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“Tory, I’m so sorry, I just got your calls. I’ve been a bit preoccupied. What can I do for you?”
“Oh, well, it’s just, West got a lead on my stalker, and I was hoping you could help me out with something, but it might be too late now.”
“Oh, shit, Tory, I’m sorry. What did you need? I might still be able to help.”
“Oh no, it’s fine, it was just a question about Lord Fallon’s old newspaper business. It’s not important now.” Zayn was shaking his head at me, and I frowned.
“Fallon’s newspaper? I don’t know much about it. Sorry, Tory, that was a bit before our time. All I know is it went out of business. Oh, but I think he still owns the premises. They were over at High Towers Business Park.” I stared at the phone, wide-eyed. “Tory, you there?”
“I—yes, I’m here, sorry. Um, I lost signal for a moment. That’s great, Jasper, thank you.”
“Tory, what’s going on? I can help.” I opened my mouth, and Zayn reached out, trying to grab the phone from me. He mimed hanging up.
I rolled my eyes. “Jasper, I can’t hear you, you’re breaking up. Signal is really bad here. I’ll call—” I pressed the end call button and glared at Zayn. “What?”
“The shop West went to, when the owner was scanning the purchases, West saw Jasper’s name on the customer list. What did he tell you?”
“That Fallon’s business was based at the same business park we’re heading to. What do you mean Jasper’s name? In a shop that sells stuff for ceremonial Egyptian magic?”
“Exactly. West thinks he might be involved somehow. He might even be the stalker. He might be Sadiq.”
My mouth dropped open. “Jasper? You’re fucking with me. I’ve known Jasper my whole life. There’s no way it’s him.”
“Think about it,” Zayn murmured, pulling onto the motorway. “He’s known you forever, and Sadiq is always one of the first priests to arrive at your side. He knew everything, knew where you’d be at all times, and he’s connected to Fallon who you’re now saying owns premises at the business park we’re going to. What are the odds of two newspapers being based at the same place in the same decade?”
“Yeah, but...” My heart was sinking fast, and I felt sick.
“Lord Fallon is a big patron of the dig you went to that just happened to be at Bubastis. How did you find out about the dig site looking for volunteers?”
“I... Oh God. Jasper introduced us at a party.” I looked at him in horror. “No, no, I refuse to believe it.”
“Funny, isn’t it? A man we love betrayed us both.” His lips pressed together, and his eyes took on that dark, primal edge that both excited and terrified me.
“No, there must be some other explanation. Jasper loves me, he wouldn’t—”
“And yet he goes to a magic shop and buys supplies for potions and charms that Sadiq would know how to make. These aren’t party tricks, Tory. It’s sorcery, and it’s dangerous.”
“But how would he have got past West? West said he senses all the priests, that’s how he finds them all, and he’s met Jasper lots of times. Hell, you’ve met him and you were lovers, didn’t you sense something?”
Zayn shrugged. “Apart from basic sexual attraction, no, nothing. But Sadiq is different. He cloaks his mind with magic. As a powerful sorcerer, he’s a target for demons and gods alike. No one can sense him, not even West.”
We pulled onto a road where the streetlights were less spaced out and the darkness seemed to creep in around me. I couldn’t believe it. Not Jasper. I’d played hide-and-seek with him when we were little. I’d hidden frogs in his bed one summer when we’d all stayed together at a shooting retreat.
“Tory, why would he call you at three in the morning just to return your calls?” Zayn asked softly.
“He was worried and thought there might be something wrong. It’s just coincidence.” I didn’t sound convincing, even to myself.
“It’s a coincidence he calls you just after we destroy the stalker’s link to your home? Just after he took Wesley hostage and drove to the same place West and Jack went? Who, by the way, haven’t answered their phones in two hours? It’s an amazing coincidence then.” He pulled the car to a stop and killed the lights right in front of a faded blue sign that read, “High Towers Business Park.”
I looked at Zayn, my heart breaking. “But... But I loved him...”
Zayn reached over and took my hand, squeezing my fingers tightly. “And if he is Sadiq, so did I, beautiful one. If he is the stalker, we have to deal with him accordingly.”
“You mean kill him? Zayn, I can’t do that.”
“Tory, he has Wesley. I’d hazard a guess he also has Jack and Austin. And believe me when I say he will hurt them, Tory.”
I took a sharp breath and nodded, swallowing down my fear and my heartbreak. “Okay, okay, we need to get them back then.”
