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“Welcome back!” Captain Hornak cried out with a broad smile, pairing it with a cheery wave. He stopped just beyond the arcane protections that surrounded the gate then leveled a scowl at the soldiers. “Stand down! That’s no way to greet returning heroes.”
The confused soldiers lowered their weapons. I slid a perplexed glance at Pellini. The fuck?
He returned a baffled shrug. “We’re in the goddam twilight zone,” he muttered.
Before I could offer agreement, Hornak gave a little fist pump of victory. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you made it back safe and sound.” Impossibly, his grin widened. “And you brought some friends with you. Welcome to Earth!”
I gaped at his downright creepy enthusiasm but finally recovered enough to whisper to Pellini, “What the fuck is going on? I didn’t think his face could make a smile. It’s got to be a trick of some sort to get us out of the protected area.”
“If so, it’s the weirdest tactic I’ve ever seen.”
Captain Hornak bounced on his toes, looking as excited as a tween at a boy band concert. “When I heard that you had extra people and a demon with you, I arranged for an Armored Personnel Carrier. It should be ready any second now.” A neon maggot wriggled up his neck and disappeared into his ear. “That way you can get everyone back to your headquarters without having to squeeze into your Humvee.”
I cleared my throat softly and glanced Pellini’s way. “I think
Kadir must have, ah, smoothed the way for us.”
His bafflement vanished. “Of course.” He snorted and tapped his scarred chest. “Kadir wanted to make sure his handiwork stayed in one piece.”
Strangely enough, the idea of Kadir manipulating the captain was a lot less creepy than Hornak suddenly being nice on his own. Not that I was thrilled with the prospect of Kadir on Earth influencing people at will—which probably tied into why he’d been dressed like an Abercrombie & Fitch model.
While Hornak busied himself shouting orders at the bewildered soldiers, we hustled our group into the waiting APC. It would have been a tight squeeze getting Turek into the Humvee, even without the human passengers. After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors to see who got to drive the APC, I hauled myself into the driver’s seat, Pellini retrieved the Humvee, and we all got the hell out of there.
• • •
As soon as I felt confident that we wouldn’t be chased down by soldiers who realized Hornak was off his rocker, I called Bryce and told him that we had the gold and were on our way home. I almost told him to go ahead and fire up the smelter, but caught myself just in time. Turek was sitting only a few feet behind me, and I didn’t want to remind him that we intended to destroy unspeakably priceless artifacts and risk him changing his mind. Besides, Bryce was smart and knew we were in a time crunch.
I also told Bryce that we didn’t have the gimkrah, but to my relief he didn’t press for details. He could probably tell from my tone that it was a sore subject and best discussed later, preferably with alcohol in hand.
The roads were empty enough that after I hung up I could zone out a bit. By the time we rolled into my driveway, I had my second wind. Or fourth. I’d lost count.
Pellini parked the Humvee beside me, sketched a small wave in my direction then headed straight inside. To his room, I assumed, for some alone time. Janice seemed pensive as everyone else unloaded from the APC. While she looked around and got her bearings, I sent a quick text to Jill, asking her to please turn off the TV in the war room. I needed a place to stash Janice until I was ready chaperone her reunion with Rhyzkahl—however entertaining that might be—but I didn’t have the time or energy to go into why there was a TV channel called Demon News Network, much less explain whatever godawful horrific scene might be showing. To my relief, Janice made no argument when I asked her to give me a few minutes to take care of other pressing business, and she allowed Giovanni to escort her inside, Michael tagging behind.
With the humans settled for the moment, it was time to focus on the gold situation. Damn it.
I inclined my head to Turek. “Would you please come with me?” At his low hiss of assent, I limped around the side of the house to where Bryce, clad in a heavy apron, waited in a floodlit space halfway between the house and Jill’s trailer. Beside him was what looked like a bright blue refrigerator but, I assumed, was the electric furnace. A stainless steel table held a scale, tongs, welding gloves, and molds for ingots, and all of it stood in the middle of a wide circle of sand. Good. Maybe we wouldn’t end up burning the woods down.
Bryce frowned as we approached. “Where’s the gold? We’re cutting it close on time.”
“Turek has it,” I said, briefly amused by the deepening confusion on Bryce’s face. But my humor faded quickly beneath the weight of what we were about to do. I looked up at the demon. “Honored one, will you please recall the discs for us?”
The savik bared his teeth then lifted all four hands. The air shimmered, and eleven gold discs coalesced into his palms.
Bryce’s eyes widened as he took in the brilliant engraving and details, but he quickly schooled his expression to the impassive mask that had served him so well during his years as a hit man.
“What about the twelfth disc?” I asked. I couldn’t tell which one was missing.
Turek snapped his teeth together inches from my face. “Eleven are adequate for the barter.”
Bryce eyed the demon, no doubt assessing the threat level. “Kara, are you sure about this plan?”
“I had the gimkrah then lost it,” I said around a thick knot in my throat. “Without it, we have no choice but to get the net. It’s our only advantage now.”
Turek hissed as he placed the discs on the table. “Szerain must be freed.”
Bryce tugged a hand through his hair. “Guess I’d better get to it then.”
Grief swelled within me as Bryce picked up the first disc and placed it on the scale. “I have to take care of some things,” I blurted. It was totally chickenshit, but I simply could not stay and watch the destruction of the discs. “Just . . . do what you have to do.”
