‘He can short out the electrics.’
‘So can lightning.’
‘He fucks with the trackers.’
‘You sound insane, man.’Lachlan is counting down until backup arrives.‘I wanna help you out but the shit you’re saying is pure paranoid delusion.’
‘It’s the truth.’
‘No, you’re compromised.’
‘Why do you think Penhalyx keeps him locked up like this?’
‘You’ll bleed to death unless you surrender.’
‘He’ll kill me anyway.’
Lachlan knows that’s true.Fenwick has signed his own death warrant.
‘I’ll plead your case,’ Lachlan offers, whatever else, doesn’t want the guy to die in this frame of mind.‘I’ll—’
‘Ever since I swallowed his come, the nightmares won’t stop.’
Lachlan’s jaw drops.‘Thefuckdid you just say?’
But Fenwick never gets to answer because the stairwell explodes with movement.Backup teams flood in from both ends, top and bottom, cavalry arriving hard and fast.Fenwick is violently tased before he can get another word out.
‘SECURE!’Carrigan calls out from below, her gun trained on him.
Lachlan quickly returns to Jules who is surrounded by units in a protective huddle.‘The Cove?’Lachlan asks one of them.
‘Intact and secure.What happened?’
‘Fenwick lost it.Jules, you OK?Look at me.You’re safe now.’
The boy blinks slowly.‘What’s a Paranatural?’
?
To say Penhalyx is angry would be an understatement.What makes it worse, far worse, is the humiliation threaded through it.Lachlan knows enough about truly dangerous men to understand how volatile they become when forced to endure even the smallest public embarrassment.
Fenwick is a dead man.
Once Jules and Mimi are both secure in the Cove, Blaire follows Lachlan out and the pair go about damage control.Luckily, most of what went down with Fenwick is contained.The gunfire is passed off as lightning.
Come sunrise, the storm has petered out.
The guests are sleeping,mostof them.Lachlan checks in on Savannah, who was swept away quickly by her bodyguard when the lights went out.He has a feeling Sorrenko’s boys were genuinely worried about Jules and trying to help him, but better safe than sorry.
He goes when called to Penhalyx’s office two hours after sunrise.
Alistair is glacially, worryingly calm.‘Have Fenwick brought to me.’
‘Yes, sir.’Lachlan gives the order through newly restored comms.
The old man comes over to Lachlan and then, for the first time, sits on the corner of his desk like they’re having a friendlychat.
‘Firstly, I commend the lengths you went to in protecting my son.The blackout itself I do not consider your failure, as your foremost responsibility remains Julian’s safety and management.Head of household should have ensured that thehousewas better prepared to withstand a lightning storm.’His gaze settles fully onto Lachlan.‘Your recent behaviour in front of my guests, however, has been profoundly disappointing.’
