paperwork you stole from the house. There’s money to be had by all, but I am determined to get my share. I’ve put a lot of years into this cause, his cause, and I’m not walking away with nothing.” And, with that, he seemingly disconnected.

  “But wait, where are we meeting?” she asked the void.

  The stranger laughed. “Legend knows.”

  After that came only silence.

  Chapter 13

  “Where?” Blair demanded.

  Legend sighed. “Back at the mansion.”

  “Oh, no, that’s not a good idea. It’s really hard to get out of that place.”

  “We’ve managed to do it twice now,” he reminded her.

  “I know, but still, who says there will be a third successful escape?” She hated the idea, and she was having absolutely no luck in changing his mind.

  “I think you should stay here.”

  “Only to spend the rest of my life waiting for you to return?” she muttered. “Hell no.”

  “At least that way, if I don’t come back, you’ll know perfectly well where you can go. Head over to Terk’s and look after Larry, and use all the money we got to try and get him to adulthood, so he can have a decent life,” Legend told her, his voice rough. “I’m leaving you the cash and everything we got.”

  She glared at him.

  “Look. I’m not taking you. It’s too dangerous. I’ll have Riff as backup, and that’s as good as it’ll get.”

  She stared at him, feeling the same anger but more than that now. Fear washed all over her.

  He frowned at her. “You really don’t think I’ll come back, do you?”

  She swallowed hard. “I’m afraid you won’t come back,” she clarified. “There’s a difference.”

  “That’s true, but it’s not one I’m prepared to argue over.”

  She groaned. “He’s not planning on letting you free.”

  “Maybe not, but I’m not planning on letting him live either,” he replied.

  She shook her head, glaring at him. “He’ll already be in position, with who-knows-how-many traps set up. If you even try to go in the same way, you know you’ll be taken immediately.”

  “Hopefully Riff has some ideas about that or will already be in position himself.” At that, he tilted his head to the side.

  She frowned. “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Terk is talking to me.”

  Her gaze widened. “The fact that he can even do that is amazing.”

  “He can do a lot more, but it’s much easier if he has the ability to focus on just me and not you.”

  She glared at him. “Oh, so now you’re telling me that I’m in the way.”

  “Of course you’re in the way, and, worse than that, you’ll be used as leverage, and that’s the last thing I want. They are threatening Larry’s life, but if they got ahold of you …” His words trailed off, turning rough. “Look. I don’t want to see you hurt, and I certainly don’t want to be in a position where I’m giving up secrets or my brother in exchange for you,” he admitted, still glaring at her.

  She could see the emotions in his gaze.

  “You need to stay here,” he repeated. “You need to stay out of trouble.”

  She studied him for a moment, unsure how to break through that resistance, until she realized there really wasn’t any way to get through it. He was adamant. “Fine,” she muttered. “In that case, I might as well pack up and head over to Terkel’s then.”

  “Well, you don’t have to be quite so fatalistic,” Legend replied, with a note of humor. “A little more faith would help.”

  “Would it though?” she asked, turning to look at him. “It seems more like fantasy.”

  “Sometimes we need that too.” He ran his hand through his hair, as he slowly turned and took stock of things here. “What I really need is to know that I don’t have to worry about you, so I can focus on what I need to do at the mansion,” he shared. “And remember. This is the work I do.”

  She nodded, but her throat was tight. “I hear you. I still think it sucks though.”

  He smiled. “Lots of things in life suck.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t have to give your life for them.”

  He stiffened, then turned and glared at her. “I’m coming back,” he snapped. “Do you want to stop putting that thought out there?”

  She raised both hands, then walked over to the other bed and threw herself down on top of the covers. “Fine,” she muttered, “if you say so.” She stared up at the ceiling, knowing she wasn’t acting very well, but the fear was choking her deep inside, and there wasn’t anything she could think of to make it any better. “You need to look at this from a rational point of view though,” she added, “since he is out there to try and kill you.”

  “Yes, I know that,” he stated, with exaggerated patience. “We’ve already ascertained that he’ll try whatever he can to take me down.”

  “Yeah, we did. But what will you do to ensure that doesn’t happen?” she asked, turning to look at him.

  He stopped and stared. “Well, Riff will be a big help, and, with any luck, I can maybe use Terkel or some of these hidden weapons that they all seem to have,” he muttered.

