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I reached out blindly grabbing the next unsuspecting body—a medicine man in the west, too far away for enemies to find me.
I stretched for the medicine man’s mind, but the pistol ball had clung to me, transferred with me, and was still inside. I reached for the mind...and the ball stopped me.
Stoppedme?
It was only then that I understood the coldness in my gut was not simply damage, the pistol ball not ordinary metal. It was magic, and it harmed my being—all dream-wrought and complex alchemical symbols.
I tasted the first bite of fear.
What had they done?
CHAPTER1
Val
The Houston sunshinebeat the air so bright sometimes, I felt cleaner just being bathed in it. I squinted through the window. The outside shone, while I hid in the dark. The irony wasn’t lost on me. This military disposal shop was closed on Mondays. The overcrowded space with its murky glass offered the perfect subterfuge.
I hoped our target was trigger happy and got here early before a throng of people made it difficult to take him down. Fuck, my team weren’t even supposed to be here. Shit goes bad, there was explaining to be done.
My gaze flicked up to the rooftops, this wasn’t much of a vantage point for mass destruction. The cold in my gut spread at the thought of a bomb.
My eyes closed but that didn’t mean I couldn’t see.
Laura’s face flooded my vision—her cheek scrunched into the dirt, mouth slack, her beautiful eyes open and vacant. I’d been shattered to see her among the victims. Bleeding and broken. And at that moment so was my world, my devastation so much larger than the wreckage.
Pain squeezed around my chest.
Nothing had been the same since France.
Iwas not the same since France.
Maybe the doc was right. Maybe grief rearranged a man’s bones. Maybe the cold ball I felt inside me since that day was just the burden of carrying the dead. Guilt.
I patted my jacket pocket, feeling the small teddy bear through the cloth.
Timothy, I’d chosen Timothy, after my grandfather. Laura had told me it was a boy, just before she took away my rights to be a father. Still, I’d bought the damn bear. I’d waited for her to need me, even if she said she’d never again want me.
“You’re sweating.”
Romano’s voice made me open my eyes and lick the salt from my lips. “I’m good.”
The man stared at me.
“I’m good.” I held Romano’s gaze until the man nodded. It had been ages since I’d had any kind of episode.
“How’s the footage? Anything?” I pulled the conversation back to business, back to facts.
“No. Zip so far.” Romano tsked. “We know he’s coming—”
“Yeah.” The low buzz of anticipation started under my skin.
Our mark was approaching.
Across the street, a young boy was trying to sell some used books. I’d given the kid a few dollars before we’d crossed over. As if I could pay for my sins.
As if I could pay for not saving Laura and my son.
I should have told the kid to move, to get off the streets, to get his ass into school.
