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“That’s a start,” Pellini said without a hint of disdain. “I’m a certified firearms instructor. When this shit is over I’ll give you a few lessons. If you want, that is.”
Idris blinked in astonishment, then his face lit up. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”
“Good deal. I try to get out to the range at least once a week to practice. Only way to keep skills sharp.”
I ate beef jerky and pretended I wasn’t paying attention while inwardly I writhed in embarrassment. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to the range, and even when I was a cop I’d gone every few months at most. I’d always told myself it was more important that I study the arcane. Ugh. Excuses. Thankfully neither of them queried me about my own firearm skills, and the conversation devolved to occasional colorful commentary from Pellini on the general lack of competence of other drivers.
I tapped Idris on the shoulder. “The PD valve isn’t supposed to burp until tomorrow afternoon. You think Katashi guessed we were planning to symmetrize it in the morning and moved up his timetable?”
His jaw tightened. “He’s up to no good, that’s for sure. He only makes field trips for alterations, not research.”
Wonderful. I closed my eyes and readied myself to face whatever Katashi might throw our way, steeled myself to set my feelings about my encounter with Mzatal aside until I had private time to fully deal with them. We fought the same war, worlds apart, and now I was on my way to my battle, my front line. I couldn’t close off as Mzatal had, but I sure as shit could concentrate on this and do what needed to be done.
After a speedy drive of shortcuts and blown stop signs, Pellini made a sharp turn into the PD detectives’ parking lot. Orange construction cones and caution tape still created a physical boundary around the valve. No sign of Katashi or any of his people.
Pellini parked well away from the valve, and we all climbed out. Everything seemed normal to me, but the dismay on the faces of Pellini and Idris told me how very wrong my perception was.
“That looks really . . . weird,” Pellini muttered. Idris said something under his breath that didn’t sound biologically possible and set off toward the orange cones.
“Idris, what can you tell me?” I asked but he responded with only a slight headshake, attention locked onto the valve. So much for my fantasy that we could symmetrize this one and go.
Cory stepped out of the door to Investigations and gestured me over. I jogged to him while giving the valve area a wide berth. “Those people didn’t do anything,” he told me when I reached him. “I poked around after they left but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Nothing that you can see.” I looked around, disturbed. “I have a feeling they did plenty.” As I watched, Idris approached the valve as cautiously as if it was a sleeping tiger. Pellini remained a few feet behind him, smart enough to trust Idris’s judgment. “I know you hated twiddling your thumbs, but it was better not to confront them.”
“I don’t get it,” Cory said, pained and bewildered at the same time. He knew there was trouble, but it bugged him that he saw no evidence of it. “Is there something dangerous out there?” He lifted his chin toward the parking lot.
I didn’t follow his gaze. “There’s a damn good chance of it,” I murmured, pulse quickening as I watched the wall behind him. The shadows near the corner of the building were deeper than the rest, and . . . they’d moved. Nothing obvious—a slight oily shift that anyone else would dismiss as a trick of the light or a passing cloud. I no longer had othersight, but I still had my cop senses along with a shitload of experience with demons. That darker shadow concealed a zhurn—a winged demon that was only visible as an absence of light save for rare glimpses of burning red eyes.
“I don’t like the look on your face,” Cory said, keeping his tone mild. “I also want to turn and see what you’re staring at.” Luckily he was smart enough to know that jerking around to gape might spook whatever I had my eye on.
“You can, but keep your movements slow,” I said, nice and conversational. He complied while I kept my eyes glued to the zhurn. If I glanced away and it moved I might not find it again. “The shadows at the corner,” I told him. “The dark ones. Watch them.” My heart pounded as I ran through my various options. None of them were ideal or subtle.
“What the hell is it?” His hand drifted to his gun.
I’d never told Cory about the demons. He knew I did weird stuff, but he hadn’t wanted specifics. And now was not the time to drop a charged word like demon on him. “It’s a creature from another dimension,” I said. The zhurn could hear me but wasn’t likely to care what I said. After all, there was little if anything I could do to it.
The door to Investigations flew open, and Boudreaux raced out. He passed Cory and me without a glance, blocking my view of the zhurn for an instant, but it was all the demon needed.
“It’s gone!” I wheeled around in an instinctive search. Boudreaux ran to his car, either oblivious or not caring that Idris and Pellini crouched within the caution tape. Pellini lifted his head in surprise and called out to him, but Boudreau
x dove into his car and pulled out of the parking lot with a shriek of tires on asphalt.
It took me a few seconds to realize that the vibration in the ground wasn’t from the speeding car or a heavy truck driving by. “Oh, shit,” I breathed even as it faded.
“Was that an earthquake?” Cory asked in disbelief, still looking around uneasily for the demon.
Before I could answer him, Idris’s voice resonated across the parking lot, tense and angry. “Kara. Katashi has rigged the valve to destroy it.”
My gut went cold. An arcane blast strong enough to destroy a valve would do a terrible amount of damage to the physical world as well from the shock wave alone. “Why?”
“Eliminates an outlet. Shunts potency to the node and makes it a ‘supernode,’ but I don’t know how he plans to use it.”
“How big an area of effect? Can you stop it? Oh, and there’s a zhurn lurking around.”
“Mile. Two. Maybe more.” Clinical and abrupt. “The charges are set but not activated, so I can’t be sure.” Idris continued to work in all-out super-summoner mode. “I need time to disarm them. Keep the zhurn off of us.”
Miles? I crushed the panic and clung to my faith in his half-demonic lordiness. “Got it,” I said then turned to Cory who stared in open disbelief. “You need to evacuate the PD and as much as you can around this area,” I told him. “People need to drop everything and go.” He opened his mouth to argue then shut it as another, stronger tremor hit. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but no way could anyone mistake that for a big truck.