  “And if that doesn’t work?”

  “Well, I have the same old set of skills I’ve always had, my own, which have served me pretty well over the years,” he muttered. “And a little bit of faith on your part would help.”

  “I know that you’ll do the best you can,” she conceded, “but this guy won’t give a shit. Plus, if you don’t go with a backpack, making it look like you have a lot, you know that somebody will be backtracking you.”

  “Good point,” he muttered. “We need to change your room here, so nobody can find you.” With that, he got up and walked out of the motel room.

  She got to her feet. That’s not what she had expected out of him, but it did make sense because, if anybody was keeping an eye on him, his vehicle, or had some way to track the energy, then she wouldn’t be safe here.

  Honestly the thought of being left here alone without him to protect her also made her feel that she was one step away from death herself, and it wouldn’t be a nice death. She winced at all these errant thoughts, and, when he finally returned, she glared at him. “And?”

  “I think a better place for you is about two doors down,” he whispered, turning to look back outside. “It’s empty, and I’ve just picked the lock so you can get in. If you stay inside, nobody will know you are there, so you should be safe until I get back.”

  She nodded. “You do know that I’ll track you.”

  He stopped, turned, and then frowned at her. “What?”

  Such a low and deadly tone filled his voice that she stared at him. “I’ll track you,” she repeated defiantly.

  “As in … how?”

  “Ah.” She shrugged. “The same way I track Larry, whenever he goes off and does his disappearing act.”

  “He does a disappearing act?”

  “Well, he did, until he realized it didn’t work. I learned it while he was so ill. It was something that Clary taught me to do, way back when.”

  “You track him?”

  “I track him on the ethers. Whenever he got to the point of having these relapses, I would connect with Clary and, with her help, we would bring him back again. I don’t know how to explain it better than that. I’ve never tried to do it with anybody else, but I’ll do it with you.”

  “What do you think that will do?” he asked her curiously. “I mean, even if you could track me, what difference does it make?”

  She pondered that, shrugged, and admitted, “I don’t know, but I guess it feels like the one thing I can do, … so I’ll do it for me.”

  “That’s fine. I don’t have a problem with you tracking me, as long as you have no way to interfere when things are happening. You don’t, do you?”

  “I don’t think so,” she replied, “but I wish I did.”

  He smiled at that. “We’ll have to talk about tracking afterward.”

  She shrugged. “Well, it’s not as if you talk about any of your abilities.”

  “Who says I even have any?”

  “Why would Terkel want you if you didn’t have any?”

  Legend burst out laughing at that. “Good point. Let’s grab the bags and get you situated.”

  They quickly grabbed everything they needed, and he moved her to the other room. “Now stay inside, no matter what,” he ordered, as he heard a whistle and looked out the window.

  “Is somebody here?”

  “Yeah, somebody’s here all right,” he replied, with a smile. “Riff.” And, with that, he walked over to her, took her into his arms, and held her close for a moment. “Remember. Positive thinking. I’ll be back.”

  “Positive thinking,” she muttered. She smacked him on the back. “Sure.”

  At that, he grinned, grabbed her chin, and gave her a hard kiss.

  “Now for that, I might hold a positive thought for you.”

  He smirked, then winked. “When we get back, sweetheart.”

  “Ha, ha, ha, maybe not. I could be too pissed at you by then.”

  “That’s all right. I’ve got your number now.” And, with that, he headed out the door. She watched from behind the curtain, as he got into a strange vehicle, and it took off. She wished she had some way of knowing what they were heading into, but what she did know was that it was bound to be bad news all the way. And, with that, she sat down on the bed to wait.

  *

  “How’d she take it?” Riff asked Legend.

  “Not easily, but I don’t know what she expected.”

  “Like most women, she probably expected it would go her way,” Riff stated, with a laugh.

  Legend shook his head. “The last thing I need right now is to worry about her too.”

  “Do you think she’s stashed safely enough here?”

  “I hope so,” Legend said. “I can’t put a cloak or a guard around her and keep my energy steady for what’s coming.”

  Riff considered that and then nodded slowly.

  Legend shook his head. “Regardless it’s good to know where the lines must be drawn,” he noted, feeling unsettled.

  Riff nodded. “Hopefully she’ll be safe enough there.”

