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There was something else here. Hidden folders that no one was supposed to even realize existed, that no one was supposed to find unless they’d already known to look for them. Most people wouldn’t have noticed the subtle signs.
I poked and prodded at that elusive segment. If I could just get a grip on it, carve my way in…
There. I let out a ragged breath and flicked through the contents of the folder I’d just snapped open. My eyes widened. Meeting minutes—names—discussions about The Cliff and what use to make of the demonic presence there. Files on witches who’d been roped into “helping” control those demons. Jackpot.
I didn’t have time to do more than skim the first few pages. Almost giddy, I fumbled to send the entire folder straight to Rose’s tablet which she’d have at the ready in the minivan. I’d already set up my phone as a wifi hotspot and connected the laptop to its signal…
But the signal was dead. I frowned and typed a few commands. Nothing. I pulled out my phone and winced at the visual on the screen—not even one bar.No service.
Shit. Frankford must have some kind of shielding, magical or technological, around this room—maybe even around the whole house—to cut off cellular signals from outside. No wonder I hadn’t been able to detect his home network from afar. No one could sneak in, and no one could sneak his files out.
Unless they simply picked them up and carried them.
I considered grabbing the hard drive and stuffing that straight into my briefcase, but my gaze settled on a glyph marked on its top. Damon and Rose had told us about a book of incriminating notes that had burst into flames when they’d tried to take it out of the owner’s house, back when we’d simply been trying to prove what her stepmother had planned for her consorting. I couldn’t take the chance that Frankford had left a similar self-destruct mechanism on this drive.
My hands whipped across the keyboard to transfer the files onto my laptop. The copy progress bar crept along way too slowly for comfort.
A hand rapped on the office door. “Master Frankford,” the butler called in. “There’s a call for you on the home line. A representative from the Justice division named Compton.”
Why was the Justice division calling here, now? I couldn’t worry about that. I just had to keep going.
There was no chance anyone would believe I was Frankford if all they had was my voice, no visual to distract them. I coughed into my hand.
“I’m just finishing up here. I’ll call back on my cell in the taxi.”
“Do you already have her number, then?”
“Yes, I do.”
He seemed to buy it. His footsteps whispered away. The progress bar crept and crept and—there, it was finished copying.
I shut down the hard drive, disconnected the cable, and stuffed all of my gear back into the briefcase. It was done. I’d done it. This whole crazy mission was almost over.
My fingers curled tight around the handle of the briefcase. I strode out into the hall and down the stairs. Confident, calm. Like I belonged here. Not like I was dying to bolt for the front door and the car waiting beyond it.
My feet had just hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs when a sound carried in from out front that made my blood run cold.
The rising rumble of several car engines converging around the estate.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rose
At the growl of engines behind us, I jerked around in my seat. Beyond the iron bars of the fence, so much like our gate on the Hallowell estate back home, a squad of navy blue cars was roaring into view. Shouts carried from other directions around the estate. My pulse hiccupped with a jolt of fear.
“What’s happening?” Seth said, shifting in his seat. At the same moment, the front door of the house burst open and Kyler, still with the illusion of Frankford’s face and build on him, dashed down the front steps. I wouldn’t have been completely sure it was him if I hadn’t felt his own panic through the consort bond between us.
“Start the engine!” I said to Gabriel, but the words had barely left my mouth when figures charged around the sides of the house toward Ky. Enforcers.
“No!” I shoved the door open, my heartbeat thundering in my skull so loud I hardly heard the yells for Ky to stop or the screech of tires coming to a sudden stop just outside the gate. Our cover was blown, clearly. But if I could just get us out of here—
One of the enforcers thrust a blast of magic at Ky that made him stagger, the illusion shattering. He shot a panicked look at another enforcer just steps away and whipped back his arm to hurl the briefcase he was carrying toward me. “It’s all on there!” he shouted.
An instant later, the enforcer tackled him to the ground with her arms and a burst of magic. The briefcase landed with a thud by my feet. I was too busy summoning a spell to try to fend off Ky’s attackers to reach for it, but Jin scrambled out of the minivan and grabbed it.
“Here!” Gabriel said, holding out his hands. Jin tossed it to him and ducked back inside.
“Whatever Ky found, get it ready to send,” I said. The rush of wind I sent at the enforcers who’d surrounded him only made them stumble. Not enough for him to break free.
