Page 66 of Feathers and Scales

Simon shook his head. “Your books seem to be the best accelerant up there.”

Izzy suppressed the urge to roll her eyes by glancing back at the smoke rising over the trees. He was trying to make light of the situation, but the facts lay bleakly on the table.

“Did the security cameras pick up anything suspicious?” she asked.

“Disabled,” Simon said. “I checked the camera feeds and motion detectors on my laptop. Someone tampered with them.”

To know the estate had such equipment was one thing, but to disarm it without setting off alarms required a specific skill set. They were dealing with a professional. Someone more than likely under the Archfiend’s Influence.

Blinding anger consumed Izzy. Closing her eyes briefly, she took a breath, acutely aware of Simon sitting beside her. His smile didn’t hide his wince of pain, nor the heaviness in his stressed gaze. His appearance hurt as if she’d placed the bomb next to him herself.

Movement caught Izzy’s eye—Raz stepped forward. A man walked purposefully toward them, staring at Simon.

“Can I help you?” Raz asked.

The man’s attire looked professional, but his tie sat askew across his stained white shirt. His hair lay flat on one side as if he’d woken recently. Izzy scrutinized his dilated brown eyes and the sweat beading on his face.She surmised he was drunk.

He gave Raz a chilling glance, a flash of teeth, and a quick display of his badge. “Special Agent Matt Yuller. I need to speak with the homeowner.”

“I’m Special Agent Raz Malone. A family friend,” Raz said. “This wasn’t a federal crime, so what are you doing here?”

Simon stiffened as if recognizing him. “How can I help you?”

Yuller’s cold smile sent shivers down Izzy’s spine.

“You really should have been less chatty at the cafes you visited.” Yuller lifted his arm. A gun’s barrel glinted toward Simon.

A muffled shot rang through the air.

A subdued shot whistled through the air. Simon screamed. Both echoed in Izzy’s ears. Time slowed.Where’d the bullet hit?

Raz wrestled with Yuller. The silencer of the handgun gleamed in the light, pointed down.

Acting as a shield, spirit energy at maximum, Izzy pressed herself against Simon’s sitting form. His knees dug into her back.

Raz chopped his arm down on Yuller’s hand and wrenched the weapon free. Ramming his shoulder into the other man, Raz knocked him backward. He stumbled away a few steps.

Raz aimed the gun at Yuller’s head. “On the ground, puppet.”

Relief flooded Izzy’s veins. The link shook, red and fiery with fear and anger. Even with the distance, she and Daxton could still feel each other’s emotions.

Hands trembling, Yuller lifted them to his ears. “Think about what you’re doing.” He kneeled on the road. “I’m a federal officer.”

“Izzy?” Simon clutched her arm.

Izzy flexed her tense fingers. “I’m okay. You?”

“Bloody wanker has great aim,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

Izzy whipped around, breath lodged in her throat. Simon hunched, holding on to his right shoulder where blood seeped through the cracks in his fingers.

“No!” She pressed her unsteady hands against the wound.

“I don’t feel so…” Simon’s head lulled to the side, and his body fell limp.

His weight collapsed onto her, and she pushed him over against the ambulance. “Simon!” She jumped into the back of the ambulance and shook his face, needing to see his eyes open. They did, but only to roll around. He was losing too much blood. That gap in her mind opened, encompassing her.

“Izzy…”Fotios’s phantom voice said over the sound of Raz’s orders. “You can’t. Not here.”