  “Are you working for Terkel now?” Legend asked Riff.

  “I’m still on the fence about it because I’m trying to solve another problem. He’s agreed to give me a hand when things ease up, but I just don’t know that I have enough to go on to not be wasting their time yet.”

  Legend stared at him, but Riff just shrugged.

  “You could explain a little more,” Legend suggested.

  “I could,” Riff agreed, “and, yeah, it would pass away the drive time, but it won’t help us get this asshole. So maybe I’ll fill you in later,” he muttered. “If you stick around with Terkel anyway.”

  “They do seem to have their shit together.”

  “Yeah, I’ve just never seen anybody have it together quite like they do. Most of the time we’re all complete mavericks, but somehow Terk’s managed to get this group corralled into some sort of formal organization with a cohesive team. I don’t get it.”

  At that, Legend laughed. “I know, and you’re right. We almost never see people like us on teams, but somehow it seems to work with them.”

  “True. I’ve never done the whole team thing well, and yet Terk seems to manage it.”

  “I don’t know whether it’s a case of good training or the fact that they all came out of government service. I just don’t know.”

  They pondered that as they drove back toward the mansion.

  “I took a look at the blueprint,” Riff said.

  “Okay, good. I suspect all the normal routes will be completely blocked off.”

  “I would guess that they’ll appear to be completely loose and all open, until we get inside. Then they’ll be blocked off,” he corrected.

  “Good point,” Legend agreed.

  “And you’ve taken two different routes out of that place, right?” Riff asked.

  “Yes, we’ve gone through the loading zone, and the first time we went down through the basement.”

  “Right,” he muttered. “So next, I would suggest we try to find an entrance or exit to the place that they don’t know about.”

  “Well, if they’ve spent any amount of time there, they’ll know about the obvious ones,” Legend noted. “Though there is one that my brother showed me. Down in the basement, there is access to the cold rooms, and the cold rooms have outdoor access, but they’re a ways from the house.”

  “I like it,” Riff said, “as long as they haven’t got it blocked.”

  “We’ll find that out once we get there.” Once again, they parked in the trees, but this time in a completely different location. As they stopped and stared, Legend sent out a query on his senses, but he found nothing and heard nothing. He shrugged. “I’m not getting anything, are you?”

  “No, I’m not,” Riff replied, “but I suspect it’ll be a case of everybody waiting for us to show up, ready to pounce.”

  “Yep,” he muttered. “Let’s get this show on the road then.”

  “Sure, why keep them waiting, right?”

  And, with that, they quickly raced through the trees, heading toward the back of the house. When they got within about one hundred yards from the main house, Legend pointed out an old mound off to the side with a plywood door. “That goes into the root cellar and what used to be the old cold vents,” he muttered. “From there, it has kind of a tiled accessway into the main part of the house.”

  They snuck up to it, with no sign of anybody around or even being able to see them. Then they slipped into the old entrance, closing the door behind them. They moved through the tunnel until they reached the house. When they got up to the kitchen, they froze, listening, but there was nothing.

  Riff looked over at him with an eyebrow raised, and Legend just shrugged, and they kept on going.

  As Legend and Riff headed upstairs, Legend heard voices, probably coming from the office. That only made sense, as that was where Legend had taken everything from. He shouldered the pack that he had, leaving the USBs in the outer pocket, though he’d stripped them clean. He’d removed the bulk of the money but left a little bit, in case they were willing to grab that and run, but he didn’t expect that to happen. All the rest of the information had been left at the motel with Blair.

  As soon as they hit the main hall, Riff melted into the shadows, and Legend strolled confidently forward to the office. When he stepped inside, two men looked at him expectantly. He studied them both and nodded. “I guess that’s to be expected.”

  “What’s that?” the first one asked, as he pulled the cigar from his mouth. “You didn’t really expect your daddy to be here, did you?”

  “No, not anymore. At least if the news outlets are worth listening to.”

  “Well, the news reports are generally wrong, but, in this case, unfortunately, they were correct. Your father was shot, right in the back.”

  Legend nodded. “Just the way he liked to do it.”

  “That’s what I heard too, but you never know. He could have been faking his death.”

  “Honestly,” the other man added, in a quiet tone, “we waited for the same reason, but I did see him, and he’s truly gone.”